Adventure Comics 492

Adventure Comics #492 Preboot » Pre-Crisis Reprint Cover by Keith Giffen and Mike DeCarlo Story title Various Previous story Adventure Comics #491 (previous chronological reprints) Next story Adventure Comics #493 (next chronological reprints) Cover date October 1982 Creators Writer(s) n/a Penciller(s) n/a Inker(s) n/a Letterer(s) n/a Colourist(s) n/a Editor(s) Dick Giordano/Carl Gafford Cover artist(s) Keith Giffen/Mike DeCarlo

Background

Adventure Comics, one of DC's very oldest titles, was the series that saw the Legion's debut in April 1958 and was eventually home to its first real series, presenting Legion stories for eighty straight issues beginning in September 1962. However, by the early 1980s, long after the Legion had migrated through several other series to a self-titled one, sales for Adventure Comics were floundering and the title was put on hiatus. It was soon revived in a digest format, primarily with reprinted material from old Adventure issues and other forgotten DC stories. Featured each month was a chronological re-presentation of the Legion's earliest tales, two in each issue, beginning with their first appearance. This issue presents the third and fourth appearances in that chronology.

Reprinted material

Original publication source is noted for each.

• Shazam fights a "Battle with the Gods" - new material
• Aquaman on "The Trail of the Ring" – Aquaman #41 (September/October, 1968)
• Supergirl meets “The Three Super-Heroes” – Action Comics #267 (August, 1960)
• The Black Canary trapped and alone – Adventure Comics #419 (May, 1972)
• Sandman versus "The Unholy Dreams of Gentleman Jack" – Adventure Comics #85 (April, 1943)
• Superboy beaten by "The Army of Living Kryptonite Men" – Superboy v1 #86 (January, 1961)
• The Spectre ventures "Beyond the Sinister Barrier" – Showcase #61 (March/April, 1966)

The Story Behind the Stories

The two Legion reprints included in each issue of the digest-sized Adventure Comics were the feature attraction. As an added bonus to Legion fans, a running commentary about that issue's reprinted Legion stories was provided each month by Paul Levitz, who was the writer of the Legion's current series while the Adventure digests were being produced. Years later, these commentaries are the primary point of interest (other than the reprinted stories themselves), so the full text is provided below:

This month we continue with our program of reprinting the entire adventure of the Legion of Super-Heroes in chronological order with their third and fourth appearances. Last issue we ran their first two stories, both from ADVENTURE COMICS, but by the time these two were written then-Superman editor Mort Weisinger clearly had the idea of featuring the Legionnaires as part of his growing Superman family of characters. These "family" members included many concepts that went from one magazine to another, always guest-starring as a change of pace. Long time comics fans will remember the Superman Emergency Squad, the Bizarros, the Superman (and Superboy) Revenge Squad, and on and on for an endless list. Of them all, only the Legion went on to prominence.

The costumes of the Legionnaires had almost settled into their "permanent" versions by "The Three Super-Heroes", a Supergirl story first featured in ACTION COMICS #267 (August, 1960)... but not quite. Minor differences in coloration and styling were still present in all three.

The most startling discrepancy, however, is the fact that the Legionnaires introduce themselves as the children of the original Legionnaires who initated Superboy into their club. Legion fans regard this as either a typo or a white lie on the Legionnaires' part. There is also a school of thought that dates this story before Superboy's induction, based on a complex series of cross-references that we won't go into.

Three more members are introduced here for the first time, Chameleon Boy and Colossal Boy exactly as they would appear for years to come and Invisible Kid in a uniform whose color would change although the styling would not.

The tunnel Supergirl digs was featured again in later stories, and Supergirl did indeed return again the following year for another try at membership -- at which time she was accepted.

Our other selection, "The Army of Living Kryptonite Men" from SUPERBOY #86 (January, 1961) features only one Legionnaire, but qualifies as a Legion story because it is an important set-up for Luthor battling the Legion years later. Interestingly, it also foreshadows the existience of the Legion of Super-Villains, another creation of later years.

Many stories in the various Superman family magazines featured stories with walk-ons by the Legionnaires in the next few years. They were similar to this one in that the Legionnaire had no direct involvement in the plot, except to come running in at the end to solve the problem. For example, there were at least three or four stories in which various Legionnaires came back through time to impersonate either Superboy or Clark Kent in order to save his secret identity by having the two personas appear together. In the interests of getting right to the essence of the Legion chronicles, we have decided to omit all those stories from our reprintings, using as our critieria only those stories that feature Legionnaires using their powers in the furtherance of the plot, and stories where Legionnaires appear for more than a panel or three.

This "phase" of the Legion's development lasted another couple of years. Additional stories (which we'll see over the next five months) featured the introduction of new members and new elements to the Legion myth, but always with them in a secondary role to the Superman family super-stars. It wasn't until ADVENTURE COMICS #300 that they got their own series.

– Paul Levitz