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Showcase Presents: The Legion of Super-Heroes #2
Showcase Presents: Legion of Super-Heroes, Vol. 2
Collects tales about the Legion of Super-Heroes and its most legendary member, Superboy.
528 pages, Paperback
First published April 15, 2008
2 people are currently reading
69 people want to read
About the author
Jerry Siegel
619 books81 followersJerome "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.
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 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 11, 2017
Showcase Present: legion of Super -Heroes, Vol 2 is a big book of collection starting with Adventure Comics#322 THE SUPER-TEST OF THE SUPER-PETS and ends on THE ORIGIN AND POWERS OF THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROS. The comics are black and white newspaper comic, the stories of very simple and clearly aim at much younger audiences unlike most comics these days seem to aim at adults. Of course some the stuff would seem outdated but still fun read
May 16, 2016
I'll confess to being a longtime Legion fan, so it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that I was going to like this. Obviously, some aspects of the Legion's 30th century--particularly the computer tech--seem quaint and ludicrously old-fashioned by today's standards. Such is the fate of most science fiction, really. Technology improves and things change, but rarely in steady and predictable ways. And, as much as these stories are quaint or clunky, there's a vibrancy to them that feels subtly different from many of DC's mid-sixties titles. There's actual continuity happening, which was a rarity at the house of ideas. Characters get injured, lose their powers, and sometimes die, and it isn't all fixed and back to the status quo by the end of the story. Many issues later, and they're STILL hurt, dead, or whatever. You have to really read a lot of 60's DC to know how rare this was. Some of the earlier stories in this volume fall into one of two basic plotlines: 1) someone joins the Legion, but is secretly a bad guy or working for the bad guys, or 2) the Legion is riven by an internal conflict, with members fighting against each other. There's even one point in the book where a new member betrays the Legion, then there's a story dealing with Bizarros (it's a 60's thing. Trust me.) And then there's another story where a new member betrays the Legion, differing from the previous one pretty much only in that it's a two-parter. Clearly Jerry Siegel was in a rut. The last few stories in the book mark the beginning of the Jim Shooter era. The artwork on the first Shooter story is a bit odd. From the contents page, it would appear that Shooter not only wrote, but did layouts for all of his stories in this volume, and Sheldon Moldoff was brought in to do the finishes for his first issue. From the second issue on, it was Curt Swan handling the task. With all due respect to Sheldon, Swan does a much better job of it. Perhaps he was rushed or something. Anyway, with Jim Shooter writing, that means that we get the Fatal Five in the next volume, and, eventually, Dave Cockrum on the art. Looking forward to all of that. Series like the Legion are why the DC Showcase volumes exist. It originally ran through at least three or four different titles, sporadically at first, before getting its own dedicated series circa 1980 or so (actually, it took over completely from Superboy after sharing the title for most of the 70's.) Thanks to Showcase, Legion fans no longer have to remember which issues of Adventure Comics and so on featured the heroes, but can simply read the whole thing, in volume after glorious volume.
February 22, 2022
3.5 Stars
I did like this volume better than the first. You can start to see the shift from verbiose comics to more dynamic art styles where the pictures and dialogue are allowed to tell the story rather than long descriptions. Jim Shooter did a few issues at the end of this volume, and even at the age of 14!? you can see he had a knack for storytelling and art layouts.
There's still some 60s campiness and it seemed like every other issue someone was either turning traitor or being accused of turning traitor, and at times these heroes could be downright rude to each other, which is pretty funny.
As I said in my prior review, I've never been a big LOSH fan, but this was pretty good and I'm hoping the next volume will be even better.
I did like this volume better than the first. You can start to see the shift from verbiose comics to more dynamic art styles where the pictures and dialogue are allowed to tell the story rather than long descriptions. Jim Shooter did a few issues at the end of this volume, and even at the age of 14!? you can see he had a knack for storytelling and art layouts.
There's still some 60s campiness and it seemed like every other issue someone was either turning traitor or being accused of turning traitor, and at times these heroes could be downright rude to each other, which is pretty funny.
As I said in my prior review, I've never been a big LOSH fan, but this was pretty good and I'm hoping the next volume will be even better.
October 10, 2009
I love it but it's hard to recommend this volume to others. The stories in these first two books are mostly about the Legion getting attacked by people they rejected for the team and Legion members trying to trick each other into marriage.
March 5, 2013
During this period DC were years behind what Marvel were accomplishing. The artwork and script was still aimed at a more juvenile audience.
March 29, 2018
I'm not sure what it says about Ed Hamilton and Jerry Siegel that a thirteen-year-old kid takes over this series for the last four stories in this book, and he's clearly, immediately and by a wide margin better than they were. There are some fun stories, though. Shooter's tales are all a cut above the standard Silver Age DC tripe, with some adolescent lust, some danger and some actual characterization. Most of the stories before Shooter are based on the typical Silver Age riddle, such as who betrayed the Legion (and for what gimmicky reason that can be conveniently ignored so as to not turn any members against the team for real) or who is the mystery ally (typically one of their own disguised for some invented reason).
For a book that's supposed to be about an optimistic future, these stories are pretty bleak. Lightning Lad losing an arm, Triplicate Girl's (indifference to!) losing an entire self (it's okay, just call me Duo Damsel now), and Hamilton's casual slaughter of secondary heroes in the Super-Stalag storyline - this is one of the few Silver Age DCs where I feel like, despite the goofy plots, there is some actual threat to the stories. They're still not great comics, but they have their moments.
For a book that's supposed to be about an optimistic future, these stories are pretty bleak. Lightning Lad losing an arm, Triplicate Girl's (indifference to!) losing an entire self (it's okay, just call me Duo Damsel now), and Hamilton's casual slaughter of secondary heroes in the Super-Stalag storyline - this is one of the few Silver Age DCs where I feel like, despite the goofy plots, there is some actual threat to the stories. They're still not great comics, but they have their moments.
April 20, 2021
A really solid run for the Legion of Superheroes. It starts off pretty light-hearted with the Legion pranking each other and doing stupid stunt but gets into more serious territory as Legionaires lose their powers (and don't get them immediately back), lose an arm. Perhaps the far future setting made the writers more willing to take risks with the characters.
Of course, there's plenty of silliness and fun, and fantastic situation, but it's a bit more real and grounded than many of the twentieth century earth-set stories DC was putting out at the time. Overall, a decent collection of stories from the mid-1960s.
Of course, there's plenty of silliness and fun, and fantastic situation, but it's a bit more real and grounded than many of the twentieth century earth-set stories DC was putting out at the time. Overall, a decent collection of stories from the mid-1960s.
December 2, 2017
Un gran malloppo di storielle da leggere. Per lo più storielle leggere che lasciano il tempo che trovano, che sono facilmente dimenticabili anche perché troppo spesso si somigliano l'una all'altra. Dalla seconda metà di questo tomo però le storie migliorano, e verso la fine con l'arrivo del quattordicenne Jim Shooter ai testi, iniziano a decollare.
March 10, 2023
These compilations of the comic books I read when I was a kid are still outstanding and a sheer delight to read. The stories and the artwork get 5 stars each. Good guys and ladies beat the bad guys and ladies yes, , but each story includes the value of teamwork, accepting and appreciating each other's differences and sharing each other's joys and sorrows. Those are timeless values.
February 12, 2009
Nowadays the Legion seems to be in a complete mess. Towards the end of the original Legion saga things went wrong with the introduction of the Legionnaires (teenage versions of the adult heroes, who were either clones or the original heroes rescued from suspended animation), and things went pretty badly for Earth. Following Zero Hour the whole story was rebooted, and since then I get the impression that it's been rebooted one or two times more, though I haven't kept up to date. Reading these stories makes you wonder how DC got into such a mess.
Of all super-hero stories, the Legion is the easiest to keep perpetually new - rotate the older heroes out, and bring in new members to replace them. It's been part of the premise from the very beginning. Why on Earth anyone thought introducing a bunch of clones or rebooting the entire saga was a better idea is beyond me. So while the ongoing saga of the JSA grows ever weightier, the Legion has become nothing more than a series of fuzzier and fuzzier photocopies of itself. Would Doctor Who have been better off if both the TV movie and the new series had kicked off with Ian and Barbara wondering why one of their pupils is so preternaturally clever? Clearly not.
Never mind: at some point I'm sure someone who cares enough will reveal the years since Zero Hour to have been a plot of the Time Trapper, the Legion will find a way to put the broken pieces of Earth back together, and a bunch of brand new teenagers will be invited to join the team. Don't get me wrong: I'm certainly not one of the people who always want the originals reinstated. What I want is for stories to continue and develop.
In this book, though, you see everything going right, everything that was so good about the Legion. The stories grow and develop from one issue to the next. Towards the end there is a series of multi-part sagas, but even before that decisions in one issue will have ramifications explored in future stories. Characters die, lose limbs, leave the team, join the team, and, best of all, start to develop personalities. When reading "Computo the Conqueror" I gave a little cheer to see Brainiac 5 getting grumpy for the first time. "What is this--" he shouted via the tele-monitor, "a private lab or Grand Central Spaceport? Can't you read, Chameleon Boy? Shove off!"
Lots of notable issues here, but for now the most memorable is "The Legionnaire Who Killed", mainly for the panel where Invisible Kid yells to Star Boy, "Come on and join us, Star Boy... We're having the big computer decide who'd have the most fun kissing whom! It's a riot!" Chameleon Boy can be seen snogging away with Light Lass. Star Boy declines, leading Invisible Kid to note, "Funny... Star Boy never seems to have time for romance!" Seems like Invisible Kid is carrying a torch!
There's lots of similarly enjoyable daffiness in these pages, and if the actual enemies tend too often to lameness, that's forgivable when the heroes are so interesting and varied.
Of all super-hero stories, the Legion is the easiest to keep perpetually new - rotate the older heroes out, and bring in new members to replace them. It's been part of the premise from the very beginning. Why on Earth anyone thought introducing a bunch of clones or rebooting the entire saga was a better idea is beyond me. So while the ongoing saga of the JSA grows ever weightier, the Legion has become nothing more than a series of fuzzier and fuzzier photocopies of itself. Would Doctor Who have been better off if both the TV movie and the new series had kicked off with Ian and Barbara wondering why one of their pupils is so preternaturally clever? Clearly not.
Never mind: at some point I'm sure someone who cares enough will reveal the years since Zero Hour to have been a plot of the Time Trapper, the Legion will find a way to put the broken pieces of Earth back together, and a bunch of brand new teenagers will be invited to join the team. Don't get me wrong: I'm certainly not one of the people who always want the originals reinstated. What I want is for stories to continue and develop.
In this book, though, you see everything going right, everything that was so good about the Legion. The stories grow and develop from one issue to the next. Towards the end there is a series of multi-part sagas, but even before that decisions in one issue will have ramifications explored in future stories. Characters die, lose limbs, leave the team, join the team, and, best of all, start to develop personalities. When reading "Computo the Conqueror" I gave a little cheer to see Brainiac 5 getting grumpy for the first time. "What is this--" he shouted via the tele-monitor, "a private lab or Grand Central Spaceport? Can't you read, Chameleon Boy? Shove off!"
Lots of notable issues here, but for now the most memorable is "The Legionnaire Who Killed", mainly for the panel where Invisible Kid yells to Star Boy, "Come on and join us, Star Boy... We're having the big computer decide who'd have the most fun kissing whom! It's a riot!" Chameleon Boy can be seen snogging away with Light Lass. Star Boy declines, leading Invisible Kid to note, "Funny... Star Boy never seems to have time for romance!" Seems like Invisible Kid is carrying a torch!
There's lots of similarly enjoyable daffiness in these pages, and if the actual enemies tend too often to lameness, that's forgivable when the heroes are so interesting and varied.
March 14, 2015
A large chunk of this volume is a middling success, good mediocrity. The likes of Edmond Hamilton, Jerry Siegel, Curt Swan and others churn out the quality material that they did in the same era with the same meh success on books like "Superman".
The stories are often a little bland, like where the bad guy they're fighting are less important than some team chemistry issue, or how great it is that the team is full of well intentioned super kids.
There should be some credit for good ideas that don't really pay off. Like how Lightning Lad becomes a space age Captain Ahab and attacks a space whale. A little rambling, but ok, as is the "forget Goldfinger, it's Starfinger" ad on the cover of an issue. But for all the clever bad guys (those aren't even that good), a lot of of the villains are guys with ray guns with clear commitment issues, like Dr. Regulus, or other space baddies, easily overcome once plan B or C comes into play.
The quality of the book is saved when Jim Shooter, later of dictatorial Ed. in chief of Marvel Comics fame, takes over the book. He clearly knows story structure better. The characters he invents (Karate Kid, Ferro Lad) seethe with much more power than the goofy other kids. It's only a handful of issues in this volume, but the stories have that modern intensity that was (obviously much more well written) seen in books like "X-Men" and Shooter's own run on "Avengers".
The fact that it's a big team book, and the kids hang out and work together and suspect each other and other adjectives helps a lot. By its very nature of like 30 characters to choose from, you can't languish in exposition. Too many characters to get too. The characters are a little underdeveloped for similar reasons. But the flow is dynamic.
4/5
The stories are often a little bland, like where the bad guy they're fighting are less important than some team chemistry issue, or how great it is that the team is full of well intentioned super kids.
There should be some credit for good ideas that don't really pay off. Like how Lightning Lad becomes a space age Captain Ahab and attacks a space whale. A little rambling, but ok, as is the "forget Goldfinger, it's Starfinger" ad on the cover of an issue. But for all the clever bad guys (those aren't even that good), a lot of of the villains are guys with ray guns with clear commitment issues, like Dr. Regulus, or other space baddies, easily overcome once plan B or C comes into play.
The quality of the book is saved when Jim Shooter, later of dictatorial Ed. in chief of Marvel Comics fame, takes over the book. He clearly knows story structure better. The characters he invents (Karate Kid, Ferro Lad) seethe with much more power than the goofy other kids. It's only a handful of issues in this volume, but the stories have that modern intensity that was (obviously much more well written) seen in books like "X-Men" and Shooter's own run on "Avengers".
The fact that it's a big team book, and the kids hang out and work together and suspect each other and other adjectives helps a lot. By its very nature of like 30 characters to choose from, you can't languish in exposition. Too many characters to get too. The characters are a little underdeveloped for similar reasons. But the flow is dynamic.
4/5
January 13, 2025
I am piecing collections together as I don't have the second omni but do the third.
So I reread the old showcase black and white reproductions.
This is an interesting study of evolving storytelling. You see a little more drama, some better handled characters. The book actually ends with 12-year-old Jim Shooter making his writing debut.
The danger has certainly increased. We lose limbs, powers, a third of one's self. People are expelled from the Legion for killing. There's a tonal shift, but juxtaposed to the staid DC polish.
Villains are starting to take shape. Starfinger, Doctor Regulus, the Time Trapper has his first more fleshed out appearance (which actually doesn't pay off his build up...), the Legion of Super-Villains return, probably the best of the bunch is Computo who lacks in design but makes up for it in most every other way. I don't recall if I made the Ultron connection before: it feels like Thomas pulled from Computo for our favorite oedipal robot. (Computo's shown no oedipal tendencies, yet)
All in all, the continuity is taking strides. The 30th Century is getting some fleshy bits on its plot-forced bones.
So I reread the old showcase black and white reproductions.
This is an interesting study of evolving storytelling. You see a little more drama, some better handled characters. The book actually ends with 12-year-old Jim Shooter making his writing debut.
The danger has certainly increased. We lose limbs, powers, a third of one's self. People are expelled from the Legion for killing. There's a tonal shift, but juxtaposed to the staid DC polish.
Villains are starting to take shape. Starfinger, Doctor Regulus, the Time Trapper has his first more fleshed out appearance (which actually doesn't pay off his build up...), the Legion of Super-Villains return, probably the best of the bunch is Computo who lacks in design but makes up for it in most every other way. I don't recall if I made the Ultron connection before: it feels like Thomas pulled from Computo for our favorite oedipal robot. (Computo's shown no oedipal tendencies, yet)
All in all, the continuity is taking strides. The 30th Century is getting some fleshy bits on its plot-forced bones.
June 19, 2008
I think this is still great, though not quite as great as the first volume. I say this because some things just don't work for me: the confrontation with Time Trapper, long delayed, sort of fizzles. There are stabs at greatness here that just don't work, hints of private lives we haven't seen, etc. But there are also some great stories here-- the first Computo story, for example, is great and brutal in its depictions of what really feels like a war. We see the introduction of Ferro Lad (we knew him well!) and the hint of more to come. I think this collection is sort of a stop-gap between the brilliant first volume and what I think will be the equally awesome third volume, and in itself, it's pretty solid entertainment.
December 19, 2008
Almost every story details an adventure of the Legion where they face a "traitor".
Whether it is an infiltrator, a member hypnotized, an elaborate ruse or just plain misunderstanding, betrayal is a common theme.
Whether it is an infiltrator, a member hypnotized, an elaborate ruse or just plain misunderstanding, betrayal is a common theme.
December 30, 2008
We start to get into darker territory here as Lightning Lad loses an arm and one of Triplicate Girl's bodies dies. Some classic stories of the Silver/Bronze Age here.
December 28, 2013
This has a great deal of my favorite early Legion stories.
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