Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Reading the Legion: Archives #5

D'oh...the number I posted (510,521) was the single nearest issue to filing date.

Also of note was the editorial reply to Ernest Pryor's letter suggesting other Superman family artists take a shot at the Legion. Mort (or Nelson) mentions that this issue is done by Sheldon Moldoff and that George Papp may soon being doing one as well. Any mention of the creative people in a letter column in a Weisinger book was, IMO, cause for celebration, as Mort was notorious for not putting credits in the stories themselves. In fact, I would not be at all surprised to learn it was E. Nelson Bridwell writing the letter columns at this point. Anyone have any info on that?

What's amazing that the actual print number is close to 600,000--meaning they ended up destroying like 80,000 copies a month!

Average print run was 757,000 copies, with 236,418 "office use, left over, unaccounted, spoiled after printing" copies floating around. That's a lot of uncirculated comics!

You're not kidding! Yeesh. I always imagine there's like 100,000 laying around in some storage boxes at Mort's great nephews garage or something.

Also, great to hear your initial thoughts on the story when you first read it, particularly thinking Ferro Lad has to be the traitor given his look. He really does look very "Executioner-ish" in this opening intro. He's also larger and more broad-shouldered than any Legionnaire besides Superboy, which is very noticeable. It gives him a possible menacing feel.

I didn't get to read many of these earlier stories, so I do kind of appreciate how the Reboot gave us a second chance to get to see characters like Ferro Lad (and Invisible Lyle, and Triplicate Girl, who had been pretty much written out of the classic continuity by then).

I've always been a big fan of super-characters who turn into stuff, whether it be metal or gas clouds or pure energy.

I'm at work, so I don't have the issue handy, but wasn't Cham trying to break INTO Nardo's command post to find out what happened to the girls, rather than trying to break OUT of camp?

Swan/Klein didn't draw this issue. I believe it was pencilled by Shooter and inked by Moldoff(?). Their artwork was a terrible disappointment to me after opening the gorgeous Swan cover.

Was it really Shooter, though? I've seen him credited before on this issue but he never ended up doing any other artwork in his entire career, right? What's the story behind his drawing this issue then? That never made sense to me.

Lyle, Luornu, and Ferro were among the Legionnaires who got a huge renaissance in the SW6 era and in the Postboot.

Tenzil was another character who blossomed in the 5 Years Later and SW6 eras.

Just goes to show that every character has a great deal of potential under the right pen.

BTW, I do know of at least one other occasion where Shooter did some artwork, which was when he was EIC of Marvel and there was a huge rush job on 3 issues of Peter Parker: the Spectacular Spider-Man. But I believe the story goes that Shooter basically did some *very rough* pencil layouts with Jim Mooney coming in to do "inks", which really was more along the lines of "intense finishes + inks".

ADV 346

My first Legion comic EVER!! I didn't know artists from writers or even think about it. I saw a cool cover. I saw one character I recognized. I thought I was going to read a story about Superboy.

I really can't remember tons. I can only say that when I picked this up the other day, I looked at the cover and had the exact same reaction. My widdle heart skipped a beat. lol

I remember the fight between KK and Superboy and believing it. I remember the Princess woke up my wee-wee. I was a man. lol. NK didn't register much with me but Ferro Lad immediately became the character I wanted to know about.

Hindsight

What the hell happened to the art and what's with all this decompression. There's only 4 panels on a page and they're full of air. In the old days they would have put that whole comic into 16 pages and gave me another story to boot. That HAS to be the only time Pres. Johnson ever got through a complete sentence without using the "f" word. Holy cow, what is DC doing. They'll never survive at this rate.

I guess the major controversy from this issue is KK. Legion material or not? My opinion on the first read was that it was cool a regular guy could take on Superboy, even if Superboy had to hang back. After hearing of the controversial opinions, I decided I like the idea that a regular human could possibly train to superhero levels. I don't believe it denigrates those that got their powers by incident. I believe it humanizes them. Make them attainable. To each their own.

Takes a HUGE leap to think someone really, really good with Karate could be in the same building as people that can move mountains but I say it means everyone has a contribution.

Archives 5's contents pages credit Shooter with "writer, layouts" (as it does in all four Shooter issues) and Sheldon Moldoff with "finished art". That's exactly how it credits George Papp in 348. However, in 347 and 349, Swan is credited as "penciller" and Klein as "inker" despite Shooter still having the "layouts" credit.

It sounds as if Moldoff and Papp actually worked directly over Shooter's roughs while Swan and Klein used his layouts as a guide...like how writers like Moore and Morrison do thumbnails in many of their scripts, maybe?

It never made sense to me either, but it certainly isn't Swan's work. The contrast between 346 and Swan's gorgeous work in 347 is huge.

One thing that struck me about 346 is that since I've been a regular on this re-read project with the last story in Vol. 2, this is the first time new Legionnaires were introduced and inducted from then 'til this point. Yeah, there were villain induction stunts like Dynamo Boy, etc., and Dream Girl and Lone Wolf were introduced but didn't stick around. So basically we've gone a fairly long time without new Legionnaires. Now, suddenly, we have FOUR!

In my (obviously misremembered) recollection, it seemed like we got a new Legionnaire every few issues in the era. Now, I can see the line-up for the first half of the Silver Age was basically all set after Ayla joined in 308--so 38 issues and over three years without a new recurring Legionnaire!

And as Cobalt underlines, these four have such a mystique about them, even as one is revealed as a traitor next issue and another will die in a few short issues. That leaves us with a net of 2 long-termers out of this group, but all four are such significant parts of Legion lore that this feels like one of the most important issues in LSH history!

I read in an old interview somewhere that Shooter actually did the layouts for his early Legion stories, with Mort's regular artists doing finishes. Of course Mort wasn't about to give him credit for this, as it would have meant paying him for both story and art. Then again, Mort never put credits on a story anyway.

Oh No!! Who's going to die?

Wait no, don't spoil it.

er...then you might want to avoid Cobie's future-spoiler-filled review a coupla pages ago!

You know, I read ahead to the George Papp issue (Dr. Regulus), reviewed it, and the whole time I was just pleasantly enjoying Papp's artwork (as I'm a fan). There is nothing in there that indicates Shooter did the layouts, though I'm sure my focus was on how Papp draws faces, which is a very distinct "50's DC meets 60's Archie" type style. Maybe I'll relook and see if I notice any differences to the Papp Superboy stories I've been rereading.

In The Legion Companion interview with Shooter, he explains that Mort bought this story because it was submitted with layouts, which indicated to Mort that Shooter was a visual thinker.

When Moldoff drew the story (Shooter doesn't say if he worked over the layouts or just used them as reference), Karate Kid was drawn as an American, although Shooter had depicted him as half-Asian. Also, Shooter wanted Ferro Lad to be black - and both racial varieties were rejected as not conforming to "the rules".

Shooter also mentions that this was his second submission to DC; he had submitted another two-part Legion story before this, which Mort bought later - but Shooter doesn't say which story it was, or if it was even published.

Funny, Karate Kid always looked at least half-Asian to me in those old Adventure stories. Maybe Shooter managed to have the art tweaked later on.

So Shooter wanted Ferro Lad to be black. I wonder if that was before or after he decided to let Ferro Lad go out as a hero in the Sun Eater story?

You ever walking down the street and someone you vaguely recognize shouts "hello" at you, you shout back then realize they were shouting to someone behind you?

Yeah, take THAT Nemesis Kid!

Adventure #347

Following up on all of the great aspects that played into part 1, Part 2 of Shooter's debut story does not let down in the slightest, and delivers a fantastic second half. The sense that this was a new era of the Legion is really presented in full as one Legionnaire is a traitor, new people and things are here to stay, and life is more complicated than ever.

There isn't as much to say in a general sense so I'll get to specifics:

- this has to be the first story in forever where Saturn Girl or Brainiac 5 (and to a lesser extent Sun Boy, though not really anymore) aren't a lead. Lightning Lad still is, but not as overt as usual.

- I always enjoy Tinya and Cos working together, which has happened several times throughout the series history.

- the immediacy of the problem erupting them mid-meeting is exactly the type of thing one refers to with "Marvel influence on DC".

- great action sequence mid issue with the Legionnaires strutting their stuff. Mort wanted Shooter to do more of that, and Shooter delivered in spades every issue.

- It's fascinating that Shooter uses the by-now-old-hat trope of "Legionnaire being suspected of being a traitor", yet it feels so different. Certainly it's because one of the Legionnaires does indeed become a traitor, just not who they think it'll be. But more than that, I think it's because there's a more vocal / action-oriented sense of melodrama that is creating a different kind of tension than the cold, icey Cold War tension of prior stories.

- the one major misstep is part 2 opens with Val accused but then Nemesis Kid coming clean by accident. This could have been a bit more dramatic I think, as up until now "the real spy" was such a great mystery. Meanwhile poor Val feels like a jerk for nothing.

- the action gets really heavy thereafter and each Legionnaire gets to be featured in what is probably the best action sequence so far!

- Ferro Lad especially shines as we get a rare glimpse into his personalty: daredevil, unsure of him self, gallows humor, and willing to risk it all anyway. I want more Ferro Lad scenes!

- at last Val gets a chance to prove himself and its really well done! And then Shooter and his artists (whoever is doing what here) make an interesting and dramatic choice on how to end the scene, with him in peril, only for the next scene to show him victorious. We haven't seen many scenes done like this in the Legion before.

- Nemesis Kid escapes to plague the LSH again, but they make us wait over 2 years for it!

All in all, despite one misstep, this story is a classic and gets better and better with subsequent rereads IMO. I enjoyed it immensely.

Bonus Lettercol Review: a letter from Ben Harlow of Battle Creek, Mich stands out, since Ben was actually a Superman reader during the 40's! He's actually dipped into his son's collection to see what's changed and found that (A) he doesn't recognize most of the characters like Lana, the Legion or even Superman's adventures as a boy and (B) he thinks the quality of stories is better than ever! I find it fascinating and awesome that in 1966 we're seeing multi-generations of Superman fans in families. Very cool!

And then, Mort off-handily confirms the membership of the Legion Espionage Squad: Cham, Lyle, Vi, Imra and Tinya. He promises a story about the group soon.

Bonus Elsewhere-in-the-DCU Review: In Action Comics, young Jim Shooter also takes over Superman, and creates the Parasite, so Supes can have someone he can actually go toe-to-toe with who isn't a Kryptonian. And that's another job well done!

Adv. 347 is one of my favorite Adventures. Love the art, love the story, love the new members, love the hovercraft thingies. Loved the bit about Garth being concerned for his sister. Found it a bit of a stretch that the great detective Legionnaires failed to detect that TWO of their new members were missing, but I can live with that.

I can live with that too, for as Cobie mentioned they were in the middle of action. They may also have been a bit too biased to notice that Nemesis Kid was likewise missing.

Some great action scenes with the Legionnaires fighting the invaders. Projectra's illusions and Light Lass' anti-gravity powers are both used to great effect, and there's none of the "this war is too dangerous for a GIRL" nonsense here.

Adv. 346

My reviews may be sporadic for awhile, but I did want to touch base on this important transitional issue.

Reading Jim Shooter's inaugural Legion story after Ed Hamilton's final one is almost like reading an entirely different comic. This story definitely reads like it was written by a teenaged writer: the dialogue uses common expressions, even cliches, such a "Let's get this show on the road" instead of hip lingo. The Legionnaires spar and argue with each other. They strain to save lives. And the action scenes are, well, full of action. Whereas Hamilton had the technique to write comics and Siegel had the passion, Shooter is somewhere in between. Some have said he was influenced by Marvel, and this may be true. But I also think he had a natural story telling ability which is evident here.

But, as with any novice writer, there are drawbacks in the story. Part 1 is taken up entirely by the introduction of four new Legionnaires. While Shooter makes the most of the space he's alotted (which, oddly, is the entire issue), Part 1 ends on a somewhat anticlimactic note. Yeah, so Karate Kid gets into the Legion. That's nice. It would have been nicer if the cover hadn't forecasted his membership and if the drama of his tryout had been built up a little more. None of the Legionnaires actually reject Karate Kid or say they doubt he can make it. We have only KK's dialogue that the Legionnaires look as if they doubt him to go by.

But KK’s fight with Superboy is well played. It establishes him as a hero who fights for what he wants. It is also perhaps the first prolonged and choreographed fight scene in the Legion series so far.

In Part 2, things kick into high gear. An alien invasion is pending, and the team separates into smaller teams to protect earth’s defensive electro-towers. From a science fictional perspective, this part feels like a letdown after the wildly imaginative (and often implausible) technology of the Hamilton era—these devices simply don’t seem futuristic. From a story telling perspective, though, Shooter does a marvelous job (heh) of building tension. For me, the best part is the argument between Cosmic Boy and Phantom Girl over KK’s suspected role in the destruction of one of the towers. PG is not being bitchy; she has a legitimate suspicion.

Also in Part 2, the action is front and center as it has been in no previous Legion story. There’s an explosion at the bottom of Page 16, followed by Phantom Girl investigating a space craft; the spacecraft explodes, and the shock waves render her unconscious. (Would shock waves do that to a phantom? Oh, never mind.) Cos rescues her and repels metal debris from the ship. Then the tower is destroyed—all of this happening very quickly. It’s the most exercise the Legionnaires have gotten yet.

The art is very rough in spots (Garlak’s stereotyped face and wooden expression being one egregious example), so I imagine Shooter’s layouts were very detailed. Moldoff seems to have simply drawn over the existing lines rather than try to “fix” anything. But the art is still an impressive feat for a 13-year-old, particularly since Shooter experiments with two-panel and four-panel pages, something his elder colleagues at DC wouldn’t think of doing.

“One of Us is a Traitor” remains an impressive achievement for someone of Shooter’s youth. And even though the story telling is not as tight as it should have been, it holds up extremely well, moreso than many other “classic” Adventure Legion stories. Grade: 90.3 (A-)