Sunday, January 18, 2015

Legion Archive 1: Curt Swan

From 1991 DC Comics began publishing Archive Editions of the Legion of Super-Heroes. They had with Golden Age Superman and Batman adventures in the late Eighties, but by this time they had branched out to reprint Justice League of America and All-Star Comics (Justice Society of America) stories. It was logical for them to choose the Legion as their next series.

For the first nine volumes they commissioned brand new art for the covers of these Archives. And so for the next nine weeks we are going to re-present that wonderful art for you. And at the same time, we are going to clue you in to what stories and events appear in each Archive. So if you ever see these beauties at a used book store or on ebay, you will know what you are getting!


How can you go wrong with Curt Swan? Although he was not the Legion's first interior artist, he did provide the cover to Adventure Comics #247, the Legion's first appearance, and was the artist most associated with the Sixties' Legion. Here we have Curt Swan doing a great illustration of the Founders and Superboy....truly, the five "characters" who started this whole thing. Inks are by Murphy Anderson.

Stories:
Adventure Comics #247 (the debut of the Legion of Super-Heroes)
Adventure Comics #267
Action Comics #267 (the debut of Colossal Boy, Chameleon Boy, and Invisible Kid)
Superboy #86 (Lex Luthor learns about the Legion)
Adventure Comics #282 (the debut of Star Boy)
Action Comics #276 (the debut of Phantom Girl, Triplicate Girl, Shrinking Violet, Bouncing Boy, Sun Boy, and Brainiac 5!)
Superboy #89 (the debut of Mon-El)
Superman #147 (the debut of the Legion of Super-Villains)
Adventure Comics #290 and 293
Action Comics #287 and 289
Superboy #98 (the debut of Ultra Boy)
Adventure Comics #300-305 (the debuts of Matter-Eater Lad and Element Lad, the "death" of Lightning Lad)

Events:
Cosmic Boy is the leader for the first two years of the Legion. Time travel is the buzz phrase of this collection, as Legionnaires go back and forth in time to team up with Superboy, Supergirl, and SuperMAN! We end at the beginning of the third year, as Saturn Girl is elected leader just in time to not prevent the sacrifice of Lightning Lad.

1 comment:

  1. The 9 are currently on eBay as a collection - for $300.

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