Adventure Comics 501

Adventure Comics #501 Preboot » Pre-Crisis Reprint Cover by Ed Hannigan and Charles Paris Story title Various Previous story Adventure Comics #500 (previous chronological reprints) Next story Adventure Comics #502 (next chronological reprints) Cover date July 1983 Creators Writer(s) n/a Penciller(s) n/a Inker(s) n/a Letterer(s) n/a Colourist(s) n/a Editor(s) Nicola Cuti Cover artist(s) Ed Hannigan and Charles Paris

Background

Adventure Comics was the birthplace of the Legion and its longtime home. After almost 500 issues of publication, it became primarily a series of reprints. Featured each month was a chronological re-presentation of the Legion's earliest tales, two in each issue, beginning with their first appearance.

Reprinted material

Original publication source is noted for each.

• Plastic Man in "Codename: Pinkeye!" - Adventure Comics #469 (March, 1980)
• The Legion in "The Super-Villains of All Ages!" – Adventure Comics #314 (November, 1963)
• Captain Marvel in "The Chameleon Stone!" – Captain Marvel Adventures #91 (December, 1948)
• The Spectre in "The Ghost That Haunted Money!" – The Spectre #7 (November/December, 1968)
• The Ray in "Music Hath Charm"- Smash #17 (December, 1940)
• Aquaman in "As the Seas Die" – Aquaman #49 (January/February, 1970)
• The Legion in "The Legionnaires' Super-Contest!" – Adventure Comics #315 (December, 1963)

The issue also includes two Legion related "mini-posters" - one-page pinups in this digest-sized format. They depict Ultra Boy and the Legion of Substitute Heroes.

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: