Dear all,

I would like to take this moment and ask all of you to please take a moment of silence for the death of the Silver-Age sized comic book. It appears that the paper crunch has taken its toll, and we not only still have an increase of 5 cents to 25 cents an issue, but also a smaller comic book.

The Silver Age was a glorious time and it gave us great joy to go into our local comic book store and buy Silver Aged bags and boards. Our eyes would lock with the sales person at the time, they would nod, and we all knew what we were doing was good.

Now we must return to the same store and purchase the current bags and boards and there will be no eye locking, because now we are part of the rif raff.

Farewell glorious sized Silver-Age comic books. Our time together was quite special, but, as an actor once said in one of those films, part of the journey is the end.

The moment of silence may now commence.

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Now with that out of the way we have our first cover by Mike Grell and two whole stories to write about. So turn your attention to the nearest visi-tape screen and let’s dive in!

The Rookie Who Betrayed the Legion

Our faithful members of the Legion of Super-Heroes, Timber Wolf, Light Lass, Chameleon Boy, Shrinking Violet, and Superboy watch a grim message from the President of Earth, detailing the unfortunate escape of the dangerous criminal Universo. The President not only asks the help of the 30th Century’s most powerful super-heroes but also warns them how dangerous Universo is. He gives them the latest report that they suspect Universo is hiding out on R-7, one of the Rigel planetoids and understands that the Legion probably want to take him in themselves.

They all agree and Superboy promises him that he will be safely locked up behind cosma-bars in no-time.

They Legion are quite surprised because the Rigel Group consists of nothing more than solid rock and it would be quite easy to find Universo. It must be a trap. But before they can converse further the alarm sounds.

We find a uniformed intruder slowly making his way around the compound when he’s suddenly picked up by Colossal Boy who is on guard-duty. CB picks him up to have a better look at him, and quickly apologizes because he just picked up a member of the Science Police.

Once inside, the officer, SPX342, Dvron, explains why he is here. He was hoping to get the Legion’s attention because he wants to accompany them on their mission to recapture Universo. Not particularly enjoying awkward silence, Dvron decides to tell them his story, and we are treated to a flashback of Dvron and his partner tracking Universo through the mutated jungles of Africa.

As they progress through the jungle, Dvron’s partner is suddenly ensnared by a giant man-eating plant. Dvron quickly rushes to he partner’s aid but realizes he can’t save him. Suddenly he sees Universo standing before him and he concludes that he must be using his hypnotic powers to control the plant and ordered it to murder his partner. Shaken up by his partner’s death, Dvron was not in a condition to apprehend Universo and bring him to justice.

The Legionnaires solemnly look at Dvron and can’t help but agree to allow him to tag along. But Superboy gives him a warning. It will take Dvron everything he has to work alongside the LSH. Science Police training or not.

With the team assembled, they board the cruiser and quickly reach the Rigel Planetoid System. Arriving at R-7 they scan for lifeforms and their computers find only one. It must be Universo.

They land the ship and the team goes into action, choosing to team up in pairs: Superboy with Light Lass, Timber Wolf with Shrinking Violet, and Chameleon Boy with Dvron.

As the Legionnaires fly off Chameleon Boy and Dvron stay with the ship. CB asks Dvron if he has any suggestions, and thinking back on his training at the Science Police Academy, he believes they should look for Universo where he’s least expected to be found. Suddenly they see some movement, and Dvron quickly points at a figure running toward the ship. It’s Universo!

Chameleon Boy darts into action and instructs Dvron to blank out his thoughts lest he be controlled by Universo’s hypnotic powers. As CB nears his quarry, he’s suddenly blasted in the back by a ray gun. It’s owner? Dvron!

Meanwhile the other Legionnaires cannot find Universo and decide to turn back to the ship. As they arrive they find Dvron leaning over Chameleon Boy. Superboy asks what happened and Dvron immediately confesses to using his weapon and stunning CB in the back. CB tells his fellow Legionnaires that Dvron is crazy and was probably under Universo’s influence. Dvron denies it and tells them he did it on his own free will for reasons that are his own. So there.

Superboy immediately declares him to be a hostile prisoner and instructs Light Lass to keep him in check with his own stun gun. While Light Lass holds Dvron at stun-point, the others take off to continue their search. Chameleon Boy is still confused why Dvron would do such a thing and says as much to Superboy.

Meanwhile Light Lass tries to persuade Dvron to tell her why he did what he did, when suddenly she is struck from behind and knocked unconscious. Dvron finds Universo taunting him and he tells him that he is simply returning the favor. Dvron, enraged, commands Universo to stop playing dumb because he knows why he did it. He wishes that Universo hadn’t saved his life.

Suddenly, Universo changes back into Chameleon boy who tricked Dvron into spilling a bit of the story. Defeated Dvron decides to tell CB the whole story.

He goes back to his initial tale, but it changes. Instead of Universo using his powers to command the plant to kill his partner, instead he was commanding another plant to not kill Dvron who was almost ensnarled and just managed to get away in time. Universo then hypnotized him and escaped.

From that moment on, Dvron knew that he had to settle the score with Universo and return the favor.

Chameleon Boy helps Light Lass up and returns Dvron his stun-gun. Now that the debt is repaid Dvron can now faithfully help them find and recapture Universo. They both agree and they take off together to join the hunt.

Just a short time later we see the other Legionnaires in pursuit as Timber Wolf is blasted away from a rock. Superboy appears and drags Shrinking Violet by her hair. He must be under the control of Universo!

Supes tosses Shrinking Violet away like a discarded toy and Chameleon Boy instructs Light Lass to use her light powers to make the Teen of Steel weightless. She does as instructed and Superboy begins to float harmlessly. Suddenly Dvron picks up his weapon and aims it right at the free floating Superboy. Light Lass believes he is betraying them again, when Dvron tells them that he’s thinking like a criminal and knows that Universo is tricky. Sure enough, once the floating “Superboy” is struck, he turns into Universo and the ‘Universo’ CB was chasing, changes back to Superboy.

Superboy apologizes to the Legion for becoming so easily influenced but Dvron tells him to forget it. And that Superboy was right, it did take everything he had to work alongside the Legion!

Lightning Lad’s Day of Dread

Lightning Lad is viewing visi-slides of his family. We see him and Light Lass with their parents and walking with their baby sister Ayla. Suddenly we see a picture of Lightning Lad and his brother where LL hurls a lightning bolt at the screen shattering it.

He stalks out of the room pushing Shrinking Violet out of the way. He flies off and approaches a Legion Cruiser. Element Lad is standing outside of it and LL asks him if its ready to go. It is but it’s been reserved for Karate Kid who is planning on visiting his parents in Japan.

Lightning Lad knocks Element Lad out of the way and tells him its been reserved for him. EL briefly recovers but Lightning Lad hurls another electric bolt in his direction. Luckily EL manages to turn his elemental structure to rubber at the last minute in order to save him from the bolt.

Lightning Lad boards the cruiser and takes off, leaving a just arrived Karate Kid and Element Lad both in wonderment. What has gotten into this guy?

Back at Legion HQ Brainiac 5 and Cosmic Boy are trying to figure out what had set him off. Brainy notice that he was viewing visi-tapes of his early childhood. Knowing the bad blood between him and his brother Mekt, who chose the side of evil and ended up organizing and leading the Legion of Super-Villains, this is probably what set him off. CB and Brainy decide to consult with Light Lass. However they find that she still hasn’t recovered from her bout with Rigil Fever (which was probably misspelled because Rigel Fever hit Princess Projectra last ish -CO) and will not be able to speak for at least another twenty-four hours.

However, we know that Light Lass can actually hear them and she knows why LL has left. It’s because of something so painful that they haven’t even shared it with the other Legionnaires.

We return to Lightning Lad who has arrived at his destination. He dons a space-suit and jettisons out into the cold vacuum of space. He finds his query which appears to be a floating monument, commemorating a horrible event that happened a year ago.

Lightning Lad flashes back to him and Light Lass, standing in the Legion Complex telling their mother and father how happy they are that they will see them soon. Their father replies that they should be entering Earth’s atmosphere, when tragically a meteor slams into their spacecraft, instantly killing them both.

The siblings hurry to the spot where their spacecraft met its tragic fate and find it completely destroyed by the meteor. They both decide to use the meteor to build a monument in their honor and to forever commemorate this tragic day.

Lightning Lad’s thoughts are interrupted as he sees a lone figure, in a spacesuit, charging after him.

They both hurl a heavy lightning bolt at each other, and both bolts connect, cancelling each other out. Using their telephathic plugs, Lightning Lord informs LL that even though he missed their funeral due to him being an outlaw, he misses his parents dearly. LL challenges Mekt that he should arrest him on the spot, but Mekt counters saying that this is the one place they can meet without being enemies.

But he warns Lightning Lad. He will see him again soon, and probably sooner than he thinks….

“The ultimate battle is already brewing — the Legion of Super-Heroes vs. The Legion of Super-Villains. Yes, finally, it’s an all-out war that’s been simmering for years, which si triggered off in the very next issue!

The beginning…”

The Creative Team

As we have two stories, I will start with the first, the Rookie Who Betrayed the Legion.

Mike Grell saved the day on this one. His layouts in particular make it interesting, especially the panel where we start to see the flashback in Dvron’s helmet. It’s no wonder that he became such a fan favorite so quickly. Mike Grell has such a beautiful clean line and with his style of layouts probably being a bit unconventional at the time, he was breaking a lot of ground.

Unfortunately I can’t say the same about the story. There’s just too many stretches and leaps that you have to go through in order to make it convincing. I just don’t buy that a member of the Science Police would betray the LSH due to some weird moral code because Universo saved his life. To go through all that trouble and then conveniently do another double switch does make my neck hurt.

Also, we don’t really get to understand why Universo is such a terrible, frightful enemy. He doesn’t really do much other than taking control of Superboy for a little bit and then trying to instigate the classic switcheroo. And because he saved Dvron’s life he must not be that bad anyway? Plus what was he still doing on a lifeless planet? He wanted to get caught.

Last write-up I wasn’t ready to declare 206 to be the weakest of the series, but I will have to give that honor to this story. With a villain that doesn’t really do much and all the stretching and leaping that we had to do in order to make the actions of our characters credible, I think I’m in the right here.

The second story is a whole different…err story all together. Lightning Lad’s Day of Dread not only hit me with the death of the LL’s parents, but also finally set up some sort of showdown, overarching threat in the form of the Legion of Super-Villains, led my Mekt.

Watching Lightning Lad just mow down the Legionnaire’s who were in his way, taking off by himself, only to meet his brother, someone who he now hates, at the site where his parents died really was a high-stakes moment. This was excellent character development by Bates and is such a strong contrast from the previous story, especially considering this story acts as a back-up in a way. Also I’ve been pleading for a build-up or at least an overall threat and it finally happened.

I do have the feeling it’s going to be wrapped up next issue but I can appreciate that Bates moved us from the situational plotting where we are treated to a ‘day in the life of the Legion.’

Mike Grell continues his perfect roll and his pacing and figure work is great. I really liked his depiction of Lightning Lad. He brought some depth to him and also showed his power. Grell is just a master and his rendering of the characters is fantastic.

Super-Talk

We have quite a few interesting tidbits in this issue’s letters section. First off a note from the Editor:

“Hold the presses! Ring out the bells! Sound the tocsin! Why all the clamor? From here on in, this mag will be published 8 times a year–count ’em 8, instead of 6! And for the date of next issue’s debut, all you Legion-lovers, look at the tag end of one of the stories herein!”

So there we have it. We’re not exactly monthly but we’re no longer bi-monthly. How about that. It looks like our little book is quite successful.

In addition we have a lot of praise for issue 204 and 205, which Boltinoff summarizes and includes everyone’s comments in paragraph form. Interestingly we have a comment by future comic book writer Mary Jo Duffy, on #205 who asks:

“What does it take to make a perfect comic book mag? You guys must know because with every issue, you get closer to it.”

High paise indeed.

We also have some comments about the lack of equal gender representation. Ernesto J. Lopez from Miami states that they discriminate against women. “In the LSH, the ratio of males far exceeds females. I’d be satisfied with a story where the gals outnumber the men.”

We don’t really get a response from the editor but we do get a reference that there are LSH Slurpee Cups that exists from 7-Eleven. Which caused me to maybe or maybe not fork over a hundred bucks on eBay recently to buy six of them…

Now this is where things get interesting. Last year the editor pleaded to stop sending ideas for new Legionnaire members, but I guess he did an about face, because he created a new section labeled The Dept. Of New Heroes & Heroines, that basically lists all the ideas they received.

One cries out for the return of Infectious Lass, whom we may remember Superboy rejected because she gave Star Boy a really bad flu.

But the most interesting one is from Lance Curry who acclaims Steven Petryszyn’s Power Boy but asks that he become a character of color.

It becomes more interesting because Boltinoff does reply:

“Cool it, fellas! Mike, Cary and Ye Ed are developing a new black hero!”

For our already knowledgeable LSH fans, they would know this would end up becoming Tyroc. If you are interested in this little piece of history and want to jet a bit ahead, there’s a Wikipedia entry that is quite revealing.

Long story short, Mike Grell wanted to introduce a hero of color for a long time but Boltinoff was quite resistant to it despite his above comment. So here in Super-Talk we have its first mention. The character would end up debuting in 1976, so it would take a while since this issue came out in 1974. But a very interesting piece of LSH history revealing itself right before our very eyes!

Finally we get an idea from Barbara Randall who wants an Aquagirl Legion member. Barbara Randall of course would become Barbara Randall Kesel after marrying Karl Kesel, who would make incredible contributions to the world of comic books and in turn the super-hero genre as a writer.

The Legion Medallion of Merit

I always find it difficult when we have two stories to award the medal. The first one was a bit weaker and the second one was focused on a Legionnaire’s rage but for good reason. But I’m going to give it to Chameleon Boy from the Rookie Who Betrayed the Legion.

CB was always one step ahead of everyone. He tricked Dvron to finally revealing why he betrayed the LSH in the first place, and his quick thinking instructing Light Lass to make Superboy weightless, allowed the Legion and Dvron to gather their wits and discover Universo’s ploy in making the switch. This quick thinking and ability to lead a team makes CB deserving of such a medal.

So wear it with pride Chameleon Boy and I do hope that despite the betrayal of a member of the Science Police, it doesn’t put you off the organization as a whole. Statistically speaking they’re still the safest group to travel with.

And that’s it for this week’s write up my fellow Legion of Super-Heroes fanatics! May your flight ring forever sparkle and do not forget the call that we all must make…

LONG LIVE THE LEGION!