Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Reading the Legion: Archives #4

Valid points. We've really never had any description of how his power actually works. Does he turn atoms of, say, nitrogen, one for one into atoms of titanium, or does his power disassemble dozens of nitrogen atoms to free up the protons and neutrons he needs to assemble them into a single atom of titanium?

I kind of assume that he creates (or destroys!) as many protons, neutrons and / or electrons as are needed to shift the present atoms into the new atoms he's trying to 'make,' without those sub-atomic structures having to be pillaged from other atoms, or without creating a bunch of hard-radiation-like free-range protons and neutrons whenever he 'downshifts' a larger-atomic-number element (like lead) into something atomically 'smaller' (like hydrogen).

But even that, the atoms of nitrogen changing to titanium one for one, wouldn't really account for the density issue.

Meh. Science is hard!



Word. I hate in particular when Iceman (or Polar Boy) creates a ton of ice in an enclosed area. Where does all that moisture come from? He'd probably rip the moisture out of anyone in the area as 'fuel' for his ice, killing them instantly. I could see Brek not making such a mistake, since he's got an entire race of Tharrans to have learned this stuff from, but Bobby's always been a dunderhead, and he would probably have learned how deadly his ability to swoop up all the moisture in a half-mile radius is the first time he murderdeathkilled a small city.

But, comics. I pretend in my head that he reaches into the para-elemental plane of ice and pulls it from there.

Same with Sun Boy creating 'fire' in space (where there's nothing to burn), or how Wildfire can open his faceplate and create a nuclear-bomb-strength anti-matter explosion, but if his containment suit is breached, abso-freaking-lutely nothing happens for some utterly inexplicable reason, or Violet being able to still breathe when an individual atom of oxygen is too big to fit in her mouth.

Magic! It's all magic!

And all that radiant energy being nullified whenever Shadow Lass uses her power to 'create darkness?' It's being mystically transported to the molten heart of Talokk VIII, an old world that may remain geologically 'alive' for centuries longer than expected, due to the regular infusions of energy into it's core due to the work of its 'Shadow Champions.'

Where all the heat energy that Polar Boy is negating goes remains a mystery. Perhaps it fuels a star somewhere (perhaps even Tharr's sun!). Perhaps it heats Bgtzl, which may not have a sun of it's own. Perhaps it's shunted into another dimension, and a race of energy creatures have no idea that the Tharrans are the 'gods' that created their species, and continue to regularly spawn new members of their race, as they shunt heat-energy into that universe. Perhaps someday, fanatics among them will build a 'Tower of Babel' that crosses over into this universe and come face to face with one of their 'gods' when they try to kidnap Brek Bannin and bring him back with them...

Hulk's....head....hurts....

rofl....I was just about to post exactly the same thing

Thank goodness the lack of actual science in these stories does not in any way impact my enjoyment of them

Adventure #330

Just two issues after Command Kid, we get another similar story, also by Siegel and Mooney. Er, okay? Anyway, I like this story much better for a few reasons, the main one being the ultimate double cross the LOSV pull on Dynamo Boy. And also, how Dynamo Boy is such a snot--perhaps the single most unlikable character in Legiondom yet. (Ever? Until Jamm?)

Of course, this story is enhanced by being the first Legion story to be a true two issue two parter! Oh, how comics were changing! First Mort and company do the first "full length" stories a few years earlier, and here they begin pushing it even further. So many multi-parters in the Silver Age really were able to jam pack stories with stuff. Too bad all these decades later when stories are so padded I would kill for single issues again.

This issue also (for me) marks another shift in the artwork itself. Although Mooney had been around for a few issues, his artwork begins to change as the 60's move onwards; in fact comics in general begin to change, especially as DC picked up a few tricks from Marvel (re: Kirby), such as panel sizes getting bigger. Also, its hard to pinpoint it, but as the early 60's gave way to the mid 60's and beyond, the Legion artwork became more modern. Regardless, I still love Mooney's art throughout his long career--he's become a big favorite of mine.

Dynamo Boy is introduced...by committing the first outright murder in Legion lore?! Veeeery intense.

The Pirate Planet is also a cool concept, and a continuation of themes extending to ancient times.

Ol' gullible Star Boy falls for another one!!

Two of the lamest--er, oddest applicants yet: Eyeful Ethel and the Mess! Honestly, I didn't ever remember the Mess until a post from Lash or Eryk early on LW made me curious about what they were talking about.

From there in part 1, much like several Siegel stories, the same situation plays out again and again, and not in an enjoyable way for the reader as various members are expelled. And for some reason, Cos is being a real dick! Later we see him lamenting. And where's Imra? She's getting the shaft as leader again.

Luckily in Part 2, things get much better fast. Siegel presents the best action sequence yet in Legion history, as a variety of Legionnaires use their powers with ingenuity and charisma.

The subsequent mass expelling brings back the unenjoyability though. I'm just not a fan of these types of stories, I think. If I was one of those Legionnaires, as a teen or now, I'd simply give Dynamo Boy a punch right through the teeth. Only then would I discuss rules and constitutions.

I do appreciate Gim's moxie in pushing for another shot.

Only on the last page do we get an alarming cliffhanger as Dynamo Boy has accomplished his plan. I wonder if readers were going nuts? It's certainly quite a shock to see this issue end here. I do like the general plan of his filling the LSH with other crooks--now that's a great evil plan.

I guess all in all, this particular issue isn't all that great. It's the second issue where the story gets good. So while in general I like the story, this first half was only okay.

Hulk use avocado's number. One mole guacamole + 2 mole peyote. Get smashed with bad guy.

Quick calculations: proton/neutron density of diamond is about 4000 that of air? Ouch, probably messed that up but it's only been 25 years since chemistry/physics class. I used 29 for "molecular" weight of dry "air" at sea level, 60 degrees (found on-line).

So a diamond prison would suck a lot of air but not really all that bad. Need the energy to reconvert the bonds. Pull the old, got it from another dimension, out of the hat and presto-chango, it's explained.

Of course, there's some extra-dimensional beings being deprived of their guacamole and they are pissed about it. Maybe they can cover that in the next re-boot?

I'm about one more Archive away from my first issue I think.

Adv. 330

This issue is better than I remembered and, in many ways, it is superior to the Command Kid story, as some have said. The stakes here are very high: Dynamo Boy commits murder in order to win the honor of infiltrating the Legion--and that's just in the first two pages! He is evil through and through, and, more, he's smart. He gets a job where he knows he'll be in proximity to Star Boy (whose reputation for gullibility seems well known), finagles his way into the Legion, and then systematically expels everyone else. Yes, this guy's a snot, but he's a formidable snot.

The biggest weakness in this story is that the Legionnaires take everything lying down. Colossal Boy's expulsion is believable, particularly in these days when companies and the government bend over backwards to avoid being sued. A powerful device has gone missing in Gim's care. Of course, it's going to look like he took it. (The weakness here, however, is it calls into question how long the Legionnaires have known each other and worked side by side. Why did no one stand up for Gim?)

Mon-El's expulsion is hard to swallow, primarily because he does in fact turn coward and run, leaving millions to perish. So, you couldn't see the ray zapper tucked in your belt, Mon? You didn't even try to do something . . . anything? I'm used to the idea of heroes--especially Legionnaires--putting everything on the line to save a life. Mon just turns and skedaddles. Maybe his expulsion should have stuck after everyone else was readmitted.

The mass expulsion following the bad driving episode is a shorthand way for Siegel to dispense with a whole mess of Legionnaires at once, but it isn't believable. Depending on how these ships operate, I can see the pilot, the navigator, and possibly the rest of the flight crew being expelled, but not the several Legionnaires who must have been passengers.

And then Superboy, Saturn Girl, and Brainy get the boot for tampering with a device that switches their powers. This scene made a great cover shot, as did the illusion of Superboy attacking the Legion in 328, but, unlike the latter, this one is forced into the story and over too quickly. It's very hard to believe that seasoned Legionnaires would allow their club to be taken over by a newbie without an investigation.

But in spite of a shaky premise, the story unfolds very well and the pacing is measured and effective. The scene of the Legionnaires corralling the escaped animals is one of the most action-packed episodes yet and profiles several members. It also provides us with a deliberate distraction from Dynamo Boy, which makes his expulsion of those members even more sneaky and shocking.

I imagine fans reading this story in 1965 must have been pulling their hair out waiting a month for the story's resolution. A two-part Legion story hadn't been done before, and the quick, neat, even rushed ending we've come to expect isn't there. Cobie's right: This story does feel more modern than previous efforts. It also feels more mature: We've got a truly evil villain and high stakes, and we have to be patient to see how it turns out.

The scene with Mon-El was, frankly, idiotic. An inhabited world dies on his watch, and he doesn't even seem morose. He was very matter of fact - "oh, I couldn't see the weapon". And wait, he couldn't see it but surely he could have felt it?

Cosmic Boy, who is the one who turns Colossal Boy away, gets the tables turned on him when he has to explain to Dynamo Boy why they didn't see the traffic signs. I agree with your comment - nobody even said a word to defend poor Gim. What's going on?

Eyeful Ethel is just odd, but the Mess sounds like comedy gold. I can see him bringing down some criminals with terrible allergies!

Besides Dynamo Boy's sneakiness, he's also formidable because of all the varied powers his device has. He also plays it smart by not revealing everything he could do. I definitely prefer his story to Command Kid's.

To be fair, as depicted, it's hard to see what Mon-El could have done to save that planet. I don't know what he could have possibly accomplished by sticking around after the fact. Plus, he looked pretty despondent to me flying away. However Dynamo-Boy's power worked, we just have to take it at face value that Mon couldn't detect the gun.

What's harder to swallow is that DB is so ruthlessly evil that he would be willing to kill millions just to get Mon-El expelled! It's one thing to kill another pirate, but THIS?!?!

I honestly don't think Siegel thought through the implications of that scene. At the very least, it seems like the Legion should've been immediately galvanized to stop those creatures before they could destroy another world. And why would they send just one Legionnaire (albeit, one of the most powerful ones) on such a high-stakes mission? Like at all the ones they sent for animals amuck in the same story!

Otherwise, it was a pretty effective story, though you'd like to see the Legionnaires put up much more of a fight against the expulsions. Mooney's art was very striking and is among the better work to grace the series to that point.

True, but I'd like to have seen him try something: fry the ghosts with his heat vision, fly through them to distract them, engage them in dialogue . . . something.



Because animals are more important than friggin' aliens.

Or maybe the zoo animals are more important to the commerce of the UP than those no-account aliens were. (Now I've got an image of an entire world being on UP welfare. That's what happens when you're on the dole: heroes put in only a half-hearted effort to save your ass--assuming you have an ass.)

But, yes, the scene is not well thought out. The Science Police later launched an investigation that cleared a Legionnaire of killing a single villain; where's the investigation into Mon-El's actions here?

I'm surprised nobody has commented on the fact that the Mess was visually a cross between Pig-Pen and Alfred E. Neuman.



Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to Wednesday's reviews of the first comic book I ever purchased.

Re the planet destruction scene, it could have just as easily been an uninhabited planet and still fit into the story. In the scene, it felt as though Mon just flew away the moment he saw the planet destroyed.

On the other side, I agree with Lardy that it makes Dynamo Boy that much more heinous. What a creep!

I suppose the Legionnaires wouldn't have had much reason to care if it was an uninhabited world--unless the world were vital to commerce, agriculture, or such.

By the way, did anyone else notice that Imra violates her pledge not to pry into her fellow Legionniares' minds when she tries to read Superboy's mind? She practically gives Dynamo Boy an excuse to expel her.

And wouldn't it have been funny if Superboy weren't thinking of leaving the Legion at that moment? Perhaps he was thinking, "I could use a sandwich" or "Gee, Imra sure looks sexy since she's the only girl left."

Based on their reactions, I think it would have made more sense for the world to be vital but uninhabited. I mean, if I had been one of the Legionnaires I sure would have taken the destruction of an inhabited planet a lot harder! For my own personal enjoyment, whenever I reread that story I pretend the world was uninhabited

Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy both have had moments of hypocrisy. For Saturn Girl, it's having the end justify the means. For Cosmic Boy, maybe hypocrisy is too strong a word - but notice that he's the one explaining to Dynamo Boy that they simply didn't see the traffic signals. Yet, he doesn't bother to give Colossal Boy the benefit of the doubt when he fails the test. I'm reminded of how he acted towards Karate Kid, and also Timber Wolf, in the animated series.

Good point about Cosmic Boy's inconsistent approach to following rules. Let he who is without sin cast the first magno ball.

Adv. 331

There are times when the Adventure run doesn't feel like a Legion series at all. We've had the Subs, the Super-Pets, and even Luthor star in individual stories, relegating the Legionnnaires to supporting roles. And in this issue, Dynamo Boy and the Legion of Super-Villains feature as the main characters while the Legionnaires put in only a brief (but decisive) appearance at the end.

Oh well, since Dynamo Boy and the LSV were Legionnaires in this story, it did feature the Legion--technically, at least.

Continuing from 330, DB holds tryouts for new Legionnaires. But in addition to having a useful power, applicants must possess one other quality to gain admission into his club: they have to be evil or capable of being swayed to evil.

After being frustrated by applicants who are either incompetent or incorruptible, DB is approached by the members of the adult LSV, who have traveled back from their own time and claim to have reformed. But DB has the ability to see their true intentions and so he accepts them into the Legion. He then tells the LSV his grand scheme: they will act like heroes during the day and plunder by night, robbing the universe blind. The villains cackle, like villains do.

All goes well until DB returns to Pirate Planetoid to receive an honor from the pirate leader. The wily leader isn't as wily as DB, though, and the latter sees through an effort to get him out of the way. Unfortunately for DB, he's not as wily as the LSV. When he returns to earth, they destroy the belt that gives him his powers and trick him into entering a time machine, leaving him stranded on a barren, lifeless earth trillions of years in the future.

Choke.

Only then do the Legionnaires return to confront the LSV in a clever turnabout--the story's third major deception.

So, the recurring theme of this story is that villains can't be trusted (duh!) and that even heroes have to resort to deception to win. Siegel and Mooney illustrate this theme perfectly by having the Legionnaires (or, technically, ex-Legionnaires) threaten to leave the LSV on a planet to die unless they surrender. But, hey, it works.

This is an effective resolution to the Legion's first two-part story. DB serves as our protagonist and, even though he's such an evil snot, I admired his cleverness in dealing with the pirate leader and sympathized with his gullibility in trusting the LSV. In a revealing moment, DB, about to rush into the time machine, tells the LSV they’re the best friends he’s ever had. Growing up on Pirate Planetoid, he never had a chance to make friends, one supposes, so he was doomed from the get go. And now he’s doomed to spend the rest of his life lonely and isolated. Poor Vorm.

There are nits to pick. The dialogue is hopelessly old fashioned even for 1965. When the Subs confront the LSV, Polar Boy threatens to “get tough” with them. Really? This exchange reminded me of Radar O’Reilley on M*A*S*H, who, when confronting someone stronger than he was (which was everyone), would say, “If you don’t [fill in blank], well, I’ll have something to say about it!” My, how threatening.

And Dynamo Boy turns into a stereotypical gangster on Page 9 of Part 1. Not only does he look the part, he says things like, “Here’s the pitch, pals!” and “We’ll do good deeds, see?” Later, he even says “You double-crossing rats!” All he needs is a fedora and a tommy gun.

Also, while it’s not a weakness of the story (in fact, it’s a strength given the limited space left for the Legionnaires to appear at all), it’s somewhat annoying that the big showdown between the Legionnaires and the LSV features only three Legionnaires—Superboy, Mon-El, and Element Lad—all of whom have figured prominently in the last few stories, as well. Note that Element Lad’s power once again does what the story requires, even though altering the atoms of an entire planet to make it explode gives him Progenitor-like abilities and seems far too complex for his power description of transmuting one element into another.

I also think Siegel missed a great opportunity to introduce a teen-aged LSV in this story. There’s no reason why it has to be the adult LSV who joins DB’s club. Why not introduce a young Mekt, Cosmic King, and Saturn Queen here? The story would have played out exactly the same.

But the pluses of 331 far outweigh the minuses. The stakes in this story are very high indeed, and the Legionnaires use their brains to rebound from total defeat. It’s good to see them start to act like heroes.

I really liked Jim Mooney's art on this particular story--imo, some of the best art to grace a LSH story to this point. His work with Dynamo-Boy is particularly strong. His facial expressions and detail show significant progression from Silver Age toward the Bronze Age. Maybe Grell, Cockrum, Adams and company had been influenced a great deal by Mooney? This certainly makes me curious to see a lot more of Mooney's Supergirl work than I have. I sure wish he'd done a LOT more Legion!

I agree about Mooney's art. I'm reading these stories in black and white (the Showcase Presents collections), and, in this format, I'm impressed with how naturalistic his art is. The sequence of Cosmic King's origin (pages 4 and 5 of Chapter 1) takes us through a range of emotions and makes us care for this character and all he goes through. Forte and even Swan did not have this much skill in conveying emotion.

Yeah, if I had problems with the use of Jan's powers in recent issues, they were compounded greatly by their use in this one! There were a coupla references to him transforming parts of his body in addition to the planetary-scale stuff he used to defeat the LSV. Specifically, he transmutes his arm into a lightning rod, is referenced by Superboy to "transmute himself into a chemical form that can survive space" and is able to alter the atoms of the world they're on to somehow react to the LSV's powers cataclysmically! Really?!?!

It stinks of Siegel running out of pages and pulling a resolution out of his ass! I'm sure he could have done better.



That's always confused the hell outta me! I think the reason they kept the LSV as adults, rather than just kind of ignore or rewrite that fact as they did other things, is that the LSV were recurring foes for Superman, rather than just the LSH. That's how I understand it anyway.

In any case I wonder exactly when or ever did we meet younger versions of them? I have to think that those instances where Mekt appeared as a solo threat, that was probably not future-Mekt. I've often heard that Saturn Queen never made a n-older version appearance (until Paul brought her in in the retroboot). So, presumably, Cosmic King in the LSV War was the younger version?

I'm sure some of this is possibly due to my incomplete Legion knowledge, not having read most of the Superboy&LSH/early-v2 era. But I suspect much of this remains unanswered in-story. Any clarification, of course, would be appreciated!

Presumably, that's Vorm's final fate...to die in the far future. No mention of trying to rescue him after the LSV are caught. Maybe the LSH don't even know? Or....could they possibly not care after all they've been through? Of course with the Iron Curtain of Time blocking their way--well, it didn't seem to affect the villains' trap for Vorm, so...?

Mekt first appears as a teenaged villain in Adv. 372, the origin proper of the Legion of Super-Villains (the "School for Super-Villains"). He next appears solo in SUP 172 and 207.

The LSV does not actually appear as teenagers until SUP 208. The lineup in that story (IIRC) is Mekt, Nemesis Kid, Sun Emperor, Chameleon Chief, Radiation Roy, and Spider Girl. We don't see a young Cosmic King until LSH v. 3, and Saturn Queen doesn't appear until even later, as you mentioned.

Adventure #331

It's here in part 2 of the Dynamo Boy story that things become so memorable. And that, of course, has a lot to do with the very concept of the LOSV versus the LSH itself. It's an exiting premise and one that "had to happen", but what makes it all the more interesting is this is the LOSV that is enemies with Superman and the Adult Legion of Superheroes. There's a thread somewhere around here I started years ago tying to line up their continuity, which is when I discovered the TMK Mayfair Sourcebook.

While I actually like the younger LOSV stories better, there's something to be said about the Legion battling their grown up counterparts from the future.

Meanwhile, before the ultimate double cross, Dynamo Boy tries to fill his Legion with various others, some of whom are destined for villain hood. You have Golden Boy, who Vorm actually gives a good reason for rejecting, though it doesn't explain how that still won't happen if he isn't a Legionnaire. Polecat, who in addition to smelling bad is also ugly, Animal Lad, whose powers are pretty bizarre even for Legion standards and Tusker, who is about as lame as they come. So in the this issue and last we get 6 rejects at once--not bad! Funny how these are some of the least memorable rejects...remembered only by Legion World and then surprisingly Geoff Johns. Johns either really likes this story or he trolled LW for ideas.

The LOSV show up and one of the first things done is the destruction of the statue of Proty I! They go too far! How dare they! Ironic, of course, that Mekt destroys it...since Proty I is now his brother!

Also, notice the dark shadowing in the Cosmic King flashback. Art styles are definitely changing.

Saturn Queen outclasses Dynamo Boy by a mile!

And then: the Subs show up! Good for them!

I see Vorm amended the Constitution so Adults can join. After Hamilton just wrote it, he's already messing with it. I wonder, does it stay amended? Just in time for Mon and Gim to turn 18?

From there, the new LSH does some good deeds while Vorm impresses me by scrambling the brains of the leader of the pirate planet! This kid has no morals! I'm starting to like him.

And then, the double cross! Awesome! Also awesome is the LOSV being able to pierce the Iron Curtain of Time. Perhaps because they come from an era where the LSH already broke it?

Anyway, this leads to the greatest of all the Eryk Davis Ester theories: the Time Trapper is Dynamo Boy! It makes so much sense that it has to be true! There's at least more than one thread around here laying out his compelling arguments. As he once said "if you introduce a loaded gun in act one, it needs to be fired before the end of act three."

And from there, after a multitude of trickery and double crosses, its the LOSV versus the LSH. I really wish we could see an epic battle but those days are still not upon us. Element Lad gives a hint of the full extent of his power--by destroying a planet! Oh, how could he not be the Progenitor in future continuities? A pissed off Superboy also threatens to kill the LOSV if they don't surrender. The stakes are super high on this one.

Benefitting from being two issues long, this definitely has the feel of the biggest threat the Legion has had to overcome yet. All in all, a very enjoyable story.

Btw, the Superboy backup in this issue is one of the best ones I've read of the whole 50's! By Otto Binder and artist Joe Sikela (who draws Clark looking about 13 years old), it is full of charm and ingenuity. Great little read!

It truly is a shame that Legion writers didn't think to connect Dynamo Boy to the Time Trapper. That would have made a lot more sense than the "living embodiment of entropy" or Rokk Krinn theories about TT's identity.

Not sure what you mean here. Legionnaires were not expelled after turning 18, so it doesn't matter if the constitution was amended in this regard or not. I presume, though, that any changes DB made were undone by the Legionnaires once they returned to the club. DB may also have been "shitting" the Subs when he said he'd amended the constitution. He doesn't strike me as the kind who cares what the rules say.




Details? Maybe even a mini-review (even though it's not Legion-related)?