Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Reading the Legion: Archives #2

Exactly! Me too!

One can assume this is the same Bizarro who later founds the Legion of Stupor-Bizarros... though exactly where that Bizarro comes from is indeed an untold story!

I demand a Bizarro Legion of 3 Worlds miniseries to explore all the different Bizarro Legions that have existed!

A few other comments about Adv. 307 before we move on to the introduction of Lightning Lass:

-- The name Trom is never mentioned. Jan only calls it "my native world."

-- Some logic and credibility problems have been pointed out by others, but, for me, the biggest strain on believability is that the Legion relies on an untested and untrained applicant to help them out! Just one story ago, Brainiac 5 turned down an offer from Polar Boy because the Legion didn't want "to risk the lives of untrained volunteers." I guess volunteers become more expendable when you're desperate.

-- Saturn Girl drops in a line about "maybe someday we'll find a way to bring Lightning Lad back to life, too" in a rather clunky bit of foreshadowing. Jan, after all, wasn't really dead. Maybe Imra's just an eternal optimist.

-- I've been mulling over Eryk's point that there is no clear point-of-view character, and he's right. However, I think Hamilton saw the Legionnaires as a collective protagonist, and that's why we see members sometimes popping in and out of stories without having been established as being present (e.g., Colossal Boy in this story, Supergirl in the next). So, if one sees "the Legion" as the viewpoint character, the story perhaps makes more sense.

-- Related to the above, one of Hamilton's weaknesses as a writer is that most of the Legionnaires are interchangeable as far as their personalities go. They serve the needs of the plot but express little individuality. (Siegel, at least, had Imra and Chuck come across as distinct individuals.) Lyle, in this story, is a rare exception.

Even so, I still think Adv. 307 is hands down the best story we've read so far.

written prior to reading the other comments on the issue...

I always thought Jan looked a little on the plump side in his earliest appearances. He wasn't Chuck Taine-plump, but just slightly trending toward heavy. This is highlighted by the cherub-like way his face was drawn.

I think that this is a good thing. Varying body images are always welcome, and this was pretty forward (and still sadly fairly rare in modern super-hero comics) for a Silver Age team book. In addition to chunky Chuck and big-eater Tenzil, we now have baby-fat Jan.

Of course, later Jan would be beefy like all the other males (except the gradually rarely seen Chuck and especially Tenzil), and the human Legion males would gradually look like all the males on all the other super teams. The females would vary somewhat with some petite and athletic ladies offsetting the stauesque ones a little. Not so much the males, though. *sigh*

I think it's little touches like this that may have, at least subconsciously, helped a lot of young males in the early sixties become fans of this crazy little super hero club from the future. I guess, now, any young 'uns who gravitate to comic books now, do so the virtual softcore pornographic imagery, these days. Not much to relate to for Frankie Fatty.

So what's the deal with the dead alligator world, anyway? One of those throwaway concepts that made the Legion great. Any book these days would probably spend a year-long story arc on that planet, eh?

Will catch up on latest comments later today...

Adventure #308

Lightning Lass joins though we don't learn all that much about her. What we do get is another solid story that (A) shows the anxieties of Dirk and Cos as Garth possibly returns to life but may not be able to stay a Legionnaire and more importantly, (B) a fantastic sci-fi mystery with the Legionnaires shown going on a pretty complex mission!

This story is another play on the classic bit of a Legionnaire joining (or rejoining) and then a other Legionnaire being suspicious. Here , Dirk is at trying to help "him"; later he's the one who revealed all is not what it seems.

- once again Cos and Dirk are major lead characters here, with Chuck and Cham as the major supporting players.

- Bouncing Boy's "deep emotion"...chubby kids are always so sentimental!

- both Superboy and Supergirl are in the background this issue. Interesting! It's odd to keep seeing them in strait cameo territory during the early Adventure run. There's actually a lot of cameos here: Lyle, Vi, etc. 11 Legionnaires show up!

- Hypo interrogation? The bleeding hearts must not like that!

- Really like the creativity Hamilton uses for Dirk's powers here. That type of thinking helped make the X-Men popular.

- an equally awesome debut of Proty I! I forgot that happened here! They are very tied into the Ranzz's early on.

- more references to Thar(r)!! Lets refine our theory: Olen Jor, the hypnotist, stole the living paintings from Tharr and gave them to the Pyramid Men, which started his crime spree.

- classic 3 in 1 Forte panel on page 7!

- the Master of the Thieves Planet is a pretty awesome sci-fi villain. Why haven't we talked about it more? Another villain who should have returned!

- love the quick thinking of Cham for the escape! The henchman serving them food sure is ugly--and later we get to see Chuck give him a beating! In fact its cool to see all of the criminals we've seen called back for two panels.

- what a change from boy to girl! My own personal theory was Forte believed this twin was a boy, as Garth's first origin depicted him with another boy--perhaps it was even Mekt. But later on, or perhaps via miscommunication between Mort, Ed and John, it was determined a girl would be a better fit for the Legion.

- nice cameo of the Legion ladies to induct Ayla! And more foreshadowing for the return of Lightning Lad!

It's also funny to note, keeping in mind the "Garth is Proty" story, is that a story called "The Return of Lightning Lad" introduces Proty!

Adv. 308, "The Return of Lightning Lad," is a "sweet" story that doesn't quite work for me. It's sweet because it focuses on the friendship of the Legionnaires, specifically between Sun Boy and Lightning Lad, and the concerns they have about their teammate losing his power. But it doesn't work because it's based upon the shakiest of premises. There's an almost sitcom-like quality in how the Legionnaires assume the revived Lightning Lad no longer has powers and how Sun Boy proceeds upon that assumption, going to great lengths to cover for his friend. The plot of this story would be better suited for a comedy than a "straight" super-hero tale.

Furthermore, I get the feeling that Hamilton reached the end of this story and realized it was anticlimactic to reveal that Lightning Lad had powers all along (not to mention that it made the other Legionnaires look bad), so he had to come up with some other surprise ending. The surprise? Lightning Lad is really a girl!

I never quite understood why Ayla would take her dead brother's place in his coffin (Eww!) and wait for the Legionnaires to discover her. She must have known she couldn't maintain the disguise forever! What would happen when Saturn Girl shows up and does a mindscan on "Garth"? (Conveniently, Saturn Girl and Mon-El are both sent away early on.)

Furthermore (another furthermore!), the return of Lightning Lad becomes a secondary plot to the Thieves World storyline, which feels almost like a separate story. Here, at least, Hamilton is more successful. It is indeed clever how Cham and Proty win the Legionnaires' freedom, and all sorts of weird and wonderful aliens and alien animals are introduced. The Thieves World Master is basically a redone Brain-Globe of Rambat, but he's a formidable foe who immediately sees through the Legionnaires' ruse. (I guess the Legionnaires aren't well known in this part of the galaxy, so they can pretend to be thieves while still wearing their famous costumes.) If Hamilton had focused on the Legion's mission to Thieves World and forgotten about the (non) return of Lightning Lad, this story would have worked so much better.

Because of all this story accomplishes--introducing Ayla, introducing Proty, focusing on the Legionnaires' friendship--it's a story I want to like but cannot. It relies on what critics call an "idiot plot" (if the characters stop acting like idiots, the story is over) and ultimately cheats the reader by revealing the title of the story to be a lie.

Thinking this morning about the Element Lad story and how the name of his homeworld wasn't mentioned, I thought tangentially about what a weird, random name "Trom" is. Then, for some reason, I spelled it backwards in my head and realized "Trom" is "Mort" (as in Mort Weisinger) backwards! I have little doubt that this has probably been a known thing in Legion fandom (and probably here somewhere), but it was a cool moment for me. I thought I'd share in case anyone else hadn't noticed.

Wow! That's certainly new to me. Now I'm wondering when the name "Trom" actually was first introduced.

"Mort" is also French for "death," which certainly fits Trom.

By the way, since Saturn Girl and Mon-El leave on a mission, it leaves me speculating that Imra was to be his romantic partner. We take it for granted that the Legion creators intended for Imra and Garth to always be together, but perhaps they were playing around with other ideas.

Besides, even if Imra was destined to marry Garth, that doesn't mean she didn't date other boys!

For the record, a Mon-el appearance with Supergirl (May 1962), but no hint of romance.

Yet another promise, this time from Kara, to free Mon from the Phantom Zone. The Super-cousins really dropped the ball on that one!

I think it's clear that "Trom" came from one or both of these sources. It's hard not to gravitate toward the Weisinger explanation, though, considering his impact on the Superman family and the Legion.

Hm. I asked Paul Levitz on FB. He doesn't know!

Apparently "trom" also means "heavy/serious/grave" in various Celtic languages as well.

That's an idea that would explain why there are no clues to this final reveal in the entire story. In that sense, it's very different from the Element Lad tale; while we might not guess what his power and motivations are, everything in the story led up to the explanation.

I'm still baffled to this day as to how Sun Boy noticed the lack of a tan on Ayla's neck and her lack of an adam's apple, but nobody noticed her voice was different (surely Ayla and Garth would have different voices!) or her different body (surely Garth would have had less boobies and more muscle?!). And if Ayla had access to technology that would have changed her voice and body enough, couldn't she have changed her skin tone and faked an adam's apple?

"Use your super-power of lightning to stun that charging beast, Lightning Lad!" By the time Chuck said all of that they could've been monster fodder.

Interesting that Lightning Lad aspires to become a member of the Legion with his new power, a group which he hasn't founded yet.

A surprising 1 panel cameo by Supergirl in this issue.

Forte's animals were always pretty laughable. Gee, a lightning beast MUST have a spark plug on top of its head. The green autom guards are pretty hokey too. They look like walking garbage cans.

I wish Ayla would've given Sun Boy Buttinsky a mild zap and told him to save his own bacon.

This issue's letter column is the first mention of Star Boy's "detached service" in response to reader Herman Cummings, asking whatever happened to him.

Adventure 308

So we get another story that introduces a new Legionnaire, with a similar plot of the Legionnaires concerned about the new member (though they don't realized that the member is new in this story). It's hard not to compare it to the previous issue, thought they are very different sorts of stories. While Element Lad's introduction is all about the epic space pirate plot, with the "mystery" of the new Legionnaire tied into it, this story focuses much more on characterization and the Legion's mission of uncovering the location of the Thieves' World takes a back seat to that. While the Legionnaires were largely treated as interchangeable in the last issue, in this one we get to see differing reactions to the dramatic event of Lightning Lad's return, reactions that fit in nicely with the character's previous and subsequent portrayals. That said, the story suffers from several major plot holes.

--I've never particularly cared for the Legion Flag design.

--The disadvantage of having a telepath on the team is that it makes these mystery stories harder to do. As with the Marvel Lad tale, Imra is conveniently written out by sending her off on a mission at the beginning (as opposed to letting her in on the secret, which was last issue's strategy). It's a bit of a shame, since her reaction to Lightning Lad's return would be the most interesting to see. Of course, since this is only a teaser for the real return, we'll get to see her play a major role when LL comes back for real.

--This story basically features Chameleon Boy, Bouncing Boy, Cosmic Boy, and Sun Boy, with random cameos from Vi, Superboy, and Supergirl, and Brainiac Five showing up halfway through and not really doing much.

--Draping the new flag over the coffin... but... he's alive!

--So, Sun Boy realizes that this Lightning Lad is an imposter from the very beginning (nice of them to even show him looking at the back of Garth's neck as he revives), and so has good reason to suspect that this "Lightning Lad" has no powers, but it's Cosmic Boy who first brings up the possibility (on a really flimsy line of reasoning).

--Sun Boy would certainly know that losing one's power and membership would break one's heart, because it happened to him!

--By the way, wouldn't the amnesia itself be enough to ground LL from any missions?

--Yet another recounting of the origin of Lightning Lad!

--I kind of wish the artwork had done a better job of depicting the ambiguity as to whether Lightning Lad's power was working. It's not so bad in the first sequence, where the ambiguity is as to whether the lightning is coming from Garth or the thunderstorm, but the second sequence with the ambiguity as to whether Garth or Dirk disables the thieves' ship could have been much better done, imo.

--Hydra Men! Vegan Living Tops, Sirian Phantom Beasts (er... if they are phantoms, why couldn't they get out of the cage?)!

--And last but not least... Proty! I love how Chameleon Boy seems to be having such a good time in this story, particularly with his new found pet. It's nice to have a character who just really enjoys the use of his power, and the whole aspect of being a Legionnaire!

--A Planet hidden by an invisibility shield!

--The Pyramid Men of Altair! (Actually, Dirk is mistaken. While they look kind of like Pyramid-Men of Altair, they are actually Cone-Men of Draconis! ;))

--Slightly amusing story: I was actually reading something about Canopus a couple of months back, and the idea that Canopus was inhabited by a race of ant-people suddenly flashed into my head... it actually took me a couple of days to remember that the Ant-Men of Canopus were from the Legion!

--Okay, so it's amazing that the Legionnaires think that they can just land on the Thieves' Planet and simply pass themselves off as crooks. Aren't they widely known throughout many galaxies, as has been established over and over again in previous stories?

--Er... so what exactly happens to the Master of the Thieves' World (who is totally in need of a cool name to be a more memorable character) once "Garth" blasts him with his lightning bolts? It looks like he deflates like a balloon or something.

--I wish Forte had done a better job with the artwork of making it more plausible that this "Lightning Lad" was really a girl in disguise the whole time, and not had such a sudden transition between the very masculine Lightning Lad and the very feminine Lightning Lass in the last panel. As much as I like lots of aspects of Forte's weird art style, I definitely don't think he helps this story out.

--So, it's interesting that while Ayla is added to the flashback scene on Korbal, there's no mention of Mekt (even though he's in the original version of it). I suspect this is to avoid reminding readers of the Adult Legion in which Lightning Lad is alive, so as to avoid reminding even more readers that his return is inevitable. Though it could also lead to the bizarre theory the Lightning Lord was, in reality, Garth's male-impersonating sister all along!

--One of the big problems with the story is that it's not really clear why Ayla decides to impersonate her brother rather than applying for the Legion on her own to begin with. It just seems kind of ill-motivated to me. (See also last issue, where it doesn't seem clear to me why Jan has to keep his powers/origin secret from his fellow Legionnaires. Why not trust them all to keep the secret, rather than just Saturn Girl?)

--What drives this story, it seems to me, is the differing reactions of Cosmic Boy and Sun Boy to Lightning Lad's apparent return. We have Cosmic Boy once again as the very much by-the-book, stick-to-the-rules authority figure, while the much more relaxed Sun Boy is willing to give "Garth" a break, even with him realizing from the very beginning that it's not really Garth at all. (I assume that he knew, form his close friendship with Garth, that he had a twin sister, which was how he deduced the imposter's identity!). This also echoes back nicely to Sun Boy's own experience at having been banned from the Legion for powerlessness. One definitely wonders why Sun Boy doesn't confront "Lightning Lad" with his knowledge sooner, though.

So, an imperfect story, but it definitely has its positive qualities. No threat to the first Subs story as my favorite in this Archive so far, however!

The voice-thing is a problem with pretty much every Silver Age impersonation story, however. Even accepting that Tom Tanner looks likes Clark Kent, are we supposed to accept that he has exactly the same voice as well? I think the assumption is that, since comics were a visual medium, these sorts of problems could basically be ignored, but they arise all the time if you read these stories with that in mind.

You've got to love how MW (or whoever wrote these responses) just completely fudged the issue with the whole "that's a very important story that we're going to tell in the future!" response, when it's pretty obvious what was actually going on was "Oh Crap! I completely forgot about that character!"

Re the Element Lad story, in the panel where Jan destroys the ship, the pirates say their suits weren't affected because they were made of chemical compounds.

I'm pretty sure in later stories, Jan was able to transmute compounds as well by affecting their component elements. In one of the last Action Comics issues of the silver age era, Jan transmuted artificial humans into lodestone, water, tissue paper...

Yeah, it will be interesting to see when exactly that limitation was first ditched. I'm pretty sure Hamilton references it several times, but Siegel seems to ignore it, for example, when he has baby Jan turn the Time Trapper's ship (or whatever it is) into candy.

The funniest of these may actually be the JFK disguises himself as Clark Kent scene, which is hilarious once you imagine Clark speaking with JFK's Boston accent!