Difference between revisions of "Adventure Comics 494"

Latest revision as of 11:43, 20 October 2012

Adventure Comics #494
Preboot » Pre-Crisis

Reprint

Cover artwork by Keith Giffen and Frank Giacoia

Previous story	Adventure Comics #493 (previous chronological reprints)
Next story	Adventure Comics #495 (next chronological reprints)
Publication date	September 2, 1982
Cover date	December 1982

Creators

Writer(s)	Robert Bernstein, Jerry Siegel
Penciller(s)	George Papp, Curt Swan
Inker(s)	Sheldon Moldoff, George Papp
Letterer(s)	Joe Letterese, Milton Snapinn
Colourist	Unknown
Editor(s)	Carl Gafford (reprint), Mort Weisinger (original material)
Cover artist(s)	Keith Giffen, Frank Giacoia

Background

Adventure Comics was the birthplace of the Legion and its longtime home. After almost 500 issues of publication, it became primarily a series of reprints. Featured each month was a chronological re-presentation of the Legion's earliest tales, two in each issue, beginning with their first appearance. This issue presents the 7th and 8th appearances in that chronology.

Reprinted Legion stories

	2nd reprint of Superboy's Big Brother! – Superboy v1 #89 - April 6, 1961
	3rd reprint of The Legion of Super-Villains! – Superman v1 #147 - June 13, 1961

The Story Behind the Stories

The two Legion reprints included in each issue of the digest-sized Adventure Comics were the feature attraction. As an added bonus to Legion fans, a running commentary about that issue's reprinted Legion stories was provided each month by Paul Levitz, who was the writer of the Legion's current series while the Adventure digests were being produced. Years later, these commentaries are the primary point of interest (other than the reprinted stories themselves), so the full text is provided below:

As we continue our chronological reprinting of the Legion of Super-Heroes stories, we come to the seventh and eighth adventures... neither from ADVENTURE COMICS as these still pre-date the start of the Legion's series of adventures in this title.

"Superboy's Big Brother" (from SUPERBOY #89, June, 1961) has no internal evidence that it was planned as any part of the Legion saga. The character of Mon-El as featured in the story was an interesting addition to editor Mort Weisinger's concept of a "Superman family" of characters that appeared and reappeared in the various Superman-related titles, and it seems clear that that's the sole role the unknown author planned for him. Even the original end tag of the story plugged a future issue of SUPERMAN in which the Man of Steel would visit the Phantom Zone.

Mon-El was not connected to the Legion until over a year later, when he joined the team in their very first series story in ADVENTURE COMICS #300. We include this story as part of the canons of the Legion, however, because it served to introduce him and set up other elements important to future Legion stories: Mon-El's presence in the Zone would be an important plot factor in at least two Legion solo stories, his acquaintenceship with Lana Lang would show up again, and finally, the planet Daxam itself would be pivotal to the current storyline in the Legion (which you're still in time to get in on the epic conclusion of, if you keep your eye's out for #294's sensational double-size issue!)

More interesting to the Legion mythos is our second selection, "The Legion of Super-Villains" from SUPERMAN #147, August, 1961. Not only did this introduce one of the most important Legion villain teams, but it also began the long Adult Legion debate. This (and a series of subsequent stories culminating in ADVENTURE COMICS #354-355) established destinies for the Legionnaires unhinted at in the current stories.

Luthor's belief in the existence of the Super-Villains harkens back to his meeting with Lightning Lad in "The Army of Living Kryptonite Men", which we reprinted two issues ago. This would be his only meeting with the Adult villains, but his descendent would play a critical role in defeating them years later.

More interesting was the origin detail revealed in the story. This was the first place we learned of the Lightning Monsters of Korbal, or the fact that Lightning Lad had a brother. It would be another two years before it would be revealed that sister Ayla was present too. The unsimilarity between Cosmic King's origin and Cosmic Boy's has never made a lot of sense, but clearly it does foreshadow Element Lad's existence. Finally, the fact that Saturn's rings cancel out criminality and that its inhabitants are all mentalists of one sort or another has also become pivotal in the mythos.

The peculiar costumes of the Adult Legionnaires are easier to explain than the fact that they still rely on the cumbersome jet-packs. This was one of the last times when the costumes were drawn wildly incorrectly (as opposed to typical small errors that creep into many stories), whereas the "stalled" technology of the future relates to the fact that neither the writers nor the artists could foresee the flying belts or flight rings which would change the whole look of the Legion.

Finally, and most importantly, this story introduced a new artist to the Legion: Curt Swan, who would later draw their series for several years (coming in third on the list of all-time number of Legion stories pencilled after Forte and Grell), and who drew most of the Superman family covers featuring the Legion as well.

– Paul Levitz

« Previous Next »Adventure Comics #494
Reprint
Adventure Comics #493 By continuity Adventure Comics #495
Adventure Comics #493 By series Adventure Comics #495
Legion of Super-Heroes v2 #293 By publication Legion of Super-Heroes v2 #294

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{issue
-|era_color=#cccccc
+|era=precrisis
-|issue=''Adventure Comics'' #494
+|reprint=y
-|image=[[Image:Adventure494.jpg|250px]]
+|series=Adventure Comics|issue_no=494
-|caption=Cover by [[Keith Giffen]] and [[Frank Giacoia]]
+|image=[[File:Adventure494.jpg|250px|Cover artwork by Keith Giffen and Frank Giacoia]]
-|era=Pre-Crisis (reprints)
+|caption=Cover artwork by Keith Giffen and Frank Giacoia
-|story_title=Various
+|story_title=
 |previous=[[Adventure Comics 493|''Adventure Comics'' #493]] (previous chronological reprints)
 |next=[[Adventure Comics 495|''Adventure Comics'' #495]] (next chronological reprints)
+|publication_date=[[September 2]], 1982
 |cover_date=December 1982
-|series_color=#c0c0c0
+|writers=[[Robert Bernstein]], [[Jerry Siegel]]
-|writers=n/a
+|pencillers=[[George Papp]], [[Curt Swan]]
-|pencillers=n/a
+|inkers=[[Sheldon Moldoff]], George Papp
-|inkers=n/a
+|letterers=[[Joe Letterese]], [[Milton Snapinn]]
-|letterers=n/a
+|colorist=Unknown
-|colorists=n/a
+|editors=[[Carl Gafford]] (reprint), [[Mort Weisinger]] (original material)
-|editors=[[Carl Gafford]]
+|cover_artists=[[Keith Giffen]], [[Frank Giacoia]]
-|cover_artists=[[Keith Giffen]]/[[Frank Giacoia]]
 }} __TOC__
 ==Background==
-Adventure Comics, one of DC's very oldest titles, was the series that saw the Legion's debut in April 1958 and was eventually home to its first real series, presenting Legion stories for eighty straight issues beginning in September 1962. However, by the early 1980s, long after the Legion had migrated through several other series to a self-titled one, sales for Adventure Comics were floundering and the title was put on hiatus. It was soon revived in a digest format, primarily with reprinted material from old Adventure issues and other forgotten DC stories. Featured each month was a chronological re-presentation of the Legion's earliest tales, two in each issue, beginning with their first appearance. This issue presents the fifth and sixth appearances in that chronology.
+Adventure Comics was the birthplace of the Legion and its longtime home. After almost 500 issues of publication, it became primarily a series of reprints. Featured each month was a chronological re-presentation of the Legion's earliest tales, two in each issue, beginning with their first appearance. This issue presents the 7th and 8th appearances in that chronology.
-==Reprinted material==
+==Reprinted Legion stories==
-Original publication source is noted for each.
+{|border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2"
+|-
+|valign="top"|[[file:Superboy-v1-089.jpg|30px|Cover art by Curt Swan (pencils) and Stan Kaye (inks)]]
+|2nd reprint of '''Superboy's Big Brother!''' – [[Superboy v1 89|''Superboy'' v1 #89]] - [[April 6]], 1961
+|-
+|valign="top"|[[file:Superman-v1-147.jpg|30px|Cover art by Curt Swan (pencils) and Stan Kaye (inks)]]
+|3rd reprint of '''The Legion of Super-Villains!''' – [[Superman v1 147|''Superman'' v1 #147]] - [[June 13]], 1961
+|}
+==Other Stories in this Issue==
+This digest also contains additional stories with no Legion content, including:
 *Part 2 of the Untold Origin of the Challengers of the Unknown - new material
-*The first appearance of Mon-El in "Superboy's Big Brother" – [[Superboy v1 89|''Superboy''  v1 #89]] (June, 1961)
 *Aquaman continues his quest for Mera in "To Win Is To Lose" – ''Aquaman'' #43 (January/February, 1969)
-*Shazam battles the World's greatest enemy in "Captain Marvel Faces Fear!" – ''Captain Marvel Adventures'' #89 (October, 1948)
+*Captain Marvel battles the World's greatest enemy in "Captain Marvel Faces Fear!" – ''Captain Marvel Adventures'' #89 (October, 1948)
-*Superman confronts "The Legion of Super-Villains" – [[Superman v1 147|''Superman'' v1 #147]] (August, 1961)
 *The Spectre pursues "The Sinister Lives of Captain Skull!" – ''The Spectre'' #1 (November/December, 1967)
 ==The Story Behind the Stories==
 The two Legion reprints included in each issue of the digest-sized Adventure Comics were the feature attraction. As an added bonus to Legion fans, a running commentary about that issue's reprinted Legion stories was provided each month by [[Paul Levitz]], who was the writer of the Legion's current series while the Adventure digests were being produced. Years later, these commentaries are the primary point of interest (other than the reprinted stories themselves), so the full text is provided below:
-<!--
-:''This month we continue with our program of reprinting the entire adventure of the Legion of Super-Heroes in chronological order with their third and fourth appearances. Last issue we ran their first two stories, both from ADVENTURE COMICS, but by the time these two were written then-Superman editor [[Mort Weisinger]] clearly had the idea of featuring the Legionnaires as part of his growing Superman family of characters. These "family" members included many concepts that went from one magazine to another, always guest-starring as a change of pace. Long time comics fans will remember the Superman Emergency Squad, the Bizarros, the Superman (and Superboy) Revenge Squad, and on and on for an endless list. Of them all, only the Legion went on to prominence.''
-:''The costumes of the Legionnaires had almost settled into their "permanent" versions by "The Three Super-Heroes", a [[Supergirl/Pre-Crisis|Supergirl]] story first featured in [[Action Comics 267|ACTION COMICS #267]] (August, 1960)... but not quite. Minor differences in coloration and styling were still present in all three.''
+:''As we continue our chronological reprinting of the Legion of Super-Heroes stories, we come to the seventh and eighth adventures... neither from ADVENTURE COMICS as these still pre-date the start of the Legion's series of adventures in this title. ''
-:''The most startling discrepancy, however, is the fact that the Legionnaires introduce themselves as the '''children''' of the original Legionnaires who initated [[Superboy/Kal-El/Pre-Crisis|Superboy]] into their club. Legion fans regard this as either a typo or a white lie on the Legionnaires' part. There is also a school of thought that dates this story before Superboy's induction, based on a [[Early Legion continuity|complex series of cross-references]] that we won't go into.''
+:''"Superboy's Big Brother" (from [[Superboy v1 89|SUPERBOY #89]], June, 1961) has no internal evidence that it was planned as any part of the Legion saga. The character of [[Mon-El/Preboot#Pre-Crisis|Mon-El]] as featured in the story was an interesting addition to editor [[Mort Weisinger|Mort Weisinger's]] concept of a "Superman family" of characters that appeared and reappeared in the various Superman-related titles, and it seems clear that that's the sole role the unknown author planned for him. Even the original end tag of the story plugged a future issue of SUPERMAN in which the Man of Steel would visit the [[Phantom Zone]].''
-:''Three more members are introduced here for the first time, [[Chameleon Boy/Pre-Crisis|Chameleon Boy]] and [[Colossal Boy/Pre-Crisis|Colossal Boy]] exactly as they would appear for years to come and [[Invisible Kid/Lyle Norg/Pre-Crisis|Invisible Kid]] in a uniform whose color would change although the styling would not.''
+:''Mon-El was not connected to the Legion until over a year later, when he joined the team in their very first series story in [[Adventure Comics 300|ADVENTURE COMICS #300]]. We include this story as part of the canons of the Legion, however, because it served to introduce him and set up other elements important to future Legion stories: Mon-El's presence in the Zone would be an important plot factor in at least two Legion solo stories, his acquaintenceship with [[Insect Queen/Lana Lang|Lana Lang]] would show up again, and finally, the planet [[Daxam]] itself would be pivotal to the current storyline in the Legion (which you're still in time to get in on the epic conclusion of, if you keep your eye's out for [[Legion of Super-Heroes v2 294|#294's]] sensational double-size issue!)''
-:''The tunnel Supergirl digs was featured again in later stories, and Supergirl did indeed return again the following year for another try at membership -- at which time she was accepted. ''
+:'' More interesting to the Legion mythos is our second selection, "The Legion of Super-Villains" from [[Superman v1 147|SUPERMAN #147]], August, 1961. Not only did this introduce one of the most important Legion villain teams, but it also began the long [[Adult Legion]] debate. This (and a series of subsequent stories culminating in [[Adventure Comics 354|ADVENTURE COMICS #354]]-[[Adventure Comics 355|355]]) established destinies for the Legionnaires unhinted at in the current stories.''
-:''Our other selection, "The Army of Living Kryptonite Men" from [[Superboy v1 86|SUPERBOY #86]] (January, 1961) features only one Legionnaire, but qualifies as a Legion story because it is an important set-up for [[Lex Luthor|Luthor]] battling the Legion years later. Interestingly, it also foreshadows the existience of the [[Legion of Super-Villains]], another creation of later years.''
+:''[[Lex Luthor/Preboot#Pre-Crisis|Luthor's]] belief in the existence of the [[Legion of Super Villains|Super-Villains]] harkens back to his meeting with [[Lightning Lad/Preboot#Pre-Crisis|Lightning Lad]] in [[Superboy v1 86|"The Army of Living Kryptonite Men"]], which we reprinted [[Adventure Comics 492|two issues ago]]. This would be his only meeting with the Adult villains, but his descendent would play a critical role in defeating them years later.''
-:''Many stories in the various Superman family magazines featured stories with walk-ons by the Legionnaires in the next few years. They were similar to this one in that the Legionnaire had no direct involvement in the plot, except to come running in at the end to solve the problem. For example, there were at least three or four stories in which various Legionnaires came back through time to impersonate either Superboy or Clark Kent in order to save his secret identity by having the two personas appear together. In the interests of getting right to the essence of the Legion chronicles, we have decided to omit all those stories from our reprintings, using as our critieria only those stories that feature Legionnaires using their powers in the furtherance of the plot, and stories where Legionnaires appear for more than a panel or three.''
+:''More interesting was the origin detail revealed in the story. This was the first place we learned of the [[Lightning Monsters]] of [[Korbal]], or the fact that Lightning Lad had a [[Lightning Lord/Preboot|brother]]. It would be another two years before it would be revealed that sister [[Light Lass/Preboot#Pre-Crisis|Ayla]] was present too. The '''un'''similarity between [[Cosmic King|Cosmic King's]] origin and [[Cosmic Boy/Preboot#Pre-Crisis|Cosmic Boy's]] has never made a lot of sense, but clearly it does foreshadow [[Element Lad/Preboot#Pre-Crisis|Element Lad's]] existence. Finally, the fact that [[Saturn|Saturn's]] rings cancel out criminality and that its inhabitants are all mentalists of one sort or another has also become pivotal in the mythos.''
-:''This "phase" of the Legion's development lasted another couple of years. Additional stories (which we'll see over the next five months) featured the introduction of new members and new elements to the Legion myth, but always with them in a secondary role to the Superman family super-stars. It wasn't until [[Adventure Comics 300|ADVENTURE COMICS #300]] that they got their own series.''
+:''The peculiar costumes of the Adult Legionnaires are easier to explain than the fact that they still rely on the cumbersome [[Legion jetpack|jet-packs]]. This was one of the last times when the costumes were drawn wildly incorrectly (as opposed to typical small errors that creep into many stories), whereas the "stalled" technology of the future relates to the fact that neither the writers nor the artists could foresee the [[Legion flying belt|flying belts]] or [[Flight ring/Preboot|flight rings]] which would change the whole look of the Legion.''
+:''Finally, and most importantly, this story introduced a new artist to the Legion: [[Curt Swan]], who would later draw their series for several years (coming in third on the list of all-time number of Legion stories pencilled after [[John Forte|Forte]] and [[Mike Grell|Grell]]), and who drew most of the Superman family covers featuring the Legion as well.''
 ::'' – Paul Levitz''
--->
+{{Prevnext
+|era=precrisis
+|reprint=y
+|series=Adventure Comics|issue_no=494
+|prev_continuity=[[Adventure Comics 493|''Adventure Comics'' #493]]
+|next_continuity=[[Adventure Comics 495|''Adventure Comics'' #495]]
+|prev_series=[[Adventure Comics 493|''Adventure Comics'' #493]]
+|next_series=[[Adventure Comics 495|''Adventure Comics'' #495]]
+|prev_publication=[[Legion of Super-Heroes v2 293|''Legion of Super-Heroes'' v2 #293]]
+|next_publication=[[Legion of Super-Heroes v2 294|''Legion of Super-Heroes'' v2 #294]]
+}}
+[[Category:Adventure Comics (Pre-Crisis) issues]]
 [[Category:Reprints (Pre-Crisis)]]

Difference between revisions of "Adventure Comics 494"

Latest revision as of 11:43, 20 October 2012

Contents

Background

Reprinted Legion stories

Other Stories in this Issue

The Story Behind the Stories

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