Get-a-Life Boy's LSH Blog: Blast From the Past

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Blast From the Past

DC SAMPLER #2 1984
ROLL CALL: Blok, Bouncing Boy, Brainiac 5, Dawnstar, Dream Girl, Element Lad, Invisible Kid, Mon-El, Sun Boy, Timber Wolf, Ultra Boy, Wildfire

I ran across this gem in the 25-cent bin. It's a promotional giveaway that features double-page spreads of various DC titles from 1984.

The two-page spread on the Legion is narrated by Dr. Gym'll, and goes like this:

"Once upon a time that hasn't happened yet, three courageous youths banded together to form THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES. Over the years their little band grew and had many adventures, battling strange and wondrous foes and visiting incredible planets and dimensions. Some of their friends died, and so did some of their enemies...and along the way they became very famous. *HnfH*

"Our fables will take you from the modest two-hundred room flying headquarters of the Legionnaires of thirtieth-century Earth to the methane-rich worlds of the Gi'dispan, where humans can only survive in pressure bubbles. You may meet the twenty-two active Legionnaires...or more likely, their number may have changed by then. To ease your journey, the accompanying page has a short glossary of useful terms and names.

"The innumerable fans of the Legionnaires have published thousands of fanzines, besieged DC editors to keep them alive through their occasional creative lulls, and one of them even turned out to be the editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. If you've never tried the Legion, why don't you discover their secret? And remind them to sign my credit voucher...it's been two days now!"

The accompanying text page gives the following "useful terms and names":

DARKSEID - legendary god of evil, driven from the 30th century by the Legionnaires...but his curse lingers on...

DURLA - ruined in the six-minute war, this world is now inhabited by a race of shape=shifting liens, one of whom joined the LSH as Chameleon Boy

EXILE - not even the readers of the LEION know what this means - yet!

FLIGHT RINGS - each Legionnaire wears a ring of ant-gravity metal, activated by his will power

INVISIBLE KID - once a Legionnaire, he was crushed to death - but then was found alive in another dimensional limbo, convinced he'd gone to hell

KHUNDS - a warrior race from another galaxy, invading Earth is one of their hobbies

LEADER - Legion readers elect the team's leader every year or so - it's not too late to cast your vote this sumer!

LEGION OF SUPER-VILLAINS - a veritable army of enemies, banded together to create a universe without the Legionnaires

POLYMER SCREEN - a transparent molecular screen around the Earth, protecting it from a variety of dangers

SCIENCE POLICE - the United Planets' combination police force and army, led on Earth by Chief Zendak

UNITED PLANETS - the federation which united most of the Milky Way Galaxy

WEBER'S WORLD - the movable artificial globe which houses the U.P. bureaucracy