Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! "The Lad Who Wrecked the Legion" -- Revisited

I've always thought this story should've been the real origin of the LSV. In my own "perfect version" of the story, DB would gradually replace the expelled Legionnaires with his own operatives from the Pirate Planetoid and other corruptible youths, gaining more power in the organization, while the expelled Legionnaires would gradually organize a counter-Legion, leading to a big blowout between the two groups at the end.

The story makes it clear that Command Kid's ship "crashlanded" on Taboo Island. Perhaps he was flying over it or in the vicinity and lost power, as happened to the Ranzzes when they were forced to land on Korbal.

The Legionnaires might not have been able to investigate Taboo Island without the consent of Preztor's government. I suspect there would have been diplomatic hurdles to overcome.

But you raise several good points, Mystery Lad. There is much ground that remains unexplored in this story. For example, I wondered if Command Kid was naturally obnoxious or if that was the demon's personality. I prefer to think the former: It would just make him so much more interesting.

Where does Element Lad mention that he can turn into other elements? I just re-read his scenes in LSH # 1, and such a mention isn't there.

[EDIT: Never mind. I just realized you were referring to the Dynamo Boy story.]

What comes around goes around.

As many of you know, I teach college composition courses, and I had an opportunity yesterday to work my first Legion comic into my lesson plan.

I'm teaching my students how to write a literacy narrative, a story in which they discuss some aspect of their own reading or writing experiences. To get the ball rolling, I had them bring to class a book, comic book, magazine, or some other printed matter that is personally significant to them. Because I never ask my students to share something I'm not prepared to share myself, I did the same.

The comic book I brought in was LSH v. 1 # 1.

I gave my students a brief introduction to the Legion and a run-down of the plot. I talked about the story's universal themes of peer pressure, the dangers of following celebrities (which Command Kid comes off as), and the importance of doing research (which Saturn Girl and Element Lad do). I also talked about how the issue introduced me to the world of the Legion and comic books in general, and how it influenced my decision to become a writer.

I pointed out that the story's writer was Jerry Siegel, the co-creator of Superman, so they could have a sense that writers can indeed change the world.

My goal was to show them that our greatest influences can come from the least likely places. I could never have guessed when I was nine years old and reading this comic book for the first time that I would be talking about it in a college class three decades later.

My goal was also to show them that writing can be both fun and serious at the same time. Jerry Siegel knew what he was doing: He crafted a story about teen-aged super-heroes that was intended for a young audience, yet he worked into the story complex themes that are worth analyzing and discussing even today. I'm hoping that my students will take their own favorite stories and dig deeper, as well.

After I shared my comic book, I invited my students to share what they brought. College freshmen being shy as they are, few volunteered. But those who did spoke with passion and commitment toward the books they brought in. They understood that their influences are worth sharing with others.

I'd like to take credit for that, but the credit truly belongs to Jerry Siegel, artist Jim Mooney, and cover artist Nick Cardy, whose collaborative work now has a chance to influence another generation.

Saturn Girl is drawn with BEAR LEGS in this story?!!! I don't remember that at all! I'll have to reread this story and look for that panel! Maybe Titanian women have evolved extra hairy legs to keep them warm on Saturn's moon--


But seriously, Folks. I'm surprised that you found this issue so compelling, HWW, as it was never a favorite of mine, though I understand that your fondness for it is partially due to nostalgia over it being your first Legion story. Mine was Adv. 337, The Weddings that Wrecked the Legion, which also dealt with villains trying to infiltrate the Legion, a common theme back then. In retrospect it seems simplistic, but I still am quite fond of it as my first Legion story.

One of the reasons I never cared for the Command Kid story is I was never fond of Jim Mooney's artwork. I also found it quite a stretch that the entire Legion fell for CK's trap, but the Dynamo Boy story that came shortly after is so preposterous that I wish it could be erased from the Legion chronicles. Mon-El stands idly by while an entire planet is destroyed and then just says, "Oh, well. I would've tried to save them, but I forgot my raygun." And the entire Legion lets this newcomer with the perpetual scowl expel them? What a joke! So instead of just ousting the guy, or even saying, fine, we'll have our own Legion without you, they just quietly disband!?

The most interesting part of the whole story was the scene featuring the Substitute Heroes, especially Stone Boy displaying the ability to turn only part of his body to stone and Night Girl carrying "shadow bombs" to augment her power. The logical and innovative concept of these 2 Subs compensating for their weaknesses is never seen again, unfortunately. I believe this is also the first time Chlorophyl Kid is shown being able to control his plants, by causing vines to attack Lightning Lord.

In modern American usage (who knows how things change from time to time or culture to culture), a police commissioner is typically employed by the mayor to oversee the police department, and a police chief is the operational head of a specific precinct. The chief is under the commissioner in the chain of command, but a commissioner will seldom have a hand in actual street-level policing.

The artwork in this issue has a lot of problems, as discussed above. And I agree: It is far-fetched that so many Legionnaires were duped by Command Kid. (It's not quite the entire team, by the way: Brainy and Cham, for example, do not appear, and Element Lad and Saturn Girl get wise to CK.)

To me, the story works on a thematic level, if one sees the Legionnaires as bowing to peer pressure (as a lot of teens do) or conforming to the one who seems most powerful (as even adults do, hence politics). It also fits in with CK's powers in that the greatest illusion he creates is to convince the Legionnaires that he's better than they are.

Still, one would think that some of the Legionnaires present would have enough self-confidence to pass on his scheme to increase their powers.

I didn't read Adv. 337 until many years later, after I'd read "The Legion Handbook," which contained brief bios of Blackout Boy, Magnetic Kid, and Size Lad. I have to admit that my disappointment in the story was influenced by my expectations of these characters, who weren't really developed as interesting personalities (either in those identities or their real ones as Murran spies).

Still, the fact that the Legionnaires are in on the subterfuge made for a nice twist on the infiltrator story, and the story also advances the Garth/Imra and Jo/Tinya romances.

Thanks for clarifying the possible relationship between Commissioner Wilson and Chief Zendak, Chaim.