Ok, how about this for an idea. We take it in turns to post a favourite (British spelling) comic cover every day. This went really well on the comic fan website that I used to frequent. What we tried to do was find a theme or subject and follow that, until we all got bored with that theme. I'd like to propose a theme of letters of the alphabet. So, for the remainder of October (only 5 days) and all of November, we post comic cover pictures associated with the letter "A". Then in December, we post covers pertaining to the letter "B". The association to the letter can be as tenuous as you want it to be. For example I could post a cover from "Adventure Comics" or "Amazing Spider Man". However Spider Man covers can also be posted when we're on the letter "S". Adventure Comic covers could also be posted when we're on the letter "L" if they depict the Legion of Super Heroes. So, no real hard, fast rules - in fact the cleverer the interpretation of the letter, the better, as far as I'm concerned.
And it's not written in stone that we have to post a cover every day. There may be some days when no cover gets posted. There's nothing wrong with this, it just demonstrates that we all have lives to lead.
If everyone's in agreement I'd like to kick this off with one of my favourite Action Comic covers, from January 1967. Curt Swan really excelled himself here.
Discussion and voting on future monthly themes takes place on the "Nominations, Themes and Statistics for A Cover A Day" thread. Click here to view the thread.
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Guy in Chair: "Guess I picked the wrong nday to cosplay as Clark Kent!"
Jack Abel's style is very recognizable, on hindsight.
DC Challenge #10 (August 1986), cover by Curt Swan and Terry Austin.
Leading Comics #14 was the last of that title to feature superheroes.
Who is missing?
Superboy & Supergirl, but they weren't the focus of the stories at this time.
Dream Girl, but one could argue she had left after her introduction only to rejoin years later.
Matter-Eater Lad, poor guy gets so little respect.
Mon-El. He was a heavy hitter. His absence is curious.
Here's a digression. I was over in Wikipedia making certain of the timeline of the characters when I came across the comment that Superboy, Mon-EL, and Ultra Boy were the most powerful Legionnaires at this time. Hmmm, what about Supergirl?
I have always found this interesting since for 60 years I've always thought Element Lad could take them all out with a wink of his eye, so to speak. "Superboy and Supergirl, let's see how you do once I turn your hair to kryptonite. Mon-El let's see how you do if I transmutate the elements in the serum that negates your lead poisoning. Ultra Boy, let's see what happens if I turn the iron in your blood into tin." Of course, Element Lad would never do this, but he is incredibly powerful and potentially dangerous. Was this ever addressed?
I came across the comment that Superboy, Mon-EL, and Ultra Boy were the most powerful Legionnaires at this time.
That is precisely how how they were depicted at the time. I remember at least one issue when The Big Three were sent after the Time Trapper. Not only were they considered the most powerful, but all three could travel through time unaided. (Although the Li'l Capn wondered how Ultra Boy could use his Ultra-speed to do so, without using Ultra-invulnerability to survive the journey. Maybe he was just Ultra-invulnerable all the while, and the other two carried him at super-speed.)
Hmmm, what about Supergirl?
I don't know if I have an objective answer Dave, but I can offer my perspective. I was an avid reader of the Legion as a lad, and I can say that Supergirl simply didn't appear much in the Silver Age mainstay of the group, Adventure Comics. I don't remember her every appearance, but a quick search finds Adventure #323 (Luthor time travels, attacks Superboy and Supergirl), #350 (Superboy and Supergirl must leave Legion due to kryptonite cloud), #368 (girls take over the Legion) and three disconnected stories in #374-376. I'd guess that Supergirl visited the 30th century more in her own strip in Action Comics, but honestly, I don't remember much of that, either. Her appearances were so few that the Li'l Capn considered her more of an honorary member, like Jimmy Olsen. She was indeed a full member, but that's not how it looked to little me.
Howcum? Well, I'd guess sexism to be at least part of the answer, among writers, editors AND readers (Superboy was far more popular than Supergirl). But also, since Superboy was basically the star of most LSH stories, she would be redundant. (Those three back-to-back issues I'd explain as editor Mort Weisinger throwing everything at the wall to see what would stick, as the LSH was declining in popularity and would soon leave the book with Adventure #380.)
In modern times she she is depicted as more active with the group. But back then, she wasn't.
I have always found this interesting since for 60 years I've always thought Element Lad could take them all out with a wink of his eye, so to speak. ... Was this ever addressed?
In the Silver Age? Not that I recall, and I was looking for it. (Commander Benson might recall an episode, so I hope he's reading this.) It occurred to little me that Element Lad was the most powerful Legionnaire, but he was never depicted that way. In fact, he didn't show up very often at all. In retrospect, that was probably because he was so ridiculously powerful -- he could have ended most stories on page 2! As a result of this indignity, E-Lad was one of my favorite Legionnaires. Justice for Element Lad!
Chemical King was another extremely powerful Legionnaire who got short shrift, but in his case I was old enough to figure that the writers didn't understand his power well enough to use him. i don't know if that's true or not, but he was never used to full capacity and killed off relatively quickly.
That was Adventure Comics #314 (N'63) when Ultra Boy was first seen being just a notch less powerful than Superboy and Mon-El and having his one-at-a-time powers. Prior to this, he used his vision powers only. This sets up Adventure #316 (Ja'64) where he really shines as one of the Legion's strongest.
Technically, there's another contender for sttrongest Legionnaire: the seldom seen at the time Star Boy with his Superboy-like powers. However this was changed in Adventure #317 (F'64) when he suddenly went from more powerful than a space cruiser to beig able to make things super-heavy!
But we know who the Mightiest Legionnaire is (even if this cover doesn't fit either of this month's themes):
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