Adventure Comics 496

Adventure Comics #496 Preboot » Pre-Crisis Reprint Cover by Gil Kane Story title Various Previous story Adventure Comics #495 (previous chronological reprints) Next story Adventure Comics #497 (next chronological reprints) Cover date February 1983 Creators Writer(s) n/a Penciller(s) n/a Inker(s) n/a Letterer(s) n/a Colourist(s) n/a Editor(s) Carl Gafford/Nicola Cuti 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 11th and 12th appearances in that chronology.

Reprinted material

Original publication source is noted for each.

• The Challengers of the Unknown in "Tomorrow's Answers" - New material
• Supergirl and the Legion in "Supergirl's Greatest Challenge" – Action Comics #287 (April, 1962)
• Aquaman in "Underworld Reward (Part 2)" – Aquaman #45 (May/June, 1969)
• Captain Marvel, Jr. in "The Mystery of the Missing Newstand" – New material
• Superman, Supergirl and the Legion in "Superman's Super-Courtship" – Action Comics #289 (June, 1962)
• The Spectre and Wildcat in "Menace of the Mystic Mastermind" – The Spectre #3 (March/April, 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:

Our canonical reprinting of the Legion of Super-Heroes moves onward this issue, entering the homestretch before their series in ADVENTURE COMICS began.

"Supergirl's Greatest Challenge" (originally published in ACTION COMICS #287, April, 1962) was her first active adventure with the Legionnaires after joining the team. Editor Weisinger had a fascination for signalling devices concealed in his heroes homes, and the Legionnaire bookends which summon Supergirl are similar to statues that had summoned Superboy. (And to a lampshade which glowed to signal Superboy that police chief Parker wanted him, and so on...) Supergirl's response is noteworthy, though - it's the first time either she or Superboy flew to the Legion's future time under their own power! It's also the first time the Legionnaires summoned either to help them.

Minor inconsistencies with Legion lore abound, as usual in these early stories: the "Earth Police" rather than the Science Police shown in most tales and the "Chameleon Men" who are certainly Duralans (Chameleon Boy's race) being portrayed as green aliens somewhat unlike their later established form.

Meanwhile, we go to "Superman's Super-Courtship" from ACTION COMICS #289, June, 1962. This is the second of the "Adult" Legion stories which projected the grown-up lives of the Legionnaires. Again, the Legionnaires play an almost walk-on role, but this story is totally important to the continutiy of the Legion's development because of a single panel plot-twist.

For purposes of the story's plot, it was necessary for Saturn Woman to be ineligible for Superman's romantic attentions... and that led to the longest lasting and most important characterization in the whole history of the Legion... the marriage of Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl. It would be almost another year (until "The Stolen Super-Powers" in ADVENTURE #304) before we'd see the romance build. But this tale established the inevitability of a wedding which only took place sixteen years later!

Otherwise the story suffers the same flaw as the earlier Adult Legion story - technology stalled at the level of the early teen Legion stories, where the heroes used flying belts. In fact, Superman and Supergirl create the flying belts that replaced them in this story - only to then have those same belts appear in future stories of the teen team.

Both stories were by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney. By the way, Jerry was kind enough to write in and correct some of our previous credits... he wrote "Prisoner of the Super-Heroes" (reprinted in #491), "The Three Super-Heroes" (#492), "Supergirl's Three Super Girl-Friends" (#493) and "The Legion of Super-Villains" (#494).

Next issue, at last - ADVENTURE COMICS #300 where it all began!

– Paul Levitz