Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #251

Welcome back fellow Legionnaires, and Holy Hannah do we have an issue for you! Not only do we have the conclusion of Jim Starlin’s epic, not only do we have action packed moments that are bound to thrill and make you gasp, but we also have the return of a much beloved Legionnaire who will save the day and be changed…perhaps forever!

There is no Legion Outpost this issue because the story needed those extra pages, and that is fine by me! Let us not waste any more time with this intro, put on that flight ring, make sure all your hate is in check, and get ready for action!

The Man Who Destroyed the Universe! 

One member of the Legion of Super-Heroes has turned traitor. It began with the summoning of Omega, the embodiment of all the hatred in the universe. And the only hope the Legionnaires have is the traitor himself, Brainiac Five, changing his mind to stop it. 

Karate Kid and Princess Projectra stare at Brainiac Five before the words come to their lips in the form of a question. Why? Why would he do this? Again, he responds that he has saved the universe countless times but the universe has never repaid him. And he feels like his just reward is the destruction of the universe itself. Brainy then goes into a mad rant, blurbing out that if he can destroy the universe he can save it too. And then passes out out of some sort of fever that has driven him insane.

Meanwhile, Superboy, Dawnstar, and Ultra Boy have been guarding one of the approaches to Earth, and they quickly detect Omega approaching. Superboy calls for maneuver zeta-twelve and Dawnstar gets into position. She immediately flies to a random asteroid, using her powers to detect the one asteroid the team loaded with a dimensional transport bomb. At her incredible speed, she pushes the asteroid right on Omega, who carelessly knocks it away. He chides them for thinking they could trap him and he will not be expelled from this dimension. 

Ultra Boy tells Superboy to get Dawny to safety because now it is his turn. He switches on his super-speed and uses a couple of bounces on some well placed asteroids to build up momentum, hurls himself at Omega, then quickly turns on his super-strength, and delivers a mighty punch, hitting Omega squarely in the chest. Omega smashes him back, but Ultra Boy is now right on top of him, and he switches on his flash vision and blasts Omega with all its strength. Omega is still not phased, reminding Ultra Boy that heat cannot harm him, for it is nothing compared to the burning heat of the hatred he has amassed. Ultra Boy grabs an asteroid for one last try and flings it as Omega, who punches through it.

Moments later, back at Legion Headquarters, Princess Projectra stands over Brainiac Five with her hands carefully placed on his temples. She projects images and illusions into his subconscious, telling him how much they need him but it is not working. Wildfire grimly states that if this does not work they only have one chance left. Karate Kid agrees but reminds him of the possible consequence of destroying the universe in the process. Suddenly, Brainy opens one eye and jerks up, shouting that he will give them a choice. Either Omega destroys the entire universe or he, Brainiac Five, will rule it. 

Wildfire and Katare Kid deliberate and it comes down to the fact that they do not want to use the Miracle Machine. The risk is just too great. Wildfire agrees to Brainy’s demand and then promises to find him a nice padded cell so he can get his brain cleaned up and back into shape. Brainy is pleased and asks them to do one thing…

Bring back Matter-Eater Lad!

And while we digest that particular piece of information, Omega has arrived. Blasting his way past all the defenses of the Legionnaires, the United Planets Fleet, and the Science Police, he strides forward, unshakable from his path. He arrives at Legion HQ and knows that the secret to end eternity lies within. Timber Wolf and Star Boy attack, as another line of defense, but Omega simply swats them away as if they were flies. Suddenly, a shadow in the shape of a boot appears over him, and Omega looks up, seeing Colossal Boy in gigantic size, who tries to stomp him into the ground. Omega catches his boot and flings him to the side and Colossal Boy crashes into the buildings nearby. Omega continues his ascent on Legion HQ, reaches its glass doors, and enters, sending glass shards everywhere. 

Meanwhile, in the Legion’s Space Center, where a sleek starship has just landed, Wildfire, Karate Kid, and Princess Projectra watch while Brainy takes a confused Matter-Eater Lad further into Legion HQ. Wildfire instructs Karate Kid and Princess Projectra to remain in the Outer Chamber while he will wait here just like in Dream Girl’s premonition. If Karate Kid and the Princess cannot stop Omega, they just need to make sure they bring him to Wildfire and get out of the building. 

Seconds later, as Omega enters the outermost chamber of the headquarters complex, he is startled to see another form of energy that looks exactly like him, courtesy of Princess Projectra. Karate Kid jumps through Omega’s twin and kicks Omega square in the chest. Omega responds with a punch, and Karate Kid goes down hard. Princess Projectra rushes over to him and draws him out of Legion HQ, knowing that the end is almost here. 

Omega continues his journey deeper into Legion HQ, punches through a door, and finds Wildfire standing before him. Wildfire clicks a button on his containment suit, his mask releases, and all his energy erupts from the suit. Outside, Princess Projectra and Karate Kid just barely make it enough distance, before the main tower of Legion HQ explodes. But Omega still stands.

Omega steps further down into Legion HQ, knowing the object he seeks his near. And he finds Brainiac Five and instantly recognizes him as his creator. Brainy stands before Omega and tells him he created him using the Miracle Machine. But now, the Miracle Machine itself, is being destroyed and with it ends his existence. Sure enough, Omega can feel himself losing substance, and he dissolves, fading into the hundred billion trillion hatreds of all who live. And he blinks out of existence. 

Brainy is satisfied, and now, the galaxy will serve him. Karate Kid and Timber Wolf arrive and cannot believe it. But Brainy grimly tells them that he ended Omega’s existence by arranging for the impossible to be done. He leads them further on, and they see Matter-Eater Lad, crumpled on the floor. Brainy instructed him to eat the machine and it has driven him mad. Looking into Matter-Eater Lad’s eyes, they see what appears to be a cluster of stars, burrowed deep within them. Now, Brainy can begin his work as ruler of the cosmos. 

Later, Superboy finds Wildfire back in his containment suit, sitting on what is left of their clubhouse insignia. Superboy tells him that everyone seems to be on the road to recovery and Wildfire chuckles. Their HQ is a pile of rubble, half the city is in worse shape than when the Khunds invaded, but at least they are fine. Also, the United Planets Council have been debating whether to move their operations out of the solar system and once they realize that a Legionnaire caused all this, that will be the last straw. The good news is that the Psychomedics have already figured out that the strain of the past few months made Brainy flip out and losing the election was the last straw. But it looks like he will be okay. 

Once they put Brainy back together again, then perhaps he can figure out how to extract all those alien energies out of Matter-Eater Lad’s system. But meanwhile, they are shorthanded, unpopular, and with their luck, the Fatal Five will probably choose to attack Earth tomorrow. Superboy asks,

“And if they do?”

“Then we’ll do our number: Go out there, and try and hold the universe together for another day. After all, that is why we’re all here, right?”

Next issue: Back to normal (?) in “Postscript to Holocaust!” On sale March 22nd. 

Creative Team

Well, the conclusion to the Jim Starlin epic is now complete. And what an epic it was. Now first, let us get this out of the way. It is very obvious that this was drawn/laid out before Earthwar or at least before Lightning Lad became leader. Neither Lightning Lad nor Saturn Girl are present and Wildfire takes the decisive lead. And that is not necessarily a bad thing because we do see how effective Wildfire is once again used as team leader, and Paul Levitz manages to update the script in an adept fashion to reflect the current events. But still, this is another example of the difficulties that the creative team had in scheduling, which has been pointed out numerous times in the letters’ pages.

That being said, this is a very satisfying conclusion. We do get more insight into what exactly Omega is. He is not a being that has absorbed just Brainiac Five’s hate, but that of the entire universe. What is more, Brainy used the Miracle Machine to create him. That mysery was solved and it makes sense. By far the most eerie and incredible moment was seeing Matter-Eater Lad appear and having actually eaten the Miracle Machine as the solution to the problem. What an incredible moment that was.

Let us stay here for just a moment. We know from a recent Legion Outpost that the initial intention of Earthwar was to kill off a Legionnaire. I thought it would be Wildfire but now I am very certain that it would have been Matter-Eater Lad, should the Jim Starlin epic had been released before Earthwar. I do wonder if the initial conclusion to Earthwar was to use Matter-Eater Lad, who would effectively have been the Miracle Machine itself, to take down Mordru. And in the process, Matter-Eater Lad would have died. This is purely speculation but I think there are enough clues to make this assessment. What is interesting is that when I posed this on the LSH Reddit sub, someone actually asked Paul Levitz who was intended to be killed off but sadly he could not remember who it was. The solution to this mystery seems to have been lost to the sands of time. 

Back to the story at hand. Jim Starlin’s layouts and figure work is just incredible. The epic space battle against Omega was very well done. You can tell that Ultra Boy must be Starlin’s favorite Legionnaire and just watching him bounce on those asteroids to gain momentum before hitting him with a massive punch was a thing of beauty. Plus, the agony on Brainy’s face and how Starlin was able to depict his mental decline was also incredible. This story will have ramifications in the Legion going forward and I would be very curious on how they treat Brainy’s redemption. He will be redeemed of course because he will continue to play a major role in the group dynamics. But it will be fun to see how they solve this. 

One final remark on Starlin, I think this is probably the most Marvel looking and scripted book in the series. Levitz must have caught on to it because he was not shy in delivering a few lines for Omega that was reminiscent of those galactic beings that the Marvel super-heroes would fight time and time again. It does seem that Levitz was channeling a bit of Stan Lee and I can imagine Levitz must of had a blast.

A wonderful epic in the Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes line of books. It is a pity that it was out of order, but with Levitz’s skills at the typewriter and implementing dialogue in key places, it did not feel as out of place as it could have. The three Starlin issues alone are worthy to be included in anyone’s collection. 

With the extended page count to conclude the epic, there is no Legion Outpost this issue, so on to the next section!

The Legion Medallion of Merit

We have arrived at the Legion Medallion of Merit where we award one Legionnaire a Medallion that went above and beyond the call of duty and made a big difference in the story. It would be tempting to give it to Wildfire but I did award him the Medallion last issue. For this issue there is only one logical choice and that is to give it to Matter-Eater Lad. We have not seen him for quite a while, but when he was called he immediately answered. And not only that he trusted his fellow Legionnaires to his own detriment and actually ate the Miracle Machine. Now we were not present for that interaction or how Brainy actually convinced him to do it. The fact of the matter is he did it and by doing so he stopped Omega in his tracks. 

I am not sure if you can hear or see me Matter-Eater Lad as those alien energies are swarming inside your mind. But I do hope you realize how fortunate we are that you did what seemed to be the impossible, and actually ate the miracle machine. Wear the medallion proudly and should you get hungry we hope you do not eat it. 

And that is it for this week’s installment fellow Legionnaires! Join us next week as Gerry Conway jumps back in and we continue our race to the final issue of the series! And remember, if someone asks you to eat a Miracle Machine to save the universe, make sure you say goodbye to your loved ones. And once that important task is done, do remember to shout out that fateful battlecry so the universe can hear you…

LONG LIVE THE LEGION!