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

SLSH #224 When Stargrave Strikes! by Jim Shooter, art by Mike Grell & Bob Wiacek



The cover shows Pulsar Stargrave, fallen Legionnaires at his feet and Superboy held in some orange glowing blast. Obligatory torn uniforms on Brainy and Saturn Girl show defeat.

As the story opens, a few lines of text explain that the Legion is on a planetoid, attempting to seal a space rift. The visuals open with Holdur, a demon-like creature with a power to hold things securely, getting an unbreakable grip on Superboy. As team members try to free Superboy, they sink into liquified ground, thanks to the power of Quicksand, who liquifies and solidifies things. With the Legionnaires immobilized, Stargrave appears.

Disco King! Well, that's how he's dressed. White bell-bottom sleeveless jump suit, flowing cape, red jewels on belt, cape clasp and headband. He's got green skin, so you figure he's Coluan.

"Awesome energy crackles around him" and he mends the space rift that the Legionnaires were trying to mend as the issue opened.

The team is suddenly teleported into a hall and told by Stargrave that this is his home. He seals them in a force field and proceeds with his soliloquy. He caused the space rift to attract the Legionnaires; he needed them to oppose the one foe stronger than himself. He also released the Time Trapper (as seen in the previous issue) in order to see if the Legionnaires were up to the task.

Superboy is having none of this, breaks out of the force field and a battle ensues between Legionnaires and Holdur and Quicksand, as Stargrave looks on, staring at Brainiac 5. It's a tough fight; Superboy attacks Stargrave directly, is flung into space and returns. Now Superpboy's mad!

But Stargrave goes nova, and Superboy falls, to the horror of the other Legionnaires, who also fail to bring Stargrave down. Only Brainy remains standing, wondering what's going on, as Stargrave reads his mind, addresses him directly as Querl, and says that their mental processes are similar.

Stargrave further explains that he was once mortal but, as a result of a failed life support system on his spaceship, was found and teleported by an unknown race into a star, just as that star went super-nova. The super-nova collapsed into a pulsar and Stargrave was fused with it. We learn that Brainy remembers Stargrave from 15 years ago. Brainy asks why someone as powerful as Stargrave needs the Legion.

The Legionnaires are next seen back in their HQ, with Brainy explaining that they should help Stargrave control the universe. That doesn't go over too well, but the final page shows Brainy, later that night, meeting Stargrave alone and reporting that the Legion would help him defeat his terrible foe, but would then would try to defeat Stargrave.

The final panel has two shockers: the terrible foe is Mordru and Brainy addresses Stargrave as "Father". Superboy/Snooperboy is eavesdropping in the shadows, shocked.

*****

There's a lot of action in this issue. I don't usually enjoy the battles as much as the character scenes, but these fights are interesting. The beautiful and exotic Quicksand and creepy Holdur are formidable foes; Stargrave's power, albeit ill-defined, trumps them all. (You just have to overlook the logic of the super-nova/pulsar origin and get on with the story.)

Apart from the fight scenes, most of the plot is Stargrave's explanation of who he is and why he wants the Legionnaires. Although he looks like a Coluan and the headband is reminiscent of Brainiac's forehead markings, his incredible powers cloud the question; it is at the end that we learn he is indeed Coluan and Brainiac 5's father. Of course, this will prove to be false, but we don't know that now.

Having the villain give an extended speech to advance the story is generally considered to be lazy writing, but I found Stargrave's autobiographical tale interesting.

The big reveals in the final panel were good and, I think, unexpected for a first-time reader. To have Superboy eavesdropping ensures that the Boy of Steel will either run off and tell the other Legionnaires what's really going on, or confront Brainy directly in the next issue. They would already know that the terrible foe they've been recruited to fight is Mordru; that one's a surprise for the reader. The shocker for the Legion is "Daddy" Stargrave, and the reader is left wondering what complications will develop from that.

This is obviously the beginning a longer story. Unfortunately, it won't be continued until a few issues later.

The opening mission of sealing the space rift is confusing; in the previous issue, Legionnaires went to seal a space rift, some were captured by the Time Trapper and the rift destroyed the remaining Legionnaires - until the Trapper was defeated and the Legionnaires went back to the point in time when they're about to take off to seal the rift. Did Stargrave completely manipulate the Time Trapper and the space rift, or did he just set both in motion and watch events take their course?

The Time Trapper and Mordru will be the central foes of the 5YL series. I wonder if the source of that conflict was this Pulsar Stargrave story.

EDIT - Archive #13 includes stories from Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #224-229, DC Special #28, then S&LSH #230-233. - Cobie

Superboy and the LSH #224

When a longtime Legion fan considers Pulsar Stargrave, it's hard not to take into account all that comes after his initial appearances, from his complicated and hap-hazard first arc resulting from multiple creators, to his joke appearance in the Subs special to the attempt to explain him at last in LEGION. But when you look at him here in this issue, in a vacuum if possible, there's actually something quite epic about him. He is masterfully presented by Shooter, and appears to be a major LSH villain in the making. He is extremely powerful, mysterious and wildly complex in his motivations. There is a sense he could be the best LSH villain ever.

This is enhanced by additional factors: the revelation that his is Brainy's father being the most important, which implies there will be immense emotional complications to come. Then there is his war with Mordru which is thrilling to the extreme, as Shooter is bringing back another of his famous, epic creations. Add in Holdur and Quicksand, and there is something special here.

But alas, it would all be jettisoned as Shooter exits the Legion for the second time and the creators and editorial totally bungle the Stargrave story. All of those things are forgotten, and he eventually becomes relegated to b-level villain. One might wonder if DC's editors might see this as a sign to hold off on continuing stories--luckily Boltinoff was replaced by Denny O'Neil by now or he definitely would have. At least Levitz will pick up Mordru for his epic Earth War, and TMK will take the concept of the private villain war to new levels 10-12 years later, albeit between Mordru and the TT (and then Glorith). But when discussing "what might have beens", this is a big one.

The plot is very straight forward here without much nuance but that doesn't make it any less appealing. It is full of action and a little bit of exposition, and this causes a continued heightened tension and desire to learn the secrets of Stargrave. Also, 9 Legionnaires showcase their stuff here, which is nice.

One can't help but feel Shooter was on the cusp of another epic run of major LSH stories. Instead, both he and the LSH itself were about to go on to bigger and better things.

A few thoughts after reading FC's post:

- as you can see, I immediately thought of the TMK Mordru / TT war too, and I think you're correct, that this was probably were the germ of that idea originated. It also shows yet even more influence of Shooter's work on future LSH stories.

- I also found the opening a bit confusing too before I realized exactly what was going on when Stargrave healed the rift. But once I figured it out, I was glad they wasted no time.

- when I was a kid, my only reference for the late 70's was old comics. I often wonder how likely it would be to see someone dressed like Stargrave or Phantom Girl outside of a major city on a Saturday night. If any Legion Worlders were part of the Studio 54 crowd, please post pics!

Wonderful reviews, Cramey and Cobie. I think you've both hit the high points of the story.

For me, this issue is quite jarring from the previous issues. The creative team stays the same, so the change must be due to new editor Denny O'Neil, who allowed Shooter to do what he apparently wanted to do all along. It's a pity Shooter won't stick around to develop what was clearly intended to be the Legion's first multi-part arc. This story is rife with a lot of might-have-been's.

However, I, too, found it choppy and somewhat unconvincing. Perhaps much of the craft we've been attributing to Shooter and Bates was actually due to Boltinoff. The story gets us into the action too quickly and without much set up. It took me awhile to realize the space rift Stargrave healed was the same one the Legionnaires were responding to last issue.

Continuity glitch: What happened to Shadow Lass?

This is basically a balls-to-the-wall straight action fest meant to establish Stargrave's seriousness as a threat. It does this quite well, as the Legionnaires are powerless before him. He blasts them and bends time and space. Our heroes aren't even awake when he sends them back to their HQ. I also love the twist of Stargrave being Brainy's father. I wish later creative teams had kept this twist. It provides Brainy with a true dilemma--parental loyalty versus team loyalty. I wish this, too, had been explored in more depth.

It seems unthinkable that Superboy would overhear the great revelation at the end and not do anything about it, but there you are: a change in creative teams and the brilliant drama set up here is tossed out the airlock.

Yet for all the story's pluses, there are significant minuses. Most of the Legionnaires are just cannon fodder (solar blast fodder?); they do little of consequence. It's Superboy who keeps the action going and Brainy who provides the plot twist.

It was interesting, though, that Jeckie stumbled upon Mordru as an image to frighten Holdur, not knowing that the mage was, in fact, the great enemy Stargrave wants to oppose.

I also enjoyed Holdur and Quicksand, two villainous underlings who have exhibited more personality and power than most Legionnaires have in some time.

Though flawed in its execution, 224 stands out as an exciting departure from the staid and formulaic tales we've grown used to. Unfortunately, it also stands out as the start of an aborted epic that never quite came to pass.

Agreed. He might even have expanded his team of minions. Nevertheless, I'd like to think that the writer(s) would later come up with a more rational story for Stargrave's powers.



Changing writers mid-arc must be a challenge. Have there been successful transitions, or do the storylines usually get botched? I find it hard to understand why such a promising story couldn't have been better developed.



I totally missed that one! And maybe it should have been her skulking in the shadows, eavesdropping, at the end.



This would have been a fascinating area of character development to explore. It's a classic story.



This was a strange image to use to frighten someone you don't know anything about. Maybe Holdur had never heard of Mordru? Wouldn't a big monster beast have been a better bet? This little scene could suggest that Projectra can sense what her opponent most fears (or desires) and deliver that illusion. It would have been a nice extension to her power.

I like that the idea of Stargrave being Brainy's father essentially fulfills the potential that Brainy's first appearances, which hinged so greatly on his being the descendent of Brainiac, promised. Not long after those appearances, Brainiac became a full-blown Superman character who could not be pulled away and changed for a Legion story, and so it became less important. But here, we get a chance to delve into something similar, allowing the writers to put Brainy through the ringer as he must contend with forces pulling him in different directions. Brainy's loyalties can be tested to the extreme at last.

Or, they could have been, but that's comics. The best we'll ever get is reboot Brainy's Dark Circle mother.

On Jeckie using Mordru as an illusion: It does seem like an odd thing to do, especially in the context of this story and with Mordru having been a no-show since # 188. However, in the larger context of the Legion's universe, it might make sense. Mordru was a significant scourge of the galaxy who once came close to overrunning earth (as recounted in the flashback in Adv. 369). Using him as a de facto bogey man may be like invoking ISIS or some other real and nebulous threat today.

Shooter seemed to be invoking this larger universe now that he was on his way out the door--and he didn't bother to explain things to readers (such as Karate Kid's comment to Superboy in 223 about being "piled up"). Perhaps he took it for granted that long-time readers would draw the connections.

Um, I think we've jumped ahead. The JLA issues should come at the end of Archives 13 or the beginning of Archives 14, per Cobie's post over on the Archives Discussion thread, as well as the cover date.

My mistake, I was rushing last night to get it out - really, I've got 234 and 224 totally mixed up and entrenched in my head for some reason. So I've deleted the JLA review which HWW refers to and will proceed with #225. Thanks HWW. (Hurry back to this job!)

#225 And Who Shall Lead Them? by Paul Levitz, art by James Sherman & Bob Wiacek



The story opens with the "holovised" ceremony to swear in Wildfire as leader, with Superboy flying in to top it, claiming that he got the most votes. Supeboy grabs Wildfire, and Mon-el stops him with a super-slap. Dream Girl shouts at them to stop; it's bad publicity and Superboy should have read the explanation in The Legion Bulletin. New rules: both he and Karate Kid were ineligible to be leader since they were both part-time members (KK being in the 20th century and his own series now).

Superboy storms off, in full sore loser mode, is confronted by Shadow Lass, who ask what really is the matter, since he's too noble for this sort of behaviour. He says he has to sort it out on his own.

The next scene shows Legionnaires, led by Wildfire, flying off to deal with the Resource Raiders, whose ship has cracked a dam, causing floods. The team fails to stop the ship, so Wildfire tries to fix the dam by blasting it the crack closed. Superboy flies in, stops him, gets Ultra Boy to help him fling the Raiders' ship away from Earth and explains that the dam had been coated with explosive power. Wildfire's blast would have blown up the works.

Back at HQ, other team members discuss the mission and Jo claims there was no powder; he would have seen it. Nura has no vision, but claims her intuition tells her "there's more to this than meets the eye".

A shadowy figure with a cape approaches a display case with one of Wildfire's containment suits and takes it; the figure is Superboy and he's interrupted by an angry Wildfire. Superboy claims he'll be leader, no matter what it takes and a fight ensues, again in shadow - so when Wildfire walks out, we don't know if it's him or Superboy in his suit.

A Legion cruiser takes off, with the team again led by Wildfire (or not?) to go get the Raiders.

The other Legionnaires are baffled at how Wildfire knows where the Raiders are, but the atttack starts and Nura notices that Wildfire is not using his powers - he's fighting like Superboy would. Then he's blasted and his containment suit is destroyed. Superboy arrives and stops a Raider from blasting Nura.

The final page explains all: the computer predicted that the new leader would be blasted on his first mission, so Superboy figured he had a better chance of surviving than Wildfire and tried to take his place. However, the fight they had convinced Superboy that Wildfire could in fact survive. Then another twist: Wildfire, slipping into a new containment suit, claims the computer miscalculated, figuring Superboy would lead the mission and be destroyed by Kryptonite that was in the beam that hit him.

Ultra Boy closes the tale by claiming he'll convince the Raiders to reveal their home base and why they've been taking resources - and then, there'll be a showdown.

Comments:

Deception for the greater good is a common theme in Legion stories and one, in my opinion, that is used too often. This tale does start out with a good mystery; you figure it's a ruse, because Superboy just isn't the sore loser type, as Tasmia observes. But what's the ruse?

The mission against the Resource Raiders isn't that interesting; we don't learn anything about them and the action is really between the quarreling Superboy and Wildfire. It is odd that Ultra Boy later claims that he knew Superboy was lying about the explosive powder, but didn't call him out at the time. This might have made more sense if he'd gone on to say he knew his pal was staging this for some reason, but maybe he just didn't want to add fuel to the fire.

The final page explains the whole thing. (I've seen this in a lot of murder mystery novels: in a page or two, somebody just explains the whole thing.) The mystery as to who exactly was leading the mission - Wildfire or Superboy pretending to be him - deepened the deception; the clues were misleading. Why was Wildfire fighting like Superboy? The final twist, revealed by Wildfire, was unexpected but a bit contrived. The computer made a mistake??

We are left with a continuing story and an announcement that Dawnstar will debut in the next issue. And I got the impression, influenced by later history, that Mr. Levitz really likes Dream Girl. She's used a fair bit, but not using her specific power.

The art is okay; not my personal favourite, but there's a nice scene with Nura and the others back at HQ and a lovely scene with Wildfire looking over the night-lit city.

(There's a back-up story which I'll get to tomorrow - or anyone else is welcome to post a review of it in the meantime!)

No worries, FC. You're doing great.

The premise of 225 was lifted from Adventure 304. In the earlier story, Saturn Girl tricked her way into the leadership because an oracle predicted the leader would die on a mission. Here Superboy tries the same thing. It's very shaky premise and one that relies on the old hoax plot, which as we've discussed, the Legion seems to have outgrown.

Yet since this is Levitz's first foray as writer, perhaps we can excuse him for indulging in his fanboy leanings. After all, he does present a very well constructed beginning and middle of the story. He hits the ground running with Superboy publicly challenging Wildfire's right to be leader. The conflict builds nicely off of Superboy and Wildfire's previous antagonism. The scenes of the Legionnaires fighting the Resource Raiders' ship and carrying off rescues are also well paced and lead to a surprising turn of Superboy undermining Wildire's leadership. All of this is very dramatic and believable.

Then the story takes a bizarre turn into the unbelievable. Wildfire confronts Superboy in the costume room, and we're led to believe--as are the Legionnaires--that Superboy has won and impersonates Wildfire from then on. But the twist is that it really is Wildfire.

As I said, none of this is believable. As Cramey points out, why does Wildfire fight like Superboy? Why doesn't he tell his teammates how he knew where the Resource Raiders were? The reason: The writer needed to keep us in suspense. But this is a sloppy way of making the characters do what the writer needs them to do.

The Sherman/Wiacek artwork is great to look at, though, and much more appealing than some of Sherman's later work. He draws a beautiful Nura and an impressive Wildfire. Little touches such as the Legionnaires' shadows being reflected in Wildfire's face plate (Page 5, Panel 2) and the Legion cruiser soaring above a pattern of lights which dot a darkened landscape (Page 9) hearken back to the best of Cockrum--and this is only a fill-in job for Sherman. He was not yet the regular Legion artist but was only subbing for Grell, as revealed on the letter's page.

One artistic gaffe jumped out at me, though. The Legionnaires are standing in a different order at the top of Page 2 than they were on the splash page, even though only a second at most would have passed, and there was no reason for them to change positions in any event. Also, if you look closely, that shot on Page 2 features two Mon-Els.

So Levitz displays a lot of talent and skill in his first outing--much more than he did on the first Karate Kid issue. But he's hampered because the premise he's set up--Superboy being a poor loser--has to be resolved in a neat and positive fashion without lasting consequences.

#225 A Matter of Priorities by Paul Levitz, art by Mike Nasser & Bob Wiacek

This short back-up story opens with two figures fighting aboard a starship, with one pushed over a railing to his death on a restaurant/lounge floor. (The falling man is dressed very much like Karate Kid - but it's not him, nor does he figure in the story, since he's off in the 20th century.)

A young man jumps up from a table to chase the killer. We learn it's Brin Londo, Timber Wolf, in disguise, accompanied by Sun Boy and Projectra; they are bodyguards for Ambassador Relnic,
on a secret mission. Meanwhile, Brin has raced off, chasing the murderer, who he has recognized as Tseln, a homicidal maniac with a trademark knife. However, it turns out to be Projectra he's chasing, who was trying to stop him. Sun Boy and Relnic explain that the priority is on the mission: Relnic is trying to avert a war between the U.P. and the Dominators, which would result in far more deaths than Tseln could deliver. Secrecy is of prime importance and Brin was giving away the show by displaying his powers.

But Brin has an idea (unspecified). Jeckie and Dirk return to the restaurant with Relnic; suddenly, a big red devil appears, in flames and incinerates a young woman. However, the reader is tipped off: Dirk is synchronizing his flame burst with Jeckie's illusion. Then, a knife-wielding man leaps out, vowing he'll not be taken by the devil since his mithril silver knife can take any demon. Conveniently, the man announces to all that he is Tseln and has killed a hundred men.

The devil knocks him out, he's taken captive and the loudspeaker voice apologizes for the "entertainment" getting out of hand.

Relnic tells the Legionnaires that the Luck Lords were on their side; they didn't have to use their powers, but Tseln was still captured. The Legionnaires agree, laughing.


Comments:

Another deception story. Simple, but with some nice elements. An astute reader may have suspected that this ties into the previous story with Jo vowing to go after the Raiders; now Relnic is trying to stop a war. Wars need resources, or start over resource conflicts. As in the Raider tale, this light-hearted back-up story promises to lead to further and more serious developments. Of course, I write this in retrospect; I doubt I picked up on the greater, developing war story at the time.

Brin is depicted as impulsive, yet he's the one who comes up with the deception to ensnare Tseln.

There's a lot of text in boxes which both advances the story and is very descriptive. I have the impression that Levitz couldn't have fit the story into the pages available otherwise.

Tseln's silver mithril knife is straight out of Tolkein.

I can't decide if the falling man is dressed as Karate Kid by chance or intention. It could have been part of the Legionnaires running their own sub-mission to get Tseln without informing Relnic. It wouldn't have been beyond the scope of a comic book writer to bring KK back to the 30th century for some reason. Clearly, it didn't play out that way.

This is the first appearance of Ambassador Relnic, who will play a continuing role in Legion stories. He seems easily fooled here, not realizing that the Legionnaires staged the Devil attack. Is he playing dumb, like a good ambassador, or is he distracted by his peace mission?

The art is really rough in places, yet there are some wonderful action shots: the man falling to the floor, Brin running after Tseln, the devil appearing, Dirk leaning forward to add his blast to the illusion.

Superboy and the LSH #225 - first story

The first story of #225 is a bit of a mixed bag for me because while the story is very flawed and has rough edges, I still enjoyed it immensely for a lot of the little things Levitz and Sherman do, which will foreshadow a lot of great things to come.

The general plot, lifted from Adv #304 as HWW says and then used numerous times since, is a bit tired and IMO is a trope best left in the Silver Age (or at least in need of a long vacation). Levitz uses it, with a Cary Bates-ish last page bait & switch on top of it, and it is instability forgettable. However, beyond the general plot there's a lot to love: his excellent use of Nura and Wildfire, which he'll do again and again; the aggressive "grudge" between Superboy and Wildfire which we've seen hints of breaking wide open and showing some real down to Earth characterization in the LSH; and even though they don't do much yet, the Resource Raiders signal to me that we are on the long road to Earth War. All of that is exciting!

I also like how Levitz has them fly off at top speed in a V-shape with a sense of total urgency, which is something he always does well. Likewise, he shows different Legionnaires doing different things, including Jo and Nura saving people. It's a small moment but necessary for a cast like the Legion.

Sherman's art is gorgeous and I'm very excited to see his return. I see a lot of places where he may have inspired a young Steve Lightle, especially in the faces. The action is dynamic and the characters attractive. Grell has been nothing short of terrific but this feels like a nice change.

All in all, it feels like relatively mediocre start on paper, but it felt much more exciting to me. I'm anxious for the next issue!

Superboy and the LSH #225 - second story

The second story has many of the same complaints and praise as the first. Once again the plot is weak and this time the ending is really groan inducing. But there's still some things to like.

I love the addition of Ambassador Relnic to the Legion mythos and think he's a great character. His very presence opens up multiple possibilities for stories, and more importantly his pushes along the slow trend of adding more non-Legionnaire members of the cast. I also like Levitz' use of the Dominator wars and tensions of the past, which shows his rich knowledge of Legion history. It would make sense that the Dominators have been an ongoing issue every day in UP life and we should continue to see it or get reference to it.

I'm also a fan of the "small group of Legionnaires on a long voyage" trope. Particularly when they are not typically paired together which is the case here. Sun Boy and Timberwolf both display their personalities well here, though Jeckie is used as a bit of a cypher as "the girl".

Lastly, I'm enjoying Mike Netzer's artwork too. It's a bit rough in places and not as tight as Sherman, but there is a raw energy to it.

Again, not a great story but one I enjoyed nonetheless.

Cramey and Cobie hit the highlights of "A Matter of Priorities."

For me, the aspects which worked included seeing three Legionnaires who don't interact much team up; seeing them operate outside of costume (though with identifying color schemes); the introduction of Ambassador Relnic and glimpse of larger things going on in the 30th century; and the Legion using deception to catch the murderer while maintaining the need for secrecy. The deception here works much better than the one in the first story.

It was also nice that the villain came from Thaun, the world of superstition first seen back in Adv. 343. There's even a reference to the Luck Lords.

The story even affords us more character development. Brin and Dirk have competing priorities, and each is willing to sacrifice something for what he considers to be the more important goal (catching a murderer versus the mission to prevent a war). Their conflict drives the tension.

The ending is a bit of a copout. It's unclear why Tseln revealed himself to take down the devil, or why the Legionnaires thought their masquerade would work. Sure, Tseln is from a superstitious world, but it does not follow that he would want to slay devils. (Of course, we don't know why he slayed any of his victims.)

Levitz also does not spoon feed us the clues by telling us the girl was part of the illusion or that Brin was concealed by the illusion (he had to be so something solid could punch out the villain). He leaves it to the reader to figure these things out.

You know, I remembered Thaun from its later appearances but totally forgot it was a callback to Adv #343. Levitz was a master at Legion lore from the beginning.

I like the not being spoon-fed part too. That simply didn't happen in earlier eras.

FC also mentions the Tolkien-esque references to Thaun, including the mithril knife. The very mention of the word "mithril" immediately made me think of Tolkien too.

Lastly, even though its been something we've been talking about for awhile since it was announced a few issues ago, it's pretty bold for Wildfire to be elected leader! Although I guess the precedent is there with Karate Kid, where a relative newbie, albeit a popular one, gets the Legion's top job. I think its a clear indication that the Legion is changing again, which would be a constant part of Levitz's short first run.

#226 The Dazzling Debut of Dawnstar by Paul Levitz, art by James Sherman & Jack Abel; Dawnstar designed by Mike Grell



The cover text suggests a less than dazzling debut.... a petulant/angry Dawnstar is surrounded by accusing Legionnaires. What did she do? The opening page explains that she led Legionnaires into a trap set by the Resource Raiders.

Star Boy and Sun Boy are flying through Legion HQ, chasing some Resource Raiders who escaped from their cell. They capture their prisoners with a little teamwork and tell the reader that Lightning Lad could only get a course heading for the raiders' home base, not an actual location. Star Boy says "...if anyone can track them, Lightning Lad can!".

However, Garth informs a meeting of Legionnaires that the track leads nowhere, just empty space. Wildfire accuses him of an inability to track, Imra jumps to his defence and WIldfire presents his solution: Dawnstar. Without further explanation, Wildfire takes off with Dawnstar to a Legion cruiser and tells the others to join them. The others react very badly to the "16 year old expert" and talk of impeaching Wildfire.

However, Dawnstar impresses navigator Garth with her speed and accuracy; Wildfire explains that she's a mutant who can track anything anywhere.

They stop near the orbit of Pluto; Dawnstar is accused of blowing it, since there's nothing there, but Saturn Girl picks up thoughts from a convoy under attack.

The Raider attack is brutal, ripping open ships and thereby killing the crew; Dawnstar joins in the fight to help the Legionnaires, saying she will not ignore evil. The Raiders escape as the Legionnaires are busy rescuing crew members.

Lightning Lad accuses Dawnstar of failure, since she took off without giving the Legion time to prepare a battle plan. Yet Dawnstar claims she can still track them, even through a space warp. (Space warp is defined here as "the mysterious gateway between dimensions - the side-step across the stars that conquered time" and where tracking devices cannot function.)

Dawnstar leads them back to Earth, to the Siberian Hydroponic Gardens, where the Raiders are stealing raw materials. We finally find out what they're up to: they will take all the resoures, then give them back if people will live as their slaves. This message is delivered from behind a wall, through which Superboy and Sun Boy fail to find the entrance, but Dawnstar leads them through.

Within is a giant brain, with eyeballs, in a vat: the Raiders' leader. Superboy and Sun Boy shatter the bio-electric console and prepare to capture the Raiders.

The next scene closes the story, amid the after-effects of the battle, with the Legionnaires apologizing to Dawnstar and she saying that this was more rewarding work than guiding hunters. Wildfire tells her that they'll work together again, if she accepts their invitation to join as a full-fledged (Hah! I just got the pun now) Legionnaire. Final panel: Dawnstars face, stained with tears of joy.

Comments:

It's an impressive introduction for a new character. Dawnstar is a mystery; we're not told where she's from nor the extent of her powers. She does not respond to the insults of the Legionnaires but goes about the job she's been given. She has a noble character, joining in the Legion's fight because she will not stand by where there is evil. Where did Wildfire find her? one wonders. She begins to win over her critics, but they quickly turn against her - only to find that she is indeed a superior tracker. She can also fly through space on her own, without a suit or flight ring, at considerable speed.

Her appearance is striking with those huge wings. She is beautiful and looks Native American, especially with the costume. Sherman & Abel make the most of the fringe, which gives a great sense of movement.

That Wildfire just brings her into the mission and annoys everybody is an interesting development. It tells us a lot about Wildfire and the others' testiness with respect to his leadership. Even Saturn Girl gets into the sniping.

Levitz packs detail into the story to add to his world-building. Space warps, Siberian Hydroponic Gardens, Pluto as the guardian base for the solar system. There's even a bit of the old Adventure era-style tech with the Truth Beam used to interrogate the captured Raiders and the brain in a bottle as leader.

The Resource Raider plot is revealed, although we'll find out later that this is just the first layer of the Russian doll that will be Earthwar.

There are a few logical problems with the story: Garth reports that there's absolutely nothing in the area revealed by questioning the Raiders, yet it turns out to be near Pluto. Why doesn't Saturn Girl wear a helmet in outer space? Did Superboy kill the Raiders' Bottled Brain leader when he fried the bio-electric controls?

Looking back with hindsight, I found it odd that bristly, independent Dawnstar would be shedding tears of joy at the prospect of joining the Legion. However, her personality will only be fully developed in later stories.

I enjoyed the artwork. Dawnstar is beautifully rendered. She has a real look of horror on her face when the convoy is destroyed by the Raiders. I liked the reflection of her face in Wildfire's helmet at the end. The Legionnaires and Raiders are well drawn; the bodies don't look at all stiff. The backgrounds are not too complex, but display some attention to detail. It's too bad that Dawnstar's creator Mike Grell couldn't have drawn her initial appearance, but Sherman & Abel do a great job.

I can't help but think of Greybird while reviewing this story, whose enthusiasm for Dawnstar was boundless.

#226 - the backup story: Five Against One by Paul Levitz, art by Mike Nasser & Jack Abel

This back-up story opens with several Legionnaires listening to a message from Brainiac 5, as Superboy mentions "that weird adventure with Stargrave".

The visuals switch to a menacing structure with a statue of Mordru. The message continues, Brainy relating that he is on Zerox, the Sorcers' World, on a mission for Stargrave to take Mordru's Star Stone. There's a brief recap of the events of #224. Then Brainy advances through the building, attacked by a guard (who he fights with martial arts), some tables which come alive (he defeats by will power), a giant black mountain lion (repelled by hitting with a jar). Finally, he remembers to activate his force shield. He next encounters an insane image of himself and simply denies that it could be him. As he advances, a large crystal identifies itself as the Star Stone and declares he has passed the four barriers and must now deal with the final one, the Truth. The Stone tells Brainy that Stargrave is not his father, not even human and is manipulating Brainy. Brainy leaves the room, declaring that he will find Brainiac 1, who is posing as Stargrave, and kill him.

The scene returns to the Legionnaires, as Element Lad declares they must find Stargrave first, or Brainy will be expelled for murder. To be continued next issue....

Comments: This is a very short bridge story with one purpose: to confirm that Stargrave is really the 20th century Brainiac and not Querl's father. On the other hand, all this is revealed within Mordru's sanctuary, so why should we believe it?

It's not entirely clear why Stargrave would want Brainy to get an object which undermines the deceiver's hold on him. Perhaps he doesn't understand the Stone's powers.

The challenges Brainy must meet to get to the Stone are classic quest material. I didn't find them very interesting; too easily defeated. Well, there weren't many pages available for the story.

The reader is left at the edge of the next story, which promises to be a hunt as Brainy seeks Stargrave and the Legion seeks Brainy to prevent the murder. It's a bit oddly stated by Element Lad that their main objective is to keep Brainy in the Legion, rather than preventing a murder.

226/Dazzling Debut

Cramey noticed a lot of pluses to this story that I had overlooked--things such as the world-building, the subtle clues to Dawnstar's personality, and Sherman's depiction of faces. All of these are great observations.

For me, it's difficult to separate my current thoughts on this story from my initial feelings toward it. I was so disappointed when Grell left and was replaced by Sherman, whose work is very different and, as inked by Jack Abel, somewhat reminiscent of Win Mortimer's work in the late Adventure and Action runs. (As I recall, Abel also inked Mortimer's Legion work, hence the similarities.)

The change in artists is crucial; Sherman became a dynamic artist, but he wasn't there yet. Some of his figures appear awkward, and what's with the green space backgrounds? Was he too lazy to draw stars? As inked by Bob Wiacek in 225, Sherman's art was breathtaking in places; here, the pairing with Abel results in cartoonish and mundane images. Even the action scenes lack excitement.

As for the story itself, there is a lot I like and a lot I don't. Among the likes, Wildfire shows he's a resourceful leader by bringing in Dawny, and he doesn't mind stepping on his fellow Legionnaires' toes to get things done. His abrasiveness generates much needed conflict on a team where everyone has generally been too buddy-buddy.

It also seems quite believable that the Legionnaires would resent being upstaged by a "16-year-old 'expert'" (even though each Legionnaire was roughly the same age when he or she joined). Their catty comments recall how mean they were toward applicants during the Adventure run; it's about time someone gave them their comeuppance.

Dawnstar is both a like and a dislike for me. She is certainly established as a formidable tracker and warrior who engages in a fight that is not her own. She endures the insults and quietly does her job, seeing many things the Legionnaires do not. (My favorite scene consists of Superboy and Sun Boy colliding with the walls of the optical illusion while Dawny calmly strolls down the middle.)

Yet whereas Cramey saw subtle hints of her personality, I thought she came off as a flat character. We learn nothing about her background or what she wants. Like a typical Silver Age hero, she's devoted to eradicating evil wherever it flourishes--but we don't know why. Surely the Legion must have encountered some powered youths who didn't give a whit about evil.

Because we know so little about Dawnstar, her tears at being offered membership do indeed come from nowhere. Until now, she had not reacted to the Legionnaires at all; for all we know, she may have thought they were a bunch of jerks (which they were).

The Resource Raiders are just there to further the plot. They are not interesting villains, and their "leader" is simply a giant brain globe with eyes. I too wondered if he/she/it had been boiled alive.

The main aspect I disliked was that the story was too short to do it justice. Levitz crammed a lot of plot into 11 pages, but more room might have allowed us to get to know Dawny better and to care about her as an individual. In spite of her not-so-dazzling debut, I felt it was more Wildfire's story than hers.

226/Five Against One

This is what happens when a story line changes writers in mid stream. Out goes the idea of Stargrave being Brainiac 5's father and in comes a new twist: Stargrave is actually the original Brainiac.

That's really the whole purpose of this short back up: to discard the original direction laid out by Shooter and introduce a new one by Levitz. It's almost like someone has come into a half-painted room and decided upon a different color scheme. The problem is that, as a reader who saw the original color scheme, I liked it much better.

I'm not sure what purpose changing Starfinger's identity serves. If anything, it diminishes the story. Believing that Starfinger was his father, Brainy was torn between two worlds, and the Legionnaires had a believable purpose in wanting to track down Brainy and bring him back. But the Brainiac One revelation removes all of that personal connection and sends Brainy on a mission to murder Starfinger for no clear reason.

Sure, there is a very tenuous connection with Brainy's old shame over the criminal deeds of his long-ago ancestor. However, this motivation hadn't been mentioned since roughly Brainy's first appearance. Also, it makes no sense for Brainy to want to kill Brainiac One--as opposed to simply stopping him. The whole emotional context is lost.

Also, since Brainiac One was an android, would killing him truly qualify as murder?

As Cramey points out, the rest of the story is a fairly average quest type of story, though it's nice to see Brainy in an action role as opposed to simply playing scientist/doctor. There's a nice reference to him being trained by Val Armorr.

Another nice (and perhaps unintentional) touch is that when Brainy confronts the mad illusion of himself, it evokes Nardo's brainwashing technique from Adventure 344-45. (It also foreshadow's Brainy's eventual madness.)

Final thought: Did I miss something? To what does the title refer? There appear to be at least seven Legionnaires watching the video and pledging to go after Brainy. Or do "five" and "one" refer to something else?

Agree 100%! Why murder him? And it could have been a phenomenal story if Stargrave were his father. Perhaps the emotional impact of such a story would have been beyond the scope of Levitz' early writing (and the Comics Code). I'd like to see it handled today by a competent writer.



Brainiac 5 would know that Brainiac 1 was an android, but the other Legionnaires might not? The readers would know this as well. Possibly there could be laws against killing androids. It's not clear - maybe the issue will be addressed at the time of the confrontation, or ignored.



Re: Five against One -I believe the five were the five barriers set up by the Star Stone against one Brainiac 5; it's also a bit of a clue, Brainiac 5 versus Brainiac 1. (The last one just occurred to me as I was thinking about your question. Clever Mr. Levitz!)

I totally missed the call-back to the Nardo story, another evocation of the Adventure era. Interesting how many there are in this first Levitz run!

(Edit to fix the quotes, darn brackets)

The change in artists is crucial; Sherman became a dynamic artist, but he wasn't there yet. Some of his figures appear awkward, and what's with the green space backgrounds? Was he too lazy to draw stars? As inked by Bob Wiacek in 225, Sherman's art was breathtaking in places; here, the pairing with Abel results in cartoonish and mundane images. Even the action scenes lack excitement.[/quote]

He's quite a change from Grell, that's for sure. In The Legion Companion, Sherman acknowledges that he only hit his stride later in his Legion run and that Jack Abel was his favourite inker - but maybe that came later too.



It's almost like a coup d'état, Wildfire is such a different style of leader. It does generate conflict, although I eventually found there to be too much focus on his abrasiveness to the detriment of his other characteristics.



I wonder how much of Dawnstar's history and personality was mapped out from the start, or if it evolved over time.



An interesting perspective. Although he's not much featured in the action, the story is driven by Wildfire's choices and attitude.

A further comment on the Resource Raiders: yesterday I was discussing with someone the usual financial shenanigans and growing repression of the banksters, and it occurred to me that the Raiders represented what's going on today throughout the globe: corporate entities grabbing resources, which they control and sell back to us debt slaves. Okay, that's my lefty moment for the day, but I found the similarities interesting.
[/quote]

Ah, so that's the meaning of "Five Against One"--and a double meaning, at that! Kudos for noticing, Cramey!

Since Brainiac One was as much a part of history as Superman, it's hard to believe the Legionnaires wouldn't know he was an android, or that Brainy would have any reason for keeping the truth from them.

Also, Brainy's a smart guy--so why would he decide to go off and murder someone and TELL HIS LEGION TEAMMATES ABOUT IT . . . knowing they would plan to stop him?

Perhaps this, too, is addressed in the next issue (I don't recall if it was or not), but right now it makes no sense that not even the Legionnaires would question it.

On the Resource Raiders: I like the concept behind the villains, and their modus operandi certainly remains timely today. It's not necessarily a criticism to say they were just there to further the plot. With Dawny and Wildfire serving as the focus of this short story, it's understandable that less attention was paid to the villains.

You'd think so! I do find that hard to explain, especially since Brainy did openly acknowledge his evil ancestor back in the Adventure days. The Legionnaires could have gone off to help Brainy, fearing the android would defeat him, but that's less dramatic and makes our resident genius look weaker.



A cry for help? He's already started to go mad?

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.

...catching up...

Superboy & the LSH #227

As usual you have guys did a great job hitting on the highs and lows of #227. This issue is hard to review because it's so jarring for a third writer to enter the picture and put his own twist on an already twisted Stargrave plot that leaves me more interested in the "could have beens" than what we actually got. That being said, this issue itself is actually not all that bad.

Despite a few gaffes, Conway plots a thoroughly solid issue in terms of pacing and structure. Coming off strong runs on Spider-Man, Thor, Marvel Team-Up and others at Marvel, he has a great handle on how to make an intricate, multi-character story feel full of action and excitement while constantly advancing towards its conclusion. That's greatly appreciated with the LSH. Also, he provides some very nice characterization that helps develop personalities, particularly Imra and Shady. So while the Stargrave story itself isn't my favorite, I didn't mind the issue nearly as much a I thought since the Legionnaires are utilized fairly well.

As the years have gone by I've come to recognize Conway's under-appreciated talents on his Marvel work. I'm curious about what his LSH will look like with fresh eyes, and this issue indicates it is probably better than we remember.

Superboy & the LSH #228

The thing that sticks out immediately is on the third to last page, Condo reveals that if he fails it will cause World War VII. And in that moment, longtime Legion fans reading this off the stands must have felt a soul crushing ache in their stomachs when they realized what was about to happen. It's here that Levitz uses some good writing to make a revelation from a decade earlier finally come to pass.

And that underscores much of my feelings on this issue and Condo. It is a true shame he never got much screen time; yet we always knew he was going to die and this issue confirms that by being the payoff for the Adult LSH story and his introduction. It makes the reader feel powerless and that itself is a powerful thing. I'm glad it was done in such a way to make him die heroically. Levitz spends the issue showing his self doubt and self esteem problems, which telegraphs the ending miles away, but nonetheless, it gives his death an upbeat sensibility that he could finally prove himself to the hero.

Chemical King's death is a great dichotomy for me: chalk full of "might have beens" if they ever utilized him or he existed in an era that allowed for more in depth stories, but also a potent statement on the storytelling method of revealing future history.

Meanwhile, beyond Chem's death, there were other things going on as well, and much of it very good:
- excellent characterization of Brin and others.
- great usage of the LSH Espionage Squad.
- great usages of 31st century politics.
- the awesome return of the Dark Circle which is fuel for great political and spy stories. And as we know, another step towards Earth War, which Levitz continues to cultivate.
- terrific art, particular in the first half during the spy scenes (though the final pages look rushed and odd).


My one major complaint is that Levitz's good ideas and hindered by his plans for the story being so obvious--clearly Condo was doomed from the minute he entered the issue. Also, his usage of President Kandro Boltax, and how the Legionnaires go along so easily with the plan is tough for such a cynic like myself to swallow, but I realize Paul didn't want to waste too much time on the politics of it all.

Besides that, though, this was an exciting issue with a dynamic conclusion, and leaves the reader wanting more.

I never read Conway's Marvel work and didn't realize he'd written for so many titles. He may well be under-appreciated - the individual characterization has been a nice surprise when re-reading these stories.



This confirmation of the Adult Legion story might have left readers thinking that the other deaths shown in that issue would really happen. And if the deaths were set in stone, so perhaps were the marriages and later jobs that the Legionnaires held. Fortunately, the writers and editors didn't take it that far.

#229 Hunt for a Hero-Killer by Paul Levitz, art by Jmes Sherman/Jack Abel



The Hunt opens with Legionnaires on Shangalla, mourning the death of Chemical King with a ceremony. Two pages recap the events of the previous issue which led to his demise.

Next, it's time for action: to go after Deregon. Wildfire has a new toy for randomly choosing the team - essentially a digital Planetary Chance Machine. Saturn Girl considers this to be a "high-handed stunt" and it's Dawnstar, of all people, who grabs her arm and asks her why it matters, if the team is a power-filled one. Wildfire, Superboy, Mon-el, Dawnstar and Timber Wolf take off for the Dark Circle world and the others return home. Rokk, Lydda, Imra and Garth enjoy some down-time at Galaxyland, an amusement park. Light Lass calls them to announce that President Kandru had called to say Deregon was still on Earth; why was the Legion letting the SPs look for him? Rokk wants to warn Wildfire's team but Imra claims they have a job to do on Earth; it was her subconscious which made her suggest they visit the theme park, since she now sensed Deregon was right there.

Meanwhile, Wildfire's team has approached the Black Circle planet and is fighting a massive robot army. Dawnstar senses a living presence behind a door, which Wildfire and Timber Wolf charge just as Mon-el and Superboy vanish. The three remaining Legionnaires continue through the shattered door, to be met by a figure dressed in a robe of the Dark Circle, who doesn't appreciate their meddling and informs them they will never leave alive - and by the way, he neither knows nor cares where Deregon might be. More robot attacks, then these three Legionnaires vanish. The Dark Circle figure takes it philosophically, saying their vanishing saved him the trouble of destroying them.

Back on Earth, Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad and Cosmic Boy, back in uniform, are chewing out an SP officer for not telling them that Deregon had remained on Earth. Saturn Girl states that Lydda has left, because she's not a Legionnaire - and getting Deregon is Legionnaire business. She pauses to probe for Deregon's thoughts/location, then the three fly off to apprehend him.

He's in a room in the service area of the Park, sleeping on a small bed, fully dressed in his Chief War-monger clothes of the previous issue. His downfall is further illustrated by a lock of hair poking out from his head covering. Deregon is amazed they have found his secret retreat, which he thought was safe even from the Dark Circle. He flees, setting some robot creatures to fend off the Legionnaires - with no success. Saturn Girl - "the scarlet-clad huntress" - chases him down and corners him. Like any cornered hunted animal, he attacks, knocks her out and takes off again, only to be foiled by Lightning Lad. The lightning bolts startle him and Dergon falls into a drainage ditch, fittingly filled with chemical waste.

Epilogue 1 shows the vanished heroes from the Dark Circle world appearing in Legion HQ, thanks to an Experimental Warp Transport (dug out of Action #387, according to the editor), operated by Light Lass and Timber Wolf.

In Epilogue 2, Deregon is led away by SPs, as Rokk bemoans the Legion Code which prohibits killing. Imra says there are a few things in the Legion Consitution she'd like to change, as she stares sadly at Garth, who promises that one day, they will make those changes.

Comments:

It all seemed a bit too tidy and easily solved. Deregon, off by himself, in a backroom of a Metropolis amusement park - didn't anyone notice a world leader sleeping on a cot? Didn't any henchmen flee with him? Have things calmed down in Australia since he fled? I really would have preferred more of a challenge to find Deregon.

The Dark Circle character is preternaturally serene: confident that their defenses will defeat the Legionnaires and totally detached from Deregon's fate. Calm acceptance: perhaps this is the aspect of Dark Circle philosophy that so appealed to Tellus. I'm not sure if this figure was an actual person or a projection standing on the table. Although we don't see much of the Dark Circle, it is evident that their defenses are a force to be reckoned with. The deus ex machina which snatches the team from the Dark Circle citadel is an all-too-easy out, even if it does nicely demonstrate Levitz' interest in Legion history.

Saturn Girl's animosity toward Wildfire is well-depicted. Does she really dislike him generally, or just the fact that he's leader? She tries to pull rank - even accusing him of manipulating the results - but newbie Dawnstar physically and verbally stops her. It's a very tidy bit of characterization for Dawnstar: she's not afraid of the legendary Imra. Those two are alike in some ways, independent, strong-willed and not afraid to voice an opinion. Dawnstar lacks the finesse and experience of Saturn Girl, but it's surprising that a friendship never developed. Maybe Imra couldn't get over the fact that Wildfire brought her into the Legion.

While I remembered that Wildfire was a contentious leader, I hadn't recalled Saturn Girl's high level of irritation with him and am looking forward to seeing if it continues in future issues. She could have suggested that Ayla try to warn Wildfire's team that they're on "a wild klanth chase", but she may have decided to let him deal with the consequences himself. It seems like a rather cavalier disregard for her team-mates, even if she would like to see Wildfire fail.

Theme parks and comics! That's something you just don't see much of anymore. The attractions at this one strike me as a bit lame. Nevertheless, it's always interesting to see Legionnaires in mufti. Rokk certainly has become a minimalist when it comes to clothing. But where did their Legion uniforms suddenly come from?

I get the whole "We're the Legion" bit about avenging Condo's death, but it left a sour taste to have Lydda sit this one out, even if she wasn't powerful in the daylight. She just slunk off, knowing that she wasn't really an A-lister. She and Condo might have compared notes.

The closing scene, with Rokk wishing they could put Deregon to death, presents a grown-up Legion. They've seen a lot of evil in their few years and the original Constitution, drawn up by idealistic children, is proving to be a stumbling block. Do Garth and Imra agree with Rokk? They clearly have a more personal problem with the Constitution as long-time readers will remember that you can't stay in the Legion if you're married.

Superboy & LSH #229

I liked this issue too: a dynamic, action-packed series of sequences showing the powerhouse group entering Dark Circle space, while also getting to see the founders in action too. Levitz also does a good job at maintaining the seriousness of last issues ending. At last, to me at least, LSH feels like continuing ongoing series and not just a series of individual stories.

FC, you note the relative easy capture of Deregon and how that's a bit of a come down in terms of the Legionnaires built up aggression and tension. It's an interesting choose and mirrors similar real life events where a would-be dictator is eventually brought down, from Hitler to even Saddam Hussain. Whether intentionally or not, I think it shows the real struggle is finding an outlet for their grief; he's caught at issues end but do they feel any better? The answer is no, as Cos ponders eliminating the no killing rule in the constitution. How many of us go to great lengths to find meaning in dealing with the death of a loved on--metaphorically invading even the Dark Circle with guns blazing--only for it to feel like it's amounted to very little.

What makes the issue enjoyable though is really the little moments and it's all classic Levitz. We get a lot: the Shanghalla mourning scene, Wildfire versus the veterans, the founders as best friends (which really appears to start here with Paul), Imra & Garth hinting at getting married and leaving the LSH, Brin knowing Condo the longest and wanting revenge, and Dawnstar's characterization (which I really didn't notice until FC mentioned above). All of it amounts to a more layered Legion and I'm craving more and more--as much as we can possibly get.

The art still a bit rough in places. There are times it looks so striking and then others were it feels so flat. Maybe it's the Abel's inks? Hard to say but I do remember loving it by Earth War. I'm interested to see if I still feel that way.

Also, a bit of housecleaning: am I correct that next up is the DC Special #28 issue?

229:

FC is right that the resolution is too pat and convenient.

Cobie is right that this issue is a step up from the episodic and inconsequential stories we've been getting.

All of the character bits really do stand out. This is a Legion with a history and whose members have personalities, form cliques, and are openly hostile toward each other. The Legion is also front and center in this story instead of on the sidelines, as in too many previous issues.

I can buy Deregon hiding out in an amusement park (why not?), though some attention should have been paid to how he got there, who was helping him, etc. What's harder to swallow is that the Science Police thought the Legionnaires had "closed the books" on Deregon. It gives Saturn Girl a chance to make an impassioned speech to put the officer in his place, but it makes no sense.

It's also a bit convenient that Saturn Girl's power happens to lead her to the very place where Deregon is hiding. Is this telepathic intuition of some sort? Once again, Levitz plays fast and loose with her power and not in a consistent way.

I, too, was disappointed with Night Girl slinking off. She doesn't even get a scene announcing that this was the Legionnaire's fight and she didn't want to intrude (which would have been a graceful way of getting across what Levitz has Imra ham-handedly say to the cop). She just disappears.

The battle scenes in space are fairly well done, up to and including the confrontation with the Dark Circle member. It's an interesting twist that he (?) cares nothing for Deregon. The former Australian governor is just a pawn.

But then everything ends too quickly as the Legionnaires are yanked back to earth by a Miracle Machine wannabe. I suppose the story had to be wrapped up, but it would have been more believable if Ayla had simply contacted Wildfire and told him they'd found Deregon. A bit less dramatic, perhaps, but I can live without false drama that leads to nothing.

My personal peeve: My man Mon hasn't played an active role since 220 and hasn't really had a chance to play an integral role in any story since way back in 203. Here this trend continues, as he's nothing more than Superboy's shadow.

So, Condo's death is avenged, and vengeance turns out to be hollow. There truly is nowhere for the anger to go, except in Cos's off-hand remark that it's time to rethink the no-kill policy (although nothing comes of this remark). The story ends on a non sequitur, with Garth and Irma questioning an entirely different policy. This seems to be an attempt to inject Marvel-style verisimilitude into the story, but it just makes the ending seem even more anticlimactic.

I'm still no fan of the art. Some faces and poses seem more naturalistic than as depicted by previous artists, but, on the whole, the art alternates between garish and bland. If Levitz's story could have been paired with Grell's art, that would have been something to behold.

I'm not clear on the chronology, but is DC Special 28 the one with Fenton Pike as the villain? If so, we've skipped it. IIRC, Chemical King was still alive in that story.

DC Special had a June-July 1977 date; #229 was June and #230 was August, so it was in-between. Condo was still alive. More Levitz, and Condo says he'd been "sidelined for months" -I'm not opposed to including it, although it should have been published before #229. Blame it on DC....

I recently dug out an old chart I made back in the 20th century detailing an exact reading order of all the books with Legion appearances up to that point (as well as which Legionnaires appeared in each story).

I have DC Special #28 between #227 and #228 on that list, probably for continuity reasons.

Yeah, I'm told that its in the Archive but I'm not reading an actual Archive anymore and am reading the single issues. It sounds like you guys are all too. So for all intents and purposes, it really doesn't matter then if no one currently reviewing is going by the Archive order right now.

I'd like to read it, but I don't care either way if we decide to make it a "bonus read" or part of the weekly review. (If no one actually has it in hand to read it we don't have to force the issue; but if you do want to, we have ways here on LW of getting it to you ;))

I'm all for including as many Legion stories as possible. I'll have to dig through my collection to find it, though.

Since it is a short story (and not a very significant one, as I recall), perhaps we should consider it a "backup" story for 229--meaning it will go next but not take the place of our regular review of 230.

Unless I read thundering peals of opposition, we'll do DC Special next (maybe on the weekend?) then continue with #230 on Tuesday next.

Now back to our regular programming....



I agree, the series is coming into its own and building up a coherent history.



You do make a good point. So many dictators meet an ignominious and even trivial end. Their countries are left in disarray, and it would have been interesting to have a peek at what was going on in the Australian region after Deregon left, but I can appreciate that it was beyond the scope of the comic.



When I think about it, this ending has more impact than the death of Ferro Lad, Lightning Lad and (definitely) Triplicate Girl's third body. It does show the real life frustration of trying to justify or avenge death.



Yes, less flashback and more inter-issue explanation of Deregon's flight would have been satisfying. I wonder if the SPs taking over could have been portrayed as part of a cover-up, since the Legion wasn't supposed to be there anyways - or at least their involvement was legally murky.



I wonder if he liked her particularly and was trying to beef up her power, thinking it was one of the weaker ones, while she herself was one of the stronger personalities.



That would have made much more sense to me.



All the years without Superboy have made me forget how trivialized Mon-el was until Supes got the boot.



If I had been reading this truly for the first time, without the knowledge that future issues would bring, I would have figured this was a set-up for some very big changes. But there again, my perception is muddled by time, since when this was published, I doubt they could have shown something like the Legion changing the Constitution, then kidnapping Deregon to put him to death themselves.

I'm still no fan of the art. Some faces and poses seem more naturalistic than as depicted by previous artists, but, on the whole, the art alternates between garish and bland. If Levitz's story could have been paired with Grell's art, that would have been something to behold.

[/quote]

Cos's statement is certainly open for interpretation. I choose not to believe that he wanted to kidnap Deregon and put him to death (or that the Legion would seriously consider doing such a thing). I think it was more an expression of frustration than anything.

But it does raise a question: If the Legionnaires deemed it necessary to kill in battle, should they be given that right? If the series had taken on a more adult approach, perhaps that issue could have been addressed and debated.

I also interpret Cos as not really meaning it but saying it out of frustration.

But it's a good question and one other series have explored. Certainly, it doesn't seem too far fetched for the guidelines around killing in an act of self-defense being loosened over time. I know if I was a Legionnaire I'd vote for that.

I believe he repeats the sentiment when his parents are killed later in the series (something to do with a Powersphere explosion?). He may well have been more serious about it then than in these circumstances. The self-defense question should certainly have challenged the Legionnaires to change their constitution.

Reading a couple of Guardians of the Galaxy issues recently, it struck me that they have no aversion to killing. Maybe some individual members do, but it makes me wonder if a new Legion comic, should it ever come to pass, will preserve this no-kill stance. Of course, Projectra killed Nemesis Kid and was welcomed back into the Legion; she wasn't a Legionnaire when she did it, so I guess that was the reason.

Getting ahead of our Archives here, but it's interesting to observe how these matters developed, and how early they got their start in Legion history.

Superboy 229

Superboy and Mon El must get sick of being zapped on covers, just to show the reader how powerful the villain is. Particularly if the villain’s costume is a bed sheet he had to throw on, when the heroes turned up unexpectedly.

The splash page is far better than the cover. Legionnaires coming to terms with the loss of one of their own, even if it was someone underutilised for years.

Brin looks particularly thoughtful. Is he seeing his own future in Condo’s death? Is he wondering what it means to die a hero or how to live as one? There’s a comforting hand on his shoulder from Imra. They would have a misconstrued moment in a later issue. Wildfire’s hand on Dawny’s should while her thoughts are clearly on the loss is simply that possessive creepiness I expect.

It’s a good choice to focus on Timberwolf to lead us into the mission. We’re told that he’s known Condo longest (Lyle Norg retcons must have been later). But Brin has also been an outsider in the team, which is what Condo felt like in his final days.

Wildfire uses a really hot cup of stirred tea to get the Brownian motion for the mission selector. Considering the importance of getting Deregon, picking five at random seems daft. Picking just five against a huge organisation also seems silly, especially as Swan isn’t drawing the issue. It’s not long before Imra tells those who stayed behind that Drake rigged the selection. Which is just as well…

Tenzil: Gee, it’s been months now. Where could Deregon be?
Chuck: If only Dawnstar had been selected, we wouldn’t have taken that wrong turn around Ventura.

We get some big battle scenes as the five Legionnaires attack a planet. Then a jarring parallel plot appears leading off from Imra pointing out the rigged selection. Our three founders are off at a fun fair. It seems an odd location considering the gloomy revenge laden plot. Then they hear that Deregon is still on Earth by a passing Science Police officer. How does the Earth president know the villain is still on Earth?

It doesn’t take long for Imra to track Deregon down. He’s conveniently hiding in the fun fair. Since Imra felt compelled to go there, it gives her some new powers to think about once this issue is over.

While the founders track Dregon down and give chase, the five attacking the Circle get to see within their headquarters. The circular table in it, makes the place look like an alternate Legion HQ. The being they meet there is certainly a match for them, but the Legionnaire vanish before the conflict goes any further.

Back on Earth, Deregon’s fear gives him away and he’s captured. It’s a fitting end for him in waste. I had thought he’d fallen to his death, but that’s not the case. But I still recall how easily the Legionnaires believed that Deregon was the true villain behind creating a world war.

There’s more stress against the Legion’s code against killing here. Brin also threatened to tear someone’s throat out, which is a bit less than heroic. Levitz is trying to make the point about what vengeance means to the Legion. They allow Deregon to be taken away by the police. It frustrates Cosmic Boy, but they hold to their ideals.

There’s a parallel with the TMK run, where the Legion are faced with a choice to treat Roxxas or let him die from his injuries. The death of a Legionnaire was also heavily involved in that decision.

We get a nice bit of foreshadowing to Garth and Imra’s wedding. It’s set up by the code against killing in the Legion constitution. It’s less of a tease when the caption beats us over the head about it coming up in future issues.

With the brief examination of what the Legion stands for, you can see why Levitz felt it important that the three founders were the ones to track Deregon down. Imra’s determination at doing so, was all Lydda needed to see before leaving the Legion to take care of personal business.

Although Brin was a little too Wolverine like, there was some decent character tension in this issue. Dawny and Wildfire in particular played off well against the likes of Satrun Girl.

Sherman’s art was impressive in places, but perhaps not hitting consistent highs. We got everything from introspective glimpses at fundamental Legion concepts to huge battles against dangerous foes. Levitz packed quite a bit into this issue. So much so, that it’s the finding of Deregon under a theme park that the team happen to be visiting (not buying Imra’s sudden extra powers) that’s the weakest moment in a strong issue.

They were. However, since Lyle had already died, Brin's comment about knowing Condo the longest is still valid.



Good point. The two did have much in common. It's a shame this was never explored.

Did anyone else notice that the vat Deregon fell into reads "chemical waste"? Fitting indeed.

Is this foreshadowing or did future stories look back to this scene for inspiration? One wonders.

Were we ever told how Wildfire met/found Dawnstar? Maybe he was obsessed with her right from the beginning.



Although she was there, she wasn't tracking Deregon. It shows the importance of precise instructions. Could Dawnstar have tracked Deregon from Shangalla, or would she have to have gone to Australia to follow his path?



I'd missed that bit about Brin - it does add to the overall sentiment of anger with Condo's death.

True. I was throwing it out there to see if actually Lyle had known him better earlier in the run, as I couldn't recall.



Ironically, I had intended to add a line in at the end of my review mentioning that, but forgot. So it's easily done



I did comment on the waste, but completely failed to pick up the comedy value of it being chemical It's comedy reruns for me this weekend to get some sharpness back.



Had they developed Brin more in the story, it could have been established more. Brin reflecting on Condo's life and reassessing himself. Asking the big Brin questions like "If I'm an android, why do I pee and not short circuit myself?", "How could Ayla possibly love someone who's an aloof tool?" "Is Ayla therefore a defective android, programmed to love me?" "Why do I feel pressurised into making "snikt" noises with my nails?"

Brin's answers would have provided a character arc that Imra perhaps could have had more involvement in. But Imra and Garth aren't even married at this point and Garth hasn't had .. well, I'll just say that perhaps this came a little too early. Perhaps Levitz had no inclination along this path at all, and it's just a good call from Sherman.

Much later on, we'd see Brin carry out Val's last wishes in a fashion that makes him stand out as an individual. There's more of a link from the panel in this issue to that later story, than
the nice but dim Londo we'd get in between.



I don't remember reading anything, but I think that inside his containment suit, he was replaced by a big Smitten Kitten right from the start.

I'd like to think more of Drake than thinking of him stalking academy students. I think his initial good impressions of Dawny were rapidly enhanced when he saw her against the Raiders. What definitely would have helped were the others reactions to her. Snooty and defensive to an outsider. Drake, as a relatively new Legionnaire and a rapidly rising star as leader, may still have felt a bit like that in the team and as the guy in charge. He would definitely have felt like an outsider as a person, trapped as energy within his suit.




I think she would have been able to track him back to Earth, and then her powers are fudged to be less precise. It's probably part of why TMK didn't want her in the team, other than not being in the Adventure run. Giffen didn't want to make such things too easy.

Re: Condo and Lyle

Superboy # 176 established that they were friends--only Chem had the power to negate Lyle's invisibility serum, so it was said that Lyle's weakness was safe with Chem. Later reference works, such as the Legion Handbook, picked up on that and mentioned that they were friends, but there is little evidence in the comics. If memory serves, they did not appear together in any other stories leading up to Lyle's death.

Re: How Wildfire met Dawny

S/LSH 240 contains a backup story with Dawny at the Legion Academy, which takes place just before 226. If I recall correctly, it was R.J. Brande who convinced Dawny to apply for the academy after meeting her on some business deal. (She was working as a commercial tracker.) I believe Wildfire met her at the academy, but I could be wrong. Something else else to look forward to when we get to 240, perhaps.