The Legion of Super-Heroes | Origin | Early Legion Stories | The Regular Legion Series in Adventure | The Substitute Heroes | The Super-Heroes of Lallor - and other New Heroes | Proty II | Villains Attack the Legion | Later Legion Stories Written by Jerry Siegel | Later Legion Stories Written by Edmond Hamilton
Adventure
These best stories of the comic books are preceded by their issue number. They were edited by Mort Weisinger.
The above list only contains recommended stories about The Legion of Super-Heroes. For Superboy tales in Adventure, see the article on Superboy.
The first 37 Legion stories have been reprinted in an inexpensive paperback, Showcase Presents: Legion of Super-Heroes, Volume 1. Highly Recommended.
The Legion of Super-Heroes were an organization of super-powered young people of the future. Superboy was a member, and regularly traveled to the future to work with the Legion. During the Silver Age, the Legion stories mainly appeared in Adventure Comics. At first they were only an occasional feature, but they became a regular series with #300 (September 1962). Most of these post-1962 series stories were written by either Jerry Siegel or Edmond Hamilton. They served as script writers through issue #345 (June 1966), after which Jim Shooter and other writers took over.
The Legion of Super-Heroes (1958). Writer: Otto Binder. Art: Al Plastino. Based on a cover by Curt Swan. This is the story in which the Legion first appeared. It shows the full ingenuity in which the Superman family stories specialized, at a very early date. It can be viewed as the inaugural work of the great Superman family of comics, 1958 - 1965.
The story takes us to the future, to the 30th Century. It shows an idealized future world, full of progress, mighty cities, and adventure. Just as the Krypton stories showed a Utopian planet, so does this tale show a Utopian future. It is an image of hope. Such images have a powerful effect on readers, encouraging them to move forward to such a society; one wishes that there were more such images available to readers today!
The story shows some interesting time travel effects. We see what today's present will look like from the point of view of history. This gives an interesting perspective, and one that encourages thought about our own personal lives. The Superman family often showed genuine transformation in its characters' lives. Things do not remain static: new events happen that fundamentally develop the characters' worlds.
In this story Superboy attempts to join the Legion, undergoing a series of trials to demonstrate his skill. This theme of initiation will be very common in subsequent Legion stories. Tale after tale will have a common pattern: a new character will be introduced, with a new super power. This character will attempt to join the Legion, and undergo initiation tests posed by Legion members. There are three tests, following the typical Superman family story construction pattern of three related challenges met by the hero. This first story also has elements of mystery woven into the plot, with a surprise twist at the ending; such elements of mystery will also be present in most of the initiation stories. The story also opens with some twists on Superboy's secret identity; a look at the new character's secret identity will also be a recurring strand in the tales.
The above pattern gives a rich blueprint for constructing a story. It combines super hero plotting, dramatic conflict between the inductee and the existing Legion members, suspense and mystery. So one can see why the writers returned to it a lot. It also allows for a very thorough focus on the super powers of the new character, which get intensively spot lighted and investigated in the course of the story. However, there are also personal elements involved in this recurrence. One feels that initiation into a group was something the writers felt intensively, at an emotional level. Superboy's feelings here seem related to the friendship stories, and his desire to find friends with whom he can share his life. I think the friendship stories are at a higher level, however. Membership in a group can be a good thing, but it can also come at a very high price. Friendship is a noble thing, involving a selfless bond between two people. Membership in a group often implies conformity, and exclusion of others, often in a sinister fashion. Consciousness of this eventually came to the writers; "The Legion of Substitute Heroes" (1963) is a tale about some would be members who are rejected from joining the Legion, and how they rise above this and form an idealistic response. It is a powerful tale.
One can see formal similarities between this first Legion story, and some non-Legion tales of the same era. Binder's "Lois Lane in Hollywood" (Lois Lane #2, May-June 1958) has a very similar kind of plot, in which Lois tries to join the cast of a movie. It too has elements of mystery.
"The Legion of Super-Heroes" can also be viewed as a harbinger of a renewed interest in super hero comics. This first Legion story has three new heroes, although they and the Legion would not become continuing characters for some years. Super heroes had almost disappeared in the early 1950's. But two years before, in 1956, the Flash would be revived, first in Showcase, then his own magazine; he would be the first new super-hero of the Silver Age to get his own comic book.
This tale is the origin of Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy and Lightning Lad. Despite his early appearance here, in later stories Cosmic Boy will eventually become just another Legionnaire. By contrast, Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad will play key roles throughout the Legion saga to come. Saturn Girl will lead the Legion, and often be the catalyst of the action in various stories, being one of the brainiest members of the Legion. Lightning Lad will have the richest personal life, with dramatic story lines about his death, resurrection and wounding. His saga will be similar to that of a medieval knight, and his personal adventures will have symbolic resonances to the readers, showing them key events in human life.
Curt Swan's cover was presumably created before Binder became involved with the story. It shows Superboy trying to join a group of young super-heroes. The cover painting does not actually indicate the powers of the heroes, the nature of their organization, or the future time period where they live: all details that will emerge in Binder's script. Swan's cover also establishes the visual appearance and costumes of Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy and Lightning Lad, key members of the Legion. Later Swan covers will introduce Ultra Boy, Mon-El and Star Boy, as well as the Legion of Super-Villains, so many of the Legion members are Swan creations, visually speaking. Many of Swan's costumes have the feel of military uniforms, especially fancy officer's costumes of turn of the century Europe. Swan's costumes often involve small-to-medium-sized circles worn by the men on their chests, such as Mon-El's cape discs, and the unusual circles arranged in a V on Cosmic Boy's uniform. These circles remind one of Swan's curvilinear, biomorphic spaceships, and the unusual discs worn on Brainiac's head. Cosmic Boy's costume is especially unusual. It looks like little else in the world of costumed heroes. It is splendid and dramatic, and utterly different. Its color scheme is also unique: he is virtually the only male hero in comics to wear pink. Both the circles and the color pink tend to be female symbols, but here they are being worn by a male hero. The circles on him also suggest high tech forces: after all, he has magnetic super-powers. The Swan-Binder heroes tend to be involved in the world of physics: Cosmic Boy's magnetism. Lightning Lad's electricity, Star Boy's stellar-based gravity powers. These are fundamental forces of nature.
Cosmic Boy's and Mon-El's jet-black hair also makes each of them a sort of double for Superboy. In DC comics, black hair is strongly associated with their number one hero, Superman. Few other male super-hero characters consistently have black hair, although Matter-Eater Lad will eventually be black haired as well.
The other artist who created many Legion members visually is Jim Mooney, in two Supergirl tales in Action Comics, described below: "The Three Super-Heroes" (Action #267, August 1960) and "Supergirl's Three Super Girl-Friends" (Action #276, May 1961). Nine Legion members first appeared in these two Mooney tales. A few other Legionnaires would show up later, in stories with art by John Forte: Element Lad, Matter-Eater Lad, Light Lass, the Lone Wolf and Proty, as well as such parallel groups as the Legion of Substitute Heroes (#306, March 1963), and the Super-Heroes of Lallor, in "The Legion of Super-Outlaws" (#324, September 1964) and "Hunters of the Super-Beasts" (#339, December 1965).
Binder had previously written one shot, non-series stories about hero organizations for the sf comic book Strange Adventures. His "The Watchdogs of the Universe" (Strange Adventures #62, November 1955) describes an Earthman who joins a galaxy wide group responsible for protecting people during emergencies. And "World at the Edge of the Universe" (Strange Adventures #60, September 1955) is about a young Earthman trying to join an elite inter-planetary organization, one in which he feels as inadequate as Superboy does here.
Before Binder, John Broome had created "The Guardians of the Clockwork Universe" (Strange Adventures #22, July 1952). These were wise, remote aliens who watched over the universe. Unlike the Legion, and other Binder groups, one could not join Broome's organization. Instead, the Guardians would select champions to carry out their missions on various planets. In Broome's original story, his hero Captain Comet was such a champion. Later, Broome would revive the concept, making Green Lantern a similar champion of theirs.
The Army of Living Kryptonite Men (Superboy #86, January 1961). Writer: Jerry Siegel. Art: George Papp. Based on a cover by Curt Swan. Luthor creates giant Kryptonite figures to attack Superboy.
This tale marks the debut of souvenir statuettes of the Legion members. They are eventually owned by both Superboy and Supergirl, and occasionally find their way into the 30th Century future as well: see Curt Swan's cover for "The Weddings That Wrecked the Legion" (#337, October 1965). Among other things, they are a clever comic book narrative device. If Superboy talks about Chameleon Boy, for example, the reader will see a statuette of Chameleon Boy on the shelf. Even if Chameleon Boy is off-stage, the reader will have a good visual image of what he looks like. They form a sort of visual signal or reminder of the Legionnaire's identity. They remind one a little bit of Alfred Hitchcock's cameo appearances in his movies. A somewhat similar function is served by the life size statues of Superman's friends and foes in his Fortress of Solitude. They too allow a visual reference to a character who is not physically present.
The statuettes in this tale are also a visual echo of the gigantic Kryptonite figures made by Lex Luthor. The statuettes are small, and statues of good people, while the Kryptonite men are large, and statues of menace.
Lana Lang and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1961). Writer: Otto Binder. Art: George Papp. Based on a cover by Curt Swan. Despite its title, Lana meets only one member of the Legion here, Star Boy. The tale seems to be his origin. The story has much in common with the "Mystery of Mighty Boy" (1960), which recently appeared in Superboy; both stories were in fact written by Otto Binder, with art by George Papp. Both deal with super-powered lads who serve as Superboy-like heroes on their home planets, which we visit, and both live under secret identities there with their parents. However, this story is not a friendship tale, like "Mighty Boy". Instead, it focuses comically on jealousies and mistaken relationships between Lana, Star Boy and other characters. The tone at time comes close to French farce, with misunderstandings, deceptions and comic plot twists. It is a quite entertaining work that shows good craftsmanship in its plot and setting. It is perhaps not very respectful of Lana, and this gives a sad tinge to what is otherwise a well done tale. The architecture on Star Boy's home planet, Xanthu, is shown in one panel. It is a cross between the futuristic Art Deco used in many advanced societies in the Superman world (and in The Flash), and a fairy tale look and flavor.
As is pointed out in "DarkMark's Comics Indexing Domain", this tale's plot is also related to "Lana Lang's Romance on Mars" (Adventure #195, December 1953), the third and last of three early stories in which Superboy meets Marsboy, super-hero of the planet Mars.
Curt Swan's cover contains the comic roundelay of the story, with its tangle of romances and jealousies. He also depicts Star Boy in his costume, at least from a side view.
Star Boy bears some distinct resemblances to a Golden Age super-hero, Starman. Both heroes wear a large five-pointed star symbol on the chest of their costume. Both heroes' powers are related to gravity. Star Boy can make any object super-heavy, by transferring mass from the stars to them. Starman's powers also derive from the stars, and center on his control of gravity. However, Starman can do a wider range of things with gravity than Star Boy, who seems restricted to super- heaviness. Starman also uses a machine he invented, a "gravity rod", to do his feats, while Star Boy and all the other Legion heroes have biologically rooted powers, like Superman himself. Other differences: Starman is an adult and a 20th Century Earthman, while Star Boy is a teenager from another planet in the 30th Century. The personalities, background stories, etc., of the two heroes also seem completely distinct.
DC owns the rights to Starman, and have made an updated version of him one of their main heroes of the 1990's and beyond. But they did little with him during the Silver Age. He appeared in two revival stories written by his Golden Age scribe Gardner Fox, "Mastermind of Menaces" (The Brave and the Bold #61, August-September 1965) and "The Big Super-Hero Hunt" (The Brave and the Bold #62, October-November 1965), but these did not lead to a Silver Age series. Fox also gave him a role in "Crisis on Earth-Three" (Justice League of America #29, August 1964) and its sequel "The Most Dangerous Earth of All" (Justice League of America #30, September 1964).
Supergirl's Three Super Girl-Friends (Action #276, May 1961). Writer: Jerry Siegel. Art: Jim Mooney. Supergirl goes to the future, and tries for the second time to join the Legion of Super-Heroes. This story is a sequel to Supergirl's first attempt to join the Legion, Siegel's "The Three Super-Heroes" (Action #267, August 1960), a work which is less interesting than this most creative one. Both of these tales are by Siegel. Both are modeled after Binder's original Legion tale, "The Legion of Super-Heroes" (Adventure #247, April 1958). All three of these stories start in modern times, with Superboy or Supergirl meeting three strangers who know all about their secret identity. The protagonist then accompanies these Legionnaires to the future, where he or she tries to join the Legion. The titles of both Siegel stories, "The Three Super-Heroes" and "Supergirl's Three Super Girl-Friends", refer directly to these early scenes. I've always loved the literal, straightforward directness of the story titles in the Superman saga. The concentrate directly on informing you what is going on inside the tale. They are much like titles of articles in scientific journals, which also try to make the article's subject clear and explicit. Their logic has a poetry all its own. It is a matter of fact evocation of the wonders of a made up mythos.
Siegel's first Supergirl-Legion story lacks invention, but this second tale is much more inventive. It is the origin of Brainiac 5. It also shows the end of Brainiac, in flashback. Both of these are major storytelling extensions to the Superman mythos. This is one of the happiest of all Legion tales. This tale also serves as a sequel to Siegel's "Supergirl's First Romance" (Action #269, October 1960), with Jerro and Atlantis returning.
Binder created the Legion, but Siegel was the main writer who continued the stories, and developed the Legion into a series. He created more members of the Legion than anyone else in the Silver Age. In addition to Brainiac 5, this story is also the origin of Bouncing Boy, Phantom Girl, Shrinking Violet, Sun Boy and Triplicate Girl. Three of these are the main female members of the legion, in addition to Saturn Girl and Light Lass. Siegel's earlier "The Three Super-Heroes" was the origin of Chameleon Boy, Colossal Boy and Invisible Kid. These two stories are the origin of 9 of the core twenty members of the Legion; Siegel would go on to create Ultra Boy and Matter Eater Lad. So 11 of the 20 main members are Siegel creations. (I am excluding form the count here such 20th Century members as Superboy, Supergirl, Jimmy Olsen, Pete Ross and Lana Lang). There is little in these two tales that suggests they are the origins of the characters, except for Brainiac 5. Siegel just presents the new characters casually, as if they had "always" been there. It was only long after I had read these tales that I realized that these were the first appearances of the characters.
Jim Mooney created the visual appearance and costumes of the 9 Legionnaires who debuted in "The Three Super-Heroes" and "Supergirl's Three Super Girl-Friends". Neither tale was a cover story; Siegel and Mooney were the entire creators of these tales.
Mooney had a gift for creating space ships. Here he uses this same design talent on the Legion space car used in the parade. It looks rather like a sled, with a complex curving front, and two jets serving as "runners" below.
The Legion of Super-Villains (Superman #147, August 1961). Writer: Jerry Siegel. Art: Curt Swan. Based on a cover by Curt Swan. Superman encounters three super-powered criminals from the future, each of whom parallels some member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Siegel often built his stories as sequels to those of Otto Binder. This tale echoes Binder's original Legion tale "The Legion of Super-Heroes" (1958). In that tale Superboy met Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl; here Superman meets the grown-up criminals Cosmic King, Lightning Lord and Saturn Queen. The two stories have parallel covers as well, as was pointed out in the web site The Silver Lantern: A Tribute to DC Comics. Both covers probably preceded the stories. Both covers are by Curt Swan.
This story shows how Lightning Lad got his powers, years after his first appearance in Binder's "The Legion of Super-Heroes" (1958).
At the end of Siegel's "The Army of Living Kryptonite Men" (Superboy #86, January 1961), Luthor has been defeated by a member of the Legion. He sees a glimmer of hope, and reasons that if there is a Legion of Super-Heroes, there must be a Legion of Super-Villains, as well. This story fulfills that promise: here Siegel has Luthor summon that future group to the present. In some ways, the current tale is a sequel to the earlier work; Siegel loved to write sequels. Siegel wrote several tales in which Legion members come from the future into the present. He was much more likely to do this than were other Superman family writers. He is responsible for the tales in which Pete Ross and Jimmy Olsen become honorary members of the Legion, for example.
This tale is the first in which we see grown up members of the Legion: Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl all appear in their grown-up form, to fight their villainous counterparts. This appearance parallels the Imaginary tales which Siegel wrote, which often focused on the future lives of the Superman family. Here Siegel uses the paradoxes of time travel, not the Imaginary story, to introduce the grown up Legionnaires.
The tale shows some other bits of recurring Siegel imagery. There is a bad guy who reforms. Such reformations are common in Siegel's stories. Sometimes they are genuine, on other occasions, clever hoaxes designed to pull off crooked schemes. Siegel often wrote about powerful villainous characters who turn out to be very different from what they seem. In some ways, reformed bad guys play a similar role in his tales. Whether a bad guy simply turns good at the end of a tale, or is revealed as a very different person from his first glimpse, we have the spectacle of a "bad" character turning "good".
This story also recalls Siegel's "Lana Lang, Superwoman" (Lois Lane #17, May 1960) in that it involves Superman giving his word that he will not personally interfere in a villain's threat against a woman character; yet he finds a way to defeat this evil scheme. Superman's word was important to him, and Siegel some times made plot gambits out of this approach. One also recalls the scene in "The Secret of the Mystery Legionnaire" where the Legion candidate tries to clear out the monsters from a planet despite his vow that he will never take life. All of these general vows and specific promises are obstacles in the way of a hero completing some task.
Siegel liked rocks. We recall the Green K boulders that come to life in "Kryptonite Men", and the rings of Saturn here. Both of these stories involve groups of rocks in motion. One also recalls the meteor in "The Bizarro-Legion", and the giant Mount Rushmore style statues in "The Battle Between Super-Lois and Super-Lana".
Secret of the Seventh Super-Hero (1961). Writer: Robert Bernstein. Art: George Papp. Based on a cover by Curt Swan. This story has two interacting plots: Sun Boy goes back in time to Smallville to ask Superboy's help; a reform school youth who is Clark Kent's double assumes his place in Smallville.
Just as Pete Ross is a non-super-powered character who will impersonate Superboy in Bernstein's series, here we have a non-super-powered youth who impersonates Clark Kent. The themes of doubles and impersonation often pop up in Bernstein's stories. So does the two part construction of this tale, with the different story elements intermixing to form a diverse plot.
The story gains pathos from the tough kid's desire for a home. He has always pooh poohed such things, but when he experiences the Kents' home, he develops a strong craving for such an environment. He also discovers the joy of learning and school. This is one of the most interesting scenes in the story. It reflects the deep love of learning always found in the Silver Age. It perhaps also reflects the real life refuge and opportunities many comic book creators probably found in school in the depths of the Depression.
During December 1961 to October 1962, the Legionnaires made a huge number of guest appearances in the Superman family of comic books. Typically, this involved one or more Legionnaires visiting the 20th Century, and helping out Superboy or Supergirl with some mission. Also popular: villains from that same era returning to our time, villains that often had powers identical to those of certain Legionnaires. These stories rarely extended the mythos of the Legion in any way; instead they relied on the familiar powers of the Legionnaires as they had already been set forth. These stories did help keep the Legion on readers' minds. After the Legion got its own regular series in Adventure in #300 (September 1962), such visits became both less necessary and less frequent. Many of these Legion guest appearances are in stories scripted by Jerry Siegel. Siegel was always a determined builder of the Superman mythos.
The Legion of Super-Traitors (1962). Writer: Jerry Siegel. Art: Curt Swan. Based on a cover by Curt Swan. The origin of the Legion of Super-Pets. When the human Legionnaires are incapacitated by villains, Saturn Girl gets the idea of forming the Legion of Super Pets, an association of Krypto the super-dog, Streaky the super-cat, Beppo the super-monkey, and Comet the super-horse. Delightful story that takes full advantage of its creative opportunities. Like other Siegel tales involving Krypto and Streaky, such as "The Battle of the Super-Pets" (Action #277, June 1961), the personalities of the various super-animals come over at full blast. They are humorous, sympathetic, and also the enablers of little bits of colorful business. The dialogue shows Siegel's flair for both comedy and sarcasm. Siegel also has a precise idea where each pet fits into the unfolding Superman mythos, and uses this to construct pleasant story events. Siegel had a deep belief in, and enthusiasm for, the Superman mythos. His feel here shows up in the care in which he handles every aspect of the mythos in this story.
This is the first appearance of Comet. Siegel describes him as the future pet of Supergirl, someone who has not yet been introduced into the Superman mythos. Weisinger would not cheat with this - Comet would be duly introduced as Supergirl's pet in Leo Dorfman's "The Super-Steed of Steel" (Action #292, September 1962). Such a "preview" of a fact not yet included in the mythos is made possible by time travel: Comet has traveled from an era when he is established in the mythos. Siegel would used time travel for another preview four months later in "Superman's Super-Courtship" (Action #289, June 1962), when he looked forward to a period when Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl were adults and married. These previews are very unusual, considered as storytelling devices. They are only possible in works which 1) contain a mythos; and 2) employ time travel. Siegel also did something unusual with the mythos in "The Unwanted Superbaby" (Adventure #299, August 1962). In that tale, Gold Kryptonite appears for the first time in an Imaginary Tale. The story ends with the promise that Gold Kryptonite would soon appear in Superman family stories for real, as a part of the official mythos. Similarly, in "The Bride of Mr. Mxyzptlk" (Action #291, August 1962) he brings Supergirl's parents back to life temporarily through Mr. Mxyzptlk's magic; the story ends by asking readers if they want this to happen permanently and for "real" sometime - which did happen some time later. Both these tales and the preview stories show Siegel introducing new concepts in the mythos, in unusual, formally innovative ways.
Comet's powers were established in this story by Siegel: he was a flying horse who could read minds. Otto Binder's "The Secret of the Flying Horse" (Adventure #230, November 1956) had included a similar telepathic flying horse. In Binder's story, the horse was a visitor from another planet, and he did not become a regular in the mythos. Binder's horse looked different from Comet. Artist Curt Swan established Comet's appearance here as a beautiful white stallion.
Curt Swan does a good job with the images of the Legionnaires in space suits.
Once again Curt Swan's cover shows the trio of Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy and Lighting Lad. These are the same trio he depicted on the original Legion story, "The Legion of Super-Heroes" (1958). Here all three are shown as villainous traitors to the Legion, attacking Superboy. Swan also included this trio's opposite numbers on his cover for "The Legion of Super-Villains" (Superman #147, August 1961). Swan was definitely oriented to playful reversals of his original Legion cover in these tales.
Superman's Super-Courtship (Action #289, June 1962). Writer: Jerry Siegel. Art: Jim Mooney. Supergirl tries to play matchmaker for her cousin Superman.
One episode in this tale has Superman and Supergirl flying ten years beyond the normal era of the Legion, seeing what they look like as adults. Siegel had previously included grown-up members of the Legion in "The Legion of Super-Villains" (Superman #147, August 1961). The big revelation here: Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad are now married. This marriage will cast a special light on all the tales in the Legion saga to come. It is very rare for any on-going story to reveal its destination in this way. Siegel had often written Imaginary tales about future marriages between members of the Superman mythos. Here he uses time travel to depict an actual future marriage between two of his characters. It is a very unusual effect. Siegel would soon be doing equally strange things involving time travel with Mon-El, a character who was born in the 20th Century, but who will spend most of his career in the 30th with the Legion.
Face Behind the Lead Mask (1962). Writer: Jerry Siegel. Art: John Forte. Based on a cover by Curt Swan. When villainous Ulthro causes the Legionnaires to lose control of their powers, Saturn Girl recruits Mon-El's help. The first of the regular Legion tales in Adventure. The story is constructed to provide origins for many of the long term Legion members. The word "origin" is ambiguous. It can either refer the first story in which a character appears, or a tale showing the life history of a character, and how he got his special powers and characteristics. Often this second kind of origin tale appears years after his first appearance, and may be by different writers and artists. Siegel's story here is of this kind. The story retells the origins of Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad and Sun Boy. It also contains the origin and only appearance of the World Wide Police. This police organization would quietly be renamed the Science Police in later tales, and be a continuing part of the Legion saga.
This tale reflects the anthology construction often found in Siegel works: the story is like a brief series of sub-stories, each dealing with the previous history of one of the Legionnaires. Curt Swan's cover also has an anthology style, with different sub-panels used to illustrate various Legion members, with their club house in the center. Such multi-panel covers were frequent on the Annuals and 80 Page Giants that DC put out, but very rare on the covers of regular issues.
The tale also has the great idea of releasing Mon-El temporarily from the Phantom Zone, and making him a Legion member. These Mon-El segments are the best part of the story. Mon-El's fate has always seemed fascinating: trapped for a thousand years in the Phantom Zone, only to be finally released and joining the Legion. This is one of the most imaginative concepts in the Superman mythos.
The Ulthro plot is one of Siegel's sf mystery stories, with their paradigm of some all powerful villain menacing the heroes. Unfortunately, Siegel's surprise solution of the masked villain's identity, a standard component of nearly all his mysteries, is nothing special here, especially when compared to his more brilliant works. No matter. The tale's treatment of Mon-El will always give this story interest. It is interesting that Siegel has Saturn Girl here devising the scientific means of Mon-El's return. In a later tale, Brainiac V will help Mon-El. Already in these tales, Siegel is depicting Saturn Girl and Brainiac V as the Legion's two smartest members. This is a tradition that will last throughout the entire Silver Age.
Robots in this tale are depicted as running based on tapes in their chest. The same idea will recur in later Superman family stories, such as Edmond Hamilton's "The Great Superboy Hoax" (Superboy #106, July 1963).
The Secret Origin of Bouncing Boy (1962). Writer: Jerry Siegel. Art: John Forte. To encourage Legion applicants, Bouncing Boy tells the story of his attempts to join to Legion. This story contains in flashback a complete origin for Bouncing Boy, telling how he obtained his powers. It should not be confused with his first appearance - he had been a Legion regular since Siegel created him in "Supergirl's Three Super Girl-Friends" (Action #276, May 1961). Siegel shows ingenuity throughout in his treatment of Bouncing Boy's powers. This story is in a classic Legion paradigm: the tale of someone attempting to join the Legion. It also extends other parts of the Legion pattern, showing us what typical life for the Legion might be like. Such stories have always seemed enjoyable to me.
This tale is an inspiring story about overcoming rejection, and trying to develop one's talents. It anticipates Edmond Hamilton's similarly themed story, "The Legion of Substitute Heroes" (1963). Perhaps because of this story, Bouncing Boy has always been one of my favorite Legion characters.
Siegel also includes some brief looks at other Legion applicants, a regular feature of the Legion tales. The rich, arrogant Lester Spiffany is humorous fun. Forte's art for the character anticipates his depiction of the handsome lead in "The Secret of the Mystery Legionnaire" (1963).
Siegel looks at some of the possibilities of the use of robots in future society here. These remind one of some of his futuristic android tales, such as "Lois Lane Weds Astounding Man" (Lois Lane #18, July 1960), "The One Minute of Doom" (Superman #150, January 1962) and "Supergirl's Greatest Challenge" (Action #287, April 1962).
The Secret of the Mystery Legionnaire (1963). Writer: Jerry Siegel. Art: John Forte. A cocky young man applies to join the Legion. This is one of the best of all Legion tales. It is discussed in detail in the article on Superboy.
The Secret Power of the Mystery Super-Hero (1963). Writer: Edmond Hamilton. Art: John Forte. This tale is a science fiction mystery. In it, readers, and the Legion, are challenged to guess the hidden super-power used by an Legion applicant to perform the feats we see. This is quite an original idea for a mystery. It has some similarities in approach with a Jimmy Olsen story, "The Jinx of Metropolis" (Jimmy Olsen #36, October 1961), written by Jerry Siegel.
Hamilton introduces elements of space opera here. There are interplanetary raiders, flights to numerous worlds, aliens with unusual properties. Such aspects will be common elements of Hamilton's Legion tales. Hamilton was one of the creators of space opera, in his 1920's Weird Tales stories, so this is a natural type of storytelling for him. His weaves his Legionnaires' powers into such tales in ingenious ways, so the planets they visit and the powers they display get integrated into logical plots. This is some of the first space opera anywhere in the Superman mythos. The outer space stories that regularly if infrequently appeared in the magazines tended to visit single planets. So did the more common tales set on Krypton, the Bizarro World, or Lex Luthor's planet Lexor. Hamilton's Legion tales think nothing of going to three or more planets in a single story, and often have outer space action as well. The stories are often constructed as either hunts for some person or object, or chases across the galaxy.
The Menace of Dream Girl; The Doom of the Legion (#317, February 1964). Writer: Edmond Hamilton. Art: John Forte. Based on a cover by Curt Swan. Dream Girl is a beautiful but sinister new addition to the Legion; her hidden agenda is to use the Legion Constitution to get as many of the Legionnaires expelled as possible. A similar plot was later reused in "The Secret of the Mystery Legionnaire" (#330, March 1965), written by Jerry Siegel. This story is fairly weak, but it has some notable elements. At the end, Lightning Lass' powers are changed, making her Light Lass. Some scenes show the Legion exploring a world ruined by radioactivity. The Legionnaires are wearing decontamination suits, suits that look very similar to those worn by modern day virus hunters. This seems to be one of the earliest depictions of such suits in popular culture. Forte's art is quite glamorous here, with a vivid depiction of the suits.
Curt Swan's cover is terrific, showing several of the Legionnaires reduced to infants. This is in the comic tradition of the Superbaby stories that regularly appeared in Superboy and Adventure. In the 1980's, the Muppet Show will create a series showing its principal cast members as Muppet Babies; it will have a similar heart warming comic appeal. John Forte's interior art is similarly inspired in a scene where the Legion creates a Mount Rushmore style statue of the national hero of an alien planet. Both the aliens and their hero look small and darned cute. Forte will create a similar cute depiction of the Proteans, another small, lovable alien race, five issues later in "The Super-Tests of the Super-Pets" (1964).
The Legion of Substitute Heroes (1963). Writer: Edmond Hamilton. Art: John Forte. A number of rejected applicants to the Legion get together, and decide to form the Legion of Substitute Heroes, a group that will perform good deeds and aid the regular Legion in spite of itself. The Substitute Heroes will go on to be continuing characters in the Legion saga, making regular appearances in later stories.
In addition to "The Valhalla of Super-Champions" (Superboy #101, December 1962) and the regular Legion, a third group of superheroes make up "The Legion of Substitute Heroes", so quite a few different super-hero groups were created around this time. Hamilton shows his skill here with groups who are rejected by the social mainstream, and their idealistic desire to make a positive contribution. This story is quite moving and emotionally involving. It is also inspiring.
One can trace some parallels here between this tale, and Hamilton's earlier "The Origin of the Superman-Batman Team" (World's Finest Comics #94, May-June 1958). This story starts out with the Substitute Heroes rejected in their goal of joining the Legion. Similarly, the earlier story has Superman rejecting Batman as a partner, refusing to allow him to work with Superman as a team. In both cases, this causes emotional suffering to the rejected heroes. The Substitute Heroes then decide to secretly aid the Legion in their deeds, working in such a way that the Legion is unaware of their existence. Similarly, Batman and Robin work to aid Superman without his knowledge in the earlier story.
One can also see parallels between these tales, and Hamilton's later "The Super-Tests of the Super-Pets; The Pet of a Thousand Faces" (1964). In that story, as part of his initiation, Proty II must also work secretly to aid the Legionnaires, without their suspecting he is on the case. Proty II also disguises himself as some of the Legionnaires he is trying to help; Batman adopts a similar disguise in the earlier story.
The similarities between these three Hamilton stories are quite close. They are not only on the level of theme. The basic plot patterns out of which the stories grow are close, and make the similarities structural. As Hamilton weaves his ingenious plot in these tales, he is working with similar kinds of materials, and winds up with similar kinds of ingenious twists and turns.
The War Between the Substitute Heroes and the Legionnaires; The Duel of the Legions (1963). Writer: Edmond Hamilton. Art: John Forte. Based on a cover by Curt Swan.
The Legionnaire's Super-Contest; The Winner of the Super-Tests (1963). Writer: Edmond Hamilton. Art: John Forte. Based on a cover by Curt Swan. The Legion discovers the existence of the Legion of Substitute Heroes, and offers them a contest whose winner will get to join the regular Legion.
This is a classic type of Legion story: that of the initiation test to join the Legion. Such tales go right back to the Legion's origin story, Otto Binder's "The Legion of Super-Heroes" (1958); in fact aspects of Stone Boy's initiation echo that earlier story.
Here there are whole series of initiation tests, five of them, one for each member of the Substitute Heroes. Each is structured as an awesome challenge, giving the Substitute hero a task for which their super-powers seem to be useless. There is an element of sf mystery here: how will the Substitute hero find a way to use their powers to meet the challenge? Hamilton's plots and solutions here are ingenious.
Hamilton retells the origins of the Substitutes here. There is much emphasis on how evolutionary pressures gave rise to the Substitutes' powers. Such an evolutionary perspective is a frequent element of Hamilton's plots.
Hamilton and Forte show idealism in the galactic law enforcement convention near the start of the tale. Here there are sympathetically drawn alien beings of all species, and colors. Such scenes suggest allegories about the US Civil Rights movement, then underway at full steam.
Forte's portraits of Fire Lad are especially vivid. Fire Lad has flames depicted on his costume's chest. He is quite glamorous. The art showing Stone Boy is also well done.
The Legionnaire's Suicide Squad; The Charge of the Substitute Heroes (#319, April 1964). Based on a cover by Curt Swan. A mysterious citadel on a planet that has forbidden all visitors decides to send out beams that prevent all space travel; the Legion members charge the citadel in small groups against hopeless odds. This is a minor tale. It is one of those gloomy, joyless Hamilton stories in which a villain picks off the members of the Legion one by one. The story only picks up at the end, when the Substitute Heroes get involved. They have the best scenes. The story also comes alive when they use their super-powers. Hamilton only rarely got a chance to write about the Substitutes, and they clearly piqued his imagination. The climax of the tale brings a meaningful position to the Substitute Heroes. It is a situation towards which they have been moving all along, and forms a fitting climax to their saga.
Hamilton also shows some interesting realism early in the tale, when he looks at the economic consequences of the cessation of space travel. These scenes show intellectual sophistication. They remind one that Hamilton has long written about "peace and prosperity" in the future, and that he knows on what it is based.
John Forte's art has some pleasant features. He does a good job with the spooky citadel. There is also a good portrait of a young archaeologist, Dr. James Bannon. He is in civilian clothes, and the rounded collar of his suit reminds one of Legionnaire Lemon's clothes in "The Secret of the Mystery Legionnaire" (Adventure #305, February 1963).
The Legion of Super-Outlaws; The Battle of the Super-Teams (1964). Writer: Edmond Hamilton. Art: John Forte. Based on a cover by Curt Swan. Five super-powered people from the planet Lallor get tricked into a fight with the Legion. The origin of the Super-Heroes of Lallor. The five heroes were not created by Hamilton; each originated in a different letter from readers of Adventure. Adventure regularly printed reader ideas for new Legionnaires in the "Bits of Legionnaire Business" section of the letter column. Five of the best suggestions, each from a different reader, were selected to make the new team. However, there are similarities between the powers of Beast Boy here, and the Monster Master in Hamilton's "The Legion of Super-Monsters; The Legion's Super-Showdown" (1963) - and that tale also has a Gas Creature animal whose powers anticipate Gas Girl.
The visual appearance of three of the heroes, Beast Boy, Evolvo Lad and Gas Girl, were created by Curt Swan in his cover. The other two, Life Lass and Duplicate Boy, had their costumes set by John Forte in his interior art. Curt Swan has especially gone to town with Beast Boy, whose costume and appearance are spectacular. He has something of the same appearance as Superman.
Hamilton does create a full origin for the heroes. Unlike the regular Legion, or the Substitute Heroes, each of whom has an individual origin, the Heroes of Lallor have a collective origin, one rooted furthermore in their planet's political history: something rarely seen in Hamilton. This gives the story a unique feel. This political history is extended in the story's sequel, "Hunters of the Super-Beasts; The Menace of Beast Boy" (1965).
Although he does not emerge in this role right away, Duplicate Boy is clearly the lead character among the Heroes of Lallor. Hamilton gives him the largest role in the story. He is also given the most glamorous art by John Forte, who treats him as one of his leading men. Duplicate Boy's ability to mimic the powers of any Legionnaire is used by Hamilton for ingenious twists in the story. These elements seem reflective: the use of pre-existing powers to add another level of plot, is in the tradition of reflective, meta-level plotting of fiction. Hamilton will sometimes show a Legionnaire using his powers for some task, then have Duplicate Boy respond to this event by mimicking those powers, and making some sort of counter stratagem using them. So the plot builds upon itself in a reflective manner. It must have been difficult for Hamilton to dream up this reflective approach, and the plot developments it leads to often seem unusual to the reader.
Duplicate Boy's powers somewhat resemble those of Hamilton's character "The Composite Superman" (World's Finest Comics #142, June 1964).
The story anticipates Hamilton's "The War Between Krypton and Earth; The Civil War of the Legion" (1965). Both stories deal with non-lethal "wars" between two groups of super-heroes. In both, reader sympathy is equally divided between the two teams. Hamilton shows plenty of inventive details in this story, giving each hero a chance to show their stuff. One gets the impression from this issue's letter column that Hamilton was explicitly trying to feature more obscure members of the Legion, such as Shrinking Violet and Invisible Boy.
The Lone Wolf Legionnaire; The Youth Who Wasn't Human (1964). Writer: Edmond Hamilton. Art: John Forte. A super-powered youth called the Lone Wolf rejects a chance to become part of the Legion; the Legionnaires suspect him of a series of thefts on his home planet Zoon. The Lone Wolf is one of Hamilton's outsiders. His sense of alienation and attempts to become part of mainstream society are especially poignant. One fantasy shot showing the Lone Wolf's dreams of family, friends and a loved one is especially well done, with some of Forte's most vivid art. This story is not based on a cover; it is entirely the product of Hamilton and Forte's imagination.
This story shares common characteristics with Hamilton's "The Legion of Substitute Heroes" (1963) and "Hunters of the Super-Beasts; The Menace of Beast Boy" (1965). All of these tales deal with new super-heroes created by Hamilton and Forte, heroes who become permanent parts of the Legion saga. All of these characters operate outside the Legion, often in alternate groups of heroes. All suffer from terrible social rejection, and try to find ways to cope.
Hamilton includes a high tech computing device, the Information-Computer-Correlator. This seems to be a cross between a searchable database and an artificial intelligence program. It can provide information on connections and relationships between any two subjects fed into the computer. It is one of the most sophisticated anticipations of future computing technology to found anywhere in popular culture. It has capabilities somewhat similar to those of the computer in the original Star Trek (1966 - 1969), which also were most creative and imaginative.
Forte's art is creative here. He gives the Lone Wolf a costume of barbaric splendor, in orange, black and white. The buildings are also interesting: as the Lone Wolf wanders through various alien worlds, each planet is given its own style of architecture. Some are curved houses on stilts, others are big block buildings vaguely recalling the real life architecture of the Yemen. The buildings on Zoon are based on geometric patterns: triangles and spheres. One also likes the mushroom forest on Zoon, a friendly place that recalls the pretty mushrooms in Fantasia (1940).
Hunters of the Super-Beasts; The Menace of Beast Boy (1965). Writer: Edmond Hamilton. Art: John Forte. Based on a cover by Curt Swan. Beast Boy is leading the large animals of the planet Vorn in a war against humans. Beast Boy and the other Super-Heroes of Lallor, had first appeared in Hamilton's "The Legion of Super-Outlaws" (#324, September 1964). One suspects that of Hamilton had not retired from comics in 1966, he would have returned to Lallor, and done still more with the characters he invented. This story takes place on not just one, but two new planets, Vorn and Lallor. Hamilton gives a small history to the events on each planet. This is typical of Hamilton's historical approach. From his earliest days in comics, Hamilton wrote about characters who explored the cosmos, such as Chris KL-99: see "The Menace of the Green Nebula" (Strange Adventures #1, August-September 1950). Hamilton's interest in remote planets still persists here.
This story recapitulates many of Hamilton's themes and story ideas: 1) Large, unusual animals which are the product of evolution on other planets; 2) New groups of super-heroes which parallel the Legion itself, in the tradition of Hamilton's Legion of Substitute Heroes; 3) People who are rejected by others and treated as outsiders, even though they have much to contribute to humanity; 4) Chameleon-like beings who can assume any form, in the tradition of Hamilton's Proty stories; 5) Last stands of people against terrible menaces on remote planets. Any one of these would mark this as a personal Hamilton story. Their presence together is quite startling.
This story is much more tragic than some of Hamilton's other work. This is especially true in relation to the rejected Beast Boy. Normally, Hamilton's rejected characters find solace in a number of ways. They idealistically choose to help others, and to contribute to society. This work gives them purpose, and supports them through genuinely rough times. It also preserves their humanity and decency. Many of Hamilton's outsiders eventually form alliances with others, as well. This too gives them support, and often leads to a re-integration with society. However, in this story Beast Boy explicitly rejects both approaches. Neither is enough for him. It is unclear what Hamilton thinks about this. I suspects he thinks that Beast Boy is wrong to reject such productive options. But he also sympathizes with a hero put through extreme problems. In any case, Hamilton's story is close to the definition of tragedy given by Aristotle. Its hero is a noble man who sadly perishes through his own flaws, just like Oedipus in Sophocles' tragedy.
Despite his youthful sounding name, John Forte draws Beast Boy as a fully grown-up man, somewhat older looking than the Legionnaires. This is befitting his status as a tragic hero.
Beast Boy's story is especially close to that of the Lone Wolf, Hamilton's hero of the year before. While the Lone Wolf eventually finds happiness, Beast Boy finds only tragedy.
Although this tale is based on a cover by Curt Swan, it follows Swan's cover idea far more loosely than most Legion stories. Here the cover scene is incorporated as a brief hallucination, one that has little to do with the rest of the plot.
The Return of Lightning Lad (1963). Writer: Edmond Hamilton. Art: John Forte. Lightning Lad comes back from the dead, but Cosmic Boy and Sun Boy suspect that all is not right with his powers, and investigate. Meanwhile, the Legion tries to infiltrate a thieves planet. This is a well constructed sf mystery with a clever plot.
This story introduces a whole menagerie of interesting aliens. It reminds us that Hamilton first made his mark with his 1920's Weird Tales prose sf stories in which groups of different aliens worked together democratically to explore the Universe. Several of the aliens here have different geometric shapes: pyramids or spheres. Hamilton's early aliens also had unique geometric and mathematical patterns, an approach that influenced H. P. Lovecraft. Many of the aliens here are intelligent beings, but Hamilton also introduces an interplanetary zoo full of alien "animals". Zoos were a subject of continuing fascination to the Superman family, and often show up in the magazines.
Among these animals: Proty, the shape changing animal from Antares. This is the origin of the character. Proty recalls the creature in "The Thing from 40,000 A.D." (Superman #87, 1953), written by Bill Finger. Like Proty, it is made out of protoplasm, and can assume any form. Both Proty and the Thing frequently use their powers to impersonate other beings, forming an exact duplicate of them. The illustrations in both stories are very similar, with several shots of the creatures half forming the image of someone, half just an amorphous blob. There are some differences, however. The Thing also gets the powers of whomever he imitates - he is an exact duplicate, right down to the cellular level. But while Proty can imitate a superhero's appearance, he does not get his powers. This often causes problems for him, which Hamilton ingeniously resolves. Another difference: the Thing is a villain, hoping to use his powers to become a dictator, while Proty is good natured and cute. Proty has quite a few animal characteristics, and his personality resembles Krypto and other super-animals in the Superman family.
Both Finger and Hamilton also wrote stories about child like aliens who arrive on earth, and who can assume any form: Finger's "The Contest of Heroes" (World's Finest #74, January-February 1955), and Hamilton's "The Creature of 1,000 Disguises" (Action Comics #234, November 1957). There is also a tale by an unknown writer, "The Pet From Outer Space" (Superboy #33, June 1954), in which Superboy gets a shape-changing alien pet animal.
The Super-Tests of the Super-Pets; The Pet of a Thousand Faces (1964). Writer: Edmond Hamilton. Art: John Forte. Based on a cover by Curt Swan. Proty II gets inducted into the Legion of Super-Pets, in this light hearted story. Proty II is Chameleon Boy's pet. Both Chameleon Boy and Proty II have the ability to change into any shape or form they wish. Hamilton puts Proty II through his paces here, developing a whole series of imaginative ideas for using this character. Hamilton includes an interesting science fiction background for the Proteans, showing their evolution on a planet near Antares. Forte's art here is terrifically vivid, as it is throughout this tale. Hamilton tended to think in evolutionary terms; his aliens did not just occur on other planets, but evolved over time, just like real life Earth animals. One can see his Nightwing and Flamebird tale "The Dynamic Duo of Kandor" (Jimmy Olsen #69, June 1963) for another example.
Hamilton liked stories where one character has to try on the role of another. Here Proty II has to perform Superboy's role, as part of his initiation. Proty II actually disguises himself as Superboy, as well as trying to do tasks appropriate to him. Clearly, part of what fascinated Hamilton about the Proteans was their ability to take on others' roles. This goes way beyond impersonation. The idea is to "walk in another character's shoes", and try to take on their life and responsibilities.
The Eight Impossible Missions; The Amazing Winner of the Great Proty Puzzle (1964). Writer: Jerry Siegel. Art: John Forte. Based on a cover by Curt Swan. Proty II sends the Legionnaires on a series of test missions, to determine who should lead the Legion for the next year; the missions contain clues to a puzzle. This tale occurs in the issue immediately following the earlier Proty II story; it is typical of the Superman family to try to reuse and build upon a previously defined character. Proty II is more a ring master here organizing a series of Legion missions, and less of a central character. As in the earlier story, the tone is light hearted. These tests are artificial challenges, not "real life" missions for the Legionnaires. They are perhaps related to the Challenge stories that appeared in Lois Lane and Superboy in 1964.
This story marks Jerry Siegel's second story of his return to scripting the Legion stories, after a long period of 14 issues in which they were exclusively written by Edmond Hamilton. Hamilton would keep on being the main writer of the tales, but Siegel would occasionally contribute a Legion script. While all of Siegel's plot ideas are original here, most of the episodes here reflect and build upon earlier Siegel tales. It is as if the story were an anthology of Siegel's worlds. This gives the piece a most pleasant quality. The frame story recalls Siegel's Bizarro stories; the Ultra-Boy episode reminds us that Siegel created Ultra-Boy in "The Boy With Ultra-Powers" (1962); Phantom Girl's episode takes us back to old Krypton, a Siegel specialty, with elements that invoke Siegel's "Life on Krypton" series; Pete Ross returns, reminding us that Pete was made an honorary member of the Legion in Siegel's "The Boy With Ultra-Powers"; and Jimmy Olsen also appears from the 20th Century, a character who was also inducted into the Legion in a Siegel story, "The World of Doomed Olsens" (1963). Jimmy gives the Legionnaires a demonstration of his Elastic Lad powers, mainly for entertainment purposes; such demonstrations were the main way Jimmy utilized his Elastic Lad abilities in two previous Siegel written tales, "Jimmy Olsen's Boo Boos" (1963) and "The World of Doomed Olsens".
The Unknown Legionnaire; The Secret of Unknown Boy (1965) Writer: Edmond Hamilton. Art: John Forte. Based on a cover by Curt Swan. On Proty II's home planet, the Legionnaires fight against several Proteans with the aid of a masked, mysterious addition to the Legion. Hamilton returns to the birth place of the Proteans, and shows what it would be like to fight against a whole bunch of them. The Protean stuff is good in this tale, but the sf mystery about the unknown Legionnaire is weak. Hamilton has scripted several mysteries about masked characters; one of the best is the Batman tale "The Dynamic Trio" (Detective Comics #245, July 1957). In the next two issues, he will script a rather ordinary two part tale about Starfinger, a masked criminal. Both the Starfinger tales and this story challenge the reader to guess the identity of the masked figure. Hamilton liked stories about characters who took on other peoples' roles. His mysteries about masked characters might be an extension of this. Usually, they are an existing character playing a new and different role. However, the masked character is an entirely new persona; unlike his role-adoption tales, where one character takes on the job of another.
The Legion of Super-Monsters; The Legion's Super-Showdown (1963). Writer: Edmond Hamilton. Art: John Forte. Monster Master, a young man who can control animals telepathically, assembles a "legion" of strange alien animals to commit crimes. This is another Hamilton tale full of ingenious alien animals. Once again, Hamilton ascribes the animals' origin to evolution.
This story opens with a number of key sf ideas. We see a Map of the Universe, where locations of all Legionnaires are tracked daily. This is one of the maps that run through Hamilton's work. There are two other sf ideas that involve connecting up the universe. These are the video training shared by all Legionnaires through TV, and the Space Bank where currencies of all planets can be exchanged. Like the map, these ideas serve as connections, that allow structural interchange throughout the universe.
Hamilton's Chris KL-99 tales frequently have Chris tracking down the location of mysterious planets, always through some logical approach. Here Hamilton comes up with another ingenious idea, to track down the Monster Master's home base.
Sympathy for the rejected in a key Hamilton theme. Here there are no less than three rejections, all woven into the plot of the story.
The Doom of the Super-Heroes; Last Stand of the Legion (#310, July 1963). Writer: Edmond Hamilton. Art: John Forte. A mysterious masked figure with awesome powers destroys the Legionnaires one by one. This is the first of several tales Hamilton scripted about powerful foes who systematically pick off Legion members. All of these tales also turn out to have close ties with the Superman mythos, much closer than many other Legion stories.
The Condemned Legionnaires; The Secret of Satan Girl (1963). Writer: Edmond Hamilton. Art: Curt Swan. Based on a cover by Curt Swan. A mysterious masked woman attacks the Legion, especially its female members. This story is structured as a science fiction mystery: who is this woman, where did she come from, and how did she get her super-powers? Such mysteries of identity are frequent in Hamilton's stories. It is one of a series of Hamilton mysteries whose solutions are linked: "When Superman's Identity is Exposed" (World's Finest Comics #78, September-October 1955) and "The 1,000th Exploit of Superman and Batman" (World's Finest Comics #155, February 1966). All three of these solutions are different, but they show some related ideas. All three of the solutions are surprising, and well crafted as science fiction mysteries. Hamilton emphasizes the mystery elements right from the splash, where the questions are explicitly posed.
This story is a bit closer to the Superman mythos than are many of the Legion stories. The principal character eventually emerges as Supergirl, and the story is some ways is as much a Supergirl tale as it is a Legion one. The use of Curt Swan as an artist, instead of Legion regular John Forte, also ties the story to the Superman world, where Swan was perhaps the definitive illustrator. The discussion of where Satan Girl got her powers involves investigating whether or not she is from Krypton, also a key element of the mythos.
There is also a brief look at whether or not she is from Mon-El's home planet, Daxam, which would also give her super-powers. This is quickly dismissed because she is not affected by lead, unlike other Daxamites. Actually, this is typical of all queries about whether some one is from Daxam - they are quickly raised and dismissed, throughout all the Legion and Superman family tales. In actual fact, one would expect thousands of Daxamites spread through all corners of the universe, using their powers. Weisinger never did this in the stories. We never see Daxam, and almost never see anyone from Daxam other than Mon-El. Clearly, Weisinger did not want to build up what would be a whole Daxam mythos in the tales. He rightly wished to concentrate his efforts on the planet Krypton, when it came to alien worlds, as well as the Bizarro World and Lexor.
Plot elements in this tale anticipate Ursula K. Le Guin's prose fantasy novel A Wizard of Earthsea (1968). Both works come to a similar climax.
There are a number of strange alien worlds here. Visits to other planets were a regular feature in the Legion tales. As here, they tend to be a few panels to a few pages in length. The planets tend to be cheery and ingenious. Hamilton's personality is upbeat when he contemplates other worlds. And Swan's aliens tend to be cute, not frightening. All of this is far from today's horror soaked media. The alien planets tend to fairly independent episodes within the story, with little connection to the rest of the plot. On rare occasion, Hamilton would revisit a planet from on story in a later issue. The giant puppet world here will make a brief reappearance in "The Renegade Super-Hero; The End of a Super-Traitor" (#316, January 1964). That story, in which Ultra-Boy is drummed out of the Legion, has a flashback to the puppet world. That minor story's best scenes also involve episodes on alien planets, including a world with strange beings in which humans' minds have been transferred.
The story shows a number of Curt Swan's advanced futuristic buildings. These tend to be Modernist in style, but with curving facades and structures. They are some of Swan's beautiful architecture. Such buildings convey the mood of an advanced, peaceful future civilization. Swan also depicts a Legion spaceship. It has the curvilinear, slightly biomorphic, bulging quality often found in such Swan ships. The splash, which shows the female legionnaires all seated in a circle, also shows Swan's gift for circular and curvilinear arrangements.
The sheer realism of Swan's art underscores the tragic tone of this tale. It is less like an avant-garde fantasy, which is how Forte's stories usually feel, and more like a slice of life.
Lex Luthor Meets the Legion of Super-Heroes; The Super-Vengeance of Lex Luthor (1964). Writer: Edmond Hamilton. Art: John Forte. Based on a cover by Curt Swan. Lex Luthor travels to the future, and meets the Legion.
This is a zippy story, upbeat and full of charm. Much of the tone is broadly comic. Even the more melodramatic aspects are more fun than grim. It is closer to the Superman mythos than are many Legion tales, with the whole saga of Lex Luthor integrated into the plot. So are other aspects of the mythos.
The story is full of intelligent small details. These often relate to the powers and personal histories of the various Legionnaires. One nice panel in part 2 has no less than five Legionnaires all making the same discovery, each using a different aspect of their personal powers. This scene has a pleasing rhythm. Each Legionnaire makes his announcement, followed by the next Legionnaire and so on. It is as if they are all part of the same musical pulse or beat. Such a rhythm conveys a sense of exuberance. Such repeated little bits of ingenuity also delight readers, who enjoy the gifted plotting of the Superman family magazines.
Part 2 of the story repeats the frequent Hamilton plot of a powerful villain who attacks the Legion one by one. However, this is Hamilton's most comic version of this story. In part, it can almost seem like a humorous burlesque of this theme. Here the Legionnaires are dispatched wholesale, in fairly large groups, instead of one at a time, and they are picked off with ridiculous ease. Both of these plot aspects seem almost like a breezy spoof of the subject.
The scenes with Atro and the other disembodied brains reflect Hamilton's long personal tradition of writing about evolved intelligences. These stretch back to the 1930's, before his comics career, when he was writing for the science fiction pulps.
There are elements in this story that exploit the possibilities of time travel. Although they seem perfectly natural within the context of the story, one sees that they are enabled by the fact the Superman stories are constructed on top of a giant mythos. Because we already know the facts of Lex Luthor's life from previous tales, Hamilton can build a time travel plot upon them. So, in a subtle way, the time travel plot elements are enabled by the mythos. So of course are such Superman family structural approaches as the Imaginary Tale. The time travel ideas here seem related, albeit somewhat distantly, to the Imaginary Story. After all, many Imaginary stories construct future lives for their protagonists, just like this tale. Although Lex Luthor is the villain in this tale, there is a certain pathos to him. There is a sense of vulnerability, too: after all, he is one lone, non-super-powered human, going up against a whole team of super-heroes. Stories about Lois Lane also sometimes conveyed this same sense of pathos. Such characters stand for Everyman and Everywoman, trying to cope with a high powered society. Luthor at least shows a personal sense of gutsiness here.
The Revolt of the Girl Legionnaires; The Triumph of the Super-Heroines (1964). Writer: Jerry Siegel. Art: John Forte. Based on a cover by Curt Swan. The female Legionnaires plot to take over the Legion and eliminate all the male members. This story is in the sf tradition of Amazon societies in which women rule and from which men are expelled. I'm not sure if feminists would applaud this kind of story, or not. Most feminists are working for a society in which men and women are equal, not this sort of separatist future. One could argue that this sort of story deals more with male anxieties than with female aspirations. Still, this tale is gripping and readable throughout. One might note that the Legion tales as a whole treat the female members and the male members with complete equality, and that the leader of the Legion is Saturn Girl, a role she is seen performing in great detail in most of the stories. This is one of the earliest depictions in modern popular culture of a woman successfully running a major institution.
Siegel's story has much more romance here than is typical of Legion tales. Forte's art here is at it most romantic and glamorous. The mixture of romance and comic battles here recalls "The Lois Lane - Lana Lang Truce" (Lois Lane #52, October 1964), a tale I suspect was written by Robert Bernstein.
Siegel's later Legion stories tend to be comic. They are full of his satire of the Legion. Often times the Legion is transformed: made into Bizarros in "The Bizarro-Legion" (1965), super-infants in "Menace of the Sinister Super-Babies" (1965). Here, Siegel burlesques male-female relationships. The episodes in this tale have a repeated structure: the male feels he is involved in a romantic relationship; but he is being duped by the more clever female, who has some secret scheme in mind. Siegel's women have always tended to be wily; after all, he created Lois Lane. Siegel had satirized and offered surprising alternatives to conventional male-female relations as far back as the origin stories of Spy - see "The Balinoff Case", (a five part series in Detective Comics #1-5, 1937). In the Spy tales, the hero keeps expecting his relationship to be "normal", along stereotyped, conventional lines. The heroine keeps rejecting these conventional scripts, however, surprising him by doing unconventional, innovative behaviors. These show her as much tougher than society's traditional expectations of women. They also show cleverness and ingenuity on her part. The Legion episodes here show a similar grid, with male conventionality trumped by female innovativeness and ingenuity. There are some differences between the two series: in Spy, the man is trying to break off a relationship, while the heroine is hanging on to it; in the Legion episodes here, it is the reverse.
Forte's take on these subplots is perhaps different from Siegel's. While in Siegel, the woman's scheme is central to the plot, Forte seems most interested in the male point of view. Forte excels at drawing his males in the throws of romantic rapture. Showing the Legion males as amorous lovers is his main concern. The male super-heroes are depicted at their most glamorous here.
Siegel's interest in cops continues in this story, with the brief introduction of the Space Police. While these are a civilian organization, their uniforms seem to be in the tradition of US Army Military Police. Forte also has fun with the Space Police, creating both the helmeted, MP type uniforms of the main Space Police, and the green uniforms of the cadets in their Academy, with their peaked uniform caps and West Point style stripes on the sleeves. This is military fashion at its most glamorous. The helmets of the Space Police say SP, just as those of US Army Military Police say MP. Earlier, in "The Return of Lightning Lad" (1963), we had seen the Commissioner of the Science Police, a slightly different name for what seems to be the same organization. Forte gave him a fancy uniform complete with braid, and a peaked cap with a rocket ship badge. The Science Police first appeared in Siegel's "The Fantastic Spy" (#302, December 1962), although they seem to be a simply renamed version of the World Wide Police from Siegel's "Face Behind the Lead Mask" (#300, September 1962).
The Lad Who Wrecked the Legion; The Secret of the Legion Rookie (1965). Writer: Jerry Siegel. Art: Jim Mooney. Based on a cover by Curt Swan. The Command Kid, an arrogant young man who can cause hallucinations, joins the Legion, but his secret plan is to wreck the Legion.
The Command Kid displays much of Siegel's bitingly sarcastic dialogue. Like many Siegel villains, he displays contempt for received ideas. In some ways this just shows that he is a bad guy with a nasty attitude. But the opinions of Siegel's villains often contain a good deal of truth. One suspects that Siegel often gave them ideas to which he was personally sympathetic.
This story has a rare digression into somewhat supernatural material. Siegel had long been interested in such things, and his Golden Age series about Dr. Occult and the Spectre focused on them. He also created the magical Mr. Mxyzptlk.
The Bizarro-Legion; The Mad, Mad, Mad Bizarro-Legion (1965). Writer: Jerry Siegel. Art: Jim Mooney. Based on a cover by Curt Swan. Bizarro-Superboy creates his own Bizarro version of the Legion. Siegel wrote the comic Bizarro tales in Adventure in 1961-1962. Here he gets to revive his old series. This tale is a comic gem. With all the interest in meteor movies in 1998, today's readers might want to check out the meteor episode of this tale. Also: the Bizarros do everything backwards from humans. In 1965, this included writing on "whiteboards", not blackboards. Today, such whiteboards are common in most businesses, so this is not a reversal at all!
Siegel did many tales in the Superman family that satirized the media. Here, he is spoofing the Legion itself, in some parts of the tale. Also, he and artist Jim Mooney have the Bizarro-Invisible Kid sitting around reading comic books in one scene, as an indicator of the low brow level of Bizarro culture. These bits of self satire show a healthy ability to make fun of one self. This story of the Bizarro-Legion has the same plot pattern that is most fundamental to the Legion stories themselves: the tale of initiation of new members.
Siegel's Bizarro tales sometimes recreate a whole Earth institution in Bizarro terms. Here it is the Legion; in "Jimmy Olsen's Kookie Scoops" (Adventure #287, August 1961) it is a Bizarro version of the Daily Planet. Similarly, the Legion of Super-Villains is a mocking, evil version of the Legion of Super-Heroes.
Mooney does a fine job with the art. He especially excels at the many space craft that appear in the tale. His portraits of the Legion members are also life like, capturing their personalities.
Menace of the Sinister Super-Babies; The Time-Trapper's Invincible Infant-ry (1965). Writer: Jerry Siegel. Art: John Forte. Based on a cover by Curt Swan. The evil Time-Trapper and his glamorous agent Glorith turn the Legion into super-babies, and manipulate them into a life of crime. The super-baby idea is present in Swan's cover; it is his second Legion super-baby cover, after "The Menace of Dream Girl" (#317, February 1964). Super-babies are very powerful, and they tend to run roughshod over the adults around them. Much of the comedy of the stories is in watching this happen.
You have to be in the right mood to enjoy a super-baby story, but they can strike you as very funny. Siegel specialized in humorous Superman family tales; like his "The Bizarro-Legion" (1965), this story applies a humorous transformation to the Legion, creating a mocking version of the original. Many of these Siegel tales savagely mock the mythos, reducing it to a rollicking absurdity. As is often the case in Siegel tales, this transformation and mocking is ascribed to a villain, here the Time-Trapper. But its ultimate source is Siegel himself, probably with a little of editor Mort Weisinger thrown in as well. At the very least, Siegel and Weisinger knew how to laugh at themselves and their work.
The plot of this tale concentrates on the Legion members and the super-powers. There are humorous vignettes at the start, showing the Legionnaires' personal lives. After they've been transformed into babies, we get a detailed picture of how infants might employ their specialized super-powers.
During 1965, the Superman family comics often incorporated elements of the spy-movie craze that was then at its peak. Both the super-villain the Time-Trapper and the evil glamour queen Glorith could have stepped out of a James Bond movie. This somehow adds to their comic quality. Both are hard to take fully seriously. They are like burlesques of movie villains, larger than life.
Siegel takes us back stage on a movie set once again: this time Chameleon Boy is acting in a film. He is one of a long line of Siegel characters to be involved with film production, including Krypto, Supergirl and Jimmy Olsen.
This story has a serious side. The time travel elements show Siegel's skill with this plot gambit. There is also one of the Superman family's heart-felt pleas against nuclear war.
The Mutiny of the Legionnaires; The Castaway Legionnaires (1964). Writer: Edmond Hamilton. Art: John Forte. Based on a cover by Curt Swan. On a voyage to save inhabitants of the planet Xenn, spaceship captain Sunboy turns tyrannical, and the other Legionnaires in his crew mutiny against him. This story is clearly suggested by The Mutiny on the Bounty. The aspects most closely related to that book are in fact on the comic's cover. Swan's cover shows the tyrannical Sunboy putting the mutineers adrift in a small life boat, just as Captain Bligh did to the mutineers on the Bounty. Hamilton's story treats the cover scene as its central incident. It occurs at the exact mid point of the tale, and forms the transition between part one and two.
This is the quintessential Legion story. The focus is entirely on members of the Legion throughout. There are no guest villains, no alternate heroes or characters, no participation by Superboy or Supergirl. Each member of the Legion uses his or her powers in a creative way, through the course of the story. They show both brains and courage. The six mutineer Legionnaires form one of Hamilton's "outsider groups", and have to show the determination against great odds required of such groups.
The story mainly takes place in outer space. Hamilton invents numerous new planets here, each with its own properties.
Forte has some excellent portraits of the Legionnaires here. Star Boy gets a full portrait (p6) and is shown from the side in the life boat (p9). The determined look in the Sunboy profile (p7) is also outstanding.
The War Between Krypton and Earth; The Civil War of the Legion (1965). Writer: Edmond Hamilton. Art: John Forte. Based on a cover by Curt Swan. The Legionnaires go back to millions of years ago, and get involved in a war between Earth and Krypton. Hamilton had a deep interest in evolution. Creatures do not simply occur in his stories: he shows how they evolved in ancient times. This tale is in a somewhat similar mode. But instead of animals, it mainly looks at human beings, and how they developed on both Earth and Krypton. The "evolution" here becomes a detailed early history of some events that took place on both planets. The scope and detail of this historical saga makes it fascinating. Prose science fiction stories often contain "future histories": history-like chronologies of events that take place in the future. This tale is related to these, except that the events it narrates take place in the distant past.
This tale also evokes Hamilton's interest in politics, and his theme of political outsiders. The Kryptonians and the Earth people each have a legitimate point of view, despite their conflict with each other. Hamilton treats them both as outsiders. So this tale contains not one but two groups of political outsiders, each trying to persevere with an unpopular perspective. This is very unusual construction in his work. It extends his political thought in new ways. It adds some much needed complexity to his vision of how political events might operate. Both groups of people are in fact outsiders on their home planet, so their outsider status is not simply a matter of attitude on Hamilton's part.
Hamilton manages to use each of his Legionnaire heroes' powers in some special way in this tale: good construction. The story is unusual in that Superboy plays a bigger role here than in many Legion tales; in fact he is the protagonist of the story, in many ways.
Hamilton had written other tales dealing with Krypton's early history, and its visits to other planets: see "The Second Superman" (Superman #119, February 1958). Both of these tales were one-shots. Neither stories' ideas were ever incorporated in the Superman mythos. Partly this was a matter of timing: 1958 is awfully early for the mythos, and 1965 is very late. But it also reflects the fact that these tales dealing with vast stretches of cosmic history are not an easy fit into the other parts of the mythos. The two stories' ideas do not seem related to each other, either.
The Weddings That Wrecked the Legion; The Legionnaire Dropouts (1965). Writer: Edmond Hamilton. Art: John Forte. Based on a cover by Curt Swan. In the midst of a planned alien invasion of Earth, two Legionnaire couples get married and leave the Legion.
It isn't clear why the Legion constitution demands that Legionnaires remain single, or else leave the Legion. Even today, thirty five years later, such a clause would get most organizations sued. One would think that in the 30th Century, the Legion would be even more sensitive! All the same, if there were no such clause, there wouldn't be a story here either.
One of the best things about this tale is all the focus on the Legionnaires themselves, instead of on the villains. After all, the Legionnaires are interesting characters, whereas villains are just dime a dozen. Hamilton has plotted the story to use the special talents of many of the Legionnaires. In the latter parts of the story, he looks especially at some characters he created, such as Element Lad, Proty II and the Legion of Substitute Heroes. This makes the story a sort of old home week for him. He shows us many specialized areas of the Legion club house, such as its museum and library: also a Hamilton tradition. The whole story is endearingly personal.
Hamilton also continues and extends his concerns over computers. But here they are developed into new and more positive directions. He has Brainiac V be elected the new Legion president. He also counterpoises the computer mind of Brainiac with the romantic feelings of the other Legionnaires, such as Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad. At first, this seems like a simple opposition. But gradually it develops into a much more complicated and constructive pattern. Hamilton is here exploring the positive contributions computers can make to society, and directions in which they can interact with others.
Brainiac becomes a figure outside of "normal" romance. Other authors might make that be purely bad. But Hamilton has always had an intense sympathy for outsiders of all sorts. Here, he suggests ways in which such an outsider can contribute to others, and play a positive role. The figure of Brainiac here allegorically suggests all sorts of things. For one thing, he can be made to stand for homosexuals, and their roles outside of conventional, heterosexual romance.
There is an interesting "Plan R" in this tale. It seems both similar to and different from the Plan L, Plan J and Plan P that starred Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Perry White respectively back in the 20th Century. The story does not try to link these up.
Swan's beautiful cover here shows the Legion weddings. It is one of his best Legion works.
The Evil Hand of the Luck Lords; The Secret of the Luck Lords (#343, April 1966). Writer: Edmond Hamilton. Art: Curt Swan. Based on a cover by Curt Swan. A run of bad luck that has hit the Legion is ascribed to the Luck Lords, dictators on the planet Thaun who allegedly control luck.
This is not one of the best Legion tales. I agree with Saturn Girl in this story: the idea of luck is just plain stupid and superstitious. Also, all the grim events discussed in this tale are a downer. Hamilton's weakest Legion stories can be summarized as "Bad things keep happening to members of the Legion"; this is one of those lesser tales.
However, the story's virtues include a glimpse of a galaxy full of interesting, unique planets - always a pleasing sf idea. It also contains one of my favorite images in all of the Legion tales. This is the Legion Clubhouse Reference Room, where map globes are kept of all known planets. As a map enthusiast, I would love to spend a day studying everything in that room. Such a room shows great imagination on Hamilton's part. The idea of extrapolating from a globe of Earth to globes of many planets shows real imagination. It recalls:
The pioneering science fiction film, Woman in the Moon (Fritz Lang, 1929), shows an astronomer with a globe of the moon.
Hamilton's Proty II also has a nice moment in this tale. Hamilton clearly has great affection for Proty II, and was always thinking up new bits of business for him. The Super-Pets in general have a nice role here. Hamilton plainly sympathized with such alternative hero groups as the Substitute Heroes and the Super-Pets.
Curt Swan's art is full of unusual, beautiful buildings on other planets. The strange winged roofs on Thaun remind one of Swan's fondness for biomorphic forms in his spaceships. Swan had previously created a Kryptonian house with winged, curved roofs for "Superboy's Farewell to Smallville" (Adventure #217, October 1955) (p12). It has much in common with the buildings on Thaun. Neither structure is at all Art Deco, unlike so many futuristic buildings in the comic books. Instead, these buildings evoke Modernist traditions, with a hint of traditional Chinese palace architecture, as well. The Kryptonian house has a mural on one side, an abstract painting full of geometric forms. It strongly reminds one of the Constructivist paintings done by Kandinsky in the 1920's. The building as a whole suggests a Kandinsky painting, but one which has been extended into three dimensions. The triangular flanges seem a Kandinsky like device. And the curved roof elements also remind one of Kandinsky forms. The tops of the building jut out, extending beyond the walls of the main building. It is a very unusual effect. Both buildings have a tower like quality, and seem to be rising up to a great height. Swan created these two buildings a decade apart, near the beginning and the end of the Silver Age. They are among his most inventive structures.
Curt Swan's cover for "The Dynamic Duo of Kandor" (Jimmy Olsen #69, June 1963) includes a futuristic cityscape of the bottled city of Kandor, full of Kryptonian style skyscrapers and towers. One skyscraper has a curved roof, in the Swan tradition. This building is roughly square, like the building on Thaun. Later, in the tale (p5) Swan has a second building, much narrower this time, that also has a curved flanged roof. (Although this is a Jimmy Olsen tale, it is discussed along with the other Nightwing and Flamebird stories in the article on Superman.)
The Outcast Super-Heroes; The Devil's Dozen (1966). Writer: E. Nelson Bridwell & Mort Weisinger. Art: Curt Swan. Based on a cover by Curt Swan. Superboy and Supergirl have to resign from the Legion, and are replaced by mysterious masked super-heroes, Sir Prize and Miss Terious. The origin of R. J. Brande.
This tale, and its direct continuation in "The Forgotten Legion; The Faces Behind the Masks" in the next issue, are unusually well-based in the earlier Legion stories. And Curt Swan's art also is in a pure Silver Age style. The stories try to encompass as many elements of the Legion mythos as possible, with appearances by the Legion of Substitute Heroes. The central plot also echoes Legion tradition: there were a large number of stories about mysterious new Legionnaires whose identity was unknown. This tale follows closely in this tradition. As in these previous works, we gradually learn about the new Legionnaires' super-powers, and these are scanned for clues to their identity.
I never liked the idea of R. J. Brande. It is not that he has an unpleasant personality. But the whole concept of the Legion being funded by a billionaire seems wrong to me. I always assumed that the Legionnaires built their own club house, using their super-powers. And similarly, that their powers funded their own adventures. Similarly, Superman built his own Fortress of Solitude, and used his powers to create his own adventures and career.
In this story, Chameleon Boy's transformation actually gives him the powers of the animal image he is using for his disguise. As was pointed out in the letters column a few issues later, this seems to contradict the standard concept of the character. Traditionally, Chameleon Boy's disguises simply altered his appearance, but did not give him the powers of whomever he is impersonating. This episode does lead to some clever self-referential humor, however.
Curt Swan does a good job with the Legion's space suits. They are white with blue trim. They all have shoulder patches, with insignia that reflects the various Legionnaires' traditional costumes. Such varied costumes for super-heroes are a rarity in comic book history. Usually, a comic book character is always dressed the same way, for instant reader recognition. Here, Swan has put them in new clothes, which yet have a subtle visual link to their main costumes.
White space suits that emphasize their wearers' musculature are associated with artist Murphy Anderson: "Earth Shall Not Die" (From Beyond the Unknown #7, October-November 1970).
The Forgotten Legion; The Faces Behind the Masks (1966). Writer: E. Nelson Bridwell & Mort Weisinger. Art: Curt Swan. Based on a cover by Curt Swan. Direct continuation of "The Outcast Super-Heroes; The Devil's Dozen" from the previous issue, in which the mystery of the identity of Sir Prize and Miss Terious is solved.
The finale of this story leads to some satisfying developments in the history of the Legion. These draw directly on previous Silver Age events in the Legion's history, and form a pleasant sequel to them. There is a philosophical discontinuity in the ultimate fate of Sir Prize, but even this can be overlooked due to its sheerly agreeable nature.