title: "The Legion's Space Odyssey!"
writer and layouts: Jim Shooter
penciller: Win Mortimer
inker: Win Mortimer
letterer: Milt Snapinn
editor: Mort Weisinger
cover: Curt Swan & Mike Esposito
reviewer: Russell "Bilingual Boy" Burbage
Mission Monitor Board:
Bouncing Boy, Cosmic Boy, Dream Girl, Duo Damsel, Invisible Kid, Light Lass, Mon-El, Sun Boy, Superboy, Ultra Boy
Opponent:
convoluted plots, Dream Girl's badly interpreted dream, two would-be assassins
Every time Dream Girl calls on a private line and a Legionnaire lies, an angel loses its wings.
I reprinted this explosion panel because, believe it or not, it's the best piece of art in this story.
Two things from this page: 1) I don't like it when the artists can't be bothered to draw all of the characters in the story: Light Lass isn't in panel one, and Cosmic Boy isn't in panel five; and 2) a monster with Kryptonite teeth? How is that even possible!?!?
The Legion builds a grave marker for Superboy. Ultra Boy and Invisible Kid talk to make an escape plan while the others create a shelter out of large rocks.
SO....the editor thought it was a better idea to show Duo Damsel and Bouncing Boy's shocked faces than a monster somehow swallowing (?) Superboy? And then in the very next panel, Superboy's indestructible cape has somehow been torn? Oh, yeah, because of Kryptonite teeth. Sorry, I forgot. But what's that other thing in his mouth in panel 2? And....I find it hard to believe that Ultra Boy and the others just let the monster walk off.
This is the best scene in the story: Duo Damsel and Bouncing Boy acting as they would if they really existed as Legionnaires. All of us have felt this way when around nicer looking or more out-going friends. Jim Shooter really nails the dialogue here, although this is the second story in a row where Duo Damsel questions her abilities. Seems like she would have had self-confidence by this point....?
The next morning Bouncing Boy bounces around the asteroid to find iron, copper, and other necessary metals.
I like how Bouncing Boy does a good job here. I'm not a fan of him being drawn like an overweight Sumo wrestler, though.
This is my favorite page, because it shows just how cool the Legionnaires' powers are when working together. I do kinda think that Duo Damsel's bit is shoe-horned in, but it parallels nicely to her previous bout of self-doubt, so, I guess, never mind.
By this point I was sure there was some specific reason that the Legionnaires had been stranded, and I was relatively sure that Superboy had something to do with it. I just wish the "odyssey" that they were facing was more interesting.
Bouncing Boy tries to bring her back, but the storm gets worse and Ultra Boy can't go after them. As the storm and violent waves threaten Duo Damsel and Bouncing Boy, a whirlpool forms around their small island, keeping them safe.
Although I liked the initial scenes with Duo Damsel and Bouncing Boy, this scene just makes them look like idiots: her for thinking she saw Superboy (she did, but why?) and him for chasing after her.
And of course....the idea that Ultra Boy and the others couldn't go after them!?!? The Legion, defeated by a storm. Wonderful.
Sure, they break the dimensional barrier and....HUH!?! Appear on a parallel world!? Is this going to be the Earth-2 Legion!? Now THAT would have been a great conclusion!!
I love how nonchalant Superboy is, "a little hoax to save your necks." Super-Dickery at its finest.
I have no words to describe how stupid this whole page is. If they had used Saturn Girl and Princess Projectra to keep the others occupied, it would have been SO MUCH BETTER.
I can't believe I'm about to say this, but....for the second page in a row, I can't believe how stupid this is. We learn ZERO about who or what these characters were, and then they kill themselves. What a conclusion.
As you probably know, this was the last issue of Adventure Comics that featured the Legion. With the level of stories that have been featured in the last six issues, I'm not surprised that they were moved out. I AM surprised that the level of quality went down so drastically SO quickly, though. This is probably one of the worst Legion stories I've ever read; definitely one of the worst of the Adventure run. The plot of trying to outwit Dream Girl's prophecies has been done before (like in her debut appearance!) and done much better. Why Superboy couldn't just level with his friends and send them to, say, Rimbor for a few days, is just plain stupid. It's a damn shame that the Legion had to go out on such a sour note.
I have read that Jim Shooter based this story on Homer's The Odyssey. I haven't read that tale, but I did do a quick investigation of it. I don't really see the resemblances. Anybody out there want to educate us as to the similarities?
And lastly, on the letters' page, we found the following announcement:
Although we will continue to review the Legion series as they move over to Action Comics, we are going to take a two-week rest. So join us here next week as the Legion of Super-Bloggers get together to toast the Adventure Comics run with the first of two commemorative posts.
Science Police Notes:
- Dream Girl appears in only one panel of this story. Mon-El appears in only a few, but has no words of dialogue.
- This was the last Silver Age adventure of The Legion of Super-Pets. Although they make a cameo appearance in Action Comics #387, they do not participate in that adventure.
- Homer wrote The Odyssey, the tale of Odysseus' efforts to return to his homeland, Ithaca, sometime in the 8th Century BC.
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (the film and the book) made their respective debuts in 1968.
This issue has been reprinted in The Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol 9 and Showcase Presents: The Legion Vol. 4.
Milestone: This was the last issue of Adventure Comics to feature the Legion as head-liners.
These last few issues have been much worse than I remember, but nowhere near as bad in quality as the Action stories after this were.
ReplyDeleteThe entire Action run was already covered on this site several years ago. I'm surprised that you are doing them again.
The Action backups have NOT been reviewed here yet. We skipped right to the Superboy backups. And some of those were pretty awful, too.
DeleteSome last stray thoughts:
ReplyDelete* This is the first time, but not the last, that a group of stranded Legionnaires include Ultra Boy as the resident powerhouse. This is to take advantage of Jo's singular weakness of only being able to use one power at a time. If Superboy or Mon-El were there, he'd solve the whole problem in maybe one page. With Jo, you have a multi-powered character without the obvious advantages.
* I liked the idea of Bouncing Boy being the Legion's self-appointed morale officer. Some of his comments here, however, make him look like a horse's ass, which I'm not sure is in the job description.
* One of Clifton Watkins' predictions did come true, sort of. Shadow Lass did marry Mon-El towards the end of the Legion's Baxter run (I'm open to correction about the Baxter part) in a traditional Talokian ritual, which involved the loss of part of a finger. Yeesh.
And one last random thought, for which I'll borrow from a Bronze Age Superman story:
"Aye, flustercuckery have these post-Swan Legion stories have ever been, and flustercuckery will they ever remain in the annals of the Legion of Super-Bloggers."
Peace out from Anon to the original Adventure Comics Legion sotries. I look forward to the Action Comics posts. Until next week.
All good things must come to an end and all that. Still, despite the shortcoming of this story, there were some good moments. Superboy's massive hoax on his fellow members, although intended to save their lives, kind of makes up for his initial treatment at their hands, eh? Was this the beginning of the Chuck/Luornu romance foreshadowed in the "adult Legion story?
ReplyDeleteThe "Silver Age" is generally regarded as beginning in 10-56 with Showcase Issue 4's reboot of the Flash. The Legion premiered in April 58's Adventure 247. Do people regard this issue as the end of the end of the Legion's silver age? The Adventure Comics run certainly represented their pinnacle, but the Action (and later Superboy) back-up stories certainly didn't allow for the sweeping story lines that you could get from, say, a two parter in a 24 page book but they did provide some great character moments and kept the flame alive. Or does the Legion's Silver age end with Superboy 195. (The introduction of Wildfire or, as he was known initially, ERG-1.)
Has this blog ever commented on the Adventure 205 (10-54)story "Journey of the Second Superboy"? I kind of regard this story as Legion Zero, as it established a race of humanoid telepaths on Titan (although the story does misidentify Titan as a moon of Jupiter, not Saturn.)
The Bronze Age of Comics (I'm still not sure that should be a thing, but it's now established) is thought to begin c. 1970, so a case could be made that the Action Comics stories are the last of the Silver Age, and the Superboy back-up tales mark the transition to the Bonze, particularly with the arrival of Dave Cockrum.
DeleteI agree, Emsley, that 8-page back-up stories don't normally allow for grand multi-part stories, especially given that at the time, readers weren't encouraged to follow a multi-part arc closely (that came with the advent of comic book specialty shops). I've seen it done in later years in other books before the original Crisis, but those were more action-oriented (no pun intended).
Yes, this was the start of the Chuck/Luornu relationship, which an upcoming Action story will focus on.
Yeah, it was a pretty short gap between the Superboy backups and the Legion becoming the "main" feature in that mag, it did seem like the start of a new thing, especially with Timber Wolf's "new look".
Delete