Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Reading the Legion: Archives #1

YES! It will be to me from now on!


I bet Imra and Cos just produced all of the other members of the Legion of Super Heroes through super science and implanted made up back stories in their heads.

Maybe if they showed up in this?

Hey, I recognize that--it's Pov's car!

I loved the Unknown Spaceman too. Is there an unknown spaceman for Mars or Saturn? Why was the statue stolen and dumped in the ocean? It certainly does smell of a cover-up! Does that figure resemble any 1950s space characters?

Mom and Dad Kent - is this a one-time thing or were they not always Ma and Pa Kent?

Jet packs!

Interesting that time travel is presented as clouds against a starfield background.

Project Vanguard on the satellite was based on a real 1958 satellite !

Even way back then they were establishing that Superboy wasn't going to grow up to be Superman....Mom and Dad Kent are the Pocket Universe versions

Based on this story ... no wonder Superboy prime went apeshit!

It's well-established that this version of the Legion are actually the Super-Sexy Adventurers of the 2940s!

I was looking at the Anti-Lad story awhile ago.

He comes back in time to the 30th century because Superboy was rejected by the Legion-- and basically tricks the Legion into accepting him as a member.

This is entirely consistent with Adventure #247.

"Ha-ha-ha. It was just an 'initiation'." No- they were sparing his feelings.

So Anti-Lad simply cut off his time-peeping too soon. Then his father deduced that the time scanner had malfunctioned, which set up a chain of events that probably really did change history.

This could explain a lot of unanswered questions! If you have an unanswered question about Legion history, blame it on Anti-Lad.

Okay, Adventure #267. Incredible to think 20 months had passed since the Legion's first appearance. Some courageous American youths stepped up to the plate and demanded a return, and Uncle Mort was glad to satisfy!

It seems there's a simple consequential pattern in the Silver Age: have a science exposition, and a robot will awaken and run amok.

Check out that older woman on pace 3, panel 4, insulting Superboy. He should have said "the Victorian Era called; they'd like their clothes back!"

I also forget about "super shouting" being a super-power! I bet lame DCnU Superman can't do that.

Yet another story with the Legionnaires acting like jerks! If I was Superboy, I'd give every single character in the issue a super-beat down and then kick Earth into the sun! He sure is an understanding fellow. Imra turning Krypto against him is nigh unforgivable.

Ps - Ma and Pa Kent shouldn't really be space traveling at that age.

Adv. 267

So, it's no secret that I've always thought this story was a massive step down from the debut, but I decided to try to re-read it with an open mind to see if I can find hidden grooviness!

And, you know what? I didn't.

While the first LSH story is filled with all kinds of wondrous, cool things that make me curious about the Legion and their future time, they really just come off as completely annoying in this tale.

Imra is pretty kickass powerful in this story, however. From her splitting rocks with mental force bolts on the cover, to her making a crook hallucinate a cobra instead of a gun, to her basically mind-controlling the entire town of Smallville, she's rarely been presented as having this much power.

Oh, and if I were in charge of the universe, the little kid in the sailor outfit would show up to make fun of Superboy everytime he makes a mistake.

Adventure 267

- The Cover

Per my observation last issue about the story vs. the cover coming first in these early Adventure issues, I'm now definitely leaning toward the story being first. My rationale is that I really don't think that Curt Swan would have done a costume redesign on the cover willy-nilly. From what I've read, he was very much a "style sheet" artist. So - if that's true - I guess the credit for the evolution of the founders costumes toward that more iconic look would go to George Papp. I'm not sure why, but I find that pretty interesting, I guess just because Papp is not a name I associate with the Legion a lot.

Also... that's a lot of orange there.


Page 1 - "Wow! Look at those three super-youths from the future, with only one super-power each, overpowering that rampaging monster! They're... terrific!" Whew... exposition. I don't envy Silver Age letterers.


Page 2 - Smallville Schadenfreude. Maybe I'm jaded from the TMZ times we live in now, but somehow the idea of regular folks taking joy in a celebrity's misfortune doesn't seem all that unbelievable.


Page 3 - More of the same. Bonus: boxy robot goodness


Page 4 - "Ya-ya! You ain't so hot!" Hey, it's young Exnihil!


Page 5 - What the hell is that thing? First order of business after all this is over... find out what exactly what sort of Jules Vernian nightmares are lurking in this subterranean Smallville.


Page 6 - "I wish I could send you back to the orphange!" The tongue pierces deeper than the spear, Pa Kent. That was super-harsh. Possibly the most hurtful thing I've ever read in a comic.


Page 7 - And now the madness begins. Just a side note... doesn't that second panel remind you a little bit of the Daxam scene in the Great Darkness?


Page 8 - Titanians aren't big into the whole "due process" thing.


Page 9 - Minority Report logic... we'll imprison for a crime you will commit. Are airstrips really made of solid sheets of metal? Methinks George Papp might have taken a reference shortcut here.


Page 10 - Wait... what? The most nonsensical page ever written. So much bothers me here.

The Legion are absolute a-holes - imprisoning Clark for life for something that they think he'll do in the future, which - by the way - according to their logic, he now won't even do, because he's imprisoned.

"Days later, one of the amazing Superboy trophies explodes..." What? Deus Ex Machina much?

"...launching an atomic chain reaction..." Again... why?

"...unleashed the element Silgellian" Of course it did.

The super shout... Oddly, this is the part I have the least problem with. Reality manipulation via sonic vibration? Yeah... sounds familiar, it's basically Tyroc's whole deal. Although... wait... wouldn't that have been a duplication of powers then precluding Tyroc?


Page 11 - Oh, sure, Cos... now that Clark pulled your fat out the fire, it's all good. Jerk.

"a poison gas too horrible to ever be used". You see, that's why everybody liked Ike. I never thought I'd say this, but... Doc Mayavale was right.

Ma and Pa Kent holding hands in space... adorable.



So... yeah... one of my least favorite Legion stories ever. Huge gaps in logic... everyone acting like madmen... deus ex machina plotting... just bad all around.

Nice costumes, though.

Pa Kent's line was incredible harsh. As was Krypto turning against Clark.

Like I said, if it was me, I'd simply kick Earth into the sun, killing all of humanity and ensuring the Legion was never founded in the future! But hey, I guess that's why I haven't been recruited yet.

I usually associate George Papp with Green Arrow, as I think he did his entire run in Adventure without ever missing an issue until Jack Kirby came in (and even then, wasn't Kirby more in World's Finest?).

The Swan cover is one of the best early Legion covers. It's probably the best part of the issue.

Waaaaait a minute. Something else else just occurred to me after I made the "Everybody liked Ike" quip. I always forget the "Superboy stories aren't contemporary" thing. They actually would have taken place about 15 or so years before the year in which they were published, so probably this story takes place just post-WWII.

Which now makes me wonder how Superboy was familiar with "Project Vanguard" satellite technology in the previous story. I guess he was doing some off-panel time hopping of his own.

Bloody Liberty! That means Superboy was working hand in hand with FDR! That is an Untold Tale that must be told!

^^Ooh, good point on the Project Vanguard thing.

Another problem with #267: So, according to the plot the Legion sees events which they believe to take place five years in the future. Er... couldn't they tell from the fact that he doesn't look any older that the events aren't really in the future? In five years, he'd actually be Superman.

With an army of heroes from all across the galaxy, why did they need to turn everyone against Superboy and drive him out? Why not just go get him? Or even better, given Irma's power, why not have her use them on him and force him off-planet where they could nab him?

EDIT: Also, since the Legion knows that:

a) he becomes Superman
b) It's all his good deeds yet to be done that inspired them to offer him membership in the first place.

Wouldn't imprisoning him for life create a huge time paradox?

One of my most popular posts on my blog is about Adventure # 267.

However, perhaps we're being too logical in analyzing the story. Here's what Mort and Jerry might have been attempting to do:

"Yet perhaps Siegel (and editor Mort Weisinger, who co-plotted and had final say over all Superman-related titles in those days) was thinking of his audience after all. The story plays upon several common fears children have, such as being ostracized, abandoned, and punished, and even children's fears for how they might turn out when they grow up.

And like most Silver Age stories, 'Prisoner' turns out all right in the end. Superboy even forgives the Legionnaires for their nasty deeds – a lesson we could all learn."

Also, I recently read Superman: The High-Flying History of America's Most Enduring Hero by Larry Tye, which chronicles the stories of the men (mostly men) and women who created and developed Superman.

"Prisoner of the Super-Heroes" would have been written shortly after Jerry Siegel returned to DC. He and Joe Shuster had been dismissed about a decade earlier following their lawsuit. It must have been galling for Siegel to write as a hired hand for the company he had been in large part responsible for building. Some of that anger and sense of persecution may be coming through in this story.

Issue 267

Okay, now I know I'm a pervert. Superboy's pose (i.e. pouting slightly in his kryptonite cage) reminds me of a porno cover. XD!!

Orphanage?! I thought Superboy's parents found him in a pod or something out in a field? And they're being MEAN! What's going on...I DEMAND EXPLANATIONS.

SUPER-SHOUTING. I mean, is that like Banshee's power from the X-Men? Or Tyroc's? Sorta?

Okaaaaay. So Superboy was really doing the dirty work for the US Government? I had forgotten that back in these days a lot of the superheroes were basically working for The Man. XD!!

All right guys, think I'm going to go get a shovel in the hopes that if I dig down far enough that there will be a dragon inside. BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE AWESOME. I need a dragon in my life.

Yay, Conjure Lass is here!

And yeah, what was up with the Orphanage comment? I guess with Beppo and all those other stowaways, the rocket could be considered as such.

Yaaaay! I ARRIVE IN STYLE.

Seriously though, I was so confused by that! I mean, it seems like a pretty big plot point that they FOUND him in a FIELD.

I'm surprised he didn't turn around and go: WAITADAMNMINUTE. I thought you said you FOUND me. WHAT IS THIS TOMFOOLERY!

Because they said things like tomfoolery back in those days.

I guess Pa Kent's memory was going at that point, which was bound to happen after he'd been put in harm's way by bank robbers, aliens, monsters, time travelers and all around ne'er do-wells about 10,000 times.

Standard Silver Age Superboy/Superman lore has it that the Kents find baby Kal-El in the field, then take him to an orphanage, then decide to go back to adopt him a couple of weeks later.

The orphanage goes back to Action #1! Note the fact that, in this version, there's no suggestion of him being adopted!

~REEEALLLYYY??~

I have learned today. Well, that was damn nice of them. I can imagine them trying not to slip up when they delivered him to the orphanage.

Orphanage worker: So...where did you find him?
Pa Kent: Oh, in a pod from spa--I mean a dumpster! Yeah! That's it! We heard him crying from a dumpster pod...people call them that, right?