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Post by beccabear67 on Jun 30, 2018 12:47:32 GMT -5
Curt Swan's Legion was one of the best...
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Post by comicsandwho on Jun 30, 2018 12:59:41 GMT -5
Every time I tried to read the Legion, I was impressed with the art...but not so much with the stories.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2018 13:30:34 GMT -5
Every time I tried to read the Legion, I was impressed with the art...but not so much with the stories. Loved (Curt did a fantastic job showcasing them) it too ... and that's why I need to revisit again ... beccabear67 - thanks for posting that picture.
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Post by rberman on Jun 30, 2018 16:07:35 GMT -5
Every time I tried to read the Legion, I was impressed with the art...but not so much with the stories. Have you tried the Levitz/Giffen run?
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Post by comicsandwho on Jun 30, 2018 17:13:47 GMT -5
I dabbled in it, but by then, I hadn't been following it regularly, and just didn't feel like dropping another book to start buying it. Th premise just never 'grabbed' me the way a 'team book' usually did.
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Post by Prince Hal on Jul 3, 2018 13:21:31 GMT -5
Curt Swan goes to town... My favorite is Chameleon Boy. Curt does make Shrinking Violet look pretty cool. Note dark-skinned Legion foes in Invisible Kid, Bouncing Boy's and Princess Projectra's panels. Since when did Saturn Girl have hair that short? And what is she "saying" to that collared vulture-dragon --- Get me a cosmo-coffee? Stone Boy's picture is an obvious homage to John Forte. Matter-Eater lad looks like Matter-Eater Monster! Proty II... like a half-melted Shmoo! Karate Kid has a helluva high hairline. And where's Lone/Timber Wolf? Guess he still hadn't joined? NB: According to the GCD, "First two pages were originally printed in Superman Annual (DC, 1960 series) #4, then reprinted with some alterations in Adventure Comics (DC, 1938 series) #316 with third and fourth pages, all of which were reprinted here with further alterations by Al Plastino, most notably in the Light Lass and Duo Damsel panels, and with the fifth and sixth pages added."
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Post by brutalis on Jul 3, 2018 14:22:42 GMT -5
The Legion in the early years is really a simple, silly, goofy kind of comic. If you try to rationalize or make it work as "real" science fiction/fantasy then it ultimately fails. It works on a very simple premise that for most of us "kids" worked perfectly well and we connected with different aspects of the series and team members. Are some of the powers somewhat hokey? Yes. Ultra Boy who can only use one power at a time seems like he has a target for failure or death from utilizing the wrong power at the wrong time. Matter Eater Lad should be as big as a house or have the nastiest breath/farts ever found in the universe. Are the team dynamics dated? Yes but they do reflect what most boys/girls were like at the time either madly in love or indifferent or hating each other or fighting over/with each other. But the series was very fun and entertaining for those of us who "got it" and liked it.
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Post by Prince Hal on Jul 3, 2018 14:41:22 GMT -5
The Legion in the early years is really a simple, silly, goofy kind of comic. If you try to rationalize or make it work as "real" science fiction/fantasy then it ultimately fails. It works on a very simple premise that for most of us "kids" worked perfectly well and we connected with different aspects of the series and team members. Are some of the powers somewhat hokey? Yes. Ultra Boy who can only use one power at a time seems like he has a target for failure or death from utilizing the wrong power at the wrong time. Matter Eater Lad should be as big as a house or have the nastiest breath/farts ever found in the universe. Are the team dynamics dated? Yes but they do reflect what most boys/girls were like at the time either madly in love or indifferent or hating each other or fighting over/with each other. But the series was very fun and entertaining for those of us who "got it" and liked it. <iframe width="27.559999999999945" height="4.939999999999998" style="position: absolute; width: 27.559999999999945px; height: 4.939999999999998px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none;left: 15px; top: -5px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_93184741" scrolling="no"></iframe> <iframe width="27.559999999999945" height="4.939999999999998" style="position: absolute; width: 27.56px; height: 4.94px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none; left: 1314px; top: -5px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_66119776" scrolling="no"></iframe> <iframe width="27.559999999999945" height="4.939999999999998" style="position: absolute; width: 27.56px; height: 4.94px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none; left: 15px; top: 186px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_37290260" scrolling="no"></iframe> <iframe width="27.559999999999945" height="4.939999999999998" style="position: absolute; width: 27.56px; height: 4.94px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none; left: 1314px; top: 186px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_78472609" scrolling="no"></iframe> Well said! And in truth, what comics, at their essence, are not inherently simple, silly and goofy*? And ain't that part of the reason we love them? *Sounds like a Golden Age comedy team like Winkie, Blinkie and Noddy: Simple, Silly, and Goofy!
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Post by comicsandwho on Jul 3, 2018 16:56:05 GMT -5
Prince Hal, the page you included would be from 1963, predating (Lone)/Timber Wolf by a year. First appearance was in ADVENTURE # 327, 1964. For some reason, I thought he was a later (70s) addition, since I don't recall seeing him in anything other than his costume from the post-Curt Swan era.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2018 18:00:33 GMT -5
Prince Hal -- Thanks for posting those pictures, I even downloaded them for reference use only.
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Post by Farrar on Jul 3, 2018 21:55:57 GMT -5
Curt Swan goes to town... Note dark-skinned Legion foes in Invisible Kid, Bouncing Boy's and Princess Projectra's panels. The 6 page feature that included Plastino's additional pages appeared in 1968's Adventure #365...and did not include "dark-skinned Legion foes." You must have found an image that was included in the 1994 Legion Archives volume that reprinted the feature (or some other reprinted version). The reprinted version has the recoloring. Here are the originals from #365. Also note in #365 Projectra's costume is the usual dark blue she wore in the 1960s and not the pink/fuchsia in the reprint version shown above. In the 1960s her costume was fuchsia in one issue only, #346 (her debut). Karate Kid has a helluva high hairline. LOL, looks like a rushed rendition of KK based on the cover of Adventure #347. And where's Lone/Timber Wolf? Guess he still hadn't joined? Right. As I noted above, the complete 6 page version of this feature appeared in 1968, Adv. #365; and Brin didn't officially join until #372. And before that his, er, lone Legion appearance had been back in 1964's #327. But as we know, fans kept writing in about him and Mort kept promising that Brin would be back! Only took 4 years Shadow Lass appeared in #365's story but she officially joined an issue later, in #366--so she wasn't included in this feature either. The pictures were supplemented with a two page text feature that detailed the Legionnaires' real names and origins. What a great bonus for a Legion fan!
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Post by Prince Hal on Jul 4, 2018 9:15:00 GMT -5
Thanks for the clarifications, Farrar. I knew this had been reprinted and expanded, thanks to the GCD note... and I can remember seeing these pages, though would never have recalled which issue. I should have suspected the coloring changes b/c it's clear these are from some slick-paper reprint volumes. The ones you posted are much more to my liking. I thought I'd be able to find this feature in its original form somewhere on the Intertubes, but couldn't find hide nor antenna of it anywhere. I forgot that Timber Wolf, previously Lone Wolf, had not been part of the LSH till the late Silver Age. He eventually became a featured player, and became more lupine, obviously meant to be the LSH version of Wolverine. And, yeah, I didn't catch that pink outfit on Projectra. Nothing gets by you!
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Post by Farrar on Jul 5, 2018 21:05:09 GMT -5
And, yeah, I didn't catch that pink outfit on Projectra. Nothing gets by you! I suppose the reason for using pink/fuchsia for her outfit in the 1994 reprint was because her post-Silver Age costumes were mostly red-based, so in 1994 readers would likely have been more used to her being clad in costumes that were in that color family. Me--since I'm stuck in the Silver Age--I always think of her in the 1960s blue bathing suit costume. And obviously the revised skin colors in the 1994 reprint were meant to show diversity. Which reminds me of a letter back in 1967's Adv. #363 in which a reader asked why--in the 30th century--there were only two non-Caucasian Legionnaires (Brainy and Cham) and no black Legionnaires. In response Weisinger/editorial said to watch for the next new Legionnaire (who turned out to be Shadow Lass in #365). Umm, okay. He also advised readers to check out a new forthcoming series The Secret Six, which debuted a few months later and had a cast that included Dr. Durant, an African-American.
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Post by Prince Hal on Jul 6, 2018 14:53:33 GMT -5
And, yeah, I didn't catch that pink outfit on Projectra. Nothing gets by you! I suppose the reason for using pink/fuchsia for her outfit in the 1994 reprint was because her post-Silver Age costumes were mostly red-based, so in 1994 readers would likely have been more used to her being clad in costumes that were in that color family. Me--since I'm stuck in the Silver Age--I always think of her in the 1960s blue bathing suit costume. And obviously the revised skin colors in the 1994 reprint were meant to show diversity. Which reminds me of a letter back in 1967's Adv. #363 in which a reader asked why--in the 30th century--there were only two non-Caucasian Legionnaires (Brainy and Cham) and no black Legionnaires. In response Weisinger/editorial said to watch for the next new Legionnaire (who turned out to be Shadow Lass in #365). Umm, okay. He also advised readers to check out a new forthcoming series The Secret Six, which debuted a few months later and had a cast that included Dr. Durant, an African-American. Mort Weisinger, Progressive! (So long as the progress was made in another editor's book!)
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Post by kirby101 on Jul 6, 2018 21:39:16 GMT -5
Steve Ditko has passed away at 90.
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