Jim Shooter and Mike Grell deliver a high octane, action packed issue that puts you on the edge of your seat and then they throw you off it.

You know when you see the Fatal Five something bad is going to happen. And if that’s what you like you won’t be disappointed here.

But wait! I see the evil Emerald Eye yonder and even not Superboy’s indestructible cape can save us from its power.

The Plunder Ploy of the Fatal Five

They are five, with evil-might to shake the stars! The five deadliest, most ruthless villains in the universe, allied in lust for ultimate power and in hatred for the valiant Legionnaires who dare oppose them. 

On the Planet Imsk The Legion of Super-Heroes rush in and are met with an armored attacker wielding a powerful atomic axe, Persuader! He eyes up Superboy and swings it with incredible force and it passes right through Superboy.

Tharok quickly informs him that these are simply automatically projected illusions by the Imskites. Shaking off any prospect of meeting a teenager belonging to the most powerful super-hero team in the universe, Persuader continues down the corridor, which becomes smaller and smaller. Only someone from Imsk, like our beloved Shrinking Violet, would be able to shrink down and pass through. But Persuader decides on the more direct approach and punches his way through the other side. He finds a small dome before him and Tharok informs him that this is their goal, which is a shrunken down factory. Quite handy for the Imskites to create and the reasoning why their skills produce the most sophisticated micro-circuits in the universe. Also, a perfect size to simply steal it.

Meanwhile, Quad Orlu, otherwise known as Duplicate Boy, is putting on his shoes ready to head out at the sound of the alarm. Shrinking Violet arrives and also announces that she will accompany him, despite being on vacation. The two quickly fly out of their miniaturized hotel resort that sits neatly on the table. Sure enough, the two find Persuader and Validus. Duplicate Boy quickly puts on the power of Superboy and rams Persuader. That was the easiest part, now it’s time for Validus. Duplicate Boy attempts to duplicate Validus’ power but it is too much for him to handle and it backfires.

Persuader takes advantage of the pain searing through Duplicate Boy and, with his mighty atomic axe, he swings, cutting Duplicate Boy severely in the back. Duplicate Boy collapses to the ground, and Persuader orders the teleport to be activated. As two of the Fatal Five members disappear, Shrinking Violet flies unnoticed and reunites with Quad, to whom she screams for his dear life.

Meanwhile, Persuader and Validus arrive at their hide-out and find Mano, Emerald Empress, her Eye, and Tharok waiting for them. Tharok is amazed that the Emerald Eye has that amount of power and can teleport members at will. Or at least on command of the Emerald Empress. 

Persuader is furious at Tharok and demands him to answer for the arrival of Duplicate Boy and Shrining Violet. Since Duplicate Boy is a friend of the Legion’s, they’ll be notified in no time. 

Meanwhile, back on Earth and in the headquarters of the 30th Century’s most powerful team of super-heroes, Shrinking Violet cries over Duplicate Boy who is still alive but currently preserved in a Cryogenic Tank. Brainy knows he is beyond medical help but cannot break it to Violet.

Colossal Boy slams the wall and is distraught to see his fellow Legionnaire cry her eyes out. Superboy tells him to calm down and as Colossal Boy storms off, expresses how surprised he is that CB is so torn up over Shrinking Violet. Brainy says they are all angry but what scares him the most is the fact that The Fatal Five are now in possession of advanced micro-circuits. Circuits that are used for the United Planets defense and are now in Tharok’s hands. Indeed, this might be their most important mission, or if anything, their last one. 

Part Two – Trail to Chaos

Soon, in the living quarters of an Imsk-bound Legion Cruiser, Lightning Lad asks Brainy how Tharok could possibly be back when the last time they fought his robot half was severely damaged.

Brainy surmises that Tharok anticipated this, and secretly constructed a computer-surgeon programmed to repair his robotics if needed. And the other members must have stolen his body from the prison and brought it to the lab where the computer-surgeon robot put him back in working order. Either way, the Fatal Five are reunited and the Legion better be on their toes.

As if to read their minds, the red alert alarm goes off, and the Legion of Super-Heroes are informed that the Fatal Five just raided the synthezoid factories on Rerel and made off with android parts. With Rerel being only minutes from their position, Brainy gives the much anticipated order. Battle Stations!

We are then treated to a glorious full page description of the Legion Cruiser, courtesy of the GOAT himself, Mike Grell. 

The Legionnaires go through the various required checks and, satisfied, they blast off toward Rerel. They quickly spot a green glowing ship, apparently made by the power of the Empress’s Emerald Eye. Brainy tells Ultra Boy to lock blasters on target. But as the order of ‘fire’ is about to be given, Violet rushes and stops Brainy. That gives the Fatal Five enough time to spot the Legion Cruiser and are forced to take evasive action, missing their chance.

Shrinking Violet rushes to Colossal Boy who tells her to calm down. Brainy is furious and asks Violet why she interfered. She tells him what if Tharok’s genius could save Duplicate Boy. If they kill him then Duplicate Boy will not have a chance. Brainy tells her she must be foolish. Tharok is brilliant but he is also evil and treacherous. Deal with him and she will wind up dead. 

Violet apologies but Colossal Boy tell her to not worry about it, she will have a chance to make it up. In fact, why did the Fatal Five run away from them if they had a chance to destroy them? They must be planning something big.

Later, on the six-mooned planet Cyrem, Validus smashes the ground, creating a big crate. He crawls in and with all his strength, he literally pushes the planet apart. The Legionnaires also see the damage he has done and notice the inhabitants were lucky enough to evacuate the stolen chunk before Validus tore it away. But what could the Five want with half a piece of the planet? 

Part Three – Thunder and Blood

Meanwhile, back at Legion Headquarters, Saturn Girl keeps solitary watch. She reads reports that the Five stole valuable rare and deadly poisons from the central laboratory on planet Zeffro. If only there was a chemical that could help Duplicate Boy. She places her hands on the chamber and looks at the still body, when suddenly she realizes the answer was in front of her all along. What if she uses her telepathic powers and force him to duplicate Superboy’s invulnerability and recuperative ability? Then he would be saved!

The mind mistress flows her mental power into the inept figure…links her consciousness to the vestiges of life within…that mass of torn tissue feeling the agony of its ordeal…as well as sensing the deep love for a girl called Shrinking Violet that drives this ravaged flesh to cling to life. Deep in the damaged brain, her psychic probe touches the mental mechanism of his awesome force, for endless moments, she struggles to control it, until she collapses, completely exhausted, her last thought wondering if she succeeded. 

In distant space, Brainiac 5’s mighty mind is also put to the test. Micro-circuits from Imsk, android parts from Rerel, poisons from Zeffro, and half of Cyrem. But why? Superboy ponders with his12th level intellect comrade and observes there is nothing unusual about Cyrem except for its six moons and gigantic and unusual fish that fill its seas. 

Brainy ponders some more and surmises that their plan must be creating an army of new semi-android life forms to conquer the universe for the Fatal Five. A moon-sized portion of Cyrem could support life…and then he cracks the case.

The Fatal Five were using the moon-sized chunk to hide a seventh moon in Cyrem’s system, thereby hiding their base and giving them time to build an army. With the plot uncovered it is time to act.

Soon, on the stolen part of the planet, in a newly erected palace, Emerald Empress demands more wine from her android servants when Superboy bursts through the wall. He uses his indestructible cape to quickly cover the Eye when she orders her servants to protect their queen.

The androids pile on Superboy who starts to fend them off, hoping they are not Super-Androids. Meanwhile Lightning Lad and Mon-El have taken on the quite impossible task of taking down the enormous brute, Validus. Lightning Lad attempts to overcharge his brain inside the see-through head, but Validus simply ignores it. Mon-El moves into position to try to snatch away the weapon that Validus reaches for but is taken in his clutches. Suddenly, a deafening noise rings out, bringing both Legionnaires in immense pain.

As those two brave Legionnaires brave their way through immense pain, we see Sun Boy and Light Lass infiltrate Mano’s atmosphere dome. Mano filled it with poisonous polluted air, which only natives of his home world Angtu are able to breathe. He will not be wearing his helmet so they must expect to recognize him in the fog. As they don their mask breathers, Mano hits Sun Boy in the back of his head. Light Lass turns and sees Mano’s face. She screams.

Meanwhile, high above an island sea, Colossal Boy and Shrinking Violet spot Persuader on a boat. Persuader notices them and quickly moves to a deck gun and fires a steel net. The net encloses on our two heroes and Shrinking Violet quickly shrinks to escape the net. Colossal Boy shouts after her to not go after Persuader alone. 

Persuader turns to Colossal Boy, still trapped in the net. He tells him he will die and swings his atomic axe. Suddenly Shrinking Violet turns big and delivers a mighty punch, putting Persuader off balance for a moment. But a moment is all Colossal Boy needs. Seeing Shrinking Violet in danger, he courageously musters all his might, tears through the net, and pummels Persuader with an upward two fisted thrust, knocking him out cold. Colossal Boy takes Violet in his arms and tells her nothing will hurt his flower girl. They investigate Persuader’s ship and lift up a hatch to discover a hold full of huge, monstrous fish that swim in Cyrem’s inland seas. With the net gun, Persuader must have been…fishing?

We return to Lightning Lad and Mon-El who are still deafened by Validus’ large weapon. Lightning Lad manages to fire off a lightning bolt, hitting Validus’ weapon and stopping the noise. Validus pauses and watches as tiny pelts fall from the top of the ‘weapon.’ It was in actuality a king-sized rattle. With Tharok not in control of Validus, he reverts to his normal state…that of a child.

Back at the Empress’s Palace, Superboy continues his battle with the androids. He does not know what to make of it because the androids are not fighters and some are even women. He fights his way to the Empress, and not able to find the nerve to hit a lady, he squeezes her just enough to knock her breath out and she finally succumbs to blackness.

Back in the dome, Light Lass moves quickly and uses her power to make Mano weightless, ceasing his onslaught of Sun Boy. But what comes up must come down, and Light Lass obliges, dropping him to the ground, then grabbing her purse and knocking him out cold. 

With four members of the Fatal Five out of commission only one remains. And Ultra Boy and Brainy smash through a wall, and quickly disable the console Tharok is using. They tell him it is over but he informs him it has just begun. He will end it and he promises the Legion of Super-Heroes the end will be torturously slow and painful for them. Because now it is personal. He then engages a secret switch and jettisons upward, leaving the two Legionnaires below, escaping through a secret hatch.

Ultra Boy attempts to give chase but he cannot follow him to outer-space. He makes his way back to where the other Legionnaires have regrouped. Lightning Lad and Mon-El informed the team that Validus also fled and they could not stop him. He must have been summoned by Tharok. Which means three out of the five members of the treacherous Fatal Five are back in custody.

But to what end? What were they trying to accomplish? Brainy has the solution and asks them what could such villains do while waiting for a chance to conquer the United Planets? Simply, to live as comfortably as possible.

And the rest chime in. The stolen android parts were made loyal subjects to fill the Empress’s Palace. The poison chemicals were used to create the toxic air in a simulated home-world environment for Mano. And the stolen portion of Cyrem furnished Persuader’s monster-filled sea, various raw materials for his fishing boat, and a perfect hiding place for the whole bunch. 

But what about Tharok? Brainy lifts up a piece of artificial skin he found in the lab. It was a new half-body. Tharok was using the Imskite circuits to maintain his intelligence but also look more human. The Legion had denied Tharok’s chance for humanity.

Suddenly they receive a telepathic message from Saturn Girl who informs the gang that Duplicate Boy is alive. She saved him. Smiles and tears of joy greet the news.

Except for one Legionnaire, who also yearned for Duplicate Boy’s recovery. But Shrinking Violet’s happiness brings him also bitter frustration. 

Creative Team

Jim Shooter crashes through the wall and delivers an incredible epic, utilizing the Legion’s most fearsome team, the Fatal Five. Every time the Fatal Five shows up, you know someone or something is going to die. That is how scary this group is. And Jim Shooter demonstrates once again why they are worthy adversaries to the Legion of Super-Heroes.

It is an incredible full length novel and Jim Shooter masterfully juggles each character, on both sides, giving us an insight into their personalities, motivations, and concludes each conflict. This is Jim Shooter at his finest and is probably his best outing so far. 

Is there a complaint? Yes. If you read this blog you know exactly what it is. My only complaint of Shooter is that he does not treat his female characters particularly well. And once again we have an instance with Light Lass taking down Mano with a swing of her purse and Superboy surmising that the androids are not fighting robots because some of them were obviously female.

Other than that, this is a master class of good storytelling.

One of the biggest surprises for me was at the end, where I managed to develop some empathy for Tharok. His motivation for constructing a second half of skin was a simple attempt to regain his humanity. And the Legion thwarted it. But then you do ask yourself, what would have happened if he had succeeded? Would he continue to rage havok as the ‘brains’ or ‘leader’ of the Fatal Five? Or by the gaining of even a little bit of humanity would encourage him to pause, and think, and actually start to reform? Shooter does not give us the answer but he does make us think about it. And it is more proof that Shooter’s contributions are not belittling or taking his audience for granted. He is exploring meaningful and relevant themes and respecting his readers.

And finally to get off this Shooter-love train, he gives a distinct voice to his characters. This time we have a new sub-plot and that is Colossal Boy’s love for Shrinking Violet. You can see his agony and feel the conundrum that is placed around him. Duplicate Boy is a friend, but he loves Violet. Of course he is happy that Duplicate Boy makes a full recovery but it still tears him apart. And he just wants to make Violet happy. This little piece of drama is very welcome and ages up the book and again speaks to the intelligence of its audience. This is Shooter’s masterstroke with this issue. 

Mike Grell continues to amaze. His use of panel layouts to tell the backstory in a very artistic way increased the value of the book. He can handle not only a diverse team that is the Legion, but also the Fatal Five and a bunch of soldiers, aliens and different environments to boot. Grell is a master storyteller and his figure work separates this series from the rest of the pack at the time. Would the story be good without Mike Grell? Of course, it is Jim Shooter after all. But it would not at the level of greatness that it is. Grell just elevates everything to another level. It is no wonder he was and continues to be a fan favorite. 

Super-Talk

This time in the letter’s page we receive some comments on the newest Legionnaire, Tyroc. Whom you will notice does not make an appearance this issue.

The Editor decided to publish some of the bad ones. Complaints ranged from not understanding the new power set and finding it weird, to being put off by Tyroc’s ‘temper tantrum’ due to perceived racial prejudice. Which the editor does point out that racial prejudice is not necessarily the cause of the all-black settlement of Marzal nor Tyroc’s power and a special origin story is forth coming.

He then goes on to say that despite the above, the response to Tyroc has been overall positive. They then give us the results of the Legion of Super-Heroes election that were held at the special DC Super Celebration during the February 29th, 1976 week-end in New York City. And even though Tyroc had not even been introduced to the world, he still did quite well. Here are the results for the election that determine the leader:

Legionnaire	# of votes
Superboy	87
Wildfire	65
Element Lad	38
Mon-El	37
Tyroc	31
Brainiac 5	28
Lightning Lad	23
Timber Wolf	23
Karate Kid	22
Chameleon Boy	20
Ultra Boy	17
Phantom Girl	15
Sun Boy	10
Colossal Boy	8
Cosmic Boy	8
Dream Girl	8
Shadow Lass	8
Chemical King	5
Saturn Girl	5
Shrinking Violet	5
Star Boy	5
Light Lass	4
Princess Projectra	4

Because Superboy is the clear winner and he is the only member who crosses the time barrier, they decided to give it to the runner-up, Wildfire. Who is the second newest member of the Legion and a creation of Dave Cockrum. The third place winner, Element Lad, will act as Wildfire’s deputy leader and the story of their first assignments will be forthcoming. So congratulations Wildfire as being the new leader of the Legion of Super-Heroes!

But there are some interesting observations. First, with Karate Kid having his own book I thought he would do a lot better. So you do wonder if he is as popular as everyone says. Yes it is one event at one point in time, but interesting nonetheless.

Also the performance of the female characters were abysmal. I suppose the attendance of the convention was probably male-dominated (surprise, surprise) but it was disheartening to see that the female character that received the most votes was Phantom Girl with only fifteen. But there you go.

We end on a nice tease for the next issue (which, spoiler alert! We do not get next issue but in issue #221):

“Who or what is Charma? What is this sinister secret of Grimbor? Is this perilous pair the greatest threat the Legion’s ever faced or are they idle boasters? All will be revealed when the Legionnaires become “The Trillion Dollar Trophies!” On sale soon!”

The Legion Medallion of Merit

This one is difficult, if only because there is so much going on and every member of the team played a part. After debating internally and going around and around, I always go back to the same Legionnaire. And that is Colossal Boy.

He is in love with Shrinking Violet and will do whatever he can to make her happy. Even if it means putting himself in danger and then stepping back to allow her relationship with Duplicate Boy to run its course. Even if it tears him apart on the inside, he still showed that he was happy that DB made a full recovery and that takes a lot of merit.

So enjoy Colossal Boy! Perhaps you will never be able to truly reveal why you received this medallion but you will at least know. And perhaps there will come a moment when the timing is right for both you and Shrinking Violet to come together. Or perhaps you will both find someone else. Either way, you have class and are an inspiration to all the others. Wear it with pride!

And that’s it for this issue! May you never meet an evil eye and always dodge an atomic axe. And as always, allow the true call to ring throughout the galaxy for all to hear…

LONG LIVE THE LEGION!