Could be, EDE. You know, it's almost a shame that they didn't keep Xola Aq as the White Witch's real name. It would have been interesting to challenge popular conceptions of what a "pretty" name should look and sound like.
Curiously, a footnote tells us that Yark's last name is not the same as Kenz's because the tradition of family names is not followed on Naltor. There seems to be no reason for this revelation, as nothing comes from it in the story. By the time Mysa Nal would be given a name some dozen years later, the idea would be forgotten.
I think this footnote was to explain why White Witch, whose name was given as Xola Aq in Adv. 351, has a different surname from her sister, Nura Nal. Mysa Nal was a retcon and a sloppy one. If Levitz had done his homework he would've known about the Naltorian surname thing. This just came up in a Legion Facebook group I'm in today. Note this entry on WW from Wikipedia, which I happen to agree with:
"The White Witch is a fictional comic book character who exists in the DC Universe, a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 30th century. Her real name is Mysa Nal, although her name was given as Xola Aq in Silver Age Legion stories in Adventure Comics; the revelation that her name was actually Mysa Nal was a later retcon."
It just occurred to me how "Jeckie," while an obvious nickname for Projectra, is also very close to "Jackie" as in Kennedy, the closest contemporary thing to American royalty. I wonder if DC was nurturing that connection. I don't recall if I saw the similarity when I was reading the books back in that day.
I kind of doubt it. Adventure 346 came out over two years after the Kennedy assasination. For someone in the book's target audience (pre-adolescents), that was ages ago.
First comic books ever bought: A DC four-for-47-cents grab bag that included Adventure #331. The rest is history.
Special thanks to Jim Gallagher, a true Legionnaire who was able to get me easy access to the Action back-ups! I’ve been trying to cram a few of them in to catch up, which is easy enough considering they’re only about 8-10 pages. It’s a little jarring to go from whole issues, and in many cases 2-parters (where Shooter excelled the most) to back-ups but I’m probably well served by this long break I’ve had since I read & reviewed my last story.
Action #378 Firstly, I actually think the Lotus Fruit issue with Timberwolf is quite good. It’s not Shakespeare by any means, but most drug-related stories during the late 1960’s weren’t either, whether they were films, novels or what have you. This was a hot topic and one people were struggling with, and still struggle with to this day. I think it took a lot of guts for Shooter to make an actual Legionnaire the junkie here, instead of a supporting character. Even more, he choose one that was up until now an alpha male, go-get’em type. The fact that Brin has a loner past made this a great choice as well. In the final Adventure issues Shooter was dabbling with socially relevant stories and this feels like the full extension of that.
The story is very much on the nose but with 10 pages to tell it, it has to be. The same goes for the resolution, which at first appears far too easy. Though, naturally, this is only the end of the first part of Brin’s addiction. If there were subsequent stories over the years showing with him struggling with it, it would have made for some potential good drama IMO. As someone once said on this board 10 years ago or something, I think that in the GDS, Brin’s greatest fear should have been his addiction to lotus fruit, not his belief he was a robot.
Action #379 A few things about this story stand out: - Like most of us, I bet, I have files and files of Legion story ideas I’ve created over the years. And a character I always return to is Uli Algor. I have no idea what makes her so compelling to me, but I like the idea of her and Sunburst as a low level Bonnie & Clyde, and the fact that she probably held a grudge against Shady and Mon after this story. - I’ve always thought Sunburst should have been a villain who reappears more. And I always am surprised by how bad his costume is, given his awesome codename. - I’m curious about whether Mon-El as deputy leader is something Shooter decided or if Mon actually came in 2nd place during the last leadership election? Does anyone know? - There isn’t anything too elaborate about this story, including characterization, but for the most part it’s a nice little action story with a twist—which is basically what the Superman books were known for throughout the entire 1950’s and Silver Age. As a back-up, it’s certainly way more than I would normally expect to get then and especially now.
Action #380 Action #380 is full of things to like and dislike, and leaves the reader feeling a bunch of different things. First, I like that Duo Damsel gets the spotlight here. It’s the first time ever, and there won’t be too many more until the postboot; in fact, it feels like it could only have happened in the back-up era, as there wouldn’t be enough there for Shooter to fill out a full issue. I also like that finally we get into the concept of Luornu’s multiple selves not being quite so straight-forward as we’ve been lead to believe. Unfortunately after this story that is put on the back-burner all the way until TMK; I think that complexity to her as presented in TMK and the postboot is what makes her so great; without it, not so much.
This story also is really the story which cements Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel as an item, and I like that. I don’t like how it ends though, especially considering the knowledge I have of the next 40 years worth of Legion stories. It feels creepy and tragic, as if the “other Luornu” was forced to marry Chuck against her will. That isn’t there in the story itself, but I can’t help but feel that way given all I know and will read one day.
I dislike Nam’Lor immensely, even if there isn’t much about him in the story itself. I much prefer the Peebz LMB version that appeared in “Lord of the Oval” where he is a dim-witted Hulk / Superman mash-up. Instead we get a bunch of rigmarole about Nam’lor’s aura causing Luornu to go evil but he loves her and wanted her to change and yadda yadda. That is very much a Superboy type reasoning from 1958 that Jerry Siegel or Leo Dorfman would use, and by 1970, the charm of such explanations has been lost. I’d much rather Luornu Purple struck out on her own and started dating a bad boy who just happened to like being bad but had no clue what the hell he was getting into with the Legion.
Action #381 I really like how this one opens up with the Legionnaires preparing to relax and have a good time, letting us see them as late teenagers / early 20 somethings. It’s made even better by the inclusion of Tenzil and Condo, both of whom we pretty much never see.
Seeing Tenzil’s family is jarring even though I’ve read this story years earlier. When I was a kid, my family did not have much and I guess you could say for a long time we were basically poor. I always harbored some resentment about that, even if I had great parents and a great family life. I remained highly sensitive about it throughout middle school and high school. So I immediately relate to Tenzil’s feelings in the story. At first it feels uncomfortable and hard to read, and I think that is what makes it great. Shooter does a fantastic job showing that not everyone’s home life is aces, and he provides a very realistic reason for why Tenzil needs to get away from his parents. Tenzil’s parents certainly feel like they’re more out of 1970 (or even 2015) than 2070 but I honestly don’t think situations like they’ve found themselves in will ever stop, be it 10, 100 or 1,000 years in the future.
Meanwhile, Vi’s predicament is a bit more ‘classic’ but also very personal and relatable. Once she explains her own loneliness, I’m pretty much geared up to watch a two hour movie about how Vi and Tenzil have a great night out, fall in love and live happily ever after. I love seeing the glamorous Projetra help her get read, and Mortimor does a fantastic job in showing how beautiful she looks. In fact, he does a terrific job all issue and seems to really be excelling in the Action back-ups more than before. Hell, by the time they’re dancing in a gravity free ballroom, I’m seeing Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood and am starting to feel like I’m 18 myself!
And then…the issue ends! Stupid Duplicate Boy shows up and ruins it all! Stupid, all of them, stupid!
I don’t like the resolution at all. This was probably the most romantic LSH story ever up until this point, and I feel like Tenzil and Vi deserve to be together more than pretty much all the other LSH couples besides perhaps Garth & Imra. We actually see and feel the romance here rather than be told about it…and then it all falls apart on the second to last page?!!
I never liked Duplicate Boy much before, and this story serves to remind me why. I also don’t like the resolution to Tenz’s parents, which arrives in the final two panels. Ah well, at least the Kem family has lived on to awesome effect by the always brilliant Mill’Ester team in my beloved Matter-Eater Lad: The Series.
Action #382 #382 has another ‘small’ story featuring Cosvar and his robot protectors, but Shooter does a great job at really showing us how a protection racket could work…and how it could be done on a global political level where things gain legitimacy and aren’t called “rackets”…even though they clearly are. Cosvorr and Zorla come across as a realistic couple of confidence men too: Shooter makes them normal people right away, which is a nice touch.
The four Legionnaires featured are used to great effect espionage-style, and naturally the KK / TW fight stands out as a great plot twist (made even better by being brief). As usual, the ending kind of sends things off the rails, as I can’t quite figure out if the Legionnaires just let Zorla kill herself and Cosvorr too.
Also, Zorla looks like she’s a member of the X-Men!
Action #383 This was mentioned an issue or two earlier, but its amazing how Shooter’s boy Val went from newbie to Legion leader in such a short time. Well, not that amazing actually when you star in a third of the stories!
As to the issue at hand, it’s chalk-full of romance tropes that I usually find creepy and distasteful: Cham likes Janice because she looks like his past love—perhaps the single creepiest of all romance tropes; Cham spies on them; Janice doesn’t like Cham because she’s basically a racist; Cham disguises himself as Janice’s dream man, taking the creepiness to a whole new level; Jeckie is in on it thereby putting her friend in danger of having her emotions played with; Cham threatens to spoil a SP investigation for his own selfish reasons. Yikes. This one has a lot to dislike. The ending puts it over the top: Janice likes him because “he can become anybody” (re: not himself) and he likes it because he gets to be the hero.
After reading all that lovely romance in the Tenzil / Vi story, this is like the opposite. I’m left wishing Al, the service repair man, got away with the jewel.
Action #384 The Eltro Gand story holds a big place in my heart because I first discovered its existence after I had read the TMK issue, so when I got the chance to read this, it finally put so much into perspective about TMK. Also, I just happened upon this story one day by opening up my Dad’s copy of Action Comics #384 when I realized it said “Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes” at the top, and was shocked to discover an LSH story inside. In those pre-internet days, especially for a fan who didn’t even discover the LSH until the 1990’s, I had absolutely no clue that the Legion ever had stories in Action before! It would be the equivalent of today finding out there was a whole run of Spider-Man stories in Strange Tales as back-ups that I never knew about. It was like striking gold.
The story itself is interesting for a few reasons. It presents a classic narrative dilemma of declaring a character will die and then the rest of the issue either bringing you there or showing how that won’t come to pass. Those stories are always tricky to do—and anyone who has read a lot of Superboy stories from the 50’s and 60’s know that it was an often used, or misused, plot device. Then, weirdly enough, the issue spends a whole slew of pages that basically amount to “anything you ever wanted to know about Mon-El and his lead serum and more!”. And almost all of that has nothing to do with how Mon-El gets out of the dilemma! Still, it’s a great way to take a reader curious about the Legion and make him a Mon-El fan for life.
I do like how the Legionnaires react to the news, particularly Superboy predictably plotting to take Mon’s place. Once again, the limits of a back-up prevent things from being long and drawn out, which I can appreciate.
The ending works for me because I read TMK first. If it had been published after TMK, it would actually be a nice little story. But without knowledge of TMK, readers of this story must have been like “WTF? Eltro Gand? WTF?!!!”
In terms of plot development and pacing, this is the best of the Action offerings so far. It's a straightforward heroes-versus-villain yarn with a nice connection to a previous Adventure story and a spotlight on Star Boy, whose reputation as a less-than-bright bulb is wholly obliterated here.
The story does what it set out to do, and does it well. My only complaint is that the opportunity for Thom to learn something about himself, or for the reader to learn something about him, is missed.
Shooter wastes no time getting us into the story. Star Boy overhears a plea from his homeworld, Xanthu, requesting the Legion's help with a criminal gang. He volunteers for the mission, even breaking his date with Dream Girl. (Hm. Maybe this is where the Proty liaison began.) Saturn Girl and Colossal Boy accompany him to Xanthu, where the criminals easily anticipate their moves and even escape a giant-sized Gim by flying through a maze of elevated walks and monorails (good move!).
Thom figures out that the thieves must be Naltorians and can foresee the Legionnaires' moves. However, the Legionnaires soldier on, aware that not even Dream Girl can anticipate every detail of the future.
It is not the valuable treasures they've been stealing that the thieves are after, however, but Star Boy himself. He is captured and taken before the the thieves' boss, Yark Althu, who turns out to be the brother of Kenz Nuhor, the criminal Thom killed back in Adv. 342. Yark has devised a nasty form of revenge by trapping Thom aboard a weightless ship in which Thom's power won't work. But Thom outwits the criminal by increasing the mass in Yark's gun, making it impossible to pull the trigger.
Imra and Gim arrive to save the day. While Yark and his underlings wore helmets which blocked Imra's telepathy, Thom did not, so Imra simply followed his brainwaves.
This story makes me yearn for the days when comic book writers knew something beyond comic book continuity and could bring in all sorts of ideas to make the super-hero world seem more plausible. For example, Thom does not simply make things super-heavy here; he increases mass, and this enables him to outwit his enemy. Likewise, Imra uses her brain (in more ways than one) to find Thom, creating a very plausible ending that, for once, makes the Legionnaires appear smarter than the villain.
The story is also well paced and affords two three-panel pages (Pages 4 and 5, the latter of which is dominated by giant Gim) which increase the intensity of the action. Although the entire story is only 10 and three-quarters pages long, it does not feel rushed.
As I said, though, I would have preferred an ending in which Thom learns something about himself or reflects on how his actions back in Adv. 342 led to this revenge scheme. In a later story, Superboy 211, Thom expresses regret over his decision to kill Nuhor and suggests that the decision still haunts him. It would have been too much, perhaps, to expect such insight to occur in this era (a hero who regrets his actions? Perish forbid!); still Thom takes Yark's hatred of him too much in stride. Yark could easily be replaced with any random foe who wants to take out a Legionnaire, and the outcome of the story would not be much different. (Though the Kenz connection provides an excuse for the villain to be Naltorian.)
Curiously, a footnote tells us that Yark's last name is not the same as Kenz's because the tradition of family names is not followed on Naltor. There seems to be no reason for this revelation, as nothing comes from it in the story. By the time Mysa Nal would be given a name some dozen years later, the idea would be forgotten.
Overall, "The Fallen Star Boy" is a competent but not terribly memorable story.
Nice summary and review, HWW. I especially agree with your yearning “for the days when comic book writers knew something beyond comic book continuity and could bring in all sorts of ideas to make the super-hero world seem more plausible”. The usage of both Thom and Imra using their powers and ingenuity are really well done, giving this story the sense that the win was truly earned.
I also think the pacing of the story is excellent. The writer here is E. Nelson Bridwell, who was very used to writing 8-12 page stories, and he clearly has a handle on how to evenly distribute the plot and action in that limited space.
Lastly, I agree (lots of agreement here! ) that I wish there was a little extra element of Star Boy gaining something from this mission, or at least being set down a road where we could see him continually address his actions of taking another sentient’s life early in his Legion career. Yark Athlu himself would actually have been a fantastic villain to have recur: he’s a clever thug, somewhat intimidating in appearance, who also possesses the same powers as Dream Girl. A thug-type Dream Boy with the need for revenge? Definitely deserving of repeat appearances.
Lastly, on a personal note, I’m pretty thrilled to be caught up on the LSH back-ups in Action. I had missed doing these with you guys and look forward to continuing. One thing that strikes me is that I was pretty much prepared to dislike a lot of these stories, or at least dismiss them as not being that good. I was very wrong in that; instead, most of them have had a lot of good things going on, and the limited space seems to make Shooter, and of course Bridwell, step up their A-Games. Win Mortimor appears to be excelling as well in these back-ups. So I’ll finish with: thanks again Jim Gallagher!
Action #380 Action #380 is full of things to like and dislike, and leaves the reader feeling a bunch of different things. First, I like that Duo Damsel gets the spotlight here. It’s the first time ever, and there won’t be too many more until the postboot; in fact, it feels like it could only have happened in the back-up era, as there wouldn’t be enough there for Shooter to fill out a full issue. I also like that finally we get into the concept of Luornu’s multiple selves not being quite so straight-forward as we’ve been lead to believe. Unfortunately after this story that is put on the back-burner all the way until TMK; I think that complexity to her as presented in TMK and the postboot is what makes her so great; without it, not so much.
This story also is really the story which cements Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel as an item, and I like that. I don’t like how it ends though, especially considering the knowledge I have of the next 40 years worth of Legion stories. It feels creepy and tragic, as if the “other Luornu” was forced to marry Chuck against her will. That isn’t there in the story itself, but I can’t help but feel that way given all I know and will read one day.
I dislike Nam’Lor immensely, even if there isn’t much about him in the story itself. I much prefer the Peebz LMB version that appeared in “Lord of the Oval” where he is a dim-witted Hulk / Superman mash-up. Instead we get a bunch of rigmarole about Nam’lor’s aura causing Luornu to go evil but he loves her and wanted her to change and yadda yadda. That is very much a Superboy type reasoning from 1958 that Jerry Siegel or Leo Dorfman would use, and by 1970, the charm of such explanations has been lost. I’d much rather Luornu Purple struck out on her own and started dating a bad boy who just happened to like being bad but had no clue what the hell he was getting into with the Legion.
Like you, I find it hard to separate the Luornu of this story from the Luornu who makes jaw-droppingly foolish choices several years down the road, even though those choices were foisted on her by other writers. Chuck is one of my favorite male Legionnaires, and I think future Luornu is an idiot for the things she ends up putting him through. Then again, upon reflection, maybe it's a case of the saying, "one sees oneself in the people one hates". I do have some things in common with her, let's put it that way and just leave it at that.
Also, like you, I despise Nam'Lor, just one of many of Shooter's mouth-breathing, sexually maladjusted creeps whose "intentions are good." See also Quanto, Korvac, the Beyonder...
Thanks for sharing how you see your own personal experiences in Tenzil. As I said earlier in this thread, for all of that story's flaws I find it very affecting, and I give Shooter a lot of credit for semi-autobiographically sharing what were undoubtedly some very painful memories.
Thanks Fanfie! I'm still reading through this thread to catch up on everyone's comments, so I'll keep an eye out for your earlier post. I didn't think of the semi-autobiographical nature of the story for Shooter, but now that you mention it, I can easily see it. You can tell he really pours a lot into this story.
At this time in DC Comics history, it was still odd for couples to break up. Once you were "locked in" as a couple in the DCU, you basically stayed a couple in perpetuity. I'm glad that finally all fell apart. Because after reading the Tenz / Vi story, it is clear to me that Vi should have broke up with Duplicate Boy right there on the spot.
As to the other topic, I also like Chuck immensely, and feel that not only is he a great husband to Luornu "Nuetral", but he would have made a terrific brother-in-law to "Luornu Purple", and would have been able to help her deal with her issues and find a place in the world once she and her sister accepted they were not the same person. That story is still waiting to be told one day.
The writer here is E. Nelson Bridwell, who was very used to writing 8-12 page stories, and he clearly has a handle on how to evenly distribute the plot and action in that limited space.
Thanks for the correction! I've edited the review accordingly.
It does explain why this story is much more tightly paced and plotted than the previous ones.
Mon-El came in second place in the latest fan election, making him deputy leader. the results were posted in Act. 379's letter column.
Not much to say about The Fallen Star Boy. Nice to get a brief cameo of Star Boy's parents. Wish we'd seen more of them. I like that they refer to Xan City, the Desert of Death and the Gwanth Ocean. A nice little geography lesson on Xanthu. I disliked it when later writers got lazy and painted entire planets with a single brush, i.e. Winath is one big farming plantation, Talok is one big desert, everyone on Tharr is short, etc. etc. I laughed out loud at "the piratic puzzlers" and "the wizard of weight"!
And you're very welcome, Cobie! Glad to have you chiming in again. SWAK
Action Comics #385: I pretty much agree with the comments by HWW and others. This is one of the better Action series stories so far. A few more observations:
(1) At the beginning of the story Karate Kid says, "But remember the Legion rules...no one-man missions!" Is this a new rule made after Mon-El's 3-day one-man mission in the previous story? Or was Mon an exception to the rule?
(2) In the crooks' space vessel with "no artificial gravity", people were still standing and running on the floor...not floating around. (Star Boy was bouncing off the walls a little.) And even weightless Yark was oddly immovable when Star Boy plowed into him. Am I missing something or was this poor depiction of the physics of an anti-grav environment?
(3) I know it was part of the charm and tension of the plot, but with all Star Boy's experience in space, why did it take so long for him to know how his mass-inducing powers could work effectively in this situation? I guess that from the writer's viewpoint, this was a lesson for the reader to learn about Star Boy's power.
"Everything about this is going to feel different." (Saturn Girl, Legion of Super-Heroes #1)
(1) At the beginning of the story Karate Kid says, "But remember the Legion rules...no one-man missions!" Is this a new rule made after Mon-El's 3-day one-man mission in the previous story? Or was Mon an exception to the rule?
Good catch!
Mon-El is always the exception, isn't he? The Legion "admired him so greatly" that they went to enormous lengths to free him from the Phantom Zone and then construct a special vault for his anti-lead serum. None of the other Legionnaires--who can be killed by such things as bullets, knives, ray guns, and being crushed--were afforded such protections.
One of Mon's flaws I forgotten to mention in my blog post was his possible sense of entitlement.
I’m quite enjoying the brevity in the Action stories as the plot has to move on quickly due to the page constraints. We learn about the geography of Xanthus as we go. We learn that the Legion operates in shifts and that Thom and Nura are dating as part of the mission team been assembled.
The trip to Xanthu takes a panel. Giffen involved era stories looked to deliberately prolong such activity by removing much of the UP’s technology (both in 5YG and in the last Levitz run).
But vastly advanced technology works both ways, with Anti-Telepathy helmets (tin foil hats with better marketing) always seeming to be clunky. Ways of reducing Saturn Girl’s effectiveness. But something’s required as Imra is shown to be scanning the city for bad thoughts using her powers. All of the small group get panel time, and it’s good to see Gim getting in on the action. The team also figure out what’s going on in good time, keeping up with the reader.
Althu’s premonition mid way through the story is a good touch, setting things up for the final scenes. There’s lots of flash facts in the final confrontation as both Thom and Imra use their smarts to win the day. Outwitting people who can see the future is no mean feat.
It’s a tidy (and that’s a big compliment), briskly paced story with intelligence combining with solid plotting ability.
It also shares the issue with the start of a Superman story that left me very impressed when I first read it. We see a few forced plot points to position Superman where the writer needs him to be, but it’s excellent after that. You can almost picture Moore and Morrison scribbling down notes when they read this one.
Legion fans should note that a Time Bubble and the Time Trapper are also involved in the set up.
"...not having to believe in a thing to be interested in it and not having to explain a thing to appreciate the wonder of it."
I really enjoyed Action Comics #385. For a back-up story, it had a lot of story in it.
I was a bit confused by the editor's comment on Naltorian surnames given that Nura Nal and Mysa Nal are famous Legion sisters with the same surname in later editions. Thanks for the clarification on this.
I was impressed with the logical use of Saturn Girl's powers to lock on to Thom's brainwaves in order to catch the crooks. It's nice when the storytelling actually makes sense!
Maybe it's because of Mon's one man mission, which led to his being ambushed and dying that they instated a new rule of no one-man missions . . . ?
Oh, sure, it's possible that they changed and re-changed the policy depending on what the leader preferred.
It wouldn't be the last time Legionnaires went on solo missions, either. IIRC, Bouncing Boy was returning from a solo mission when he was ambushed by Orion Jr. in Superboy 199.
In truth, though, it was just an excuse for the writer to send Imra and Gim on the mission.
This issue features my favorite story title of the Action run. While most of the titles so far have been intriguing ("The Forbidden Fruit") or simply descriptive of the story's contents ("One of Us is an Impostor"), this one is whimsical and fits in with teen culture of the times. It would be more at home in a hip Marvel comic than in a staid DC title.
But there is nothing whimsical about the story. "Zap Goes the Legion!" continues the story of Uli Algor, who was introduced (unnamed) as Sunburst's henchwoman back in 379, but who gets to shine on her own (pun not intended) here. It's good to see the Legion have a new recurring enemy, even if Uli never appears again after this story. However, she demonstrates that she is a formidable adversary and was probably the brains behind her alliance with Sunburst.
Six months after 379, Uli is due to be released from prison after she undergoes "prism therapy" which is intended to "deaden the evil part" of her brain. However, Uli had immunized herself against all forms of light powers. This proves she is intelligent.
After being freed, she schemes to get revenge on the Legion by besting them in battle. This proves she is psychotic.
She accosts Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, Cosmic Boy and Night Girl, while the quartet are out on a date, and challenges them to battle. Showing they hold no grudges and believing her to be reformed, the Legionnaires invite Uli out for a burger. Instead, Uli uses a power belt to turn each person's power against him- or herself. In a nicely realistic touch, the consequences of this fight are serious, as Cos, for example, is left with several broken bones and Lydda is temporarily blinded.
(In another nice touch and nod to her homeworld, Lydda recovers her sight by spending some time in a dark room.)
Uli then challenges the remaining Legionnaires at HQ--Brainiac 5, Karate Kid, Phantom Girl, and Ultra Boy--and they devise a scheme to trap Uli. The scheme backfires, but it allows Phantom Girl to stow away on Uli's ship. Tinya thus follows Uli to her hideout in the atomic-ravaged Midway City (a nice and non-intrusive connection to the present DCU--Midway City was Hawkman's home turf). Tinya alerts the other Legionnaires before her power, too, is turned against her.
While Brainy looks after the injured Tinya, Jo goes after Uli. (What happened to Val?) He defeats her in the only logical manner--by not using his powers at all but instead delivering an old fashioned uppercut. (In another nice move, Jo learned to do this by watching an old boxing flick earlier in the story.)
It's a bit silly to think that Jo--or any Legionnaire--doesn't know how to handle himself in an ordinary fistfight without watching a thousand-year-old film of an outlawed sport, but that's a minor problem. The buildup to the solution is suspenseful perhaps because, even in 1970, it was shocking for a hero to hit a woman. ("You're not exactly a lady," Jo tells Uli as he slugs her.) It was daring for Bridwell to do this--another writer might have had Tinya deliver the blow--but the solution is logical and surprisingly simple.
"Zap" wins additional props for the number of Legionnaires featured--seven plus one Sub--and for making good use of each of them (except for the vanishing KK). There are no wasted characters or scenes, showing once again that Bridwell was a master at telling a complete and satisfying story in only a few pages.
Action #386 was a decent issue with a Legionnaires getting to see some action.
I find it interesting that the Science Police resort to hypnotism to reform criminals. Apparently the SP faced the same recidivism rates among inmates that we have in our prisons today. The prism has no effect on criminals, like Uli Algor, who have their own plans after leaving Takron- Galtos. It makes one wonder how many other "reformed" criminals have returned to a life of crime.
Uli's zap belt renders Lightning Lad, Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl and Night Girl's powers against them in a handledly way, so much so that Brainac 5 is afraid to have the other Legionnaires use their powers against her. While Ultra Boy takes her down, without using his super powers in hand-to-hand combat, I wondered why Karate Kid wasn't utilized here since he doesn't have any real super powers.
E. Nelson Bridwell continues to take over as Jim Shooter goes off to college and leaves comic books behind (or so he thought—there’s an awesome Legion fandom story on his return) and he keeps the continuity of recent stories tight by having my girl Uli Algor get her second and final appearance—and looking damn fine too, if you don’t mind me saying. Bridwell’s knack for tight pacing in the back-up structure is again apparent, as is Mortimor’s fantastic art. This story especially seemed to showcase Mortimor’s skills for cosmic settings and interesting background composition.
The story is again straight-forward, which it needs to be since its 10 pages, but does a very good job at showing the Legionnaires having to match wits with a foe who is willing to do the same. In a sense its cyclical: Uli couldn’t beat the Legionnaires before on power alone so she had to resort to more cunning methods; thus, the Legion are having trouble beating her as they did before and have to do the same. Brainiac 5 gets to shine in this regard, naturally, though I was surprised he wasn’t the one to beat her. Instead it’s Ultra Boy—and in a pretty simple and aggressive way. The ending is pretty quick, but it’s nicely understated: they can’t use their powers, and even Brainy’s tech didn’t work, so Jo had to bring her down the old fashioned way like the non-powered people in the 20th century did it. I love that Bridwell was smart enough to foreshadow this earlier in the story with the Johnson / Jeffries fight. Considering how much this story obviously influenced TMK (with Talus and other things), I wonder how much Jo’s quick thinking at the end influenced their depiction of him two decades later.
I wish Uli had returned again. A few days ago I wondered why Uli felt so compelling to me as a character. After this story, I remember why. She’s great here! She’s cunning, tough and isn’t afraid of taking on multiple Legionnaires at once!
I agree with HWW on the props given for using so many Legionnaires in a short story. All of it pretty masterful too, with no one Legionnaire standing around and taking up space.
All in all, I thought this was a terrific little story.
A few random thoughts: Hawker Phuy looks like the evil hippy king, as scores of other “villains” during the transition from the 60’s to the 70’s did. With the Manson Family and other awful things happening at the tail end of the decade, the hippy culture had morphed into the freak culture and psychedelic culture, and then into that really oddball devil-worshipping / cult culture of the early 70’s that no one ever wants to talk about. Good thing ol’ Dick Nixon was there to keep everyone in line. But I digress.
So much of the culture during these years included futuristic scenarios in which the Government used technology or pharmaceuticals to “remove” the evil out of people. A Clockwork Orange, in movie form, was only a year away in the cinemas, showing one extreme of this. Even when presented “innocently” here, I find such things to be horrifying and offensive to the extreme.
Pretty awesome to see three sets of Legion couples off on a triple date, having run and catching a movie. It’s even more awesome to see Night Girl being a part of the story throughout—by now she and Cos have settled into a full blown relationship, but even better is she is still a kickass heroine.
The Jack Johnson / Jim Jeffries fight was a huge moment for boxing history but I’m sure most people today don’t know that. But I wonder how many did in 1970? Since it was the era of Muhammad Ali, I’m guessing more than today but it could’nt have been that much, since it happened in 1910? All of this is a way to wonder out loud of Bridwell or Mortimor was a big boxing fan?
The asteroid Talus, to be utilized in full effect in TMK, gets its first appearance!
Bridwell includes a reference to the destroyed Midway City—once Hawkman’s home base—and what I believe is a subtle reference to the atomic war that inspired the Atomic Knights stories. The kid is good!
Cobie, Interesting point about Hawker Phuy resembling a hippy king. I was thinking he looks like Ray Dorset, the lead singer of Mungo Jerry:
Now that I think about it, I wonder if the name "Hawker" was another nod to Hawkman. I wonder if DC was planning to relaunch Hawkman's title, which had been recently canceled after being combined with the Atom's title.
I appreciate the broader cultural perspective on Hawker and the idea of removing people's "evil" tendencies. I agree: In retrospect, it is very creepy.
While Ultra Boy takes her down, without using his super powers in hand-to-hand combat, I wondered why Karate Kid wasn't utilized here since he doesn't have any real super powers.
Good question. I can only assume that KK would have been too obvious. With UB, Bridwell was able to build up suspense on that second-to-lastl page.
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) that I wish there was a little extra element of Star Boy gaining something from this mission, or at least being set down a road where we could see him continually address his actions of taking another sentient’s life early in his Legion career. Yark Athlu himself would actually have been a fantastic villain to have recur: he’s a clever thug, somewhat intimidating in appearance, who also possesses the same powers as Dream Girl. A thug-type Dream Boy with the need for revenge? Definitely deserving of repeat appearances.
