Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Reading the Legion: Archives #3

The animated Krypto series seemed to be heading that way.

I posted this a while back on another board.

A bald eagle sits in a zoo, plotting his revenge against Krypto and his friends for imprisoning him there. He theorizes that if a Legion of Super Pets exists in the future, there must also be a Legion of Super PESTS and he cobbles together a device for contacting them.

Yeah, that's the kind of assumption that was always correct back then.

In the Evillo story, they are only seen in the 20th century.

The Thanl story begins with them frolicking through space in the 30th century, but I don't see that as any different than the many stories that feature Superboy in the 30th century at the start of the story.

Tiny the Time Travelling Toad is plotting his revenge for the other Super-Pets just using him as mass transit to and from the 30th century, and then cutting him out of their published exploits completely!

Ah, but you're assuming they chose to live in the 30th century, when, as Eryk suggests, they were just visiting.

Well as that was really the only place I've seen them, I'll have to forgive myself.

Come to think of it, I've had "visitors" like that!

Super-Rat!
Super-Cockroach!
Super-Locust!

I always wished the super-pets had aded a Super-Bunny to their ranks too.

I just really like bunnies

I liked how Proty was drawn extending bits of himself to scratch his head when he's thinking - and he's got little marks like eyes. This story would make a great cartoon.

When Brainy was working on the Time Thrust Mechanism with a socket wrench, it brought to mind that statement by some sci fi writer that in an infinite universe, there's a tree that bears socket wrenches. (IIRC) I'd like to think there's such a tree in the Legionverse.



I was also surprised at how good this story was. It accomplishes a lot and really shows off Proty's ingenuity. However, it's a bit strange to think that the Legionnaires wouldn't regard Proty as something more than an obedient pet after all this - although it's not clear if they know about all the tests, or just think the animals were hanging out together.



Surely he's tied in to the mystery of the spaceman statue retrieved from the ocean!



Ah! I've often wondered how they come up with names for planets, if some didn't have Greek or Latin origins.



Why haven't there been more practical jokes in the Legion? Brainy would be such a target for something like this.



This does happen a lot. Perhaps Superboy is some sort of super-tourist in the 30th century and people have just become used to him popping up all over the place and nosing around.

Self-forgiveness is the beginning of self-love, and we don't really want to go there.



That's why we never saw the Super-Pets after the Adventure run! The had overstayed their welcome in the 30th century.

Absolutely. There's one panel (I don't have the book in front of me) in which Proty is pleading so hard with the Super-Pets that his squiggly lines look like he's about to cry. Oh, the pathos! Oh, the humanity! Oh, the Antareanity.

(Oh, the inanity?)

It's a hard trick to make the reader care for a blob, but Hamilton and Forte do it masterfully.

Considering they let Proty pick the leader in the next issue, his pet status seems even more incredible!

LSH # 300 touched on the "pet" status by suggesting that, even in the 30th century, the Legionnaires still had some deep-seated prejudices about who was an intelligent sentient and who was not. Proty gives the Legionnaires a justified rebuking for their earlier categorization.

This was definitely a terrific story, possibly the best of Archives #3 so far! (Sorry, Cobie! )

It sure seems like Proty's tests were super-high in difficulty! So much so that I have to wonder if the other Super Pets simply didn't want Proty to succeed. I mean Krypto especially seemed determined not to allow Proty to succeed. Proty found him fair and square at the waterfall but fled and intended to wait the time out in a nigh-impossible place to find him. If it hadn't been for that Kryptonite...

I thought Proty's clubhouse test was pretty darn hilarious, especially how it stumped Brainy!

However, I thought it was a bit of a cheat that Proty could speak aloud when in human form. I could be wrong, but I don't think any of the Proteans have ever exhibited that ability before or since.



Of course, as a native, dominant and sentient species of Antares, Proty doesn't deserve the designation of "pet". Perhaps Cham is largely to blame for this with how he presented the Protys.

Proty II space-rawks!

Interestingly, in response to a letter re: a previous instance of Proty talking in human form, the editor had explained that he simulates speaking by telepathically broadcasting while moving his lips!

However, when readers complained about his assertion this issue that he could speak in human form, the editor claims that he can now imitate the human tongue and diaphragm so well as to allow for speech!

The good thing about fiction is you can make it up as you go along.

Adventure #323

"The Eight Impossible Missions!" is memorable for its cool title and for Proty playing such a groovy game host roll. You know, the LSH needs more Proty. Probably why its sucked so badly lately.

Pete Ross and Jimmy Olsen are present in the 30th century, really capturing the "club feel" of the LSH. I love it. Though, surely a sleuth like Jimmy can make the connection to Clark being Superboy? Imra must have stepped in.

Imra's dismissal of Spider Girl is the harshest rejection yet! No wonder she went evil! If she said that to me, I'd help Sun Emperor murder helpless waitresses too!

Enter: Double-Header! Ugly, annoying and stupid is a tough combo but three panels is just the right amount of time for him.

I demand a Bizarro Proty series by Lash and Ester! With Lardy and I writing the sex scene with Whizzy.

Proty and Imra together is interesting. Is he also falling for her because of the telepathic bond? Also, there's plenty of hussiness in getting those creatures to mate in the middle of a race!

This offbeat story gets totally off the wall with Tinya's sequence, where we learn she can enter the Phantom Zone at will (which unfortunately is never followed up on). We get the Mighty Gazor! The Brain of Garf-Og! I suspect Mon-El had adventures with Garf-Og on Krypton, and battled the Mighty Gazor as well. I need to reread these pages when I'm lit.

Cool scenes with Element Lad and Pete! And then...my issue is missing three pages! Say what?! Man! That stinks! I'm guessing Jimmy and Superboy had an impossible mission? I have to find a way to check these out...

Anyway, I come back in for the last page to see Superboy's induction which clearly establishes a few others joined before him.

You know, I liked this issue! Fun, full of charm, a big cast, and cool to see Proty, Jimmy and Pete all rocking out with the Legion.

Also: this issues letters page features the explanation of Brainiac having an adopted son, to show how a robot could have a great great great grandson.

And: the Hall of Fame Superboy story in this issue features some fantastic George Papp artwork. With dinosaurs, baseball games, knights, archers, George Washington, and all around awesomeness!

I'm reminded of the goats in Brainy's lab in the Threeboot. I think Invisible Kid, Cham and Bouncing Boy would be formidable practical jokers.



Jimmy did indeed have a mission, although it wasn't quite as impossible as the others' were.

Although if he is a shapeshifter, that would make sense. And his telepathy would allow him to learn the language quickly.

What if Proty had applied for the Legion? He combines the powers of Saturn Girl and Chameleon Boy!

Of course, knowing the Legion they'd go on and on about duplication of powers...

I always suspected that the Proteans were sentient blobs of Martian Manhunter spunk.

Must be strangely off-putting to be a Legionnaire like Triplicate Girl or Matter-Eater Lad or Invisible Kid and know that several of your teammates have *pets* that just vastly outclass you for super-powers...

Another classic origin concept by Set!

Obviously this will be the way they go in the long-awaited Porn Legion.

I imagine 30th century civilians don't know that Clark and Kara are not Legacy or Homage heroes. And the Legion might very well put out disinformation on that.

After the threads I've seen here, THAT'S where Legion World draws the line?!

I guess you don't want to hear what Exnihil really does once he has a martini in his hand.

That depends. Where's the other hand?