Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #254

We are back with another installment of the fantastic series, Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes! We wrap up the League of Super-Assassins storyline with a resolution that might be quite familiar for us Legion fans. 

Are our beloved Legionnaires really dead? Will the League of Super-Assassins really kill Superboy? Can Lightning Lad find the funds to rebuild the Legion Headquarters and build a new Legion Cruiser on top? The answer to these questions and more below!

A Madman Shall Lead Them

Superboy arrives on the island of St. Croix, the island where the society of 30th Century Earth confines those who are judged hopelessly insane. Superboy flashes his Legion ID and the guards allow him to pass. He strides solemnly through its corridors until he arrives at an isolated chamber; a chamber that houses none other than Brainiac Five. 

Superboy asks him for help and Brainy tells him his timing has not improved because he is in the middle of a crucial experiment. Superboy tells him to listen and if he has any memory of what he was he will help. The rest of his speech is cut off by a sound of living thunder. The alarms scream throughout the complex and a light-burst shoots into the room, startling Superboy. Brainiac Five’s annoyance gives way to bemused interest because he wonders what could possibly frighten Superboy? The human light beam changes spectrum from ultra-violet to a deep deadly of emerald: Kryptonite. Straight and true, it grows to its target and strikes Superboy square in the chest. 

Lazon returns to his form just for a moment to gloat and to proclaim that Superboy is dead, much like his homeworld of Korlon. And then he leaves. Brainy picks up whatever happened on his delicate tracer instrument and, as the guards rush in to demand what happened, Brainy tells them to summon the hospital’s Board of Directors. He has a proposal to make them and it is a matter of life and death.

We cut to an asteroid, which is the home of multi-trillionaire R.J. Brande, as well as the location of Lightning Lad and his delegation of Legionnaires who are there to ask Brande for financial support. They desperately need this money to help rebuild not only their Legion Headquarters but also their Legion Cruiser. Brande has unfortunate news for them. Although he would like to help, the U.P. Department of Finance has declared him officially bankrupt. Lightning Lad is shocked but Saturn Girl picks up his thoughts and informs them all that it is true. And a stunned silence follows.

Simultaneously on the battered planet Earth, a meeting is in progress inside the old Legion Clubhouse, the current clubhouse of the Legion of Substitute-Heroes! Polar Boy leads them into a presentation on tactics, when Brainiac Five walks in with the five supposedly dead Legionnaires encased in floating capsules. Brainy tells the Substitutes that their time has come to face their greatest challenge. He also motions to a floating micro-computer beside him that will analyze his actions and determine if he is acting in a dangerous manner. He also points at a guard who will also ensure their safety.

He assures the Substitutes that the Legionnaires encased in the capsules are not dead despite the efforts of the League of Super-Assassins. They will work together and devise a plan of attack. The micro-computer confirms his intentions to be good and Brainy continues with his deductions. When Superboy was attacked and fell, he analyzed the Teen of Steel and discovered he was simply in a state of suspended animation. Brainy looked at the tapes of the attack and found that Superboy quickly struck himself with his own x-ray energy, which activated a chemical compound already present in his bloodsteam. The x-ray created a chemical metamorphosis that forced him into suspended animation right before he was struck by the green Kryptonite ray from Lazon. With the help of some hospital interns, he placed Superboy in the capsule, and went to the ruins of Legion HQ where he discovered the other Legionnaires, also in the same state of suspended animation. 

Returning to the rubble of Legion HQ he luckily found that some devices were still operable and he played back the recording of the League of Assassins’ battle with the Legionnaires. He slowed down the tape and sure enough, he was able to see Superboy running at super-speed, striking all the Legionnaires with his x-ray vision, activating the chemical compound and putting everyone into suspended animation before they were attacked and presumably killed. The recording continued and he was able to see what the League of Assassins were planning. The micro-computer states that what Brainy just said is impossible. Polar Boy assures Brainy that the Substitutes are with him but where did this chemical compound come from that Superboy was able to activate? 

Brainy smiles at the question because this also perplexed him. He had scanned their bank accounts and saw the debit charges at two popular Metropolis nightclubs: the Aquarius nightclub, filled with sense-depressant-liquid, and the other a hologram show, where the air is enhanced with a chemical used for suspended animation in space. This was the chemical Superboy activated. Recreational drugs saved the Legion! The next course of action? Capture the League of Super-Assassins. 

A short time later, beneath an unmarked expanse of rubble on the outskirts of Metropolis, the League of Super-Assassins are celebrating their supposedly victory. Suddenly the temperature drops severely, causing the walls of their ship to implode. Before they can react, plants spring forth and entangle the League before they are completely immersed in darkness. Lazon attempts to use his powers to cut through the blackness but Night Girl punches him out. Without warning flames erupt to compliment the cold, blinding Neutrax as he and his ominous chair crashes into the wall. Titania attempts to help, using her massive strength, but she is overwhelmed by the flames and the plants that continue to inch their way closer. She then sees a wall of ice ahead of her and rushes to it. Suddenly the wall encapsulates her and Night Girl appears and punches her out too. 

Mist Master and Silver Slasher are next and Mist Master is captured within a force field and his mist powers are effectively smothered. Silver Slasher brings up courage and continues pushing her way forward but the icy cold is turned on full blast. Her limbs start to freeze and her momentum slows, until she is simply an ice statue. Blok watches his comrades fall one by one and he realizes their vengeance over the Legionnaires has returned to claim them. He stands still and allows a furry of ice rush over him until, he too, is a statue. 

For long seconds, the fires burn on, and then, a cleansing wind sweeps the ruins and the flames are buried beneath drifting sand. From the shadows step a handful of triumphant figures. The Legion of Substitute Heroes, led by Brainiac Five, consisting of Chlorophyll Kid, Night Girl, Polar Boy, and Fire Lad. Together they defeated the League of Assassins, but there is still much to do. The gang return to the Hospital Island of St. Croix and Brainy siphons off the energy from Lazon’s body for the necessary radiation to reverse the suspended animation effect. Slowly, the fallen Legionnaires come to life and Brainy quickly fills them in on the preceding events. Light Lass asks Superboy how did he know the assassins were after them? He replies that when he was on his way to visit Brainy having left Colossal Boy, he paused mid-air because he wanted to see if Colossal Boy wanted to come along. That is when he saw the League of Super-Assassins and heard of their plan. He remembered the suspended animation chemicals they inhaled and rolled the dice. Luckily, it paid off.

There is, however, still one mystery left to solve for the Legion. Why were the League of Super-Assassins after them in the first place? Superboy also has an answer. Korlon. Before their home world blew up, the Legionnaires were sent on a mission to evacuate the planet. Unfortunately the League of Super-Assassins were children then and someone called the Dark Man told them the Legionnaires were responsible for the destruction of their world. The Dark Man then gave them superpowers and sent them to kill the Legionnaires. They will have to track down the Dark Man sooner or later. 

The Legionnaires are bewildered and depart one by one. Superboy looks at Brainiac Five. He knows that some how, some way, they will have to find a cure. What else can they do for the madman who saved their lives?

Next: Cure or Death!? Don’t miss “This is Your Life–and Death–Brainiac 5!” On sale June 21st! 

Creative Team

First, I would like to begin with the art. Thank goodness for Dave Hunt. Last issue’s inking by Frank Chiaramonte did a great disservice to Joe Staton. If anything, this proves that Hunt is a better inker. He does bring that quality up a notch and saves the depictions from going too much on the cartoony side. When we read the letters and the editorial responses, Joe Staton is their guy because he can deliver a plethora of different characters, in different worlds, on time. He gets the job done and this is something I can respect. I would not say that Staton is my favorite penciler on the book, but he is probably the most solid and consistent schedule-wise since Mike Grell. 

Moving on to Gerry Conway, what was a fantastic set-up spiraled down to pretty familiar territory with the conclusion. A lot of the Legion stories were based on setting up a mystery and then the resolution and reveal was the use of an unbelievable power, in this case Superboy’s, that borders on the fantastical. Yes, these are super-powered beings so the whole thing is fantastical, but you do still need to set up a world with rules to make the scenarios believable. Conway does help matters by peppering in clues throughout the previous issue. This does help prove that he is not crazy and the whole idea is plausible. But at the end of the day, this is simply a repackaging of the story from Cary Bates way back in S/LSH #205 when Superboy did pretty much the same thing. So that in itself was disappointing.

However, Conway does keep giving us the ramifications of Earthwar as well as exploring the Brainiac Five and the Legion’s dilemma. Despite Brainy’s attempt to destroy the universe, the Legion still relies on him and he seems to be still willing to help. This is probably the most interesting element and I can imagine Conway was making long-time Legion fans squirm a little bit in their seats. In addition, the B-plot still moves forward with R.J. Brande making it known to Lightning Lad that he is effectively broke. This creates a huge predicament for the Legion of Super-Heroes because they can no longer rely on the stable financial backing of their long-term financier. 

But most importantly, what really saves this story is, of course, the Legion of Substitute-Heroes! This whole angle really made me smile as I watched them bring the juice to the Super-Assassins. They worked together as a team and absolutely destroyed them. It is always a lot of fun to see the Substitutes in action, especially after witnessing their bravery, making their last stand in front of Legion HQ against the Khunds in Earthwar.

All in all, a story that regressed in its storytelling, using a plot that was already done before. Thankfully, Dave Hunt saves us with his sturdy inking pen and brush, which kept this book from sinking to the bottom. The continuing storyline with Brainiac Five as well as R.J. Brande does help things move along, and the issue is most definitely saved by the appearance of the Legion of Substitute-Heroes who kick some major butt.

Legion Outpost

There is not much in this issue’s Legion Outpost. One interesting tidbit is a letter from Margaret Silvestri who asks if Jim Shooter who is now the new editor-in-chief at Marvel is the same Jim Shooter who wrote for the Legion of Super-Heroes. To which they reply:

“And for the record there’s only one Jim Shooter in the comics business, although he is tall enough to be two writers standing on each others shoulders. He moved to Marvel when he gave up the Legion in 1976.”

Gave up? Interesting choice of words. But as we know, Jim Shooter left the Legion and wrote for Marvel, in particular The Avengers, where he had a legendary run with George Perez and then eventually took over as editor-in-chief. He would then install the royalties program that was responsible for giving creators a portion of the profit of books that sold quite well and also broke up writers who were editing their own books, creating a sort of gatekeeping system. Shooter is also known for a lot more than that, and I do hope some day we will get a nice autobiography or biography from him. His life story is quite interesting and it could be used to inspire others who want to pursue creative endeavors. But hey that is just me!

The Legion Medallion of Merit

We come to the section where we choose one Legionnaire to award the Legion Medallion of Merit, a Legionnaire who went beyond the call of duty. As you recall last issue, we had a first for this section in that we could not award it to any Legionnaire, because, well, everyone seemed to have died! But this issue we do have one who is deserving of the award and that is Superboy.

Superboy found out the League of Super-Assassin’s plans because he wanted to be a good buddy and invite Colossal Boy along who was feeling left out and down because he could not be with Shrinking Violet. And as it turns out, being a good bro ended up not only discovering the League’s intentions but also acting quickly to save the lives of his comrades. And if that is not deserving of the Medallion I do not know what is!

How far we have come Superboy! What started out as you knocking out Lana Lang with an apple so long ago to conceal your identity, to saving your fellow Legionnaires time and time again. With progress like this it is no wonder you would grow up to be the greatest hero the world has ever seen!

And that is it for this week’s installment as we literally race through to the end of the series with now only four issues left! And as we know, the part of a journey is the end, so we can always bellow forth that mighty call to action…

LONG LIVE THE LEGION!