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Legion of Super-Heroes Archives #1

Legion of Super-Heroes Archives, Vol. 1

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Collects tales about the Legion of Super-Heroes and its most legendary member, Superboy.

263 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

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About the author

Jerry Siegel

619 books81 followers
Jerome "Jerry" Siegel, who also used pseudonyms including Joe Carter, Jerry Ess, and Herbert S. Fine, was the American co-creator of Superman (along with Joe Shuster), the first of the great comic book superheroes and one of the most recognizable icons of the 20th century.
He and Shuster were inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1993.

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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
Profile Image for J.
1,559 reviews37 followers
February 7, 2016
This first volume of the Legion Archives collects all the significant stories where the Legion or a Legionnaire guest starred in the Superboy and Supergirl strips, before landing their own series in Adventures Comics #300. We see both Superboy and Supergirl invited to join the Legion, the first appearance of Mon-El and his subsequent joining the Legion in the future, and many glimpses into what would later become standard Legion lore, such as the romance between Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl, the election of the Legion Leader, the always quirky open audition calls, the death of a Legionnaire, and the Legion time bubble.

Being part of the Superman Family of books, these tales are very similar to what was seen elsewhere. Many stories revolve around mistaken identity, trying to figure out and/or protect the secret identities of Superboy and Supergirl, and silly romances where a girl tries to manipulate a boy into liking her. They're a bit repetitive after a while, but once the Legion's own series starts, the tales end up being a bit more complex. Then there is the back and forth of which century the Legion exists in; first the 30th, then the 21st, and then finally back to the 30th again.

The Legion first appeared in 1958, but although the stories are very dated, the Legion was ahead of its time in one respect, and that's the treatment of its female members. First of all, unlike the Justice League, Avengers, X-Men, Doom Patrol, and Fantastic Four, the Legion from the very beginning had more than one female member. The most prominent, Saturn Girl, later revealed to be one of the founders, is given a lot of exposure and is never portrayed weak and defenseless like the Marvel female super-heroes were. The Legion also had the very first female leader of a super-hero team, Saturn Girl again, and would go on to have a few more in the years to come. Pretty impressive for the late 50s/early 60s.

The Legion has always been my favorite super-hero team, through thick and thin, and although these stories don't exactly excite, they give a nice exposure to the early adventures of one of the longest running teams in comics history.
Profile Image for Daniel A..
301 reviews
October 20, 2023
After the X-Men, my first (and longest-lasting and arguably more enthusiastic) comics fandom is the Legion of Super-Heroes. I participated on LoSH Usenet in the mid- to late 1990s through the early 2000s, I have a nearly complete set of the original stories, and I've participated on many panels at my local convention celebrating the team of teenagers from the future. And at some point, I decided to begin at the beginning and read the Legion's entire adventures, starting with Otto Binder and Al Plastino's original story from the 1950s, featuring Superboy. I can now say that the stories get better . . . eventually.

When Binder created the Legion of Super-Heroes, he almost definitely intended them as one-off characters, and the earliest story shows it. But burgeoning DC Comics fandom embraced the Legion, and eventually they were featured regularly in the pages of Superboy's own title. Before that, however, they were often written by whomever editorial dictated, and the stories were sporadic both in frequency and in quality. Most notably, the earliest stories written by Jerry Siegel are pretty dire; while Siegel is justifiably legendary for having co-created Superman, by this point in roughly 1959, his career was somewhat struggling and his very first story showing the Legion's recruitment of Supergirl is almost entirely a rehash of Binder's first (featuring Superboy's recruitment), albeit with different Legionnaires featured. It doesn't help that Silver Age stories, especially early Comics Code-approved stories before the Marvel Age of comics, are often a little hokey, and some of the elements of the stories in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives, Vol. 1 are downright quaint.

The art is largely impeccable; not for nothing did Curt Swan, whose art is featured in this volume, eventually become the definitive artist for the Legion of Super-Heroes' first era, as legendary as the late Keith Giffen's became to Paul Levitz's lengthy runs. And as I said earlier, the stories do, in fact, get better, and quickly, especially once the Legion took over a feature in Adventure Comics and began to develop a sense of continuity and gain the benefit of regularity. (That sense of continuity, however, would eventually bedevil new fans coming in; Legion continuity remains among the most notoriously arcane in all of DC Comics. After all, the stories in this volume were almost immediately alternate history, given that Antennae Boy—introduced in Adventure Comics #305, cover date February 1963—picked up an old Earth broadcast . . . featuring the re-election of President Kennedy to a second term, explanations for which came up remarkably frequently in Legion online spaces even when I was a college student.)

But many of the hallmarks of what would eventually make the Legion (in)famous pop up here, for the first time: Time travel, close ties to the Superman Family, Legion elections and tryouts, and so forth. Legion of Super-Heroes Archives, Vol. 1 is by no means remotely perfect, but it's also by no means terrible, and clearly these stories justifiably developed a following that has persisted for almost seven decades.
Profile Image for Nicholas Palmieri.
135 reviews3 followers
January 23, 2018
First off: Like all the Archives books, this book is beautiful. Really nice hardcover and classy stamping under the dustjacket, with archival paper, sewn binding, "remastered" art/coloring- this thing is NICE.

While some stories here are better than others, all of them are entertaining and provide a great experience when read together. Each one is a dense little 12-page nugget, providing great insight on story structure- even as modern stories, and particularly comics, get more and more decompressed.

The first two-thirds of the stories are guest-appearances by the Legion, primarily in Superboy and Supergirl. These stories are either: one Legion member goes back in time to visit; a few Legion members go back in time to visit; or, much less common but much more fun, Superboy and/or Supergirl goes into the future to adventure with the Legion. A few stories include the Legion only briefly, but I'm happy they're here for the sake of completeness. Also worth noting is that some stories include little details that are changed/contradicted later, but even so it's interesting to watch the development of the concept. While some it can be formulaic and/or convoluted, there is some fun stuff in the first two-thirds of the book.

But the series hits its stride in the last third of this book, starting when the Legion gets its own dedicated stories. I'm amazed at the imagination on display here, and at how much STUFF happens! There are new "futuristic devices" galore, inventive superpowers and schemes, and completely off-the-wall plots- and the art gets equally as inventive, as dictated by the story. You never know what's going to happen from one panel to the next, in the most delightfully absurd way, but it all comes around by the end of the 12-pages.

Because these are old stories, don't expect the characters to have distinct voices. But, what the book lacks in characterization, it makes up for tenfold in plot, imagination, and FUN! I really enjoyed these, both as a look into a different era and in their own right. I'll definitely be reading more of these books. Highly recommended.
Profile Image for Steven.
Author 8 books34 followers
March 21, 2016
Often silly (although some of the stories address death) and inconsistent for a time, this initial Archives collection gathers together the first Legion appearances, and the first few actual Legion series stories, where a certain amount of continuity was built and the roster gradually expanded. One thing that becomes very clear in the course of reading this, though -- the Legion were a monumentally dickish bunch of teenagers. Superboy and Supergirl are pretty bad at times, too -- Superboy condemns Mon-El to a thousand years in the Phantom Zone because his suspicions led to his poisoning the poor bugger with lead. Supergirl, meanwhile, tries to get Superman married off to her lookalike, and effort that nearly kills the poor woman.

Gotta love the Silver Age! Also, Long Live The Legion -- they were always favourites of mine.
Profile Image for Mark Schlatter.
1,253 reviews15 followers
June 16, 2020
Just did a re-read to see if Mon-El was a Daxamite from the beginning (blame the Supergirl TV show for that...).

Given how continuity focused Legion fans can be, it's fun to see how haphazard the stories are in the very beginning, even to the point of messing up which century the Legion exists in. On the other hand, it's fascinating to see the regular appearance of let's-humiliate-Superboy-and-Supergirl stories (they're always redeemed in the end, but the middle it can be rough).
Profile Image for Ronald.
156 reviews3 followers
June 13, 2012
The archives are all great. Some silliness but that was what they were then. Ultimate in fun. Beautiful reprints!!!
Profile Image for Little Timmy.
7,389 reviews59 followers
February 26, 2016
I am a huge LOSH fan. These collected volumes are prefect to be able to go back and read the older adventures of this Silver Age superhero team. Very recommended
Profile Image for M..
197 reviews10 followers
August 26, 2018
The future's a pretty wonderful place.

That's my main takeaway from one of my most beloved - in some ways my most beloved - comic series of all time: the Legion of Super-Heroes. I knew who they were, and purchased an issue here and there, but one spring evening my young self bought one particular issue (because I didn't know what else to choose that night) and wound up becoming forever captivated with the Legion and its setting. I religiously bought every issue from that point and made it my mission to track down as many back issues as I could. In 1989, when DC Comics decided to destroy it all, I mourned and decided to step away...but continued to focus on the three prior decades of adventure I had to peruse. I had discovered a special place and had no intention of leaving it.

This volume is the earliest of those three decades. The artwork is quite good (John Forte in particular), although the stories are cringe-worthy in places and the characters interchangeable and wooden. But that is understandable, as even DC Comics was surprised by the fan reaction to a trio of characters that were merely a plot device for a Superboy story. It took time to develop them into a going concern.

The last six stories in this tome - when the Legion of Super-Heroes were awarded their own slot in the anthology Adventure Comics - is when the future began to coalesce. The scene would be set in the 30th Century and the Legion and its little corner of the DC Universe would begin to display hints of the places, personalities and lore that would blossom in the 1960s, grow mightily in the 1970s and reach their full potential in the 1980s.

There would be war, drama, death, marriage, mystery, heartbreak and adventure. But the one thing I loved the most was that the 30th Century was a positive place in spite all of that. A bright future, even one made of four colors, is a special comfort.
Profile Image for Rick Ray.
3,545 reviews36 followers
January 29, 2024
A collection of the earliest adventures of the Legion of Super-Heroes, a team that was a mainstay of DC's long-running Adventure Comics line. Coming off as initially a spin-off to the Superman mythos whereby Superboy encounters the Legion in Adventure Comics #247, the team soon began to take its own identity and lore with subsequent issues. In a sense, the Legion are the prototypical superhero team, and though superhero teams did exist prior to the Legion, a lot of young team hero dynamics are first explored here before they were to get refined in the likes of X-Men or the New Teen Titans.

The stories here are a bit simplistic and often repetitive, making this a bit of dry read after a few issues. There are charming bits of romance and humor sprinkled in, making it understandable how kids would have gravitated towards Adventure Comics, but the stories lack a sense of depth until a little later on. There's a haphazard care towards the lore early on too since the origin of the Legion members seems constantly in flux. What was the most impressive about the Legion was how progressive the team was with their care towards social issues and inclusivity, especially given the time these stories were written.

This first volume of the Legion Archives won't blow you away, but it's a fun way to sample the earliest adventures of a superhero team that doesn't quite get the attention it deserves with respect to modern comic books.
3,013 reviews
March 16, 2020
Golly, this was stupid.

This is pure "superdickery" (e.g., https://www.superdickery.com/jimmy-ma...) as it were.

Every issue involves either one of (1) completely unnecessary torment brought on by a purportedly sympathetic character for extremely convoluted reasons or (2) incredibly elaborate contrivings ("You only thought that duplicate robot of me was a robot, but in fact it was a living robot, which allows it to eat food like humans BUT NOT DRINK BEVERAGES!" I only wish that mine was less complicated than the ones they did. Like they had one where the two robots both were damaged in circuits that they were supposed to use to tell everyone they were robots.)

Also, the characters can fly backwards and forwards and time at will and seemingly without any negative consequences. It's interesting history but it's the storytelling of a over-active adult acting like a child.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Esteban Guerrero.
36 reviews3 followers
November 16, 2017
Dificil de jugar pues todas estas historias que difícilmente podrán superar la época en que fueron creadas y las única forma de poder disfrutarlas al máximo es siendo un niño leyendolas el día en que fueron publicadas, sin embargo si podemos dejar de lado nuestra visión moderna y ponernos en el contexto del tiempo y la situación son historias que cumplen con su cometido que es el de entretener, y si uno se deja llevar por ellas hasta te pueden sacar desde una sonrisa hasta una risilla además de que sirven muy bien con el propósito de introducir a uno con este equipo.
Profile Image for Jesse.
250 reviews
March 9, 2019
This was terrific fun. For those not in the know, Legion of Super Heroes is a silver-age super group that personifies everything that is zany and fun in the comics. This is back before the demand for realism in super stories (how absurd is that) began to rear its ugly head. These stories are loony and fun. This isn't my favorite L0SH era. The team began its life as a b-story for Superboy comics, so as a result, they are support characters by nature, but it was fun to start at the beginning.
Profile Image for Sarospice.
1,210 reviews14 followers
April 19, 2023
Is this the best way to start getting into The Legion? I'm not sure... They always seemed like the cool kids, so they've never completely gotten my attention. Even in these early adventures they turn on each other for the tiniest teenage angst. Maybe they all watched Beverly Hills 90210 on way back TV!
Profile Image for STeevil13 Teetor.
7 reviews
August 25, 2017
Order details: Ordered on November 26, 2014 (6 items)
Legion of Super-Heroes - Archives, Volume 1 Legion of Super-Heroes Archives
DC Comics, Brand: DC Comics
Sold by: FlippingPages
Profile Image for Daryl.
681 reviews20 followers
March 13, 2014
Approaching this collection (which is 25 years old and collects stories that were originally printed 30-35 years prior to that), I thought I'd read them all before, in reprints somewhere along the way. (I've long been a big fan of the LSH.) Turns out, maybe a third of them were "new" to me. Fun stories, though as others have pointed out, very silly. (And I was a bit discomforted by Superman searching for a girl to marry who was like Supergirl, who he couldn't marry because they were first cousins. No other reason.) These stories introduce the basics of the Legion and many of the Legionnaires, including everyone's favorite, Matter-Eater Lad. There's some discrepancy in the early stories -- the Legion lives in the 21st century? That far in the future? And Supergirl meets the children of the original Legion in her first encounter, but that idea gets dropped quickly, and never addressed. Sadly, the credits are not developed to the degree they are in later collections and DC's Showcase series. No writers or artists are credited here. And although the original comics these stories appeared in are listed in the beginning, it's not clear which stories are from which particular issues.
Profile Image for Tony Calder.
700 reviews17 followers
September 9, 2012
This is a collection of the very earliest stories of the Legion of Super-Heroes, from their first appearance in a Superboy story in Adventure Comics #247. These are stories from the late 1950s and early 1960s and most of them are only 10 or 11 pages in length. The stories are much simpler, and in many cases sillier, than the plots to be found in the Legion stories of today, and continuity is not observed to anywhere near the degree it is today. As an example, as any Legion fan knows, the team is based 1,000 years in the future, and in the first story Superboy travels to the 30th century. However, in many of the other stories they refer to the Legion coming from the 21st century.

The artwork is varied. Much of it is simpler than standard for today's comics. Many of the these stories are drawn by Curt Swan, who is, for many people, the definitive Superman artist - not surprising as he drew Superman for thirty years.

For anyone who is a fan of the Legion, as I am, this is an excellent collection showcasing the origins of the team.
933 reviews11 followers
November 5, 2014
Bizarre, and really only compelling in terms of historical interest. This is from square in the Silver Age; by this point it seems all the sensible plotlines had run out, meaning the creators had to twist characters into weird contortions to avoid repeating themselves. So we get super babies and visitors from the future, rampaging robots, strained misunderstandings and aliens who amuse themselves by playing cruel jokes.

The Legion are actually tangential to most of the action here, popping up in Superboy and Supergirl stories for time to time. More attention is given here to explaining why Superboy isn't breaking the elaborate rules of continuity than actually telling stories.

The series coheres a bit at the end, when the Legion actually gets its own steady feature in Adventure Comics. Here we get to meet goofballs like Bouncing Boy and Matter-Eating Lad. One Legion member even dies! But the stories are still scattershot and weird. Only recommended for readers who really like the old comics.
Profile Image for Mike.
70 reviews2 followers
April 24, 2009
I'd give it five stars, but honestly, the Silver Age was a very silly place at times. Still, this is the foundation for decades of screwed-up reboots and hard to follow story lines, and is a fun series in general.

Just try not to think too hard about some of the "science" of this version of the future, because it WILL make your brain hurt. Read it anyway, it's good stuff.
Profile Image for Phong Co.
42 reviews1 follower
October 1, 2016
As expected, this is super-cheesy stuff, but probably no different from other comics of the era. It's interesting to see these characters get introduced, and I'm looking forward to later volumes, and the stories I actually read as a kid.
Profile Image for Cliff.
123 reviews2 followers
January 10, 2008
The archive series reprints the original stories in 4C. These are comics printed in the 1960s. Great duplication.
Profile Image for Bob.
616 reviews
November 15, 2017
A few gems here: "Prisoner of the Super-Heroes!", "Lana Lang & the Legion!", "Supergirl's 3 Super-Girlfriends!", "Legion of Super-Traitors!", "Face behind the Lead Mask!", & "Fantastic Spy!".
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews

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