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

Superboy 89


The Cover - Again with the purple background. I always thought the "Silver Age cover tricks" were a bit dubious in their effectiveness, but after going through this sequential re-read, the purple thing really seems to work on me, totally catching my eye.

So, too does Mon El's costume, but I'll save that until a head-on shot of it.

The Jack in the Box creature... well, that's just... um... hmm. I really like Eryk's theory about its possible Puppet Planetoid origins. Those kids are all about the toys. Speaking of which... doesn't the design of the creature sort of remind you of those freaky old "Obie" stress dolls:



...which, by the way, were first manufactured in the late 50's. I'm not claiming the Jack in the Box creature is directly influenced... but it certainly seems possible, doesn't it?


Page 1 - Just the set-up. At first glance, from behind, Mon's costume seems to be just a color negative reverse of Superboy's but, as we see shortly, there is more going on that makes all the difference.


Page 2 - A "lightning-like" change? Gasp... "L.L"!

Strange design of Mon's craft... it almost looks like a torpedo. I'd get really claustrophobic in a thing that small.


Page 3 - Mon's costume... just the best. One of my all time favorite comic outfits. That Mandarin collar, the belted cutaway shirt, those cape attachment discs. I don't know what it is, but something in the overall combination just cries out "nobility" to me.

I'm not versed enough in the finer minutia of Superboy stories to know how exactly he can specifically recognize Jor-El's handwriting but... whatever... that's far from the maddest thing that happens in this story.


Page 4 - "an atomic chain reaction at the core of the planet" Yeah... I think it's time to take Fat Cramer's advice and start a new thread for my "Unknown Spaceman of Venus" conspiracy theory. This panel is important.


Page 5 - "Gosh... I... I don't know." Trust those instincts, Mon... this is crazy talk!

That is some pronounced chin Mon's got in that last panel. Almost "Bruce Campbell" territory.


Page 6 - Holy cow, shut up already, Clark! This rambling explanation just gets more desperate and convoluted the more Mon pokes reasonable holes into it. I almost feel bad for Clark... he just wants so badly to not be alone in the universe.

Look at the "crazy eyes" Clark's got going on in panel 4, and how Mon incredulous Mon looks.

Is he really, "at least 18"? Did they waive something to let him into the Legion later on?


Page 7 - Really, Clark? An 18-year-old traveling brush salesman is plausible?

"Bob Cobb"... "Mon"-El... The Kents are bad at naming.


Page 8 - "Gasp... there are two super-youths". It wasn't so remarkable when there were four wandering around a few issues back.


Page 9 - "He's keeping up the pretense that he's my older brother" The pretense that you convinced him of, Clark!

"Yes, reader! Who is this cunning stranger...?" Now just stop that, omniscient narrator, you're not helping!


Page 10 - Heh… You think you made enough pancakes there, Ma Kent?


Page 11 - Nice sidebar story with the whole "Rhodopis" thing but… if Clark - as his thoughts indicate - already ran across the real Cinderella in his trips to the past, why does he have to go again now?


Page 12 – This has nothing to do with the story here, of course, but just an interesting little LMB thing… so they are saying that the third pyramid at Giza was built in honor of Rhodopis. That happens to be the "Menkaure" pyramid which – in LMB lore – is the ancient identity of the LMB poster, "dedman"!


Page 13 – Magnificent Lana… drifting gracefully through the air like a bird. All is as it should be,


Page 14 – Seems like there has to be a easier way to label that brush with super-powers, but whatevs.

"The rat! He’s trying to take my girl from me". The girl whose affection you continually spurn, Clark? She is so not "your girl".


Page 15 – They are robbing the bank… with a CATAPULT!!! This has to be, at once, one of the coolest - and least efficient – bank robberies ever.


Page 16 – "SPA-ANNNG," indeed. Words fail them both.


Page 17 – Reproduced for posterity, the most beautiful sentence ever written:

"It’s a jack-in-the-box monster… probably left behind in a space wreck by a weird race of space people who make crazy toys!" - Robert Bernstein, poet


Page 18 - "We learned to care for you deeply". Apparently, Mon slipped a upside down "Lara Lor-Van" monogram onto the back of a space-brush at some point.

So... I guess the "suspended animation" part of Clark's wild speculations must have at least been true, right?


Page 19 - "I'll free you some day when I grow up to be Superman." (As Mon fades out.. "OK... I'll be waitin... wait... why 'when you grow up'? How about you start working on that right noooooooooow?" ...aaaaand gone).




I have mixed feelings on this story. I love Mon-El... love the costume, the tragic nature of his Phantom Zone stay, the whole concept of "Superboy... but more mature." I just wish he had been intro-ed in a slightly less bizarre story.

Clark acts so irrationally here that it's only by justifying his behavior in my mind as "a near-nervous breakdown at the thought of being alone in the universe" that it makes any sort of sense to me. I shouldn't have to go to those mental lengths to enjoy it. I feel like just a little more care could have elevated this story into something special, and not just another "people acting crazy" thing.

In any case, I do love Mon's addition to the Superman family - and what came after - and, because of that, I give this story a begrudging pass.

Something else else nobody mentioned about the Mon-El story: the error where Superboy exposes Mon-El to Kryptonite in a lead box and it doesn't affect him. Since the box is made of lead, it should have.

Paul later had Kryptonite be part of the anti-lead serum, possibly because of this story (obviously it must mean that Kryptonite prevents lead from affecting Mon-El somehow.)

When Geoff Johns reintroduced Mon-El a few years ago before the New 52, he fixed the story so that Mon-El was affected by the box.

I can only think of this issue as the

How Cute Was The Mon-El Superboy Bromance and/or Romance



not forever but for a two parter surely!

Could be called the Superboy watches Mon-El get undressed and dressed issue too!

I never noticed how Ordinary Boy is cute, he has wavy hair and glasses like my Mr. Peebs. Except Ordinary Boy is usually so annoying.

and ... Ordinary Boy looks a bit tubby next to the taller broader chested bang haired Mon-El.

THEY HAD A SLUMBER PARTY!!!

I always figured it was just a matter of quantity.

Like the lead box probably affected him slightly, but it took the massive boulders to do him in. After all, that box couldn't have possibly been the first time he came across lead in his time in Smallville. It was the 60's after all... every painted wall was probably packed with it.

There's a certain amount of illogicality in the whole vulnerability to lead idea, anyway. It can't simply be that, like kryptonite, the mere presence of lead affects Mon-El, since lead, unlike Kryptonite, isn't radioactive. So, presumably, in order for lead to work on him it actually has to get into his system. One could speculate that the real problem with the lead meteorites is that their impact creates dust which he then breathes in, which is what actually poisons him.

I always imagined that Mon-El has a whole bunch of adventures exploring space before landing on Krypton. Add to this potential periods in the intervening 1000 years in which he may have temporarily left the Phantom Zone, and his post-Legion career of making the fringes of known space safe for settlers, and he's definitely one of the Legionnaires with the most potential stories to be told away from the Legion.

Not too much to add to what's been posted on this story. It is a great introduction of Mon-el.

I'd forgotten his name came from Monday. So should it be pronounced "Mun-el"? I always said "Mawn-el", not a big deal but it's a bit odd in my head now.

The White House, Professor Lang and Chief Parker (and loose wiring) are all on the same level when it comes to signalling Superboy with a flashing lamp. Sounds like more conspiracy material to me. Lang and Parker must have secret CIA jobs or be special advisers to the President!

Criminals with catapults and a Jack-in-the-Box monster - words fail me.

This is the first instance of Ma Kent's famous pancakes. They'll appear several more times in Legion history and I have no doubt they were a fixture in the Superboy series (don't have those comics to check).

Superboy is somewhat cavalier about sending Mon-el into the Phantom Zone, populated by criminals. And Mon-el, fortunately, doesn't know how long he's going to be stuck there. It's sad to know the future.

These stories are certainly packed with a lot of material. Lana's ballet class, Pa Kent's refrigerator problems, the Cinderella story - all extraneous to the central plot but giving a greater sense of Superboy's daily life.

I said "Mawn-el" for years, but have recently moved towards "Mun-El".

Actually, there is a radioactive isotope of lead. It decays by beta emission. But why should electrons of a specific energy be the Daxamite's weakness?

Kryptonite radioactivity supposedly "poisons" Superman by driving the sunlight out of his cells. But can a tiny fragment of rock no bigger than your thumb really compete with the energy output of the sun?

The best assumption to make is that these are, as they say in German "zauberstoff"-- magic materials that do what they do, because...

I like Superboys nonchalant tone: "Two-headed, fire-breathing jack-in-the-box monster? Yeah, I run into that crap lying around all the time." (I paraphrase)

Maybe the presence of lead in close proximity to Daxamites absorbs something in their body chemistry that's necessary for survival.

If that comic were written today, Superboy would just have ripped Mon-El's clothes off in a fight.

Sounds hot to me! XD!!!!

Handwaving, pseudo-scientific explanation for why lead affects Daxamites the way it does.
At least under a “yellow” sun, Daxamites operate on solar energy. (Flash Fact: Earth’s sun is actually a lovely teal blue. It only appears yellow from Earth due to atmospheric diffraction.)

The total amount of solar energy falling on an average-sized human being during daytime, depending on cloud cover, etc., is between 100-200 watts of power. Since an ordinary human runs a physiology at around 100 watts, it is easy to see that this is insufficient to explain the power levels displayed by Daxamites.

Rather, the presence of a yellow sun causes a Daxamite to establish a quantum-entanglement / subspace link / wormhole relationship with the star in question, enabling him/her to draw directly on a substantial portion of the star’s total power: possibly as much as one ten-billionth of the total. (This is a huge amount of energy.)

For some reason, Daxamites also have a weird affinity for the element lead. Their physiology mistakes lead for another star, causing them to try to process the energy output of the metal, which is minimal to non-existent. This causes terrible, immediate enervation. In addition, the un-metabolized solar energy still remaining in the body causes permanent, irreversible, and irreparable damage to the cells of the body, analogous to the way that high levels of un-metabolized glucose causes permanent, irreversible, and irreparable damage to the cells of a diabetic human. (Fortunately for both Mon-El and Bouncing Boy, this damage is no longer irreparable for 30th-century medicine.)

Mon-El’s anti-lead serum prevents his body from forming this affinity to lead; it also seems to allow him to maintain his link with other, distant stars when exposed to a red sun.

Kryptonians do not experience such cellular damage when exposed to kryptonite, as the kryptonite radiation forces the stored solar radiation back along the sub-space “conduit” into the sun. In the same way, Daxamites exposed to kryptonite and lead simultaneously do not experience the painful physiological damage of un-metabolized solar radiation, and exhibit resistance to the other harmful effects of lead poisoning.

Klar, that explanation works for me! It's better than John's explanation for the yellow weakness in GL rings!

I checked, and following his first appearance, Mon-El appears 7 months later in Supergirl's feature. From there, Mon appears almost every month from Jan 1962 to Feb 1963 where he leaves the Phantom Zone permanently. This year was *the* year for the Phantom Zone villains and Mon-El.

So, as mentioned, anyone with access to Superman #149 should check it out! It's an Imaginary Story, but its one of the best Superman / Luthor stories ever told IMO. The story is one the saddest Silver Age stories and includes the single worst betrayal Luthor ever pulls off. It also features the Legion.

"If there is a Legion of Super-Heroes, there MUST be a Legion of Super-Villains!". Perhaps the best foreshadowing ever in comics! And the promise made to fans didn't take long to come true--and boy, does it deliver.

Lets take a moment to recognize something incredibly brilliant about what Uncle Mort & Company do with this story. It features Superman, and a grown up Legion. That's quite a decision to go forward with--Superboy, Supergirl, the Legion, Superman, the Adult Legion. It's complex! And in that complexity, there is brilliance! Mort trusted his young readers to not be idiots, and actually be intrigued to think about how that all works. And? SUCCESS. Because kids aren't idiots. Flash forward to today and DC can't trust its grown up readers to figure all this out. Because they treat us like morons. And a lot of us sometimes. Anyway, end rant.

The Superman family used time travel to their advantage to give readers glimpses into the future. Rather than spoil endings, it just made things more intriguing. Later, we learn Imra and Garth are married. In Lois Lane, we learn Pete Ross went to college at Raleigh with Lois. It was an under-states approach but it made it all feel connected and exciting.

The LOSV at first is the paradigm of Cosmic / Saturn / Lightning, continuing the early stories continues use of that. The cover, in a flash of genius, reflects the first appearance. While I much prefer the "young LOSV" version, I can't fault the strait forward mentality here in making those choices. Excellent case of creativity meeting business / marketing sense.

Being a Superman story, we get some great Curt Swan art, with his frequent collaborator, Sheldon Moldoff on inks. To be totally honest, Swan isn't my favorite. I don't dislike his art (how could you? It's so pleasant), but it doesn't get me as excited as Papp, Mooney and especially my favorite of the Silver Age Legion, John Forte. But as I said, there is little to complain about; Swan knew how to draw a good Superman story.

On to the story!
- Luthor fits in so well with the LOSV

- Cosmic King's power is uber powerful! He is really Progenitor level from the get-go. I've always wondered why they choose to give him a different power set than Cos.

- Mekt is introduced as Garth's brother, paving the way for a fantastic dynamic. That is pure Jerry Siegel world-building at his finest.

- Saturn Queen, like her opposite, holds a regal and cold beauty that makes her stand out in every panel she's in. She has femme Fatale written all over her. In fact she looks a little like Joan Crawford circa 1938.

- I love that Siegel drops the off handed comment about an Atomic War costing a great deal of lost history. It's what everyone feared in 1961. And it goes on to be a significant part of Legion lore.

- how about Mekt destroying Orphan City? And then threatening to kill a school bus full of kids? Viscous!

- a random walk-on character saves Superman on page 7! Who was that guy? I demand he be given honorary member status to the adult LSH!

- there's something so incredibly noble about the Founders drawing lots to die in Superman's place. Like A Tale of Two Cities, Spartacus and other similar great stories, the act is amazingly moving. It shows the camaraderie of the Legion and the love all three founders have for Superman, even though they haven't seen him in years. Damn if it doesn't get me all sappy all these years later.

- and of course, its Imra who will die in his place? Was there ever a greater super heroine? Was there ever anyone tougher and more noble? Fans may hate her, but I say they must respect her!

- I love Saturn Queen turning on her colleagues...but I hate the reason why. I like to just think its because she's a good person caught up in a situation spiraling out of control. And later, she falls in love with Tenz!

- any time a story ends with the last panel featuring a jailed villain saying "Bah!", chalk it up as a good ending!

Again, pretty terrific story. This entire week is a good one!

*btw, this issue also contains one of the best Krypto stories, where Krypto battles Titano! There's time travel, alien invasions, Krypto being a jerk but then owning up to it, and of course the lovable Super-Ape himself. You know, why the heck wasn't there ever a "Titano and the Legion of Super-Heroes!" story?

Having Imra also be allowed an equal chance at being the one to sacrifice her life was a good decision. Certainly not too dangerous for a girl!



Given the villain's intentions, it sure would have been a hard sell that Saturn Queen was really a good person. Seems like quite a stretch, but I can forgive that. I do like Saturn Queen being good.

Perhaps her turning good here was the reason why she never appeared as an LSV member until the TMK era, unlike with Lightning Lord and (I think) Cosmic King?

Superman #147

So, here we get the first appearance of not only the Legion of Super-Villains, but the adult version of the Legion of Super-Heroes as well. And the first of many cover homages to Adventure #247.

Man, Luthor has sure been keeping that possibility of a future Legion of Super-Villains in his head for awhile! You'd think the warden would be smart enough not to fall for the old "I'd like to help fix convicts' broken radios!" gag.

Luthor's presents from the future: a ray gun, a force shield helmet, and a flying belt. Everything one needs to escape from prison!

I thought the LSV showing up in a flying saucer seemed strange. At first I thought it was simply just not a standard ship design from the Legion's time, but then I realized it's also just weird that they apparently brought their ship here from the future!

While I was reading this I was kind of thinking that it might have been interesting if the LSV had shown up to recruit Luthor paralleling the LSH coming back to recruit Superboy, bur that story is fine as it is.

I've never understood why Cosmic King's powers were changed to be different than Cosmic Boy's. It just seems so random. Note that both he and Cosmic Boy are depicted as having powers based in their eyes in this story.

And we get the first version of the origin of the Ranzz's. And the first of many designs for the ever-evolving lightning beast. I'm not exactly sure what the point of a monster with the "frightful ability to transfer some of its lightning power to its victims... like an infectious disease!" is. That's got to be the dumbest defensive mechanism for a monster ever! Anyway, I suspect that the implication here is supposed to be that Korbal is their homeworld, though this of course gets changed later.

Saturn Queen comes from Saturn, where there has been no crime for centuries! There's a bit of irony here, considering the number of super-criminals we've seen over the years from Saturn.

Love Superman putting together Orphan City. You've got to love the way Silver Age DC buildings apparently can just be picked up and carried around as well!

Man, Lightning Lord is vicious! I love the weird illusory space-monster SQ projects, though, er, about that Kryptonians can only be hypnotized/mind controlled by other Kryptonians thing...

Lightning Man, Cosmic Man, and Saturn Woman to the rescue! Or not, as the case may be! That's one huge chunk of metal Cosmic Man hurtles at Cosmic King!

Anyway, Saturn Woman draws the short straw, and must sacrifice herself to save Superman! In the light of later characterization, you can't help but wonder if she didn't rig the contest so that she would be the one sacrificed.

And, so, Saturn Queen actually saves the day, after Superman negates her criminal tendencies with the help of fragments from Saturn's rings. This, of course, foreshadows the grooviness to come from a reformed Saturn Queen 5YL!

Anyway, definitely an important story! I've always been fond of the Adult Legion, though their presence does create the exact sort of confusing continuity headaches that they apparently wished to avoid by ignoring the "children of the originals" bit from Supergirl's first encounter with the Legion!

Possibly, except for the bizarre fact that she does continually show up with the Adult LSV, still a villain!

He should've joined the Super-Pets!

Superman 147


The Cover - the first Legion cover homage! As Cobie noted above, Saturn Queen bears a striking resemblance to Joan Crawford. I might be misremembering, but I seem to recall reading (in The Legion Companion, maybe?) that was intentional - that Swan used her as the basis for Saturn Queen's look, as well as basing Lightning Lord on actor, Cesar Romero. Or... I could have just imagined all that... I really can't remember.


Page 1 - A lot of people note that it's sort of odd that Cosmic King's power isn't a direct analog to Cosmic Boy's (or Cosmic Man, whatever). I sort of feel that was actually a mistake.

Take a look at the intro panel... Cosmic Man is clearly transmuting that piece of equipment. I speculate that the creative team accidentally started this story under a faulty assumption that Cosmic Man was a transmuter... followed suit by making Cosmic King the same... then (with nine pages already in the can) realized their mistake and had to correct it (at least for Cosmic Man... it was already too late to correct the Cosmic King pages). I feel like they just made the best of a mistake, and had to live with the mismatched powers from that point on. Just a theory.


Page 2 - BEAUTIFUL Swan artwork. That is some film noir shadowing going on right there.

"Bwannngg"? Is that really the sound a prison wall makes when it crumbles?


Page 3 - Ooh... Cosmic King is from Venus, you say? aaaaand....


Page 4 - Venusians consider transmutation evil, you say? So much so that they would banish a person for performing it. Very interesting. OK, Fat Cramer... "Unknown Spaceman conspiracy thread" to follow shortly!

By the way... that Lightning Monster is so just a guy in a rubber suit.


Page 5 - "You didn't die?!!" "Sigh. Yes, Lex... I died. [smacks Luthor in the head] Of course I didn't die, ya boob! I'm standing right here!"


Page 6 - "People will keep these toy plastic gliders for years, in happy remembrance of today!" It's just a carnival tchotchke, brother... maybe go a little easy on the prose.


Page 7 - Gold? OK, now they might hold on to them for years.


Page 8 - Wait... they actually built this "Life/Death" machine, complete with hidden room and sliding panel, just to add theatricality to killing Superman? Pfft... villains.


Page 9 - No... stop complicating the process, Lex... just kill him!


Page 10 - What? No... don't let him go!!! Just kill them both!


Page 11 - Siiiiigh! Oh, Lex... will you ever learn?

As an aside, the entire twist is predicated on Superman's revelation upon being told Saturn Queen's origin... but... Superman never even heard that story... she only told it to Luthor. Shrug... whatever.




So... silly Silver Age nonsense aside... a good story with great art. There were a lot of solid Superman artists back in the day, but the gold standard was definitely set by Swan.

The Legion's story expands in all directions... the first teaming with Superman, the first glimpse into the Legion's own future, the establishment of their equal but opposite numbers (er... except for Cosmic King, see above), three origin tales (or four, really), all this... and Luthor, too. Sign me up.

Actually, on pg. 8 we read that "After the Super-Beings gloatingly tell all about themselves and the origin of their super-powers..."

So, apparently, they do tell him the exact same set of stories they tell Luthor, only the story fast forwards through that part.

Except Cosmic King seems to be using magnetism in that panel, so it looks like they just got the characters' powers reversed.

So, that Eryk Davis Ester dude is a pretty cool cat, and I like his ideas. Therefore: I preset some brief reviews on quasi-related Legion stories that aren't in the Archive!

Adventure #276 - "Supergirl in Smallville!" It's the first meeting in of Superboy and Supergirl though the Clark never realizes who she is. Using the same casual usage of time travel as the early LSH stories, Kara goes back in time to prove she is good at covering her secret identity. With an incredibly quick explanation, the Kent's are on board, showing they have learned to go with the flow when it comes to this nonsense. What ensues is a classic Jerry Siegel comedy of errors that is chalk full of charm. And then, the ending shows Kara making a blunder that makes her realize Superman was right and she needs to become better at being careful--and until then, she must remain an orphan. Wow, what a rough ending full of pathos! This is a great little story.

This issue is still early enough where you get two back-ups: Congorilla (pushed out if Action Comics by Supergirl) and Aquaman. Green Arrow, since he was also in back-ups in Worlds Finest, has been pushed out by Congorilla. I wish anthologies sold more--I love the format. I may be the last person left alive that prefers Congo Bill to Congorilla; the golden age adventures of Bill were thrilling and pulpy while Congorilla feels is very strait-forward. In Aquaman, we see young Aqua-Lad looking about 8 years old and being so adorable its alarming. He is studying for a test at school (don't ask) when he gets amnesia (don't ask) and gets bailed out by Aquaman, some whales and other some fish (don't ask). What kid hasn't feared this happening?

Adventure #288 - "The Knave of Krypton!". I've never read the first appearance of Dev Em before, probably never realizing we owned it since it has a Bizarro World cover. What stands out about this story--so much so that I almost can't talk about anything--is what a freaking little bastard Dev Em is! Bloody Liberty! He might be the biggest jerk in the entire Silver Age! I desperately wished the LOSV or Kru-El could murder him or something. Not only does he mess up Superboy's life and ruin his reputation, he hurts Ma and Pa, and Lana too to boot! And then he GETS AWAY WITH IT. He literally flies off into space to deal with the ramifications. No comeuppance at all...and he does t reappear for like 3-4 years in the Legion's time.

Also immensely noteworthy: at story's end, after Dev Em has made everyone believe Superboy has committed terrible crimes and should be forced to leave Earth, Chief Parker has one of his biggest moments ever when he outright lies and tricks the public. He tells them Red Kryptonite made Superboy do those terrible things since they won't believe the Dev Em. Think about that. Nowadays, fans would lose their minds with that ending; some would demand Chief Parker be cast as the villain hereafter. Me...I kind of like that patronizing, father knows best approach. The public too easily is reduced to mindless rabble. Something else else had to be done to keep Superboy on Earth! Tough decisions are needed!

I skipped the Bizarro story, as they aren't really for me. I never really got into it the character and it wasn't until Rhino (another LW poster who is pretty damn insightful!) put it in perspective for me about an absurdist comedy that I began to see the value of it.

Adventure #289 - " Clark Kent's Super-Father!" in which it appears Jonathan Kent has gained super-powers and is replacing Superboy...all the while causing an unbridgeable rift between them! Wait, why read this one, Cobie? Well, this is the first appearance of Jax Ur, one of the most classic Phantom Zone villains who appeared like 12 times a year from 1962-65! What I didn't realize was that Jax Ur only is revealed on the second to last page, in which we get his origin quickly squished in for the finale. It's a good one--blowing up Krypton's moon--but it's like they thought of it as the last minute considering how rushed the finale was. I'd say this was one of the weaker Adventure stories I've read. The Legion statuettes appear but no Mon-El.

The back-up features Bizarro meeting Titano! I'm always up for a Titano appearance! I demand an untold story of Titano meeting the Legion by Mike Allred be told!

One random thing about the Bizarros I just realized the other day:

A standard feature of the lettercols in those days was "Bits of Bizarro Business", in which readers sent in suggestions for quirky Bizarro World stuff.

This, of course, in turn inspired a read to suggest a "Bits of Legionnaire Business" column, and another reader to suggest it could consist of candidate Legionnaires, and such important Legion characters as Polar Boy, the Heroes of Lallor, Blockade Boy, and Nasal Hazel were born!

Back to "The Legion of Super-Villains"

Luthor: "Incredibly, my invention can broadcast my voice, through the time barrier, into the far-distant future!"

Yes, Luthor, that's called a 'radio'.

And even at this moment, inhabitants of Chi Ceti A, Kaus Borealis, Zubenelgenubi Aa & B, Omega Sagittarii A, and Aanka A are enjoying "Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy".

... and Cosmic King, in his first appearance, also wears a helmet.

In my personal imaginary timeline, this story occurs after Eve Aries marries Tenzil Kem, when they left Saturn without taking the precaution of having Eve wear her saturn-ring-dust-necklace. Of course, she comes back pregnant with Luthor's baby (who Tenzil willingly adopts and raises as his own) who ends up becoming the "descendant of Luthor" who joins the Legion in the Adult Legion stories.