Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #243

We continue the epic storyline that is Earthwar! Paul Levitz’s masterful contribution to the Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes line. And it keeps getting better and better.

But hold on! Do I see a change of artists in Joe Staton and Jack Abel? Yes I do! Now this pairing has been promised for a while now and announced as the full-time art team in previous issues. However, much like everything announced in those letters pages, I thought it would not come to pass and James Sherman would continue to be on the book. Sadly, that would not be the case and last issue was indeed James Sherman’s last. Why do you ask? I cannot go into specifics because those would be spoilers, so it would have to wait. Regardless, that should not stop us from lifting our Legion rings in the air as tribute to Mr. Sherman’s mighty contribution to the series and the wonderful art he gave us because he will surely be missed.

And wait, do I see another change? Indeed, we no longer have the Giant Size issue of thirty-five pages or so, but are now down to twenty-five pages with only one story. I gotta tell you, my typing fingers are not complaining but those Giant Size issues were still incredible. I still think about those incredible long stories and art we were blessed with, when the Paul Levitz and Gerry Conway combination was delivering those one-two punches.

But alas, the show, as they say, must go on, and we better get moving too because that Khund invasion is not going to stop itself!

Earth’s Last Stand

On Weber’s World, deep in intergalactic space, Wildfire and his comrades attempt to guard a conference between the United Planets and the Dominators, a meeting that may circumvent a war. 

In space near Earth, meanwhile, a war is already being fought as the Khunds strike down Earth’s defending ships. And Superboy has learned that the two wars may, in fact, be one.

It is enough to drive watching Science Police Officer Shvaughn Erin (remember her, the officer who was trying to deliver a message? Sure you do!) insane. If she knew that she alone holds the answer to the riddle of why it is all happening at once. 

She stands in an empty Legion HQ and her thoughts bring us up on current events. How she came to the Legion with a message, a message she could not deliver because they immediately sprang to action. First, Wildfire, Mon-El, Ultra Boy and Dawnstar went to Weber’s World to guard the conference, then the Resource Raiders struck, causing the others to stop them. From the monitor room, she has been, err, monitoring the Legion’s activities and knows that they suspect the Khunds are being controlled by someone on Weber’s World. Thus, those that were defending Earth against the Khund attack are now on their way to Weber’s World as well. She also mentions that Tyroc is off on some mysterious ‘detached duty’, with the others also not there to help. 

She continues her lonely walk and her thoughts continue, almost conveying what her message was meant to be. One of the Legionnaires’ old foes has escaped imprisonment and she came to warn them. She also finds it intriguing that everything started happening the instant she came to tell the Legionnaires. But that can only be a coincidence right? She leaves the room, not noticing a light, blinking on one of the dashboards. And as she closes the door, the Dominators are about to open the outer door of their craft and emerge for the conference on Weber’s World. An event that is not being viewed through the cold and impartial eye of a Legion Monitor but through the amplified optics of an ultra-modern sniperscope. 

And where there are sniperscopes, there are usually snipers, and mini-nukes that thirtieth-century science has created for their use; small self-propelled nuclear devices, capable of adjustment so they can destroy anything from a city block to a single starship, or the chance for peace in the galaxy. 

Dawnstar quickly detects the missiles, and Wildfire orders the Legionnaires to action. Mon-El and Ultra Boy swoop in and stop them, and Wildfire and Dawnstar immediately track the source and spot two individuals already making their escape. Wildfire swoops in and Dawnstar warns him to be careful, a burst of his energy is powerful enough to kill them. Wildfire tells her not to worry, he can control his powers, and forms an energy cage around them. But they easily go through it, astonishing Wildfire. With her great speed, Dawnstar flies in and as she reaches out to grab them, her hands pass through them. They disappear and drop their bazookas. She looks at Wildfire and asks him what the heck is going on?

A question the others are asking as well, as we arrive in front of the Dominators’ ship who now stand before it, being welcomed by Earth’s delegates and Ontiir, the Security Chief. The Dominators are quite taken aback about already being targeted with such violence, but Ambassador Relnic reassures them that he and his delegates have been targets as well. Ontiir admits to as much and says these violent occurrences have been happening ever since the Legionnaires arrived. Mon-El is annoyed with the remark but the Dominators quickly state that they do have reason to trust them. He then asks Mon-El if there is danger, and Wildfire answers for him who has arrived with Dawnstar with the confiscated weapons in hand. It is not just dangerous for the Dominators but it seems the entire planet is out to kill them. The Dominators are not amused but conclude that someone is trying to set them both up to war and there could be a million worlds that would benefit by that.

Colossal Boy, Superboy, Sun Boy, and Element Lad arrive and continue the conversation. Weber’s World is not only trying to kill the delegates but also seems to be responsible for the Khund invasion of Earth. The Dominators ask them to explain themselves and Superboy sums it up nicely:

“Okay; here’s the situation. First, the Khunds are busy attacking Earth even as we speak. But their warlord is just a puppet, a puppet being controlled by a light-years-long string. A hyper-beam that we traced back here to Weber’s World.

“Which means someone here is trying to disrupt this conference and start a galaxy-wide war between three races.”

Superboy then suggests to split into teams to track down the mysterious puppet master and aid the Earth defense. However, the Dominators threaten to leave if not all the Legionnaires remain to give them protection. They do regret the decision but believe the matter between them and the representatives of Earth is just too important and suggest they find other defenders for Earth.

And speaking of Earth, we return to the Khund battle with the Khunds rejoicing that they have reduced Earth’s extraterrestrial defenses to a minimum. The Khunds have taken their best starships to Earth and it looks like Earth is in serious trouble. The Khund commander orders an assault and as this ships near Earth’s atmosphere they are suddenly blocked. A cruiser with the distinctive design of a Legion craft appears. Using tractor and pressor beams to push the Khundish ships, and its own force field as a last repellant, the Legion Ship serves as a blockade, bringing the Khundish commander to his boiling point. He is annoyed because they believed all of the Legionnaires were off-world. And to answer his confusion, Chameleon Boy, Princess Projectra, Dream Girl, Cosmic Boy, Star Boy, Light Lass, Shrinking Violet, and Phantom Girl meet the Khunds head on. 

The gang uses their powers to their fullest ability but even though those powers are mighty, they are unlikely to turn the tide because the Legionnaires are bound by one iron-clad rule that may ensure their defeat. No Legionnaires may take the life of any sentient beings, regardless of the circumstances. Princess Projectra warns the Legion that she is about ready to conjure up a very nasty projection to scare the Khunds out of the solar system. But within the Khundish commander’s fleet, he sees a plethora of space monsters and instantly determines its source to be the work of one of the Legionnaires. The Khund Commander smashes through the illusion, and crashes against Chameleon Boy, knocking him unconscious, and ricocheting his form against Princess Projectra, incapacitating her as well. With the fall of their comrades, the hopes of the rest of the Legionnaires fall, and even though they valiantly battle on using the unique forces at their command, it is only a matter of seconds before the Khunds activate an energy-repulsion system that sends those forces flying back at the Legionnaires, with explosive results. 

Dream Girl looks out in horror as she sees Star Boy and the others being blasted by the Khunds. She turns to Shrinking Violet and tells her they are the only two left standing. However a Khund ship quickly swoops in and blasts their ship.

Chapter Two: Hunt For a Hyper-Beam

Few starships venture out to the edge of the galaxy, where the stars themselves thin out. Few have reason to. Yes, this starship makes that journey with the most compelling of reasons, for it is a Legion craft and its lone passenger is seeking aid for Earth. The passenger? Brainiac Five.

Brainiac Five is annoyed that Element Lad forced him to travel to Weber’s World, but as Wildfire was on Weber’s World Element Lad was acting leader. And speaking of Wildfire, he calls him, and notifies him that he is six light-years out from Weber’s World. But before he can give more status updates a black hole opens in front of his ship and he is not able to avoid it. Brainiac Five disappears. 

Wildfire turns to Superboy and Mon-El and notifies them that Brainy mentioned a black hole. They quickly use their telescopic vision to find him, but they cannot. He disappeared and there is no trace of him. Was it magic that made him disappear because otherwise he would have at least left something behind. 

We return to Weber’s World where the peace conference is in full swing. And as what usually occurs at conferences like these, both delegations quickly cannot agree on simple things, and Ambassador Relnic quickly loses his patience and ends the conference just as quickly as it began.

Meanwhile, just outside the conference room, Superboy, Sun Boy, Mon-El, Dawnstar, and Wildfire arrive. Mon-El tells Ontiir to step aside and allow them to enter because they detected the hyper-beam to come from inside the room. Ontiir refuses and instead activates his security robots to stop them. Wildfire laughs and of course all the robots are quickly taken down. Ontiir then allows them to enter but threatens that it might damage the negotiations. 

The Legionnaires enter and find the room completely empty. Mon-El quickly scans it and he concludes it is just like what happened to Brainy. They have disappeared without a trace and he cannot even find a dust particle out of place. Wildfire is concerned that they are in a war that could end civilization and they have no idea how to stop it. 

Chapter Three – The Last Chance

One of the hardest things to do in the catalogue of interstellar warfare is to conquer a spacefaring world. First, there are space fleets to be defeated or destroyed and then there’s the awesome task of landing an invasion force large enough to defeat the remaining armies of the planet. 

It is an almost impossible task, but it has been done, more often than not by a race brutal enough to accept the billions of deaths that it inevitably costs. And now the Khunds are doing it to the Earth. The defense is valiant, but useless. Science Police Officers use weapons designed for use on criminals against infinitely better-armed warriors. And sky cruisers designed for traffic control are blasted out of the air by diving battle-wagons. All in all, it is a time which has Earth crying for its heroes, unaware that the Legion of Super-Heroes is helpless to answer.

Leaving the Legion of Substitute Heroes as Earth’s last line of defense! Originally formed as a band of rejected Legion applicants, it is an organization which receives little recognition or praise, although it has earned both a thousands times over. Now in the absence of the super-heroes, they make one of their rare public forays, their unexpected assistance rating the morale of Earth’s defenders, even if it fails to substantially change the chances of victory. For as Night Girl uses her super-strength which only functions in the absence of light, and Chlorophyll Kid exercises his control over plants, and Stone Boy serves as a barrier of last resort, the futility of their actions is widely made clear. For there is a reason why they were not accepted to the Legion of Super-Heroes: their powers are simply too weak to serve them well. 

Color Kid changes the colors of the sky and ground to confuse the Khunds. It works, and a large amount crash on the ground. Meanwhile, Polar Boy freezes a battalion solid, while Fire Lad  takes down the tanks. Color Kid becomes excited because they are actually working as a team and holding them off. However, his excitement is short lived because the Khunds manage to bring up more weapons such as high powered stun beams, and blast the Legion of Substitute Heroes with it. 

As the last member of this courageous group falls, the Khunds advance quickly on the Presidential Palace, which is the meeting place of the U.P. Council. It falls quickly without any defense and the Khund command sends the message to the Khund planet that Earth is theirs. It is received with satisfaction by the new Warlord who is the new victim of the hyper-beam. He sneers and laughs because soon the universe will know it was not the Khunds that can claim this victory but the Dark Circle!

But victory is not complete because the Legion Headquarters still stand. The Khund forces advance to plunder its secret and uses a mighty weapon called a Disrupter to blast the building to ashes. But the building’s automated defenses come alive and repel the attack. And within Legion HQ, the unassuming alarm light still glows, revealing the secret of the invasion to any Legionnaires who might gaze at it. Because though Earth might have fallen, as long as there are Legionnaires alive and free, there is still a chance. 

Who are these Legionnaires you ask? To answer this question we peer into space and watch a small cruiser slip between the patrolling dreadnought’s of the Khund fleet. A cruiser that rushed to Earth from a distant world known best as vacation paradise. A cruiser that contains not Legionnaires but the next best thing; the two couples who retired with honor from the Legion when they married: Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, Bouncing Boy, and Duo Damsel!

Bouncing Boy asks will they make it and Lightning Lad answers in the affirmative. But slipping undetected will not be the main problem. Because the main problem is how the four of them can possibly take on the largest army and free Earth. But that is a bridge they can cross when they come to it. And they will cross it, or die trying!

Creative Team

The Earthwar saga continues, which continues to be a pivotal point not just for the Superboy line of books but for the Legion of Super-Heroes as a whole. This multi-issue epic formula will thankfully be used as the series progresses, even when it launches into its own book. Thus, it is quite a joy to see it used here for the first time.

I think if you could sum up Earthwar so far with one word, it is simply action. This is one action packed saga. Every Legionnaire is basically used and they use their powers to attack. I did find it very interesting that Levitz does a nice thought experiment, stating that the Legion of Super-Heroes would actually be ineffective in a full-scale war simply because their Legion Charter prohibits them from killing. I do not know if I agree with this because their powers can be used as such to prevent death on a wide scale, but it is something very interesting to think about and to debate with fellow fans. 

I do think this story has ran out of steam in a couple of parts, mainly the whole peace conference plot. It was sort of wrapped up very quickly with Relnic not agreeing with anything off the bat. So either Levitz was trying to put this piece to bed or it puts more suspicion on Relnic. Either way I do not think it was used very effectively. 

And that is another aspect you can say about Earthwar, is that despite the action there is a tiny slow burn as to who is exactly behind all this. We had the big reveal of the Dark Circle this issue, but also a tiny hint that someone or something is behind the Dark Circle. I do not mind this at all because even if the conference angle fell flat, with the Khund invasion of Earth, and the Legion scrambling to figure out what is going on, you do have a firm grasp of the geography of the event, which is very epic.

Finally, the set up was perfect because when we arrived at the point that the Legion of Substitute Heroes were defeated and nothing was left standing in the way of the Khunds, who would sweep down to save the day? Our beloved married Legionnaires. This put a smile on my face and made me pump my fist in the air with glee. The definite strong point of this story is that Levitz is using everyone, and I do mean everyone. 

Moving away from the story, the definite talking piece of this issue is the absence of Jim Sherman on pencils. As stated throughout this write-up, last issue was his last, and there is a reason for it, though I am going to try to find a reliable source. I cannot state what that reason is because it is a major spoiler, so we will revisit Sherman’s contribution later on.

With Sherman’s departure we have the arrival of Joe Staton and Jack Abel. These two individuals are no strangers to the Legion of Super-Heroes, with Abel being Grell’s main inker for a while, and Staton of course being the inker on the Karate Kid series as well as contributing on a Legion story previously. I think Staton did a superb job, and for me it was quite a delight because it really showed his influence on the style on the Karate Kid book when he was inking Ric Estrada. The cartoony look was definitely more restrained here, but it did peak its head from time to time, which is not a bad thing at all. I will miss Sherman’s beautiful, moody set pieces that were reinforced by Bob McLeod’s pen and brush, but the art change is not jarring enough to put a wrench in what is happening here. 

To finish out this section, I cannot ignore what Levitz is continually doing to Tyroc. I think at this point it is an inside joke, with him being on some mysterious, detached duty. Yeah right. Look, I loved Tyroc when he was introduced. Yes it was obvious they were trying to figure out his powers and his powers were/are a little wacky. But to continually not include him does him and his fans a huge disservice. I really hope we will see him again soon.

To conclude, a very nice entry in the Earthwar saga with the reveal at the end of the Dark Circle, as well as someone being behind the Dark Circle, and the arrival of the married Legionnaires to save the day. It is also a sad point because we saw the departure of Jim Sherman. With the players and pieces in place, and a few more mysteries solved, it is an exciting time for Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes and I cannot wait to see what happens next. 

Legion Outpost

We do have some interesting items this time around in the Legion Outpost. First the elephant in the room. There is a non-convincing argument that their all-reprint issue actually received a lot of praise. I call baloney on that one. But hey, what do I know.

Next we have this statement:

“Joe Staton and Jack Abel are on board as our new “permanent” art team, with Jim Sherman and Bob McLeod working on back-up issues to be slotted in whenever they’re completed and continuity permits. Jim Starlin also threatens to return and conclude his hanging plot-threads from #239.” 

Unfortunately, it does look like Jim Sherman will not be back. This is his final issue but I cannot say why he left because that would mean a big spoiler for Earthwar.  However, I am going to try to find a reliable source for why he left just to make sure this is not gossip. 

Finally, we have a very useful portion of the Legion Outpost due to the question posed by Tim Stoffregen: “I’d like to know what issues of what mags featured the Legion, since I’ve recently plunged headlong into both buying and collecting our friends from the future.”

This is useful because the Legion hopped in and out as the back feature in a lot of different titles after they left Adventure Comics. They do categorize the list in three components: One, issues of books where they are the headliners or contained the ‘Tales of the Legion’; two, issues of books where they are the guest stars, even if it is just for a very brief appearance; and three, issues of books where they reprinted the stories. 

The reprints are a tough one because I have been victim of picking up an issue thinking it was a new Legion story at the time then discovering it was a reprint. So this is quite useful. However, as these things go, they make an error right out of the gate, stating Superboy #196, as being an issue that featured a Tales of the Legion story. This is quite unforgivable considering that it was actually issue #195 that launched the Superboy Starring the Legion of Super-Heroes books and featured the first appearance of Wildfire, as well as our first entry! So how could they have messed that up? Regardless, I thought it would be quite handy to list the Tales of the Legion stories here as reference, with the necessary corrections of course. But sadly, I do not know if there are any more lingering mistakes so if there is one, please do not blame me, but blame Al Milgrom, Paul Levitz, and probably their intern who produced the below:

• Adventure Comics #300-380
• Action Comics #378-387, 389-392
• Superboy #147, #172, #173, #176, #183, #184, #188, #190, #191, #193, #195, #197-237, #239 (as this issue was released).
• All-New Collector’s Edition Starring Superboy & the Legion #C-55
• Dc Special #28
• DC Super-Stars #17

So there you go. Also when writing this they had listed #191 twice, so I saw two mistakes! Seriously, if there is one thing I can say about these letter columns from both the S/LSH and Karate Kid line of books, is that it has been known to be quite sloppy and unreliable, including the statements/promises they made. 

Legion Medallion of Merit

We arrive at the final section, where we award the Legion Medallion of Merit to the Legionnaire who went above and beyond the call of duty and made a difference in the story. I am definitely going to break my rule and deliver it to not one, not two, not three, but to all members of the Legion of Substitute Heroes!

Seriously, it was an absolute joy to see them in this issue. And they put their money where their mouths were and fought to the last person. This proved that this feisty group always had the guts and courage based on their aspirations to be just like those heroes they looked up to. And at one point in the story they were actually winning but sadly, the Khund invasion was a large one indeed, and they were taken out. They did not make the ultimate sacrifice (I think, as we are not finished with the Earthwar storyline) but came pretty darn close.

Congratulations Substitutes! Wear these medallions proudly and remember that you proved yourselves under the Khund Invasion and showed the galaxy once and for all that you are deserving of that precious title of being a full fledged member of the Legion of Super-Heroes!

And that is all for this week’s installment and I hope you are enjoying the Earthwar saga as much as I am. And as we spend the week waiting for the next installment and also wondering what happened to Jim Sherman, always remember that wondrous call that should continually ring throughout the galaxy…

LONG LIVE THE LEGION!