Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Reading the Legion: Archives #1

"The Face Behind the Lead Mask" has a wonderful idea, but it's a rather clunky story overall that overreaches its aims.

The central premise is that Luthor builds a robot to get revenge on the Legion. All well and good . . . but the "mystery" is undermined by the robot's bald head and obviously scrambled name. I can't imagine readers in 1962 being fooled by Urthlo's connection to Luthor.

Likewise, the story moves too fast to accomplish what it needs to. The Legionnaires (the greatest heroes of their century) lose control of their powers, so they immediately contact Superboy to bail them out. The World-Wide Police gives the Legionnaires one hour to evacuate earth. (What? No calling in scientists to diagnose their power problems? No confining the Legionnaires to some remote spot on earth until the full danger can be assessed?) The stakes are raised but not in wholly believable ways.

It was, of course, necessary to include Luthor and Mon-El early in the story so new readers would understand who they are and what's going on, but I wish Siegel would have found a more creative way to do so. It feels as if Siegel telegraphed too much of how the story would be resolved.

I suppose the only thing I do like about this story is that Saturn Girl has a very prominent role. She is the first Legionnaire to truly develop as an independent personality and maintains a consistent personality through these early stories. She is self-assured, smart, and in control.

This story is significant for a lot of things that happen in it: the Legion gets its own series, Mon-El joins, Luthor becomes a Legion enemy . . . but the execution lacks finesse.

"The Origin of Bouncing Boy" is a classic tale of someone proving everyone wrong through sheer force of courage, ingenuity, and perseverance--meant to show heroism comes from all places. It's a great motif. And while this story has its charm based on that, what I find even more intriguing is the sheer world-building that begins here from Mssrs Forte and Siegel. Legion tryouts! There's just a lot to love here as the Legion now takes center stage.

Bouncing Boy, via his "look" alone thus far, resembles the "fat, silly sidekicks" of the Golden Age, a la Woozy Winks and Tubby Watts more than a traditional hero. Thus, either enough readers asked or Mort felt compelled to explain, how one such as him could join the LSH. However, by story's end, Chuck is shown to be an equal to his fellow Legionnaires. That's a big step for fat kids, even if his power *is* super-bouncing.

- on the opening splash, Imra shows some harsh judging! No worries, Cos will outdo her.

- the "one member a year" schtick is still going. They can't lose that fast enough.

- Forte is a master at odd facial expressions. As the Legion's fans clamor for them, Dirk sizes up the groupies; Cos is cheerful but recognizes duty comes first; meanwhile Vi can't get into the club house soon enough.

- note: the tally on Vi not speaking is still running.

- if only I had a dupli-writing stylus for my fans!

- the girl asking for an autograph is a classic case of a Dean Lee topic of discussion. She's a somewhat glamorous, somewhat beautiful walk on that Forte littered the series with.

- either Forte or Siegel is keen to show some of the other Legionnaires not shown on the splash last issue to remind fans of them: Colossal Boy, Phantom Girl and Ultra Boy. Conspicuous by his absence? Star Boy. Undoubtedly, everyone had forgotten about him, and he would not appear until 1964...a full 3 years after his debut! But we'll let that be tally #2.

- speaking of tallies, Jo is shown with only vision powers still--and using the ol' melting lead bit.

- one tally to end is here, Forte decides to stop drawing Tinya as a permanent phantom...even though she's actually in phantom form! This subtle change in her visual likely would influence the decision for her not to always be in phantom form.

- Colossal Boy is shown fighting a pretty weird looking giant! What is his story? The planet Grykk itself looks like middle age Bahgdad. All of it is too cool to remain in obscurity!

- and there he is: Lester Spiffany! Has there ever been a better example of an obscure character becoming forever tied to a message board or group? Ever since Teeds brought him to my attention waaaay back when, I can't help but love this series of panels! Is it because its so damn hilarious, or because it holds a special place in my heart? All I know is you're stupid, all of you! Stupid! Stupid!!!

- note Cos goes into what Lash coined "Simon Cowell mode" starting now.

- Enter: Storm Boy, the biggest square in Legion history. Thankfully he's a phony because the Legion can only have so many dorks. (Sorry Chuck).

- noteworthy: how short is that skirt, Lu? Thank the Positive Man there are three of you.

- the Trophy Room is pretty groovy! Lyle seems to be the Legionnaire clearing the most cases, explaining why he's always busy off-panel, and later elected leader.

- these final applicants are always interesting. Love the red-headed beehive!

- ironically, sometimes when I have a strange drink, I also bounce off the walls!

- btw, robot gladiators came true like 1,000 years ahead of schedule.

- I'd like to think that skull at the top right of page 9 is actually another alien doctor.

- who this dude? Older man, crazy electricity gizmo, thief, stealing a healing urn. I think this is a scientific genius, grown ill from experimenting on himself, only looking to heal himself! Or perhaps, its to heal his lab partner / person experimented on / love of his life! There is a story here!

- at story's end, good for Cos to admit when he might be wrong!

It's fun to analyze "The Secret Origin of Bouncing Boy" because of all the Legion stories so far, it most closely falls into the traditional pattern of story telling. We have a clearly defined protagonist (Chuck) who wants something (to join the Legion), but there are obstacles in his way (the Legion doesn't think his power is good enough). He strives to overcome these obstacles, fails, tries again, and finally succeeds!

As a story, I think this one works marvelously well because of this pattern and also because Chuck makes such an unconventional hero. As with Saturn Girl being the assertive lead, I think it's clear that Siegel and/or Weisinger knew their young audience and patterned the Legionnaires after kids their readers might encounter in school. So, you've got the "bossy" girl and the "fat" kid, both of whom are more than they appear to be. Of all the Legionnaires so far, Chuck is the one who acts the most heroic. No running to call Superboy when he doesn't get what he wants. He takes matters into his own hands and wins through perseverance.

World-building happens in this story, too, but it fits in nicely around the main story. It was a good call to use tryouts as a framing sequence to introduce Chuck's story. For one thing, we know how the story turns out (Chuck becomes a Legionnaire), so what hooks readers is not "What's going to happen?" but "How did it happen?" Most action/adventure stories are built around a similar conceit: The audience knows the hero is going to win in the end; what keeps us glued to our seats is the question of "how".

We also learn a lot about the Legion in this story--moreso than in probably any previous story. We see the tryouts, the fakers, an indication of how prestigious it is to get into this club, and the responsibility the Legion has to help other worlds. All of this is woven more or less naturally into the main narrative (although it does takes a long time to get to Chuck's tale, and he's not prominent at all in the early part of the story, which makes it somewhat disorienting when he suddenly becomes the focus of the story. However, these flaws are minor).

Overall, this is my favorite of the early Legion Adventure stories.

I never really 'got' Chuck's power until Marvel's Speedball made it look a bit more impressive, and finally Chuck himself started getting some references to an 'invulnerable body' when inflated, and pulling stunts like cushioning a crashing space ship with his body in places like Superboy's Legion.

I started seeing it in superhero games, as well, such as GURPS Supers, and recognized that it was something fairly unique, a single specific super-power that had defensives uses, offensive uses *and* was a 'movement power' that transported the hero around, making it a rare triple threat (like the Invisible Woman's force fields later became, when she started beating people up with them and riding them around).

But I like even more that Chuck's (mildly goofy) power isn't what makes him a hero, when people with much greater powers, like Duplicate Boy, Dev-Em or Atmos, aren't as likely to become Legionnaires, simply because they aren't as innately heroic as Chuck.

Like Brainy, whose power is 'being really smart' or Karate Kid, who managed to earn a place on the team with no powers at all, by just training really hard, Chuck feels like one of the Legionnaires that has the most positive message to readers.

Adventure #301

While the Urthlo story was a decent beginning to the Tales of the Legion series, it really arrives in earnest with this second story. This is prime stuff. Tons of Legion grooviness is seen for the first time here.

The team is still set in the 21st century, and is still admitting only one member per year. Eventually, they'll figure out how crazy the latter sounds, since, given the number of members they have already, and given the Legionnaires being aged approximately fifteen, that would mean the first Legionnaires must have been like five when they founded the team!

Anyway, this story continues the trend set last issue of basically introducing the Legionnaires to the readers, but, unlike the brief recounting of origins we got there, the whole story spotlights Bouncing Boy. Interestingly, the letter column in this issue is all about a previous story about Superboy being fat, with some of the overweight kids complaining about the portrayal. I wonder if that influenced the decision to write this story?

Anyway, the Legion HQ is surrounded by admirers; Sun Boy wants to bask in the admiration, while Cosmic Boy is all business. Funny how the seeds of future characterization are laid! Garth is happy to give autographs with the dupli-writing stylus, a kewl bit of "21st century" tech!

I don't really get how the force shield chases the crowd away, but, oh well...

We take a quick look-see at members on solo missions on other worlds. Note that these are three of the members who I noted as being absent from the previous issue, but now get to make cameos. These scenes are also important, because later writers would pick up on a lot of these planet names and re-use them.

We get the first "Colossal Boy wrestles with something" scene, this time a giant on Grykk. Grykk is a world that is apparently absolutely important in early Legion history, as it is later revealed that one of the Legion's first cases involves preventing the Ambassador from Grykk from stealing the Quintile Crystal. It also play an important role in Ultra Boy's plans to thwart Glorith, as his signing a treaty with Grykk prevents the Legionnaires from attacking Mordru early.

Phantom Girl is helping out "alien law-officers" on Lumbak by entering the impenetrable fortress of some evil-doers, while Ultra Boy is fighting a lead monster on Ferno. Good thing his penetra-vision, unlike Superboy's x-ray vision, will work on lead!

And then... tryouts! Well, we've seen tryouts before, but this is the first set that will produce rejected applicants, a key component of Legion lore!

Lester Spiffany-- a Legion World fan favorite, tries to buy his way on to the team! But no super-powers means no admittance!

Storm Boy-- tries to sneak on the team with weather control device! Not even a very convincing stunt, as it's pretty easy to notice something is up with his putting his hand in his pocket! No genuine super-powers means no admittance!

While we take a break from the tryouts, the applicant tour Legion HQ!

I believe this is the first appearance of the Legion trophy room!

And then we get Bouncing Boy's origin! Complete with futuristic inflation, which brings the price of a soda up to a whopping 50 cents (as will be pointed out in a future lettercolumn!).

"Savage- Exciting- Yet Harmless!"

Chuck definitely falls in the "received his power by a goofy accident" category, but he shows his heroism in the story!

"That plastic fluid you drank accidentally has given you permanent bouncing power...", or not so permanent, as we will learn in future stories!

Note the number "247" on the side of the car of the crooks Lightning Lad is preventing from escaping!

Poor Chuck! Rejected! His first attempt at impressing the Legion... a failure! People making fun of him! But then... he captures a crook that has taken down Saturn Girl! And in a way that allows for a science lesson!

Not a fan of the World-Wide Police outfits, which are continued from last issue!

So, Bouncing Boy becomes a member!

There's tons of interesting-looking applicants here that we're not introduced to! Some hold that the one from the final panel, who is particularly inspired to keep trying by Chuck's story, is really Matter-Eater Lad, who will become a member a couple of issues later.

Anyway, definitely a great story, and one of my favorites in this volume!

Oh, important fact: This is the first Legion story with no involvement from Superboy/Supergirl!

I suspect some of you, like me, pre-write your reviews the night before (or whatever). It's cool how we pick up on similar things, like both Eryk and I honing in on Cos and Dirks' reactions to the fans!

Love the insight on Grykk! I forgot all of that stuff!

Special Bonus Review of Superman #155

So, this story features a special guest appearances by popular wrestler Antonino Rocca! He and Superman stage a charity wrestling match, though of course no ordinary human wrestler would be any match for Superman! Rocca demonstrates some moves, however, on meek and mild-mannered Clark Kent the day before the event and on a less meek and mild-mannered octopus before Superman steps into the ring!

To everyone's surprise, Rocca easily tosses Supes out of the ring! The explanation: Mr. Mxyzptlk shows up and informs everyone that he has made Antonino even stronger than Superman! Then Mxy pulls Samson and Hercules out of time, and Rocca easily beats the two of them as well! Man... Mxy sure is making this charity event something special!

So, some gangsters in the audience get an idea. They've hidden some loot in a cave, but the entrance of the cave is covered by a boulder after an earthquake. So, they kidnap Rocca at gunpoint, since he is strong but not invulnerable, in order to get him to move the boulder for them!

After Rocca moves the boulder, however, they decide to shoot him, since they don't need him anymore! But to their surprise, the bullets bounce right off him! And then Superman, Samson, and Hercules pull up in an automobile! The gangsters decide to flee in the their own car, but Sampson shoots out their tires with electric bolts, and Hercules mysteriously pulls the car back with some strange force!

Then Mxy shows up, and all is revealed! Mxy is really not Mxy at all, but Krypto! And it turns out that Superman and Antonino had switched identities, so the "super-strong" Rocca was really Supes all along! And Sampson and Hercules? None other than Lightning Man and Cosmic Man of the Adult Legion of Super-Heroes!

It turns out Supes had got wind of the crooks' problem of the earthquake blocking access to their loot, and concocted this elaborate scheme in order to discover its location!

Actually a pretty decent example of the sub-genre of Superman/Legion stories that feature them playing elaborate ruses on bad guys (see, for example, "The Weddings the Wrecked the Legion!"), though not particularly important/interesting as a Legion story. It really could've been almost anybody in the Sampson/Hercules masks (or even the real Sampson and Hercules!), though the Legion were apparently used to explain how they were appearing through time, by using the new-fangled but never-seen-again time travel armbands!

That was a pretty elaborate scheme. I'm still confused about Krypto being Mxy, or vice versa.

It made me think of the later Muhammed Ali vs Superman fight, in order to pick a champion to fight an alien invader.

I didn't know the Adult Legion was making repeated appearances back then. They must not have been as popular as the teens since they never became a regular feature.

Oh, and time-travel armbands! Wonderful!

Agreed. As a kid, I never identified with Chuck. I wanted to be Mon-El or Lightning Lad or Sun Boy. But the fact that Chuck was there sent a very positive message to me (and I'm sure to other readers) about his value as a teammate.

When I first started reading the Legion in 1972-73, Chuck had already lost his power (twice!). But in Adv. # 328, he's shown briefly getting his power back, and in Adv. 341, the non-powered Chuck tries to take on Computo. (Ironically, when his power is again briefly restored, he becomes an ineffective combatant and an easy target for Computo's minions.) Such stories did not depict Chuck in the best of light, but they showed he was not forgotten.

In other stories, such as Adv. 309, 351, and 380, Chuck is shown having a lot to contribute, even when his teammates underestimate him. Flash forward to "The Impossible Target" (Superboy # 199), in which Chuck singlehandedly and ingeniously defeats a villain with his power and a sneeze! When he was the focus of a story or a scene, he dominated it by virtue of both his power and his personality. I think Chuck was very deliberately portrayed not as a stereotype but as a confident guy who didn't take himself too seriously.

I liken Chuck to Uhura and Sulu on Star Trek. Neither was the focus of most stories, but the fact that they were on the bridge of the Enterprise, giving orders to crewmen, and being entrusted with command-level responsibilities sent a powerful message to viewers to look beyond race. Chuck, the "fat kid" with the silly power, accomplished much the same in the Legion.

Yes, and it's amazing how they are not missed.

Yet another adult Legion appearance I either forgot existed or never knew about! Must read!

I know the last appearance of the Adult LSH besides Legion #300 and "Whatever Happened...?" is at the very end of the 60's (possibly 1970 or 1971) in a Superman issue that also features Mordru. That's where it's revealed the White Witch joins the Legion.

It's worth noting that one issue we shipped over was Superman Annual #4, which is the source of the "Origins and Powers of the Legionnaires" features which are a the beginning of the Archive, and particularly important historically as the original source of many of the real names of many of the Legionnaires (and some of their homeworlds as well!).

The original text can be read here.

^^A couple of things of note:

--No mention of Winath for Lightning Lad, only Korbal.
--No homeworld mentioned for Brainiac Five. Also, no powers mentioned except force-shield belt.
--The rest of those whose homeworlds aren't mentioned would later be defaulted to Earth.
--Most of the origins are basically in place there, though some would be expanded upon, as in "The Secret Origin of Bouncing Boy!".

So how did Krypto talk as "Mxy"? Was this one of those uses of super-ventriloquism?

It seems like an awful lot of trouble for just dealing with regular gangsters. And surely someone in our time could have helped if he really couldn't do it some other way, why pull people from 1000 years in the future? Or were they just visiting anyway?

Yeah, Supes provided the voice via super-ventriloquism.

I suspect Supes and the boys were already having a few space beers when the idea to crack this case came up.

I suppose the tentacled alien who came to dinner in Supergirl's dream was busy!

Adv. 302: "Sun Boy's Lost Power"

This story has a lot in common with the previous one in that it focuses on a single Legionnaire and his efforts to join or, in this case, stay in the club.

For this story, it's Sun Boy who gets the spotlight. After being proclaimed one of the greatest Legionnaires and having a statue erected in his honor (only for him to have to melt it when it topples and threatens a crowd of onlookers), Sun Boy finds he's somehow lost his power. Efforts to restore his power fail (sometimes to unintentionally hilarious effect, such has Dirk being lowered into a volcano!), so there's only one thing left to do: Sun Boy must be expelled from the Legion. He is stripped of his membership, his friends, and even his porta-monitor. Then things get really ugly when an old enemy, Kranyak, comes calling. However, Dirk realizes what briefly restored his power earlier in the story and puts himself at risk to regain his power. He succeeds, gives Kranyak his comeuppance, and rejoins the Legion.

This story, like the previous one, falls into the tried-and-true pattern of the hero wanting something and having to overcome obstacles to get it. But this is a less successful story, I think. It's mainly a by-the-book number without finesse or anything to make it stand out. Chuck's story succeeded because he was such an unlikely hero that we couldn't help but root for him. But Dirk fails to generate an equal amount of sympathy. When things get bad for him--and they do get bad, relatively speaking--he remains the stalwart hero, the popular guy who never questions himself and doesn't change as a result of this story.

There are plenty of opportunities for Dirk to reflect on his life and how things have turned out, but most of these scenes, unfortunately, leave the other Legionnaires looking bad. Cosmic Dick, er, Boy reminds Dirk of his real name in a condescending manner, and Bouncing Boy (who, in light of the previous story, should sympathize with Dirk more than anyone) is sent to collect the last token of Dirk's membership, his porta-monitor. Dirk takes this all in stride, never flinching or questioning why his friends are no longer treating him like a friend.

If Superboy were the lead in this story, there would be all sorts of thought balloons such as "(Choke!) I can't believe my pals are deserting me!" -- a bit heavy on the pathos perhaps, but at least Kal would care.

And then there's the insane manner in which Dirk regains his power--he exposes himself to a fire-breathing creature based on a flimsy conclusion drawn from an encounter with butterflies?! Garth, at least, was accidentally attacked by lightning beasts, but Dirk has a suicidal all-or-nothing view of being a Legionnaire!

It's fun to read this story in the context of 5YL, however; knowing how badly things later turned out for Dirk gives us a sense of what might really be going through his mind here: how desperately he wants to play the hero, how his self-worth depends on his status as a Legionnaire . . . even a sense of self-denial that may explain his near-suicide in this story.

Alas, those were the extrapolations of a later writing team. This story, as presented, is serviceable and probably thrilled young readers when they originally read it. But it offers nothing else, and I feel it was a cheating to reveal Jo and Kal to be robots (and for a rather flimsy reason, as well). The best Legion stories respect young readers' intelligence and offer some sort of educational value (such as the fact that Bouncing Boy could not be shocked by an electrified enemy because he was not grounded). This one seems to lower readers' expectations.

This story brought 5YL Dirk to my mind as well, although his desperation and motive to remain a superhero seemed more pure in this story. He wanted to help people with his powers and he responded to adulation with what struck me as true humility. Only in later years would ego and arrogance take over.

It also reminded me of the more recent scene in Lo3W, with Dirk, drained of energy and spirit, sitting at home in a chair, brooding - and visited by one of the "weaker" Legionnaires. Polar Boy was a booster, however, not the repo man as Chuck was portrayed. It's interesting, though, that in both cases, the star Legionnaires avoided Dirk.

Sun Boy is smart. Almost as smart as Saturn Girl! He tries all sorts of things, with some logic behind his search, to recharge his power. Funny that we only see Brainy in the final panel; in these early stories, that 12th level intelligence is pretty dormant.

Would Sun Boy need recharging periodically?

That was a nice scene, after he got his power back, with Sun Boy standing in the rain. It also reminded me of that 5YL scene in which he puts his uniform back on (now ill-fitting) and stands in the rain, as people jeer at him. The first scene is full of promise, he'll banish the rain if he wishes; the latter scene reeks of futility and defeat.

I enjoyed this story more as a contrast to where Dirk would be taken as a character in future issues; it was bittersweet in that respect.

The Legion is still in the 21st century. At some point it will become the 30th century, but will any explanation be given? Unfortunately, the Archives don't include the letter columns where this change might have been explained.

There's also a reminder that each Legionnaire has one unique power. That may be why Ultra Boy was written to use one power at a time. Apart from the super-cousins, who will be the first Legionnaire with multiple powers - Mon-el (who remains in the Phantom Zone at this point)?

Bouncing Boy's origin made me a big fan! Not impressed by how he gained his powers (slacking off), but the persistence was nice.

I did like his later evolution to becoming unofficial "Chief of Morale" of the team though.

Sun Boy gets the spotlight again, as the Legion's first real villain debuts, Kranyak. And since he's "Sun Boy's old enemy", it makes sense he's the villain in the Secret of the Seventh Superhero. He's also the first in a long line of one-off villain that really should have a follow-up!

Note the opening splash declares the Legion as being admired in a thousand galaxies! There are no limitations in the Silver Age!

Nice tophat in the mayor! Good to see that comes back in style in either 100 or 1,000 years.

Cos is sure the statue is of Imra. He's both modest and not afraid to give credit where credit is due.

What heroism! Destroying ones own statue to save lives. I'm, er, sure I could do the same. *choke*

The thought of leaving the Legion *is* pretty terrible. Having to pack up your trophies, nameplate and statuette would make it all the worse!

Good to see Ultra Boy interacting with the other Legionnaires!

Love the *awp!* sound effect. This is its third appearance. It's such a Lash-ism.

Gaseous pills are actually a pretty wild idea! So long as you make sure you don't dissipate into the atmosphere.

The first of several super-monster mash ups is shown. Has the Kryptonian Super Beast been shown before?

Sun Boy regains his powers in a pretty strait forward story here. It would be more cliche if it was a mental thing and he really hasn't lost them at all.

A cool cameo of the Adventures of Pete and Jo!

Surely it was the Time Trapper who caused the robots to malfunction in the time stream! Who knows what they would have done if Sun Boy didn't discover them? This is surely what led him to use the Molecule Master!

Oh, and is that Brainy in a cameo in the final panel? Random! Or is it a Re-colorist job again?

All in all, a pretty strait forward tale--not the greatest but not bad. It captures a fear Uncle Mort knew the kids would resold to: the idea of losing your social position and being ostracized. And in that mold, its successful in providing a nice fantasy of overcoming such a thing.

Adventure #302

We continue the trend of "introducing the Legionnaires" stories that we've had in the "Tales of the Legion" series thus far. Like last issue, this story spotlights a single Legionnaire... Sun Boy. It's definitely not as successful as last issue's focus on Bouncing Boy, however.

Sun Boy is established as one of the most popular Legionnaires by a scene in which he is the first to receive a statue from the city of Metropolis (we get a rare appearance from the Mayor of Metropolis!). Unfortunately, Sun Boy has to melt the statue when it topples, saving the spectators who are then rained on by harmless molten metal.

Interestingly, Sun Boy's pose for this statue is almost identical to his pose in the statue in the "Hall of Heroes" a couple of issues back. It's basically the mirror image of that statue.

Sun Boy's power fails, and we're treated to another recounting of his origin of having been locked in an atomic reactor. You'd think they would call scientists or doctors (*cough* Brainy) into help, but instead we get: Plan A... hop back into an atomic reactor! Plan B... lowered into a volcano! But neither of them works.

I'd like to think there's some great untold story of how the Legion helped out the Interplanetary Entomology Society or something.

So, the Legionnaires vote Sun Boy out at the next meeting, after a last ditch effort: Plan C... Superboy and Ultra Boy use their vision powers on him via a special reflective lens!

Everyone seems so sorry to see him go... like they're never going to see him again! You'd think they could still get together at the Nine Planets on a Friday night or something!

I'm not sure why a "sub-oceanic" liner sinking would be a problem. Doesn't the "sub-oceanic" bit imply that it normally travels underwater? Apparently not. Even though Dirk regrets not being an active Legionnaire as he would've been part of that mission, apparently Bouncing Boy wasn't included in the rescue mission!

One little bit I absolutely love is the key on the hat of the guard at the prison... a detail which just screams "Hey, I'm a prison guard!"

Kranyak is a typically diabolical villain. Note that if the the theory that he is the same as the Sun Boy imposter is to hold, then there must be a separate untold encounter with the Legion, since he was clearly caught by Superboy rather than Sun boy in the previous story. You've got to love his attacking Dirk with the fireball weapon to taunt him with his lost powers, and then his trying to destroy the Legion with a weapon that is designed to be perfect for Dirk to counteract if he still had his powers!

Fortunately for the Legion, Sun Boy has in the meantime engaged Plan D.... get himself blasted by a Kryptonian flame beast! Flame Beasts occasionally showed up in Superman stories at this point, so this was a nice bit of continuity in a way. I wonder if Lurna is supposed to be the same as Monster World, which will show up a few issues later?

Anyway, now that Sun Boy has had his power recharged by a living being's heat energy, he defeats Kranyak and rejoins the Legion! Only one mystery left to solve... why didn't Superboy and Ultra Boy's powers work to recharge his? Easy... they're not really Superboy and Ultra Boy, but robots! Here we get a nice reinforcement of the Jo and Pete friendship, as well as a "we were busy in another time" explanation of the sort that will drive many fanboys crazy ("but... but.... it's time travel, they could show up any time they want!"). Whatevs... I'm totally convinced that "Hurricane-like force" in the time stream is early Time Trapper meddling!

There’s quite a bit of implausibility in the basic plot of this story, as it’s not clear at all why his power would be restored by a “living organism’s heat energy” when that bears no relation to how he originally received his abilities. It might’ve have made more sense with Lightning Lad, or at least with a reference to Lightning Lad’s origin, but, as it stands, it’s kind of weird. And, unlike the previous story, in which we get a sense of who Bouncing Boy is before the accident which gave him his powers, we don’t really get any idea of who Sun Boy is away from his heroic identity (apparently, he even continues to wear his costume after losing his “Sun Boy” powers!). All of this will have to wait for the Shooter era, and the first appearance of Dr. Regulus which fills in more details of Sun Boy’s origin.

So, a solid story, but one can't help but read it and think that it could've been a little bit better.

Ah, comic books, where the Human Torch is bulletproof because he's able to melt the bullets as they fly at him, and, as everybody knows, an ounce of molten metal travelling at 2000 MPH is totally harmless!

I kind of suspected that might be re-coloring myself, though I suppose it could be foreshadowing ahead of Brainy's big debut next issue!

Cool that we both picked up on the Time Trapper theory!