Legion Cameos: Adventure Comics #205

Adventure Comics #205 (October 1954)
“The Journey of the Second Superboy”
Writer: Bill Finger
Penciller: Curt Swan
Inker: Sy Barry
Editor: Mort Weisinger
Cover: Curt Swan & Sy Barry
Reviewer: Emsley "Ultra Fan" Wyatt

Guests: Ma and Pa Kent, Kral from Titan

Opponent(s): Kral from Titan?

Editor's Note: Here is another installment of the series of reviews we call "Legion Cameos." These are stories were the Legion or certain Legionnaires play a small but usually significant role in the proceedings. This time out we're going waaay back to before the Legion was even created. Read on!

As everyone here knows (or at least should) the first Legion story “The Legion of Super Heroes” appeared in Adventure Comics #247 published in April 1958.  So why am I reviewing a story published almost four years earlier?  Well, I kind of think of this story as, to steal a word coined by Isaac Asimov, the “Zeroth” Legion story.  You’ll see why as the story develops.

First, the cover:
So the Kents find another space rocket with another boy inside.  Wow, what a coincidence!

The first page is a full page “splash panel” showing Superboy and the boy from the cover flying through the sky.  Also, there’s some dialog that echoes the “Look. Up in the sky” opening narration of the 50’s Superman television series.  There’s also a narrative box cleverly disguised as a billboard on the roof of a building.  “Is SUPERBOY the only youngster who can fly?  Is he the only one on Earth with super-powers?  The answer—NO.  For out of trackless space comes a rocket, bearing another youngster with amazing powers—a youngster who combines his powers with SUPERBOY’S and helps him battle crime!  How did this all come about?  Read…The JOURNEY of the SECOND SUPERBOY!”

Legion Cameos: Superman #165

SUPERMAN #165 

(Nov. 1963) “Beauty and the Super-Beast”

Writer: Robert Bernstein

Penciller: Curt Swan
Inker: George Klein

Editor: Mort Weisinger
Cover: Curt Swan & George Klein 

Reviewer: Emsley "Ultra Fan" Wyatt

Guests: Lois Lane, Lana Lang, Perry White, Jimmy Olsen, Krypto

Opponents:  "Circe," Superman Revenge Squad

Editor's Note: Here is another installment of the series of reviews we call "Legion Cameos." These are stories were the Legion or certain Legionnaires play a small but usually significant role in the proceedings. This time out we're looking at the infamous "Lion-Head Superman" story. Did you know the Legion was involved in this adventure? 

First, the cover: 

Superman magically changed into a lion.  Pretty cool, eh?  And then you get the “splash” page where Circe is making Superman juggle balls while flying upside-down. What's not to like? 

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.

Legion Cameos: Superman #213

Superman #213 (January 1969)
title: "The Most Dangerous Door in the World!"

writer: Cary Bates

penciller: Curt Swan
inker: Jack Abel

editor: Mort Weisinger

cover: Carmine Infantino & Neal Adams 

guest reviewer: Emsley "Ultra Fan" Wyatt

Guests: 
Supergirl, Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, and.....??

Opponents: 
Lex Luthor and his generic henchmen, and....????

Editor's Note: Here is a second 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 out we have Legion of Substitute Blogger Ultra Fan telling us about a certain Superman vs. Lex Luthor story from 1968. Take it away, Emsley...!

First the cover (inks by Neal Adams).  A seemingly dead Superman lies in front of a vault to be opened only “in the event of my death.”  Shut up and take my twelve cents.  I thought that this was a great cover.

But I didn’t care for the title.  Maybe “The Mystery of Superman’s Vault” would have been better.  But unlike Al Capone’s vault, later made famous by Geraldo Rivera and containing only some old bottles, this vault promises a treasure of incalculable value.

Legion Cameos #1: Silver Age Superman

Welcome to a new series of posts that is going to focus on cameo appearances by the Legion: those stories in which they appear but for only for a page or two, or perhaps even only a panel or two. Roles that are notable but not significant enough to devote an entire post.

These will not necessarily be in chronological order, although each post will likely focus on a particular era or theme. There is no limit to how far afield the issues discussed may be from regular Legion continuity so long as a Legionnaire, or perhaps just a traditional Legion villain, makes an appearance. This one is for those completists out there who may enjoy knowing about every Legion appearance, no matter how small. So a big welcome from Mike "Nostalgic Kid" Lane, and let's get this one started with some Silver Age Superman fun!