Cover: Curt Swan & George Klein

Adventure Comics #310

Jul 1963 · DC · 0.12 USD

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“The Doom of the Super-Heroes!”

About this Issue

Adventure Comics #310 (July 1963) marks one of the first sustained attempts in Silver Age DC to put the entire active Legion roster at genuine narrative risk within a single story arc, spanning two chapters — 'The Doom of the Super-Heroes!' and 'Last Stand of the Legion!' — in which Mask Man methodically picks off Legionnaire after Legionnaire in unusually dark fashion for a 1963 teen-superhero title. The issue also delivers the first appearance of Mxyzptlk V, a 30th-century descendant of Superman's Fifth Dimension antagonist, cementing the structural link between the Superman family mythology and the Legion's corner of the DC universe at a moment when the team was still actively establishing its own identity within the Weisinger editorial stable. The 'Legion Pledge,' depicted here for the first time, gave the team a ceremonial ritual that anchored their identity as an institution rather than a loose assembly of heroes. Its notable continuity quirks — members appearing on the splash page who are absent from the story, others dying off-panel — offer a candid window into the creative pressures of managing an ever-expanding ensemble cast under Silver Age production conditions.

In "The Doom of the Super-Heroes!", the Legion of Super-Heroes faces a terrifying threat when a masked raider attacks Metropolis—only to reveal a chilling capacity for violence, turning the city into a battleground and leaving the heroes reeling. Written by Edmond Hamilton and illustrated by John Forte, this gripping tale unfolds with suspense and escalating stakes, while Curt Swan and George Klein deliver the striking cover.

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writer Edmond Hamilton · artist, inker John Forte · letterer Milton Snapinn · cover Curt Swan, George Klein

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History

The issue was written by Edmond Hamilton — a veteran science-fiction author who also penned a fan letter that appears in this very issue's letters column — and drawn by John Forte, the regular Legion interior artist of the period, with a cover pencilled by Curt Swan and inked by George Klein, DC's prestige art pairing on the Superman-family titles. The whole package was edited by Mort Weisinger, who oversaw the entire Superman publishing line and whose editorial practice of recycling proven plot hooks (mysterious villains, mass-scale threat, the 'reset button' ending) is visible throughout the story's structure. A backup Superboy story scripted by George Kashdan with art by George Papp rounds out the issue, keeping the title's dual format — Legion epic up front, solo Superboy story behind — that characterized this transitional phase before the Legion fully displaced Superboy from the lead billing.

Trivia · 8 facts

Cover date: July 1963; on-sale date: May 29, 1963 — published by DC (National Periodical Publications) under editor Mort Weisinger.
First appearance of Mask Man, secretly Mxyzptlk V — identified in the story as a 30th-century descendant of Mr. Mxyzptlk, the Fifth Dimension imp who torments Superman in his own era.
First depiction of the Legion Pledge, a formal re-dedication ceremony that became part of the team's institutional identity going forward.
Main story 'The Doom of the Super-Heroes!' / 'Last Stand of the Legion!' written by Edmond Hamilton, pencilled by John Forte, lettered by Milton Snapinn; cover by Curt Swan and George Klein.
Backup story 'When Krypto Was Superboy's Master!' scripted by George Kashdan, art by George Papp — reprinted in Action Comics #403.
Virtually the entire active Legion membership is killed by Mask Man during the course of the two-part story — Ultra Boy first, then Shrinking Violet, Chameleon Boy, and others in succession — before Superboy tricks the villain into saying his name backwards, reversing all deaths.
Star Boy appears on the story's splash page but does not appear anywhere in the actual narrative — an acknowledged editorial continuity error; similarly, Matter-Eater Lad, Phantom Girl, and Supergirl are absent from both splash and story despite being listed as active members.
The main Legion story has been reprinted multiple times: Adventure Comics #500 (1983), Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 2 HC (1992), Showcase Presents: Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 1 TPB (2007), Legion of Super-Heroes: The Silver Age Omnibus Vol. 1 HC (2017), and Legion of Super-Heroes: The Silver Age Vol. 1 TPB (2018).