Tag Archives: Legion of Super-Heroes

Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Read -“War of the Legions” (Adventure Comics #355, April, 1967)

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This 12-page adventure is not so much a continuation of “The Adult Legion” as a sequel. It is teased at the end of the previous issue’s full-length story, with the reveal that Ferro Man was under the control of the Legion of Super-Villains, but it feels fairly disconnected otherwise. Superman leaves right at the beginning, to return to the 20th Century, and Timber Wolf has just vanished between issues.

The reduction in force was necessary to match the LSH and LSV person for person, so that they could face each other in single combat after the Super-Villains had kidnapped Brainiac 5.

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Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Read: “The Adult Legion!” (Adventure Comics #354, March, 1967)

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This is one of my all-time favorite Legion adventures, despite the fact that it tells the tale of a much-depleted membership, and, apparently, that it was forced on young Jim Shooter by his crusty old editor, Mort Weisinger. Shooter nonetheless did the idea proud, taking the Legion credibly forward, and, along the way, creating two new permanent Legionnaires (never mind that they were doomed to die someday), as well as the Wanderers and a mystery named Reflecto.

It’s a gripping cover, isn’t it? A memorial hall to a bunch of dead Legionnaires, only one of whom readers had met at the time, and he had died in the previous issue. This was the first of many ways that the Legion would let us know that Andrew Nolan, Ferro Lad, was gone, but not forgotten.

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Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Read – “The Doomed Legionnaire!” (Adventure Comics #353, )

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SPOILERS!

Yeah, Ferro Lad’s been dead almost as long as I’ve been alive, so I don’t think I’m blowing any secrets here. The last time a Legionnaire died, there was no fanfare, no announcement on the cover, and almost no emotion shown. Of course, Lightning Lad came back not long after his “death.” But Ferro Lad stayed dead. (Yes, he returned as a ghost, as his twin brother, as a clone (twice!) and as a character in a reboot Legion. But this Andrew Nolan died in Adventure 353, and is still dead in current continuity, such as it is.)

It sounds like Jim Shooter always planned to kill Ferro Lad. He told Roger Stern that he didn’t think he’d be allowed to kill any existing Legionnaires, so he created some “extras” in his first story. Since no regular character in a comic like this had been permanently killed before, he thought it should be tried. (14 years later, he tried to apply similar logic to the idea of turning a long-standing character permanently evil, but Jean Grey just came back to life as a hero again, so I don’t think that idea stuck. It’s a shame, but it begs the question—would we remember Ferro Lad so fondly if he had lived?

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Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Read – “The Fatal Five!” (Adventure Comics #352, January, 1967)

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This is Jim Shooter’s most famous Legion story—well, the first part of it anyway. It introduces the greatest threat the team ever faced, and also, arguably, a team of their most memorable villains. While I’m actually a big fan of the Legion of Super-Villains, let’s face it, they’re five copycats and a bunch of Legion rejects. Lightning Lord and Nemesis Kid are their only real contenders, and that’s because of their ties back to the Legion itself.

The Fatal Five, on the other hand, are their own creations; and while they’re a bit two-dimensional here, each carries in his (or her) origin story the makings of a fully realized character. Look at the first three: Validus, a creature who is not evil and does not want to hurt anyone, but is nonetheless sentenced to death because he cannot control his violent rages; Tharok, who hates all protectors of law because a police officer’s stray shot vaporized half his body and left him a disfigured cyborg; Mano, a mutant shunned by his peers because of his destructive hand, who turned that hand on his very home world and killed everyone on it.

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Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Read – “The Forgotten Legion!” (Adventure Comics #351, December, 1966)

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BASTARD PEOPLE ALERT! This issue contains possibly the worst bastard people moment in Legion history. I’m talking about this panel, wherein Invisible Kid socks Ultra Boy in the jaw (knowing he’s not currently invulnerable) for disobeying an order. And, seriously, there’s no excuse for this. I know it was the 1960s, and punching each other in the face was just something boys did. Kids. Sheesh. But no, this is not okay in any time or context. The Legion is not the British Navy. It’s a futuristic, civilized collection of very intelligent individuals. Indeed, the person being the Bastard People here is arguably the guy with the second-highest IQ in the group. Intelligence doesn’t guarantee good behavior, but it sure as hell makes it harder to excuse.

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Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Read – “The Outcast Super-Heroes!” (Adventure Comics #350, November, 1966)

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This may be the first issue of Legion’s Adventure run that I ever bought. And no, I did not buy it new, being only a year old when it was published. I bought it sometime around 1976/77 at the Antique Underground in Prince George’s Plaza. I was amazed to get it as cheaply as I did—probably for either a quarter or fifty cents. It was a well-read, clearly loved issue.

Nelson Bridwell, now about two years into his career writing DC super-hero comics, tackles his first Legion story, which is quite an atmospheric departure from the groundwork Jim Shooter was laying at the time. But it’s also a critical piece, tying up loose ends, creating a few new characters, and leaving Shooter more Legionnaires to play with.

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Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Read – “The Rogue Legionnaire” (Adventure Comics #349, October, 1966)

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Still drawing his own layouts, finished by Curt Swan and George Klein this time, Jim Shooter created an enduring Legion villain, Universo, and an important supporting character, Rond Vidar. (Although, surprisingly, Rond is not named in this story. He’s just, “The kid who invented the time cube.”)

Like the Dr. Regulus story last issue, this story opens more traditionally than Shooter’s “One of Us Is a Traitor,” with the Legionnaires visiting a science fair. It then uses the same device used last issue to pull the team away from a public appearance—an emergency at the clubhouse. Brainiac 5 informs them that someone is desperately trying to break in, though he never explains how he knows.

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Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Read: “Target: 21 Legionnaires” (Adventure Comics #348, September, 1966)

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For his first Legion adventure written and drawn after being hired by DC, Jim Shooter fleshed out the origin of Sun Boy, a favorite character who had not been featured in a while. He appeared in #342’s “The Legionnaire Who Killed,” and the Computo Two-Parter, but in fairly minor roles, as compared to his early, take-charge appearances. His last real character moment was back during the Starfinger saga.

And Sun Boy’s origin is tied to that of Dr. Regulus, the villain of the piece.

The story begins, traditionally enough, with Superboy arriving at the clubhouse for a meeting—an election, in fact. Invisible Kid is the new Legion leader, a good thing for Lyle Norg, since he has played, up until now, a fairly small part in the Legion’s adventures. Most likely writers had a hard time figuring out what to do with his fairly limited powers.

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Right, I’ll Come in Again—The Changing Powers of Ultra Boy

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So a while back, I reviewed “The Boy with the Ultra-Powers,” the first appearance of Jo Nah of Rimbor, later to be known as the Legionnaire called Ultra Boy. In that first appearance, in Superboy 98, Jo talked on and on about his Penetra-Vision, which allowed him to assist (and baffle) Superboy by seeing through lead. Superboy’s X-Ray vision couldn’t do that, so this was a pretty big deal.

The other Legionnaire who could out-see Superboy was Star Boy, who first appeared in “Lana Lang and the Legion of Super-Heroes” in Adventure Comics #282. In that story, Star Boy also had all of Superboy’s other powers.

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Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Read: “The Traitor’s Triumph” (Adventure Comics #347, July, 1966)

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Part two of Jim Shooter’s cold-submission Legion story has artwork finished by Curt Swan, and shows us the Legion’s first battle with Garlak and his Khund warriors, humanoid aliens from a galaxy at the edge of known space. It gives a great showcase to new Legionnaires Ferro Lad and Karate Kid, with perhaps a bit less action for their cohort, Princess Projectra.

This issue continues to show the bigger, hipper, more action-oriented Marvel style being brought to the Legion’s pages, particularly in a second splash page being devoted to the Legion meeting the Khund forces in battle. If ever before a DC comic had present a splash page in the middle of a story, I don’t know about it. It was very rare. And, indeed, even the primary splash pages in the Silver Age weren’t full page—they usually had two to three panels of the story at the bottom. This shows the evolution of the Legion to a more visually gripping storytelling style. Continue reading →