Adventure Comics # 369, June, 1968

For the first time in a while we get another excellent two-parter, this one very atypical of the series as a whole both in plot and art. It's also the introduction of villain Mordru who would infamously be seen water-skiing a decade later on the inane LEGENDS OF THE SUPERHEROES TV special.

As seen in the ad above, DC was attempting to reinvent itself for the times. This was when Dick Giordano came over from Charlton, bringing along Steve Ditko, Jim Aparo, Denny O'Neil and others. Frank Robbins also made his first forays into non-newspaper comics, initially as a writer on FLASH and BATMAN. The issue seen above was, I believe, his first. It's filled with a bizarrely racist script in retrospect but oddly has more characterization than that series had seen in a while.

The Legion story debuts the new team of Curt Swan and Jack Abel who would also take over in SUPERMAN. Abel was an odd match for Swan but he definitely provided the different "look" DC wanted.

The plot had four Legionnaires going back to Superboy's time and making themselves forget their other identities...all to hide from Mordru, a previously unseen by the reader villain.

Note the infamous nuclear sub we all fantasized about so much! It was actually a barely workable selection of cardboard boxes. The nights I lay awake dreaming of taking the sub for a cruise in the Ohio were much better than the reality for those who actually ordered it.

^^^EXTRA^^^ Superboy # 147, May/June, 1968

Here's the one-off LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES 80 Page Giant that appeared under the SUPERBOY banner. I mentioned it yesterday and got everything about it completely wrong so I thought we should take a closer look at it, starting with the absolutely lovely faces on the cover drawn by the unlikely team of Curt Swan and Neal Adams.

I had said yesterday that this reprinted the Lightning Lad Saga but that was actually later. This one was highlighted by an all-new attempt at the Legion's origin, written by DC's continuity king, E. Nelson Bridwell and drawn by Pete Costanza. The rest of the issue is rounded out with pre-LEGION series that tie in to LSH continuity. These include some Superboys, a Supergirl and a Supermanfeaturing the first, almost throwaway, Adult Legion appearance.

Adventure Comics # 368, May, 1968

More coasting, more revolting girls, another nice Adamscover  and some nice interior Swan/Klein art. 

Since ADVENTURE never did get its own 80 Page Giant in the Silver Age, it was left to a SUPERBOY 80 Page Giant to reprint the Death of Lightning Lad saga previously published here.

Ultra Boy proves to be the winner of the election for new Legion leader amongst the fans in the letters column of recent issues. 

Unfortunately, 1968 would prove to me to be the year that many DC titles "jumped the shark."Among those I found myself liking less and less were the two seen here, THE ATOM and CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN.

Even the TV shows weren't quite as good as they had been just a season earlier. I was not a big fan of THE INVADERS.

Adventure Comics # 367, April, 1968

Another Neal Adams cover for another important but not exactly well-done issue. This ish introduces not just the new LSH headquarters but also The Controllers and that great Deus Ex Machina of future plotlines, The Miracle Machine. 

Adventure Comics # 366, March, 1968

Another great Adams cover. By this point, Neal was becoming the main cover artist at DC although Infantino has been said to have continued most of the designs for the covers. The story itself, although featuring the first return of The Fatal Five, is pretty threadbare. We do see Shadow Lass as a full member, though, and the destruction of the Legion's distinctive rocketship clubhouse, setting up the upcoming appearance of their impossible to draw the same way twice HQ.

Adventure Comics # 365, February, 1968

A nice Neal Adams cover but another lackluster issue, made memorable by the debut of Shadow Lass who was foreshadowed in the Adult Legion story. This story came in short, even, leading to eight pages of yet another "Meet the Legion" kind of thing.