Tag: Absorbancy Boy

Welcome back heroes! Cary Bates picks up two issues ago when he and Mike Grell introduced Tyroc to the world! It’s a full lengther and boy does it pack a punch. Or should I say a scream.

Is this a formula they will keep with the issues to come? There are some amazing stories in store for us fellow Legionnaires, so put on your flight rings, ready yourself for some aerial action, and let’s get to it!

The Secret Villain the World Never Knew

A Monday morning in 30th Century Metropolis and three figures emerge from the massive Legion citadel. But these are not Legionnaires. A disappointing fact that is particularly painful to this trio of rejected applicants. 

Infectious Lass express her disappointment for once again failing to make the try-outs and join one of the most famous super-hero groups in the universe. And what a pity too because now she can even cause epidemics.

Quake Kid puts his hand on her shoulder and tells her don’t sweat it. In fact, why doesn’t he take her home in his retro-jeter and they’ll commiserate together. She thinks that’s just a swell idea but before they can act on their plans, Quake Kid keels over with sharp stomach pain. That’s right, Infectious Lass forgot to turn off her power.

As Quake kid stumbles away, the third reject is very hard on himself and was sure he would pass the membership tests. He looks longly at the Legion Headquarters and watches a lone Legion Cruiser make its way for a landing. Inside the cruiser? Our beloved new Legionnaire, Tyroc, who passed every test. 

Meanwhile, inside Legion HQ, Brainiac 5 is bringing Colossal Boy, Light Lass, and Element Lad up to speed on Tyroc, because they weren’t present during the Legion’s first encounter nor during his tryouts when he passed every test.

Brainy’s debrief is suddenly interrupted by a strange sound that startles the just returned trio. Brainy reassures them that all is well and to just watch. And sure enough, Tyroc slowly appears, demonstrating one of his powers that he can use sound to teleport anywhere he wishes.

Brainy welcomes Tyroc who has brought his belongings with him and is keen on moving in with the others to officially join the group. Unfortunately, this is also interrupted by a warning from Colossal Boy and Light Lass who see an enemy make his way through the wall. Zoraz!

Colossal Boy commands them to attack and in perfect unison the Legionnaires fall upon Zoraz. But it’s futile and he quickly uses their powers against them. One by one they fall, leaving Tyroc as the lone undefeated Legionnaire who is shocked at Zoraz’s abilities. But he regroups and emits a strong scream, shattering everything around Zoraz. Though somewhat impressed, Zoraz laughs off the scream and emits a sound of his own, destroying the alarm control and causing the siren to go off.

The sound is unbearable and there are enough decibels in the electronic whine to make a whole army go deaf. Tyroc manages to muster just enough strength to deliver another scream, shattering all the consoles in his wake, bringing the room back into a much needed silence. 

Cosmic Boy and Superboy arrive to a destroyed room and to a group of fallen Legionnaires. They take the injured to med-bay and Tyroc wonders who this Zoraz is. Cosmic Boy and Superboy take him down to the reinforced chamber below the citadel, showing him the Legionnaire Cell Bank. They explain that it is their intention to someday be able to clone Legionnaire replacements but Zoraz raided these banks and stole sample cells from each compartment. Which means he has the genetic code for every Legionnaire’s super-power and can use that knowledge to turn their powers against them.

Tyroc asks if they think he’ll come back but that’s the problem. Zoraz never left! And Tyroc is their best defense because his genetic code wasn’t in the cell bank, which means he has the only super-power he doesn’t know how to counteract.

Later, Tyroc goes on patrol with Shrinking Violet who wishes that Saturn Girl wasn’t off planet so she could use her telepathy powers to find Zoraz. As they continue their talk, a lone figure hides himself in a ventilation shaft and knows its one task. To find Tyroc’s one weakness and use it to wipe him out.

We make our way through the other nooks and crannies of the Legion citadel and find Dream Girl and Star Boy making plans. Little do they know they are being observed by Sun Boy and Cosmic Boy in a monitor room. Seeing that the heat might be turning up with Dream Girl and Star Boy, they decide to turn off the monitor when suddenly Zoraz appears and attacks the two lovers, interrupting their plans. Star Boy moves to counter but suddenly he becomes too heavy and falls through the floor. Zoraz turns on Dream Girl and creates terrible nightmares in her head, causing her to scream.

Alerted, Tyroc appears and flies past him thanks to his flight ring. He flies in circles, causing Zoraz to spin like a top, but Zoraz controls it and spins away, ducking into the gymnasium nearby. Tyroc gives chase only to find Zoraz calmly waiting for him. He suddenly sucks out all the air in the room, causing Tyroc to choke. Zoraz menacingly tells hims him that since sound doesn’t travel in a vacuum, his super-powered voice can have no effect, thereby useless.

Tyroc continues to choke and knows he must act fast. He activates his flight ring, grabs a weighted barbell, and uses it to crash through the wall to the other side. As he struggles to get up, Cosmic Boy and Sun Boy arrive and ask what happened. Tyroc warns them that Zoraz is on the other side but as they search for him he has mysteriously disappeared. Tyroc is beat and they tell him he should go to the infirmary to get some rest.

As they carry him to his bed, the lone mysterious figure in the vent reappears and is satisfied that he has seen enough. Finally, he knows how to arrange Tyroc’s demise.

A short while later, Superboy makes a report to Tyroc’s room that he must report to the main briefing room on the double. As he arrives he sees that Dream Girl and Star Boy are both back on their feet. And they are joined by Braniac and the others. But how is this possible? They should have been out of commission for a few days at least.

Superboy instructs him to watch the visi-tape they made of Tyroc’s first encounter with Zoraz. Sure enough after the battle Zoraz lifts his mask only to reveal Sun Boy! So Zoraz was Sun Boy? Sort of, answers Superboy, because on the next encounter Zoraz lifts up his mask once again, but this time it is Superboy!

But why would they do that? Simple answers Brainy. It was the final test, just to see how he would act under severe stress. And he acted admirably like a true Legionnaire. They then demonstrate how they were able to ‘trick’ Tyroc by forcing their own powers to backfire. In fact, there is Zoraz right now!

But when Zoraz unmasks another time, it is not Sun Boy but someone else. They recognize him to be the third Legion reject from earlier in the story. It was he who was hiding in the vents, watching and waiting. He decided to prove his value and prove to them all that he should be chosen as the newest member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Not Tyroc. 

Superboy disagrees and moves to force him to take off the costume, when he is suddenly weakened. “Zoraz” is glowing with red sun energy, making Superboy to temporarily lose his powers. Then he backhands Superboy, forcing him to fly hard against the wall.

He squares to face Tyroc and Tyroc asks Brainy what is his speciality. Brainy cooly replies that he calls himself Absorbancy Boy, and he can absorb any energy left behind by super-powers. Which means that now he has the power of Superboy and Tyroc needs to be careful. 

Absorbancy Boy taunts Tyroc and challengers him to emit one of his super yells, which cannot defeat him.

Tyroc replies that perhaps, but how about one at an ultra-high frequency only Superboy’s super-hearing can pick up? And as Absorbancy Boy tunes in, he is completely overwhelmed and cannot turn it off. The ultra high frequency is so powerful that he faints, wrapping up the mystery of Zoraz once and for all.

Brainy congratulates Tyroc and said there is just one last act of official business.

That afternoon, the long-awaited formal induction ceremony is finally performed as Tyroc officially becomes a full-fledged member of the greatest fighting group in the galaxy—the Legion of Super-Heroes!

Creative Team

This was a really fun issue from Cary Bates and Mike Grell. They both let Tyroc loose and allowed us readers to get a sense of how powerful he is. Mike Grell’s mastery of figure work is once again on full display as Tyroc flies through halls, blasts through walls, and shows us Tyroc’s grit and determination.

Also, as we are now around twenty-four issues in since the ‘relaunch’, we are finally referring to those previous issues. It was a lot of fun seeing Infectious Lass return only to be rejected once again, and of course making another reject sick.

And again, isn’t Cary Bates just wonderful? He’s a master plotter and you can really appreciate how everything that is placed in the story has a reason and will be resolved. Although it could be construed as being a bit too much, like having Absorbancy Boy make one last play at the end as I’m not sure if he was even needed. But I’m not complaining because it allowed Tyroc to show off his powers. Also I’m a big fan of this format. I would rather have a full length story rather than a main and a back-up showcasing one or a smaller group of Legionnaires. And from the letters page, it does sound like we are getting at least two ‘full-length novels’ from Jim Shooter.

And speaking of Shooter, this issue is a bit weird  because it acts as a direct sequel to #216, two issues ago. The previous one was an entire Jim Shooter show. Continuity-wise I do consider this a direct follow up to #216. I will rationalize that this issue was simply set at another time in the life of the Legion. And I can do that because I own this blog. So there.

Regardless, I am curious if Shooter will decide to incorporate Tyroc as part of the team even though Shooter does seem to make heavy work of his own creations. Which of course is nothing new and nothing off putting. But we do have a new Legionnaire, who is quite awesome, powerful, and exciting and I do hope Tyroc is used more, even by other writers.

Super-Talk

This time around in the letters page we have comments on the new costumes, which has been pretty divisive, and continues to be so. 

To quote Mike White from Mackinaw, Illinois:

“Cosmic Boy’s and Colossal Boy’s new costumes stink!…since these two were so bad, I expect new costumes or. return to the old ones.”

Ouch.

Katie Raisler from East Lansing, Michigan also asks, :What’s holding Cosmic Boy’s new costume up?”

So you get the idea. But they do include a positive reply from from an established letter-hack at the time (according to the editor), Scott Gibson from Evergreen, Colorado:

“The indisputable high point of S/LSH #215 was the intro of Cosmic Boy’s brand-new costume. And it is terrific! Don’t let anyone tell you that such a skimpy outfit is either degrading or beneath the dignity of a Legionnaire—it’s just fine. Who designed it? Mike Grell?”

Yes, Mike Grell designed the costume and it does look like reactions were mixed. 

Then we get some excitement because they talk about #215, the infamous face-slap story from Jim Shooter and it looks like Emerald Empress is making a return next issue, along with the rest of the Fatal Five! In fact, the editor teases the title, which is “Plunder Ploy of the Fatal Five!” So that’s pretty exciting stuff.

The Legion Medallion of Merit

Come on? This one’s an easy one. The Legion Medallion of Merit goes to Tyroc who kept going despite the odds and personal danger to himself. Zoraz was a formidable opponent but Tyroc didn’t give up. And this is a first for this series of posts because Tyroc its the first Legionnaire who won two medals in a row! Congratulations Tyroc!

And that’s it for this week friends, as we go through our lives, waiting for the next issue, have that cry ring soundly in your head…

LONG LIVE THE LEGION!