Amazing World Of DC Comics #9 - Legion Of Super-Heroes

After recently reviewing some Supergirl stuff in the old Amazing Heroes fanzine, I thought I would take a look at other older comic publicity magazines I have that have some Supergirl specific content.

Amazing World of DC Comics #9, cover date November 1975, was an all Legion issue of the DC produced publicity magazine. This is the only Amazing World issue I own, although there are plenty more that I wish I did. I look for them all the time at conventions, hoping to find the 'Superman issue', the 'Julius Schwartz issue', and many others.

For Legion fans, this book is a treasure trove and a time capsule. It includes 'Who's Who' style write-ups of all the Legionnaires, their villains, and other ancillary characters. Interestingly enough, the idea of the 'adult Legion' stories as being part of future continuity is leaned on heavily here. Entries including quotes like 'as seen in the Adult Legion stories, he dies rescuing a planet' or 'in the future Brin marries Ayla and they have three children'. I didn't realize that such information was considered valid in the 70s. This also is right around the time that  Mike Grell was hitting his stride with the book and characters so it is a beautiful book to look at.

It also has a section on the Legion constitution which includes 'direct quotes' when available. So that section is more cobbled together from inferences made in issues as well as quoting the document. Later the constitution is actually written up and published.

The Who's Who section has small pictures which showcase the Legionnaires, grouped together by alphabetical order. Here is the Supergirl and Superboy picture. These pics are noirish, inkier than usual Legion fare, and in some instances sort of eerie. There isn't an artist credit for these pics so I don't know (or can recognize) who did them. Nice classic hero poses for the cousins here.

For comparison and to see what I mean about style, here is this pic with Saturn Girl, Phantom Girl, Vi, Pete Ross, Jeckie, and others.

And here is the Supergirl section. I had forgotten about the 'The Unknown Legionnaire' story so it was nice to be reminded about that.

I reviewed Superboy #204, a sort of creepy story foreshadowing Brainiac 5's sanity issues, long ago here. Man, that was from 2008! Feels like yesterday. It is always interesting to see how the Kara/Querl romance is covered in things like this. (Brainiac 5's entry includes the line "He never got over his crush on the Girl of Steel.")

Of course, that wasn't the last time Supergirl worked with the Legion.

The center spread (sorry for wonky scan) is a black and white version of Dave Cockrum's Bouncing Boy/Duo Damsel wedding ceremony from Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #200. It is a fun spread to peruse, picking out all the old-school Legion characters.

There on the left is Supergirl and Brainiac 5 taking in the festivities. This is the 'beaded shorts/slippers' version of the 70s Supergirl costume.

The rest of the issue includes an unpublished page from the Legion issue where Matter-Eater Lad retires. And there is a chunk of 'Direct Currents', the list of upcoming DC solicits.

These books are a sort of curiosity now, a look back at the beginning of the Bronze Age and a time when the Legion was looking different, feeling different, and picking up some momentum. This issue is a nice find for Legion fanatics, like me I guess. For Supergirl completists, it is a nice little addition. But otherwise, I don't think there is much appeal for this.

I do like that Supergirl black-and-white picture that accompanied her entry, sort of a murkier look at the super-cousins.