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The Legion in the 1960's
Dec. 28th, 2011 09:21 pmCross-Posted to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
comicbookbears
I was reading the Adventure Comics (Digest Version) that came out in the 1980's, where DC reprinted in color the Legion of Super-Heroes stories from Adventure Comics in the 1960's. Being a big fan of the Legion, it's fun to read these original stories and how they have evolved. I especially love the Legion "tryout" stories, where heroes with questionable powers tried to make it on the team.
This panel from Adventure Comics 309 struck me as funny. It's the issue where Bouncing Boy defeats the Earthquake Beast. When the team decides that only one of them will fight the beast and attack the Monster Master, Brainiac 5 is quick to exclude Saturn Girl because "it's too risky a mission for a girl."
While this story is from 1963, with 1960's mentality regarding women, it is still a bit ironic. Saturn Girl was the first female Legion leader (and the first female leader of a superhero team for DC), and was leader during this story. Yet, the boys on the team deem it too risky for her and she doesn't pull rank. I wonder if the writer of this story didn't think this would be weird, but it seems to stand out as odd to us present-day readers (or at least to me).
comicbookbearsI was reading the Adventure Comics (Digest Version) that came out in the 1980's, where DC reprinted in color the Legion of Super-Heroes stories from Adventure Comics in the 1960's. Being a big fan of the Legion, it's fun to read these original stories and how they have evolved. I especially love the Legion "tryout" stories, where heroes with questionable powers tried to make it on the team.
This panel from Adventure Comics 309 struck me as funny. It's the issue where Bouncing Boy defeats the Earthquake Beast. When the team decides that only one of them will fight the beast and attack the Monster Master, Brainiac 5 is quick to exclude Saturn Girl because "it's too risky a mission for a girl."
While this story is from 1963, with 1960's mentality regarding women, it is still a bit ironic. Saturn Girl was the first female Legion leader (and the first female leader of a superhero team for DC), and was leader during this story. Yet, the boys on the team deem it too risky for her and she doesn't pull rank. I wonder if the writer of this story didn't think this would be weird, but it seems to stand out as odd to us present-day readers (or at least to me).
