Legion of Super Heroes: The Silver Age Omnibus Vol. 1

Very high quality color reproduction of the Legion stories from the very beginning. It starts with the story from Adventure 247, a single comic book which in fine condition sells for ten times the price of this hardcover. I hope this series continues at least up through Crisis. I would rather read a book than handle my valuable vintage comics. The black and white series was disappointing, it's nice to see another run in full color. This is a large book, and it covers I believe up through Adventure Comics #328. Before Jim Shooter stood the whole thing on its ear and showed comics could be far more dramatic and far less predictable and stiff and goody two-shoes. I do hope the next series covers the Shooter era. you have to be a bit crazy to love the Legion. It's often downright hokey but no more so than any other comics of the time - the hero must explain his thought process in every panel and even the bad guys don't die. But death came to the Legion, and Shooter brilliantly followed the story with a future story that said "See - fifteen years in the future and he's still dead". The Silver Age hardcover is a good start. It's ironic to buy hard cover reprints of pulp that cost 10 cents at the time, but it's equally amazing the original art work is intact for all of these stories so they can be reprinted in high quality color. It will take me a while to catch up, maybe by the time I finish this archive the next volume will be available.

Good delivery time, quality product with no damage. Great packaging. Impressive.

For whatever reason DC went all in on their Legion of Super-Heroes archives producing 13 in total. That is the most of any of the Archive series and spanned nearly two solid decades of material. I’d read most of the stories in this Omnibus when they were reprinted in Adventure Comics back in the early 80’s but the image size and quality of the Omnibus editions are light years better. The first volume of the Omnibus series contains the LoSH stories from Adventure Comics up to issue 328 which is precisely the amount of material from the first three volumes of the Archive series. Any comic featuring the LoSH is included such as Action Comics, Superboy, Jimmy Olsen and so on. Given that you get almost exactly three Archive volumes worth of comics I would say that the current price tag of around $47 is very reasonable. Even the full retail price of $75 wouldn’t be outrageous compared to the Archives. The images between the Archives and Omnibus are about the same but the page sizes are slightly larger in the Omnibus so I would say that the Omnibus’ are superior to the Archives in pretty much every way unless you PREFER a smaller book and some people may. On the other hand, if you’re planning on collecting the Archives in 2017 you may get a sticker shock.First introduced in 1958, the original Legion of Super-Heroes were totally a product of their era. When they reveal to Superboy that they are from 30th century he’s completely unsurprised. This was the wacky Silver Age where anything could happen so a group of time travelling super teens wouldn’t cause Superboy to bat an eyelash. Originally, we only meet the first three members of the LoSH, Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy and Lightning Lad although we do see that there are clearly additional members. It’s with their third appearance that things change. The three Legion members now claim to be the CHILDREN of the original three who met Superboy, although that change was ignored in future stories. More importantly, we find out that the Legion members (which now number six) are all from different planets. All members must be 18 years or younger and they only accept one per year. Some simple mental math will show the major flaws in this setup.There is a lot of time travel strangeness going on in the early stories. It was as if the writers seemed to think that present time and future time were advancing concurrently. That’s the reason Supergirl met the children of the original LoSH, because she met them when Superman was an adult. In another story Superman meets the Legion and THEY are now adults. Another time, Supergirl wants to play matchmaker for Superman and purposely flies 10 years past their usual 30th century stop off in order to meet an adult Saturn Girl (Woman). The stories never concern themselves with the fact that all this time travel could theoretically correct any accidents or defeat any threats. This was the Silver Age and it’s all just for fun.Would I personally buy the LoSH Omnibus if I already own the Archives? No. I don’t think the Omnibus are that big an upgrade over the Archives and unlike the Superman or Batman Archives the LoSH Archives were fairly complete unless you wanted stories after 1977. I never got the Legion Archives despite being a big fan so this is perfect for me. I know one reviewer complained that this is the thinnest Omnibus he’s seen but at over 680 pages it’s a hefty book and the 1000+ page books can be a bit unwieldy. DC is pretty good about pricing their Omnibus books based on the volume of content so I don’t think they can be accused of ripping off fans. There is seven years of material here and that’s more than enough to keep me happy.

Not as much material as some of the other collections in the same series hence the loss of a star but it's still a sizable chunk of story and it saves you the disappointment and time of digging through bins at shops. It's a good volume for people who have some fond memories of this time in graphic art or people who like team books, and also for people who want to study the differences between art back then and the style of what we see in 2017 or for persons who just enjoy team books. One caveat though- the characters aren't as well developed in these issues as they would be written later in the Bronze Age time period- these books are more about the heroes displaying their different powers to solve that months problem than anything else- character development would come in later years. One good thing about these books though is that they're appropriate for any age since the stories arent harsh gritty or violent as we see in 2017 and overall the stories give the reader a valuable lesson about working together for the common good which is a nice message and the art really pops in this edition.

This edition is a joy to have. I have these stories in many formats already, from the original comics to the Archives and various softcover collections, but this full-size printing of these stories enables appreciation of the artwork. The large number of stories included shows the development of themes and story arcs over several years, e.g. the death and resurrection of Lightning Lad and of course, my favourite, the whole uplifting saga of the Legion of Substitute Heroes develops in this single volume.If I could have wished for one more thing to make this perfect, it would have been the insertion of Lois Lane #50, which is necessary to justify the "double" celebration announced on the cover of Superboy & the Legion of Super-Heroes #247 many years later.I heartily recommend this book to anyone who wishes to experience the joy of the silver age.

Este tomo trae muy gratos recuerdos para quienes leíamos estas aventuras de la Legión de Super-héroes de la extinta Editorial Novaro, aquí en México.

Brilliant. Fantastic Hardcover Legion of Super Hero Comics from 1958 to 1965. Any fan of these comics will relish the return of childhood memories these stories bring back.

Muy muy buena edición. Viendo que ecc no va a editar estas historias en la vida estas ediciones son la única opción.

First rate collection of the early tales of Legion of Super Heroes starring Saturn Girl, Mon-el (of Supergirl fame), Brainiac 5 and many others. The stories are generally plain daft but they are still very enjoyable. The art and colour and reproduction are all superb and this is a real pleasure to read all the original tales without the need to buy the old 60s comics (most I had at the time but now, sadly not) and spend a fortune getting them all. As ever with the DC books, no extras which is a real pity. A lot easier to read as it is a little lighter than many of the other omnibus books. Some of the stories are duplicates of stories in other books such as Supergirl but that is no big deal as perhaps you may not want those tales.

Gran omnibus, el origen de la Legion y como impacto en el futuro de Superman, Supergirl y todo el universo DC