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

^^That seems to me a clear clue that Lyle is the secret owner of Nine Planets Ice Cream!

Anyway, I always assumed that there were basically nine "featured" flavors at the NPICP, but that you could still get vanilla or something if you really wanted it.

Thanks EDE prime ... that makes feel better about 9 planets ice cream.

(don't go crazy like Superboy Prime though)

Ice cream is as essential to Legion lore as time travel is!

Pluto is CLEARLY a planet.


Haters gonna hate.

Bah! Clearly this proves the existence of Vulcan!

Vulcan could be the ancient name for Tharr, which surely had a long tradition of ice cream consumption.

I love the allusion these early tales make that teenagers spend much of their free time in ice cream shoppes. Clearly I was born in the wrong century.

It's a shame more homages haven't been made in the form of pin-ups or posters of our heroes in brightly colored spandex standing out like sore thumbs in the sea of everyday citizens eating ice cream. It's a great, Rockwell-retro visual.

The popularity of ice cream clearly led to the invention of the cellular trim ray! Even with non-fat, almost zero-calorie ice cream variants, the sheer volume of ice cream consumption still led to massive weight gain among teenagers.

We need Legion characters from Vulcan! STAT!

CODE BLUE.

Is it like Marzal, Just has a sophisticated cloaking device, or is something polite people don't talk about ... like that period where Klingons looked more human?

Mention of the cellular trim ray makes me wonder if Ayla "bulked up" for her role as deceased brother Lightning Lad. Once she had her own heroic identity, it was time for those unwanted pounds (of muscle) to go.

As for the Star Boy story, it's probably one of my least re-read of the Archives. Zynthia is beautiful and I love the extent of Lana's Silver Age exploits.

Being serious for a moment:
1) Pluto's smaller than Eris, so if you demand Pluto gets included, there would be ten planets, which still isn't nine! (This is basically why they made the change. There's a LOT of Plutoids out there, they're now realising. If they didn't stop calling Pluto a planet, they'd end up with a three-figure number of "planets" in the Solar System before too long...)
2) Pluto isn't even the first "planet" to get demoted. Ceres' was demoted to a "minor planet" (asteroid) way back when, along with the likes of Pallas and Vesta, they realised there was a whole asteroid belt there, just as they've now realised there's one in the vicinity of Pluto too. Ceres was actually "promoted" to a dwarf planet at the same time Pluto and Eris were declared dwarf planets, so if you demand "dwarf planet" gets dropped, you're hating on Ceres!

Re Ayla as Lightning Lad, she also had to disguise her voice (I'm sure Garth had a deeper one), probably make some subtle changes to her face, and even had to wear stilts or heels (I think all official sources have Garth taller than Ayla). Or maybe she just used a lot of tech. We know she didn't induce an illusion because Sun Boy noticed the neck-isn't-tanned and no-adam's-apple bits.

Unless we posit that both Garth and Ayla still hadn't quite reached puberty yet... NAH!

The Super-Girlfriends and Brainy! This one is just packed with awesome materials and a contender for best story in the Archive (I'd rank it #3, myself--#1 to be revealed later). Tons of Legionnaires, an upbeat Supergirl tale with her joining, teen romance and lots of cool 31st tidbits.

Tinya and Lu are introduced, and with a bit of Veronica and Betty to them--though how much of that comes from my knowledge of their 50 year history I can't say. Tinya is the great love of my Legion life. From her supporting Jo to her reboot self being the standard I set for all high school girlfriends. She just rocks. Luornu, despite her own super-short skirt, is clearly a girl next door with her hairdo and demeanor. The addition of two girls is nothing short of astounding, and the trend of more girls will continue--when most superhero teams would hold to the "one token female" bit for like 20 more years. There is no doubt that giving Supergirl friends has a lot to do with this at first, but whatever the case, it somehow helped fulfill a lot of the futuristic ideal the Legion represents.

I have to say though that again, Saturn Girl steals the story all the way up until Brainy is intro'd. She's just such a strong presence. She's up there with Lois and Wonder Woman for iconic DC females.

I love the Brainy / Supergirl romance, and the inherent angst and tragedy in it. I actually like the "chip on his shoulder" Brainy that has been consistent since the reboot started; but I have a soft spot in my heart for the original Brainy, with his quiet heroism, determination to make up for his ancestors villainy and his unshakeable love for Kara. The concept of Brainiac 5 in general is one of the single strongest parts of the LSH. There's no doubt it helped the Legion's popularity immediately, by connecting the LSH further to Superman mythology and introducing a great character. There's no doubt he's among the true stars of the LSH--and unlike some other posters I think that should never, ever, not be used to the fullest.

And then another series of introductions! Sun Boy! Shrinking Violet! Bouncing Boy! The hits just keep on coming. We later learn Chuck's story but we don't see Vi or Dirk join. From the first panel, Dirk is the best looking guy in the series so far; only Jo and Tenz ever reach that. He just looking heroic and dashing--like a red-headed Errol Flynn. Meanwhile, Silver Age Vi is so the quintessential shrinking violet that its hilarious. She doesn't even speak until Tenz coaxes it out of her! Mooney and Forte do her facial expressions perfectly. Meanwhile, Chuck is also the classic blubbering yet lovable best friend underdog from the start. The fact that a club of Super-Heroes includes Vi and Chuck later is almost as progressive as having so many girls!

On to the story! Frankie Hudson, eh? Did he ever appear again? Seems like a real hip cat that is really with it.

Poor Linda and her feeling like an outsider. Surely all kids can relate? She beats Spider-Man by 4 years with the angst!

The silly 1950's and their iron masks. Years ago I did a serious inventory of all DC comics in the 50's and realized there are dozens--literally dozens--of "___ in the Iron Mask!" type stories. By now, the trope was as common as an escaped lion.

Look at Kara in the first panel of page 5. Absolutely stunning. Wow. Mr. Mooney, I applaud you.

The original Koko makes me want to punch his face. I think this is his second and last appearance? This is also a critically important Brainiac story regarding his lore, which I forgot. By now Brainiac was crazy popular with readers.

Lets take a moment to enjoy Superman threatening to destroy Brainiac...and then doing it! I really enjoy Supes when he's the baddest mother fucker in all time and space!

Not sure why the entire space / broken force shield belt sequence is included. It's absolutely unnecessary. At least we get to panels of Krypto and Lori & Jerro.

Since "dating" multiple people until you decide to go steady was the norm in the 50's and 60's, I don't think Supergirl is doing anything too wrong. A teen has to keep their options open after all, until they know that person is the one.

I love that Brainiac 5 was originally created specifically to be a boyfriend for Supergirl.

On the other hand, Saturn Girl, whose power was first described as "super-mind", gets demoted to only the second-smartest in the Legion.

At the original Brainiac's next appearance, DC felt obliged to explain how he had escaped from the microverse that Superman had exiled him to... not considering that the event Brainiac 5 described might have occurred far in Superman's future! But that's the way time travel was in the Silver Age-- the 30th century ran parallel to the 20th century, not really "after".

Love this issue so much! It has a lot going for it with the introduction of so many legendary Legionnaires and some wonderful Jim Mooney art. Like it's been said by Cobie before I think, he's probably my favorite Supergirl artist during this era. No contest. So having him draw so many Legionnaires here and have a hand in their design is a great legacy to me.

Despite the silliness one may assume from a title like "The Super-Girlfriends," I'd say this is definitely an important issue for the women of Legion history. Yes, it's got the introduction of the wonderful Tinya and Luornu, but I also feel that this issue really solidifies Imra as a leader and assertive person amongst the team ... even if she was simply played up to fill the Cosmic Boy role in the starting homage to the team's first appearance.

Not to mention it solidifies Supergirl's role with the team, which I'm glad. It's been mentioned before by someone but I want to echo that I enjoy Supergirl's time and stories with the Adventure Legion far more than Superboy's. I'm uncertain if it's a novelty thing as they're infrequent. I really love how realistic and insecure Kara is and how she comes alive as a role model and even finds love with the Legion. I feel a lot of those parallels with Superboy, especially his insecurity, aren't really brought up that much in this run once he's a member or have been more stated after-the-fact by Geoff Johns and company. I also feel like Kara's tenure with the team is more realistic for a time-traveler. She comes, she goes, she gets homesick either way and goes back for a spell...

The Supergirl robot is dressed the same as in the previous story, purple skirt and green top, even though Linda is wearing a nice red and yellow ensemble. I guess nobody notices what poor, friendless Linda wears back at the orphanage.

And why doesn't Kara recognize Saturn Girl's costume from their prior encounter? Had Imra done a little mind-wipe? Kara does recognize Cos & Lightning Lad once she gets to the 30th century. You see how these early stories pave the way for future explanations.

I hadn't thought of Lu and Tinya as Betty and Veronica, but it works. It also makes sense that the three girls would be closer at the beginning of the Legion, then grow apart as more members joined and they grew older. I wonder why Violet didn't go along; maybe she was still something of an outsider.

Brainiac 5 is hauntingly familiar, not because he has green skin like Brainiac, but a resemblance in his facial features. There must not have been too many green-skinned people running around the galaxy back in Kara's time... I'd like to think, however, that she's totally un-racist, and doesn't focus on somebody's skin colour. That would have been quite a message for 1961, as the Civil Rights movement was just gaining momentum, but I don't suppose that was the writer's intention.

There's also the appearance of the dreaded Koko, a creature whose execrable namesake would appear in the reboot.

So sweet how Brainiac 5 is smitten with Kara; admiring and protective. I wonder how much of her history he knew at that point. Was he enamoured of her before they even met? She enjoys the attention and likes him, but is clearly more emotionally detached.

Love the scene with the guys working on the blue car. Are they putting some garbage into Mr. Fusion? Or is that a futuristic El Camino?

This is the first instance (in Legion stories) of the multi-coloured time stream, although it's a bit pale.

Kara's adventure doesn't end when she gets back to the 20th century; there's a mini-backup story with the forcefield belt, Krypto and her friends in Atlantis, then closing with the two girls at the orphanage that opened the story. Jerro seems to be as smitten as Brainy, while Kara is again rather detached. She sure has a lot of secrets to keep!

I read these early Supergirl stories and wonder how the character got to be such a mish-mash in later years. Maybe sweetness just didn't sell after the 1980s. The 3boot Supergirl captured something of the charm of Supergirl's Adventure-era stories, but that was short-lived.

Action #276

There's definitely a lot to love about this issue!

The girls in Orphanage!

The debut of Phantom Girl and Triplicate Girl! I love how PG is always drawn as a ghost in these early appearances! I'd be happy with either of these two as one of my "super-girlfriends"!

New applicants Shrinking Violet, Bouncing Boy, and Sun Boy! The former is her normally quiet self, and the latter two both exhibit the optimism which they are both known for!

And Brainiac Five! I actually love the plot of Brainiac Shrinking entire planets. The original Brainaic story is quite possibly the grooviest Superman story of all time. If this were really the end of Brainiac, wouldn't this story violate Superman's rule against taking life? I would think throwing him into the path of the shrinking ray would qualify as killing him.

Anyway, the "I'm sorry I'm descended from such an evil man!" characterization of Brainy is my absolute favorite! Glad they drew heavily upon it for Ani-Braniac.

Exalibur, the Helmet of Achilles, and Richard the Lion-Hearted's Shield.

I dig the big ceremony welcoming new members of the Legion.

Bonus appearances by Krypto, Lori, and Jerro once we get back to the 20th century.

Definitely a solid issue, and important for the introduction of six new Legionnaires!

I never paid much attention to it before, but it looks to me like they are collecting/hauling away the Kryptonite chunks.

This is something that actually kind of annoys me about contemporary culture. It seems like at some point we've moved to asking someone out being the same thing as asking someone to be in a relationship with you, with no kind of intermediary phase.

I effectively ignored that new social norm to the detriment of many in my high school and college years!

(And seriously--I totally agree)

^^My complete inability to adjust to that norm was certainly the source of many a wacky EDE hijink over the years!

Anyway, random interesting fact about this story: note that there's no mention at all of Brainiac 5 having any sort of super-power in this issue.

Action 276


Page 1 - Two more Legionnaires right off the bat! It's really amazing, in retrospect, to think how quickly the team was growing in these early days. In this single story, an additional six characters are added to the Legion's setting (if not "officially" yet to the roster). For a line that had, until recently, been characterized by the "one-time-use" type guest stars, the recurrence of the the ever-growing Legion in the Superman line is really quite something. And the fact, as others have mentioned above, that three other characters introduced should be female, for the time, is really progressive. No wonder this series was such a quick hit.


Page 2 - Hmm... I took a quick look through some online references for the 1960-61 TV season, and nothing really leaps out that "Frankie Hudson" could be a homage of. More than likely, it's probably just a general nod to a "Dick Clark" type of TV personality.


Page 3 - Holy Mother of God! That mask is so freaking creepy! Kudos to Supergirl for not just punching Imra out and asking questions later.


Page 4 - The formal intro to Tinya and Lu. Interesting how Tinya's appearance is consistently "phantom-y" throughout this story. I wonder whether, as originally written, she was intended to permanently incorporeal... a sort of "Phantom Zone" type without the limitations.


Page 5 - Nothing much to say here. Nice reprisal and continuity reinforcement.


Page 6 - Looking at the original coloring (non-archive), we've finally got a yellow clubhouse. This time, however, the "fins" are yellow, too. We're getting there, though.

One, two, three punch with Vi, Chuck, and Dirk. Seriously, this is some unprecedented character introductions for an issue of this time.


Page 7 - Great, great, great, great grandson? Yeah... that would be Brainiac 7. Apart from all that, I know that in a few of these early stories there was some occasional narrative confusion about whether the Legion existed 1000 years in the future, or 100. These missteps usually occurred in Jerry Siegel-penned stories, so I'm almost wondering whether the "Brainiac 5" designation came about because of something like that... a momentary slip into the "100 year" mindset, where it would make more sense for only 5 generations to have passed. Whatever... it's a small thing, but I am curious.


Page 8 - Really interesting final fate for Brainac... I don't think this ever actually occurred in-story, but, still sort of cool that they had something planned out.


Page 9 - Excalibur... I can't quite remember where this is later reprised (either the Great Darkness Saga or during the Magic Wars perhaps) but I'm pretty sure this sword winds up in the Museum of Mystic Arts

Heh... that truck. I wonder who the driver is that's carting away all that kryptonite.


Page 10 - Bitchin' center panel... really just a super-cool group shot (the first?)

"Please remain... and be my girl..." Agh... heart breaking... even then Brainy knew her final fate and that each moment could be their last... so sad in 20/20 hindsight.


Page 11 - Bleh... Jerro.


Page 12 - Odd thought... but it just occurred to me that Krypto is, by this point, quite an old dog - at least 29 Earth years, right? I don't know if Kryptonian dogs were naturally more long-lived than their Terran counterparts but - if not - you've got to think that Kal had to occasionally look at Krypto - still frolicking about after nearly three decades - and ponder the ramifications on his own mortality.

The belt shatters... status quo restored.



So... yep. Another strong entry in the Supergirl sub-series of Legion tales, and an improvement on the first. Tons of cool tidbits intro-ed here that both reinforced the concept, while expanding it at the same time. For as hokey as the early Legion stories can be... fact of the matter is... they are also so good compared to a lot of their contemporary counterparts.

Great Darkness Saga. It's found at the Tower of London by the Guardian clone (they mentioned Supergirl uncovered it in her initiation). The Metachem wand was at the Museum of Mystic Arts.

My theory is that Sun Boy's costume is so good, that he was automatically bumped to Legionnaire status by either Mort, Jerry or someone else. His very next appearance, in the Tom Tanner story, he not only is the major player in the story--he actually makes the cover! Thus far, only the Founders & Star Boy had done that (not counting Mon yet as he isn't really a Legionnaire yet).

So major kudos goes to Jim Mooney for designing what to me is one of the best Legion costumes of them all. Whoever decided on red being the main color with yellow highlighting it, also made a smart decision.

When viewing all of the Legion covers in the Silver Age, one notices Sun Boy appears fairly regularly. He also appears almost non-stop in the second TPB as we'll all see soon enough. He was definitely a star early on.