The best Legion stories respect young readers' intelligence and offer some sort of educational value (such as the fact that Bouncing Boy could not be shocked by an electrified enemy because he was not grounded). This one seems to lower readers' expectations.
I suspect the entomologist scene was supposed to provide the "science education" portion of the story, though it definitely wasn't as successful as in the Bouncing Boy tale.
Another prominent flame-beast appearance is when one inadvertently saves Superman's life in the "Return to Krypton!" story, though *choke* it separates him forever from his true love Lyla Lerrol!
That flame-beast was smaller and more unicorn-y, however!
They really should've recolored one of these guys as Kid Quantum!
Wouldn't that break Pre-Crisis continuity, what with the (incredibly racist) idea that all black people packed up and headed off to another dimension?
Nope! Since that's not pre-Crisis continuity at all!
One particular group of black separatists founded their own island, which also spends time in another dimension, but it's certainly not true of all black people!
Jeez, If that was Kid Quantum, the Southern newstand vendors would have went ballistic, and DC would have gone out of business and a second civil war would have erupted or something!
So, it's possible that Jan Jor is related to Olen Jor, the super-hypnotist criminal from Thar (from Adv. #316!)! Now if Thar is the same as Tharr, then perhaps this plays into why the Legion rejected Polar Boy, because of a previous bad experience with a Tharrian member!
Sun Boy and Lightning Lad have been injured in a rocket crash. They are operated on, fourth-dimensionallly, by Dr. Landro, who places healing capsules in their legs. They soon return to the Legion and the team sets about on various missions, only to realize that their must be a spy among them, sabotaging their efforts. Could it be new member Matter-Eater Lad?
Dr. Landro himself must surely be another L. L. character. Leonard? Lev? Loomis? We never got a name at all for the hot nurse.
It's still the 21st century.
The mineral Energite and element (?) Lurium are mentioned. Some enterprising fan must have done a periodic table of the Legionverse, but I've never seen one.
Cham changes into a voluptuous beauty and poses as disguised Cosmic Boy's wife, another great scene from Legion history.
The Legion agrees to essentially murder Meglaro, a villainous brain-in-a-globe character, by transporting him to 100,000,000 AD when the sun is dying and its planets are depopulated. It's okay, it was a Science Police order and, in the end, Superboy takes care of it.
Brainiac 5 struts his stuff with the formula ((FW21/17W) - 250 rogots), which turns out to be a head fake, but fools the other Legionnaires. What is a rogot? I love the idea of there being entirely different units of measurement in the future.
Brainy repeats his evil ancestor story. He's obsessed with it.
Matter-Eater Lad, suspected of being the traitor, flies away. His means of flight is neither evident nor explained. The very fact that he flees leads Cosmic Boy to conclude that he must be guilty. However, he is proven innocent in the end as the real traitor is revealed: a miniature man hidden within the healing capsule in Sun Boy's ankle! Dr. Landro was working with a team of villains all along!
This story is a chain of deceptions and mysteries (most of which seriously stretch the limits of disbelief), as both the bad guys and the Legionnaires try to outwit each other.
I think the real deception remains undisclosed: Dr. Landro's hot nurse was the mastermind behind it all. Observe how she evaded capture, nay, even suspicion. No doubt she was controlling Landro with blackmail or sex, and posed as his nurse when it served her evil purposes.
Who could she have been? And is she still on the loose, operating under deep cover in the shadowy underworld?
And so it arrives! This is my single favorite story in the entire first Archive. It just has so much to love, and every reread produces so many more things than before. I've read it like 10 times and keep coming back.
- first and foremost, it has my single greatest achievement in the Legion forum, Dr. Landro's Hot Nurse! When I'm not posting on my phone, I must post the link--when I brought her to prominence! It's a magical formula: Forte + buxom blonde + nurse uniform = magic!
- the first Tenzil! Now we're cooking! His power is a little silly...but it's so damn original! He's got a great costume, he's one of the most good looking Legionnaires (again, only Dirk and Jo have those movie star looks), and he's just an affable fellow! In this story, his motivations are questioned...as many more will be. I'm a huge Tenzil fan, and a lot of that is because by the time I started my Legion Reading Roadmap, I was able to to quickly continue to the TMK three Tenzil issues and then the awesome Tenzil of the Legionnaires series.
- The Meglaro / Landro spy ring! It's the first real intricate crime problem the Legion has to deal with. And to keep it sci-fi as all heck, it includes a spy in Dirk's foot and the coolest looking "walk-on" villain in DC history!
- Brainy stepping up in a major way for the first time since his intro (in a Legion centric story at least). The story is a great intro for a few Legionnaires actually: Cham is showcased really nicely as well, even though the exchange with Cos in his "lovey dovey" persona remains the most awkward few panels in LSH history.
There's a lot to love about this one. Taking it a little further, here are some other random things I noticed.
Love the owning splash with the word balloon set up in such a way the Garth's "*choke*, now we distrust each other" line is so humorous in being an immediate extreme reaction.
Dirk and Garth are shown as basically old army buddies here, at the start of a Bing Crosby movie or something. After all, they are best friends early on, as readers of Garth's death and the chronicles of the SW6 Legionnaires know all too well. (Its Proty that is Cos's pal).
The shrunken beasts include one of the important ones from the Jungle King story but its name escapes me. And is that Comet? Did he live for 1,000 years?!!
Few can refuse to admit that 4th Dimensional Surgery isn't an awesome idea! That kind of sci-fi craziness was missing for so long in comics, but now has made a major resurgence in the current sci-fi Renaissance at Image, Dark Horse, etc.
Tenz's good looks have been discussed at length but its worth noting he looks really Italian. Considering the well known bottomless pit appetite of teenage Italian kids, perhaps Tenz's creation was a nod to Siegel's Italian buddies!
A meeting with the lights out! Let the hanky panky commence! My theory is this is when Dirk made a move Luornu Purple! Jo and Tinya weren't really a thing yet but Garth and Imra...perhaps something was happening under the table?
I love the flip: this time Superboy gives a cameo assist to wrap up the end instead of the usual other way around!
Ah, FC posted the link for me! I have to agree with you! Surely she was the mastermind here, working deep cover either for the Dark Circle or Molock. She is the Eva Marie Saint of the Legionverse, though I suspect there is no warm interior (making her even hotter).
Probably my favorite story in the first Archive, this one has so much of what I love about the Legion in it!
It serves to introduce us readers of "Tales of the Legion" to Brainiac 5, who hasn't appeared in the series thus far (recolorings aside!). It's Brainy's first appearance where he isn't primarily a romantic interest for Supergirl as well. It's also the first appearance of Matter-Eater Lad, who takes a bit of a secondary role to Brainy. A number of Legionnaires get nice scenes as well, though.
4D-surgery is the grooviest thing ever! This story does a decent job of planting clues throughout, while not being as obvious as the Urthlo story, but also less flimsy than the Kranyak story. We get the reminder of Brainy's descent from Brainiac, as well as Brainiac's shrink ray.
Tenzil joins! We also get an explanation of his origin, which serves as a bit of a science lesson about evolution as well! If this comic were published today, it would totally be banned in Texas for teaching godless evolution, but back in the 60s it was okay since there weren't any black people or anything! We get the basic acknowledgement that Tenz's power sounds kind of silly, but, hey, it can be useful as well! The name of Tenz's homeworld, "Bismoll", both allows Siegel to engage in a bit of punning plus allowing him to engage in his fondness for naming planets after real elements ("Bismol" being an alternate form of "Bismuth"). Note that Bismoll is apparently located in another galaxy in this story as well!
The Legion is being entrusted with important missions by the Science Police, but they keep getting sabotaged! Here we have the first "one of us is a traitor!" scenario in Legion history, though the Legionnaires are loathe to believe it. We get a reappearance of the earth-tube constructed by Supergirl, and a nice Cham scene (his first significant appearance in the Tales of the Legion series).
Brainy concocts a plan to save the day, with Tenzil's help! It's not clear if Tenzil's accusing Brainy of turning evil like the original Brainiac is part of the plan, or just an example of Teznil's "big mouth" awkwardly speaking the truth, as of course the threat of Brainy's going rogue will become a major defining trait of the character, culminating in the insane Brainy of the Omega story, as well as being a key theme of the Legion cartoon, where his "descent" from Brainiac pays off like it never did in the comics thanks to the retcon that made him only an adopted descendant.
The scene of Tenzil's escape really only makes sense if you assume the later addition of "eating at super-speed", at the Legionnaires aren't just standing around watching him slowly eat the metal bars blocking his way.
Anyway, there was no traitor after all, and it was all the fault of a mini-spy in Sun Boy's ankle, and an elaborate ruse by Brainy to capture the whole gang! Superboy makes a brief appearance, but only on the space monitor.
Meglaro is another of those interesting villains that could easily have appeared again, though I suppose other bad guys eventually take over his basic "mind control" schtick. I wonder if he hooks up with Dynamo Boy in the far future?
I like to think that Brainy has a special club independent of the Legion where he gets together with Luthor V, Mxyzptlk V, Prankster V, and Toyman V, and they drink space-beers and solve crimes based on the motifs of their evil ancestors!
Anyway, a fun story that really makes you excited about the Legion world and its concepts. It's got a mystery that the reader is unlikely to solve, but once you see the solution you realize that the pieces were all there if you just had Brainiac-level intelligence!
Ah, FC posted the link for me! I have to agree with you! Surely she was the mastermind here, working deep cover either for the Dark Circle or Molock. She is the Eva Marie Saint of the Legionverse, though I suspect there is no warm interior (making her even hotter).
Poor Loomis Landro never stood a chance!
Dr. Landro was probably buddies with Molock's brother, Dr. Lars Hanscom! This hints at deep corruption throughout the entire medical establishment of the 30th century, probably explaining how Gym'll was able to afford all those old comic books!
^^ I'd wager there is an untold tale of how a young Kent Shakespeare busted up the medical corruption and brought the whole thing to light, thus proving himself to the Legion so he could join in the 5YG!
(Also, love that we both consider this one our favorites!)
Following your logic, with Tenz opening his big mouth and speaking uncomfortable truths...and Brainy eventually going nuts during the Omega debacle, there is irony that Tenz also goes a bit nutso after he provides the solution in eating the Miracle Machine!
Prankster V versus Proty and the Super-Pets is a tale that must be told!
"The Fantastic Spy" is a fun and imaginative story that could have been stronger. My main problem while re-reading it is that there's just too much exposition, too much explaining of various things. In writing critique groups, such explanations are called "infodumps." They usually result in admonitions for the writer to "show, don't tell!" This story would have been stronger if Siegel had cut down on the some of the wordage and let the story tell itself.
The worst of it is that the climax occurs off-camera. Of course, since none of the Legionnaires really went to Umrax, there was nothing to see, except a bunch of no-name thugs showing up and passing out.
But there are many positives in this story. For me, the best scenes are those involving the Legionnaires interacting and going on missions. Cos and Cham's "honeymoon" is a delight and shows the Legionnaires having fun. Saturn Girl's defense of Brainy when M-E Lad casts doubts upon him suggests that the veteran Legionnaires have already bonded in a way that excludes the newbie. Lightning Lad (who is so egotistical he likes to watch videos of himself using his powers) howls with delight when he realizes how Brainy outsmarted the villains. There's a sense that these heroes are still kids and that it's cool to belong to their club.
The premise of the story is clever and science fictiony--though one wonders how the miniature spy survived for so long without food or going to the bathroom. (His capsule must have had oxygen, at least.) The miniature spy also ties in nicely with Brainy's shame over his ancestry. This, I believe, is one of the last times Brainy expresses shame, and it's about time to put this worn character trait to rest.
Silver Age silliness abounds. The "lights out" Legion meeting reminded me of the equally silly and ineffective Cone of Silence on the old "Get Smart" TV series. Passengers being frozen as they pass through the center of the earth--really?!
I'm not in love with this story, as Cobie and Eryk seem to be. Mainly, I see it as a place where all the elements of the Legion are starting to come together. Even though Brainy saves the day, there is no central hero here. The Legion serves as a "collective" protagonist, with several members contributing to the development of the plot. This style of story telling will dominate for much of the Adventure run, or at least much of the Siegel and Hamilton era, which was rather light on character development.
I normally don't comment on the art since I'm more of a story person, but John Forte rocks in this story. His facial expressions--particularly Garth's on Page 1, convey so much with so few lines.
To begin with, we're in 2963, so goodbye 21st century.
Saturn Girl destroys a message-bearing capsule with her ray-blast gun so that the other Legionnnaires won't learn of it. This is one of the rare instances when a Legionnaire uses a weapon.
The Legionnaires elect a leader, Saturn Girl. She manipulated their minds, but it's still the first election - and unusual to have a female lead a group.
Invisble Kid is there, but when did he join? Did the Archives skip a story?
Colossal Boy is the treasurer. Is this the only treasurer we'll see until the 3boot?
That spectrum rainbow bar, received as a reward for stopping Zaryan's guys from robbing a bank and sacrificed to make Imra medallions, is worth $200,000. That's $1,511,000 in 2013 dollars so we're talking big bucks here. This raises the question of Legion finances; they didn't depend solely on R.J. Brande at this point (R.J. hasn't figured in the story yet.) I don't recall if they'll continue to receive financial rewards in later stories.
Saturn Girl cites the Legion constituion to quell any resistance to her order to wear the medallions.
Lightning Lad dies! Really dies! Is he in love with her at this point?
Mon-el plays an active role from within the Phantom Zone.
Lori Lemaris shows up for the funeral. When did she have a Legion connection?
They erect a statue to honour Lightning Lad (and realistically inscribe "The First Legionnaire to Perish in Action", accepting that there may well be others).
The power of the original story is weakened by the knowledge that Garth returns to life (excluding the Proty substitution) and the fact that comic book deaths will have become something of a joke in later years.
Regardless, it's a compelling story, highlighting heroism and sacrifice after building up plenty of suspicion about Saturn Girl's motives.
The "Death of Lightning Lad" is perhaps the most famous and classic stories of the first Archive outside the origin. And despite some (enjoyable to me) Silver Age silliness, it still holds up really well. It should be noted how much Siegel liked to mix things up and change things. The roster changes and statuses change and here he presents the most serious change of all: death.
Forget that Garth returns a year later; for one whole year it appeared Lightning Lad was dead! That had never happened in comics before! This was a monumental event! And what a heroic end! I can only imagine reading this off the stands at the age of 10 or something. Hints of his return were dropped hot and heavy beginning next issue, and fans knew of the Adult Legion, but this was still quite dramatic.
Of course, Garth's heroic end aside, the real star of this story is Saturn Girl. Only the Superman books could give a female such a leading role beyond Wonder Woman and the romance stories. Imra was already a shining star in the LSH and she becomes more so. I'd always loved her but it was about a decade ago when Teeds put into words something about her that I loved: she was pushy. She wasn't just smart, brave and beautiful; she knew she was right and he forced you to see it her way...even when she wasn't ready to trust you with the truth of why. I love that about her! She's iconic in a way few of her peers are. This issue surely cements her role as an ice queen, or "ol' Ironbutt" according to the SW6ers, and that makes me like it all the more. Effective is better than popular, as all real heroes know.
This is also the issue she is elected Legion Leader--another major moment in comics history! The very first female leader of a super team, its another example of how cutting edge the Legion once was.
- love the Legion issue sidearm!
- Chuck running for leader! Wow, nicely done, Chuck! Against all three founders and Cham.
- no nonsense Cos is not having any if these goofball shenanigans! From one tyrant to the next, I guess!
- "she voted for herself, which is against Legion tradition!" Isn't this the second election? Yeesh, calm down with the tradition stuff.
- and finally, Violet speaks!!! Encouraged by Tenz, she speaks up at last. See, he's already proven his membership was a good call a second time. Two panels later and Vi is enraged in protest! A lot of pent up anger in that one.
- Super Medallions would be my first thing too if I was leader.
- as Matlock pointed out in a thread in 2005, Jo is so street smart there in using the thumb over the wrong shoulder so Imra doesn't see it.
- I love the TMK retcon that Zaryans is a Khund.
- Garth is incredibly heroic here! And with the knowledge that they'll one day be married, thus causing the reader to do more collaborating that is probably necessary, the exchange with he and Imra becomes so much more tragic and romantic.
- there's something about wanting to die back the clubhouse surrounded by his fellow Legionnaires that gets me a little choked up.
- the blue finned aliens give Garth a great eulogy on the final page in one of the best single panels of the first Archive.
The more I read this story, the more effective it is for me.
Oh, and is that Brainy in a cameo in the final panel? Random! Or is it a Re-colorist job again?
I kind of suspected that might be re-coloring myself, though I suppose it could be foreshadowing ahead of Brainy's big debut next issue!
Cool that we both picked up on the Time Trapper theory!
Kind of interesting that the order of actual 1st appearances and the canon order of joining don't match up!
The last couple of stories reviewed really began to cement the Legion's membership, and also began a trend of having many more Legionnaires appear in a story than before. I heartily approve.
"The Stolen Super-Powers" is probably tied with Adv. 247 as the most iconic story in this volume, and its important both to the Legion and comics in general is hard to deny. The Legion is one of the first comics ever to kill of one of its recurring cast members, a move which led to significant discussions both pro and con in the letter pages. In retrospect, it's pretty obvious that the plan was to bring Lightning Lad back from the beginning, as even this story plays with the romance between LL and SG, which was obviously first established by the fact that they will be married when adults. But the quest to bring Lightning Lad back becomes the Legion's first ongoing storyline.
Having said all that, I have to say I'm not a huge fan of this issue. There's a lot of little things that bug me about it, enough that it gets in the way of my enjoyment.
The basic plot motivator, a message from a heretofore unknown alien race that their computer has made a vague prediction that *some* Legionnaire will die foiling the invssion of Zaryan, just seems way too weak for the story.
Why is Imra carrying that raygun anyway?
Election-- I would've voted for Bouncing Boy!
Love Lu and Lyle goofing off while voting!
So SG cheats and compels all of the other members to vote for her! I can only assume that after this story they hold another election in which she wins for real.
In the future, they apparently have 3D-printers that do nothing but make medallions!
I'm not sure why wearing really expensive medallions transfers your power to the person whose picture is on the medallion. It would be kind of nice if we actually got to see more of her using all of the powers in action, rather than just testing them out. And it strikes me her plan would be a lot better if she removed the powers of the Legionnaires, rather than just duplicating them.
This is the prototype "single member expels massive numbers of other members" story, though it will be much better done in later versions. Imra's excuses for "grounding" her fellow Legionnaires are pretty weak, to say the least.
We're back to the "World-Wide Police" rather than the Science Police, but at least now we're in the 30th century!
Apparently, Zaryan's master plan is to conquer Earth with a tinker-toy spaceship, three robot henchmen, and a freeze ray. One would really think that Earth would have some other sort of defense against this sort of thing.
Lightning Lad rushes ahead of Saturn Girl, and sacrifices himself to save her! Mon-El is revealed to have spilled the beans on Imra's plans!
Oh, well, guess we'll have to project LL into the Phantom Zone... wait... stupid sunspots!
Note: this is the first appearance of Superboy and Supergirl together in the Legion! Not sure why Lori Lemaris is there, though!
Lightning Lad is remembered on countless worlds, and we get the first dead Legionnaire statue (kind of interesting the Garth eventually ends up with the collection of them 5YL).
So, I kind of like the basic outline of the story, but the details just don't do much for me. It just seems like the pieces should be bigger... like there should be a stronger reason for Imra believing a Legionnaire was going to die, there should be better reasons for her grounding the other members, the invasion should be a lot bigger than one ship full of robots. And there's just too many bits that are unexplained, like why Imra is wearing the raygun and how exactly the power-transference mechanism works. So, yeah, it just doesn't quite come together for me.
Previous Thread
