It never happened...

[Dark Gilligan]

I seem to remember his clothes on that other world being a shirt that resembles the normal Superman shirt, but with orange pants with black pinstripes.

That's the one! Everyone's clothes had a distinctly '60s look about them. Very mod. I remember Kal-El's adopted sister, the villain of the story, wore a miniskirt and big hoop earrings. (When she wasn't wearing bearskins, of course).

You gotta love the Silver Age. Loopy stuff like that happened all the time and no one ever complained about continuity.

 

[the G-man]

I remember a Superman story from the early '70s in which it was revealed that he was over 100 years old but had no memory of it....Kal-El is found by his son who has discovered a "restart button" of sorts. The son uses his scientific skill to reverse-age Kal-El back into an infant again, then launches him away in the same rocket that brought him to this world a century before...the story ends where Superman's memory begins, with the crash landing in Smallville. He would never know of his past life.

I believe this story was retconned into an Elseworlds tale, but at the time it was first published it was regarded as Superman's actual history.

Wow. That's right up (down) there with:

• Mopee the Elf giving Flash his powers;
• Batman's long lost 'retarded' older brother; and
• Clark Kent's glasses were made of a Kryptonian material that super-hypnotized people into thinking he looked nothing like Superman.

(All of which Grant Morrison will probably bring back, sadly enough)

 

[RJDiogenes]

I seem to remember his clothes on that other world being a shirt that resembles the normal Superman shirt, but with orange pants with black pinstripes.

That's the one! Everyone's clothes had a distinctly '60s look about them. Very mod. I remember Kal-El's adopted sister, the villain of the story, wore a miniskirt and big hoop earrings. (When she wasn't wearing bearskins, of course).

You gotta love the Silver Age. Loopy stuff like that happened all the time and no one ever complained about continuity.

Yeah, DC was really distinct from Marvel in those days and totally off the wall. Those guys had to be on drugs. It was really a shame when they Marvel-ized.

 

[the G-man]

Drugs? Far from it. From what I've read it was a case of middle-aged men, still wearing suits and sporting crewcuts, trying to be "hip" and failing miserably.

 

[Silvercrest]

Yeah... Ding-Dong Daddy? The Mad Mod? Groovy, baby.

 

[Dark Gilligan]

I liked the one where Superboy goes back in time and discovers that Cinderella was actually an Egyptian princess and her glass slippers were made of fur.

 

[Silvercrest]

That's not unique to the whacked-out '60s. There are all sorts of arguments that Cinderella's slippers were originally fur and they became glass through a mistranslation. I don't know who's right, though.

 

[Dark Gilligan]

How about the time Jimmy Olsen became a super-genius? He determined that the Earth was going to shatter because it was top heavy (all the major continents being in the Northern Hemisphere). He had Superman balance the scales by dumping mountains of scrap metal and sunken ocean liners onto Antarctica so that the south pole would be heavier.

 

[Silvercrest]

Whaaaa? REALLY????? Wow, those guys really were on drugs.

Besides, Superman is supposed to be super-intelligent. He should have thought of it first.

 

[Dark Gilligan]

Well, Jimmy was his pal. He probably wanted to give the poor dope some credit.

 

[JoeZhang]

There are a couple of odd legion moments from the 1970s that are never mentioned again:

1) Cosmic lad gives light lass (I think it's light lass) a full on smack across the face because she asks him to use his powers (to save their friends) on a religious holiday. If I remember correctly, the story concludes with her apologizing to him. That sort of move followed Hank Pym for life.

2) it's revealed that while Kal-el has been travelling from the same point in the past, he's been visiting the legion across many decades in the future, rather than being young adults, they are all in their 60s and 70s but due to anti-aging drugs have not aged. For complex plot reasons, Superboy must never know this.

 

[Broccoli]

Whaaaa? REALLY????? Wow, those guys really were on drugs.

Besides, Superman is supposed to be super-intelligent. He should have thought of it first.

Knowing Superman, he was going to let the planet teeter to the point of destruction before fixing things.

 

[Silvercrest]

That Superman... such a dick....

 

[RJDiogenes]

Speaking of which.

Drugs? Far from it. From what I've read it was a case of middle-aged men, still wearing suits and sporting crewcuts, trying to be "hip" and failing miserably.

Are you kidding? Those covers. Those plotlines. Those characters. Those cross-dressing, metamorphing sidekicks. I'm sticking with my drug theory. Click on that link above and see for yourself.

 

[Myasishchev]

2) it's revealed that while Kal-el has been travelling from the same point in the past, he's been visiting the legion across many decades in the future, rather than being young adults, they are all in their 60s and 70s but due to anti-aging drugs have not aged. For complex plot reasons, Superboy must never know this.

Ha. Awesome. Do they still use the Girl/Boy/Lad/Lass/Kid naming convention, too? One of the things I always thought was fun about the legion was how it prophesied the logical outcome of the neotenization of our culture: grown-ass men proudly calling themselves "boy." That they use anti-aging drugs to stay barely legal is just icing on the cake.

Although you'd think in a world that also has magic change-your-genitals pills, sometimes he'd run into Cosmic Girl and Saturn Boy. I mean, experimentation is a key part of growing up when you're in your 50s. Sounds like a fun weekend anyway.

 

[Mike Farley]

Having a decades-extended adolescence must suck when you're a Braalian and get kicked out of the house at 14 to go earn a living.

 

[JoeZhang]

Ha. Awesome. Do they still use the Girl/Boy/Lad/Lass/Kid naming convention, too?

Yes because it's the same legion we always saw, simply with the added twist that adventures that we thought had occurred over a short period of time actually occurred over decades.

 

[JoeZhang]

Speaking of "it never happened" - in reference to that Sandman Superman story a few pages back:

Initially artist and writer of the story, Walt Simonson, told Bleeding Cool;

“All I can really say about this matter is that nothing I could say would be as interesting as the article.”

Which was fairly non-commital. Jerry Ordway, writer on Superman titles at the time was a lot clearer. He tweeted;

Think this is fun fan speculation, but not true at all.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/12/20/sand-superman-conspiracy-that-wasnt/

 

[Davros]

Has Jean Grey's death and transformation in the shuttle crash been mentioned?

 

[CaptMurdock]

Has Jean Grey's death and transformation in the shuttle crash been mentioned?

Yeah, I mentioned it upthread, and JoeZhang asked what I meant. I haven't had the time to really get into it, but yeah, that one sucked.