Steven Howell Wilson's Blog, page 22

The Colonel’s Plan – The Blue Bathroom – Part 4

September 15, 2017 (Continued)

Dear Daddy,

So the guy at Kendall’s told me that no hardware store could rip tile, and I’d need to spend $25 – $50 to get one tile ripped by a home contractor.

I believed him, but I was headed to Catonsville later anyway, to meet Ethan. You probably never knew that Ethan, Christian and I have, for years, gone to Cosmic Comix in Ellicott City, and later in Catonsville, every Wednesday. That’s the day new comics come out. You never understood my love of comic book...

Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Read – “The Unknown Legionnaire” (Adventure Comics #334, July, 1965)

The timeline in this story is a bit odd. It begins with a framing sequence, where the Legionnaires visit a planet in the Antares system and find a statue honoring the Unknown Legionnaire. Superboy asks if anyone remembers that adventure, as if it was long ago. This isn’t the first time it’s been made to sound as if the Legion’s adventures have been going on for the seven real time years the group has been in existence. Age-wise, Superboy hasn’t aged out of high school yet, which puts a pretty...

Review – Iron Cage by Andre Norton

I’ve never read Norton, which is odd, her being one of the most celebrated science fiction authors of her generation. But I think it’s like this: I started reading SF at a time when Norton was still a relatively new author. By “relatively new,” I mean her books began being published around the time I was born, and I began reading SF at age 8. When I did, I started with Bradbury, Williamson, Clarke and Blish, segued to Asimov and then to Heinlein.

All of these authors, while around the same ag...

Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Read – “The War Between Krypton and Earth!” (Adventure Comics #333, June, 1965)

The Grand Comic Book Database credits Hamilton and Forte with bringing us an ambitious adventure—a tale of time-travel, war, young love, betrayal and the origins of three civilizations. And, along the way, the Legion will divide into opposing camps and fight a war against each other. That couldn’t happen, you say? Well, it did happen, right here in these pages. That makes no sense, you say?

Well, ya got me there. It makes not one damn bit of sense. But, hey, did I mention it was ambitious? An...

Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Read: “The Super-Moby Dick of Space!” (Adventure Comics #332, May, 1965)

The “A” team returns, with Edmond Hamilton and John Forte bringing us an important chapter in Legion history—the conflict with a space beast so powerful that even Superboy can’t defeat it. In discovering and attempting to subdue the metal-eating monster which is ravaging space traffic, Lightning Lad is caught in a backlash of his own powers. His lightning blast, poisoned by some green radiation emanating from the Super-Moby Dick’s body, infects his right hand and arm. To save his life, eminen...

“The Triumph of the Legion of Super-Villains” (Adventure Comics #331, April, 1965)

Last week, as you recall…

Okay, it was last month, for readers in 1965, that Dynamo Boy, aka Vorm of the Space Pirate Pack, wormed his way (vormed his way?) into the Legion and expelled all of the sitting members, promising to turn the Legion of Super-Heroes into a “Legion of Super-Villains.” As if somehow sensing that someone in the past was infringing on the intellectual property, the three founding members of the actual Legion of Super-Villains arrive from “a few years in the future.” More...

Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Read – “Secret of the Mystery Legionnaire” (Adventure Comics #330, March, 1965)

“Secret of the Mystery Legionnaire” – a title that sounds like several others: The Secret Power of the Mystery Super-Hero, The Secret of the Mystery Legionnaire, The Secret of the Seventh Super-Hero… More evidence that DC was gearing books toward readers who picked up the odd issue now and then, and wouldn’t notice the repetition. This, even though the Legion was a series clearly aimed at people who kept up with the history, and knew that new stories built on old ones.

The splash page looks l...

The Colonel’s Plan – The Blue Bathroom – Part 3

September 15, 2017 (Continued)

Dear Daddy,

Once Gary had the shower base and the rough plumbing in place, I started on the floor. You had bought and installed beige mosaic tile in the bathroom downstairs, the only one you finished. There was identical tile, in shades of pink, for Susan’s bathroom. I had assumed there was similar blue mosaic tile for this room, but, when I took inventory of the tile, lovingly stored these past 50 years, I didn’t have anything like that. I asked Mike if there w...

Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Read – “The Bizarro-Legion” (Adventure Comics #329, February, 1965)

For some months, Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney took over writing and drawing the Legion’s adventures. It’s a pleasure to see Mooney’s pencils on the Legion, and, while a Bizarro story does not exactly fit the tone fans were probably looking for, Siegel at least takes the time to mention the ongoing Time Trapper subplot in this story, and to mention the mystery of a vanishing world that the Legion is planning to investigate. Whether this was laying groundwork for a future story, or just remindin...

Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Read – “Superboy and the Five Legion Traitors!” (Superboy #117, December, 1964)

In a short-and-sweet entry from regular Superboy creators Jerry Siegel and Curt Swan, Clark Kent is surprised to see five of his pals from the future land a time sphere in the middle of Smallville. He’s the only one who’s surprised, though. Apparently, the Legionnaires have sent a message “by rocket,” alerting the townspeople of their impending visit. The Legion flag flies proudly in the town square, and a proclamation welcomes the distinguished visitors.

Shyeah, this kinda thing happened eve...