Earth Shattering Disasters!

Welcome to our ‘ad interim’ posts where we venture off the beaten path to explore a story that does not fall under the Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes banner, but is still a continuation, in some form, of the Legion of Super-Heroes during this period.

This time, we stop by DC Special #28, which has a story by Paul Levitz, edited by Paul Levitz, and was released between Superboy #227, the explosive conclusion to the Stargrave saga and Superboy #228, which you will see right here, in the same week!

The theme of this DC Special, which was the penultimate issue of the series, is Earth shattering disasters, and included three stories. The first is a Batman story, followed by Aquaman, with our beloved Legion closing it out. And though we are only focusing on the Legion story today, I will say that it is worth picking up for the other two as well. Both the Batman and especially the Aquaman one (from Gerry Conway) are incredibly strong. In fact, I might have to say this is probably one of my favorite Aquaman short stories ever. 

So with that out of the way, let us continue this side path as we follow Brainiac 5, Timber Wolf, Ultra Boy, Phantom Girl, and Chemical King, whom we have not seen in a very long time!

The City That Stopped — Dead

Midnight in Metropolis: Capital City of the United Planets, the glowing gemstone of civilization. Millions speed through the darkness, their paths lit and their vehicles moved by broadcast power, unlimited energy generated by the Fusion Powersphere that is the city’s heart. But this midnight, precisely at midnight, the heart fails and Metropolis stops beating. Seconds after the power failure begins, five Legionnaires fly out into the night sky. 

Brainiac 5 reminds his fellow Legionnaires that the broadcast energy from the Fusion Powersphere must have failed. Every piece of equipment in the city uses the broadcast beams, even the emergency services. If they do not act now lives will be lost. 

And without needing any further explanation the Legion of Super-Heroes are already doing their good work. They halt a monorail running wild on momentum with no power to brake, and then dive to save a man trapped below the collapsing monorail tracks. And as Timber Wolf brings the man to freedom, it is obvious that this was no accident, but an act of sabotage. 

And sure enough, the devastation builds and builds as the whole city explodes, proving yet again that we should not rely solely one power source. Ultra Boy scans the devastation and realizes that they simply cannot stop everything at once. Timber Wolf agrees, but if someone can get the Powersphere powered up again, it is Brainiac 5. 

However, there is one problem and that is the Powersphere is actually still generating power because the power has been redacted inward, towards the sphere itself. A massive feat of malicious engineering, that, unchecked, could cause the sphere itself to explode. And that was the plan all along as we meet our antagonist, who is enraged that the equipment he stole from the Science Police was not enough to blow the sphere sky high. 

But, this evil doer takes solace in the fact that the level of lethal radiation will soon be high enough to wipe out Metropolis. And he better take his leave quickly, because even the radiation proof armor he stole will not protect him for much longer.

Swiftly the figure travels through the walls of the power sphere, walls which are only energy constructs designed to contain the forces within. And as he departs those energy constructs he comes to face to face with Phantom Girl, Chemical King, and Brainiac 5. Brainiac 5 instructs his two partners to grab him quickly and Chemical King is more than happy to. While his two comrades have just returned from their last mission, Chemical King has been on the sidelines for months and is eager for battle. 

Chemical King grabs the sabateur and the suited up foe tells the Legionnaires that they and Tyroc may have foiled his plan last time, but they will still die at the hands of Fenton Pike (whom we saw in Superboy #222!). They cannot believe what they are hearing, because Pike was simply a blackmailer and did not have the weaponry nor the resolve to do what he is doing right now. But it no longer matters, because once Metropolis is destroyed and he is the last living man, he will do whatever it takes to dishonor the memory of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Pike then sinks through the ground and Phantom Girl gives chase with Brainy telling her to stop. 

There’s just too much radiation leakage from the damaged Powersphere. It might endanger her even in Phantom Form. He does not know what to do but all he knows is that they need to do it fast. With the radiation level rising, it is only a matter of time before the resulting fusion reaction will flatten metropolis into a sheet of glass, with only a few human bodies embedded in the glass to remind them that it was once a city of thirty million.

Meanwhile, Ultra Boy switches to super-strength and manually spins the turbines in the hope that he can generate enough power to keep Metropolis General Hospital’s lights on and emergency services running. Timber Wolf meanwhile is on the outside trying to leverage what Ultra Boy is doing and save even more lives. He manages to save a group of people from the raging fire in the nick of time and quickly transfers them to the fire-fighting authorities. However, when he turns he sees the destruction before him and falls silent. For who would not be struck by the sight of a city dying, collapsing in the midst of a man-made catastrophe? 

We return to Brainiac 5 as he still ponders a solution. Finally he tells Chemical King to use his powers and slow down the amount of radiation the reaction is throwing off. This should allow Phantom Girl to go into phantom form and safely enter the sphere and hopefully detect what Pike did to create such devastation. Phantom Girl enters and quickly searches the sphere. Meanwhile Chemical King continues to struggle and remarks that with such a strong reaction how did Pike think he could survive this? Brainiac has the answer and has already sent Ultra Boy and Timber Wolf to the one place that could survive if the Powersphere implodes…the Legion Headquarters! 

And so while Phantom Girl frantically tries to repair the damaged connections inside the fusion Powersphere, her fellow Legionnaires race through the corridors of LSH headquarters. Timber Wolf’s first instinct is to go directly to the subbasement where they once imprisoned Mordru, since it is completely radiation proof. Timber Wolf agrees and Ultra Boy rips apart the vast steel door and sure enough Pike is there with a weapon pointed at them. But before he can get off a shot, Timber Wolf springs into action and disarms Pike with a swift kick, while Ultra Boy finishes him off with a heavy two handed punch. But there is one problem, Pike was the only one who knew how the Powesphere was sabotaged and now he is unconscious. It is up to Phantom Girl. 

And at that very moment Phantom Girl shouts that she has done it, the last piece is back in place and the reaction will not build anymore. But Brainy is still considered because Chemical King has collapsed and if the reaction is too much, the Powersphere will implode no matter what they do. 

The air is still and quiet, with the silence of impending doom. All that can be done has been done. The next few seconds will tell the tale whether the sphere will implode and destroy the city, or the reaction will damp down and the city will live. A gentle hand pokes its way through the walls of the Powersphere, when suddenly the lights of the skyline come alive once more. And a brave Phantom Girl collapses in Brainiac 5’s arms, her ordeal over and her mission successful. 

The proud city still stands! 

Creative Team

Since the letters page correspond to DC Special as a whole, we will not include that section for this post. But we can dive into how the issue went.

As you know from reading this, I am not a huge fan of the short, back-end stories involving the Legion. They usually feel rushed and everything just wraps up on the very last page. However, of all the ones that Levitz contributed to thus far, I do have to say this was the best. By far. It was well paced, full of action, and every Legionnaire did something. You could really feel the stakes plus it was quite a nice bit of world building with Levitz including a past villain, albeit quite an insignificant one. In fact, I could not help but smile as the old nemesis Fenton Pike was revealed and he made a nice little reference to Tyroc, reminding us that he is part of the team despite his absence for some time now. I do think it is still tragic that Tyroc has not been included in any stories and I do anticipate his return.

The art was well done and if my counting is correct, this is the second Legion story from future superstar inker Bob Layton. Arvell M. Jones handled the action insanely well, and if we compare all three stories from this book, this probably has the best art, if slightly edging the Aquaman story.

And how does this fit within Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes as a whole? Well, it does not really fit anywhere other than it being another day in the life of the Legion, albeit this time when Metropolis was almost destroyed. We have included this for completions sake (because as comic book collectors we are, if anything, completionists) but if you did not know this story existed that would be okay too. Though I would be very curious if this is referenced in the next issue of Superboy or future issues. Time will definitely tell.

But all in all, a very strong issue from Levitz who really nails the short story form.  The only shortcoming of course is mentioning Tyroc while not actually including him. If Fenton Pike is a Tyroc villain then he should have been there. But oh well. Nevertheless, this is really just another taste of things to come in Levitz’s legendary and epic run on the Legion of Super-Heroes, and I love being on this ride.

The Legion Medallion of Merit

Though this falls outside of our normal title, I thought it would still be wise to highlight a character and award them a Medallion, which has proven to be the most prestigious award a Legionnaire can be honored with. 

Honestly this one was between Timber Wolf and Phantom Girl. Both showed incredible courage and stamina. Timber Wolf did not even hesitate in getting to work to save those poor souls from the burning building. And Phantom Girl leapt into action once more, right into the Powersphere to actually save the day. What I love about Phantom Girl at this point is that she is incredibly consistent. I always think back to when she went against her fellow Legionnaires, darted through the ground to disarm the world bomb from issue #220. Phantom Girl is gonna do what Phantom Girl does and, as of this issue, she is batting a tidy 1.000. Obviously, the Medallion goes to her.

Wear it proudly Phantom Girl and continue being the most confident Legionnaire of the bunch. You are not afraid to literally chase danger no matter where it runs or hides. And face it. If your name is danger and Phantom Girl is after you, you might as well give up.

And that is it for the first of our two posts this week on the most wondrous teens in the entire universe, the Legion of Super-Heroes. And as you put your feet up and ponder how you would act if faced with an Earth shattering disaster, just remember the one call that will help you no matter in what situation you find yourself…

LONG LIVE THE LEGION!