The Legion Clubhouse #006: The MacGuffin Legion (and Mark Waid too!)

04/14/17 • 67 min

In this episode of The Legion Clubhouse, we examine Superboy #98, and Adventure Comics #300 and discover the point where the Legion goes from a plot device to main event. Also, Legion of Super-Heroes writer, Mark Waid stops by to talk about his favorite Legion member.

In the city of Metropolis, in the 30th Century, there exists one of the most amazing clubs of all time! It's members are teen-aged youths, each possessing on special super-powers! The club members have vowed to use their fantastic power to battle crime... This rocket shaped building is the Legion Clubhouse!

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Superboy #98
The Boy with Ultra-Powers!
July 1962
w:Jerry Siegel
a: Curt Swan
A super-powered young man named Ultra-Boy has arrived in Smallville with his guide Marla Latham, for the purpose of trying to learn the secret identity of Superboy. Mingling in with the youth of Smallville, Ultra-Boy attempts to learn Superboy's secret identity, at first asking Superboy's confidant Pete Ross. This cause Pete to worry about accidentally revealing the fact that he knows Superboy's secret identity.

Meanwhile, both Ultra-Boy and Superboy find out that they are really costumed super-heroes when they both scan each other with their x-ray visions and see their costumes under each other. When Pete is trapped in the Smallville bank's vault, Ultra-Boy and Superboy arrive to save him. However, when Superboy's x-ray vision is unable to peer into the workings of the lead based vault door, Ultra-Boy is able to do so because his vision does not have the same limitation.

With Pete Ross freed, Ultra-Boy reveals to Superboy his purpose for trying to learn Superboy's identity: That he's really an alien from the 30th Century, and that his reward for learning Superboy's identity would be membership in the Legion of Super-Heroes. With his mission a success Ultra-Boy returns to the future with Marla and bids farewell to Superboy and Pete. - via DC Wikia

Adventure Comics #300
Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes
September 1962
w: Jerry Siegel
a: John Forte/Al Plastino
When the powers of the Legionnaires go out of control, they summon Superboy to the 30th century to aid them. They discover the cause is a lead masked villain called Urthlo. When Urthlo drives back Superboy with Kryptonite vision, Superboy frees Mon-El from the Phantom Zone long enough for him to defeat Urthlo, who turns out to be a robot sent to the future by the teen-age Lex Luthor. But when the lead antidote (Serum XY-4) created for Mon-El proves to only be temporary, he is returned to the Phantom Zone to save his life. - via DC Wikia

Previous Episode

Major Spoilers Podcast #724: Death and Taxes!

This week on the Major Spoilers Podcast: Taxes! Death and Taxes! Plus, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, Royals #1, and Lilith Dark #1. We also discuss the age old question, hard shell or soft?

NEWS
New Warriors headed to Freeform
http://majorspoilers.com/2017/04/06/television-new-warriors-headed-freeform/

REVIEWS
STEPHEN
Nancy Drew And The Hardy Boys: The Big Lie #2
Writer: Anthony Del Col
Artist: Werther Dell’Edera
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Cover Price: $3.99
Nancy Drew has a killer plan. In order to clear their names from accusations of their father’s murder, she and the Hardy Boys will have to infiltrate a family of petty thieves — by beating them at their own (card) games!

The classic characters dive deeper into the seedy underbelly of a tourist-town — and they begin to find out if they’re really able to go bad in order to do good.
[rating: 4.5/5]

MATTHEW
Royals #1
Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Jonboy Meyers
Publisher: Marvel
Cover Price: $3.99

THE “RESURRXION” OF THE INHUMANS BEGINS!

A myth from the future. A quest to the far stars. A legend written across galaxies. Guided by the other-dimensional Kree warrior known as Marvel Boy, the Inhuman Royal Family departs on an odyssey across all creation on search for lost secrets – and the last hope – of their people.
Penned by fan-favorite Al Ewing (The Ultimates, New Avengers, Loki: Agent of Asgard) and drawn by the white-hot Jonboy Meyers (Teen Titans, Spawn), ROYALS is a Marvel-style space epic that takes the Inhuman Royal Family and plunges them into the unknown! The knowledge they seek could change the course of Inhuman destiny, but it cannot be attained without cost...for at the end of days, the Last Inhuman tells the tale of how seven left Earth for the stars...but only six return
[rating: 2/5]

RODRIGO
Lilith Dark #1
Writer/Artist: Charles C. Dowd
Publisher: Alterna Comics
Cover Price: $1.50
Lilith Dark has no time for princess stuff; she’s far too busy fighting giant monsters and capturing unicorns... or at least that’s how she imagines things. But what if these imaginary beasties, creatures, and monsters were actually real? What then? Printed on nostalgic newsprint with a glossy cover!
[rating: 3/5]

ASHLEY
MOTOR CRUSH #5
Writer: Brenden Fletcher & Cameron Stewart
Artist: : Babs Tarr
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
END OF STORY ARC. END OF VOLUME 1. Domino is forced to make impossible choices and everything falls apart. Featuring part five of ISOLA: PROLOGUE by BRENDEN FLETCHER and KARL KERSCHL, the final chapter of the prelude to ISOLA: ISLAND OF THE DEAD #1, coming soon!
[rating: 4.5/5]

MAJOR SPOILERS POLL OF THE WEEK
http://majorspoilers.com/2017/04/11/major-spoilers-poll-week-taco-tuesday-edition/

TRADE PAPERBACK DISCUSSION
Blood from a Stone: A Cartoon Guide to Tax Reform
While most comic books deal with spandex-suited superheroes saving the day, the protagonists in New York Public Interest Research Group's (NYPIRG) "Blood from a Stone: A Cartoon Guide to Tax Reform," published in 1977, are the everyday taxpayers who are getting shafted by a tax code increasingly riddled with loopholes that directly benefit the rich. The only full-fledged, full-length comic book we know of that’s dedicated to the issue of tax reform, "Blood from a Stone” offers a concise and witty introduction to the history of taxation and the need for progressive tax reform in the United States.

While the comic is now over 36 years old, it remains strikingly prescient considering that tax reform has once again become one of the dominant topics of debate in Washington. In fact, many of the specific tax breaks called out as in need of reform in the comic, such as the preferential rate for capital gains or accelerated depreciation, are on the top of the list of the breaks that still need to go!

We are proud to pluck this comic from its obscurity and to post, for the first time since its original release, a digitized copy of this fascinating comic in its entirety. - via TaxJusticeBlog http://www.taxjusticeblog.org/archive/2013/09/exclusive_vintage_tax_reform_c.php#.WO0iF1MrIUG

CLOSE
Contact us at [email protected]

Call the Major Spoilers Hotline at (785) 727-1939.

A big Thank You goes out to everyone who downloads, subscribes, listens, and supports this show. We really appreciate you taking the time to listen to our ramblings each week. Tell your friends!

Next Episode

Major Spoilers Podcast #725: JLA: The Nail

This week on the Major Spoilers Podcast: A world without Superman!? Say it isn’t so, The Nail. Plus, Doctor Who, Cthulhu, The Judas Contract, and at least one comic book review!

NEWS
The Last Jedi Trailer
http://majorspoilers.com/2017/04/14/movies-behold-glory-star-wars-last-jedi/

REVIEWS
STEPHEN
The Call of Cthulhu for Beginning Readers
Writer/Illustrator: R.J. Ivankovic
Publisher: Chaosium
Cover Price: $9.95
The iconic Lovecraft story, The Call of Cthulhu, is now a children's book!

The late Professor Angell's research has been discovered by his grand-nephew, Francis Wayland Thurston. Francis delves into the papers and discovers a bas-relief depicting an odd creature with an octopoid head, spurring him to read on. He learns of the raid led by Inspector Legrasse and the voyage of the Vigilant, captained by Gustaf Johansen.
[rating: 4.5/5]

MATTHEW
DOCTOR WHO -SEASON 10 Episode 1 "The Pilot"

The Doctor and Nardole have occupied themselves under the guise of a university professor and assistant. Bill Potts is called to the Doctor's office, where Bill becomes the Doctor's student.

[rating: 4/5]

RODRIGO
AMERIKARATE #2
Writer(s): Brockton McKinney, Corey Kalman
Artist Name(s): Devin Roth
Publisher; Action Lab Comics
Sam Kickwell has been thrown back into the high-stakes world of professional karating thanks to the ninja assassin who took his limbless brother’s life. But while he prepares for the fight of the century, he inadvertently comes kick-to-kick with FBI karate expert Cynthia Weaver. Will the two team-up to take down a megalomaniacal maniac...or will their sparks ignite a karate-fire that will consume them both?!
[rating: 3/5]

ASHLEY
TEEN TITANS THE JUDAS CONTRACT
Director: Sam Liu
Writer: Ernie Altbacker
Tara Markov is a girl who has power over earth and stone; she is also more than she seems. Is the newest Teen Titan an ally or a threat? And what are the mercenary Deathstroke's plans for the Titans?
[rating: 4/5]

MAJOR SPOILERS POLL OF THE WEEK
http://majorspoilers.com/2017/04/18/major-spoilers-poll-week-doctor-edition/

TRADE PAPERBACK DISCUSSION
JLA: The Nail
Writer: Alan Davis
Artist: Mark Farmer
An Elseworlds tale!

What if there was no Superman? What if the DC Universe was forever changed because of a single, tiny nail? Collected together for the first time ever, these two Elseworlds classics examine a world without the Man of Steel after, years in the past, a flat tire prevents Ma and Pa Kent from discovering a small rocket ship with an alien baby inside.

As a result, the world's greatest hero never comes to be. Without Superman as a symbol of unimpeachable integrity or a selfless leader who inspires greatness in their ranks, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Aquaman, the Atom, and Green Lantern must battle public contempt and personal mistrust as they attempt to work together to protect a world that fears them.

CLOSE
Contact us at [email protected]

Call the Major Spoilers Hotline at (785) 727-1939.

A big Thank You goes out to everyone who downloads, subscribes, listens, and supports this show. We really appreciate you taking the time to listen to our ramblings each week. Tell your friends!

Closing music comes from Ookla the Mok.