Adventure Comics 497

Adventure Comics #497 Preboot » Pre-Crisis Reprint Cover artwork by Gil Kane Story title Various Previous story Adventure Comics #496 (previous chronological reprints) Next story Adventure Comics #498 (next chronological reprints) Publication date December 9, 1982 Cover date March 1983 Creators Writer(s) Jerry Siegel Penciller(s) John Forte, Jim Mooney, Al Plastino Inker(s) John Forte, Jim Mooney, Al Plastino Letterer(s) Milton Snapinn Colourist(s) Unknown Editor(s) Carl Gafford, Nicola Cuti (reprint), Mort Weisinger (original material) Cover artist(s) Gil Kane

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 13th and 14th appearances in that chronology.

Reprinted Legion stories

	2nd reprint of The Boy with Ultra-Powers! – Superboy v1 #98 - May 17, 1962
	2nd reprint of The Face Behind the Lead Mask! – Adventure Comics #300 - July 26, 1962

Other Stories in this Issue

This digest also contains additional stories with no Legion content, including:

• The Challengers of the Unknown in "All Together Now!" - New material
• Aquaman in "The Explanation!" – Aquaman #46 (July/August, 1969)
• Captain Marvel in "The Mighty Marvels Join Forces!" – The Marvel Family #1 (December, 1945)
• The Spectre in "Stop That Kid, Before He Wrecks the World!" – The Spectre #4 (May/June, 1968)

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:

At last, this issue's installment of the chronological reprinting of the Legion of Super-Heroes brings us to the beginning of their series, the true dawn of Legion fandom. But first, one more pre-series tale needs to be mentioned:

"The Boy With Ultra-Powers" (from SUPERBOY #98, July, 1962) was typical of its period of Legion stories, serving mainly to introduce one new Legionnaire. And, like so many early Legion tales, it only told part of the character's story. As we now know, Ultra Boy really gained many powers when trapped in the energy beast - virtually all of Superboy's abilities, although he could only use one power at a time. In this story, however, only his vision powers are shown by writer Jerry Siegel.

It's interesting to note that the theme of initiations for Legion members crops up again here, for the last time in early Legion history. And Pete Ross' appearance presages his being awarded honorary memberhship, sometime between this story and when he next appeared with the Legion (never mind logical questions like how a 30th Century coin could get him to the 30th Century.) The final curiosity is Marla, the Legion's advisor, who would not reappear until Ultra Boy got in trouble in SUPERBOY/LEGION #239... sixteen years later.

Now, for something completely different. ADVENTURE COMICS #300 (September 1962) introduced Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes, a regular monthly series of stories about the LSH in the back of the comic. Present day fans should understand that then (as now) ADVENTURE was going through a difficult period, changing formats and trying to find an identity. Superboy had been the lead series for twenty-five years, but back features had changed from Aquaman and Green Arrow to Congorilla to the short-lived Tales of the Bizarro World, which the Legion replaced, retaining the same creative team - Jerry Siegel and John Forte. The magazine was still selling well - twice as well as strong titles such as JUSTICE LEAGUE or FLASH, in fact, but it was in a creative muddle.

The first story, reprinted in this issue, treated the Legion like the Bizarros - as a Superman family spin-off. Superboy's presence was front and center, the villain turns out to be built by Luthor, and Mon-El, previously seen only in SUPERBOY, joins the Legion from the Phantom Zone. But the beginnings of the mythos were becoming clearer - membership was more definitely identified (though the Hall of Heroes neglected then-members Triplicate Girl, Phantom Girl, Colossal Boy, Supergirl, Brainiac Five, Ultra Boy and Star Boy), Superboy visits the future under his own power for the first time, the World-Wide Police which would later be renamed Science Police appear again, and best of all, the Legion battles as a team against a villain for the first time ever.

It had taken four and a half years, but the Legion had arrived. They would take over ADVENTURE page by page, dominating the comic for eighty-one issues. In the next few ADVENTURE COMICS DIGEST issues, we'll trace the Jerry Siegel-scripted era of the series, and watch the magic begin to happen. If you missed it the first time around, be sure to stick with us.

– Paul Levitz

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Reprint
Adventure Comics #496  By continuity Adventure Comics #498
Adventure Comics #496  By series Adventure Comics #498
Legion of Super-Heroes v2 #296  By publication Legion of Super-Heroes v2 #297