RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books LSH Archive #1

Today I decided to reread the Legion's earliest appearances, mostly as a way to avoid doing laundry.

I had more fun than the first time I read it when I bought it several years ago.

Here are some scattershot thoughts/observances...

1). Mon-el serving as an active Legionnaire while trapped in the Phantom Zone, even saving the day at least once, was a damn cool idea.

I wish we'd seen a bit (or more than a bit) of that in the reboot.

Hmmm- maybe a rebooted 'Phantom Girl/Lad' could be a prisoner in the Phantom Zone acting on the Legion's behalf in the 'real' world.

2). Shrinking Violet had the wildest, most suspicious little imagination.

Her only lines in the whole archive involved her guessing at the direst, most accusatory motives for teammates, applicants, etc.

3). Brainiac 5 gave Sun Boy a ring with a dome on it which housed a menagarie of weird beasts that were descendants of animals shrunken by Brainiac 1.

Wish we'd seen that again. Unfortunately, I can't see a way for this little nugget to be introduced into the reboot.

4). Lori Lemaris as a friend of the Legion should've been carried forward past the Adventure years. I always liked her.

5). The idea of building robots that look like everyone you know, including your parents, and keeping them in the basement is tres creepy.

The more so since the events of GRADUATION DAY.

6). Why didn't the Winged Wampus get inducted into the Legion of Super-Pets? :)

Actually, the circumstances around the Winged Wampus- which was a gift from admirers to the Legion- are those in which I could see a 'real' Legion of Super Pets formed.

Not sentient beings in the bodies of Kryptonian powered animals, but naturally-occurring critters from exotic worlds that could be trained for specific purposes and used accordingly.

7). 'Porta-monitor'. Kinky.

8). The spy hidden in the 'curative capsule' implanted in Sun Boy's ankle was a cool idea ("The Fantastic Spy"). But the spy should've been from Imsk.

9). 'Spectrum rainbow bar'? That explains everything.

TN

I'm getting due for a thorough rereading of the archives...

and your post only makes me want to hurry up and do it!

Lots of charming, silly stuff in those early ADVENTURE tales...

I haven't reread the first one in quite some time. I think I will one of these days.

Don't have Archives 1 or 2 yet (I'm working backwards) but some interesting scenes you point out, Mystery Lad.

One thing that I've found curious from the early Legion stories is that we often see Brainiac 5 and Sun Boy as pals. (No sexual inference here.) This is just my impression, I haven't sat down and counted the appearances - but it's always struck me as an unlikely friendship.

I wonder if the pre-Levitz era writers gave much thought to who hung out with whom.

So help me out. Which archive is the best to pick-up first? Money is tight, and I need to get some back story on hese guys and dolls.

Well, the first one has many of the members joining up & all the goofy elements that launched the team. Volume 9 or 10 you have Dave Cockrum's new costumes & the team growing up. Those would be good ones to start with.

Legion 1-8 are the true Legion..baaah...
All the beautiful swan and Forte art...and much night girl, supegirl and Super-pets...

1-8 are more charming..9 up are more geared towards the fanboy w/ more serious and adult storytelling...IMO...

If the more modern Legion is your favorite then start with 9 as Matter-eater man suggests...

Much obliged. I hit my comic shop tomorrow, so here's to number 9!

John Lennon???

I think I bought Archive # 5
first, then got # 6, #7, #9.

# 8 was hard to get but I did
find it on Ebay. I got the other
Legion Archives from Barnes & Noble
. Com and Amazon.Com.

My Favorite LSH era is the
Shooter - Swan Legion. That was
the Legion that I read from age 8
to age 11.

I plan to get The rest of the
Legion Archives as finances
permit.

I'm enjoying my slow crawl down legion memory lane. It's almost like a completely different book and characters for me. Best part, it's good!

I got the Archives as they came out...I have 1 - 9. I have all the regular issues from that point on, so I skipped the others. I may get them if I see them cheap though.

I've got #3-6 and enjoy 'em all. I'll eventually get all the ones through the end of the Adventure/Action era. They pop up on Ebay a lot.

I love all the Legion Archives. So far I like the newest one the best. There's just something about the storytelling that I really like. Short stories with a couple of characters. Good stuff.

re: The Sun Boy/Brainy friendship...

IIRC, in some Levitz-era issues, Dirk was shown as a bit of a scientist (though BELOW Brainy, Mon and Dreamy certainly).

But back in those Lar and Nura-less days, Dirk may have been the closest thing to a science-minded Legionnaire...

Could be a possible explanation, maybe.