{"id":28532,"date":"2023-08-28T08:00:54","date_gmt":"2023-08-28T08:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=28532"},"modified":"2023-08-25T16:39:29","modified_gmt":"2023-08-25T16:39:29","slug":"showcase-presents-legion-of-super-heroes-volume-3-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2023\/08\/28\/showcase-presents-legion-of-super-heroes-volume-3-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Showcase Presents Legion of Super-Heroes volume 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nBy Jim Shooter<\/strong>, E. Nelson Bridwell<\/strong>, Otto Binder<\/strong>, Curt Swan<\/strong>, George Klein<\/strong>, Pete Costanza<\/strong>, Jim Mooney<\/strong> & George Papp<\/strong> (DC Comics)
\nISBN: 978-1-4012-2185-0 (TPB)<\/p>\n

Once upon a time, in the far future, a band of super-powered kids from a multitude of worlds took inspiration from the greatest legend of all time and formed a club of heroes. One day those Children of Tomorrow came back in time and invited their inspiration to join them…<\/p>\n

And thus began the vast and epic saga of the Legion of Super-Heroes, as first envisioned by writer Otto Binder and artist Al Plastino in early 1958, just as the revived comicbook genre of superheroes was gathering an inexorable head of steam. Since that time the fortunes and popularity of the Legion have perpetually waxed and waned, with their future history tweaked and rebooted, retconned and overwritten over and over again to comply with editorial diktat and popular whim.<\/p>\n

This third sturdy, action-packed monochrome compendium gathers a chronological parade of futuristic delights from October 1966 to May 1968, as originally seen in Adventure Comics<\/strong> #349-368, and includes a Legion story from Superman\u2019s Pal Jimmy Olsen <\/strong>#106 (October 1967).<\/p>\n

During this period the Club of Champions finally shed the last vestiges of wholesome, imaginative, humorous and generally safe science fiction strips to become a full-on dramatic action feature starring a grittily realistic combat force in constant, galaxy-threatening peril: a compelling force of valiant warriors ready and willing to pay the ultimate price for their courage and dedication\u2026<\/p>\n

The main architect of the transformation was teenaged sensation Jim Shooter, whose scripts and layouts (usually finished and inked by veterans Curt Swan & George Klein) made the series accessible to a generation of fans growing up in the Future\u2026<\/p>\n

The tense suspense begins with Adventure <\/strong>#349\u2019s \u2018The Rogue Legionnaire!\u2019 <\/em>(Shooter, Swan & Klein) wherein Saturn Girl<\/em>, Colossal Boy<\/em>, Shrinking Violet<\/em>, Chameleon Boy<\/em> and Brainiac 5<\/em> hunt hypnotic villain Universo<\/em> through five periods of Earth\u2019s history, aided by boy-genius Rond Vidar<\/em>, a brilliant scientist with a tragic secret\u2026<\/p>\n

This is followed by a stellar 2-parter from #350-351 scripted by E. Nelson Bridwell which restores a number of invalided or expelled members to the team. In \u2018The Outcast Super-Heroes\u2019<\/em>, a cloud of Green Kryptonite particles envelope Earth and force Superboy<\/strong> and Supergirl<\/strong> to retire from the Legion just as demonic alien Evillo<\/em> unleashes his squad of deadly metahuman minions on the universe.<\/p>\n

The Kryptonian Cousins are mind-wiped and replaced by armoured and masked paladins Sir Prize<\/em> and Miss Terious<\/em> in \u2018The Forgotten Legion!\u2019 <\/em>but quickly return when a solution to the K Cloud is found. With Evillo\u2019s eventual defeat, the team discover the wicked overlord has healed one-armed Lightning Lad<\/em> and restored Bouncing Boy\u2019<\/em>s power for his own nefarious purposes, and together with the reformed White Witch<\/em> and rehabilitated Star Boy<\/em> and Dream Girl<\/em>, the Legion\u2019s ranks grow and might swell to bursting point.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a very good thing as in the next issue Shooter, Swan & Klein produce one of their most stunning epics. When a colossal cosmic entity known as the Sun Eater<\/em> menaces the United Planets, the Legion are hopelessly outmatched and forced to recruit the galaxy\u2019s most dangerous criminals to help them save civilisation.<\/p>\n

However, The Persuader<\/em>, Emerald Empress<\/em>, Mano<\/em>, Tharok<\/em> and Validus<\/em> are untrustworthy allies at best and form an alliance as \u2018The Fatal Five!\u2019, <\/em>intending to save the galaxy only so that they can rule it\u2026<\/p>\n

Adventure<\/strong> #353 reveals how the Five seemingly seal their own fate through arrogance and treachery with the true cost of heroism paid when \u2018The Doomed Legionnaire!\u2019 <\/em>sacrifices his life to destroy the solar parasite\u2026<\/p>\n

Issue #354 introduced \u2018The Adult Legion!\u2019 <\/em>when Superman travelled into the future to visit his grown-up comrades – discovering tantalising hints of events that would torment and beguile LSH fans for decades to come – before the yarn concluded with #355\u2019s \u2018The War of the Legions!\u2019 <\/em>as Brainiac 5<\/em>, Cosmic Man<\/em>, Element Man<\/em>, Polar Man<\/em>, Saturn Woman<\/em> and Timber Wolf<\/em>, accompanied by the most unexpected allies of all, battled the Legion of Super-Villains.<\/p>\n

The issue also included an extra tale in \u2018The Six-Legged Legionnaire!\u2019 <\/em>(by Otto Binder, Swan & Klein) wherein Superboy brings his High School sweetie Lana Lang<\/em> to the 30th<\/sup> century, where she joins in a mission against a science-tyrant as bug-based shape-shifting Insect Queen<\/em>. Disaster soon strikes though when the alien ring which facilitates her changes is lost, trapping her in a hideous insectoid incarnation.<\/p>\n

Issue #356 sees Dream Girl<\/em>, Mon-El<\/em>, Element Lad<\/em>, Brainiac 5<\/em> and Superboy<\/em> transformed into babies to become \u2018The Five Legion Orphans!\u2019<\/em>: a cheeky, cunning Bridwell-scripted mystery leading into darker matters as repercussions and guilt of the Sun-Eater episode are explored and survivors of that mission are apparently haunted by \u2018The Ghost of Ferro Lad!\u2019 <\/em>(#357, by Shooter, Swan & Klein), after which \u2018The Hunter!\u2019 <\/em>(Shooter & George Papp) sees the LSH stalked by a murderously insane sportsman with a unique honour code.<\/p>\n

Adventure<\/strong> #359 depicts the once-beloved champions disbanded and on the run as \u2018The Outlawed Legionnaires!\u2019 <\/em>(Shooter, Swan & Klein) thanks to manipulations of a devious old foe, only to rousingly regroup, counter-attack and triumph in #360\u2019s \u2018The Legion Chain Gang!\u2019<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Illustrated by Jim Mooney, and with the superhero squad once more a key component of United Planets Security, the Legion are assigned as secret service to protect alien ambassadors The Dominators<\/em> from political agitators, assassins and a hidden traitor in tense thriller \u2018The Unkillables!\u2019<\/em>, before \u2018The Lone Wolf Legion Reporter!\u2019 <\/em>(from Superman\u2019s Pal Jimmy Olsen <\/strong>#106, October 1967, by Shooter & Pete Costanza) finds the young newsman seconded to the 30th<\/sup> century to help with the club newspaper. Sadly, he\u2019s far better at making news than publishing it\u2026<\/p>\n

The team is scattered across three worlds in Adventure Comics<\/strong> #362 as mad scientist Mantis Morlo <\/em>refuses to let environmental safety interfere with his experiments in \u2018The Chemoids are Coming!\u2019<\/em>, culminating in a lethally \u2018Black Day for the Legion!\u2019<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n

Shooter & Costanza then top that gripping 2-parter by uncovering \u2018The Revolt of the Super-Pets!\u2019 <\/em>in #364, when the crafty rulers of planet Thanl<\/em> seek to seduce the animal adventurers from their rightful – subordinate – positions with sweet words and palatial new homes.<\/p>\n

When the isolated world of Talok 8 goes dark and becomes a militaristic threat to the UP, their planetary champion Shadow Lass<\/em> leads Superboy, Brainiac 5, Cosmic Boy and Karate Kid<\/em> on a reconnaissance mission which results in the cataclysmic \u2018Escape of the Fatal Five!\u2019 <\/em>(illustrated by Swan & Klein). The vicious quintet then nearly conquer the UP itself: only frustrated by the defiant, last-ditch efforts of the battered heroes in blistering conclusion \u2018The Fight for the Championship of the Universe!\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

In grateful thanks, the Legion are gifted a vast new HQ but before the paint is even dry, a vast paramilitary force attempts to invade, slowly reconstructing planet Earth in #367\u2019s \u2018No Escape from the Circle of Death!\u2019 <\/em>(Shooter, Swan, Klein & Sheldon Moldoff), before this volume ends on a note of political and social tension as a glamorous alien envoy attempts to suborn the diminished and downtrodden female Legionnaires in #368\u2019s \u2018The Mutiny of the Super-Heroines!\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

The Legion of Super-Heroes is unquestionably one of the most beloved and bewildering creations in comic book history and largely responsible for the growth of the groundswell movement that became American Comics Fandom. These scintillating, seductively addictive stories, as much as Julie Schwartz\u2019s Justice League<\/strong>, fired up the interest and imaginations of a generation of readers to underpin the industry we all know today.<\/p>\n

If you love comics and haven\u2019t read this stuff, you are the poorer for it and need to enrich your future life as soon as possible.
\n\u00a9 1966, 1967, 1968, 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jim Shooter, E. Nelson Bridwell, Otto Binder, Curt Swan, George Klein, Pete Costanza, Jim Mooney & George Papp (DC Comics) ISBN: 978-1-4012-2185-0 (TPB) Once upon a time, in the far future, a band of super-powered kids from a multitude of worlds took inspiration from the greatest legend of all time and formed a club … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Showcase Presents Legion of Super-Heroes volume 3”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[191,76,154,311,107,310,121,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventure","category-dc-superhero","category-legion-of-super-heroes","category-legion-of-super-pets","category-science-fiction","category-superboy","category-supergirl-graphic-novels","category-superman"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7qc","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28532"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28537,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28532\/revisions\/28537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}