Next up for the month is the superhero team from the 31st
century: The Legion of Super-Heroes. You could say that they’re the first
superhero fanboys/fangirls in comics. They were inspired by Superman to become superheroes. They were first introduced in Adventure
Comics #247 as they made Superboy into a LOSH member. They spent a few years in
that book until they were put into backups for Action Comics. They were
then put into Superboy’s book and eventually, that book became theirs. They
were probably at their height during the 70’s and 80’s. The team also had a lot
of different characters with different powers. The characters would also age,
die, and get married.
Things changed for the Legion when they hit the post-Crisis
era. Since Superboy was removed from continuity, things got weird there. That
team would go for a few years until the Legion was rebooted after Zero Hour.
For LOSH fans, this would become a repeating pattern especially in the 2000’s.
I think there were three Legion teams in that decade. I can kind of see why
they’ve been shelved since the New 52. The Legion has also appeared in the
DCAU, Smallville, and Supergirl. They also had a cartoon on the WB that lasted
for a couple of years.
I was going to review their show’s first season today, but
that DC Universe app kept freezing on me. I also thought about reviewing
Justice League of America’s “The Lightning Saga,” but I’ll save that for later. So, I’m going to go back into the day and talk about a random LOSH issue. Superboy
and Legion of Super-Heroes #239 was released May 1978. The writers were Jim
Starlin and Paul Levitz. Starlin also handled the pencils for the issue. Joe
Rubinstein handled the inks. So, what happens when a LOSH member is accused of
murder?
Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #239
Plot and Layouts (Art): Jim Starlin
Dialogue and Plot Assist: Paul Levitz
Finished Art: Josef Rubinstein
Letters: Ben Oda
Colors: Cory Adams
Editor: Allen Milgrom
“Murder Most Foul”
We start the story on the planet Rimbor at a seedy hotel. Jo
Nah, Ultra-Boy, has been summoned here by An Ryd, an old girlfriend he had
before he joined the LOSH. He finds An in her room and is shocked to see how
much she’s changed. I’m not just talking about the fact that she looks like
Gamora’s third cousin either. While they talk, An pretty much lets Jo know that
he’s been lured here. At that moment, a hooded assailant stuns him with a
blast. The masked figure then kills An with the blaster, takes Jo off-world to
Rimbor’s fourth moon, and puts him into an unknown spaceship. He also takes his
Legion ring.
When Jo wakes up, The Legion has already found him. They’ve
also brought Marla, their adult adviser, with them. It turns out that Jo has
been accused of murdering An Ryd with his powers (he basically has Superboy’s
powers but can only use them one at a time). He can’t account for his time, so
Wildfire puts him into restraints. Tinya, Phantom Girl, believes he didn’t do
it. Jo even knows he couldn’t have done this, so to prove his innocence, he
breaks out his chain and escapes. He’s able to fight off the Legion and even
takes down Superboy and Mon-El. He steals their cruiser and heads back to
Rimbor.
While the Legion licks their wounds, Ultra-Boy dons a
disguise and searches out the hotel for clues. He heads to a friend’s apartment
to hide out, but he gets found by Chameleon Boy at the place. Luckily, he’s
here to help Jo out. After Jo tells Cham the story, Cham doubts him since he
did flee from the Legion. Still, they
try to see who would want Jo framed. Cham heads off to do some research while
Jo stays at the apartment. Meanwhile, Cosmic Boy brought a ship to get the rest
off of Rimbor’s moon. They wonder why Marla is so adamant on getting Ultra-Boy
behind bars. Ultimately, they decide to head back to Rimbor and find Ultra-Boy
themselves. Elsewhere, Chameleon Boy’s research has worked, and he knows who’s
behind the framing.
Funny, Chameleon Boy. I guess he read the end of the issue.
The Legion find Ultra-Boy and try to take him down. It takes
some doing and planning, but Superboy and Mon-El knock him out. They take Jo
back to Earth and are about to turn him over to the courts when Chameleon Boy
reveals that Jo didn’t murder the lady. They also have an impostor on the team
and it turns out to be Wildfire. Wildfire then attacks the team but is easily
taken down by the team. It turns out that the real Wildfire (the guy’s not
exactly human) was trapped in his room while the robot Wildfire tried to
quickly arrest Ultra-Boy. It’s still unknown who killed An but that’s something
that the team should try to figure out soon. The story ends with Jo and Tinya
kissing while the masked man watches them on a video screen and plans to do
worse to the Legion.
……………………………………………………….
I thought this was a pretty good read. I haven’t read any
old-school LOSH comics, so this is a first. I’ve always have heard about how
Paul Levitz’s run on the book was good. If it’s anything like this, I may end
up check more LOSH comics out. The story is a classic “I’ve been framed!!!”
story and it works well. We know that Ultra-Boy didn’t do it, but we don’t know
why’s he’s being framed. We still don’t know why the masked figure’s doing all
of this, but it makes you wonder. Heck, I’m wondering if I can find any more of
these issues!
I’m not well-versed on the Legion members outside of Superboy.
Even when I’ve read stories with them, you only get the weird names, the cool
powers, and those flight rings. Here, we get to learn about Ultra-Boy, a guy who
kind of feels redundant in retrospect. He seemed fine here. The one who I
thought was cool was Chameleon Boy. I vaguely remember him being the comic
relief on the cartoon, but this version is far from that. It’s like Starlin and
Levitz mixed Spock with Batman or something.
While he does have redundant powers (Superboy, Mon-El, and probably a few others) it would be cool to have those powers.
The artwork was pretty good. It’s 70’s Jim Starlin, so you
may get some good work. The action scenes were pretty good. I also liked the
smaller, emotional scenes we’d get. The only thing about the artwork that would
be off would be some of the faces. When they would hit one angle, the faces
would look shrunken or something. Other than that and some of the quick pace of
the issue, this was pretty good. I may even start to look at some old-school
LOSH issues because of this.
The Legion of Super-Heroes is a team that I’m not a big fan
of. I think that’s mostly because I haven’t that exposed to them. Most modern
iterations don’t stay around long, and they’re shelved right now. With what
little I’ve seen and read, they seem like a cool enough team. They also serve
as an inspiration to Young Clark and as friends. Since that DC Universe comic app
does work, I may get some LOSH reading in. Well, next time will be another major
team. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there.
NEXT TIME: THE “DEATH” OF SUPERMAN… THE FIRST (OR SECOND?)
ONE!
No comments:
Post a Comment