Plot
It started out as just another Superboy story—on the face of it, perhaps a bit more innovative than most, although it was published during one of the most creatively unique periods in DC Comics' history. It wound up changing the entire comics field. The Legion of Super-Heroes was merely a clever title for a group of teenaged superheroes (only three of whom were actually named) from the far future who went back in time to pay tribute to the greatest teenaged superhero of them all - the Boy of Steel, Superboy. But the interest on the part of the comics fans was so great, the superteam was brought back time and time again, in the majority of the Superman Family titles. Eventually, demand grew so strong the Legion of Super-Heroes was awarded its own continuing series. While quite a number of significant Legionnaires made their first appearances throughout the earliest years—Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy, Sun Boy, Phantom Girl, Chameleon Boy, Triplicate Girl, Bouncing Boy, Star Boy, Matter-Eater Lad, Shrinking Violet, and Ultra Boy—the membership roster continued to grow... and indeed, continues to grow to this day. Under the direction of editor Mort Weisinger, these early Legion of Super-Heroes stories were produced by much of the Who's Who of Superman Family writers and artists of the 1950s and 1960s: Otto Binder and Al Plastino (who produced the original Legion appearance in Adventure Comics #247), George Papp, Jim Mooney, John Forte, Curt Swan, Sheldon Moldoff, and George Klein. The majority of Legion appearances during these early years came from the typewriter of the writer who started it all: Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel. This first volume of The Legion of Super-Heroes includes, in their entirety, all of the significant appearances of the teenaged superteam prior to the establishment of the ongoing series, as well as the first half-dozen stories in the regular series—culminating with one of the most significant comic book stories ever published.