Tuesday, December 24, 2013

The Legion of Substitute Heroes and Wolverine



I have always liked the idea of the Legion Subs.  Not everyone is going to make the cut as a superhero and not every power would necessarily lend itself to crime fighting, so it was fun to see a group of heroes that lived in the shadow of their more famous contemporaries.  I also liked that a few of the Substitute Legionnaires eventually did make it through to becoming full-fledged members of the LSH.  It might be fun to see this group work alongside a seasoned vet like Logan.

11 comments:

AirDave said...

Heh.
Isn't Wolverine really Timber Wolf in disguise? ;)

I like how Marvel and 20th Century Fox is developing Logan into their version of Batman.

Apologies for the snark, but I just have never clicked with Wolverine. He's from that whole Punisher, Venom, Bane "grim-and-gritty" mold. He's an "anti-hero", with as many powers as Superman, but an attitude like Batman. I get the claws and the tracking and the Adamantium. But the healing factor that makes him immortal? Okay, he's The Tick, because he's nigh-invulnerable...heh. Again, apologies for the snark.

This could be the start of something very interesting...

Bob Greenwade said...

Actually, Dave, Wolverine predates Punisher, Venom, Bane, and all those other "grim-and-gritty" characters you mention. For that matter, if memory serves, when he was introduced even Batman wasn't quite so "grim-and-gritty" as he's since become.

Wolvie's two mutations are the claws and the healing factor. His tracking scent, his non-aging, and many of his other abilities come from the healing factor; even the adamantium skeleton was put into him successfully because of it (though to be fair I think that was a retcon).

Regardless, I think this is a fine cover, Ross. Next up, Wolvie can start training the Legion of Substitute Heroes Auxiliary!

(And of course I'm still waiting to see him team up with Ambush Bug!)

Roga said...

Actually, Wolverine doesn't predate The Punisher, they are from the same year (1974) but Punisher debuted in feb and Wolverine in october.

Matthew Baugh said...

The "Timber Wolf in disguise" comment took me back to the X-Men's first meeting with the LoSH clones, the Imperial Guard. Wolverine took out a Timber Wolf lookalike names Fang, then wore his uniform for a few issues.

When he first appeared, Wolverine was a favorite of mine. He was tough, but nowhere near as unbeatable as he's since become. I loved his attitude. He would constantly jump much more powerful villains without a second thought and get pounded. This was brilliantly showcased when the X-Men were first captured by the Hellfire Club and Logan had to rescue them. It was the tough little guy taking on hopeless odds and somehow pulling it off.

Nowdays he's so over the top unbeatable it's hard to care about his adventures but back in the day...

Ed said...

I remember when Ambush Bug met the Subs, funniest comic ever!

Knightsky said...

"Actually, Dave, Wolverine predates Punisher, Venom, Bane, and all those other "grim-and-gritty" characters you mention."

The Punisher predates Wolverine by about nine months (cover date Feb 1974 for the Punisher, November of the same year for Wolverine).

Mattkind said...

You should Do A cover with Herbie the love bug

Anonymous said...

I love the Legion of Substitute Heroes. They never get enough credit. I think my favorite issue was when they took on Pulsar Stargrave. And when they tried to capture Ambush Bug. Maybe you could have them try to take down Thanos, Dr. Doom, or Magneto. Could be interesting, but I'm sure I'll love whatever you put together. Your imagination is incredible! Merry Christmas! and Happy New Year!
Ordinaryguy2

Ross said...

I fondly remember that LOSH/Ambush Bug issue of DCCP - not only was it a great story, I had a letter printed in that issue...

Lizard said...

Batman was amazingly grim&gritty when first introduced -- he carried a gun, and he killed people. He quickly became the lighter character people tend to think of as "classic" Batman. The Neal Adams, and later Frank Miller, versions, returned him more to his classic roots.

Wild Card said...

I think a lot of people forget that most of the subs were rejected for not having good enough control of their powers at the time of their try-outs (Night Girl was rejected due to the limitation of how her power worked, and Shadow Lass was not a member at the time for her to pair up with to get around the limitation). Being in the subs gave them the experience to get that control. I was VERY happy to see Polar Boy join the main Legion. I don't remember the others joining, but that could have been in the Five Years Later series which I did not read.

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