Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Vol. 8

Adventure #368


All in all though, not much to like. The ending also seems totally out of left field, talk about "boy that escalated quickly!" Suicide? The story truly doesn't hold up when the stakes feel so low to the reader but so high to the characters. It's too bad but Thora has had a much better, more dignified second life on Legion World.

Adventure #368


With this issue, there are only slight tweaks. Small changes that really add a lot of power. Luornu can create lots of duplicates, also providing a possible answer to why losing two bodies didn't kill her. Tinya can touch objects while phased. Something else else the Avengers' Vision used regularly. Salu could rival Colossal Boy in size while Tasmia and Ayla had the limits of their powers increased.

There's a bit of thought behind each of these and they all work effectively. Compare this with any number of "just because" powers and motivations elsewhere.

I like to think that, as mentioned for other heroes, Thora has unlocked the potential powers these Legionnaires possess. In future issues, we did get to see some of these Legionnaires develop similar abilities.



Despite sizing Brainy up as a mate in earlier issues, Tasmia isn't terribly bothered about the relationship being on an equal footing. It's Supergirl's genuine love for Querl that breaks Thora's spell. A fairly tale moment in a sci-fi setting.


The art from the Adams cover to Swan's interiors is excellent, adding so much to a story I enjoy more with each reading.

I finally got to read both parts last night. As I read 369, particularly, I couldn't help but feel I was reading the greatest individual issue of the Legion's Silver Age Adventure run! I mean, really, I just thought it clicked on all levels. 370 was really good, too, but it let down it's great opener to some degree.

I disagree with those who feel Swan's art suffers here with Abel's inks as opposed to Klein's. I thought Swan's art had never looked better...from that creepy splash with Mordru's face dominating the background to allthe great images in that "flashback" montage (including Mordru's shockingly S&M alternate look! ) to how lovely Shady looked with the outfit and hair she wore to fit in in Smallville. There's a panel I love that stands out for me on page 15 where Clark is removing his glasses with Bob in the background that is just so dramatic and perfect! I don't know if the material was just especially inspiring to Curt or if Abel just worked some mojo on him, but it just felt like the stops were being pulled out and Curt was branching away from his usual (though still always excellent) repertoire.

I mean, there appear to be some nods to Neal Adams in the splash and some inspiration from Kirby, particularly in his depiction of Mordru! Mordru's eyes are reminiscent of what Kirby might do, and there's that flashback image from the top panel on page 7 with Mordu gesturing as Mon and Kal reel that looks like a pose you'd see from Kirby or John Buscema. Some might be disappointed that one of the Silver Age masters might appear to be aping some of his peers, but I like it a lot. These are only apparent in certain spots after all, and Curt does plenty with his own style, as well. His work with the four leads is pure Curt, for example, and is remarkable in how all look distinctive beyond their particular hairstyles. Curt always imbued all of his characters with their own humanity and was a master of expressions and acting. I'm sure he was also thrilled that the cast size was so manageable in this tale as drawing so many characters was what he didn't like about being assigned to this feature (as is the case with many Legion artists over the decades).

Of course, Shooter also deserves credit for the look of these issues because, as always, he did layouts for them. In any case I think Shooter, Swan and Abel make for a bang-up combo, at least in this 2-parter. Looking back and forth between the Mordru story and the Thora story, I can see that Abel's inks appear significantly heavier than Klein's. To me, in this case at least, that's a nice change. Not in that it's SO much better, but in kind of an apples and oranges way. I like that Abel inks differently from Klein. Both are competent but bring out different aspects of Swan's lines. I noticed that Abel's influence on the characters' facial features, for example, sharpens them in an attractive way while Klein has a lighter pass at them (at least in the Thora tale).

I know this is a lot of space spent on the artistry, but that just goes to show how much of an impression it made on me in this storyline. I expect excellence always from Swan, but here, it bore mentioning because my expectations were exceeded and I really, vehemently disagreed that the art took a step down with Klein's departure. In this Mordru story, at least, I was blown away!

And as Cobie mentions, Shooter brilliantly uses this set-up to "check off" another Silver Age Legion trope, adventures in Smallville, for one of the last times. (I'd argue THE last time for the Silver Age as, in my mind, the SA ends for the Legion with the end of their Adventure Comics run.) And, as a Legion tale, I think this one stands way above any other adventure the Legion had in the setting. we've seen the Legion integrate into Smallville in various manners before, but never did it feel so immersive and important. They all truly feel like they become a part of the town and work together very well to protect it even as they have to protect themselves.

And I love how Lana and Pete become pivotal to the plot in part 2. Just as Smallville is being "checked off" memorably one last time, so are Pete and Lana in what also feels like their best uses in a Legion appearance. Honestly, seeing how well Pete, Lana and Smallville are used in service of the story here makes me wish that all those other stories weren't so largely formulaic in comparison! Lana, particularly, is so forthrightly heroic here--with all of her unlikable stalker-y attributes left behind--that I just ate up every bit of her panel time. I mean, even before she used her Insect Queen ring, she saved amnesiac Lu and Shady from Mordru's flunky--LOVED it! There was not even a snarky "HA!" when her suspicions about Clark are confirmed--all that mattered was the danger and how she could help.

Adventure 371-372

This is another story that just mesmerized me when I first made an effort to discover the Legion. It combined a few things: the novelty of tightly connecting past continuity (with the LOSV, Brin, Condo, young Mekt, etc) and the novelty of a modern LOSV, while also being a damn good story spotlighting a rarely used Legionnaire in Colossal Boy--and in a high stakes, nerve wracking way!


Bouncing Boy shows up, and it stands out since as Lardy mentioned, we hardly ever see him. Also notable is Saturn Girl, who has been strangely absent since Shooter took over; noticeable since she was the lead actress of so many earlier stories. The panel where Chuck substitutes for Val at the Academy surely influenced Levitz decision to give Chuck that role later. (And as an aside, even though Val still feels new at this point, it had been over two years and Academy Instructor is a role that fits him.) Chuck comes off as a true friend, a role that always suits him.


Yay, Condo! Seen at last--and we better enjoy it, because there aren't too many of these moments to come!


The story wraps up way too fast, which is one complaint. On the last page we get the cavalry arriving, Luornu logically beating Nemesis Kid, the battle ending, Gim's parents being saved, Gim readmitted to the Legion and then Brin and Condo joining. Whoa. What did Mort promise two extra pages and then reneg?

I don't know, either, but I'm speculating it might have had something to do with all the layoffs at DC. Believe it or not, Mort Weisinger was also "let go", albeit with the proverbial golden parachute. Maybe nobody felt they could execute the Legion the same way as it had been by Weisinger, so rather than cancelling it, they downgraded it.


Awwww...thanks, Lardy.

I definitely feel your pain!

I think what it amounts to for me is that while I don't regret the great joy those X-Men comics gave me, it sucks that I decided to sacrifice all the DC books I'd collected in the prior years. Especially so because DC, though they were an innovator in the TPB format, have done an incredibly SHITTY job collecting material dating between the Bronze AGE thru much of the '80s! If you aren't classic GL/GA & Neal Adams this or that or New Teen Titans or a few other scattered super-high profile runs, chances are you've never seen a print beyond the original floppies!

Much of the stuff I want to rediscover via color trade or hardcover is simply NOT available, be it Flash from the death of Iris-on, DC Comics Presents, latter-day Brave & the Bold, the dollar-issue runs of Detective, Action and others, much of Curt Swan's latter-year run on Superman and so on! Even a lot of great Batman stories by writers like Wein and artists like Colan and Newton are only JUST RECENTLY getting handsome collections!!! DC is leaving a freaking GOLD MINE boarded up!

Comparatively, Marvel is doing a SUPERIOR job collecting their older material! Just like your Peanuts books, the X-Men collections are readily available while those old gems from DC's Bronze Age are practically NOWHERE to be found!!!

And I certainly didn't have the understandable dilemma of moving to another country! I was an IDIOT selling those great books for practically nothing! Really--I could just SLAP my younger self!!!

Adventure #373

As the Silver Age moved on and Marvel's inter-connected universe proved a huge success with fans, DC started to take notice and used many of the same tricks. As always, the Superman titles didn't need to be a part of all that since Uncle Mort ruled over his kingdom with an iron fist. But finally at the end of the Silver Age, as Mort's power waned, that began to change (though it wasn't until the 70's that Superman truly became enthralled in the rest of the DCU, often masterfully done by Cary Bates). And all that trickling down finally comes to a rare LSH connection to a franchise beyond the Supers.

The Tornado Twins were always largely forgettable to me, except someone figured out a way to get Barry and Iris out of the total fiasco that was the trial of the Flash was to get them to the 30th century--where the Twins might actually have been their children rather than their descendants. That little tidbit inspired Mark Waid to use them to create XS and Impulse, and that finally was a worthy payoff to the promise of the characters.

But for the most part, I don't like the Twins, and the old bit about the jerk playing a trick on the hero / heroes while secretly doing it in good fun is something that the series and DC in general has moved past. By the late 60's that concept had lost a lot of its charm.

J. Winslow Mortimor comes on as ongoing Legion artist and the difference from Swan is striking. He does a satisfactory job, with nothing really too bad to complain about, but the art is lacking the pop and dynamic that we've grown accustomed to. It's also scratchy in places and that is jarring. It will take some time getting used to.

The beginning shows the Legionnaires briefly having their downtime interrupted: Dirk and Tinya at school, Jan ditching his beard girlfriend, a nice scene showing the Clark / Brainy friendship, and a nice sequence with Val and Jeckie as Shooter continues to build their romance--which is a lot steamier when Jeckie is sans cape since her costume basically looks like sexy lingerie then.

From there we get an old fashioned "new character(s) acts like jerks" which never was a favorite of mine the first 5 times around. And then the action leaves a lot to be desired: Tinya hit from behind? Val tossed around by a robot? Random green-K falling on Superboy? It doesn't add up and Jeckie plays the damsel yet again.

I don't mind the panel hogging from Val at all, since I know this is really his one great era. But he doesn't come across well here, picking a fight with Don just because he's a jerk.

The concept of feeling you're no longer needed is a good one, even if it's difficult to watch. But it's a fine line to not make your heroes look like whiners and quitters. Here, I feel the story strays too far into that territory. This is a familiar trope in Superboy's stories, and there are a dozen or more good examples how to do it right. I wonder if Shooter, who as we've seen in our reread appears to be exploring many classic Superboy / LSH ideas one last time, ventured into this territory as part of that process? If so, he should have stuck to what he does best and leave this type of story to Leo Dorfman or Jerry Siegel.

All in all, this is one of the weaker issues in Shooter's run. Perhaps not as bad as the Thora issue but close.

Adventure #374

In her review, Fanfie really nails it with this story: a mediocre job by Shooter rendered into something worse by awful art courtesy of Win Mortimor. There are some positive things that please me as a longtime member of Legion fandom, but they are peripheral and don't change that this one is a lemon.

I can't really think of anything off hand by Mortimor besides his LSH stuff, so I'm not in a position to question his whole career. But whatever was going on with him at the tail end of the Silver Age wasn't good, because the art here is just bad.

The story itself, with Scorpio capturing the Legionnaires to battle Taurus is overly complex for the room allocated it. By the end you've got Scoprio, Taurus, Zoltorus, the other temporary chief, Brande, McCauley...whew! An interesting choice, for sure--I applaud the unusual pacing; but unfortunately it causes the story to feel lumpy. Perhaps with Swan this would have felt like a beautiful, failed experiment that still is a lot of fun. With no artistic support, the flaws are laid bare to see.

It isn't a total wash, though: we get to see Supergirl, Jan, Nura and Tenzil---all underused in recent years. I wonder if that was mandated from the top down? If so, that's never a great way to get a writer enthusiastic. Regardless, Dream Girl comes off well, especially her quick thinking to take Mystletor's place. A very capable, clever Legionnaire, that one.

I'm a big fan of Taurus and their somewhat obscure multi appearances. I remember starting a thread to that effect back in 2005 or 2006. I wish they had been used more thereafter; Black Mace is just too cool a moniker / visual not to show repeatedly. All that is an aside though--merely a side effect of being an LSH fanatic for so long. They actually don't come off so great here and aren't very memorable, beyond the barest hints.

My interpretation of Quanto is the same as Tracker's (though given Shooter's later work, I can see where Fanfie is coming from). I'd have loved to have seen a Quanto follow up a few years later, possibly explaining his mysterious home planet he hints at.

The Subs show up too, and by now those appearances have become few and far between. I like that, though it's already a pretty overcrowded story. The same pro & con apply to Leland McCauley, who makes his first appearance. But back to the Subs, I do like that they contribute nicely to the complete victory at the end.

The story I've seen reported in multiple places was that (1) Mort was wanting to retire and agreed to stay on for 1 more year (2) the execs wanted a Supergirl solo book from Mort and (3) Mort was in one-foot-out-the-door mode and didn't want to add another title to his workload.

So get to the execs off his back he flipped the Legion over to Action and Supergirl over to Adventure. So the Legion lived another year in Action and then when Mort retired for good, the Legion was kicked to the curb along with other stuff in Mort's toolchest.

At the same time this was 1969-1970 (and I am speculating as I was not around then) and many of DC's titles were experiencing low sales due to (1) competition from Marvel and (2) not keeping up with the rapidly changing times and looking dated.

In the case of the Legion, even though Shooter was telling Marvel-like stories, to me the stories looked more late 50's - early 60's in appearance - dated costumes, hairstyles, etc. So it could be that Legion was not bringing in younger readers in 1969 in enough quantity to replace the readers who were "growing out" of reading comics. And of course there was a huge generation gap between the young Shooter and the retiring Mort and his editor peers.

The story I've seen reported in multiple places was that (1) Mort was wanting to retire and agreed to stay on for 1 more year (2) the execs wanted a Supergirl solo book from Mort and (3) Mort was in one-foot-out-the-door mode and didn't want to add another title to his workload.

So get to the execs off his back he flipped the Legion over to Action and Supergirl over to Adventure. So the Legion lived another year in Action and then when Mort retired for good, the Legion was kicked to the curb along with other stuff in Mort's toolchest.