That's the Kind of Trouble I Need Plenty Of - Superboy 80

Superboy #80 (April 1960)
"Superboy Meets Supergirl"
Jerry Siegel-Curt Swan/John Forte

Doug: As we've discussed before, Silver Age DCs can be a lot of fun if you prep your mind before reading. Looking at the production date on today's issue, I made sure to know my expectations before diving in. I am reading and scanning from my recently-purchased trade Superboy: The Greatest Team-Up Stories Ever Told.

Here's your plot synopsis, in a 100-Word Review:

In the present of 1960, Superman and Supergirl enjoy some recreation time together. But Superman suddenly turns melancholy as he reflects on a childhood with no peers with whom to share life. Supergirl, in a moment of inspiration, decides she’ll help her cousin out by flying into his past and cheering him up. Superboy is overwhelmed by her strength and speed and the cousins engage in all manner of games – darts, leapfrog, hide & seek, catch, and swimming. Of course they end up saving the world, and Supergirl even comes up with a way to maintain the integrity of the timestream.

This was a short story at only 10 pages, one of three tales in the issue. I love the art team of Curt Swan, he of all things Super, and John Forte -- one of the very earliest artists on the Legion of Super-Heroes. Their styles mesh really well. The end product is a sort of wholesome, even cute, depiction of these characters. Superboy and Supergirl really do look like young teenagers, and Jerry Siegel's script nicely adds to the feeling. Well, hey -- it seems like I'm already commenting on... 

The Good: Art, script, the general quaintness of the story. Just a moment ago I discussed having the right mindset for tales of this vintage. Our friend Paul O'Connor of Longbox Graveyard proposed this earlier this year. I think he's exactly right. Of course that doesn't mean that you're going to like everything or excuse plots or story elements that are just plain stupid. But it has helped me to get past some of the "written for a 10-year old" complaints I've made in the past. 

I felt that the interplay between Superboy and Supergirl exuded joy. I really felt that, as a reader, I was watching these two kids have a great time. And a great time just being kids -- no pressures, no real responsibilities. Of course, when the universe is your playground the possibilities for fun are endless. The duo started out on Earth, but soon took their games into space and even to other planets. They encountered a few menaces, and interrupted a plot by some alien menace to fire "death-rays" at our planet. Overall it was just a fun story.

As with any Silver Age story, a deus ex machina lurks around the next corner, and we saw it here. We all know when sitting down to read one of these time travel yarns that somehow, some way, the time stream has to be unaffected. If Superman was moping around in 1960 about how sucky his childhood was, you can't very well have Supergirl suddenly changing that. You know how much Kang the Conqueror loves to screw with divergent time streams! The "giant red flowers"... get outta here. But I rolled with it, smiling.

The Bad: As a parent, I don't care if they were Super or not. I don't want to see two kids throwing lawn darts at each other's chests! I darn near killed my aunt with one of those things when I was little.

Why is Superman always portrayed in the Silver Age as a SuperD!(k? Supergirl seemed genuinely agitated about what Superman would do to her when he found out she'd messed with the timestream. Sheesh... the days of Super-spankings were long over by the Silver Age. 

To some extent Jerry Siegel plagiarized himself with this plot. The basic premise of this story -- a Super-longing for a true peer -- would be repeated only 13 months later with Supergirl as the protagonist.

The Ugly: In the 21st century it's difficult to read "that's the way it was back then" sorts of things and not have a response. Whether it's racism in the pages of Tarzan or the Lone Ranger novels or whatever, there is a certain cringe-factor on the page. There was nothing egregious in Jerry Siegel's script, but I did pause at the blatant sexism when Superboy remarked (out loud), "How did you, a mere girl, ever get here ahead of me?" Too bad Supergirl didn't give him a Super-wedgie.

I had a fun time reading this. It was quite short, only about a six or seven minute read, but a ton of fun. If you're interested in the Superboy team-ups trade, by the way, there are also stories involving Luthor (natch), Superman, a young Green Arrow, Robin, Jor-el, Aquaman, a young Hal Jordan, Lori Lemaris, and a young Bruce Wayne. Shoot -- you'd think Bob Haney had a hand in some of these stories!

BAB Firsts (the 1st Dressed for Success): Part One: Do Real Men Wear Pink?

 This post was originally published on September 4 2009

 Doug: Hey, it's our inaugural look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of superhero suits. Karen's been wanting to do this, but since she's out of town on vacation, I'll get it started. Most of these folks, bulging in all the right places, look good in their longjohns. But, what about the longjohns themselves? Hmmm... not always a good situation, to say the least.

Doug: We kick it off with the leader of one of our favorite groups, the Legion of Super-Heroes -- Cosmic Boy! What do you look for in a leader? Someone who can play diplomat, someone who's tough? How about a guy who can delegate tasks, or who isn't afraid to admit when he's wrong? A fellow who is the first into battle, and the last to leave, making sure that all of his charges have made it out safely? I'd like a man who can handle the simple jobs, like inventory of resources, but also make the really difficult decisions. And it shouldn't matter that he actually looks good in pink...

Doug: It's interesting that when the creators of Adventure Comics #247 (April 1958, whether writer Otto Binder, cover artist Curt Swan, or interior artist Al Plastino) sat down to dream up the Legion of Super-Heroes that would torment our young hero Superboy, they chose some pretty odd color combinations for these three new antagonists. Saturn Girl originally wore a yellow top accented with black over a green skirt, Lightning Boy (-Lad by their next appearance, in Adventure Comics #267) wore a red shirt with yellow sleeves over green trousers, and then there was Cosmic Boy -- a pink top with a sort-of black vest around it, over lavender trousers. By that second appearance, Saturn Girl was dressed in her familiar red/white pantsuit and Lightning Lad was in his blue/black/auburn outfit. But ol' Cos -- he got to stay in the pink and black.

Karen: Those original costumes the trinity wore were just hideous. I don't know who chose the color schemes but they should have been shot. Fortunately Lightning Lad soon got a much better costume (and an even better one when Cockrum began drawing the book), and Saturn Girl had at least an acceptable outfit, color-wise. But Cosmic Boy really got screwed over. The whole outfit is just, well, dorky.

Doug: The next major costume change for Mr. Rokk Krinn didn't occur until 1974 as a continuation of the major renovations of then-new Legion artist Dave Cockrum. Gone would be the pink, as well as most of the rest of his clothes!!

Karen: We can blame artist Mike Grell for this one. He mentions in an article in Back Issue 33 (April 2009) that Cockrum had revised so many costumes, that he felt that Cosmic Boy looked out of place in his old one. He wanted to keep him recognizable so he kept the black part of the costume, and replaced the rest with flesh - not realizing that he had essentially given Cos a bustier! I always thought he looked like a male stripper in this outfit!

Doug: Keith Giffen, along with author Paul Levitz, were the next to take a crack at redesigning the look of Cosmic Boy. After the Crisis, DC wanted to revamp several key titles, giving us Frank Miller's Batman: Year One, John Byrne's Man of Steel, and George Perez's take on Wonder Woman in a series renumbered to a new first issue. One of the major players in Legends, the mini-series that would re-launch characters not in the above books, was Cosmic Boy. In fact, he was not only one of the supporting stars there, but he was featured concurrently in his own mini-series, titled simply Cosmic Boy. So, what did Levitz, Giffen, and cover artist (and then-Legion artist) Steve Lightle do? Well, of course -- they brought back the pink!!

Karen: Maybe they were all fans of Good and Plentys??

Doug: Lordy, I hate Good and Plenty!! But that is funny -- the picture to the left is exactly those colors!

Doug: Finally, finally, Rokk got a costume that didn't look so, so... well, whatever. Anyway, umpteenth re-boot artist Barry Kitson put Cos in a nice midnight blue and black outfit, still paying homage to the circles-on-the-chest motif that the character had worn for nearly 50 years. It was a nice change, much more believable and attractive than anything Mr. Krinn had previously worn.

Karen: Although I didn't enjoy this umpteenth revision of the Legion, Cos' costume did look nice. Hard to go wrong with blue and black.

Doug: I'll admit to never having seen Smallville (I was told early on that this was a mistake -- that it is really quite a good program). So I can't say much here other than Ryan Kennedy played Cos alongside Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad in an episode that aired in January 2009. This is certainly the most toned-down outfit in our portfolio of garish costumes!

Doug: So, what's the verdict on Cosmic Boy's sense of fashion? I vote for "Fashion Disaster".

Karen: I have to agree with you on this - I wouldn't say his costumes were dreadful, but they weren't good either!

Discuss: Smallville

Karen: The series ended a few months back. What are your thoughts on it as a whole? For me, it was always a maddening show, in the sense that it was so very uneven in quality. It seemed like every time I was ready to give up on it (particularly after a string of bad episodes), then they'd pull off a really cool scene or set something up so I'd come back for more. All in all, while I enjoyed it on some levels, I can't rank it up there with other series that I consider to be truly great. What do you all think?