809 – Legion of Super-Villains and Luthor

No less than 7 months earlier, DC foreshadowed the Legion of Super-Villains and now we get their first appearance of the LSV in Superman #147 (June 1961). In prison, Luthor offers to repair other inmate’s radios, cobbling together a super-scientific device that can project his voice into the future for this hypothesized evil Legion to […]

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800 – Mon-El

Superboy #89 (April 1961), expands the Superboy/Superman/Legion mythos yet again by introducing another important character: Mon-El, also known as Lar Gand. After crash-landing on Earth, Superboy rescues the amnesiac young man who seems to have all the powers of a Kryptonian, carries a letter written in Kryptonese from Jor-El, and a locket expressing their love […]

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795 – More Legion Please

More Legionnaires are introduced in the Supergirl story in Action Comics #276 (March 1961). This time around, Saturn Girl and two new-to-us members Phantom Girl and Triplicate Girl play pranks on poor ol’ Kara Zor-El and then invite her into the future where they want her to try out again for Legion membership. That didn’t […]

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786 – New Legionnaire: Star Boy

After all that deeper thinking about character motivation, it’s time for something light-hearted and fun: a new Legionnaire is introduced in Adventure Comics #282 (Jan 1961): Star Boy! Lana wants to make Superboy jealous, so she eavesdrops as a new teen superhero arrives from the future to meet Superboy. She learns the teen’s identity is […]

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774 – Foreshadowing Another Future Legion

Superboy #68 (Nov 1960) features the next appearance of a young Lex Luthor in a Superboy story. Superboy eventually defeats the “Army of Living Kryptonite Men” by getting help another L.L: Lightning Lad from the Legion of Super-Heroes. Lex learns of the existence of the Legion and theorizes that a Legion of Super-Villains must also […]

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750 – Supergirl and the Legion

In Action Comics #267 (June 1960), the Legion of Super-Heroes makes a re-appearance in a Supergirl adventure. Confusingly Cosmic Lad, Saturn Girl, and Lightning Lad introduce themselves as children of the original Legion members. I guess maybe DC hadn’t figured out the timey-wimey-ness of it all. Interestingly, this is retconned a few years when the […]

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716 – Green Arrow and Aquaman

I’m sure I’ll stop posting every time new characters meet or team-up, but it’s still interesting to me at this point when it happens in the DC continuity (see Green Arrow meeting Superman). This month, in Adventure Comics #267 (Oct 1959), we get a bit of a unique twist when forgettable Aquaman and Green Arrow […]

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658 – The Legion of Super-Heroes!

In February 1958, Adventure Comics #247 introduced a set of heroes from the future that come to taunt Superboy, the Legion of Super-Heroes. Cosmic Boy has super-magnetism, Saturn Girl has “super-thought casting”, and Lightning Lad has “super-lightning” (in this first story he has the name “Lightning Boy”). For future super-pals, they are pretty cruel. First, […]

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539 – Superboy, Back to the Future

Only a couple months after visiting the 25th century, Superboy visits the 30th century in Superboy #27 (June 1953) in a story called “The Movie Star of Tomorrow!”. This time it is thanks to an inventor working on a device that captures artifacts from the past for his museum, who snags Superboy into the 30th […]

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461 – Chameleons in the Future

In All-Star Comics #56 (October 1950), the Justice Society of America take a trip into the 31st century by hitching a ride on a tour bus from the future. It seems like the future is plagued by chameleon creatures who can masquerade as anyone. The natural form of a Chameleon has pointy ears just like […]

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