We have our second consecutive issue where Jim Shooter does both stories. Is this goodbye to Cary Bates? Hard to say because he’s still getting mentioned in Super-Talk so I guess we’ll have to wait until next issue. But regardless I think we can state with confidence that Shooter is the main writer from now on.

But we do have a newcomer, Bill Draut who inked the back-up story, Trapped to Live — Free to Die, so welcome to Legion HQ Bill!

But enough of that, let’s roll the red carpet back up and get to-

“Now hold on Chris. As you know, in this issue I introduce the story.”

“Oh hi Superboy! Ahh yes of course my mistake. Please don’t hit me in the head with an apple.”

*awkward silence*

“Ahem, what I meant was please do the honors!”

“That’s what I thought. So I will go ahead and do that. Thanks Chris.”

“Your welcome SB!”

“Even a super-hero knows fear! We face it every day! And it’s not easy! Take it from me…every Legionnaire worries that some time, when the chips are down, he’ll break under stress!

In this spine-tingling tale, Ultra Boy’s personal nightmare comes true when, at the crucial moment, he succumbs to terror in….”

The Jaws of Fear

We arrive in the Council Chamber of Legion HQ where our Legionnaires are in a very animated discussion. Meanwhile we see a lone figure making his way through the Legion defenses. He avoids the floor’s sensitive alarm by walking on air with his anti-grav shoes. He manages to slip by undetected and past the sensors by transforming himself into a beam of light. And as he arrives at the radiation sensors, which can detect him even in light form, he transforms again but this time into gas, and successfully slips by. Suddenly he arrives in the Council Chamber and announces himself with a hearty good morning Legionnaires!

Not wasting any time Wildfire quickly tackles him. He demands to know who he is and what he’s doing here. The lone figure announces himself as Benn Pares, (he disappears and pops in at the other side of the room) the greatest burglar in the galaxy!

And Benn Pares is bored so he tells the Legionnaires that as a challenge, he will steal the Miracle Machine (which we last saw in issue #201) within 48 hours and dares them to try and stop him.

Bewildered Wildfire tells Brainiac 5 that as acting leader they need to take his lead. Brainy instructs Superboy and Chameleon Boy to check on the Miracle Machine and asks Saturn Girl if she probed his mind. She tried but it was well guarded.

However she did learn that Benn Pares has a sixth sense, which warns him of traps and alarms and he has unique powers to overcome them. Also she was able to see an image that looked like a huge, jagged, white gate somewhere in Space Sector 14 but doesn’t know what that could mean.

Superboy and Chameleon Boy return with the Miracle Machine in hand. Lightning Lad and Cosmic Boy also confirm that the security systems are still working properly, which confirms that Pares was able to successfully get past their toughest defenses.

Superboy attempts to decrease the nervousness in the room, assuring his comrades that they will guard it. Brainy however is deep in thought and understands the seriousness of the situation. He reminds them that the Miracle Machine can convert thoughts into reality, and, if it’s in the wrong hands, it could be used to enslave galaxies, and perhaps accidentally destroy the entire universe.

Lightning Lad suggests to destroy it but Superboy quickly interjects to remind him that it was entrusted to them by the Controllers and it saved the day for them on multiple occasions. Cosmic Boy jumps in that it is their duty to keep it until mankind is ready to use it wisely.

Breaking up the chatter Brainiac 5 suggests they put it to a vote.

Once the votes are tallied our heroes gather around the box and attempt to destroy it. Ultra Boy and Superman attempt to pound it into oblivion but the Miracle Machine is still whole. They didn’t even put a dent into it.

Wildfire hits it with an energy bolt and Brainiac 5 tells all of them to hit it at the same time.

Lightning Lad joins the fray with his super lightning, Sun Boy blasts it with a solar heat-blast, Ultra Boy switches powers to deliver some flash vision and Superboy tries to finish it off with some x-rays.

But it’s no use. The Miracle Machine is still intact and it must be indestructible. So they have no other choice but to hide it. But where? There is no place safer than Legion HQ.

Placing it within their vaults they decide to test out Brainy’s additional defenses that he put in place. Sure enough Phantom Girl is spotted in her phantom form and the hyper energy barrier knocks her out. Shrinking Violet attempts to shrink down to micro size and slip underneath but is immediately stopped by the paralysis mist. Finally, Chameleon Boy turns into a butterfly but still the mento-detector picked up his brain-waves and caught him.

With the security system being in an adequate state they reconvene in the lobby and as the last resort, they will spend the night locked up with the machine.

Time ticks away and as the new day dawns, Brainy announces they were robbed. The Miracle Machine is still there but Pares simply took their clock, taunting them and showing the Legion that he can take anything right from under their very noses.

Not a team that wallows in self pity or despair the Legion of Super-Heroes immediately decide to go on the offense, find where Benn Pares is hiding, and take him down. Saturn Girl remembers the vision she had and suggests to go out to Space Sector 14 and see if they can find him. The team agrees.

Boarding a Legion Cruiser they jet out into the blackness of space. When they arrive at Space Sector 14 they come across a large, hideous monster, the only life form that can thrive in this sector, a giant Galactosaur!

As they near the beast, Saturn Girl realizes that this is exactly from her vision. Sure enough they approach the monster’s jagged, white teeth that resembled the gate from her vision before. Brainiac 5 comes to the conclusion that Benn Pares hideout must be inside!

Brainy instructs Cosmic Boy to head for its mouth. Slowly they approach and Saturn Girl starts to command the beast to open its mouth. Meanwhile inside, Benn Pares sits, salivating at the fact that he will have this Miracle Machine in his hands by the end of tonight. When suddenly the alarm rings.

But that’s impossible because his control panel is wired to the nerves that control the jaws of the Galactosaur. That can only mean one thing, the Legion of Super-Heroes have arrived.

The jaws continue to open and the tiny Legion cruiser in comparison starts to make its way inside. When suddenly Ultra Boy begins to sweat and is completely overcome with fear.

He flashes back to when he was swallowed alive by a radioactive space dragon that ended up giving him his powers. The shock of being in the same situation is too much and he panics. He shouts at his fellow Legionnaires to turn the ship around immediately and knocks over Saturn Girl in the process.

To make matters worse, Benn Pares is at the controls and instructs the beast to close its jaws in order to crush the Legion cruiser.

We return to Superboy who is watching the devastation unfold. He feels helpless and wishes that he had his hand on Pares. When suddenly Pares appears right in Superboy’s grip in the blink of an eye. His wish came true!

He immediately gives him a super-tap that knocks him out. Superboy is still distraught because he knows that the jaws would have closed on the craft by now.

But did they? Fore we see mighty Ultra Boy who managed to pull himself together and stopped the jaws from closing with his super-strength. But he can’t use his invulnerability while stopping the jaws from closing on the cruiser. Brainy tells Phantom Girl that they need a miracle!

Ultra Boy strains and as he is about to pass out and allow the deep darkness of space consume him, a red-and-blue blur arrives and brings him to safety.

Back on Earth Superboy recounts what happened. When he and Ultra Boy were trying to destroy the Miracle Machine with their mighty punches, they accidentally turned it on and placed it back in its inertron cube. Thus, all he had to do was wish for his hands to get on Pares and for him to save Ultra Boy and the machine granted his wish.

Shrinking Violet tells them that’s what they should have done in the first place, simply ordered the machine to capture Pares.

But Brainiac 5 disagrees. Because that is the ultimate danger. We can’t allow the machine to make them lazy.

Trapped To Live– Free to Die!

A Legion Cruiser makes its way to Nolgor IV, a waterless, barren world in the Talok Sector. Inside? Timber Wolf who is answering a distress call.

As he brings the ship safely down he analyzes the planet’s surface and determines there’s enough oxygen and he won’t need a spacesuit. He then flips on the ship’s automatic sentinel system, a standard operating procedure taught to him by the Legion Training Academy.

Timber Wold approaches a wrecked ship and goes inside. Immediately he sees a lone figure trapped under the console. He immediately goes into action and then uses his mighty strength to lift the monstrous piece of equipment, when the man whops him on the side of the head with a black mace.

That’s right loyal readers, it’s none other than Blackmace, an old Legionnaire villain last scene in Adventure Comics #374.

Knocking Timber Wolf down, Blackmace takes off his flight right and smashes the emergency transmitter. His plan is to steal Timber Wolf’s ship and leave him on the planet for dead.

But Timber Wolf is quick to remind Blackmace that all Legion craft have auto-defenses and the controls can only respond to a Legionnaire. Knowing his story to be true, Blackmace has no choice but to take Timber Wolf with him for the time being. But, he tells Timber Wolf, I’ve charged my Blackmace to full power and will use it if you try anything funny.

Timber Wolf reluctantly accompanies Blackmace back to the cruiser and takes his place behind the controls. When suddenly a protected sphere envelopes Timber Wolf leaving Blackmace alone.

This is just as Timber Wolf planned. The ship thought he was the intruder and immediately ‘captured’ him in the globe which is impenetrable. Blackmace tries to smash the globe to smithereens and fails.

Timber Wolf smiles and says that his mace did in fact weaken it, allowing him to break out. And with one mighty spring, Timber Wolf explodes out of the globe. Enraged he dives at Blackmace who quickly counters with a back swing to the head. With Timber Wolf on the back foot, Blackmace continues to pummel Timber Wolf and is the obvious more experienced fighter. With another mighty punch, Timber Wolf falls back, and sees that he’s closer to the mace. He picks it up and tries to hit Blackmace with his own weapon but it’s no use. Blackmace’s clothrs are insulated from the weapon and it can’t harm him.

Blackmace wrestles control of the weapon, and with its super charged aura brings it closer to Timber Wolf’s face. With effort, Timber Wolf just manages to touch the Legionnaire flight ring that is now on Blackmace’s finger and sure enough, the activated ring propels Blackmace against the ceiling with tremendous speed, knocking him out.

Satisfied, Timber Wolf walks over the unconscious Blackmace, puts the flight ring back on his finger, and puts him in restraints.

He activates the ship with his flight ring and puts in the coordinates to home. It’s too bad that Blackmace didn’t realize he could have activated the Legion Cruiser since he had his flight ring, and a Legionnaire’s flight ring alone is the only way to get past the automated defenses.

Too bad so sad.

Creative Team

Jim Shooter delivers something quite different with The Jaws of Fear. Cary Bates did show us, from time to time, the insecurities of a Legionnaire and how one always felt like they weren’t measuring up. Here, Shooter takes it a step further and gives us a member who is nearly overtaken by fear, showing what could be construed as a negative emotion that isn’t rage or anger. He shows us that a Legionnaire is not infallible at all, and even has a great fault that almost compromised the lives of his fellow comrades.

It’s a very bold move and it helps us see the complicated layers of these teenagers who are thrust in this position of protecting the universe. I’m really enjoying Shooter’s return so far and it seems like he’s setting the table that others will use to spring the book into legendary status.

For the second story, Trapped to Live — Free to Die, it was a nice world building opportunity that put the spotlight on a character that we haven’t really seen in awhile, Timber Wolf. We’re also reintroduced to a classic villain Blackmace, who does prove to be a strong ally against TW. It was a small yet effective yarn and did its job as a second story. While I do enjoy the two story structure from time to time, I think the book would really be elevated if they just focused on one. But this is just personal taste. The advantage of two stories however is that you can focus on more members at a time. I suppose I just took down my own argument.

Either way, Shooter is effectively using his own greatest hits from the past as a foundation and then expanding it to further develop the characters. Even though we don’t really have one overarching threat or a multiple-parter that fits into an overall story, the fact that Shooter just handles these characters so well, giving them complexity, and forces you to care about them, helps. There’s a reason why he’s one of the best.

Mike Grell is doing what Mike Grell does best and that’s giving us believable worlds and fantastic rendering of his figure work. His ability to handle the big Galactosaur and the tiny Legion Cruiser effectively gave it a nice claustrophobic feel to it. Then he can switch gears and handle a story on a smaller scale, two people in a spaceship where one has to outsmart the other. Mike Grell is a master at sequential storytelling and can take a scene that requires a lot of talking and back and forth and produce something that will put you on the edge of your seat.

Also I think I did forget to mention, one nice change that has been occurring for a while now is that Grell will actually get top billing and his name goes first before Shooter’s. If memory serves this is attributed to Jim Shooter who was always and remains an artist’s writer.

All in all issue #213 was solid and with the Galactasaur in space reminds us why we love comics so much.

Super-Talk

Last issue we did not have a Super-Talk, which might have been suspicious. In order to fan the flames a bit more, our beloved editor Murray Boltinoff included the following note:

“Due to circumstances out of our control, the [letters] page for that issue had to be omitted. To make up for it this issue contains comments from two. #209 and #210…”

Ominous no? Circumstances out of our control? I wonder what is going on in the background? Could it be a bit of squabbling between Grell and Boltinoff, when Grell wanted to introduce a person of color to join the ranks for the first time of the Legion of Super-Heroes? Deadline issues? Who knows, but you would think including a letters page would probably be a constant and not really reliant on anyone except for the editor. Or perhaps we are looking too much into this, in a comic that appeared more than forty years ago. Nawwwww.

And other than that it’s pretty standard fare until the very end where we receive a comment from Mike Grell.

In the meantime of notable items:

There is a call for the return of Duo Damsel, which the editor has to remind us is impossible since she and Bouncing Boy decided to get married. Carol A. Strickland then sent in a letter commenting that Duo Damsel decided to use Bouncing Boy’s last name of Taine, and she believes in the rights, dignity, and individuality of women. To which the editor agrees of course but dodges and conveniently asserts that it is also the freedom of choice.

Then we get an official explanation for the character of Flynt Brojj from last issue. I had already done my research and indicated that it was the combination of Mike Flynn and Harry Broertjes, but happy to see this is another example of the internet being right because it’s mentioned here.

Then we really get into nerdom when Richard Parset asked:

“You show Chameleon Boy using his power to turn into a phantom! How could this be? If he turned into Superboy, he wouldn’t gain all of the Boy of Steel’s power and he wouldn’t gain super-intellect if he changed to Brainiac 5[.]”

Boltinoff easily answers this one and says “With the antenna on his forehead, Reep Daggle (Chameleon Boy), like all on the planet Durla, can “read” the shape of anything. By rearranging their molecular structure, they are able to become an exact replica of that person or thing!”

Finally we get a letter from a fan who asked about Karate Kid’s new look. Now as we know Karate Kid is going to get his own series at the end of the year so his popularity is soaring through the roof. The editor turns the space to our Captain, Mike Grell.

“If you’ve wondered about the sudden change in Karate Kid’s appearance, the reason is simply this: It is altogether fitting and proper that the greatest karate champion of the 30th century should be modeled after the greatest martial arts expert of THIS century…the late, great BRUCE LEE.

This is just a small tribute to a man who has provided many hours of great entertainment to movegoers everywhere.”

Okay. So this is interesting because if we head to social media I see a lot of comments and posts attributing the new costume to a design from Dave Cockrum, that was used, maybe once, and then discarded to the orange costume we have seen since. Now Mike Grell doesn’t flat out state that he designed the thing just that they decided to change the costume as a tribute to Bruce Lee. So in this author’s eyes I don’t know.

If someone out there knows and can provide a source to the owner of Karate Kid’s new costume design, a comment in the comments section below would be very helpful.

But either way, “Kung-Fu Mania” is in full-swing, and as a result we’ll start seeing “Kung-Fu” titles from the major publishers, one of which, of course, is the Karate Kid spin-off series launching at the end of 1975.

The Legion Medallion of Merit

And now we’ve come to the Legionnaire Medallion of Merit. It’s no surprise but we have to give this to Ultra Boy. He was traumatized as a child by a large space beast eating his spaceship and had to confront that same scenario again. He could’ve hammered on the window of the Cruiser until it burst, probably killing everyone in it. But instead he was able to overcome his fear and actually put himself in real life danger, trusting his fellow Legionnaires to get him out of a jam. Sure it might have been a fluke that he and Superboy just happened to accidentally turn on the Miracle Machine. But he didn’t know that. And he still did what he did.

Congratulations Ultra Boy. No one can possibly understand what you went through when a giant galactic beast almost ate you whole. But when anyone’s gaze casually falls on the shiny medallion you will wear proudly around your neck, they will at least know one thing. You are truly someone who can overcome great fear.

And that’s it folks! Will Cary Bates return next issue or have we officially said goodbye to Mr. Bates? Only time will tell. And until then always remember…

LONG LIVE THE LEGION!