Showing posts with label Lana Lang. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lana Lang. Show all posts

Monday, April 20, 2020

Spotlight on Super-Team Family:The Lost Issues!



An introduction to a web-site all Legion fans should check out by Emsley Wyatt

Imagine living in a world where all comic characters were “under one roof;” where you could walk into a comic store and find a book in which your favorite characters could team up or battle without regard for which company owns what.  

Well, we don’t live in that world, but we can get a tantalizing peek at what it might look like thanks to Ross over at The Super-Team Family: the Lost Issues

Ross takes characters and situations from comic books, puts them in the blender, and creates some pretty tasty concoctions. And he puts a new one up every freakin’ day.  

Iron Man meets Green Lantern.  The Justice League battles Ultron. Adam Strange and Doctor Strange (Long-lost brothers).  And one of my personal faves, The Creeper versus The Green Goblin.

And it isn’t just the “big boys” you’ll find here.  No character or book is too obscure to escape Ross’s treatment.  The X-Files and Swamp Thing.  Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Vampirella. Quantum Leap and Sliders.

Some of the covers are laugh-out-loud funny.  Others make you wish that you could actually read the darn story.  But this is, after all, a Legion of Super-Heroes site.  So let’s a look at some of his Legion-related covers. 

The most recent, featured as our head-line act which inspired this article: The Legion Vs. The Avengers….
I’d buy that for a dollar all right.  

Click for more!! 

Monday, December 9, 2019

Lana Lang's Two Alien Boy-Friends

“Twice Told Tales” or “Mars and Stars”
Another  "double-header" review by Emsley Wyatt

“Lana Lang's Romance On Mars”
Adventure Comics #195 (December 1953)
Writer: uncredited
Artist: Curt Swan & Stan Kaye
Cover: Win Mortimer

"Lana Lang and the Legion of Super-Heroes” 
Adventure Comics #282 (March 1961)
Writer: Otto Binder
Artist: George Papp
Cover: Swan & Kaye


I’ve done a couple of these “Twice Told Tales”, one involving Mon-El, and one involving Sun Boy.  Well, it had slipped my mind that there was a third such pair of stories, this one involving the initial appearance of yet another Legionnaire, Star Boy.  Thanks to “Anonymous” for reminding me of this fact.  OK, here we go.  First, here are the covers.  As previously, the older story is on the left and the newer on the right.

Tuesday, January 8, 2019

TOS: Adventure Comics #369

Adventure Comics #369 (June 1968)
title: "Mordru the Merciless!"
writer and layouts: Jim Shooter
penciller: Curt Swan
inkers: Curt Swan (page 1) and Jack Abel
letterers: Gaspar Saldino (page 1) and Charlotte Jetter
cover: Neal Adams
reviewer: Jason "Anachronistic Kid" Knol

Mission Monitor Board: 
Duo Damsel, Mon-El, Shadow Lass and Superboy, plus a few flashback cameos.

Opponent:
Mordru the Merciless!








This Neal Adams cover kicks everything off with his trademark sense of action. The powerful hands of the mysterious, magical Mordru burst out through a massive vault door. How often do we see Superboy taken aback with such shock? Mon-El definitively cries "We're dead!" in response to the wizard's hands appearing so suddenly. This immediately feels like it's going to be an action-packed adventure of an issue!

Monday, December 17, 2018

Legion Cameos: Helping Superboy Out


Editor's Note: Here is another installment of what we call "Legion Cameos." These are stories where the Legion or certain Legionnaires play a small but usually significant role in the proceedings. This time Bits Boy looks at a few times his future pals stopped by Smallville to help him out....

As the Legion started to gain popularity after its first appearance in Adventure Comics #247, editor Mort Weisinger cleverly promoted the group by featuring cameos of the team or individual Legionnaires within the Superman family titles that he was in charge of.

So it wouldn't be unusual to see them pop up in Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Superman, Action Comics, Adventure Comics, or World's Finest, usually in one- or two-panel cameos that served little other than to alert unknowing fans of this band of super-powered teens from the future.

But sometimes the Legionnaires who appeared did more than merely guest-star. Often looking back through their time monitors, the Legion would spot either Superboy/Superman, Lois, or Jimmy in a spot of bother, and take it upon themselves to go back in time to lend a helping hand. Like they didn't already know how things would work out, as it would have been history to them!

One of the earliest issues in which a Legionnaire played a big role was Superboy #86 (“The Army of Living Kryptonite Men!”), with Lightning Lad aiding Superboy after he was lured into a trap on an asteroid, fighting a group of Luthor's animated Kryptonite Men. After confronting the electric warrior, Luthor learns of the existence of the Legion of Super-Heroes.

This story has been reprinted many times over the years. It's always included in any set of chronological releases of Legion-related publications, whether it's the form of digests, Showcases, Archives, or Omnibuses. Yet, strangely enough, there have been many other stories in which the Legionnaires played similar roles that have are not reprinted in the same way; some have never been reprinted. We look at four of those today.

Tuesday, September 4, 2018

TOS: Adventure Comics #355

Adventure Comics #355 (April 1967)
title: "The War of the Legions!"
writer and layouts: Jim Shooter
penciller: Curt Swan
inker: George Klein
letterer: Milton Snappin
editor: Mort Weisinger
cover: Curt Swan, George Klein, and Ira Schnapp
reviewer: Mike "Nostalgic Kid" Lane

Mission Monitor Board:
Brainiac 5, Cosmic Man, Element Man, Polar Man, Saturn Woman, Superman

Opponents:
The Legion of Super-Villains - Beauty Blaze, Cosmic King, Echo, Lightning Lord, Saturn Queen,


Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Legion of Super-Heroes (v2) #282

Legion of Super-Heroes (v2) #282 (Dec 1981)
title: "If Answers There Be..."
plotter: Roy Thomas
writer: Paul Levitz
penciller: Jimmy Janes
inker: Bruce Patterson
letterer: Ben Oda
colorist: Gene D'Angelo
editor: Mike W. Barr
cover: Dick Giordano
reviewer: Russell "Bilingual Boy" Burbage

Mission Monitor Board:  
Lightning Lad, Karate Kid, Blok, Dawnstar, Phantom Girl, Superboy, Ultra Boy

Guests: 
Lana Lang as Insect Queen, Reflecto

Opponents: 
The Time Trapper, Dirigible Dictator

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Legion of Super-Heroes (v2) #281

Legion of Super-Heroes (v2) #281 (Nov 1981)
title: "Madness Is The Molecule Master"
plotter: Roy Thomas
writer: Paul Levitz
penciller: Steve Ditko
inker: Bruce Patterson
letterer: Ben Oda
colorist: Gene D'Angelo
editor: Mike W. Barr
cover: George Perez/Bruce Patterson
reviewer: Russell "Bilingual Boy" Burbage

Mission Monitor Board:  
Superboy/Ultra Boy, Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Phantom Girl, Karate Kid, Dawnstar, Blok

Guests: 
Lana Lang

Opponents: 
Time Trapper, Molecule Master

Monday, December 12, 2016

How the Legion Ruined Superboy's Love Life

Poor Lana Lang. By the time I started reading Superboy comics, and by that time they were synonymous with Legion comics, Lana was a thing of the past, appearing more in reprints of old comics than new stories. Some Superboy readers might even have said, "Who's Lana Lang?" And it could be the Legion's fault. Come with me now and learn how the Legion ruined Superboy's love life.

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Who's Who: Insect Queen

Insect Queen
by Russell & Siskoid


Real Name: Lana Lang
Super-Power(s): Using her biogenetic ring, Lana is able to alter her physiology into any insect form she knows, gaining the powers of that insect
Planet of Origin: Earth
Relationship to Legion: Honorary member

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Superboy starring The Legion #205

Superboy starring the Legion of Super-Heroes #205 (Dec, 1974)
A Review by Russell "Bilingual Boy" Burbage
title: "The Legion of Super-Executioners!"
writer: Cary Bates
artist: Mike Grell
editor: Murray Boltinoff
cover: Nick Cardy

Mission Monitor Board:  
Superboy, Ultra Boy, Mon-El, Shrinking Violet, Wildfire, Karate Kid, Brainiac 5, Shadow Lass; Lana Lang as Insect Queen; cameos by Chameleon Boy and Phantom Girl

Opponents: 
"possessed" Ultra Boy, "The Master"

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Superboy starring The Legion #198

Superboy & Legion of Super-Heroes #198 (Oct 1973)
review by Russell "Bilingual Boy" Burbage
title: "The Fatal Five Who Twisted Time!"
writer: Cary Bates
penciller: Dave Cockrum
colorist: Ben Oda
editor: Murray Boltinoff
cover: Nick Cardy

Mission Monitor Board:  
Superboy, Brainiac 5, Element Lad, Princess Projectra, Karate Kid, Mon-El, Colossal Boy, Chameleon Boy; cameos by Cosmic Boy, Shrinking Violet, Chemical King

Opponents: 
The Fatal Five! (Emerald Empress, Persuader, Tharok, Validus, Mano)
  

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Superboy starring The Legion #197

Superboy starring The Legion of Super-Heroes #197 (September 1973)
A review by Russell "Bilingual Boy" Burbage
title: "Timber Wolf: Dead Hero, Live Executioner!"
writer: Cary Bates
artist: Dave Cockrum
letterer: Ben Oda
editor: Murray Boltinoff
cover: Nick Cardy and Dave Cockrum

Mission Monitor Board:  
Superboy, Timber Wolf, Mon-El, Lightning Lad, Brainiac 5, Saturn Girl; cameos by Ultra Boy, Duo Damsel, Shrinking Violet, Bouncing Boy, Chameleon Boy, Chemical King, Matter-Eater Lad, Cosmic Boy, Phantom Girl, Sun Boy, and Karate Kid

Opponents: 
Tyr