Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Volume 13

Superboy & the LSH #226: A

#226 is another milestone issue as Dawnstar debuts--and few characters were as important to the"Legion visual" in the late 70's and 80's as she was. Even better, it's an exciting, solid story that I enjoyed immensely.

Levitz takes another classic Legion trope, that of a Legionnaire proving his or herself (rookie or otherwise) but does so better than most by connecting it to previously established tension--Wildfire and Superboy--and also placing in the middle of an excellent, tension-filled chase story. The tension which exploded last issue has now shifted to Wildfire and most of the rest of the Legion, as Levitz breaks new ground here by stretching things out and not providing a done-in-one, easy solution. This makes me love Wildfire even more, and it also immediately connects Dawny and Wildfire in a natural and dynamic way right from the beginning.

The story itself is great. Relatively straight-forward, but with enough complexity to be interesting, and a balance between character and plot. I think Levitz did a terrific job here.

Dawnstar is a favorite and there's a lot of reasons why, most of which you can see from the get-go. She is visually stunning and adds a certain something the LSH is missing: an ethnic character, something a little more alien with wings, someone who can exist outside a space ship like few others. She's also full of vigor, as she shows a moral compass to make it her fight and courage to see it through. She also represents a younger hero trying to join a team that has now aged beyond teenagers, and that is appealing too. She proved herself here--not just to the LSH but to me too.

I also enjoy how Dawny's powers relate navigation and space travel, which then gives the story a nice "hard science fiction" background. I don't normally think of Dawny as a sci-fi character but she's had the most sci-fi debut of anyone since maybe Element Lad.

The art here felt a little sloppy at times and I'm wondering if it's the coloring or the line work or what. The panel layouts are terrific but the imagery itself feels a bit stunted at times.

Lastly: have we not theorized yet that the leader of the Raiders is a rogue Brain-Globe from Rambat? Because surely that's the case!

Loved the issue and I can see why fans went gangbusters over Levitz in his first run already.

Regarding the second story, I don't have much to add that FC and HWW haven't already covered in full. It's a filler story, and not one particularly interesting, which serves the purpose of making one writers story fit another's plans. In fact that's the only interesting thing about it, which we get the benefit of by reading decades of interviews and knowing this already. Otherwise I'd have been pretty annoyed buying this off the stands!

And the main reason is as been mentioned: it really makes Brainy's extreme reaction questionable as his dilemma is not as personal as it could have been.

Also want to give kudos to FC for catching the double meaning of "five against one" which I also missed. That makes the title the best part of the story!

It's interesting that Mordru continues to be referenced but we have not been told one way or another if he's been freed from his prison yet.

I'd rather Brainy look weak than insane or stupid.

I think this is a case of the writer underestimating the intelligence of the readers. Back in the '60s, the common belief among television executives was that viewers wouldn't care unless the main character or someone he or she loved was in danger every week. That's why Captain Kirk led so many away team missions! But it stretches the bounds of credibility when it's done too frequently.

As a reader then and now, I respect characters who demonstrate a bit of intelligence in their actions and writers who find drama in the natural reactions of the characters rather than trying to "create" drama in unnatural ways. I like your suggestion that the Legionnaires were concerned about Brainy going off to fight Stargrave by himself. That alone would have been enough for me to care.

I don't know if Levitz had planned Brainy's insanity this early. I would have all kinds of respect for him as a writer if he did, but I doubt it.

All well said. Dawny was a significant addition for all of these reasons.

Superboy 224

You can see why Giffen ended up giving people tougher looking costumes. Look how many they tear just on the covers. We open with a reprise of the anti matter rift from the last couple of issues. I’m still struck by the parallels of the Abnett/ Lanning run. The Legionnaires there were also interrupted by others with superpowers, who thought they could do a better job at closing a spatial rift. Here though, Stargrave is able to do what the others could not.

Stargrave is hugely powerful here, closing rifts and teleporting groups across untold distances. Then there’s the force bubbles, telepathy and freeing other hugely powerful villains. If Stargrave could sing, he’d be Tyroc in disguise. It’s a bit of a letdown that he was behind the rift, as part of a picking-of-the-worthy plot.

The Legion don’t take kindly at being told what to do, and we get another fight scene, against Stargrave’s lackeys. We learn that Holdur is scared of Mordru and there’s some nice art as Superboy get thumped and returns for a rematch. Stargrave gets to show off more of his powers, defeating our heroes. I’m curious to see why he can’t beat his nemesis all by himself, and why he needs the Legion.

Brainy asks the same question, after Stargrave sits us all down for an origin interlude. What an origin. Suspended animation; declared dead; thrown into an exploding star, only to live again with immense power. But we learn that even that power isn’t enough to face…Mordru. Which we were told about when Spoiler Holdur gave the game away earlier.

To make up for it, we get another bombshell. Querl is Vader’s son. I mean he’s Stargrave’s son. When it looks like a Coluan, and has the ego problems of a Coluan, it’s a Coluan. I’m reminded a little of the Prophet in the later Levitz/ Giffen story that also involved a solar origin.

Although he’s convinced his colleagues to aid Stargrave, he tells his dad that they will turn against him after any victory. As shocking as this betrayal may seem, I doubt it’s nothing that Stargrave didn’t expect. So, Querl’s simply getting playing a role. I hope.

In the TMK run, this would all be retconned so that it would be the Time Trapper looking to play off the Legion against Mordru, rather than Stargrave.

Superboy 225

Superboy sure knows how to make a clown of himself. Imagine if this was your first comic, and your first Superboy story. Petulant, arrogant and resentful. I thought Spoilboy was going to be Lester Spiffany’s super name, but Dreamy (showing some leadership potential of her own here) is right to use it for Supes. Ironically, it’s Wildfire who is on the other side of the dispute. I note that Mon El doesn’t hold back form an opportunity to slap Superboy around. “Leave me in the Phantom Zone for 1000 years will you?”

I thought that Superboy was upset at the knowledge of Brainiac working with Stargrave from the last issue, but recent publishing has become a bit disjointed. Superboy looks to continue his bid for leader even if it means casting Wildfire in a bad light or framing him. Wildfire finds Superboy about to take one of his costumes and they fight. This has been coming for a long while, due to their personality clashes. But we don’t see the conclusion as we’ve to guess which one of them leaves the room in Wildfire’s costume. It also doesn’t work as Superboy has turned more into Wildfire than Wildfire this issue.

As the team battle the resource raiders, we learn that it was Wildfire all along. Which is where it all unravels.

Just how did Wildfire know where to find the raiders? We see him staring up at the sky, locating them, as if he were using Superboy’s telescopic vision. Perhaps Superboy really found them, and told Wildfire, but that wouldn’t have allowed Wildfire to see them, just to know they were up there somewhere. How did the resource raiders know to use an anti Superboy weapon against a Wildfire costume? The only way that the Legion’s predicto computer could have known that the Raiders would use such a weapon, would be if it was funding and informing them. Inaccurate computer predictions are as annoying as Miracle Machine pay offs.

I would have thought Nura would have dismantled the thing after the last time this plot device was used. She should be the one giving us accurate, but not all they seem to be, predictions. She got as far as being the most questioning of the team, but there is a tendency for them to not confront anything unless it gets in the way of the plot, which isn’t effective.

The big plus for this story was Jim Sherman’s art. It is simply gorgeous. From the cityscapes, through the ships, to the fight scenes and faces. Simply lovely.

Superboy 225 - backup

This tale isn’t quite a throw away. We learn about some galactic tensions between the UP and Dominion, something that will be used several times in years to come. Relnic would become the UP’s focus character on such events. We get another mention of the luck lords, and seeing the citizens of the future still believing in religions and superstitions means we haven’t changed that much.

We also get a look at Timberwolf, with Jeckie and Dirk there to facilitate the plot. Levitz writes Brin as a loner who doesn’t necessarily follow orders. Or he has a “thick head” as Dirk says. That’s pretty much Brin as Levitz would continue to write him. Athletic and a bit bone headed, but impulsive and intuitive at the same time. After all, he’s the one who gets the idea for the plan that captures the assassin, Tseln. You do wonder why, knowing his limitations, irk ever agreed to let Wolf on such a delicate mission. Perhaps he’s more thick headed than Brin.

Superboy 226

There’s nothing like seeing the Legion welcoming a new member. They are just the nicest around try outs and initiations. >cough<

We pick up on the Resource Raiders plot from last issue. Having captured a few of them, the Legion need to find out where they’re from. Fortunately, our Orwellian future has lots of truth beams. But even they can’t get anything more than some coordinates from the minds of the aliens. We actually enter the issue after all that messy interrogation business is out of the way. Having had their minds invaded seems to have made the Raiders keen to escape for some reason. Not to worry as Thom and Dirk (both fated to die in the same story right at the end of Levitz’s tenure) recapture them with only some equipment damage.

We see a Legion briefing, as Lightning Lad tells the others that there’s nothing at the location they have uncovered. Perhaps they could have just let their captives escape and follow them.

The new leader, Wildfire, has a plan. His leadership style clearly annoys the others. This picks up from Wildfire’s already established personality, and Levitz does a good job showing us the grumbling of the others under his command. I also got a chuckle at the older members remarks about a new, much younger, person being introduced to help. Here, Dawnstar is a mutant (must keep up with the X-Men you know), rather than having lots of people from Starhaven having the same ability.

Dawnstar follows the coordinates to the location divulges by the Raiders. There is, indeed, nothing there. So, Lightning Lad was quite right. Had Wildfire not interrupted the briefing perhaps one of them would have said “Let’s check it out anyway.” They would have found the same location, and Saturn Girl would have picked up the distressed thoughts of the Raiders’ next targets in the same way.

Here, the Legion stop the Raiders, although most of them manage to escape. Lightning Lad is very quick to blame Dawnstar and Wildfire’s leadership. I guess he’s one of the instigator’s who was muttering about impeachment earlier on in reference to Wildfire’s leadership. However, it was Sun Boy and Wildfire’s blast that nearly killed a lot of people in the area. That attack conveniently stopped Superboy too as he helped those drifting in space.

Like last issue with Superboy, imagine this was your first introduction to Lightning Lad. What an undermining clown. But I’m distracted from that by Wildfire’s already creepy intentions towards Dawnstar. She’s been in a handful of pages and already he’s making moves. This plot would suffocate much of Dawny’s character in the upcoming years.

I note that we now have a character who can track anything (well we don’t know how often her powers would fail at this point) and warp space to get everything else between points. They are just the things that Giffen would be so keen to dismantle at the end of the Baxter run, the TMK run and towards the end of Levitz’s last run too. It’s interesting to see the different storytelling outlooks.

Dawny is instrumental in leading the Legion to the Raiders headquarters (back on Earth) and in getting to their leader first. Sure, Superboy could have just powered through the building, but Dawnstar’s elegant method worked nicely and allowed the writer to show her off a bit. Behind the Raiders? A Brain in a Jar? Is it one of the Brain Globes? Is it one of the Brain Lords of Khann? Is it the Brain from the Doom Patrol, with some of General Immortus’ secrets? Probably not, but they are always fun.

In the last panel, Wildfire offers Dawnstar a place in the team. Normally, that would be that as the pay off to the issue would be to get to this point. Judging by the reactions to Wildfire’s leadership, his decision may have some implications. Already we’re seeing the starts of a long running multi-parter with the strong continuation of different personalities.

Sherman’s art was another treat. The Raiders’ craft look great, as does their HQ. We’re given more reflections, and lovely looking Legionnaires.

Superboy 226- Back Up

This was a surprising backup as it carries on the main story of #224. Brainy goes to Zerox. He’s after Mordru’s star stone, which must be an artefact the old wizard uses for power. I’m not sure why Brainy is acting alone, when he said that the rest of the Legion will help him. I’m also not sure when he was able to break steel bonds. He does say that he’s picked up training from Karate Kid, but has Val given away all of his secrets. Watch for future issues where the Legion break out of similar traps…or not.

Brainy gets past the stars tone’s traps. Interestingly enough, he’s faced with a screaming, twisted version of himself. “No part of that evil was within my soul…it couldn’t be,” said Brainy. You wonder just how much the writing team planned.

Considering that the stone doesn’t seem to want to go anywhere, it’s up for debate how true the truth is. But we’re told the origin of only a couple of issues ago isn’t true. Instead of being Brainy’s father, Pulsar is the original Brainiac transported to this century. Pretty much all the big villains make it through. Darkseid, Al Ghul, Ivo, Brainiac, Immortus etc. I wonder who stopped them in the intervening centuries.

If Brainy gets his way, his predecessor won’t make it another year, never mind millennium. Querl has murder on his mind. I'm a bit confused as I thought Brianiac 1 was a robot. But perhaps I'm mixing it up with later L.E.G.I.O.N. stories. So perhaps he really has scrap on his mind, and not murder.

It was thoughtful of him to put all this on a tape, so the others could stop him. I guess he wants to be stopped. But if that’s the case, he’s not really in control of himself. That brings us right back to that twisted version we saw earlier.

Welcome back, thoth.

You're right that the first impressions of Superboy and Lightning Lad would not be positive. The funny thing is that, since I had been reading the Legion for about four years at this point, I was willing to excuse their behavior because they were heroes, and so they must have good reasons for acting that way!

In fact, there had been many stories in which Superboy had engaged in super-dickery as part of the plot, so I was prepared to accept that he was acting out of character for a reason. In fact, this turns out to be the case--although he also seems genuinely upset that Wildfire got to be leader over him, and his public temper tantrum was totally inexcusable.

For me, it was like looking up to an older kid and then realizing that the older kid was capable of acting like a jerk. There was a sense of wanting to justify it because I still looked up to the "older kid."

As for Garth, I had never really thought about him being a "hot head" until later versions of the character were introduced, but here he plays every inch the hot head. It's fun to pick up on these character traits I didn't notice the first time around.

#227 War at World's End by Gerry Conway, art by Joe Staton & Jack Abel



Part III of the Stargrave story - and the third writer!

The tale opens in space above Colu, with Brainiac 5 floating near a craft as the Legion cruiser approaches. He screams "Die, you naive fools! DIE!" as the cruiser is hit by laser beams and
explodes. Suddenly, a hand appears on Brainy's shoulder...

And the Legion appears! Superboy knocks out Brainy and Collosal Boy grabs him, saying that Wildfire noticed Brainy and suspected a trap, so the cruiser was left empty.

However, Phantom Girl emerges from the small craft to report that she found Brainy tied up in a storage-locker. The Legionnaires attack the ship that fired on them, only to find it empty and conclude it was a deception. Brainy tells them that Stargrave is behind all this and isn't his father, but the original Brainiac, "the most monstrous villain of all". An interlude page recaps the previous two Stargrave stories.

Brainy had deduced that Stargrave/Brainiac would attack Colu - and that's why he summoned the Legionnaires, to help him.

The imposter, held by Gim, claims that Brainy is the real imposter. Saturn Girl reads his mind to discover Stargrave's plan: to attack the Graviton (that keeps Colu's moons aligned) and an air filter facility.

The group splits into three: two teams to deal with Stargrave's impending attacks and one to remain in the city with the imposter.

Wildfire is lecturing Team 1 on Coluan history when they're attacked by robots. He and Colossal Boy fight the robots; Shady observes someone running into a building and suspects the robots are just a diversion. She and Vi pursue the running figure (Vi wants to warn the boys, but Shady says she voted for Superboy for leader, so let egotist Wildfire keep on fighting). Inside, they encounter and defeat Holdur, then meet Stargrave, who blasts them.

Team 2 arrives at the air filtration plant where all is quiet, until a giant robot emerges from the ground and knocks Superboy for a loop. Jeckie produces an illusion of a Wild Venusian Wart Bull which occupies the robot. Phantom Girl enters the filtration plant; she's met by Stargrave, who blasts her.

Back in the city, Brainy decides that the imposter is not alive, so Lightning Lad hits the imposter with enough of a shock to stun a living person but to short-circuit a robot. The imposter explodes, with a look of shocked dismay on its face. Saturn Girl is disgusted and amazed that she read the mind of a robot. Brainy gives a recap of Stargrave/Brainiac One's history and says he knows where to likely find Stargrave.

The meet Quicksand, who sends them sinking into the floor; Saturn Girl tells Brainy to do something, but Lightning Lad tells her to do the fighting. She mentally sends Quicksand flying.

Then Stargrave appears, delivers his raison d'etre speech (to take over Colu), and begins to bathe some old computers in "living fire". Before he can complete this, Superboy and Wildfire appear, deliver a joint blow and send Stargrave into Colu's sun. "That should keep him out of trouble for awhile!" states Superboy.

Superboy and Wildfire explain that they realized they were fighting imposter Stargraves, since both teams were fighting Stargrave at once and Shady, Vi and Phantom Girl were unharmed by "Stargrave's" blasts.

The story closes with Brainy declaring that Colu will have some rebuilding to do and the Legionnaires could help. They all decide on a good night's sleep.

Comments:

Conway's Stargrave story wraps up the tale, which has been lingering since #224.

There's a bit of a continuity blip: Brainy (imposter) says he summoned the Legion for help, but in the second part, by Levitz, the Legion were chasing after Brainy to prevent him from murdering Stargrave. That idea fell by the wayside. If the Legion had been tracking Brainy, Dawnstar would have been the perfect choice to lead the hunt - but she isn't in this story at all.

Overall, it's not a bad story if we don't think about how much more interesting a father-son confrontation might have been. It follows a standard formula of bad guy, multiple fronts handled by split teams, a few moments of mystery for the reader, final encounter with the bad guy and successful resolution.

We do learn that it's okay to kill robots. The imposter Brainy is destroyed; did Superboy and Wildfire think they were killing Stargrave when they sent him into the sun, or just disabling him? If it's the latter, it wasn't a very effective way of dealing with a major menace - but it does open the door for a Return of Stargrave story.

I liked the two new uses of Saturn Girl's power: to physically move somebody and to read a robotic Brain, even though it disgusted her. (Why?) I've wondered, if the human brain is operating with electrical impulses and can be read, why couldn't a robot brain be read as well?

I also enjoyed Tasmia's rather catty and disloyal approach to letting Wildfire (and Gim) fight a diversion because she didn't like Wildfire. Where's your team spirit, Tas?

The history of Colu was also a fun added bit, something I'd expect more from Levitz, but appreciated.

No problem with the art, some interesting use of irregular panels.

227:

I remember hating this story when it came out because of the large number of gaffes. Quite a few word balloons are pointing to the wrong characters, Lightning Lad is miscolored to resemble Brainiac 5 on Page 3, and the narration confuses Jeckie with Saturn Girl in the same panel. I also disliked the Staton/Abel art, which was cartoony and mundane compared to the dynamic and crisp Grell art on the cover. As a fan, I felt the Grell covers were a bait-and-switch tactic.

In re-reading the story, I agree that it's not all that bad. In fact it's one of the more competently plotted stories we've had in quite awhile if taken on its own merits and not as a continuation of the previous Stargrave chapters. Conway relies on the tried-and-true approach of having the Legion split into smaller teams to deal with aspects of the menace before coming together in the end to deal with the real Stargrave--an approach mined for years by Gardner Fox in JLA.

Conway also injects more bits of characterization than any writer has bothered to do since Shooter's Adventure/Action run. Imra finds it disgusting to read a robot's mind. Tasmia doesn't inform Wildfire what she and Vi have discovered. Tinya reminds us that she's been in the Legion longer than Superboy. Several Legionnaires call each other by their first names. It's mildly disconcerting for Brainy to be addressed as Querl, but these references nicely foreshadow the convention of using the Legionnaires' given names from 5YL on. Not all of these characterizations would carry forward (I don't recall Imra's disgust being mentioned in any other story), but it's nice that Conway tried.

The artwork also holds up better than I remembered--but only slightly. I still don't care for Staton's cartoony faces and awkward anatomy (compare fake Brainy's pose in the second panel of the splash page with the more graceful figures on the cover). However, the layouts are fine and the arrangements of characters and objects get the job done. It's easy to tell what's going on--a skill lost to many later artists.

I skipped over re-reading the "Interlude" recap of what had gone before as well as the history of Colu. Huge chunks of exposition stop a story cold for me. A writer should find a more organic method of telling readers what we need to know.

As for Stargrave's fate, Superboy's comment that being knocked into the sun "should keep him busy for awhile" suggests he knew the villain wasn't destroyed. I suppose he and the other Legionnaires did their research on Brainiac after the message from the real (?) Brainy last issue.

Now the picking nits department:

--Superboy says that one of the ways he figured out that the two other Stargraves were phony was because the phonies' power-blasts didn't really harm Tinya, Tasmia, and Vi. Why would a villain go the trouble of creating dopplegangers of himself and *not* equip them with lethal (or at least serious injury-causing) weapons?

--Brainiac 5 does not need a space suit? I suppose this is because of his force-field belt, but Conway does not explain this. (Besides, the force field belt glow effect is not shown when he's in space.) Anybody want to look through some back issues to see if he's worn a space suit before?

--For that matter, if Stargrave could capture the real Brainy, why leave him with his force field belt? Why not give it to the fake Brainy? Did Stargrave not do his own research?

So, the story leaves us with more questions than answers. It also provides a less-than-satisfactory resolution to the previous Stargrave chapters, which sought to establish him as a major villain. Here he comes across as just another wannabe. As a fill-in job, however, Conway and Staton turned in a slightly above average performance.

Superboy 227

A fake Brainy lures the Legion into a trap where they are blasted by an empty ship. But that’s all right, because the Legion ship was empty too. I’m not sure where they were hiding, but Wildfire spotted that Brainy was wearing a space suit, rather than relying on his force field. I suppose Wildfire would know about impersonations after the recent not-so-great switch with Superboy.

While Brainy was going to summon his colleagues. We get a quick reprise of the Stargrave origin, as much to keep the writer in the loop as the readers. There’s an awful lot of characters taking time out to explain things in this story.

Brainy is convinced that Stargrave will attack Colu, and the fake Brainy handily sits around to get interrogated for missions on the planet. Its function complete, Brainy gets Lightning Lad to blow it up.

It’s not just the dialogue boxes that get confused. Superboy is thumped by a robot that was a bit of a wasted opportunity to add another minion for Stargrave. Not that Quicksand or Holdur really do much. It’s handy that they provide something visual for the Legion to fight in their little groups.

Gim threatens to kill someone (he didn’t know it was a robot at the time), Imra can’t tell between a human and robot mind and a robot can be influenced by Jeckie’s illusions.

I don’t mind the last two actually, and Shay’s snip at Wildfire’s leadership is something that we’d see more of when Levitz would return later. We also get lots of details about Colu as the teams go about their tasks.

As each of the team’s encounter their own Stargrave, we learn more of his origin. Years ahead of Terminator, we see the Robot Tyrants come up with a mechanical humanoid agent to infiltrate their enemies. It’s quite impressive to see such a major Superman villain’s fate being revealed, even if it is that he just got sick of getting beat up by Superman and jumping ahead 1000 years… to meet Superboy. D’oh!

If that wasn’t enough to give you some sympathy for Stargrave, then there’s a moment where his plan is to release his creators from the museum scrap existence that thy now have in this far future. He ruins it a moment later by then wanting them to have everyone as slaves.

He doesn’t get much further in his plans, before Wildfire and Superboy punch him into Colu’s sun. There’s just time for a final, unlikely, explanation from one of the cast and we’re done.

Fake heroes, villains and plots results is a somewhat fake, hollow tale. That’s not unsurprising giving the plot-go-round of recent creative changes. The issue is standard fare, plot wise. But Conway adds several flourishes to the cast. It’s a relief that the Stargrave Stutter finally over though.

"Shay" as a nickname for Shadow Lass?! I like it.

Was this the first time Brainiac's origin had been revealed? I was thinking it was well known long before this.

I was bothered by the fake Brainy sitting around, too. Didn't the Legionnaires at least have handcuffs or restraints of some kind? Or did they leave them aboard their destroyed space cruiser?

It's awful nice that they (or Brande) can afford to scrap cruisers as decoys. I suppose Superboy simply flew back to earth to get another ship so the rest of the team could get home. Space-bus fare from Colu could be *really* expensive.

That's what I get for typing that on the tablet. Shay was a typo and I meant we learned more on the origin in that issue rather than for the first time

According to Wikipedia: "In Superman #167 (February 1964), it was retconned that Brainiac was a machine created by the Computer Tyrants of Colu as a spy for them to invade other worlds, for which he was given a non-computer appearance." It could be the editor didn't want to assume that the origin was widely known to LSH readers.




A strange bit indeed. But the fake looks like he's pondering something deeply, so maybe they gave him a koan or some intractable problem to think about and remain distracted.



Oh, Thoth - take credit for your good ideas, don't blame it on a typo! It makes sense that Shay would become the natural contraction for Shady!

#228 That a World Might Live... a Legionnaire Must Die! by Paul Levitz, art by James Sherman/Jack Abel



You figure Supeboy and Saturn Girl are here to stay, so that leaves Cham, Gim and Condo....

The story opens with Deregon, the governor of the Australian Region and a man with secret masters, preparing to interrupt 200 years of peace with a bit of war.

Earthgov President Kandru meets with Wildfire and Chameleon Boy to brief them on the situation. Off the record, he asks them to somehow stop Deregon, since it's not illegal for Deregon to start a war.

Cham gets the Espionage Squad working; two secretaries from Deregon's office in Perth are kidnapped and impersonated by Light Lass and Shadow Lass. Saturn Girl aids the deception by transferring the secretaries' full memories to the two Legionnaires. Timber Wolf and Colossal Boy infiltrate the infantry. Oddly, they are the ones selected at random to demonstrate fight readiness to Deregon; they can not use their powers and blow their cover, but manage to defeat their opponents with their Academy training.

Meanwhile, the girls are reporting to Cham (in the form of a flying insect) that Deregon is communicating privately with someone off-world. A detector is taken into space to listen in on the hyperbeam Deregon is using; to increase the detector's sensitivity, Chemical King does something (?) with chemistry, as he bemoans his lack of usefulness. Superboy gives him a motivational lecture, but Condo remains unconvinced of his worthiness. Superboy rushes off to intercept an approaching meteor, as Condo continues with his inferiority complex.

Deregon is suspicious that someone is eavesdropping on his communications and calls in his two secretaries. As Ayla and Tasmia prepare to talk their way out of it, Cham, as a tentacle monster, barges in to rescue them. Deregon calls for help and the in-rushing soldiers overwhelm the three Legionnaires. Realizing that the Legionnaires were sent by the U.P. to spy on him, Deregon declares there will be a war.

Back in the space bubble, Condo has completed the chemical reaction to isolate the hyperbeam communication, so Superboy is able to track it to the source: the Dark Circle! They hurry back to Earth so Superboy can, as Condo puts it, "even the odds".

Before the war gets underway, Deregon assembles his troops to witness the execution of the Legion spies. Among the soldiers, Timber Wolf breaks cover as his beloved Ayla is threatened with death; Colossal Boy follows him, reminding Brin that they're a team. When Deregon sees still more Legionnaires, he touches a hidden control on his amulet (which is a dark circle, natch!) to unleash a secret weapon. Metal shielding rises to surround the fortress, but is rapidly breached by Colossal Boy; Timber Wolf rushes in. The secret weapon turns out to be a cosmic energy sphere, which, if unleashed, would destroy the entire planet. No worries, replies Deregon, he serves the Circle and wants to destroy Earth; besides, the Dark Circle has given him a protective shield. The sphere generates radiation that is fatal to everyone, even Superboy, who has just rushed in through the wall, along with Chemical King and Colossal Boy, giving another teamwork speech.

Superboy manages to rescue Timber Wolf, who had fallen close to the sphere, before the radiation drains his power. Chemical King approaches and vows to try his power on the sphere and to stop Deregon. Deregon replies that, since he doesn't recognize Chemical King, he must be the least of the Legionnaires, unable to stop the cataclysm. When the sphere goes critical, it will wipe out half the planet and plunge the survivors into World War VII.

Condo stays near the sphere, trying to control the radiation, despite Gim's warnings that he'll kill himself. Deregon vanishes, the sphere collapses, and Condo has fallen, dead - and a hero. Angry and stunned Legionnaires vow vengeance - and the next issue promises "Hunt for a Hero-Killer".


Comments: As soon as Condo begins his "I'm useless" speech, you figure he's the one who's slated for death. Impatient readers such as myself would have flipped to the last page to confirm this guess.

He died a hero, preventing the destruction of Earth - pretty big stuff! - but I'm left thinking that the other Legionnaires accepted that Condo had to be the sacrificial lamb. No effort was made by any of them to pull him away. The weapon had to be destroyed, he volunteered to sacrifice himself and the others accepted his suicide mission as necessary. It's very similar to the death of Ferro Lad; nobody stopped him either.

It's interesting that the Legion is used in subterfuge by Earthgov against one of its own sub-regions. It seems very unlikely that there couldn't have been some other way of disarming Deregon and his war plans. How did things get this far out of hand? That's a hole in the rules they surely plugged after this incident.

It's also a leap of faith to have Ayla and Tasmia (in full white-skin makeup, hearkening back to the original Mordru in Smallville story) convincingly impersonate Deregon's secretaries. And how could the two girls contain both their own minds and the full memories of the people they're impersonating? Astute readers at this point may have thought that Shadow Lass would be the one to die, since Shooter's Adult Legion story showed her to have died with white skin. She wasn't on the cover, though, so Condo remained the long shot.

Although Deregon's medallion was a dark circle symbol, I think it was sufficiently obscure to have the Dark Circle reveal be a surprise.

I didn't see the point of Chemical King's manipulation of some chemicals to isolate the hyperbeam, apart from needing to give him a platform from which to cry about his inferiority. It was a pretty clunky platform, however.

Cham rushed in to save Ayla and Tasmia without thinking; this is the same behaviour we've seen before and which will ultimately cause grave problems with Khundia and land him in jail.

Saturn Girl, although featuring prominently on the cover, plays a bit part in the story. Why didn't she become one of the secretaries and read Deregon's mind to discover his plans?

We never learn what is driving Deregon to betray his home planet and serve the Dark Circle. That's disappointing.

If the cosmic radiation weapon had exploded, wouldn't it have wiped out the Australian region first, thereby eliminating the war-monger problem? The rest of Earth could come together in solidarity rather than plunge into war.

The 200 years of peace is a nice call-back to the Soljer story in SLSH #210.

As for the art, we've had worse, but I can't say I warmed up to it.

Superboy 228

We could have had this cover idea for last issue, with the victim being the fake Brainy android. It seemed to be sitting around waiting for something.

Instead, it couldn’t be more obvious who the victim is if you suddenly made him appear after years of little development and stuck him next to Superboy. Oh.

The President of Earth claims that Deregon, governor of Australia, is about to plunge Earth into its first conflict in 200 years. I forget if the various world wars have been firmly established.

It raises some interesting questions. The president wants the Legion’s espionage to conduct an operation to prevent this from happening. It’s already touching some of the recurring moral themes of the Legion. Sure, they are our heroes. But the president tells them that Deregon is elected (more than can be said for the later computer selected presidents later on). We’ve no idea, at this stage, of how much trust we can put in President Kandru?

Rather than argue about little things like rights, or diplomacy our heroes go straight out and kidnap two innocent civilians. Once rendered unconscious in an alley by Superboy of all people. What would the Kents say? The victims are replaced by Shady and Ayla. I guess that Deregon’s chief scientist and top advisor were less accessible. They would have been women too right?

To make the cover complete, Imra invades the secretaries’ minds and transfers all the useful information across to the two Legionnaire impostors. It’s a power boost for Imra, and another morally dubious move by the group. In a funny moment Brin considers Imra cold hearted. This from the guy with no furniture because comfort is a weakness. Idiot.

It seems that Deregon is in league with another force. We see a fatalistic Chemical King discuss the contributions of less powerful Legionnaires. It’s an old trope for the book, but there’s a haunted look on Condo’s face. It doesn’t help that Superboy says “even Bouncing Boy. Cheek. Mind you, a passing meteorite does affect Condo’s effectiveness.

Deregon is a smart cookie and suspects that someone is eavesdropping on his communications. Cham whisks the ladies out of danger. Interestingly, they tell him that they could have talked their way out of it. Considering how often Cham’s espionage ideas don’t work, I think he’s probably not nearly as good at it as the reputation he has would suggest. Three unconscious Legionnaires later (they should have easily won) and Deregon declares war! Well done secretly preventing that Legion!

Timberwolf continues to get chosen for missions he’s emotionally unable to handle. As soon as Ayla is threatened he goes into battle, forcing Colossal Boy to follow. In the end, Deregon escalates his plan and global warfare looms ever closer, mainly due to the actions of our heroes.

But rather than show us messy things like civil war, Deregon is handily the puppet of the Dark Circle. They are shown as identical, which presumably feeds into the idea of their extensive use of cloning. Where the Circle had previously wanted to conquer Earth, they now seem happy for Deregon to blow it up. Now, Deregon has had his secret Cosmic Energy Shield for some time. Long enough to get the activation button for it sewn into his costume. You have to be fairly bored to do that, so it’s been a while. So if his goal is to blow the planet up, and he doesn’t indicate that it’s a change of plan, why didn’t he just do that at the start?

Deregon’s energy shield throws out lots of radiation. As Timberwolf falls, I wonder about changes his Zuunian based physiology begin to undergo. Could we trace his mutations as far back as this, as well as his home world? The shield also has so much radiation it takes out Superboy, whose powers work on absorbing solar radiation. Still, Cham (whole race irradiated), Sueprboy and Wolf can’t be seen to get in the way of the point of the book, so bluntly pointed out on the cover.

Only Self Critical Condo can save the day. He doesn’t do so while recognising that he’s always been important. He fights and he dies, thinking he’s “along for the ride” and that he is maybe the weakest. There’s no moment of triumph for him. He won’t see the looks of revenge on the faces of his comrades at his passing.

The writer has Superboy state that he doesn’t understand what Condo is doing in amplifying the signal used by Deregon, in order to decipher it. As a character, Superboy has Kryptonian science to pull various plot rabbits out of hats with. So, it should be Superboy explaining what’s going on to the reader. Instead, we have the writer summing up the feeling towards the character. His powers are just too awkward to write about.

In effect, we’ve seen Condo provide transmission boosts, open portals in force fields (would have been handy against certain unstable Coluans) and control critical mass being reached. Hardly small achievements. But that’s when the writer has to make use of him. In other issues, it’s been easier just to have the others.

The art was a bit mixed this time. Sherman delivers some nice faces, but not consistently and there’s a more basic look to the issue.

With Deregon escaping and the Legion knowing about the Dark Circle’s involvement, there’s a battle looming and revenge in the air. Only in “I’ll never forget what’s his name” which would be an apt title. By the time I got to read the Legion, and tripped across my first Chemical King reference. He was a bit of a cipher. He always came across as someone who was undeveloped as a character. I had thought he died early in his Legion tenure, much like Ferro Lad. But Condo had been around for quite a while. He had fallen into being one of those guys in the background who never got their spotlight. Well, not until right at the end.

228

And now for a dissenting opinion.

In re-reading this story just now, I think it holds up better than I remembered. When I first read this story, it was no secret that Chem would bite the dust. It had been announced on the letters page an issue or two ago that a Legionnaire would die, and seeing Chem on the cover and the splash page cliched it. He had not played an active role in any Superboy story since 211! So, knowing that Chem--who despite his obscurity had been one of my favorite Legionnaires--was going to die overshadowed pretty much everything else in this story. To make matters worse, he's saddled with an inferiority complex in a last ditch effort to give him a personality! All of these problems still leap out on the re-read.

But the story itself . . .

A governor of one-seventh of earth decides to marshal forces and declare war, so the Legion is called in to play espionage. This premise calls back to some of the Legion's Action-era stories. Basically, the team plays Mission Impossible. In war (or preventing war), morally questionable acts are always undertaken, so I can buy the Legionnaires kidnapping and impersonating the two secretaries.

Much of the build-up of the story is also handled very well, including Gim and Brin's infiltration of the army. It's mighty convenient that the drill inspector selects them to demonstrate combat readiness, but the danger they are in is quite real. They must rely on their Legion training and not their powers to win the day without blowing their cover.

When the girls spy on Deregon, the story kicks into high gear--but not in a wholly believable way. Yes, Cham jumps the gun, as does Brin later on. For heroes, these guys don't have a lot of training in espionage or self-control. What's more interesting, though, is Deregon's reaction. He recognizes the Legion's involvement as interference from the earth government and uses this as an excuse to declare war. Totally believable.

And then we get into the climax with Deregon demonstrating his mettle by taking Ayla, Shady, and Cham hostage and unveiling his secret weapon, a cosmic energy sphere. It's established that not even Superboy can survive the radiation, so there's no chance anyone can stop Deregon--anyone except Chem.

Plotwise, the story holds up very well despite the flaws noted above.

Of course, the spotlight on Chem turns out to be very disappointing. Whereas Lyle was given something for us to root for--his falling in love with Myla--Chem is shown to be a self-pitying loser. I feel there should be another story before this to demonstrate how he got such a low opinion of himself. Such a story could have set us up for this one. But that's not what we're given. We're supposed to care about this guy when we're given no reason to do so.

Levitz also overwrites badly in the captions. Instead of allowing the story to develop on its own, he continues to forecast the danger the Legionnaires are in. Example: Top of page 5: "Commands that may soon cost the two infiltrators their lives." I felt I was reading something out of the 19th century, where such overwriting was common ("Dear reader, pity this fool for he knows not what he does.")

Didn't care for the art. Sherman's layouts are serviceable, but the Staton inking makes the images pedestrian and mundane. All of the grandeur of Cockrum and Grell is lost.

So, it's a fairly good story and one that remains timely given political situations today (Deregon reminds me of Putin), but the over-the-top sales pitch of "Watch this, folks! A Legionnaire dies!" undermines its considerable strengths.

What's not very clear--you have to look at the panel closely--is that Deregon saw of reflection of Ayla and Shady peaking in through his door.



I was thinking the same. Fanboy Paul at his most subtle!

A much-needed Untold Tales of the Legion would relate what happened when the secretaries woke up in the alleyway in Legion costumes (or their undies?), possibly guarded by Saturn Girl. Two new recruits for the Legion of Super-Villains, no doubt, since no Earthgov court would hear their allegations of kidnapping and memory-theft.



I'd certainly like to read the mission recap report on that one.



Maybe the Dark Circle is just one guy, in multiple copies. Some angry teenager gone wild with his L'il Cloner Kit.



Perhaps blowing up Earth was Plan B, should easy conquest fail. If the Dark Circle can't have it, nobody can. Or Deregon is on a power-trip, completing his bucket list (#36: Start WW VII) before the end.



Very interesting and reasonable possibility!



I wonder if Chemical Kid, in the most recent Legion run, was some effort to atone for the mishandling of Condo.



Wasn't there something done retroactively, showing Lyle helping Condo to develop his powers? I don't remember the issue number - or maybe it's already passed.



I'm glad you pointed this out. The wordy captions struck me but I didn't know how to describe them. I was thinking this was an attempt to squeeze more story into the pages, but, as you show, it's often just overwrought explanation of what's to come.



Ah! I missed that. Clumsy girls!

There was a Secret Origins issue in the '80s which showed Lyle working with Condo before the latter joined the Legion. It built off the idea of them being friends, which was established in Superboy # 176 ("Invisible Invader").

Oh, I missed that too. Good spot HWW. >shuffles feet< sorry, Mr Daggle, sir. >/shuffles feet<



Baxter #59 gave a bit of back story of Lyle and Condo's relationship too. From Lyle treating Condo's mutation to Lyle looking to set up the Legion Academy and inspiring Condo to be part of it.

I'd have to re-read the SO and Baxter issues, but I can't recall them offering much insight into Chemical King. Of course, it had been years since he had been written out, so trying to offer new insight was (literally) like trying to patch up a corpse!

I wish the story line had been handled better at the time. There could have been a story shortly before 228 in which Condo tries to assist on a mission and it goes horribly wrong--or he acts overconfident but learns his power is useless in a certain situation . . . anything to set up his lack of self confidence here.

Also, while Lyle's death ended on a positive note (albeit one some fans reject), there's nothing for Condo here. He goes out a hero but still thinks he's a loser. What's up with that? The ending looks like an attempt to make the readers feel angry, as the Legionnaires do, but all I felt was depressed!

There was an element of patching up a corpse in the Baxter issue too. It also had a ghostly Ferro Lad moment. It showed a young Condo (before he was Chemical King) just moving from a situation where his power wasn't harming him. He's at quite a low ebb. That's not likely to be by accident, but to link it with #228.