Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Reading the Legion: Archives #6

(See the previous threads on Archives #5, Archives #4, Archives #3, Archives #2 and Archives #1 and feel free to add in your two cents on those stories. It's NEVER too late! )


For the next few weeks we'll be reading the stories from LSH Archives #6, with a discussion of a single new story every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.



Archives #6 covers Adventure #350-358 in consecutive order, ten stories in all because 355 contained TWO Legion stories.

Iconic awesomeness awaits with the death (and later ghost) of a Legionnaire! The debut of the Fatal frickin' Five! The legendary Adult Legion story, featuring the return of the LSV! Plus, a Sir Prize or two!

Bring it ON!!!!

Adventure #350

When I was about 13 or so and first really made an attempt to learn as much about the Legion as I could, I decided to read a bunch of random Silver Age stories that my Dad had. It was at first kind of hodge podge before I made the decision to read all the way through for the first time. The first story that I read that totally loved was #350-351. And with great reason, as there is quite a lot to love.

This story has the ultimate wish fulfillment for a kid in that so many perceived wrongs are righted, characters are restored to their proper place and there are about 5 different happy endings. When I was 13, I felt like cheering at the top of my lungs. I still feel that way now when I read the story.

From a more adult perspective, it's interesting this kind of restoring / confirming the status quo happens at this exact moment, just as Shooter's run is really about to take off. It's as if Bridwell is clearing the slate, tying up all subplots and fixing the roster in place so Shooter can take the ball and run with it. This story brings a close to the brief transition from Silver Age part 1 to Silver Age part 2, which begins with the Death of Ferro Lad.

What makes the story work is every Legionnaire is featured and gets a chance to shine, and so many supporting characters play a part. And even more interesting is that Superboy and Supergirl play a critical role in the story even though its clearly a Legion story. This level of balance is something few creators ever achieve.

There's so many good moments that I'll just comment on them as they occur. It all starts with a fantastic Swan cover to #350, which proposes a story idea that is almost irresistible. I love the contrast of the sad Supers and the happy go lucky Legionnaires, complete with young-and-in-love Imra and Garth waving to Gim and Vi. The cover also has a coloring error that makes Gim all yellow and possibly insinuates an Ayla / Rokk fling.

The opening splash itself could also be a great cover. It's very Flash-Infantino-esque.

The story opens with great intensity, and then we're off! It's always great to have Superboy and Supergirl present at the same time.

Brainy shines as the resident genius, as Lyle shows off what the Legion is trying to do. We get to see Cos, Garth, Dirk and Jan in action, though none can change the Green K cloud.

At last, it's clear Superboy and Supergirl must be honorably discharged. We get to see Karate Kid again, and then we get a series of nods to past continuity which is highly effective to longtime readers. This is really well done, as is the not so subtle nod of Luornu's crush on Superboy. And even better, the very romantic kiss between Brainy and Supergirl! Perhaps Brainy's most romantic moment ever!

But the tragedy doesn't stop there: the Legion is going to take their memories too!

Erasing the memories via Kryptonite capsules is a little sketchy but it gives some great biology info to the kids while also giving Violet her single greatest moment in the Silver Age! Also, another clever use of powers, as Imra and Jo are useful to the operation.

Throughout the entire first half, Lyle acts like a strong, capable leader. And Brainy acts like a big supporter of his, helping any way he can, with the two having a clear good working relationship.

Part 2 of this issue starts, and even more interesting than Sir Prize and Miss Terious is we get to see Ferro Lad in action!

We then meet Evillo and the Devil's Dozen, and the fun really begins. Bridwell makes no attempt to imply the DD are anything other than blundering crooks and I like that. It brings a more light-hearted feel to the story and there have been enough deadly serious stories lately where this is ok. From the get-go, the infighting is hilarious, and then there's the never mentioned but so obvious fact that the Devil's dozen falls more than a few members short to meet that figure.

"Hahaha! Every man on my world has this power over chicks!". Oh, Apollo, you endearing idiot.

Once we see the Legion, I realized that the dialogue in this second half is funny strait on through. We get Colossal Boy cracking jokes and then Sir Prize is dropping one liners that make him sound like a first rate creep! But we do get to see an affectionate Garth & Imra, more so than ever before, with Imra once more showing she won't take even the slightest "too dangerous for a girl" crap.

We get new great action sequences with various characters shining, especially Cham who outright breaks the fourth wall and speaks directly to Marvel fans, Stan and Spider-Man! More light-hearted awesomeness.

Garth gets captured as things go awry, as the first issue of the 2 parter begins moving to its end. And then on the last page we get a TON of stuff!
- fat Tenzil seen for the first time since the Super Stalag
- More Ferro Lad!
- RJ Brande introduced and retconned as the funder of the Legion. The reboot Legion made me love RJ, but I have to admit I've never loved his role / history in the preboot.
- and then Jo threatens to see who Sir Prize and Miss Terious really are! Setting up a great moment for Lyle in the opening of part 2.

What can I say? This isn't the best issue written ever, but I've loved every page so far. It's just so much damn fun from start to finish and I can't wait for next issue. I love how part 1 is so serious and part 2 is so light hearted.

Bits of Legionnaire Business bonus! We get the origin of Cham, and therefore Durla, along with Cham taking on a little bit of a 60's civil rights aspect to his working to win respect for Durlans in the galaxy. We also establish he joined at the same time as Gim, and a nod to their friendship.

Bonus House Ad mention: love the Plastic Man ad in the beginning. This shows that the DC Silver Age was definitely entering its final phase.

Garth and Imra are written well here. You can really sense the concern they have for one another.

It took me forever to "get" the "Sir Prize" and "Miss Terious" puns. To be fair I was only about 12 when I first heard them.

Devil's Dozen indeed. At least Evillo mentions that he's still building that dozen. Why stop at a dozen though, besides to make an alliteration? Couldn't they have called themselves the Devil's Drove instead?

Gotta give Shooter props for coming up with some very unique uses for the powers of some of the Legionnaires. Using Shrinking violet to perform a partial lobotomy, for example.

Re RJ Brande, HWW and I completely agreed with you over on the Postboot Legion reread thread, Cobie! He was much more likable and awesome in the Postboot.

I just read it. I'll say more tomorrow, when I'm less sleepy, but I just had to point out one thing in hopes it hasn't been pointed out before:

Apollo has NO NIPS?!?!?

Either this shows subtly that he's more alien than he appears or.....did DC disallow/censor the depiction of male nipples in the Silver Age?!?! Suddenly, I wish I had some classic Hawkman comics on hand....

This is one of my favorite Legion stories. Great Swan art and I love that every Legionnaire is featured, not to mention the Subs, Super Pets, RJ Brande, and the White Witch! It would've been even more perfect if Proty had been shown hanging out on Cham's shoulder in a clubhouse scene and Pete and Lana had been featured in the classroom scene in part 2. A bit of trivia: out of all the LSH, subs, and pets featured, 2 do not speak and 2 do not use their powers. Can you name them?

It does look like the artists worked around showing his hawk-nips with those big yellow bands.

Nipless Hawkman?

But then, it's Hawkman. Bird-peeps shouldn't have nips anyway!

This is a fun story, so much going on, even if some of it seems pretty silly by today's standards.

Great to see Supergirl after a long absence and a touching scene with Brainy's goodbye kiss.

Lu's gift to Superboy was more than a little strange. It represented what must have been the critical moment in her life so far, but it seems sort of unbalanced to me. I secretly love you, so here's a symbol of what killed one-third of me. Guilt trip? Anyways, it could have been an extended story line, Luornu secretly going mad from unacknowledged grief and unrequited love.

"Sugyn, you walking water keg!" Water? Oh, these Comic Code requirements! No alcohol (and no nipples).

Apollo is another interesting bad guy that we never got to see again. I had hopes that he and Charma would team up at some point.

Nice reference to Spidey! I wonder if the editor put that one in.

The first appearance of R.J., but he's only partly funding the Legion with an endowment. We've had so many origin stories with R.J. that it's odd to see how late in the history he became the reason the Legion came together.

Nipples and alcohol no doubt will lead to the downfall of civilization!

My favorite thing about this story is how writer E. Nelson Bridwell strikes a perfect balance between whimsy and seriousness, very appropriate for the guy who went on to write the Don Newton era of Shazam, which is IMO the best Shazam of the past 40 years.

I agree with FC that Luornu's scene strikes a discordant note. But then, preboot Luornu was generally not well written IMO (reaching its nadir towards the end of the Levitz era, when she went on a suicide mission against the Time Trapper.)

Vi and Imra, on the other hand, are awesome here!

And Supergirl's kiss with Brainy always brings a tear to my eye.

Curt Swan & George Klein were an unbeatable artistic team. Klein went on from LSH to a brief career at Marvel before he passed away, inking John Buscema on Avengers; of all the inkers the great Big John worked with, I've always felt Klein was the best, even better than Tom Palmer.

I haven't read the second part yet but got about half-way though the first before I remembered, I had been fooled AGAIN!

Here again is another story that has grown through the efforts of future writers. Tenzil for the Defense, his subsequent kidnapping are at the top of my "I'm depressed, pick-me-up" stories.

I think I'll read the second part tonight. Maybe I should go find the box with those Tenzil stories....

Adventure #351

Part 2 of what Lash once called "the greatest story ever" arrives and continued to amp up the fun that began in part 1. As I mentioned before, it's the combination of the ultimate wish fulfillment of so many wrongs righted and the lighthearted tone of the story that always makes this one such a winner for me.

The opening splash gives us just one of the many awesome aspects of this story: The Subs versus the Super Pets!

From there we pick up where we left off with my favorite Lyle Norg moment of them all, when he socks Jo right in the kisser! I've always considered this a great example of Lyle being a great leader. The entire sequence is great, with Tinya coming to Jo's aid and the Sir Prize mentioning another continuity bit to show Jo is showing a double standard considering his own history.

Garth again gets some good screen time as he shows he's no pushover to Evillo.

Meanwhile we get more of the Hag, and one of my favorite sequences as Ferro Lad's death is foreshadowed. Back in 1999-2000, before there was an LMB, I once started a thread on the DCMB's about Ferro Lad's death being foreshadowed and that behind Cos's painting it revealed the Time Trapper. It was the first really popular thread I ever started and I remember being so proud. Amazing to recall that thread 13 years later.

Half way through the issue things start to really heat up. We get 5 more Legionnaires including newly inducted Projectra, the Subs, Chuck Taine and multiple time traveling. With the Subs we see Color Kid, who was inducted off panel a few issues earlier.

After the initial confusion with Superboy we get yet another story within a story as Supes and Mon go bother Mr. Mxy. Man, this story is packed!!

If it can't get any more offbeat, we get yet another side story as Chuck battles Sugyn, gets captured, but Evillo is angry because Chuck is powerless. Thus, out come the horns and bye bye Sugyn! This whole sequence is enhanced by reading the TMK Tenzil issues and knowing how much they reference this. I've read those issues many times and thus, I smiled throughout this sequence.

From there we get the long awaited Super Pets versus the Subs which reads like something I would write after dropping acid! I love it!

Suddenly there's only a few pages to go, so Bridwell decides to just explain a bunch of stuff happened off panel like Tenzil being captured. Eh, it doesn't bother me, since I know what's about to happen. But that's pretty amusing! Definitely not the most perfectly executed story!

And finally, we get a series of endings unlike any other in Legion history. It's like the last day of school in 4th grade and you find a $20 bill on the way to the bus and then Marissa Jones kisses you and then your mom bought you some comics that are waiting for you and tonight we're eating meatballs and spaghetti, your favorite.

- the Hag becomes the White Witch!

- Sir Prize and Miss Terious are Star Boy and Dream Girl! That's why they weren't with the Subs!

- the White Witch is Dreamy's sister!

- Star Boy can be readmitted to the Legion and Dream Girl is joining for real this time!

- Lightning Lad has his arm restored!

- Matter-Eater Lad isn't a fatty anymore!

- Chuck is Bouncing Boy again! And he's back in the Legion!

- Evillo is an oaf and easily defeated!

- Er, the Doc is really a deformed guy who tragically can't restore his face. Uh...guess its not all roses and candy canes!

- but wait! Color Kid saves the day with the biggest moment of his whole career!!

- Superboy and Supergirl are restored to the Legion!!!

I'm exhausted just listing all the happy endings! As Lyle says, there nothing to tough for them to tackle now!

...and then the narrator says "isn't there! Wait until next issue?" Gulp! Talk about setting the readers up to rip out their hearts! The pale shadow of the grim reaper is waiting!

But for now, who couldn't love the upbeat happy way this story ended? Who can't appreciate a little "everyone lived happily ever after" sometimes? Sure, these two issues had a LOT of problems, especially plot wise. But man. I feel like I'm 13 after reading them. And that feels good.

I also second how great Klein's work over Buscema was during the Avengers run. Klein came over to Marvel at a time when DC was pushing away its stalwarts to try to be new & hip, "like Marvel". Marvel, never one to miss an opportunity in those days, quickly scooped them all up. And thus guys like Klein, Jim Mooney and others had a whole latter part of their career at Marvel that was fantastic.

As I've admitted, Curt Swan has never been a favorite of mine. But what I've noticed as I read ahead in Archive 6 is that as the 60's marches on, I love how Swan's art changed slightly--though never losing his distinctive style--and became even more exciting. I would propose that around 1966, Swan enters the best artistic period of his career. Though to be totally up front, I have to keep seeing how that goes in order to make that judgement.

I'm really not too sure what to think about Garth's "think good thoughts" trick. Using good thoughts to counteract possession by an evil entity straddles the line between corniness and awesome, but I think in this case it works.

Star Boy comes back, no hard feelings. Thank goodness Brainy didn't raise a hue and cry.

Stupid Evillo, banishing Sugyn like that. Minus one from his "Devil's Dozen".

I smiled a lot when Chuck was at the lead of the pack of Legionnaires plowing into Evillo's minions!

I wonder why Jim didn't have the White Witch join the team as well? Did he think her magical powers would be too powerful?

Ibby, as referenced in some of the posts above, this 2-parter wasn't written by Shooter, but by E. Nelson Bridwell.

The art continues to wow me. What time would it take an artist today to draw that? The shot with Vi flying up Superboy's nose would be a splash page in a modern DC book.

Observations:
Another panel of immense emotion. After Rond's final scene in the last story, we get but don't know it, Ferro Lad's.
Pure Evil got back. Proty like.
They still have bologna. Probably the SAME bologna. And they misspell it.
You can do some REALLY wonderful things with iron and lead.
It was so much fun seeing nearly everyone!

Questions:
Did the dialogue seem kind of all over the place? Mostly centered on corny, which I'm fine with but it didn't seem...like it was the work of one person.

Is a running storyline necessary to reach a modern audience or could a writer/artist still make an impact with one and two issue story lines?


Comments:
This has to be like the Godfather stretch of Legion history. There have been better stories but this many of quality in a row?

Having Color Kid leading out all those powerful legionnaires in the last panel: awesome.

Something else else that popped out at me, while looking at these panels: no one looks the same as any other. Their cloths don't even fit the same. Background obviously are not to today's standards but but I'd have to have someone direct me to issues where another Legion regular could characterize like him.





It was immensely clever, meaning he (Bridwell you say?) fooled me, how he got just the right characters that needed "fixing" in the right place. You caught that some was just quickly explained but I have to imagine there were only a few sharp cookies that caught on that the captured legionnaires all had something in common.

This two-parter, Adventure #350-1 was one of those I wasn't looking forward to re-reading. I remembered that it was not written by Shooter, and I recalled those horrible robot costumes and the terrible puns that accompanied them as pseudonyms. Every time I thought of them, I just kind of rolled my eyes. So this story was one I brought with me significant negative prejudices. And just as was the case with the Starfinger story, I found myself totally surprised by how much better the story came off on a re-read!

As an aside, I thought about why this would be the case. Why would I enjoy a story so much more now in my forties than I did reading it the first time when I was in my twenties? Was it just the nostalgia? I don't think so. I think it's something deeper that emerges from all the comic book-reading and even the overall changes in my life experiences that has occurred in the intervening years.

I'm pretty sure younger-me was at least a bit more pretentious about comics being a "serious" art form. Oh, he was okay with humor comics like JLI or even the "funny" issues of 5YL, but absurd concepts and costumes such as you might see with Sir Prize and Miss Terious in an era where the Legion was starting to grow up, he would poo-poo and quickly turn the pages to get to to the death of Ferro Lad story to follow.

However it happened, I've learned to appreciate good, enjoyable stories for being, well, good, enjoyable stories in those intervening years. I'm sure it hasn't hurt at all that I can barely find ANY enjoyable comics featuring super-heroes any more. As this happens, I become more and more nostalgic for the comics that made me a fan in the first place. Just this week, for example, I bought two volumes of the Marvel Masterworks series featuring early Claremont/Cockrum/Byrne Uncanny X-Men.

And, sometimes, as I read these Silver Age stories, I don't always think that much better of some of them than I did originally. Though I like the Super Moby Dick story better than I did, for example, it's still not a favorite at all. But stories like Starfinger, Super-Stalag, the Mutiny and, yes, this kooky kitchen-sink mash-up with a mystery at its center have been absolute eye-openers during this re-read project!

Whatever it is that's changed in current-me, I'm so thankful that I have fun, imaginative stories like these to rediscover, just as I've bid the DC stable of characters of the present day adieu for being neither fun nor imaginative. Best of all, I've got lots of friends here on LW to rediscover them with me!

What a great way to put it. I think a lot of us relate to exactly what you're saying, Lardy!

I'm with you on all that, Lardy. Last night I reread the only 4 back issues I've ever bought, all pre-Adventure 354. I may go back to the earlier Archives threads and comment on them. But now that we're where I started buying Legion, I plan to join the conversation as we go. And while Legion World wasn't around when I was 12 and reading these stories the first time, it sure is cool to have you guys now!

Yeah, I thought so, but it needed to be said anyway!

As for the two-part story itself, which I shall forever henceforth refer to as "Kitchen Sink" until such point as it is supplanted, let's start with 350....


-Isn't the cover to 350 odd? I mean, the Super-cousins are distraught and bawling, but the Legionnaires in the background are looking all giddy and ready for Date Night in the background! I would expect the Legionnaires to be hanging their heads and the girls waving their hankies in a typical Silver Age image like that. I think the purpose is to highlight the "Outcast" in the title, but it really misrepresents the circumstances of their departure. I mean, the Legionnaires (and to some degree, the cousins) aren't overly sorrowful in the story within, but the cover certainly implies a different story than one where the cousins must leave because they are endangered.

-Also on the cover, the implication of two couplings that didn't exist: Cos/Ayla & Gim/Vi. Now, the latter would be looked at nearly 2 decades later (with a twist!), but Cos/Ayla was never a consideration. (Unless the SLAP heard 'round the world qualifies! ) In hindsight it could have been interesting though, giving the founders an additional familial tie to bind them forever. And then there's Kal/Kara....

-And so the opening splash sets up the big misdirection of the issue, that the new arrivals are the same ones who just departed. The funny thing is, I'm pretty sure that Thom and Nura aren't even mentioned in-story until the moment of their reveals. This is unusual for Silver Age (or any other) mysteries in that the solution is not set up. I mean, if you were a new reader, you wouldn't have the first clue because of the lack of evidence. Continuing readers wouldn't have a lot more either, other than those two not showing up when so many other former and non-Legionnaires do.

-It's always nice to see callbacks to previous stories, including Dr. Regulus, Satan Girl and the Krypton/Earth War in the form of trophies that it turns out the cousins don't even get to keep!

-Got to agree though, that Lu's gift was MESSED UP! You could chalk it up either to Bridwell having a dark sense of humor or in-story to Lu suffering PTSD in a very weirdly attention-craving and morbid way. I like, though, how Bridwell picks up on Shooter's having Lu crush on Superboy with the double-kiss.

-Brainy and Kara's kiss was beautiful, like something from the cover of Young Romance. Such an evocative panel! And more grist for the mill for those of us who admire their unrequited love.

-Vi's journey inside Superboy's brain! Here, she gets a very real power-up and some nice panels, culminating in her exiting thru his tears. Just lovely....including the scenes that Superboy remembers to produce the tears!

-So Kara is in college, already? This means she's older than Kal at the time of their mutual Legion membership--interesting! I wonder if she's older than most of the Legionnaires, then?

-Loved seeing Ferro Lad appear in a story set between his intro and his death. This makes him seem like more than a character created to die, as he's often perceived as. (Apparently, this wasn't true, as Shooter didn't come up with the idea of him dying until thinking up the Fatal Five story--according to Roger Stern's Archive 6 introduction.) Of course there's a portent of what's to come for him in the conclusion....

-Evillo and his Devil's "Dozen"...goofy characters every one, but fun! Sugyn....obviously was meant to be more than a voracious water-drinker, but we couldn't have young readers seeing alcohol consumption, right? I think Bridwell put him in as a wink to the older readers, who would easily read between the lines and get a chuckle. He HAD to have right?

-The scrum these five get into amongst themselves makes it hard to take them too seriously as a threat, doesn't it? I wouldn't be surprised if Apollo and Wild Huntsman were suppressing gay feelings for one another! Who knows? Maybe eventually.....?

-Case in point, Apollo seems to enjoy mesmerizing the ladies but keeps his distance. Also, he could have just as easily have chosen Imra to kidnap to fulfill his mission but chooses Garth instead!

-Loved Gim's battle with the beast-made-from-four-smaller-beasts-who-just-happen-to-like-forming-a-larger-one-for-some-reason or jigsaw beast, for short. Cham's nod to the wall-crawler was also fun.

-I love page 21, panel 5 where Imra falls under Apollo's spell, after it looks like she would overcome him. It respects her "Iron Butt" image, while showing she can be vulnerable. But what I really like is Apollo's expression in that panel! In profile Swan portrays him with a look of smugness that just looks so REAL! It's just one of many close-ups where Swan shows his ability to have a character emote realistically, even a villain having villainous confidence. This is where he improves over Forte and helps the Legion start to grow up as a feature.

-So R.J. Brande finally appears, is mentioned as the Legion's benefactor and will be named next issue.

-And Ultra Boy starts to do what readers have been waiting for him to do since those goofy lead costumes were revealed...

....TO BE CONTINUED!

LT, I'm thrilled to see you're joining us! Fantastic! Looking forward to your thoughts.

Likewise, please go back and read / review if you get the urge! I'd be glad to keep those discussions going!

Unless someone has the writer's words (?), I guess it's not possible to know if the writer intended a "clue" but if he did, in light of all the other injured and outcast showing up, them not showing up was the clue. As you said, "kitchen sink." Who was missing? Without going overboard I mean.

"Someone new" I think was thrown out the window with their introductions.

Proty I think was a possibility. And the new kid from the previous story though powers would have been hard to fake (unless of course he was already you know who) Star Boy was a reasonable guess IMO. If there had been message boards, I'm sure someone would have guessed him. Dream Girl? There are people here that would have caught on that her predictions could be used to imitate far vision and a whole lot of other powers.

I think the writer played fair. There was mis-direction but I think there were clues some people would have gotten. Not me, but some on this board would have gotten it.


Something else else I forget to mention in my review.

Brandes. BrandeS. I had never noticed that "s." Is it RJ Brandes or RJ Brande? And is there a joke being played with the name or is it just a name?

By "new kid", you mean Rond Vidar? (though he wasn't named yet) That's interesting. I wonder if any kids who read this might have wondered if "Sir Prize" was him?

It is interesting that Kal and Kara were set up to so openly be the red herring for SP and MT. Certainly, Kara had already made turns as Satan Girl and Unknown Boy, so this would have been the trifecta for her. I guess by making it seem so obvious this time, Bridwell was tipping his hat to the readers that they should look elsewhere.

But, yeah, it was mostly clues by omission by the time the 2-part story was finished. And if one already had the suspicion, because of this, they could explain the power use shown.

I honestly can't recall whether I already knew the solution from having heard about the solution beforehand or if I discovered it for the first time when I read it. Hell, I may even have cheated and flipped ahead in the Archive! I wish I had more perfect recall about these sorts of things...

I don't think Part 2 of "Kitchen Sink" (great alternate title you coined there, Lardy. ) holds up quite as well as Part 1. It's all a bit frantic and overstuffed. But it's still fun.

And, like Cobie said, sometimes you just need happy endings.

As I posted on my 530 review, I got halfway through the first part before I remembered who they were, so don't feel alone.

"New kid." Yes, I meant the as yet unnamed Rond.

Since he was in recent memory, I could see someone thinking Sir Prize was him. He fits the bill of "I promise you won't regret it" and would have been a rather unique addition, no? Someone who had read the future stories first, then this, I could see them thinking it was Rond, maybe as a GL because I don't remember exactly when he was supposed to have become a GL.