(See the previous threads on Archives #5, Archives #4, Archives #3, Archives #2 and Archives #1 and feel free to add in your two cents on those stories. It's NEVER too late! )


For the next few weeks we'll be reading the stories from LSH Archives #6, with a discussion of a single new story every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.



Archives #6 covers Adventure #350-358 in consecutive order, ten stories in all because 355 contained TWO Legion stories.

Iconic awesomeness awaits with the death (and later ghost) of a Legionnaire! The debut of the Fatal frickin' Five! The legendary Adult Legion story, featuring the return of the LSV! Plus, a Sir Prize or two!

Bring it ON!!!!

Adventure #350

When I was about 13 or so and first really made an attempt to learn as much about the Legion as I could, I decided to read a bunch of random Silver Age stories that my Dad had. It was at first kind of hodge podge before I made the decision to read all the way through for the first time. The first story that I read that totally loved was #350-351. And with great reason, as there is quite a lot to love.

This story has the ultimate wish fulfillment for a kid in that so many perceived wrongs are righted, characters are restored to their proper place and there are about 5 different happy endings. When I was 13, I felt like cheering at the top of my lungs. I still feel that way now when I read the story.

From a more adult perspective, it's interesting this kind of restoring / confirming the status quo happens at this exact moment, just as Shooter's run is really about to take off. It's as if Bridwell is clearing the slate, tying up all subplots and fixing the roster in place so Shooter can take the ball and run with it. This story brings a close to the brief transition from Silver Age part 1 to Silver Age part 2, which begins with the Death of Ferro Lad.

What makes the story work is every Legionnaire is featured and gets a chance to shine, and so many supporting characters play a part. And even more interesting is that Superboy and Supergirl play a critical role in the story even though its clearly a Legion story. This level of balance is something few creators ever achieve.

There's so many good moments that I'll just comment on them as they occur. It all starts with a fantastic Swan cover to #350, which proposes a story idea that is almost irresistible. I love the contrast of the sad Supers and the happy go lucky Legionnaires, complete with young-and-in-love Imra and Garth waving to Gim and Vi. The cover also has a coloring error that makes Gim all yellow and possibly insinuates an Ayla / Rokk fling.

The opening splash itself could also be a great cover. It's very Flash-Infantino-esque.

The story opens with great intensity, and then we're off! It's always great to have Superboy and Supergirl present at the same time.

Brainy shines as the resident genius, as Lyle shows off what the Legion is trying to do. We get to see Cos, Garth, Dirk and Jan in action, though none can change the Green K cloud.

At last, it's clear Superboy and Supergirl must be honorably discharged. We get to see Karate Kid again, and then we get a series of nods to past continuity which is highly effective to longtime readers. This is really well done, as is the not so subtle nod of Luornu's crush on Superboy. And even better, the very romantic kiss between Brainy and Supergirl! Perhaps Brainy's most romantic moment ever!

But the tragedy doesn't stop there: the Legion is going to take their memories too!

Erasing the memories via Kryptonite capsules is a little sketchy but it gives some great biology info to the kids while also giving Violet her single greatest moment in the Silver Age! Also, another clever use of powers, as Imra and Jo are useful to the operation.

Throughout the entire first half, Lyle acts like a strong, capable leader. And Brainy acts like a big supporter of his, helping any way he can, with the two having a clear good working relationship.

Part 2 of this issue starts, and even more interesting than Sir Prize and Miss Terious is we get to see Ferro Lad in action!

We then meet Evillo and the Devil's Dozen, and the fun really begins. Bridwell makes no attempt to imply the DD are anything other than blundering crooks and I like that. It brings a more light-hearted feel to the story and there have been enough deadly serious stories lately where this is ok. From the get-go, the infighting is hilarious, and then there's the never mentioned but so obvious fact that the Devil's dozen falls more than a few members short to meet that figure.

"Hahaha! Every man on my world has this power over chicks!". Oh, Apollo, you endearing idiot.

Once we see the Legion, I realized that the dialogue in this second half is funny strait on through. We get Colossal Boy cracking jokes and then Sir Prize is dropping one liners that make him sound like a first rate creep! But we do get to see an affectionate Garth & Imra, more so than ever before, with Imra once more showing she won't take even the slightest "too dangerous for a girl" crap.

We get new great action sequences with various characters shining, especially Cham who outright breaks the fourth wall and speaks directly to Marvel fans, Stan and Spider-Man! More light-hearted awesomeness.

Garth gets captured as things go awry, as the first issue of the 2 parter begins moving to its end. And then on the last page we get a TON of stuff!
- fat Tenzil seen for the first time since the Super Stalag
- More Ferro Lad!
- RJ Brande introduced and retconned as the funder of the Legion. The reboot Legion made me love RJ, but I have to admit I've never loved his role / history in the preboot.
- and then Jo threatens to see who Sir Prize and Miss Terious really are! Setting up a great moment for Lyle in the opening of part 2.

What can I say? This isn't the best issue written ever, but I've loved every page so far. It's just so much damn fun from start to finish and I can't wait for next issue. I love how part 1 is so serious and part 2 is so light hearted.

Bits of Legionnaire Business bonus! We get the origin of Cham, and therefore Durla, along with Cham taking on a little bit of a 60's civil rights aspect to his working to win respect for Durlans in the galaxy. We also establish he joined at the same time as Gim, and a nod to their friendship.

Bonus House Ad mention: love the Plastic Man ad in the beginning. This shows that the DC Silver Age was definitely entering its final phase.

Garth and Imra are written well here. You can really sense the concern they have for one another.

It took me forever to "get" the "Sir Prize" and "Miss Terious" puns. To be fair I was only about 12 when I first heard them.

Devil's Dozen indeed. At least Evillo mentions that he's still building that dozen. Why stop at a dozen though, besides to make an alliteration? Couldn't they have called themselves the Devil's Drove instead?

Gotta give Shooter props for coming up with some very unique uses for the powers of some of the Legionnaires. Using Shrinking violet to perform a partial lobotomy, for example.

Re RJ Brande, HWW and I completely agreed with you over on the Postboot Legion reread thread, Cobie! He was much more likable and awesome in the Postboot.

I just read it. I'll say more tomorrow, when I'm less sleepy, but I just had to point out one thing in hopes it hasn't been pointed out before:

Apollo has NO NIPS?!?!?

Either this shows subtly that he's more alien than he appears or.....did DC disallow/censor the depiction of male nipples in the Silver Age?!?! Suddenly, I wish I had some classic Hawkman comics on hand....

This is one of my favorite Legion stories. Great Swan art and I love that every Legionnaire is featured, not to mention the Subs, Super Pets, RJ Brande, and the White Witch! It would've been even more perfect if Proty had been shown hanging out on Cham's shoulder in a clubhouse scene and Pete and Lana had been featured in the classroom scene in part 2. A bit of trivia: out of all the LSH, subs, and pets featured, 2 do not speak and 2 do not use their powers. Can you name them?

It does look like the artists worked around showing his hawk-nips with those big yellow bands.

Nipless Hawkman?

But then, it's Hawkman. Bird-peeps shouldn't have nips anyway!

This is a fun story, so much going on, even if some of it seems pretty silly by today's standards.

Great to see Supergirl after a long absence and a touching scene with Brainy's goodbye kiss.

Lu's gift to Superboy was more than a little strange. It represented what must have been the critical moment in her life so far, but it seems sort of unbalanced to me. I secretly love you, so here's a symbol of what killed one-third of me. Guilt trip? Anyways, it could have been an extended story line, Luornu secretly going mad from unacknowledged grief and unrequited love.

"Sugyn, you walking water keg!" Water? Oh, these Comic Code requirements! No alcohol (and no nipples).

Apollo is another interesting bad guy that we never got to see again. I had hopes that he and Charma would team up at some point.

Nice reference to Spidey! I wonder if the editor put that one in.

The first appearance of R.J., but he's only partly funding the Legion with an endowment. We've had so many origin stories with R.J. that it's odd to see how late in the history he became the reason the Legion came together.

Nipples and alcohol no doubt will lead to the downfall of civilization!

My favorite thing about this story is how writer E. Nelson Bridwell strikes a perfect balance between whimsy and seriousness, very appropriate for the guy who went on to write the Don Newton era of Shazam, which is IMO the best Shazam of the past 40 years.

I agree with FC that Luornu's scene strikes a discordant note. But then, preboot Luornu was generally not well written IMO (reaching its nadir towards the end of the Levitz era, when she went on a suicide mission against the Time Trapper.)

Vi and Imra, on the other hand, are awesome here!

And Supergirl's kiss with Brainy always brings a tear to my eye.

Curt Swan & George Klein were an unbeatable artistic team. Klein went on from LSH to a brief career at Marvel before he passed away, inking John Buscema on Avengers; of all the inkers the great Big John worked with, I've always felt Klein was the best, even better than Tom Palmer.

I haven't read the second part yet but got about half-way though the first before I remembered, I had been fooled AGAIN!

Here again is another story that has grown through the efforts of future writers. Tenzil for the Defense, his subsequent kidnapping are at the top of my "I'm depressed, pick-me-up" stories.

I think I'll read the second part tonight. Maybe I should go find the box with those Tenzil stories....

Adventure #351

Part 2 of what Lash once called "the greatest story ever" arrives and continued to amp up the fun that began in part 1. As I mentioned before, it's the combination of the ultimate wish fulfillment of so many wrongs righted and the lighthearted tone of the story that always makes this one such a winner for me.

The opening splash gives us just one of the many awesome aspects of this story: The Subs versus the Super Pets!

From there we pick up where we left off with my favorite Lyle Norg moment of them all, when he socks Jo right in the kisser! I've always considered this a great example of Lyle being a great leader. The entire sequence is great, with Tinya coming to Jo's aid and the Sir Prize mentioning another continuity bit to show Jo is showing a double standard considering his own history.

Garth again gets some good screen time as he shows he's no pushover to Evillo.

Meanwhile we get more of the Hag, and one of my favorite sequences as Ferro Lad's death is foreshadowed. Back in 1999-2000, before there was an LMB, I once started a thread on the DCMB's about Ferro Lad's death being foreshadowed and that behind Cos's painting it revealed the Time Trapper. It was the first really popular thread I ever started and I remember being so proud. Amazing to recall that thread 13 years later.

Half way through the issue things start to really heat up. We get 5 more Legionnaires including newly inducted Projectra, the Subs, Chuck Taine and multiple time traveling. With the Subs we see Color Kid, who was inducted off panel a few issues earlier.

After the initial confusion with Superboy we get yet another story within a story as Supes and Mon go bother Mr. Mxy. Man, this story is packed!!

If it can't get any more offbeat, we get yet another side story as Chuck battles Sugyn, gets captured, but Evillo is angry because Chuck is powerless. Thus, out come the horns and bye bye Sugyn! This whole sequence is enhanced by reading the TMK Tenzil issues and knowing how much they reference this. I've read those issues many times and thus, I smiled throughout this sequence.

From there we get the long awaited Super Pets versus the Subs which reads like something I would write after dropping acid! I love it!

Suddenly there's only a few pages to go, so Bridwell decides to just explain a bunch of stuff happened off panel like Tenzil being captured. Eh, it doesn't bother me, since I know what's about to happen. But that's pretty amusing! Definitely not the most perfectly executed story!

And finally, we get a series of endings unlike any other in Legion history. It's like the last day of school in 4th grade and you find a $20 bill on the way to the bus and then Marissa Jones kisses you and then your mom bought you some comics that are waiting for you and tonight we're eating meatballs and spaghetti, your favorite.

- the Hag becomes the White Witch!

- Sir Prize and Miss Terious are Star Boy and Dream Girl! That's why they weren't with the Subs!

- the White Witch is Dreamy's sister!

- Star Boy can be readmitted to the Legion and Dream Girl is joining for real this time!

- Lightning Lad has his arm restored!

- Matter-Eater Lad isn't a fatty anymore!

- Chuck is Bouncing Boy again! And he's back in the Legion!

- Evillo is an oaf and easily defeated!

- Er, the Doc is really a deformed guy who tragically can't restore his face. Uh...guess its not all roses and candy canes!

- but wait! Color Kid saves the day with the biggest moment of his whole career!!

- Superboy and Supergirl are restored to the Legion!!!

I'm exhausted just listing all the happy endings! As Lyle says, there nothing to tough for them to tackle now!

...and then the narrator says "isn't there! Wait until next issue?" Gulp! Talk about setting the readers up to rip out their hearts! The pale shadow of the grim reaper is waiting!

But for now, who couldn't love the upbeat happy way this story ended? Who can't appreciate a little "everyone lived happily ever after" sometimes? Sure, these two issues had a LOT of problems, especially plot wise. But man. I feel like I'm 13 after reading them. And that feels good.

I also second how great Klein's work over Buscema was during the Avengers run. Klein came over to Marvel at a time when DC was pushing away its stalwarts to try to be new & hip, "like Marvel". Marvel, never one to miss an opportunity in those days, quickly scooped them all up. And thus guys like Klein, Jim Mooney and others had a whole latter part of their career at Marvel that was fantastic.

As I've admitted, Curt Swan has never been a favorite of mine. But what I've noticed as I read ahead in Archive 6 is that as the 60's marches on, I love how Swan's art changed slightly--though never losing his distinctive style--and became even more exciting. I would propose that around 1966, Swan enters the best artistic period of his career. Though to be totally up front, I have to keep seeing how that goes in order to make that judgement.

I'm really not too sure what to think about Garth's "think good thoughts" trick. Using good thoughts to counteract possession by an evil entity straddles the line between corniness and awesome, but I think in this case it works.

Star Boy comes back, no hard feelings. Thank goodness Brainy didn't raise a hue and cry.

Stupid Evillo, banishing Sugyn like that. Minus one from his "Devil's Dozen".

I smiled a lot when Chuck was at the lead of the pack of Legionnaires plowing into Evillo's minions!

I wonder why Jim didn't have the White Witch join the team as well? Did he think her magical powers would be too powerful?

Ibby, as referenced in some of the posts above, this 2-parter wasn't written by Shooter, but by E. Nelson Bridwell.

The art continues to wow me. What time would it take an artist today to draw that? The shot with Vi flying up Superboy's nose would be a splash page in a modern DC book.

Observations:
Another panel of immense emotion. After Rond's final scene in the last story, we get but don't know it, Ferro Lad's.
Pure Evil got back. Proty like.
They still have bologna. Probably the SAME bologna. And they misspell it.
You can do some REALLY wonderful things with iron and lead.
It was so much fun seeing nearly everyone!

Questions:
Did the dialogue seem kind of all over the place? Mostly centered on corny, which I'm fine with but it didn't seem...like it was the work of one person.

Is a running storyline necessary to reach a modern audience or could a writer/artist still make an impact with one and two issue story lines?


Comments:
This has to be like the Godfather stretch of Legion history. There have been better stories but this many of quality in a row?

Having Color Kid leading out all those powerful legionnaires in the last panel: awesome.

Something else else that popped out at me, while looking at these panels: no one looks the same as any other. Their cloths don't even fit the same. Background obviously are not to today's standards but but I'd have to have someone direct me to issues where another Legion regular could characterize like him.





It was immensely clever, meaning he (Bridwell you say?) fooled me, how he got just the right characters that needed "fixing" in the right place. You caught that some was just quickly explained but I have to imagine there were only a few sharp cookies that caught on that the captured legionnaires all had something in common.

This two-parter, Adventure #350-1 was one of those I wasn't looking forward to re-reading. I remembered that it was not written by Shooter, and I recalled those horrible robot costumes and the terrible puns that accompanied them as pseudonyms. Every time I thought of them, I just kind of rolled my eyes. So this story was one I brought with me significant negative prejudices. And just as was the case with the Starfinger story, I found myself totally surprised by how much better the story came off on a re-read!

As an aside, I thought about why this would be the case. Why would I enjoy a story so much more now in my forties than I did reading it the first time when I was in my twenties? Was it just the nostalgia? I don't think so. I think it's something deeper that emerges from all the comic book-reading and even the overall changes in my life experiences that has occurred in the intervening years.

I'm pretty sure younger-me was at least a bit more pretentious about comics being a "serious" art form. Oh, he was okay with humor comics like JLI or even the "funny" issues of 5YL, but absurd concepts and costumes such as you might see with Sir Prize and Miss Terious in an era where the Legion was starting to grow up, he would poo-poo and quickly turn the pages to get to to the death of Ferro Lad story to follow.

However it happened, I've learned to appreciate good, enjoyable stories for being, well, good, enjoyable stories in those intervening years. I'm sure it hasn't hurt at all that I can barely find ANY enjoyable comics featuring super-heroes any more. As this happens, I become more and more nostalgic for the comics that made me a fan in the first place. Just this week, for example, I bought two volumes of the Marvel Masterworks series featuring early Claremont/Cockrum/Byrne Uncanny X-Men.

And, sometimes, as I read these Silver Age stories, I don't always think that much better of some of them than I did originally. Though I like the Super Moby Dick story better than I did, for example, it's still not a favorite at all. But stories like Starfinger, Super-Stalag, the Mutiny and, yes, this kooky kitchen-sink mash-up with a mystery at its center have been absolute eye-openers during this re-read project!

Whatever it is that's changed in current-me, I'm so thankful that I have fun, imaginative stories like these to rediscover, just as I've bid the DC stable of characters of the present day adieu for being neither fun nor imaginative. Best of all, I've got lots of friends here on LW to rediscover them with me!

What a great way to put it. I think a lot of us relate to exactly what you're saying, Lardy!

I'm with you on all that, Lardy. Last night I reread the only 4 back issues I've ever bought, all pre-Adventure 354. I may go back to the earlier Archives threads and comment on them. But now that we're where I started buying Legion, I plan to join the conversation as we go. And while Legion World wasn't around when I was 12 and reading these stories the first time, it sure is cool to have you guys now!

Yeah, I thought so, but it needed to be said anyway!

As for the two-part story itself, which I shall forever henceforth refer to as "Kitchen Sink" until such point as it is supplanted, let's start with 350....


-Isn't the cover to 350 odd? I mean, the Super-cousins are distraught and bawling, but the Legionnaires in the background are looking all giddy and ready for Date Night in the background! I would expect the Legionnaires to be hanging their heads and the girls waving their hankies in a typical Silver Age image like that. I think the purpose is to highlight the "Outcast" in the title, but it really misrepresents the circumstances of their departure. I mean, the Legionnaires (and to some degree, the cousins) aren't overly sorrowful in the story within, but the cover certainly implies a different story than one where the cousins must leave because they are endangered.

-Also on the cover, the implication of two couplings that didn't exist: Cos/Ayla & Gim/Vi. Now, the latter would be looked at nearly 2 decades later (with a twist!), but Cos/Ayla was never a consideration. (Unless the SLAP heard 'round the world qualifies! ) In hindsight it could have been interesting though, giving the founders an additional familial tie to bind them forever. And then there's Kal/Kara....

-And so the opening splash sets up the big misdirection of the issue, that the new arrivals are the same ones who just departed. The funny thing is, I'm pretty sure that Thom and Nura aren't even mentioned in-story until the moment of their reveals. This is unusual for Silver Age (or any other) mysteries in that the solution is not set up. I mean, if you were a new reader, you wouldn't have the first clue because of the lack of evidence. Continuing readers wouldn't have a lot more either, other than those two not showing up when so many other former and non-Legionnaires do.

-It's always nice to see callbacks to previous stories, including Dr. Regulus, Satan Girl and the Krypton/Earth War in the form of trophies that it turns out the cousins don't even get to keep!

-Got to agree though, that Lu's gift was MESSED UP! You could chalk it up either to Bridwell having a dark sense of humor or in-story to Lu suffering PTSD in a very weirdly attention-craving and morbid way. I like, though, how Bridwell picks up on Shooter's having Lu crush on Superboy with the double-kiss.

-Brainy and Kara's kiss was beautiful, like something from the cover of Young Romance. Such an evocative panel! And more grist for the mill for those of us who admire their unrequited love.

-Vi's journey inside Superboy's brain! Here, she gets a very real power-up and some nice panels, culminating in her exiting thru his tears. Just lovely....including the scenes that Superboy remembers to produce the tears!

-So Kara is in college, already? This means she's older than Kal at the time of their mutual Legion membership--interesting! I wonder if she's older than most of the Legionnaires, then?

-Loved seeing Ferro Lad appear in a story set between his intro and his death. This makes him seem like more than a character created to die, as he's often perceived as. (Apparently, this wasn't true, as Shooter didn't come up with the idea of him dying until thinking up the Fatal Five story--according to Roger Stern's Archive 6 introduction.) Of course there's a portent of what's to come for him in the conclusion....

-Evillo and his Devil's "Dozen"...goofy characters every one, but fun! Sugyn....obviously was meant to be more than a voracious water-drinker, but we couldn't have young readers seeing alcohol consumption, right? I think Bridwell put him in as a wink to the older readers, who would easily read between the lines and get a chuckle. He HAD to have right?

-The scrum these five get into amongst themselves makes it hard to take them too seriously as a threat, doesn't it? I wouldn't be surprised if Apollo and Wild Huntsman were suppressing gay feelings for one another! Who knows? Maybe eventually.....?

-Case in point, Apollo seems to enjoy mesmerizing the ladies but keeps his distance. Also, he could have just as easily have chosen Imra to kidnap to fulfill his mission but chooses Garth instead!

-Loved Gim's battle with the beast-made-from-four-smaller-beasts-who-just-happen-to-like-forming-a-larger-one-for-some-reason or jigsaw beast, for short. Cham's nod to the wall-crawler was also fun.

-I love page 21, panel 5 where Imra falls under Apollo's spell, after it looks like she would overcome him. It respects her "Iron Butt" image, while showing she can be vulnerable. But what I really like is Apollo's expression in that panel! In profile Swan portrays him with a look of smugness that just looks so REAL! It's just one of many close-ups where Swan shows his ability to have a character emote realistically, even a villain having villainous confidence. This is where he improves over Forte and helps the Legion start to grow up as a feature.

-So R.J. Brande finally appears, is mentioned as the Legion's benefactor and will be named next issue.

-And Ultra Boy starts to do what readers have been waiting for him to do since those goofy lead costumes were revealed...

....TO BE CONTINUED!

LT, I'm thrilled to see you're joining us! Fantastic! Looking forward to your thoughts.

Likewise, please go back and read / review if you get the urge! I'd be glad to keep those discussions going!

Unless someone has the writer's words (?), I guess it's not possible to know if the writer intended a "clue" but if he did, in light of all the other injured and outcast showing up, them not showing up was the clue. As you said, "kitchen sink." Who was missing? Without going overboard I mean.

"Someone new" I think was thrown out the window with their introductions.

Proty I think was a possibility. And the new kid from the previous story though powers would have been hard to fake (unless of course he was already you know who) Star Boy was a reasonable guess IMO. If there had been message boards, I'm sure someone would have guessed him. Dream Girl? There are people here that would have caught on that her predictions could be used to imitate far vision and a whole lot of other powers.

I think the writer played fair. There was mis-direction but I think there were clues some people would have gotten. Not me, but some on this board would have gotten it.


Something else else I forget to mention in my review.

Brandes. BrandeS. I had never noticed that "s." Is it RJ Brandes or RJ Brande? And is there a joke being played with the name or is it just a name?

By "new kid", you mean Rond Vidar? (though he wasn't named yet) That's interesting. I wonder if any kids who read this might have wondered if "Sir Prize" was him?

It is interesting that Kal and Kara were set up to so openly be the red herring for SP and MT. Certainly, Kara had already made turns as Satan Girl and Unknown Boy, so this would have been the trifecta for her. I guess by making it seem so obvious this time, Bridwell was tipping his hat to the readers that they should look elsewhere.

But, yeah, it was mostly clues by omission by the time the 2-part story was finished. And if one already had the suspicion, because of this, they could explain the power use shown.

I honestly can't recall whether I already knew the solution from having heard about the solution beforehand or if I discovered it for the first time when I read it. Hell, I may even have cheated and flipped ahead in the Archive! I wish I had more perfect recall about these sorts of things...

I don't think Part 2 of "Kitchen Sink" (great alternate title you coined there, Lardy. ) holds up quite as well as Part 1. It's all a bit frantic and overstuffed. But it's still fun.

And, like Cobie said, sometimes you just need happy endings.

As I posted on my 530 review, I got halfway through the first part before I remembered who they were, so don't feel alone.

"New kid." Yes, I meant the as yet unnamed Rond.

Since he was in recent memory, I could see someone thinking Sir Prize was him. He fits the bill of "I promise you won't regret it" and would have been a rather unique addition, no? Someone who had read the future stories first, then this, I could see them thinking it was Rond, maybe as a GL because I don't remember exactly when he was supposed to have become a GL.

In any case we've very nearly "caught up" to you! I'll be looking forward to you joining in and sharing your insights with, what, "The Adult Legion"? I can't imagine what it must have been like to have that story as your very first! It must have been confusing and great at the same time to start with a look at the Legion's future.....

Thanks for the correction, Lardy.

Yeah, it was the Adult Legion story. When we get to it, I'll tell you why it fascinated me.

Only one week 'til we get there! Can't wait!

Say, LT...reading between the lines, does that mean you've never read the Fatal Five/Death of Ferro Lad two-parter?

Now, for some notes on Adventure #351, "The Forgotten Legion"....

-Interesting choice for the cover. There was so much going on inside, but the choice was made to feature the scene in Smallville. Not the Devil's Dozen. Not the Subs vs. Super-pets, Mxyzptlk, the mystery of Sir and Miss, the action on Brande's planetoid or the attempted "evilling" of Lightning Lad, among a few other possibilities. I think it was a poor choice, personally. So much excitement within, but the selling point was Superboy's amnesia?!? Random Fan might have passed it by assuming it was yet another Red K story. Pretty cover but a pretty tame representation of the wild, fun story within!

-The splash page! See! That's more like what the cover should've been!

-Lyle socks Jo with an uppercut and knocks him to the ground! HELL to the YEAH! Already we've seen that Lyle's a strong leader who takes no guff. Kneel before Lyle! It's really too bad that Cary Bates had to kill Lyle off later. I mean, I definitely liked Jacques and some of the adventures he had, don't get me wrong. At least the reboot authors saw Lyle's potential and let him become one of that continuities biggest stars! Stories like this, though, showed preboot Lyle had a lot going for him!

-Yay! A flashback to Vi going up Superboy's nose! So cool! Too bad she wasn't carrying a rubber hose, though...

-Nice continuity nod where Sir P puts Jo in his place for his suspicions!

-I love the 2 and a half-page sequence with Cos, Ferro, Miss T and Tenzil trying to get to the Hag. Especially, because this is Ferro Lad acting as a Legionnaire in a story that is neither his first story or his last. Having him see some significant action in between just builds his legend. And you get some small insights into his enigmatic character. He has a braveness to him that puts him in the path of a deadly beam to protect his teammates. And he basically laughs it off. And Tenzil also has a rare great moment to use his unique power to get them out of a trap.

-Garth gets a full three pages-plus to be menaced by Evillo. Evillo tries infusing Garth with "concentrated evil" to brainwash Garth into being one man closer to making his "dozen" a reality. While I like garth's explanation for not succumbing, I also think it would've been another great continuity nod for Garth to mention his experience as Starfinger and how he was able to resist this new attempt because of the prior experience.

-Odd that Evillo's power apparently required an "energizer" and that said device happened to look like a gun? Oh well, it lead to a cute pun, right?

-Then, we get the paintings that show the future for the four Legionnaires. The readers get a tip-off to Ferro's sad fate. They won't have to wait long to see it pay off...

-Miss T's in comparison is..."meh". At the very least, it could have had some hint that she was actually Dream Girl, right? I mean, we get a small one with her somehow knowing Cos's is "too dreadful", but something in her image would've been nice.

-And we never get to see Tenzil's or Cos's! How could Bridwell do that to us?!?

-I like how Miss T's plan dovetails into 2 missions for the Legionnaires at HQ....and the Subs!

-So off to Smallville! Clark saves a teacher from hurt feelings by super-puffing a harmless caricature of her off the blackboard. I wonder how Clark can make such precise strikes with his super-breath with no one ever noticing a sudden strong gust? He didn't even muss the brunette's hair!

-Hah! I figured the clubhouse was Projectra''s illusion!

-And as far as super-precise power use, isn't it interesting that Jan could pinpoint his power to change a small pill deep within Superboy's brain? Even if he could do that, what about Superboy's famed invulnerability? Brain....hurts.....

-So a few pages with Mxyzptlk. I'm not sure if I've ever read a story with the imp battling Superboy, but it certainly appears to be a younger version that the Boy of Steel faces. A shock of red hair and apparently no derby!

-Man! Sugyn SURE loves him some water! Too bad he gave Evillo a useless, non-powered ex-Legionnaire. Sugyn, we hardly knew ye....

-Nice battle between the Super-pets and the Subs! Gotta love Color Kid making Stoney look like Kryptonite and Chlor growing some catnip in a pinch to take care of Streaky. (I wonder what else Chlor can grow in a pinch...? )

-Also nice that they don't have some mysterious trick to snap Kara out of her amnesia. They didn't have Jan with them, so that makes sense. I guess Color Kid was saving his trick for the ending....

-So the spell is complete and--the Hag is a Hottie! Miss T and Sir P complete their mission (to free the "Hag") and reveal themselves! And Lyle implores them to stay!

-We get a whirlwind wrap-up and three panels for the remaining DDer Wild Huntsman to attack and be promptly whooped! Evillo had pissed off his crime doctor by making him hideously ugly, so he restored garth's arm, Chuck's bouncing ability and un-super-fat-assed Tenz to get his revenge!

-And Color Kid saves the day! His power is apparently so vast yet so precise that he can change the color of a cloud as big as earth and a tiny pill inside Kryptonian brains! Did Ulu ever have a better moment? Unlikely!

Whew! Was that a busy story or what?

Busy, but fun, FUN, F-U-N!

This 2-parter was easily the most fun experience I've had re-reading the Legion Archives to this point! As I said, I wasn't expecting much at all from this story, and my expectations just flew thru the frickin' ROOF! I honestly don't know how ANY Legion fan couldn't read this and smile ear-to-ear. Yes, it's goofy and hokey and has more than one logical leap, but it's thoroughly entertaining and full of fan service, past, present and future! I'm so glad I got to re-read this and look forward to doing so again!

One more note that occurred to me. Anyone else notice that lots of Legionnaires featured in 350 were inexplicably absent from the action in 351? Brainy, Vi (except in flashback and at the meeting table on the last page), Lu, Dirk, Val and Cham are all no-shows. This occurs to me especially because in 351, the Legion was apparently so short-handed that they had to call in the Subs and powerless Chuck to help. Maybe they ended up on an unseen wild goose chase? An off-panel unrelated emergency?

Not a huge deal, I reckon, but in a story that had everything AND the kitchen sink--it would've been even MORE fun with those guys included in the resolution!

The cover

It might not be palatable now but at the time, Superboy was the connection between picking the book off the rack and learning there is a future superhero team. Probably the wisest thing they did was putting him on the cover.

While I can't speak for other neighborhoods, in mine there were no comic shop guys to recommend books. Of course there were no message boards. Not even a tv commercial that I recall. It was all word of mouth, cover attraction and name brand recognition and that name was "Super..." or "Bat..." because they were on TV or Sat. morning cartoons. Probably the only reason I ever picked up a comic, I started getting an allowance, had money burning my pocket and saw the cool covers...

That was probably fairly typical back then.

Has anyone read anything that says Bridwell un-did so much injury to the Legionnaires with a purpose? There's some discussion on the LSH #23 thread that Levitz was doing damage control by placing the story on Earth 2 (though I do not understand the significance of that). Could the Bridwell have been doing the same?

I hadn't really picked up on the Legionnaires in #350 being absent in this issue. It sure would have added to Kitchen Sink (the perfect name!), but it was good to see a mission resolved by Legionnaires other than Brainy or the big hitters Superboy/Mon-el/Ultra Boy. (Especially since we've had Brainy overload lately.)

Cobie wrote this story made him feel like 13 again, in the best way, and I agree. Parts of it are really silly, but never insipid.

Like all great evil-doers, Evillo talks a lot - yet he avoids the hackneyed self-referencing and heavy exposition that Nardo used (I, Nardo, have imprisoned you!).

It's good to see the Subs actually refining their powers, rather than just practicing turning them on and off. That one panel both introduces them all and presents their powers simply and effectively.

It's odd that Projectra didn't come up with a magician or two when they needed one, but I guess at this point her mystic background hadn't been developed.

Ferro Lad seemed to have a bit of attitude regarding R. J. Brande. It made me think of Denny O'Neill's Green Arrow but I think that came later than this story. I wonder if Ferro Lad would have developed into a critic of the wealthy and privileged had he lived.

What was the dreadful fate foretold for Cosmic Boy? Maybe the 5YL team used that as the basis for his time at war with Imsk, or becoming the Time Trapper.

Nice idea that Sir Prize might have been Rond Vidar! Don't remember my first reading of this story, but I'm sure I didn't know who Sir Prize and Miss Terious were until the end.



Girls used a lot of hair spray back then....

As I said, I loved this story, but the main problem I have with it is the whole reason for the brainwashing doesn't hold water. "you may inadvertently leave clues to our secret weapons which your enemies could find and use against you." So what's to keep Kal and Kara from "inadvertently leaving clues to our secret weapons" while they were ACTIVE members? What? only honorably discharged members get sloppy and start leaving super weapon clues lying around willy nilly? Why weren't Bouncing Boy and especially Star Boy who may have had an axe to grind at the Legion similarly brainwashed? Shirley, there could have been a better reason for the brainwashing of the super cousins.

Nowadays a story with this many characters and developments would take several months to tell and DC would make it a major "event" with all kinds of crossovers throughout its titles, etc. etc.

You're correct; I've never read it.

Resisting a "don't call me Shirley" joke. Doh! I messed up.

I thought of that as well, though it's odd that Dreamy didn't reference this ever again if so. Perhaps it was a different fate that was foretold. Perhaps it was something that Bridwell just wanted to throw in and see what future writers would do with it.



I wonder. Invulnerability should protect them from harm, but I don't think it would stop some powers from working - Imra can still read their minds, so Jan should be able to transmute substances in their bodies. They just won't be affected unless he transmutes something into kryptonite.

Which begs the Q, if he COULD do that, why didn't he just transmute some raw other element already in their bodies into kryptonite? I suppose they didn't want to risk him accidentally messing with their internal functions. And at least we got a cool set of panels for Vi to show off her ability to go really really tiny.

It also seemed weird to me that Kara would be so quick to attack the Subs. What gives, Girl of Steel? Ever thought about talking first? The Subs did well though; despite being outmatched they used their powers well.

That's a really valid point, Jim. It does NOT make any sense as far as explanations go for the memory-wiping!

A better explanation might have been, for Superboy at least, that this would insure that his memory-conditioning that was done to keep him from remembering crucial details of his future wouldn't fade. It's reasonable that Supergirl might find out some details of her own future during her visits that she might be conditioned for, as well. (I doubt, though, that she had ever learned of her own death, though.)

Brainwashing:

Probably made perfectly good sense to the writer at the time. Or perhaps he thought, drat I have to get this out the door, my readers are 12 years old they don't really give a crap why we're brainwashing them, I haven't written 'superweapons" in awhile, boom, done.

Yeah, BB...that's the REAL explanation. I just wish E. Nelson had put a little more thought into it. I think my germ of an idea above is better, for example.

Still, with a story giving us everything including the Kitchen Sink I can forgive the small details!

It's interesting, though, the recurring story point of the super weapons. Shouldn't those be guarded by the S.P. instead of a group of teenagers? Even if you adjust for younger people being apparently more mature in the future and all the responsibility the LSH is given, I would think that all the numerous instances of the Legion and their HQ being infiltrated by villains so far would give the higher-ups pause!

???

I meant this, that you wrote:

Not a response I would have expected I guess. I'm kind of curious how you interpreted my post?

Bad enough my writing skills do not match my thoughts as well as I would like and when I try to adjust before hitting "send," my editing skills are at best, ... occluded (?) by my vision. I wonder if I led you to a misinterpretation of my intention with that post. Or perhaps, I'm just misinterpreting your response.

What I meant, Beebs, is that Bridwell came up with a reason for giving them amnesia which 12 year-olds wouldn't question too much, as you imply in that quoted post. few of them would question that it made zero sense! Hell, I didn't question it on my re-read until Jim's post! That's why it's so good to re-read with others!

Nope. Not the intended interpretation at all.

My intended interpretation was facetious to a point that anyone can get into a rush when trying to get product out the door and they have to get to a point where they say, "it's done."

For ME, it's interesting to compare the process for getting a comic out the door to other things. At least in these ADV days, there doesn't seem to be a lot of vetting. Someone writes. Someone does a quick edit. Gone. No audience preview. No panel discussion. None of the things one might expect for a movie and certainly nothing compared to what we did in Engineering where vetting is a coded part of the process and can involve dozens of fact checking layers both in pre and post development.

So: it would for ME it is interesting when we have the writer available to ask their intent, if any. It would be interesting to know if the writer really had a deep purpose behind the stated reason for "brainwashing" the Super cousins, thought it really made sense to him at the time or if it really was just something to say to move to the next panel of the story.

It wouldn't at all surprise me that they considered the general ages of their readers, when determining how much time to spend on dotting i's and crossing t's. If written to an adult audience, I would expect a level of vetting and editing consistent with novel fiction and even that can go horribly wrong.

I also now realize that my pronoun, "them" was horribly misplaced. As written it refers to the "12 year olds" when it was meant to refer to the Super cousins.

The way you think, Beebs...you're kind of a strange cat. But that's all right: we pretty much ALL are here! And that's a GOOD thing, imo!

I'm considered pretty normal when hanging out with the other people like me.

Aren't we all.

My theory is that Adventure #351 is an early case of editorial interference with a creative decision. I think Nelson intended to write the super-cousins out of the Legion (perhaps to see if the group could stand on its own without a big red S on every cover), but that Mort got cold feet and vetoed the idea, forcing Nelson to rewrite the second half of the two-parter. It could even be that the other "resets" were part of that same editorial decision.

Oh, and as for the horrendous fate awaiting Rokk, I think Nura got a glimpse of his 70s uniform

The idea of a last-minute rewrite would also explain why some members from the first part were AWOE (absent without explanation) in the second part.

And, now that I think about it, the choice of cover scenes was almost certainly a Weisinger decision.

I think the reason some Legionnaires weren't in part 2 is simply lack of space. They already crammed in half the team, plus the subs, plus the super pets, plus Mxyzptlk, plus the White Witch, plus a SMallville high scene, etc. etc.

True, but their absence is notable because had those Legionnaires been around, the Legion would supposedly not need the Subs to help out by going to Supergirl's time.

It sure looked like they had a goal of getting everyone into the story.

Reading the original issues has the disadvantage, there's no reference to who is writing, drawing... Or is it someplace I am not finding it? Some of these people writing letters seem to know who drew what and who wrote what.

One of the big differences between DC and Marvel in the silver age was that DC comics seldom had in-story credits, while Marvel always did (even including the letterer, although not the colorist). Nonetheless, it was a popular "game" among DC fans to guess who wrote and drew what and then write a letter to the editor about it. This was particularly popular in the Julius Schwartz books like Batman and Detective, but also happened with Mort Weisinger's Superman Family books, as Mort had the larger talent pool.

An interesting bridge is about to happen but I'm not sure if there is a connection.

This storyline was preceded by a "Devil's Dozen" and is to be followed by a story in which criminals are recruited with the offer of amnesty.

I recalled that it was also about this time we went to see a movie called, "The Dirty Dozen," in which criminals are recruited to battle Nazi's. So I did a google snoop to see if there was the potential of connection between these ADV stories and that movie. It did come out in 1967 so it would seem the Legion stories preceded the movie. But then I found the movie was based upon a book, which came out in 1965.

Was that book perhaps a story generator for ADV?

Beebs...as a matter of fact, in Roger Stern's intro to Archives Vol. 6, he says Shooter was told by Mort to write a Legion story something like "The Dirty Dozen". And the Fatal Five/Sun-eater 2-parter was Shooter's response!

Adv. 350

My reviews will continue to be sporadic, but I’ll catch up as I can.

This story has me wishing E. Nelson Bridwell had been the Legion’s regular writer. It exhibits all the professionalism and pacing of Hamilton and yet treats the Legionnaires as real human beings we care about, similar to Shooter’s approach.

Nelson gets us into the story immediately by having Superboy summoned to a Legion emergency. This is one of the first times, as I recall, that Superboy’s involvement in a Legion adventure has begun with him responding to an emergency. Usually, he’s already in the 30th century or he flies into the future to attend a regular meeting. Setting up the story this way, however, immediately gives us a sense of urgency.

The urgency involves a green kryptonite cloud which has circled the earth and cannot be removed without destroying the planet. Nevermind how far fetched this sounds. It works because we see the Legionnaires in action, valiantly using their powers to destroy the cloud. There’s also a nod to science with Element Lad collecting a sample of the cloud and Brainy using a microscope to analyze it. Illogical as it is, this sequence looks plausible.

Nelson’s great skill, in short, is that he’s able to sell a story based on what the characters are doing and the emotions their actions generate, even if the underlying ideas don’t hold up to scrutiny. Nowhere is this more evident than in the honorable discharge ceremony which follows. It makes no sense that Superboy and Supergirl have to be discharged at all—not with time travel enabling them to return to the future in two years, after the green k cloud has passed. It makes no sense for the Legionnaires to bestow gifts upon them and then take those gifts away. And it absolutely makes no sense that Kal and Kara must be made to forget the Legion’s existence.

However, this sequence is so well written and moving that it remain perhaps the most memorable part of the story. The Legion cares about its own and hates to say goodbye, but they do what they must. Lyle is almost ruthlessly efficient in his role as leader. He would make a good military commander.

Bridwell also paces the story very well, devoting Part 1 to the departure of the super-cousins and Part 2 to the Devil’s Dozen. I love how imaginative the villains are—a centaur, a Greek “sun god,” a witch, a Welsh folk hero—all inspired by mythology or folklore. But the Interplanetary Bank guard beasts are even more imaginative and fun, and their battle with the Legionnaires serves as a brilliant showcase of all the characters involved.

Of course there’s Sir Prize and Miss Terious. Dopey robot costumes aside, they provide a lot of the story’s conflict and mystery, all building to a a climax through Garth’s capture and Jo’s insubordination—the perfect place to be continued.

All in all, this is one of my favorite stories of the re-reads so far and one of the best written. Swan and Klein’s easy to follow and appealing artwork doesn’t hurt, either.

Grade: 94.2 (A)

Adventure #352

It's with #352 that Shooter's run really begins, and it does so with a bang. To me, #352-353 is the most classic Legion story of them all, including the Death of Lightning Lad and so many other moments over the decades. Only the Great Darkness is a contender to knock it off it's throne.

The Death of Ferro Lad is really something. Until this point no ongoing actual superheroes had died and stayed dead; it was revolutionary. And the fact that it became so essential within Legion lore really enhanced the mystique around the issues. Of course, the death itself is heroic in the extreme and IMO sets the standard for all future heroic deaths.

Even putting aside the big finish, there is so much to be awed by here. First and foremost there are the Fatal Five--the quintessential Legion enemies. First Nemesis Kid, the Khunds, Dr. Regulus and Universo, and now five totally unique and thrilling enemies. Each one is ingenuous on their own! But all at once? Bloody liberty, the kid was on fire.

It's interesting that such a strong, classic story only really features five Legionnaires. You have "star" Superboy, recurring lead Sun Boy, one of Shooter's obvious favorites Cosmic Boy and then two of the newbies. Princess Projectra's involvement in this story helped make me a fan of her originally and helps cement the idea of her (and in a way, KK) as a genuine Legionnaire who had been through hell with them.

The Sun-Eater itself is a fantastic idea as well. There was the previous Sun-Eater, and I've often wondered if Shooter was aware of it. This one certainly shares nothing other than a common name. It's also a great move that we don't learn all that much about the Sun-Eater here; that would come in a few issues, but for now it was a pure agent of chaos and horror.

While the big death is next issue, this first part focuses on the majesty of the Fatal Five and the terror of the Sun-Eater.

First, wonderful, classic prologue introducing the Sun-Eater!

The Legion gets up to date on the five worst villains in the galaxy and each of the Fatal Five is given an excellent melodramatic introduction! A page each, the intros are really exciting! I especially like how Validus is shown to not be evil, but is the most terrifying of them all.

The tension suddenly goes to 11 (on a scale of 1 to 10) as Superboy is alerted to the Sun-Eater and explains it to the newbies. Again, fantastic concept, and really strong artistic choices by Swan. The top left panel on page 10 showing the stars of a galaxy going out one by one is phenomenal, and I suspect a major inspiration for Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Being so short-handed, the Legion is forced to ask for help, and the replies are a shock! I'd forgotten about this part, as the story gains a High Noon type feel. I'd have loved to see these characters again, and how they'd feel and be perceived after they refused to aid the Legion. In a way, it would explain why so few other superheroes are seen in the 31st Century afterwards--they've all been disgraced!

The Legionnaires interacting with each of the Fatal Five is formulaic, yet has the feel of a classic. Knowing how he was portrayed later, I can't help but feel Validus could just reach out and crush Sun Boy at any given moment, so that makes those panels more unnerving.

The issue benefits from being a two issue story so there is plenty of breathing room. For a first time reader, there is a LOT to take in, and the pacing allows one to grasp such a plethora of new concepts and characters. #352 ends on a note that implies a great aura of majesty and the grandiose; the stakes have never been this high! Can't wait for part 2!

Back issue bonus: the origin of Cosmic Boy is revealed in text! Although really, it's the origin of the Legion! The text reveals the classic Cos / Imra / Garth / RJ Brande origin scenario, as well as naming Cos's parents and Pol Krinn. It also firmly establishes Cos was the first leader of the Legion.

Elsewhere in the DCU: Jimmy Olsen's concurrent issue has a classic Legion cover, with Jimmy dressed and empowered as Sun Boy, Element Lad and Lightning Lad! However, I don't think any actual Legionnaires appear in it (though I may be wrong).

Cool House Ad Alert! B'Wana Beast!! And also, the Golden Age Atom guests in the Silver Age Atom's series.

Ps - HWW, please do keep your reviews coming, even if they're late! I'm in agreement about Bridwell's strengths, and how he has the good elements of both Hamilton and Shooter. I'm super curious about how he'll do in his next one, the Origin of the Legion.

Ah, the Sun-Eater story! One of the few Adventure Era stories which I remember as vividly as I do most of the Postboot-era issues.

I'd have to argue that the Fatal Five are now THE ultimate Legion villains. Both the Postboot era and Levtiz's latest run ended with fights against the Fatal Five.

Shooter chooses a good cast here. Cosmic Boy is definitely a fave of his - he would also be one of the 5 Shooter chooses for the NEXT Fatal Five story.

Interesting that Sun Boy (fetching Validus) and Ferro Lad (fetching Mano) arguably do the best - neither gets attacked by the villains they fetch. Projectra holds her own against the Persuader until he convinces himself the illusions aren't real, though she gains a measure of respect from him. Superboy (fetching the Emerald Empress) and Cosmic Boy (fetching Tharok) fare the worst, and we can see clearly that Tharok is the most treacherous of all!

Interesting that the Emerald Eye is weak to kryptonite. I wonder what Shooter had in mind for that?

Love that the Legion tried so hard to get the help of other heroes, and loved seeing their responses. It adds to the desperation of them having to turn to the villains (and provides a vastly better reason for that than the Postboot version did, and that's coming from a hardcore Postboot fan!)

I'd say the threat of the Sun-Eater was established so well, that the Legionnaires failing to take even better safeguards against the Fatal Five's possible treachery made sense. They had so little time, and they were under a lot of pressure. Plus, there were only 5 of them (unlike in the Legion toon, where Bouncing Boy and Shrinking Violet anticipated the Emerald Empress' backstabbing and took appropriate steps).

Colossal Boy's fight!!! Bonk, heh heh.

ADV 352-353

Most famous for introducing Ambush Bug!

No? That's not him?

This is one of the Legion stories that most gets up my defenses if anyone talks "badly" about it, diminishes or tries to put their personal spin on one of the characters. It's always been iconic but I can only laugh at myself no because on re-reading I realized that MANY of the things I thought, never to be messed with, I had remembered incorrectly. Mano was Timberwolf quick? Pursauder more than a tough bully? Validus talks! If a future writer showed Validus talking, I was ALL over that. Validus doesn't talk.

Hell, he never shuts up!

Still, the characters can't be beat but this is a story, like Stalag, that I feel would win in a rewrite. I think some of the logic leaps and interactions can be tightened up, particularly in 353.

The best written scene in this first part I felt was the one where Tharok declares himself "leader." After my initial reaction to balk and think, no way Legion would let Tharok be in charge, the way Tharok phrased it and C-boy's response made it work. A sterotypical story, we'd have three issues of head butting and urinating. Wisely, everyone agreed in order to get on with business. The villains seem to have really bought into the "this concerns me" bit.

Some stories are just plain iconic. The Fatal Five/Death of Ferro Lad 2-parter is one of them. The emotions evoked are so resonant, and the villains so imaginatively conceived, that the story transcends its formulaic and schematic aspects.

The Fatal Five were actually what got me interested in the Legion in the first place, many years ago when little Fanfic Lady saw the cover of what she later discovered was the Dark Man story from the Gerry Conway era. I have yet to read said story, but the Fatal Five's sheer colorfulness and charisma was so powerful, that it was enough to make an impression which would eventually culminate, years later, in me fully embracing superhero comics.

I love the beautiful, regal, cold-blooded Emerald Empress, although in my opinion she didn't reach full bloom until the Baxter era, when she finally led the Fatal Five.

Mano has always scared me to the marrow of my bones.

Validus is one of the best-designed monsters in the history of comics.

Tharok could be really cool if he were re-imagined and re-designed in a cutting-edge way.

Persuader is my least favorite, partly because of his thuggishness, partly because his axe is too improbably powerful.

And Ferro Lad's heroic sacrifice is heartbreaking, yet at the same time curiously comforting in that the best of sentient beings often shine brightest under tragic circumstances.

Sadly, if this story were told today, people would probably roll their eyes and expect Ferro Lad to be back in some form or other within the next 3 years.

I put the axe in the metaphor category to rationalize some sense into it. Well, after I learned what a metaphor was, THEN I put the axe into that category. It's really something else. We just perceive it as an axe.

He's not dead yet. Got a whole nother issue!

Hmm. "nother" isn't a word. I'm getting a spelling error indicator.

nanner

Not a word.

My life is coming apart.

Captain Punctuation to the rescue!

'nother

(can't do anything for nanner, though)

sorry

Nan Ner, Nura Nal's cousin from Naltor.

Code name: It. Hah! Since I knew "It" was the Suneater, the effect was lost - but original readers must have wondered what sort of monstrosity was coming.

In the early Legion stories, everything extraordinary was preceded by super or space. This story deserves both those adjectives. It's a great tale, with lots of emotion and five fantastic villains who would come back many times to tangle with the Legion. The one-page history per villain, their appearances and the reaction of the Legionnaires give us a solid introduction to these truly evil criminals.

Interesting that in the bright and shiny future, two of the criminals face imminent capital punishment - Validus apparently because he's just a massive pest. Well, it makes for a more exciting story than mental re-programming.

Is this the only time that the Emerald Eye was found by someone, as opposed to it seeking out a host?

Projectra was totally self-assured in her confrontation with Persuader. It's a good change from a number of later Legion rookies who would be either too arrogant or timid.

Shame on all those other superheroes for giving up or saying it wasn't their problem! They should lose the hero moniker. I liked how the Fatal Five viewed the Legion's proposal both as a way to get free of the law and, for some, a challenge.

I'd noted in another thread that this story presents some lovely tech which we never saw again: the warp ship, Projectra's transceiver device and Cosmic Boy's mento-helmet.

Re the threat of the Fatal Five, the power demonstrations, treachery and squabbles go a long way towards making the Five a credible threat. Take Mano, for example: his power is in his hand. You could hit him from behind, or perhaps hit his head, and you'd be safe. Yet Shooter shows us just how fast he can move, so we know it's not going to be THAT easy.

Then we have the Persuader. You'd think that he'd be nothing without his axe - but Shooter shows us how tough and strong he is even unarmed. It's not going to be that easy to get the axe away from him either!

I believe so. The whole "seeking out a host" thing was a retcon, and not a good one in my opinion (not a fan of how the Emerald Empress ended up late in Levitz's run.)

Of all the writers that have created bad guys, one shots and done, what is it about these five that made them instant classics?

Would they have become classics if introduced, one at a time? Was it the story?

Validus's instant instant iconery, easy to fathom. I thought it was only me but so many others have posted the same thoughts, there's something perfectly Frankenstienian about him. Perfect back story. perfect look. Definitely perfect look.

The Empress, I can see that one too and a lot of it has to do with Swan. But what 15 year old dreams up a hotty with an eye? Kid must of been on the peyote, or is there something from mythology on which she is modeled.

Otherwise, we have a guy with an axe, a guy with a hand and a guy. Lots of writers have come up with bad guys like these that didn't stick.

I disagree. I think, of these three, that Tharok has a pretty iconic look and hook about him. I'm not sure, but he may have been the one among them who most captured my tween imagination. Swan really nails the creepy aspect of his look. The robot half is imperfectly integrated with the human half--meaning the proportion is not evened out to account for flesh and sinew. The facial "bumps" and two-toed foot enhance the alien-ness of that side. But when you add in how his human eye is black with a white pupil, he just exudes evil. I'd say, even after all these years, that Tharok's potential has just barely had its surface scratched!

Mano also has a very original, interesting visual. And with his ability to destroy a whole planet, he's potentially the most dangerous of the five. Tons of potential, also, that's barely been explored.

Persuader...yeah, pretty much the weakest link in terms of his needing the other four to validate his existence. His axe, however, has often had its abilities explored in creative ways. Shooter sets kind of a goofy standard for it with the gravity-cancelling example shown in this story. Definitely rolled my eyes at that one! What needed to be done with him was to make his character complex and interesting to counteract his more "blah" look and power-set. Never really happened.

You know one thing that strikes me as strange? To this point, fm his first appearance thru 352, I don't think there's even been a passing mention as to why Ferro Lad wears the mask! Maybe it's been in some of this backmatter you guys have referred to that's in the original comics, but unless I've missed something, the explanation has yet to appear in-story. Maybe in 353....?

I don't think the reason for Ferro Lad's mask appears until the end of 353 where it's written on his rocket urn.

it's fascinating that the reason for the mask wasn't addressed sooner. In virtually any other super-team, having members with masks is normal, but in this era of the LSH Ferro Lad was the ONLY one to do so! Interesting, skimming thru the 2-parter that introduces him and the rest of the "Shooter Four", that Ferro Lad isn't even mentioned as a suspect for being the traitor. The mask and its relative unusualness would have been a natural cause for suspicion in a situation that would naturally make everyone paranoid. (Projectra's illusion-casting could have aroused suspicion as well.)

Honestly, reading Ferro Lad's few original appearances is very interesting. The character has such a mystique about him, it's hard not to look for clues as to his inner character in every word he says and everything he does. Cobie has always described him as basically a fearless daredevil, so I watch every panel with him in it with that description in mind. So far it fits, but he's also just as chatty as the other characters and kind of engaging in his own way. I've always thought of him as being extra solitary, kind of a "lone wolf" more so than Brin because of his disfigurement. His appearances are challenging that preconception in a real way.

So with one "live" appearance to go, we'll see what kind of impression his character leaves (other than, you know, the obvious!).....

Re Tharok, I'd say he's dangerous because of his treachery and intelligence. he may not have the raw power of the Emerald Empress, but the way he took control of the rest of the five. Perhaps now we don't consider his visual to be scary because cyborgs in comics have become a dime-a-dozen, but I think for the time this was originally published Tharok presented avery scary figure indeed.

I agree with you that Mano and Persuader don't look quite as imposing, but as I noted earlier in this thread Shooter did a good job of demonstrating how tough they are in a fight.

I first encountered the character of Feero/Ferro Lad in the SW6 era. Looking back, I'm surprised myself as to how strong a foundation the Adventure Era had laid for his future characterization! Honestly, it's a shame that the Postboot version of Ferro didn't adopt the same personality.

Adventure #353

My thoughts on the two-parter as a whole were given on the last review but I'd add that while #352 does a wonderful job being the set-up issue, #353 does a great job being the follow-through. We get plenty of drama and tension as the duel menaces of the Fatal Five and Sun-Eater cause our heroes all manner of stress. And the ending...what more can be said? (I'll try anyway...)

The issue starts by giving us what we really want after #352: namely, the 5 Legionnaires and the 5 villains interacting together. There's enough going on there to create a 10 issue miniseries! Mano and the Emerald Empress especially get some screen time which highlights how cutthroat they are.

From there, it's time to get to the mission at hand! Tharok's plan is simple yet effective for the reader; it builds the tension even more.

Each of the 10 plays their part, and while Sun Boy and the Persuader do their job, it's too powerful for the others to stop. The artwork here by Swan is particularly engrossing--perhaps his best Legion effort yet! There is a sense of scale and epic-ness that screams out from the page.

I've also always liked the bit between Validus and Projectra that I wish was followed up on later in Legion history.

Throughout the 2 parter, Ferro Lad has been portrayed as a daredevil full of courage. T&M were right to play this up with the Legionnaires series.

The core of the Sun Eater looks a bit like the Master of the Thieves Planet! I feel there *must* be an EDE theory to follow this!

And from there...we get perhaps the most memorable death of them all. Ferro Lad, in a series of panels that are now the stuff of legend, makes the ultimate sacrifice. The panel where the Legion witnesses it and reacts is incredibly well done. It's silent Sun Boy, who only looks on in shock as depicted by Swan, that really makes it hit home.

But things aren't over yet! The Fatal Five turn on the Legion as Tharok slaps Cos (causing us to have one of the all time great LW Legion threads circa 2005 joking about they panel and its later ramifications) and Sarya breaks out the Green K handcuffs. But Jeckie convinces Validus to save them and the Fatal 5 turn on each other! But...they disappear, and the Legion barely gets out of this one alive! There *must* be a follow up, and I bet reader demand was insane for more Fatal 5 after this.

From there, it's time to mourn the lost Legionnaire. A final send off, echoing the earlier memorial to Triplicate Girl ensures that all future dead Legionnaires will share a similar tribute. It's a moody, tragic end and suddenly the series is more heavy and dramatic then ever before.

What an amazing story. I've read it probably more than any other Legion story and it still holds up. This story matured not only the franchise, but I suspect many of the fans.

Bonus Lettercol Review: reader Dave Olsen responds to a prior letter written by Elizabeth Kane, disagreeing about romance in the Legion. This kicks off a full blown argument in the Legion Lettercols for the next year to come! For anyone who has a chance to check them out, do so! It's the first Legion fandom flame war! And it gets intense!

Liz Kane was hugely prolific in the letter columns. She has 2 (!) letters printed in this one.

And the really bombshell: Nelson reveals Imra and Garth are engaged!!! I wonder if ifs ever mentioned again before the wedding?

I really liked the panels where each of the Legionnaires/Five takes on the Sun-Eater. They all put up a valiant effort, and Shooter does a good job of making each JUST effective enough to make us think - hey, maybe this one time will do it!

Poor Validus, not really evil yet dominated by Tharok.. I wonder if he (at the time) was smart enough to realize what wa shappening. It's especially sad knowing who Validus really was...

Alas, Ferro Lad gets blown up. Given previous stories, his body WOULD have had to be totally damaged so the Legion wouldn't go through a "Resurrect Lightning Lad" story. You just know they would have, even though he'd been a member for such a short time.

To me, it's not that cyborgs in comics are a dime a dozen, but that Tharok's two halves being evenly split looks kinda, well...goofy. Just my opinion.

That's why I said earlier in this thread he needs a state-of-the-art re-design.

I think Cosmic Boy deserves any kind of abuse he receives.




I'm deeply jealous that you have access to the original issues with the lettercolumns. But I still love you.

right back at you

And to something Lardy was saying on previous page, I'm also heavily watching every panel Ferro Lad is in to discern even the slightest character trait. Like you, I'm delighted at how social and affable he is--not a loner at all.

And on Tharok--did you see how ugly and boring he was *before* the cybernetics?

There used to be a web site that had all the Legion related Adventure era lettercolumns archived but it's now a dead link.

Well, here's a thought: Did destroying the Sun-Eater violate the Legion Code against killing? I mean, Ferro Lad refers to the core as its "life force" and there are other references to same, so....?

Good point. It reveals some interesting grey areas. Like what is one life when billions of other lives are at stake? I don't think they had any choice in the matter -- the Sun-Eater was a threat of such magnitude that niceties like the code against killing went out the window. It would have been interesting if that had been explored further, but the Silver Age aesthetic would not have accomodated those explorations.

ADV 353

The death was heroic and amazingly, not foolish. It was well set up with FL's "unsuccessful" battle with his portion of the divided Sun Eater. Much in the depiction of and after his death was a huge

thud.

From the bottom two panels of p.19 to ALL p. 20, the dialogue and narration are a complete disaster IMO. The art is great until the so important bottom two panels of p. 20.

Can you imagine the emotional release? After a long, hopeless fight, a universe was saved. A friend lost. And with their bland faces they say the words expected but with no conviction shown in the art. Like the politician that has the obligation to express sorrow but really doesn't give a crap one way or the other.

Oh by the way, you outlaws will receive you pardon. SERIOUSLY! THIS is what is on your mind?

It is even sadder a missed opportunity in light of wonderfully done depictions of emotion in recent issues. That these two panels should so fail to show the magnitude of what has just happened....

sigh.

This is just blah.

From the bottom of p19 to the last two panels of p20, I think it's pretty clear from the panel images, what is happening. IMO, removing the narration better depicts the death in the silence of space. As is, the narration steals the thunder from the character of Ferro Lad.

In depicting the Legionnaires' reactions, I was SO disappointed that they used narration, "death weighed heavily..." instead of Swan's usually terrific art.

The art also never showed the Fatal Five taking advantage of the moment to gain an upper-hand.

"all in fetters" Seriously?

The story picks back up when Tharok commands Validus. In this instance, I think the narration did a great job of slowing down the scene, adding apprehension. Dialogue then falls apart again as Superboy makes the supposition ( a desperate and unneeded attempt to set up a future storyline I'm convinced), "it could have burst a dimensional barrier." Really? It could have sent them to Disney land. "I bet we haven't heard the last..."

Reader: Hey! I bet we're going to see a future story in which the Fatal Five is trapped in another dimension!

No duh!

Not needed and distracting from the emotion of the real story. A Legionnaire has died an heroic death. THAT's the story.

Then following, we seem to have Brainiac 5 attempting to preempt some anal readers, "well why didn't Brainy just dues ex machina" to get Ferro's remains..."


Great story idea but written without confidence. I continually felt dialogue and narration were written to preempt criticism and deny the art the ability to tell the story.

I concur that the story could have used a little more craft, particularly around the parts Beebs describes. Young Shooter didn't know much about building up to and capitalizing on the big moment he'd written. And maybe that can be a valid criticism of this issue.

In a way, though, it's all the more admirable in its execution in that it's not overwrought. Some death scenes are executed so melodramatically that they become clichéd for just manipulating the viewer or reader to feel something he or she might not normally feel. It's kind of refreshing that Ferro's death scene and aftermath don't hold the reader by the hand. It's all presented in a very straightforward manner, and we're left to make up our own minds about how we feel.

Even beyond the minimalist approach, it makes sense given Ferro Lad's brief time with the team. Most likely, he had little time to develop really deep bonds with his fellow Legionnaires. Though he was clearly cordial, FL probably also had some barriers built up around him because of his wearing the mask and his reasons for doing so. So the lack of a massive outpouring of grief made a lot of sense. You can, however, infer some shock in the way the Legionnaires acted, or more exactly, underreacted. That response makes a lot of sense. Shock or numbness is often the first reaction to the sudden death of another, even sometimes when it's someone close to you.

I can see what Shooter was doing, even if some of the above comments infer too deeply into his intent--he had a story to tell. And after dispensing of the Sun-Eater, he had the fatal Five situation to resolve. Plotwise, they did their part to defeat the larger threat, but then Shooter had to resolve the Five's threat as well. So he did that in a matter he deemed satisfactory and left the issue to end with a quick funeral scene. Plus, he included enough exposition to leave no doubt in the readers' mind that this death would be more permanent than Lightning Lad's had been.

I like the story just as it was. Maybe Shooter and Swan could have made some better decisions with their execution, but I wouldn't want to see them redressed. It's a classic, pure and simple.

I agree with and like your reasoning for the Legionnaires reactions. I think the strait forward, non-overly dramatic approach works great.

You're right, it does look goofy... thing is, what do you do for a redesign that really stands out? The most likely thing you'd end up with for a "state-of-the-art" cyborg Tharok is... well, a white version of Gear. Normal human shell with all the technology hidden away underneath.

The alternative is you go over the top with the mechanical half (as the "Fatal Four+1" and Legion Worlds stories did in the postboot, even giving him a claw in place of a mechanical hand for some reason...), but that's more steampunk than state-of-the-art.

Adv. 353's letter pages:

I don't think over the top would work with Tharok. It also wouldn't fit what I feel his personality is like - he craves power and would appreciate some powerful mechanical upgrades, but he'd prefer them to be sleek and functional rather than eye-popping.



The Legion toon eliminated that gray area by specifying that the Sun-Eater was some sort of machine. Makes sense, because of the audience. Though I suppose the Legion could argue that blowing up the Sun-Eater was a form of self-defense (though I'm half-expecting Brainy to prove they could have stopped it in another way, just like what he did with Star Boy! Serves Cos and Dirk right for voting against Thom!)

I was wondering about killing the Suneater, too - although it seemed more like a black hole, they did refer to it as a creature or monster with a life force. Not that the Legion couldn't justify killing such a threat to existence, but that the editor wouldn't have had the Suneater presented as a force of nature rather than a living being.

So much to love in this story, especially the way the Five squabbled and backstabbed. Untrustworthy to the end!

Did Tharok take away Validus' ability to speak, or did later writers just ignore it? I don't recall. He's scarier if he can't talk.

It's decades away, but a recent Fables story had the witches using magic to try and gather all the glass pieces and dust that was Bigby Wolf (who had been turned to glass and shattered). Perhaps today a writer would dream up something - magic or machine - to collect all of Ferro Lad.

That old letter column sure brings back memories. The letters were often as interesting as the stories.

I don't think Validus could originally fly could he? Later he was able to fly thru space on his own.

I have them all scanned and posted them on Legion World's facebook page a while back. If you guys want, I can post them all here as we discuss each issue. Wish I'd thought to start that sooner.

Oh, that sounds wonderful! You could also link to the Facebook page so you won't have to post the letters for issues we've already finished discussing.

Seems to be a common thing among Legion enemies. The writer/artist gets so used to the entire team flying through space and talking with each other while doing so (thanks to Flight Rings, transsuits and / or telepathic ear-plugs), that we end up seeing Legion foes with none of that doing the same thing. (Saturn Queen, most recently.)

Rather a white version of Gear than a guy with one nutsicle. I don't even want to know what happeded to the rest of the package.

I agree, redesign.

I did like Mano's do-over in the reboot ( I think it's the reboot. I get them confused).

Going back to whether destroying the Sun-Eater violated the Legion Code---It's not so much that I disagreed with the decision because I think there was no other choice given the timeframe. But it seems odd that the Code wasn't even discussed in-story regarding this when we'd become accustomed to that particular staple coming up over and over again in recent stories--most notably with Kenz Nuhor, but also in other situations involving non-sentient animals as in the Beast Boy story.

So the foundation was laid, with it being designated as having a "life force", for this to at least be mentioned. This doesn't ruin the story or downgrade it much if any, but it does potentially violate the Legion Code, unless some amendments regarding sentience were made in the interim.

Hmmm...when you put it that way, it does seem like sloppiness on the part of Shooter and Weisinger.

I don't believe there is a code against killing. I seem to recall there was some loophole wording there that left open no other option, self defense... Star Boy was expelled because it was "proven" he had options he should have considered. In his case, there was room to claim ulterior motives on his part.

Every step you take you "kill" something, even something sentient. While not totally out of the realm, they can't take three panels to discuss this in every book. If ANYTHING, I think the controversy was the attempt to "divert." This thing WAS going to kill and kill and kill until killed.

It's no "Joker." There was no hope of rehabilitation. It was going to feed. There was no need for a morals debate, no God discussion. It was a Darwin discussion.

Re the Code, here is a transcript of the Legion Constituti...308-310 and the Who's Who of the Legion.. Section 4.3, clause vii states that one ground for expulsion is "viii) knowingly taking the life of a sentient being in other than a provable situation of self-defense or as a provable only available alternative to the death of sentient beings. ".

I would say that even if the Sun-Eater had been alive, it would have been fairly easy to prove that the they had to kill it, otherwise it would have killed everyone in the Solar System.

Granted, this was published after the Adventure Era, but from Star Boy's trial we can infer that this clause was already active then - as BB said, Star Boy was only expelled because Brainy was able to prove Thom had alternatives other than killing Kenz Nuhor.



Probably one reason for freely handing out the ability to fly is that its becpome such a common power in comics that the heroes/villains who can fly almost outnumber those who can't. Okay, maybe not outnumber, but even in comics set in the 21st century of the DC universe almost everybody can.

This whole discussion about killing the sun eater reminds me of the letter column in Adventure #348 in which a reader calls Cosmic Boy to task for wishing for a fly swatter in the Super-Stalag of Space story, pointing out that using such a device would be in violation of the Legion code against killing. Even the editor couldn't take it seriously enough to give a straight answer.

Okay, so maybe the suneater was alive, but there's nothing to indicate it was sentient. Besides, as noted in this letter column from Adv. 316, "it is not against the Legion code to destroy life in self defense" or in defense of one's planet/solar system presumably. And Ferro Lad died in the process so it's not like they could expel him for it.

Well, if nothing else, this sub-discussion has brought out a better understanding of the Legion's Code about killing. I think it's fair to say that the stories themselves made the topic seem more black and white than "transcripts" of the Code did. The Kenz Nuhor case was far from the only example where it was a major or minor plot point. If it confused me somewhat, I'm sure it may have the young readers of the time.

Obviously, Ferro Lad wouldn't have been expelled posthumously had his actions violated the Code, but the remaining four could have been court-martialed for their part. Luckily, it turns out the Code allows for this kind of extreme situation. A throwaway line stating that in-story couldn't have hurt, though. It was far from uncommon, after all, for Legionnaires to spout exposition constantly for less important plot points.

I don't have a copy handy, but I believe the Postboot Legion's Constitution firmed up the language somewhat. The code IIRC reads, "expulsion for knowingly taking sentient life other than as a provable only alternative to the deaths of himself/herself or to other sentient beings". If I'm right, killing someone by accident would also be excused (though other penalties could apply, and probably should depending on the circumstances).

Not only young readers I think. I seem to recall myself at one time believing Legion had a "Superman" code against killing.

This "Legion Code" to me was very clear on our re-read of the Star Boy story, there was no prohibition to killing. Comments in the Outpost I think might be responsible for the distortion or maybe the Superman code. I don't recall anything in-story that actually supported a Legion version of a "no-killing" code.

Adventure #354: The Adult Legionnaires

This is the first time I observed that they killed off Power Boy in this story.

As has been noted before, there are an awful lot of receding hairlines for the men in this story. The women have aged far less. Artist's discretion, I guess.

It's easy to work around this story by saying it was imaginary, or from another timeline, but it did provide quite a bit of fodder for future tales.

Tenzil in politics, Chuck and Lu married, Brainy claiming that things would be better if he were leader, Gim suffering a severe injury (although he didn't lose his powers when his legs were injured). Some of the relationships had already been established or hinted at: Garth & Imra, Jo & Tinya, Rokk & Lydda, Thom & Nura, Ayla & Brin, Vi & Ord.

Mon-el became an explorer and colonizer, perhaps the basis for Valor as seeder of worlds.

The Cosmic Directorate presaged Weber's World.

We know they worked around Shady dying on the Science Asteroid - and having white skin.

A good surprise villain with Ferro Lad's brother - and a bigger surprise that he was controlled by the LSV.

This story is a lot more fun to read in retrospect, I suspect, than it would have been originally.

Adventure #354

From the iconic 2-part Death of Ferro Lad story, we get the almost equally iconic Adult Legionnaires 2-part story (really 1.5 parts). The Adult Legion had been an almost equally important part of the mythos in the beginning but by 1966 they had grown increasingly rare like so many other parts of the early 60's Superman family. Yet, fans obviously kept them firmly in mind, since they kept writing in about Garth having to come back, having to fall in love with Imra and having to get his arm eventually fixed. Thus, this story gives the definitive Adult Legion future, and hits on just about every character and topic--so much so that anyone not shown is conspicuous by their absence (Re: Lyle).

It's also fascinating that this story is basically the final Adult Legion story. They'd have perhaps one last appearance in Superman at the beginning of the Bronze Age (with Mordru) but that's it. Yet fans would remember them and discuss them so often in fanzines that Levitz would feel obligated to address them, and the idea of the Legion's predestined figure in Legion #300, 15 years later.

Which ties into what makes this story so exciting: the big reveals of the future and introductions of new characters. Shadow Woman, Chemical King, Reflecto, Quantum Queen, Power Boy...wow! Lone Wolf joined as Timberwolf, as did Polar Boy. Who got married. Who had kids. It's just really exciting! And the inclusion of the LOSV, Luthor elements and Mxy elements made it not only a Superman driven story but again feels like a coda on the pre-Shooter Silver Age Legion (much like the Bridwell Sir Prize / Miss Terious story). Of course, it's the follow through that came right after which heightened the sense of importance: in short order we'd get Shady, Condo, Brin as T-Wolf and a Legionnaire, QQ, etc.

I often wonder if Roy Thomas didn't feel so obligated to play continuity cop with Reflecto (his worst habit, and done terribly here) that Levitz wouldn't have felt the need to do LSH #300.

The cover of #354 is one of the best of the history of comics. It's also powerful because Ferro Lad had literally just died--and with that death hanging so heavy on the series, DC is showing that this type of tragedy will hit the Legion many times. Facing that death will not only make each and every story more tense, it will also underscore the immense heroism it takes to be a Legionnaire.

It's almost as if they felt that after Ferro Lad's death, they needed Superman to show up and say "it's okay kids. Yes, death is part of life and its something we will see more of. But look at the bigger picture. Look at the happy ending that is a lasting Legion of Super-Heroes". It was a wise move to have Superman hold the audiences hand. It made it more powerful yet reaffirmed the sense of optimism the series always had.

The story starts with a bang! The opening splash shows the romances of Night Girl & Cos, and Ayla and Lone Wolf (now Timberwolf) do indeed turn out okay! And the next page hits the ground running with Superman sees the bigger, more grandiose city block sized HQ.

And from there, the infamous Hall of Fallen Heroes. *choke*

After a follow up to the opening splash (also seeing Vi ended up with Dupe), we check in on some old members. First, we see Jo & Tinya in domestic bliss, and then even more interesting, we see Mon-El in a role I love, as an explorer / wanderer. I love the idea of Mon having a wanderlust, and having further adventures of his own, helping push forward civilization.

We also see Vi, who looks absolutely ravishing. There's still a current of old-fashioned "women retire once they're married with children" going...but of course Imra will smash that in pieces.

Tenz as a leader / politician is also introduced. It's always great seeing what job and careers the Legionnaires could have after they retire. This is one of the best. We also learn Gim (bearded!) was injured and lost his powers, but became head of the Inter-Galactic Guard. Meanwhile Thom (bald!) and Nura are married.

The biggest romantic surprise is Luornu and Chuck being married, of course. That must have thrown readers for a loop but its great to see Luornu won't always be broken hearted over Supes, and Chuck will end up happy too. This sets up one of the major subplots of Shooter's arc, how Luornu goes from a kid-like crush on Supes to true feelings for Chuck. Also, their kids have both their powers which makes them the best so far!

We finally get down to the story at had / action, though the real fun was all the other info we were getting. That's why it's great when after a few pages we get back to it. First we get a glimpse of a traitor in the Legion, Jan Jor, forever causing fans to theorize he was indeed False Pretenses Lad. Then we see another memorial to a dead Legionnaire, Power Boy.

And from there we get more action, which like all the Shooter era action so far, is great. Also a cool science fact about intense heat decreasing spontaneous magnetism. I'll let the real geeky LMBers tell me if that's right.

There's then a surprise reveal, and Doug Nolan is introduced as we are led to believe its Ferro Lad, but quickly told otherwise. Thus the earlier theme I mentioned, of Superman and the Adult Legion helping readers deal with the death of Ferro Lad, is addressed head on.

But it doesn't end there! The LOSV are revealed in yet another surprise. And the showdown promised in the first appearance of the adult LSH and adult LOSV is about to happen, at long last! Can't wait!

Bonus Meet the Legionnaires: though most of it had been revealed before, the whole origin and history of Garth, Ayla and Mekt is recapped in one place.

Lettercol Bonus: Nelson explains the various applied sciences giving the Science Police their name, and confirms Jeckie is indeed real royalty.

Elsewhere in the DCU Alert! In this month, the Legion has a big guest starring stint in Jimmy Olsen #100. Interestingly, Jimmy Olsen was just about the only other place they were popping up frequently by now (with one more big exception--World's Finest--coming up).

DD's and BB's son wouldn't have inherited BB's power, as he gained it artificially and lost it again before marrying her. They were just using the expression "bouncing baby boy" to make a pun I think.


And yes, heat does indeed decrease magnetism. It's true, it's true.

Perhaps the real reason why so many tragedies were undone was because 350-351 marked an anniversary of sorts. Later comics would wrap up a story in the anniversary issue itself (350), but that apparently wasn't a consideration at the time. (Even a decade later, Avengers # 150 was the first half of a continued story that wrapped up in 151.)

Considering that every Legionnaire is featured in one capacity or another, including the Subs and the Super-Pets, this issue reeks of anniversary "special-ness," and part of that special feeling comes from all the happy turnarounds.

Adv. 351

A few catch-up thoughts . . .

E. Nelson Bridwell gets my vote for best writer the Legion has had yet and probably one of the top Legion writers of all time. It’s not that the happy endings here work—though they do—but because he accomplishes so much in so few pages yet none of it feels rushed. Adv. 351 shows how good a Legion story can be because it is one of the best.

Bridwell hits the ground running by picking up where we left off in 350: Ultra Boy is about to learn Sir Prize’s secret identity. But in a display of leadership, Invisible Kid stops Ultra Boy the only way he can, by punching him out. This action not only prolongs the mystery over Sir Prize’s identity, but it does so in a way that is wholly natural and fits the characters and situation. Furthermore, it drives home a point about right and wrong: When the leader makes a promise for the entire group, it’s the responsibility of everyone to keep it.

We’re then given the obligatory flashback of last issue’s high points. Some of this exposition works better than others, such as Mon-El mentioning that Sir P and Miss T replaced Superboy and Supergirl and the reminder that I-Kid slugged U-Boy because the latter can use only one power at a time. But after that, it feels like I-Kid is telling the Legionnaires what they already know—a necessary device in comics at the time but it still bogged the story down.

Not for long, though. Bridwell follows with a jab from Sir Prize about Ultra Boy having once pretended to be a criminal. Not only does this provide us with a nice emotional closure to the scene but it’s also another clue that Sir Prize knows quite a bit more about the Legion’s past than we might think. (One thing that might have made this scene even better: seeing Jo’s reaction to being reminded of his “criminal” past.)

Bridwell also makes effective use of narrative transitions. The next scene takes us to four Legionnaires as they respond to the emergency on Brande’s Estate. (I’m choosing to believe that Ferro Lad called the benefactor “Brandes” simply because he wasn’t familiar with the man, by the way.) In the caption, Bridwell says simply, “But all the action’s not at the clubhouse! Let’s see what’s happening on the latest Legion mission . . .”

In fact, Bridwell’s caption transitions throughout remind us that we’re reading a story, but, as with certain other features of his writing, we don’t care. We’re so immersed in these characters and what they’re doing that we’re happy to be along for the ride. Uncle Nelson is telling us a story, so grab your blankie and your cup of hot cocoa and get ready.

Every scene in this issue rocks because of the economy of story telling. Each scene is practically a mini-story by itself. The first Brande’s Estate scene, for example, accomplishes a lot in two and a half pages: The four Legionnaires approach the planet, their ship is destroyed, they evade capture and finally land on the planet: beginning, middle and end.

Sure, some aspects of the story don’t make sense, such as Supergirl summoning the Super-Pets to attack a group of kids who were only asking for her help. But, even then, the Subs showcase their powers in inventive and humorous ways (Streaky on catnip!). Story logic? What’s that?

Furthermore, Bridwell’s story telling contains enviable level s of breadth and depth. The ultimate fanboy, he knows his Legionnaires. He knows their personalities and their powers (two things Hamilton and Siegel seldom bothered with) and uses both to demonstrate teamwork and resourcefulness, as when the Cos and Ferro Lad team up to fashion a cauldron and then Cos asks the Legionnaires back at the clubhouse to procure the necessary ingredients.

But Bridwell’s knowledge isn’t restricted to super-heroes. He brings in elements of magic, both in the Miss Terious/Hag sequence and the Mxyzptlk detour, that serve the needs of the plot while entertaining the reader and broadening the Legion’s universe. In these few sequences, he’s given us a sense that the Legion’s world is both larger and more believable than anything we’ve seen before. Yet all of these things keep the story moving forward. Nothing is wasted or extraneous.

A few bits could have been stronger. Ken repents a little too quickly when his effort to embarrass Miss Morrison fails. And Clark is such a stand-up guy, he spares both Ken and the teacher’s feelings. But a somewhat more realistic high school sequence might have been in order so these teenagers don't act like adults think they should act.

Also, Sir Prize and Miss Terious reveal their identities a little too quickly and anti-climactically, though Bridwell clearly has reasons for unmasking them in this manner. Once the White Witch is restored, there’s no need to continue the charade.

And then there’s that happy ending which makes one feel good to be a Legionnaire—or even a vicarious Legionnaire. I could have done without the “Wait’ll next issue” blurb, though. Why ruin the moment?

But these aspects are minor annoyances at best. “The Forgotten Legion” set the bar by showing how good Legion stories can be.

Grade: 98.0 percent (A+)

Legion, you had me at:




















I clearly remember seeing this cover on the spinner rack at our community drugstore. I was 11 years old and just starting to be interested in comic books. I was familiar with Superman, of course, so when I saw him standing among these memorial statues saying, "Most of them were friends of mine...", I knew these had to be some exceptional people. And that word "Legion" in the subtitle promised there would be even more amazing heroes inside. If five of them had died heroes' deaths, how many more must there be?

(And there was the shocking idea that there were comic book heroes who had actually died. I thought heroes always won!)

It was not Superman who had caught my eye, though. It was the stately Shadow Woman, the humble Ferro Lad, the angelic Reflecto. And Quantum Queen, who appeared as if she were about to ascend from her pedestal. She fascinated me the most. I had no idea what kind of powers a quantum person would have, but I really wanted to know. (I've always wished she had become a more prominent character in Legion lore.)

The first half of the book was the most interesting to me. Seeing the futuristic world and its technology. Wondering what the costumes and code names hinted about the Legionnaires' powers. Watching them relate to each other as long-time friends and as families. They were heroes and friends! I wanted to know more about this Legion. And with that, a 46-year (so far) relationship began.

It's interesting to see how the future was imagined at the height of the Space Age. It appears dated now, but it was very forward-thinking to my young imagination.

Brainiac 5's pipe-smoking characterized him as the wise head of the house. Didn't all TV dads smoke pipes back then? The guys' receding hairlines, the wives (no single female Legionnaires?) taking care of kids while the men carried on with Legion work, even Saturn Woman being the strong token female--all that fit with mid-century middle-class America's perceived social norms. With the social upheaval that was rising in the 1960s it was comforting to imagine that the future would still be "normal."

It strikes me now how much suspension of disbelief is required in plots like this one. Someone is able to totally wreck the Legion's lab, arsenal, and spaceport hangar without getting caught? And Legionnaires are just sitting around waiting for it to happen again? There's a hidden base directly beneath the Legion HQ? Really? How did it get there without the Legion knowing it? I just took all that as typical comic book storytelling. It was no fun if you asked too many questions.

On the other hand, there were some creative uses and countering of the Legionnaires' powers. And the clues to the mystery were well-done. Having never seen a previous Legion story, I was able to deduce that the clues were pointing at the dead(?) Ferro Lad as the intruder. How could that be? Of course, it was a red herring, but the mystery had an intriguing resolution. Had it been established earlier that Andrew Nolan had a twin, or did it come out of nowhere for everyone like it did for me?

And then to learn there's a Legion of Super-Villains too! Oh boy!

All that for 12 cents.

It is rather telling that all the other dead Legionnaires (Shadow Woman, Chemical King, Reflecto, Quantum Queen, Power Boy) were NOT among the current membership! Anniversary special alright?

That's an interesting theory. I've never thought that writing out the super-cousins was intended to be anything more than a plot device for a single story. If your theory is correct, Mort must have gotten cold feet early on the process since Superboy is so prominently featured on the cover of 351.

Note that when Superboy was finally written out the series (Action # 392 or thereabouts), it was only after the Legion was no longer cover featured and after they were appearing in a book which already featured Superman.

I think your reasoning is correct, Jim.

What amazes me about 351 is how many Legionnaires are featured in substantial roles. We've got two away team missions ( (a) Cosmic Boy, Ferro Lad, Matter-Eater Lad and Miss Terious, and (b) Mon-El, Saturn Girl, Princess Projectra, Colossal Boy and Element Lad), plus Invisible Kid, Ultra Boy, Lightning Lad, Sir Prize, Chuck Taine, Superboy, and Supergirl all having something significant to do, plus cameos from Phantom Girl, Karate Kid, and Brainiac 5. Utilizing so many Legionnaires in ways that serve the needs of the story is a remarkable feat and a welcome departure from the previous practice of having Legionnaires pop in and out of the story or appear without doing anything.

You made me realize that one of the weaknesses in some Fatal Five stories is that, since there are only five of them, an equal number of Legionnaires need to be present for them to be a credible threat. Both this story and 365-66 rely on the conceit of the Legion being short-handed to deal with the threat. If the Legionnaires outnumbered the Five, the latter wouldn't be so fatal.



Probably nothing. I suspect it was just a device to explain why the Emerald Empress didn't free herself from the witch hunters.

He Who, even with just five Legionnaires the Fatal Five can be fairly easy to take down. A lot depends on the pacing and quality of writing.

I cite the Postboot Legion's LSH 80, in which Element Lad, Leviathan, Kinetix, XS, Andromeda and Mon-El alone take out the Fatal Five. Granted, that's a pretty powerful team and we have the Empress without the Emerald Eye, and Mano turned on Tharok, but...

It's really just Validus and the Emerald Empress/Eye the Legionnaires have to worry about. Mano and Persuader are pretty easy to take out via ranged attacks (throw Element Lad or Kid Quantum II at 'em, for example). Tharok's tech can be fairly advanced, but a fully-powered Mon-El or Supergirl won't have much trouble either.

Which brings me to the Emerald Empress. Boy, has she gotten a lot more powerful after her initial appearances! Take late v3 for example, when she alone stalemated nearly a dozen Legionnaires, even causing Quislet to have to return home...

Adv. 352

It’s hard to write a review of this story because, as many have said, it’s iconic. Five of the Legion’s most famous adversaries are introduced, and a Legionnaire is slated to die. This story simply has to be great.

Except that it’s not.

Oh, it’s by no means a bad story. But it could have been a whole lot stronger. Reading this story after 351 provides an interesting if unfortunate contrast. I feel Bridwell could have economically woven everything that happens in “The Fatal Five” into half of a single issue. But this is a two-part story and, after finishing Part 1, my initial reaction was, “That’s it?”

Shooter gets off to a slow start by having the Legionnaires watch video tapes of the Fatal Five to introduce the latter. We’re given back stories for each, shown what they can do, and provided updates on their current status—an approach to story telling that’s as exciting as sifting through resumes. This is the sort of approach that many novice writers use: they need to introduce characters, so they introduce them: “Hey, readers, here’s Character X. He’s a bad ass. Here’s why he’s a bad ass.” A more effective—and harder—way of doing this is to show the characters doing what they do in a way that keeps the plot moving forward. Here Shooter simply stops the story to tell us what we need to know.

To be fair, he’s a savvy enough writer (or perhaps he has a savvy enough editor) to begin the story with a supernumerary worrying about a mysterious “it” approaching earth to create a sense of danger. And he has the Legionnaires sparring with each other while watching the vids (yes, Superboy does sound incredibly naïve in wondering how there could be so many super-villains around). This chatter creates the impression of kids watching movies with their friends on a Saturday night. Did someone bring popcorn?

After the movie—er, vid—the Legionnaires go home for the night only to be summoned back by Superboy. Although this scene is probably extraneous, it gives us a welcome sense of the Legionnaires having lives outside of the Legion. And Ferro Lad is starting to emerge as a character with a lot of personality (“Would I be losing my beauty sleep if he hadn’t?”). These character moments are one of young Shooter's strengths as a writer.

Then we launch into the story proper with the threat of “it”—the Sun-Eater—approaching earth. Why didn’t Shooter simply start the story here and fill us in on the back story as needed? Doing so would have moved the story along faster and gotten us out of the convenient trap of the Legionnaires having just watched a vid about the villains they are going to ask for help.

The rest of the story relies on the conceit I mentioned in a previous post, of the Legionnaires being short handed in an emergency. If one grants this conceit, the rest of the story follows logically from it—and I have no problem granting the conceit in this instance. When the Legionnaires’ pleas are turned down by heroes from other worlds, I found myself truly drawn in and caring about their situation. Most of us know what it’s like to feel desperate and to be turned down for something we need (a job, or example); the rejection of others seems cold, and Shooter conveys this perfectly.

My one problem with this scene is how the Legionnaires contact some of the distant heroes. Messages in bottles? Flame writing in space? Even for 1966, these methods seem woefully antiquated and ineffective.

In Part 2 of the issue, individual Legionnaires solicit individual members of the Fatal Five for help. As someone said in a previous post (Blockade Boy?), these episodes are formulaic. We know each member of the Fatal Five is going to accept the offer; otherwise there would be no story. Prolonging the conflict in this manner creates a lot of false tension.

Still, Shooter makes the most of each episode. In Cosmic Boy’s scene, for example, he has Cos abandon his spaceship so it isn’t destroyed by Tharok’s defenses and use his magnetism to burst into Tharok’s “citadel of evil”. It’s a very dramatic scene, though we have to grant Shooter some license in allowing Cos to take for granted that Tharok’s “machines” would “keep the air from rushing out”—which is what happens.

Here, also, Shooter displays another of his strengths by conveying a new character’s personality in few words. Tharok isn’t at all threatened by a lone Legionnaire bursting into his citadel. With arrogance, he says, “State your business . . . I’m very busy!” Then, after agreeing to help the Legion, Tharok shoots Cos in the back just to establish “which of us is master!”

The rest of the episodes play out in similar ways, but, again, Shooter is so good at treating each villain as an individual that the episodes don’t feel episodic. More, he gives new Legionnaires Projectra and Ferro Lad each a chance to show their mettle. Cos and Superboy fare less well, and Sun Boy proves, at least, that he can talk a good game.

Adv. 352 is indeed iconic, but it could have been a much tighter story. Few stories can live up the legend this one has accumulated over the decades, and, while we can fault Shooter for some of his story telling weaknesses, we can also praise him for giving us a sense of his strengths to come.

Grade: 85.7 (B)

That wasn't me but your comments did get me to thinking, how else would they have contacted the Five? Shooter's method did show them to be distinct personalities and provided one-on-one characterization as opposed to waiting until all were gathered to start the story.

I think it had some worth. Well, actually, I just can't imagine another way to gather up the five.

True. In addition to the stories you cite, the ones I remember most either treat the F5 as individual threats or have them attack smaller groups of Legionnaires.

-- In Superboy # 190, for example, only Tharok and Validus go up against Mon-El and Saturn Girl (who, conveniently, pretends to be unconscious for most of the tale).

-- In Superboy # 198, the Emerald Empress and Persuader are quite effective in injuring and hiding Superboy, and the Persuader and Mano (actually Cham pretending to be Mano) ambush Braniac 5 and Element Lad.

-- In Superboy # 219, small teams of Legionnaires pursue individual members of the F5 to different worlds.

Each of these is a good story, in my opinion (which is why I remember them), but a knock-down drag-out fight between the entire Legion and the F5 seems unlikely to happen.

It's not the manner in which Shooter had them round up the Fatal Five. It's more in the telling of same. The linear progression from Legionnaire X meeting F5 member Y simply doesn't move the story forward.

Here are a couple of quick suggestions on how Shooter might have accomplished the same but approached telling the story differently:

1) Intersperse the episodes with reminders of the Sun-Eater and its progress. Perhaps the powerful scene of a star disappearing could be moved to a later part of the story.

2) Begin the story with Superboy rescuing the Emerald Empress from the bonfire. Then, as he's dying from kryptonite poisoning, he tells her in a series of flashbacks what the Legionnaires know and why they need her help. This approach could have taken up the entirety of Part 1 with Part 2 catching us up on what the other Legionnaires are doing.

I think maybe I put it into a different strokes category. I get that idea of finding a way to use the collecting of the Five to move the story (the Sun Eater) along but for such a short sequence, I don't think I'd see improvement in reordering the scenes or doing them in flashback.


Keeping "it" a mystery did a great job of keeping up MY tension and anticipation. The everyone else is gone we need help thing and the refusal of heroes from other worlds was a bit clunky. We're talking the GALAXY (eventually), solar system for now. I think everything else on the agenda pretty much gets dropped but like you said, let's but into that conceit.

Once the idea is proposed of going after the Five, I think the story should go full bore on that without distraction.

Here (I'm re-reading and typing with your comments in mind) I think I see what you're getting at. The story started with the Legionnaires just conveniently reviewing profiles of the villains they just happen to now need. After "it" was discovered and the Legion had tried and failed to get other heroes involved, would have been the perfect time to review profiles of villain, maybe even a few no chosen... then go fetch.

I was quite surprised to see that the Chuck/Lu marriage was foretold in the "Adult Legion" story! I'd read it once before many, many years ago but failed to remember that. It was a delightful surprise as were all those Legion marriages that never happened, like Ord/Vi and Brin/Ayla. (Thom and Nura weren't married during 5YL, were they?) It would be hilarious to go back in time, cut those two out and show Vi/Ayla instead! Mort, Shooter and the gang would've been fired!

I'd also forgotten that Douglas Nolan had appeared before LSH #300. It gives that story a little more juice, knowing that Paul didn't pull Douglas out of nowhere. If I'm right, though, he never appears between this story and that one? Of course, it makes sense, given the context of this story being set in the future and the implication they'd never met him before.

In hindsight Levitz and Giffen using Douglas to invalidate the Adult Legion story was a brilliant move, one that I may never have appreciated until I just re-read the story. When I originally read 300, it confused me a great deal. I had only been reading Legion for just over a year. I was unfamiliar with all of the alternate takes on events shown and couldn't grasp the significance. I certainly hadn't read the Adult Legion story and didn't realize how Shady's peril in the interlude sequences was playing with one of its predictions. I eventually grasped some of the significance from the lettercols, but it was a long, looooong time until I was able to appreciate it for what it was. With this re-read and making the Douglas Nolan connection, I may have finally come full-circle!

What's missing from the monuments to fallen members is any current member, other than the just-deceased Ferro Lad. I think that section would have been enhanced by showing Invisible Kid, Karate Kid or someone else we already knew. There are, of course, silhouetted monuments unrevealed, so there's room for speculation. Plus, several Legionnaires are unseen in the story, including Lyle and Val. Some others missing from the current roster are Sun Boy, Projectra and Cham. And very soon, fandom will gasp collectively as Condo and Shady are introduced...

Had to chuckle about two thing: adult Brainy shown smoking a pipe and bald Thom! LOVE it!!!

ADV 354

This was just fun for me though I guess it could also be called the "Can of Worms" issue.

I mean, how does someone NOT want to know about those Legionnaires that died. An amazing piece of understanding an audience.

And as for the Fatal Five/Sun-Eater story.....I wonder why the Heroes of Lallor were not shown or mentioned among those contacted? If they were looking far and wide for help, they would seem the logical ones to contact. I can't excuse it that they were forgotten because Duplicate Boy (Man) appears in the Adult Legion story!

And what about the Subs? The Super Pets? Kid Psycho?

And just what the hell was the mission to Dimension QK-51, anyway?!?! Sounds like an interesting, untold story!

The Lallors got some splaining to do!

I also love that not only is Timber Wolf officially joining the Legion foretold in this story, but he receives a prominent role in the action! Sure, he's injured, but we haven't seen "Lone Wolf" since his intro, which chronologically was a few years ago. Not only that, it foretells his and Ayla's continuing relationship from the attraction in that seeming one-shot appearance. Of course, there's no wedding bells to come and no little Brin and Bran...

Also, gotta love Polar Boy/Man as a Legionnaire, finally! Was there ever a Sub who wanted it more? Thankfully, that's something Paul Levitz will decide NOT to throw out with the rest of Adult legion continuity!

Is this the first he was called "Timber Wolf?"

I'd say it HAS to be, since this was only his second appearance!

I SEEM to recall reading his first appearance even though it came out before I started reading comics. Maybe I have that issue when I bought back issues. Which issues is it? So that's the only time he appeared or was mentioned before the Adult tale? I seem to recall someone mentioned him in the letters column but I don't remember if they said "lone wolf" or "timber wolf."

I guess Shooter named him?

He was called "Lone Wolf" in the story entitled "The Lone Wolf Legionnaire" in Adventure Comics #327 by Hamilton and Forte. He was offered membership but declined. It's the story where he believes he's an android, but the real android is revealed. He hadn't appeared again 'til this Adult Legion tale set in the future.

Wait, you mean your copy doesn't? Obviously, you got a printing error, and should return it for a refund

^

(Gotta love how Ord and Brin found their way to each other! )

Vi standing on the lift is a nice touch, uh, I mean good statue design.

Adv. 353

It is by now a well established trope that super-villains cannot be trusted (duh!). Get them in a room together and try to make them cooperate with each other, and they will jockey for who should be the leader, who is the mightiest, who has the loudest mouth, etc. The beginning of “The Doomed Legionnaire” epitomizes this trope.

Yet that’s what makes it so fun. While the plot may be unoriginal, Shooter clearly knows his villains well enough that their interactions come off as fresh. Tharok, for example, immediately proclaims himself leader of both the Fatal Five and the Legionnaires, and no one objects. Instead, Mano and the Persuader argue over who gets to go first in demonstrating their powers. Their argument turns into a brawl, which Tharok permits so he can “observe them under actual combat conditions.” Finally, the Emerald Empress puts a stop to the brawl, but an already pissed off Validus loses control, calming down only after Superboy blinds him by wrapping his indestructible cape around the monster’s cranium.

Shooter deftly portrays this powder keg situation, which makes an effective springboard into 353. This situation immediately creates a lot of tension that was lacking in 352. Shooter does not deviate much from the tropes he works with—there’s a certain familiarity, for example, in Mano coming on to the Empress in her quarters and to her rebuffing him—yet he uses these tropes to great effect by keeping the action moving. No sooner is Mano expelled from the Empress’s quarters than Superboy enters and she tries to seduce him. No sooner is Superboy felled by kryptonite than Cosmic Boy arrives to tell them of a meeting. Action, action, action.

Tharok devises a plan for stopping the Sun-Eater, and it’s a doozy. First it requires him to temporarily amp up the powers of each of his allies (and put Validus under his mental control while he’s at it.) Then the amped up Sun Boy lures the Sun Eater into a trap, the Persuader carves the cloud-like creature into smaller sections, and each member of the ad hoc team tackles a section. But complications arise, and the dismembered bits of the Sun-Eater easily counter the heroes and villains, even sensing and exploiting Superboy’s weakness to red solar radiation.

The delivery of this sequence is far more exciting than the set-up in 352, even though Shooter employs essentially the same structure of having the characters split up. Perhaps this sequence works because the Fatal Five are so much more unpredictable as allies than as potential recruits—consider Validus going back to rescue Projectra, for example. Perhaps there’s something inherently exciting about villains and heroes working together to stop a common threat. Whatever the cause, these scenes are very well done, and Shooter’s Marvelesque layouts heighten the tension.

(Shooter’s layouts, in general, are rougher than anything Swan or other DC artists were doing, but that’s a good thing. They create a much greater mood of danger than Swan’s pencils alone convey. Consider the two-page sequence on pp. 14-15, for example. The space background is in every panel, as is the Sun-Eater, bringing the actions of the other characters into sharp relief.)

The plan fails, of course, and this leads to Tharok building the absorbatron bomb and Ferro Lad delivering it. This sequence lives up to its hype, even after all these years. Ferro Lad doesn’t linger over his decision, and Shooter doesn’t linger over his fate. He keeps the story moving right up through those searing blasts.

I would have liked for the Legionnaires to express a bit more emotion, however. Even though they didn’t get to know Ferro Lad very well, they react with nothing more than platitudes.

The immediate crisis over and with it the reason for the alliance, the villains do what villains do and betray the Legion. But (time for another trope), Projectra is able to win over the heart of Validus, who saved her. This leads to a hasty resolution of the Fatal Five mysteriously vanishing, just as Nemesis Kid did back in 347. Then it’s memorial time, as the Legionnaires send a rocket for Ferro Lad off to Shanghalla (misspelled Shanghalia here).

Aside from a rushed ending, this is indeed a satisfying wrap-up and a fitting end to Ferro Lad. Shooter, like many writers, seems to prefer writing characters he’s created over those he hasn’t. He gives Ferro Lad, Projectra, and each of the Fatal Five far more interesting scenes than anything Superboy, Cosmic Boy, or Sun Boy do. But these characters keep the reader enthralled and keep the story moving through a tight plot with many twists and turns.

Grade: 96.1 (A)

^^^^

I learn so many new words reading his posts.

You know what was really, really great about that "fitting end" to Ferro Lad? It wasn't the end of Ferro Lad and Shooter knew it. He had to. He had this whole thing laid out from the second he introduced the character. Death, Douglass, Ghost, the whole thing I truly believe this.

I sit here shaking my head. Seriously, it's difficult to type, the keys all a blur. He was a prodigy whose outlet was writing comics. It's mind boggling.

Well, the Legion's constitution was amended after 342 to permit killing in self defense. I'd say this situation qualifies on a grand scale.

That was convenient.

Here's page one of 354's letter column:

Here's page 2, plus a Meet the Legionnaires feature:

Glad to be of educational service.

Which words did you learn in the 353 post?

Well, not really. In his closing argument in 342, Brainy says, "No change that may be made in the future alters the fact that Star Boy broke the code as we have it now!"

Well yeah really because it made the next story work. That's what I meant by "convenient."

In just the handful of stories he'd written to this point, Shooter ALREADY added SOOOOO much Legion lore! And there's LOTS more to come!!!!

I'm so amazed at how much talent he already had at such a young age! I guess he's now considered a huge jerk in the comics biz, but I'd REALLY love for him to write his autobiography or for some enterprising writer to take on a Shooter biography. I'd read the hell out of it!

IMO, Roger Stern would be a great choice to do a biography. Roger's an experienced novelist and his introduction to this Archives shows that he has had a lot of access to his subject. Some of the anecdotes Stern shared in it are more than I've ever heard about Shooter's early Legion assignments.

As is well known, it all began when the foursome went on a double date, got drunk, and confessed their true feeling to each other...

Close. What happened was that they both got bonded (i.e., got drunk) over getting dumped at the same time, but didn't date together to start with!

[I'm slightly shocked you didn't notice someone looking a lot like "Silver Age" KQ2 in the background ]


Well, she is Ayla's Little Woman.

I have very mixed feelings about the Adult Legionnaires story. On one hand, the first part's got a decent mystery about who the enemy is, and the identity of the duo that helps turn the tables in the battle against the LSV is clever and hopeful.

But seeing that most of the Legionnaires end up settling into suburban domesticity seems depressingly parochial to me, the true product of a comic guided by a middle-aged man of that particular generation.

Now, having said that, I am well aware that it was the Silver Age and comics were aimed at kids, and there was little or no chance of alternative lifestyles showing up, even thinly veiled like in other Silver Age comics (the implications of the panel pointed out by Reboot aside.)

So, on it's own terms, it's a decent story. As a portrayal of life in the 30th Century, it's disillusioning to me. And I'm glad that Levitz chose to show in LSH #300 that the future was not set in stone.

'Boot, the "real panel" is brilliant!

I think a rewrite would be interesting but could we expect it to be any less dated, 50 years from now?

We got this from a 15 year old boy of that era and I think we would have gotten about the same thing from a middle-aged women of that era. I'd presume that the story probably doesn't reflect the values of either nor of the 50 year old man running the whole show but of the audience they believe they are writing to.

It's nice to speculate what story we'd have gotten if the powers that be had let Shooter write to the audience he thinks will be in 50 years. We probably would have had an Asian KK, a Black Ferro Lad and a snake Projectra.


Didn't they references in this (and a previous) story that the future wasn't set in stone? I might be mixing that up with other books I'm reading but I think it was the predominant fan base that ran with this story as canon? The upcoming letters column should be interesting. Maybe they will tell us.

I think it has to be said in Mort's defense that the mainstream attitudes of the time were still rooted firmly in the "conform or else" mentality of the previous decade. Having just lived through a decade where one could easily lose one's livelihood over something as trivial as attending a meeting 20 years before, it's easy to see why a man in Mort Weisenger's position would be reluctant to rock the social boat, even if he had been so inclined.

Re the futures of the Legionnaires, at least Mon-El went off to be an explorer. Something else else different, at least.



I'd always envisioned that Brin and Ord, after drowning their sorrows in drink, both realized how much they preferred kissing a man to kissing a woman!

Drat that thought bubble! Who is the person beside the KQ2 lookalike? A pre-booted Atom'x?

(hey, when are you gonna comment on the Postboot reread huh? :p)

I was thinking it looked a bit like Magno, once you allow for the primitive colouring 60s DC used. And we all know Jazmin's attractions are magnetic.

You're going too fast! As you know, last week I had stuff going on, and haven't had a chance to review all the issues posted to date. And catching up becomes harder still when you post two issues in a day!

That's a valid point. Maybe I was a little rough on ol' Mort. He was probably more ambivalent about conformity than I give him credit for, if the Silver Age Superman books are anything to go by.

After this, we should probably stick to discussing the Archives, 'Boot

I gotta say I always wondered why Cosmic King had transmutation powers, and not magnetism like Cosmic Boy/Man did. Why was Cosmic King the only one of the original 3 LSVers whose powers didn't match his Legionnaire counterpart?

Loved how each of the Legionnaires beat their evil counterparts one on one too, and good to see Polar Man with such control over his powers! I always felt it was a shame he didn't get his flight ring earlier.



Magno and KQII? Sounds like a mighty nice couple. She's intense, he's started to become intense.

I did two because it was a two-parter and I missed a day. But just for you, I'll take a week-long hiatus enough time to catch up?

Adv. 354

In the words of Monty Python, “And now for something completely different . . .”

Well, not completely, but this Adult Legion excursion does provide a nice break from the ongoing adventures of the teen Legion. It also provides us with a rare and very satisfying glimpse into what our heroes would be like when they grew up. This is the sort of story that, unfortunately, just wouldn’t happen today. It reflects what the Hermit has described as the cultural optimism of a bygone era. Everyone believed they would grow up, get married, and have a good life. This belief is reflected in the fates of the retired ex-Legionnaires. One is even president of his home world.

And the Legion itself is alive and well. It’s shrunk in terms of membership, which has resulted in two signficant changes: married members are allowed to remain and the former Subs, whose powers once weren’t good enough for the Legion, have been allowed to join (though only Polar Man is seen in this story.)

In other words, this is the sort of story that is meant to reassure us that everything will be all right, that we will survive the uncertainty of adolescence, and that things will get better. For the most part, “The Adult Legion” succeeds in achieving these aims but is derailed somewhat when an actual villain enters the picture.

The story begins simply enough, with Superman being summoned into the future many years after he last participated in a Legion mission. He is astonished to see the Legion’s headquarters, once a simple clubhouse, now covers a city block. A pipe-smoking Brainiac 5 greets Superman and takes him on a guided tour of what several ex-Legionnaires are up to. All of this happens before there’s even a hint of danger in the story, but, as a reader, I don’t mind. My curiosity about a lot of things is satisfied, and I’m enjoying the visits with old friends. I was probably 12 when I first read this story—too young to feel nostalgic about anything. Yet Shooter has me thoroughly enthralled. That he was only three years older than I was when he wrote this exhibits a maturity I wouldn’t have expected in such a young writer.

I almost don’t want the visits to end, but, sooner or later we’ve got have a plot and so we learn the reason why Superman was summoned: Someone has been breaking into Legion HQ and vandalizing equipment, files, and ships.

If Superman were going to be summoned after so many years, one would think it would be to deal with an emergency of Sun-Eater proportions. But no, the Legion is at its wits end due to a simple series of break ins. While Cosmic Man tells us why this matters to the Legion, the effect is to make the team look bumbling and inept. After dealing with threats such as Evillo, Universo, and Dr, Regulus in their teen years, the Legionnaires have grown up to be bamboozled by a burglar!

Of course, it’s no ordinary burglar, but one with a deep hatred of the Legion. More, he can easily bypass their security devices because he is or has been a Legionnaire. Again, this revelation simply makes the Legionnaires look inept. When I recently left a job, I had to return my access key. That the Legionnaires didn’t take similar security precautions with so many ex-members running around makes them incredibly careless. (And yes, some former members such as Ultra Man are still reservists; still, one would think they’d have more restricted access that would enable the Legion to track who was coming and going in their HQ. Of course, this story was published less than four years after America came to realize it’s not smart for the president to ride in an open-air limousine in the middle of a crowded plaza with high buildings. So, in an odd way, this story does reflect lax security standards of the time.)

Biding his time, the villain waits two weeks to strike. After an attempt to lure Superman away fails, he cuts power to Legion HQ, leaving the members stranded in the dark. (Again, one would think the Legion would have anticipated such an attack.) Possessing super-strength and invulnerability, he puts Timber Wolf out of commission and takes Saturn Girl hostage, causing her to break her arm when she tries to elbow his ribs. He then escapes by extracting from Superman a promise that the latter will not pursue him. Not only do heroes not kill; they keep their word even to villains.

Superman, however, figures out the identity of the masked intruder and switches identities with Cosmic Man to trick the villain when next he strikes. This scene plays out very well, with the action keeping the story moving and the villain demonstrating resourcefulness and cunning. (Although the intruder did seem to have a lot of time to place that mental mask doohicky on Saturn Girl before yanking off Brainy’s force field belt.) Then we learn his true identity: he’s really Ferro Lad’s twin brother.

I knew Ferro Lad had a twin brother before I read this story, and I’m glad I did, for it made the revelation seem a bit more plausible. Otherwise, the twin brother angle just seems so convenient. More, Douglas Nolan tells us he shared a psychic connection with his slain twin, which explains how he knew so much about the Legion. More convenience.

Shooter asks the reader to overlook a lot things in order to make this story work. But whereas Bridwell asked for similar leaps of faith back in 350-351, Shooter’s story lacks as much charm or reader involvement. (As a reader, I felt less involved in the action sequences of 354 than I did in the earlier story.) Where 354 succeeds is with the nostalgia factor of Superman visiting his old friends and the implied promise that growing up would be something to look forward to. The intruder plot is less successful, though it ties in nicely with the death of Ferro Lad in the previous issue and ends with a cliffhanger involving the long unseen LSV.

Grade: 88.4 (B+)

Interesting analysis, Cobie.



According to Jan Jor's rap sheet, he was apparently 32 years old when he performed his villainy, a little too old to be False Pretenses Lad one might think (unless, of course, his false pretenses extended to his age).

He could've been a repeat offender. er, pretender.

True. I also realized the rap sheet might have reflected his current age, not the age he was at the time of the crime.

Here's my own alternative theory, though:

On Trom, family names come first. Jan Jor is really Element Man's lost brother, and his parents sold him into slavery as ransom to keep the space pirates away (for awhile, as it turned out). Embittered, Jor adopted the pirates' ways as he grew up. He only pretended to reform and join the Legion after the rule prohibiting one power was abilished.

This means, of course, that the Legionnaire we've been addressing informally as Jan all these years should be addressed as Arrah.

What the heck are we talking about? Who is Jam Jor?

Check out 354, page 15, panel 2, BB.

So much for Jan's angst about being the last Tromian!

Who's missing from the Adult Legion story?

Sun Boy
Projectra
Karate Kid
Invisible Kid
Chameleon Boy

Supergirl (not 30th century), Chlorophyll Lad, Fire Lad, Stone Boy (Subs)

Maybe this was the seed of the idea for Lyle's death.

Adventure #355: The War of the Legions

It occurred to me that Beauty Blaze could be the daughter of Sun Boy (from a romantic adventure early in his career, if you don't mind pushing her age down to the teens). Her father was killed in some fiasco of a mission and she swore vengeance on the Legion. Or something.

The second part of the adult story wasn't as appealing as the first. That the Legionnaires were unknowingly fighting images of the LSV strikes me as implausible. When they went to rescue Brainiac 5, why didn't Saturn Girl read his mind instead of trying to hear what he was saying? Another two metal-clad, mysterious beings and I'm just not a fan of good Lex and Mr. Mxy.

Regardless, it was interesting to see time travel lanes and have Imra defeat Saturn Queen by hand.

Adv #355: War of the Legions!

With #354 being so great, they had to follow it up with just a little more of Superman and the Adult Legion, plus they had whet our appetites for a war between the LSH and the LOSV. However, either because something got messed up in the production of the issue or because its simply not a great story, this follow up is a bit of a letdown.

Most of the big "oh wow!" revelations had been done in the prior issue so the lack of them now means I don't mind that they finished up the story halfway through the issue rather than dragging it out. But the break-up of the two stories is curious. I wonder what was up? The answer is probably the art, which definitely looks funky in this issue. The Grand DC Database lists it as a Swan / Klein collaboration but perhaps Shooter was doing layouts here? Or Swan just breakdowns with Klein doing heavy finishes?

As mentioned before, this second part is loaded with Superman-driven elements like the LOSV, such as the Luthor and Mxy revelation. I mentioned in my last review that this helped put a coda on the pre-Shooter LSH. Though, curiously, Superman doesn't play much of a role in this story, which only enhanced how off of a choice this was. Ultimately, this is one of my least favorite bits of not only this story but all of Legion lore.

Beauty Blaze and Echo are introduced but we learn only the barest details. Too bad!

#355 is nowhere near as good as #354. It's basically a repetitive action story of five one on one stories, then a revelation that the Legion was tricked and then the Legionnaires being bailed out.

And after the revelation of their saviors, the story just ends. Definitely something wonky is the arrangement of this issue and the supposed follow up to #354. Yet #354 was so magnificent, that this story never feels too awful, at least when I look back on it.

One thing it clearly does is reaffirm that the Adult LOSV is applicable to the Adult LSH. Therefore, if we're to see the LOSV again, it must be a younger, applicable version for the current Legion. And *that* concept, I can't wait to get to!

Bonus Lettercol Review: James Allison of Wheeling, VA, writes in to say he's amused one of his son's favorite comics is a Legion, since he was once in the French Foreign Legion . He wishes the LSH last for a long, long time--longer than his own, which had now disbanded. Nelson thus declares that he's an Honorary Member of the Adult LSH, so he can still tell his son he's a Legionnaire!

I've read ahead and here's an excerpt from my review of #358:

Bonus Lettercol Review: when questioned about the slim membership of the Adult Legion, Nelson confirms that Chameleon Man, Sun Man and Color King are members, as well as a Teen Auxiliary! He mentions the latter will be revealed in a future story (though we know we never see that).

Plus, in the last appearance of the Adult Legion in an issueof Superman (right at the transition to the Bronze Age) we learn that the White Witch is also a member.

Also, FC, I've also always wondered if Beauty Blaze could be Sun Boy's daughter. Or even Sun Woman from the early Subs story. If its Dirk, and he's still alive, that could be even more tension filled.

Maybe Dirk got that trans-gender disease and he's not happy about it so decided to throw in with the LSV to get his revenge on Tenz and Color Kid who he contracted it from.

I much preferred the Six-Legged Legionnaire to the lame LSV wrap up in Adv. 355. Why hasn't anybody commented on it yet?

Arrah did not know about Jor's existence until later.

Here's 355's letter column.

The Six Legged Legionnaire is to be reviewed on Wed! We're going by story, not issue.

OOOHHHHHHHH!!!! I didn't even see that.

tanks

Adventure #354 & 355 were the first two Legion issues I ever read, and considering the mostly inept, amateur behavior of the Adult Legion (rescued "just in time" by Lex Luthor and Mr. Mxyzptlk?!?!), I'm kind of surprised that I bothered to look at any more Legion stories. If not for the first half of #354, I may not have been interested. I just wanted to see what the adult super-heroes were like as teenagers. Good thing I got a bit of that in the second story of #355, "The Six-Legged Legionnaire."

(hmmm...how many legs does Gates have?)

The one-to-one battles were good for showing some imaginative ways each Legionnaire's powers could be used. That was interesting to a new reader.

I liked the new LSVers Beauty Blaze and Echo better than the veteran villains.

Yes, I know. But it would be interesting to see how he'd deal with said angst when he suddenly finds out he has a brother who is very much alive AND is villainous.



Gates has far more than six

I agree with LT. In a team book as large as the Legion, the one-on-one battles can be very refreshing. I love seeing heroes use their powers imaginatively. I would have liked it better if the 3 Founders had been replaced by other Legionnaires who hadn't been in the spotlight as often, though.

Adv. 355 – “The War of the Legions”

Re-reading this story now, it seems almost unnecessary. 354 wrapped up the Adult Legion story and would have been complete if Douglas Nolan were truly evil. Instead, we learn he was controlled by the LSV, so we’ve got to wrap up this plot twist.

The result is a perfunctory story, entertaining in its own way and somewhat competently told, though it relies on more convenience and comic book tropes.

The splash page is eerily reminiscent of 350—didn’t we just have two mysterious masked characters join the Legion?

The story begins well enough with the LSV plotting their revenge by kidnapping a Legionnaire. They take Brainiac 5 by surprise—though I don’t know which bothers me more, that the LSV were stupid enough to broadcast their intentions by using a ship that bears their logo or that computer-mind Brainy is even more stupid in failing to recognize the logo. What’s he been smoking in that pipe, anyway?

The LSV lure each of the Legionniares into a one-on-one duel, and, predictably enough, the Legionnaires win and procure pieces of paper that reveal Brainy’s location. Of course, the Legionnaires know they’re walking into a trap, but, stalwart heroes that they are, they proceed anyway. At least Shooter writes some dramatic fight scenes and works in a bit of science (Cos using the paramagnetic properties of oxygen and nitrogen to render Echo unconscious; Polar Man cooling down the magma below him so it cracks the surface).

The defeated LSV members turn out to be “solid, lifelike images.” When the real LSV ambushes the Legion at the former’s undersea headquarters, only the timely arrival of the two masked characters from the splash page saves the Legion. After defeating the villains, the rescuers reveal themselves to be descendants of Luthor and Mxyzptlk. They are not only dead ringers for their evil ancestors but disguised themselves in the hope that the Legion would admit them, no questions asked. Apparently, Sir Prize and Miss Terioius set a precedent.

The story ends on the obligatory happy note with Luthor and Mxy being unanimously voted into the Legion. Shooter grasps at our heart strings by making the pair fear the Legion will not accept them, but this is an obvious attempt at emotional manipulation.

So, this two-part Adult Legion story has been an entertaining diversion, but it would have worked just as well as a single-issue story. Aside from two new and intriguing LSV members—Echo and Beauty Blaze—“The War of the Legions” has little to recommend it.

Grade: 72.3 (C-)

Hmmm...maybe the Adult Legionnaires aren't quite as stodgy as I thought.

Showcase Presents credits Shooter with the layouts on all of the stories he wrote through 368.

Adv #355: The Six-Legged Legionnaire!

The second story in Adv #355 is a throwback to earlier Legion stories, and with good reason as its written by Otto Binder! The Legion creator at last returns to his creation but alas, it's just this once with a whimsical one-off, and it's one of the last stories of his career.

Insect Queen was never my favorite but since Jimmy and Pete were honorary members, I'm glad Lana gets to be one too (even if it is as IQ). Here, she's definitely at her best: spunky, courageous and genuinely looking to help. This is the Lana I like.

This is also the first time we see Dream Girl as a Legionnaire, and Chuck as Bouncing Boy in a long time. It's fun to see the late Silver Age roster at work!

The story, as mentioned, is a bit by the numbers with the typical cyclical nature of 1950's Superman titles: hero attempts something once and either succeeds or fails; repeat; then the opposite happens. But while
it has some, it doesn't have a ton of that typical Binder charm that made many stories fun and light-hearted.

Oggar-Kon has to be one of the most obscure of all Legion villains. He's ill-defined but I'm still surprised we never saw him again.

All in all, not a bad story but not overly compelling or exciting. Yet, it never pretends to be anything it isn't, and in that, it's a strait-forward, charming tale.

Adv. 355 – “The Six-Legged Legionnaire”

Coming in the midst of Shooter’s run, this story is a quaint throwback to more innocent times (ironically, just a year or two ago in Silver Age Legion terms). But it’s also a better constructed story than most of Shooter’s offerings, even if it does rely on bland dialogue and unconvincing characterization.

The bland dialogue comes in the form of Lana frequently uttering stock exclamations such as “Heavens!” “Thank goodness!” and “Oh what a thrill!” Considering that this story was probably set in 1952, Binder may have been going for period authenticity, but such phrases are simply annoying and seem out of character for Lana.

As for the unconvincing characterization, writer Otto Binder needed a good reason for Superboy to bring Lana Lang into the future, so he contrives one by having her about to expose his secret identity and then deciding not to. Lana’s “better nature” wins out, we are told, but this contradicts most other depictions of her (particularly her first outing as Insect Queen), in which she’s portrayed as a selfish, conniving girl whose only goal in life is to uncover Superboy’s secret.

However, selfish and conniving characters usually don’t make good heroines, so Binder gives her a conscience and, to remind us this is still the old Lana, frequently has her take matters into her own hands—and it’s a good thing, too, for every choice she makes leads to positive outcomes. Unwilling to accept being ditched by Superboy while he attends a closed Legion meeting, she switches to Insect Queen and explores Metropolis; while doing so, she puts out a fire on a rocket ship and saves its passengers, one of whom happens to be Dream Girl.

Buoyed by Dream Girl’s appraisal of her heroism, Insect Queen applies for Legion membership and is rejected—her power comes from a device, after all. Again proving she won’t take no for an answer, Lana calls in her favor with Dream Girl and learns the Legionnaires who have just left on an antarctic mission may be in danger. She tells Superboy, who flies to the rescue with Lana in tow. (Why Supes didn’t leave her behind is not addressed; however, he never could say no to her.)

Superboy and Lana assist Colossal Boy, Shrinking Violet, and Chameleon Boy as they go up against Oggar-Kon, a villain bent on melting Ice City at the South Pole. The action sequences are logical and display each Legionnaire’s abilities to good effect. Lana proves her worth by saving Gim and Vi. (Oggar-Kon, however, should really shut up. Like many Silver Age foes, he stops the story to tell us his origin—an cliched and unnecessary exposition.)

Binder cleverly inserts an element of danger by having Dream Girl predict that tragedy would ensue if Lana turns into Moth Maid. Proving how heroic she can be, Lana uses this identity anyway to save Superboy from a kryptonite trap. (Though one wonders why, since she made a point of comparing the sphinx moth to a humingbird, she didn’t simply transform into a humingbird and use its wings to blow the green k dust off of Superboy.) The tragedy comes to pass as Lana loses her bio-ring and appears doomed to be stuck as a moth girl forever.

But, in another clever twist, the ring is not lost—just misplaced. (And, interestingly enough, Light Lass demonstrates a feature of her power I don’t think she’s used before or since: she can zero in on a particular object, even an unseen one, and made it super-light weight so it can be found.) Lana returns to human form and, for her efforts, is made a Legion Reservist.

“The Six-Legged Legionnaire” is a satisfying if inconsequential story. It ultimately doesn’t matter if Lana joins, since we’ll see her assist the Legion as Insect Queen only twice more, if memory serves (Adv. 370 and Superboy 205). However, it is a well told by-the-books tale in which Lana is portrayed as a doer whose actions drive the plot. More, the story seeks to impart two valuable lessons on the audience: resist temptation and you will be rewarded, and don’t give up in the face of rejection.

Grade: 84.2 (B)

I wrote my review before I read yours. It's funny how we picked up on the same qualities of the story.

Lana can't turn into a bird form. Only insects, arachnids, etc.

Ah, that would explain it.

I'm enjoying your notes, Cobie and HWW!

I just noticed that, while the residents of Ice City wear "heated plastic parkas", none of the Legionnaires do, and neither does the villain. Superboy says he'll get one for Lana, and we see her wearing it in two panels, but once she turns into an insect form it disappears for the rest of the story.

I'm sure it was easier to draw the Legionnaires in regular uniforms than to draw them in either transparent or uniform-themed body suits. But it would have taken the art side of the story up a notch if they'd done that and done it well. As it is, you forget they're in a frigid climate. The ice might as well be concrete.

Vocabulary lesson: I wondered why Invisible Kid called the dismissed applicants "rejectees" instead of "rejects." Looked it up; both words are correct. It reminded me of "mentee" (one who is being mentored) which I think is a goofy word. Turns out the first known use of "mentee" was in 1965 (according to Merriam-Webster). First known use of "rejectee" was in 1941.

Not that I'm an expert on all things Lana, but I always did have the impression that her desired exposure of Superboy was just so she could get his attention. I think it was all a game to her, but she never thought about the consequences of exposing his identity. I'm reminded of a story where her father threatens to spank her (!!! good grief, she's already a teenager) because she didn't think that exposing Superboy's identity could put him and his loved ones in danger. Lana's reaction then was, "Oh my gosh, I'd never thought of that!"

Always cool to see we're catching the same things! I think what we've both seen a few times now is that the shorter 8-page stories that focus on Jimmy Olsen, Insect Queen, etc., often don't offer all that much, but they never try to be more than they are. Meaning, they're usually short and to the point, and carry enough charm to make reading them worthwhile. It's a bit of a lost art in comic books: being able to tell an 8-page story in a way that leaves the reader fulfilled, even when you really didn't give them all that much.

Adventure #356

My first thought at seeing the cover of #356 is "groan! Not another super babies story!" I have to say though, there's some interesting stuff inside.

"Parents Day" is a great concept, and hits at the all too often ignored concept of heroes' parents in the superhero genre. The Legionnaire's parents are one of the most recurring things asked about in the letter column since it was instituted.

Here, the creative team does a great job at showing a total dichotomy, which creates immediate tragedy. We see several proud parents in the parade, followed by others being interviewed at a special banquet, with nice touches like Derek Morgna being his industrial self and Lyle's mother being humorous. And then we cut to the 5 orphans eating sandwiches on monitor duty! It's bad enough they have no parents, but they have to stay behind while the others have the time of their lives. And the first thing mentioned is that some have it even worse, such as Element Lad, who doesn't even have other members of his race!

In two pages, there's already more to like than the last super-babies story. And before the eventual baby-fying, we also get a rare chance (by now at least) to see Superboy and Mon-El working together.

From there, a few things make this one stick out. First, I love the Roman type look of the planet Zinth. Which is totally opposite for the rather progressive feel of the orphanage we get right away, which is reminiscent of Superboy's first adventures in the 30th Century in its whimsy.

Even better, and what really makes the story stand out, is Brainy still is Brainy! He's that smart, that his mind doesn't revert like the others. Love it--and it makes this story work in every way.

In the final pages, the story gets heavy--REAL HEAVY. A planet where all the children have died, who concoct a crazy plan in their grief...yet Brainy cures the planet of what was causing the plague and Nura foresees children for the lonely adults in the future. That's powerful stuff and it comes out of nowhere! As a parent with little kids, I was totally sucked into it and have to say it had quite an effect on me.

The story is only about 11 pages or so...and that makes it work in a big way. Any longer and I'd start to lose interest. But as a short story, it's charming, clever and a lot of fun. The characters stand out and there's a lot of nods to prior Legion lore.

The back-up is a reprint of the first Star Boy story, which from what I understand was a hard to find issue by then. In a few months, Superboy #147 would reprint a whole bunch of earlier tales as well. So in 1967, we see a plethora of the earliest stories being reprinted, which only enhances the fan experience for readers. DC would go bonkers with reprints in the 70's (as would Marvel) and we can see beginnings of that here.

Bonus Lettercol Review: the fans react to the death of Ferro Lad! Shock! Anger! Grief! Man, they felt strongly about it. Among those with letters printed is young Mark Evanier who will go on to be a great comic book writer; he had tons of letters printed in DC comics in the mid and late 60's. His method of always being printed? He sent his letters on legal yellow paper, so it would stand out. It worked again and again.

Adv. 356

And so we have the third Adventure story in which Legionnaires are reduced to infants. “The Five Legion Orphans” is simultaneously the best of the three and the worst.

The first “infantizing” of Legionnaires occurred back in Adv. 317 and was instigated by Dream Girl (who is also featured in 356), who thought she was saving the Legionnaires’ lives. This story has a certain charm in that Dream Girl also instigates a certain sexual tension between the boy and girl Legionnaires.

In the second story, in 338, the Legionnaires were reduced to infants by the Time Trapper and his henchwoman, Glorith. Though this story was full of miscues and couldn’t make up its mind whether to be funny or serious, it had its amsuing moments.

This brings us to 356.

It’s Parents Day in Metropolis, and the Legionnaires celebrate in style by appearing in a parade alongside their parents. This scene reminds us that the Legionnaires are not only heroes but celebrities. Onlookers in the crowd know exactly who they are and the details of their personal lives, such as Star Boy’s birth in a space observatory. Reporters gather around and badger their parents to say they are proud of their heroic offspring. Yes, it’s good to be a Legionnaire.

Well, not for everyone. The five Legionnaires who happen to have no parents—Superboy, Mon-El, Dream Girl, Brainiac 5, and Element Lad—are stuck on duty. As they commiserate, an emergency comes in from the planet Zinth, which needs them to retrieve a power crystal stolen by thieves and dumped in a pond. It turns out to be a trap, and the Legionnaires find themselves aging backwards to infancy.

So far, the setup is pretty good. It presents us with an opportunity to learn that being a Legionnaire is not all glamorous and to explore some of their personal tragedies. There’s also a chance to show how unfair it is that the five members who happen to be orphans must remain on duty while the rest celebrate. Talk about pouring salt in wounds!

Even the idea of the Legionnaires walking into a trap could be the basis of a good story. Look how Mon-El and Superboy carelessly ignore Dream Girl’s warning that they should not dive into the pond. As the newest Legionnaire, Dreamy has a chance to show how powerful her visions can be and to teach the others to respect her power.

But none of these possibilities materialize. Instead, the infant Legionnaires are picked up by a “patrol ship,” whose occupants fail to recognize them (or their costumes, at any rate), in spite of the fact that a nurse at the orphanage where they are taken knows Krypton exploded long ago and how Trom was wiped out. Yet no one questions why these five orphans are wearing Legion costumes or even whether they actually are orphans.

In any case, the five Legion babies are soon adopted by citizens of the planet Baskh and taken to their new home—conveniently, their parents all live in the same neighborhood. However, “Baby Brainiac” retains his 12th level intellect and soon figures out what’s going on. His new dad, also conveniently, is a chemist, so Brainy concocts a serum that restores the Legionnaires to their true ages. He also figures out (somehow) that his new dad was behind the whole scheme, from the theft of the power crystal to the de-aging of Brainy and his teammates.

The story ends way too quickly. There are no complications or conflict. Once Brainy asks his “dad” what’s going on, his dad, like any cardboard super-villain, spills the beans. It turns out that the Baskhians are not evil; they are just barren. They concocted this scheme to kidnap the Legionnaires so they could have children again.

The stupidity of this plot is outmatched only by the stupidity of its assumptions. When people kidnap children in real life just because they want children, we call such people criminals. Yet the Legionnaires refuse to press charges, saying “you meant well!” Really? The theft of the power crystal, which brought a world to a standstill and perhaps endangered lives, is a sign of the Baskhians’ good intentions? Reducing the Legionnaires to infants could qualify as assault. And, did I mention kidnapping?

On top of that, while most of the Legionnaires contribute something interesting to the story, Dream Girl gets the shaft. One gets the feeling she’s the token girl and was included because little had been established of her background. Yet nothing is really done with her. She makes a couple of prophecies that don’t amount to much and a third prophecy at the end which assures the Baskhians they will soon have their own children again. But didn’t Brainy just say the child death plague was over? (And isn’t it convenient—that word again—that it is?)

“The Five Legion Orphans” is one of the most disturbing stories we’ve reviewed. It takes complex social issues such as orphanhood, child death, and barrenness, and reduces them to fodder for an ill-thought out plot that doesn’t even tell a complete story. It just ends. That this travesty came from E. Nelson Bridwell, who wrote 350-351 (arguably one of the best Legion stories so far) is disappointing and perplexing.

Grade: 61.1 percent (D-)

It's interesting that Cobie and HWW disagree about the quality of this story. While rereading it, I found myself feeling both charm (like Cobie) and alarm (like HWW).

Other than the Insect Queen story from the previous issue, this was my first teenage Legionnaire story back in the day. I especially liked seeing the Legionnaires with their families, and learning that some of them were orphans. I liked the Legion Doll too, because it was my first hint of the look and powers of Bouncing Boy and Colossal Boy (although I don't know the doll's purpose in the story other than to show a few more Legionnaires).

On Cosmic Boy's parade float there is someone we could assume is his younger brother. Would this be Pol's first (unnamed) appearance?

In the orphanage, Baby Brainiac tells the nurse he's of the planet Yod, not Colu. According to Wikipedia, a later letter column noted that "Yod" is the Coluan name for their homeworld. (Yod is the Hebrew word for Iodine.) However, this is the only time "Yod" has appeared.

The picture of the Mission Monitor Board on p. 10 inspired me, at age 11, to draw my own version and hang it on my bedroom wall. The pictures were, of course, in alphabetical order, and moveable to allow for new Legionnaires.

I'm sure Pol appeared a few times before this, though I can't remember when.

This story has a lot of positive qualities, which is why I found it so disappointing. The potential is there for it to go in several directions. Unfortunately, the direction chosen just falls flat. I get the feeling that this story was an emergency fill in--perhaps Shooter blew a deadline--hence the short page count and the reprint.

But it's great that a "minor" detail such as the Mission Monitor Board inspired you to create your own, LT. I remember being inspired to create my own Legionnaires and even a knock-off team of teen super-heroes. The Legion's universe as a whole had that wonderful effect of inspiring readers' imaginations.

Re Pol: I believe this panel from Adv. 335 is his only prior appearance. He'll reappear and get a name in the next issue, Adv. 357.

Re Brainy: He didn't cure Zinth of the child death plague. He merely discovered it was over when he realized the radiation that caused it had turned to lead.

Re the Legion costumes: It could be that the Legionnaires are so famous that children wear their costumes to play hero in, even as they do today by dressing up as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, etc.

Adv. 356's letter column. Notice Ayla FINALLY gets her emblem updated, nearly 40 issues after her power was changed. Too bad the colors are still goofed up.

That's a good supposition, Jim. It's a pity Bridwell didn't think of it or put a line in to that effect. I hate it when writers leave it to the readers to do their jobs for them.

Dave Cockrum touched on this in Superboy 200 by showing 2 boys in the background, one wearing a Superman shirt and one with a Capt. Marvel one.

Two reasons why I still think this was a failing in "The Five Legion Orphans":

1. What another creator did years later has no bearing on the merits of a particular story.

2. The boys were minor characters, Easter Eggs if you will, who did not affect the development of the story. The Legionnaires in 356 were major characters. Anything which involves them or happens to them needs to be adequately explained.

Another solution to the babies in Legion clothing would have been to have the SPs say that the criminal who stole the crystal kidnapped the kids and dressed them in those costumes as a taunt to the Legion.

In any event, we probably questioned these things less back then; maybe the writers weren't even in the habit of having to think logically about their plots.

This was the first Legion story I remember reading, so perhaps I'm somewhat forgiving of its faults, which HWW listed. It is strange that kidnapping would be so easily dismissed, even back then, and shrugged off by the CCA.

That the parents were somewhat unhinged is shown (to me) by the woman who wanted to adopt the water-breathing child. How was that going to work? There are a lot of orphange stories in the Supergirl Showcase vol. 1 and it seems that people just waltzed in and chose a kid like they'd pick out a sweater in a store, and return the kid if it didn't work out. Orphanages and silver age comic books equals some weird stuff!

What did fascinate me at the time was the clothing and head gear of the Bashkians and the orphanage nurses, the non-human children, the Legionnaire toy that Dream Girl played with and how Brainy was so smart, even as the others regressed to toddlers. It just all seemed so exotic and full of possibilities.

1. I wasn't implying that it did.

2. I think you're over thinking a minor point. What they were wearing is insignificant compared to the fact they were entrapped, regressed in age, effectively had their adult minds wiped, and carted off to be "adopted".

3. I think your criticisms of this story are unnecessarily harsh. There were lots of little gems in this story. The dynamite Swan artwork, the Parents Day parade and banquet, getting a look at Legionnaires' families, the wind up Legion doll, the orphanage, Dream Girl on her first mission as a Legionnaire. Establishing DG and Brainy as orphans, etc. etc. I wonder if the 2 previous admittedly poorly done baby stories are prejudicing you against this one.

Then I'm not sure why you brought up the Cockrum story. It read to me like you were offering a rebuttal.



I respectfully disagree. The Legionnaires are widely recognized celebrities, as the opening scene reminds us. The Zinthians are aware of Krypton and Trom (which, by the way, means they must know Element Lad is the sole survivor; yet they don't question the appearance of Trommite toddler in their midst? The nurse says the boy must have been born just before Trom was attacked, but no one thinks to question the existence of a *second* survivor?). These are important gaffes.



Fair enough. My criticisms are what they are and reflect my level of enjoyment in a story. I always try to give a balanced review and, in this case, pointed out some of the highlights you mentioned above. But I gotta call it as I sees it.



I confess I wondered the same thing, too. Three Legionnaires-turn-into-baby stories in less than 40 issues is a bit much. However, I had high hopes for this one since it was written by Bridwell. It's probably impossible to separate our previous re-reading experiences from our assessments of these stories, but I do the best I can.

I was just offering an example of kids dressing up like super heroes in the 30th century. I was not trying to imply that the later story had any bearing on this one.

Ah, I see. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

I don't wish to belabor the point, but our exchange does illustrate the problem I perceived in the story. When writers leave out crucial information, they leave it to the reader to fill in the blanks.

Looking back over the exchange, there is nothing in your post that is a direct rebuttal; however, coming right after my post about what Bridwell left out of the story, it looked as if it was intended to say, "There's a precedent after the fact because other creators have depicted kids in the 30th century wearing super-hero shirts."

It's incumbent upon writers to make their messages as clear as possible. We're all guilty of occasionally failing to do this, and writing is an imperfect, messy form of communication to begin with. Anything writers can do to eliminate guesswork on the part of the reader is helpful.

(And, yes, I've spent the week grading freshman comp papers. Why do you ask?)

I can't think of a single story ever that I enjoyed that I didn't get to fill in details. That would be true for novels and even more so for a comic book and its limited real estate.

To me, a writer of fiction is a guide. A writer of a textbook fills in all the details (though sadly, I've seen one too many Math books where the reader has to fill in too many detail.)

I don't really want Archie and Jughead and I don't really want year long stories. I think a writer pretty much has to leave some things, sometimes even key thing to the imagination or I wouldn't enjoy the story. The trick to whether or not a general audience is going to like the story is which details to leave to them.

The nice thing about it, a story changes. What I read into it one day might change based upon shared experiences with other readers. They see it one way that didn't occur to me and on re-read the story is brand new.

Good points, BB. It's always subjective as to how much the writer should leave in and out of the story.

For me, a good example of something which was left out for good reason can be found back in 342. Star Boy wonders if Dream Girl has foreseen that he will lose the trial and doesn't want to tell him. We're never told if she predicted the outcome or not. One might suppose that she did since she joined the Subs and arranged for Star Boy to join, as well. But it's not certain that she knew the outcome of the trial. She may be just been a proactive planner.

The ambiguity of those scenes fits the story and the characters. We would gain nothing if we were told she had, in fact, foreseen the future. Leaving it to the reader's interpretation gives us a reason to think, to question, to wonder.

I'm not so sure the same applies to 356.

Was it? Oddly enough, Archives 6 doesn't credit a writer to this "Orphans" story. I assume your Showcase edition does? I wonder if the omission in the Archive was by accident or if Bridwell's authorship wasn't known at the time of publication. (This is vaguely fascinating to me in the same vein as "The Weirdo Legionnaire" being credited to Hamilton "OR" Siegel and a couple other artistic mysteries in some of the other credits I can't recall offhand.)

As for why the Legionnaires didn't press charges against their prospective parents, I think it's a simple reason that is unstated but inferable in the context of the story. Just as these parents were motivated by grief and loneliness borne from being childless, these five specific Legionnaires would be particularly sympathetic because they are themselves parentless. They've each grieved the loss of their parents, so seeing the reverse of that grief would hit them where they live. If these parents had lured random, non-orphaned Legionnaires instead (imagine if Iron-Butt were among them! ), they'd be more likely to be facing imprisonment.

To me, the costumes are a non-issue, and we could easily fill in the blanks there. It's a quick 13-pager in the Silver Age, so I can forgive these things and instead commend the writer for touching on a theme that is surprisingly affecting and adult in a story that could've been 100% silly. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the kids who read this who'd lost a parent got something a little extra out of it.

As for Element Lad, I think the orphanage people might have thought this was another previously-unknown survivor of Trom. Or maybe every single detail of what happened to that world wasn't known? I know Jan entered the Legion as "Mystery Lad" and wanted to conceal his origins and powers. And maybe the Legion was deliberately slow or reluctant to release every detail of Jan's heritage widespread even after the name change out of respect for Jan's privacy and feelings through his grieving process.

Adventure #357

The Ghost of Ferro Lad promises to be a great sequel to the Death of Ferro Lad ad it does just that, though not only in the literal sense but in the emotional follow-up. We see the four survivors of that story dealing with PTSD, and it's amazing that young Jim Shooter can lend such a maturity to the Legion in doing so. Superboy, whose emotional outbursts often felt flat, really conveys deep pathos here. And the usual dutiful Cosmic Boy is distracted and unmotivated, also haunted by what happened. All around, powerful stuff.

One must wonder: with neighborhood boys now coming home in body bags from Viet Nam, was Shooter tapping into a nationwide survivors guilt?

The opening sequence on Shanghalla is magnificent. Swan impresses me here like never before. Great stuff.

Once the mystery of the ghost gets going, it's fitting they two of the colder Legionnaires, Brainy and Saturn Girl, are the ones to come back to check on them. It's also always great to see them together in the Silver Age. Yet, Imra shows some compassion by asking Brainy to play along with what she thinks is mass hysteria.

We get some interesting bits with Projectra: first, her being the newbie causing Brainy to distrust her. And second, her mystical connection, which would be played with again 15 or so years later.

While the "ghost" may have been scary or fascinating to the young readers of the time, the real strength of the issue is the tension between Brainy and Projectra, or science versus magic.

The Legionnaires abandon their organization way too quickly. That's a classic example of the plot driving the characters, not the other way around.

The Controllers are introduced, and early on they are somewhat interesting. What makes them so interesting is that we surprisingly get the origin of the Sun-Eater here--and what started as an offbeat adventure feels much more important.

The ending is a classic ending, and I like it here. It resolves things too easily, but they were obviously doing this one for the fans who were so broken-hearted. Thus, we get a little closure.

Excellent comments, Paladin and Cobie. I completely agree.

I find it interesting that Brainy includes the rookie Projectra among the "four of our top members". It begs the question, "who would NOT be considered a top member?"

I wonder also, how do the Legionnaires rank themselves? They are a club, but surely there must be SOME measure of performance for certain skills, at least.

I'm reminded of the late Action Comics issue where the Legionnaires must choose one of their 26 members to quit. One measure they used was number of feats performed in the past year; it's imperfect though. Brainiac 5 had the lowest number of feats but the Legionnaires agreed they needed his computer mind.

So what would be a good measure? Success rate in missions (rather than sheer number of missions)?

Adv. 357

After reading “The Ghost of Ferro Lad,” it occurred to me that the titular character was of more value to the Legion dead than alive. A mere four issues after his passing, his death has already figured prominently into two stories (354 and 357); in subsequent years, statues of Ferro Lad would remind readers of the sacrifice heroes make; and Ferro Lad would always serve as something of the Legion’s “Lost Boy,” suggesting that the ideal super-hero family of the future can never be complete.

And in 357, we see the effect his death has had on his comrades, as Ferro Lad—both literally and figuratively—haunts them.

In the first few, exceptionally well done pages, we’re witness to the emotion that was missing from the final scenes in 353: The four Legionnaires who were with Ferro Lad when he died visit his memorial. Then Superboy hangs back at the clubhouse to wrestle with feelings of guilt over whether or not he could have stopped Ferro Lad. Cosmic Boy can’t keep his mind on anything else; he even dreams about Ferro Lad.

In short, Ferro Lad mattered to these heroes—and not just in a perfunctory, self-serving way. Superboy’s gnawing doubt is palpable. “Did I subconsciously fear the Sun-Eater so much that I let poor Ferro Lad overpower me . . .?” he thinks. For those of us who have lost someone to tragedy, can we not relate to this unresolved question?

This is the beginning of what is, to me, the best Shooter story so far. It builds off of the previous story in an unexpected way, makes effective use of the Legionnaires featured, and tells an exciting and powerful story about loss and friendship.

As the story continuing to build off of 353, the Legionnaires return to their clubhouse to find Superboy being assaulted by flying equipment and kryptonite. Cosmic Boy, Sun Boy, and Princess Projectra find themselves under assault as well, and only Cos’s quick thinking saves them from an explosion. Then they see the literal writing on the wall—a ghostly message that indicates their fallen comrade has returned, and he’s pissed!

This scene is extremely well done, as are most of the scenes in the story—there are no wasted panels or dialogue. The action keeps moving and gets us in and out of the scene quickly while springboarding into the next.

Furthermore, the story makes great use of the Legionnaires featured, particularly Brainiac 5, who was not the fateful mission in 353 and so plays skeptic to the others’ newfound belief in ghosts. In a brilliant twist, Brainy suspects new Legionnaire Princess Projectra of using her illusion power to create the ghost, and even surreptitiously tries to disrupt her illusion power—thus sowing the seeds for their eventual distrust of each other during Levitz’s run.

Projectra herself also serves the story well. We learn a little of her background—as a spiritualist, she leads her fellow Legionnaires in a séance. During the séance, a ghostly, flaming Ferro Lad appears, orders his three former comrades to leave earth, and demands the Legion disband. Disheartened, the Legionnaires decide to obey.

The third quality which makes this story stand out is its theme. Ultimately, it’s about loss and friendship, and how the latter can survive even the former. The last panel of the real ghost of Ferro Lad walking down the corridor is extremely gratifying. It does not matter that Shooter is violating a story telling taboo of sorts by having the real ghost appear and save his comrades. He does so in such a way that the Legionnaires themselves never learn the truth, and so their worldview is—from their perspective, at least—intact. Besides, this ghost is here to help—which makes this story ten times more memorable than the Legion zombies tale of a later era. Ferro Lad remains a Legionnaire, even after death.

There are few flaws. The flashbacks to Ferro Lad’s demise and the Controller’s origin are both overlong and slow the story down. Also, the Legion as an organization disbands too quickly. While I can accept Superboy, Cos, Sun Boy, and Projectra being so spooked that they would leave earth, it’s harder to accept the entire team giving up. Since Superboy is acting leader, it’s implied that he has the authority to make this call, but one would expect the others to protest.

“The Ghost of Ferro Lad” has two other notable features: the introduction of the Controllers and the origin of the Sun-Eater. These elements will have the most lasting impact on future stories; yet, they are almost an afterthought here—the meat sauce on an already satisfying steak.

Grade: 96.1 (A)

Yes, Showcase Presents credits Bridwell, as does The Legion Handbook, published in 1975.



As I said in a previous post, the Baskhians also stole a power sphere, which brought a world to a standstill and may have endangered lives. The Legionnaires may have had reason to feel sympathetic, but letting the Baskhians off scot free was irresponsible from a law enforcement point of view. What's next? Forgive the Persuader because he his axe represents inadequacy issues? Let Dr. Regulus go because Dirk ruined his career?

And I'm bothered by the notion that kidnapping Legionnaires with parents would be seen as more of a crime than kidnapping Legionnaires without parents.

Nope, sorry. Kidnapping is still kidnapping (or, in this case, adopting under false pretenses).



I'll accept that it's a non-issue for some, and I may even be over-thinking it, as Jim said. But I can't accept the shortness of the story as an excuses it; nor can I accept that kids feeling better for other reasons excuses sloppy story telling.

Writers of children's stories have a special obligation to make sure their stories make sense. These stories, as many of us have testified, shape their world views and who they become as adults. Sloppy story telling can teach that it's okay to be sloppy and uncritical in other aspects of life.

This was a well-told story and one of those timeless contributions that Shooter made during his tenure.

But the best part is that ending--wow! It just elevates the story to a whole 'nother level.

In some ways this story solidifies Ferro Lad as the quintessential Legionnaire. I mean, all we really ever knew of him was his short time with the team and how he bravely sacrificed himself to save the galaxy. And soon after, we learn that he still serves in the great beyond. We knew him so briefly that we never saw his flaws, if he had any.

That's why, even if you only have an incomplete view, artists are sure to clearly show the statue commemorating Andrew Nolan whenever the memorial area of the various Legion HQs is depicted.

Adventure #358

This is one of the stories I've either never read, or read once long ago and forgotten just about everything about it. And that is a nice feeling, as I walk into it with no preconceived notions. Reading it as a whole and then deciding to write my comments, I realized that at first, I was finding it a little run of the mill...and then as the issue went along, I grew increasingly into the story, and ended up just loving it!

First and foremost, more than any other Legion story thus far, this reads like a Silver Age Marvel comic. Melodrama, excited dialogue, an overly eccentric villain and action, action, action! And thus, I mean that statement in a very complimentary way, as Shooter really conveys tension, pacing and excitement throughout the story.

By the second half it takes on a "Most Dangerous Game" theme, and this is well done. Particularly because Karate Kid finally gets a chance to shine since his intro; and then more than anyone else, Invisible Kid really shines in a major way. Lyle was clearly one of Shooter's favorites, and this is one of his best written stories ever (and very likely his best).

Orion the Hunter himself is very well done. In a way he's a direct copy of Kraven the Hunter in Spider-Man, who had recently become popular. He even talks as if written by Stan Lee. Yet Shooter is able to do something more--he takes Orion that extra step further when he goes all the way in his ending. It's something that would eventually happen with Kraven 20 years later. And it makes the story even more dramatic and strong.

The ending is the best way possible to wrap up the incredibly tense build up from panel #1. It feels like an action movie where no scenes are wasted. We could have gotten some more "in between" sequences but really, they weren't needed.

All in all, I really liked this one. It's not the best Legion story ever but it was entertaining with a lot of bang for your buck. And it had one of my favorites, George Papp, on art.

Bonus Lettercol Review: when questioned about the slim membership of the Adult Legion, Nelson confirms that Chameleon Man, Sun Man and Color King are members, as well as a Teen Auxiliary! He mentions the latter will be revealed in a future story (though we know we never see that).

He also confirms that Superboy stopped attending Legion meetings right around when Ma & Pa Kent died and he went to Metropolis University.

Also, I'm glad to see we all agree on the strength of the Ghost of Ferro Lad story. By cover alone, one might think it was a typical 1950's-type silly story; yet you know what they say about judging books by their covers.

Shooter also shows his ability to balance Superboy in the Legion. He's a member and a draw for readers but he doesn't dominate the story. It makes me wish we could get more Superboy with the Legion more than ever.

I enjoyed the Otto Orion story as well. It's not the most original plot in the world, but I like the execution. I especially liked Lyle's role and how he was the only one to make it past the hunters. The twist that revealed Orion's stake in all of this was shocking and lent a sort of gravitas it wouldn't have had with the Legion's Code preventing deadly retaliation. Yes, it was obviously inspired by "The Most Dangerous game", but it had enough flare to make it an enjoyable standalone Legion story.

Adventure #359

Adv #359 - 360 is a story that I've only read once before and loved; things are no different this time around. One of the most obvious things is that Paul Levitz stole, er, ah, I mean borrowed heavily from this story for Universo Project; from a writing perspective alone (leaving art aside) this one is FAR superior.

After several strong stories focusing on smaller groups, Shooter just goes for it here and includes just about everyone. And it works in a big way here: it highlights the scope and lets several Legionnaires shine throughout.

As for the surprise villain (and stop reading now if you are behind), this is by far his best story ever. Shooter using one of his prior villains so quickly is a bold move and finally starts making the Legion feel like its got a growing rogues gallery. Universo is never as awesome as he is here.

The premise for a sudden political coup isn't all that far-fetched. Coups usually happen quickly and usually accompanying a panic such as an assassination. I also wonder if Boltax is inspired by someone? Was Nixon back in the public eye yet?

While the scope of the general plot is grand, the little moments make the issue:

- Luornu and her parents, just like the girl next door.

- Val's restlessness and thirst for battle.

- solid action with Legionnaires strutting their stuff.

- Jeckie's political connections.

- hey, Supergirl! Nice to see you! The one major flaw in this story is she takes off for the 20th century off-panel, though.

The street gang is more than a throwback to the 50's--street gangs *were* a problem again in 1967. Shooter has the Legionnaires in full on action with no powers, in yet another interesting take on an action sequence. Though Jeckie gets comatized for the first of many times, I like the several of them shine, especially Chuck and Vi. The entire sequence serves to highlight the camaraderie and teamwork that will be the only thing that will get them out of this.

And given the intended age group, there's nothing that says "we're all in this together" when the entire world is against you--including your parents.

From there we get Takron-Galtos, RJ Brande and the Legionnaires in civilian clothes! Whew! Something else else great on every page.

Bonus Cover Design Discussion: after a brief stint, the go-go checks have ended. Though its still hard to tell on the Superman books, who have retained classic artists like Curt Swan on their covers, DC Comics is really starting to change now. It's more apparent on the rest of their line, as 1967 sees numerous series cancelled and changing with 1968 being the real advent of the Age of Transition and the horror series boom. But soon enough, Neal Adams will be doing all the Superman covers, including Adventure and Superboy, and that's a signal that the Silver Age is ending / has ended.

I've been out of town, so I'm a little behind. 358:

Re 358: How was I Kid supposed to untie his shirt from the last tree so that he could swing to the next tree? That always stuck in my craw a little, but otherwise, I loved the story. Loved the Legion heads on the wall, the kooky alien animals, the jungle scenes, etc. Loved Orion's eccentricity and Jakra's devotion. Loved seeing K Kid in action finally. Loved I Kid getting the spotlight and outshining Supes.

Adv. 359 is one of my all time favorite Adventures. Every member is featured and Swan's art is awesome. Great buildup, great suspense, great cliffhanger at the end. Just bummed me out that they left Supergirl out of the 2nd part for no good reason. Went back to the 20th century indeed. What kind of super-heroine just goes home when the team's in a jam?

Adv. 358

A belated review while I have some free time . . .

“The Hunter,” like some of Hamilton’s early stories, tries too hard to shoehorn the Legionnaires into a plot meant for somebody else. In this case, Shooter forces the Legionnaires through the paces of Richard Connell’s short story, “The Most Dangerous Game.”

The idea, nevertheless, is a good one. Billionnaire financier and hunter Otto Orion, bored at trapping and killing animals, seeks to challenge his mettle against the “most dangerous game” he can imagine: the Legion of Super-Heroes. His plot to force the Legionnaires to surrender to him by releasing dangerous beasts on earth is cunning.

However, the Legionnaires seem "off" in this story. They respond to the threat in ways that don’t make a lot of sense. They surrender too easily, it seems, and, once the hunt begins, they sweat, panic, separate, and even act stupid in order to play up the drama of being hunted.

Why, for example, does Invisible Kid order the two mightiest members present, Superboy and Ultra Boy, to work crowd control, while he, Cham, Vi, and Karate Kid fight the dangerous animals? Wouldn’t the opposite strategy make more sense? (KK even questions this, but concludes, “Oh well, you’re the leader.”) Once Superboy and Ultra Boy enter the fray, they make quick work of the animals.

KK himself gets a stupid moment later on when he tries to break through the door of the holding cell, only to set off a barage of lasers, knockout gas, and kryptonite beams. Why not just wait for Superboy’s x-ray vision to reveal there was more to the cell than meets the eye?

Once the hunt begins, the Legionnaires separate (why? Wouldn’t it have been better to stick together and use teamwork to reach the totem pole?). These scenes at least provide some tense and dramatic situations, such as Ultra Boy being overwhelmed by mechanical elephants and being forced to switch back and forth between invulnerability and ultra speed. The Marvel style action serves the story well, giving showpieces especially to Karate Kid and Invisible Kid. The former bravely attempts to rescue Shrinking Violet (whereas Cham, earlier, had apparently just watched during Ultra Boy’s capture).

Invisible Kid goes it alone and bravely faces being shot off the face of a cliff in order to save the day. However, I have to quibble with Lyle’s conclusion that Orion was not evil. If endangering lives, destroying property, kidnapping, and hunting human beings is not evil in your book, Lyle, I don’t know what is.

(For the second time in three issues, the Legionnaires excuse the villains who act against them. I can’t help thinking Bridwell and Shooter were attempting, in a rather clunky way, to emulate Marvel by creating villains with sympathetic motives. But giving Orion a “code of honor” does not make his actions any less evil.)

“The Hunter” is a well intentoned story that overreaches its aims. A much more successful “adaptation” of “The Most Dangerous Game” can be found in this story’s sequel, “The Impossible Target” (Superboy # 199), in which Orion’s son goes after a single Legionnaire. That story played off of Bouncing Boy’s strengths as a character and uniqueness of his power instead of contriving situations to make the characters fit the plot.

Grade: 80.3 (B-)

I have no problem with Lyle ordering Supes and U boy to get the populace out of harm's way. They have super-strength and super speed and could do the most important work of saving lives, more quickly and efficiently than the others. What could I Kid or Violet or Cham have done to get dozens if not hundreds of people out of harm's way quickly? And K Kid wasn't questioning Lyle's decision, only the ability of "all four of us" to defeat an army of hundreds of rampaging monsters. Also, Supes and U boy did not "make quick work of the animals". All they did was extract their beleaguered comrades from the fray and whisk them into a nearby shelter. It's Orion himself who stops the stampede, after telling Superboy he doubts he can turn the tide against them, and then subduing Jo and Kal with a radioactive beast and a kryptonite construct.

And, I understand the logic of Lyle telling the team to split up. Had they stayed in a group, Orion may have dropped a super-power dampening net over the lot of them, or shot them all with a wide range weapon and wiped them all out with one fell swoop, leaving no one left to reach the goal. By splitting up, they forced Orion to divide his resources.

I also see the reasoning that Orion wasn't evil: he was insane. His lust for the thrill of the chase overpowered his reason and made him willing to do anything to feed his addiction, which was the adrenaline rush of the hunt.

...so this is where we left off, right? Anyone have any interest in picking up where we left off, and reviewing the rest of the Adventure run, then get into Action and then the first Cockrum stories?

I would absolutely be in to restart.

I'm in!

I could contribute at least sporadically.

So...anyone else? I was giving it a few days to get some more feedback. With LT and myself and Fanfie contributing when she can, we've got a good start, but I'd love to rope in some once-great Legion Worlders who have fallen into disgrace* like Eryk, HWW, Paladin, Ex and others.

*by disgrace, I mean, possibly not doing the archive reread.

I'd love to, but we'll see how busy life gets.

The disgrace has been lifted!

Understood HWW. I know all too well how that goes. I'm thinking maybe we can take it nice and slow.

I might be in if we cut it down to maybe 1 or 2 stories max per week for a while? I've got a few other read/re-read projects going on, so 3 or more a week would be too much on top of them. And...say...didn't we get further than Archives 6?!? I thought we were on 7, maybe?

(P.S. I might be persuaded more if you'd ever respond to my last VMars post on "Watching"!!! )

I'd be interested in adding some comments, although a slowish pace would be good for me too. Amazon.com says Adv 350-358 is Archive 6, so is the next review for the start of Archive 7?

If so, what's in it, as I've only got the singles, rather than the archive?

ADV 350-351

Hi everyone, I'm here!

Hello? Anyone?

I'm only two years late ...

I just read these issues. I've known the basics of the story for years, having read synopsis and the many later stories that refer back to them, but this is the first time I have read the original stories, and I have to say I am very impressed.

The writer included all the active legionnaires, and the subs, and the super-pets. They had personalities. He gave a chance for many of them to use their powers in a practical way. Shrinking Violet was finally given the chance to be more than her name sake. Invisible Kid showed his leadership. Oh and Cham breaks the fourth wall with a poke at the rival company - I didn't know about that!

I really enjoyed these issues even with the obvious plot holes pointed out above. I did wonder about the covers though. Yes they fit with the story - kind of - but in some ways the story felt a bit forced to fit THEM in. I wondered if the covers had been done first and Bridwell had to write his story around them. Maybe that was why the whole memory wipe was added. I've heard of this happening, but if so in this case he did a masterful job of using weird cover plots to create a good story plot. In the end I suspect I'm wrong but perhaps its more the cover artist was given a little to go on and then encouraged to make them dramatic and emotive.

One weird plot point to me was when and how did Superboy and Supergirl arrange for their replacements? The story flows seamlessly from their unexpected summons to surprise problem causing their dismissal (yes, unnecessary but even modern time travel stories often act as if time continues to flow equally in both centuries) through the memory op and their request for replacements. How did they organise it, contact their replacements, arrange for their armour etc.? Or if it came from Dream Girl's end as we might suppose from the trouble with her sister, how did she and Star Boy contact Superboy and Supergirl? Maybe Nura and Thom had the idea and shouted it out to the cousins who they knew would hear them?

The other thing I wondered was if anyone felt like Paul Levitz may have been inspired by this story when he created the Sensor Girl mystery arc. It just feels to me like there are so many parallels. A masked hero joins the legion on the recommendation of another member. There is suspicion about their motives and identity. Clues are given to the reader - they fly without Legion flight rings because they already had them; they show intimate knowledge of past Legion cases, and legionnaire personalities and relationships; they demonstrate powers that don't seem to make sense, particularly sensory (Miss Terious knows the satellite defenses were shutdown but not that they have been set up again). Supergirl is even a suspect both times. They also gives clues particular to them - e.g. Star Boy supports the affection shown between Garth and Imra with words that are even more meaningful when thinking of his relationship with Nura.

What do you think? Paul shows a tendency to take old stories and characters and redo them in different ways. Inspiration or coincidence?

Nice review, stile86.

I don't have the issue in front of me, but perhaps Superboy and Supergirl contacted Dream Girl and Star Boy (or vice versa) before the team launched into orbit in an attempt to destroy the kryptonite cloud. There must have been some prep for the launch, after all.

I have no doubt that Levitz recycled/was inspired by lots of past Legion stories; still, the parallels you identified are striking.