Tag: Dave Cockrum

I hope you enjoyed another side path that was DC Super Stars #17 as part of our ad interim series fellow Legionnaires! Because after that intense, epic tale on all levels in the last Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes issue we have an unexpected change. Denny O’Neil departs as editor and is replaced by Al Milgrom. Welcome to Legion HQ Al! Denny apparently is still doing the letters page since he does have a sign off at the end. And speaking of the letters page there is a wonderful confirmation of a certain artist that will return for one more issue before the big Treasury Edition! 

Gerry Conway returns with Ric Estrada, inked this time by Jack Abel, as they continue where they left off back in issue #232 when Shrinking Violet sulked off because she felt like she was getting ill treatment since her people, the Imskians, were threatening to leave the United Planets. And boy, Gerry, Ric, and Jack do not disappoint. This issue reminds us why we love this medium called comics because really folks, anything is possible.

Get outside of your house, look up to the stars, and squint. Because you just might see one of those space dragons that everyone has been talking about. And brace yourselves for…

The Composite Legionnaire

Two light years from the star-sun Irulan, home star of the planet Imsk, five figures dive in formation through the black void of space. We know them as Legionnaires but today they’re hunters. And on their success or failure hinges the fate of Imsk.

Shrinking Violet spots a Space Dragon in the distance and Superboy reminds the group that he detests hunting. But they made a promise. Lightning Lad warns Saturn Girl to be careful because that thing is the size of a mountain. But this is Saturn Girl we are talking about, and she is not afraid of nothin.’ And to put our heroes down a peg, a Space Dragon swoops in with a fiery breath that somehow survives in space.

Lightning Lad delivers a few silent thunderbolts that hit the Dragon to no effect. Shrinking Violet reminds him that only the tractor-rays they brought on the mission will work and only if all five hit the beast simultaneously. Each Legionnaire points their own tractor-ray at the Dragon, and proving Violet’s words to be true, the Dragon is quickly restrained and unable to move. Saturn Girl offers her apologies for taking a page out of Timber Wolf’s playbook and acting so rash. Shrinking Violet of course accepts it and hopes that they all understand why the Imskians want to control the hunting of Space Dragons. It is very difficulty and if not done properly they might quickly become extinct.

Superboy is impressed that she did want to keep the Dragon alive but she still has not revealed why they are so important. If a camp fire could be constructed in space, Shrinking Violet would ask her comrades to gather around for she has a tale to tell, which just so happens to be Imsk’s greatest secret.

But before we learn what this secret is, we travel to a distant planet and zoom on an insignificant man who sits by an actual camp fire until he is interrupted by a blast. A menacing figure stands before him and tells him there is a reward on his head and he has come to collect. The old man does not wait for any further explanation and runs away. The meanacing figure turns on his rocket powered boots and easily over comes him. The old man cannot believe it because it has been thirty hears and he thought he was free. But he is never free, especially if pursued by the one called Bounty! And he kicks the lifeless body of the old man before he picking him up to start the journey in collecting his reward.

We return to Shrinking Violet who has just begun her story. The Imskians did not originate on Imsk but actually on a colony called Krill. They arrived on Imsk a million years ago and found everything to be perfect. The food was plentiful and the environment stable. But then in the eleventh year came disaster. It was as though Imsk were alive and for fifty days the planet started and continued to shrink, smaller and smaller, with everything dwindling but the Imskians. Because everything was so small, the Imskians began to starve and to die. Only one man was able to act; a scientist who had a theory that if he were to extract the radiation out of the boulders, he could use that radiation on the Imskians and help them shrink as well. Shrinking quickly became a hereditary ability for those who survived the days of the disaster and passed it onto their children. But Imskians still require a yearly exposure to that radiation which can only be found in those original boulders. Otherwise, during the ten-year cycle of planetary shrinkage, the Imskians will die. The reason why it was kept secret because the planet would be susceptible to attack during the ninety day period of the shrinkage period. 

But what does a Space Dragon have to do with it? We will have to find out later because we travel to Legion HQ where a very angry Wildfire is addressing the President of Earth. Chameleon Boy warns him to watch his words but Wildfire will have none of it. How dare the President support a bill that will force United Planets oversight on all Legion activities, especially after the Legion helped the President personally in stopping Deregon in Australia. Phantom Girl also tries to calm him down, but Wildfire is just too hot tempered and believes it is still a betrayal. 

As Wildfire storms off Duplicate Boy cannot help but blame him for reacting so strongly and also wonders if part of his temper is because his body is composed of anti-matter, making him completely incapable of physical touch. That must be awful. Phantom Girl simply answers that what they are experiencing is simply politics and it is ugly. Chameleon Boy suggests they get something to eat.

Elsewhere, Shrinking Violet explains why the Space Dragons are important. It was around a thousand years ago that a horde of Space Dragons attacked Imsk and consumed the radioactive rocks on the planet. And due to their radioactivity the Space Dragons have not been able to successfully digest them. A convenient result because the radiation seeps through and into their scales, which regrow when removed, basically creating a sustainable and cyclical supply of the same radiation the Imskians need on a yearly basis to be able to shrink with their planet. If they cannot maintain their supplies they would lose their shrinking powers within a single generation. 

Colossal Boy, moved by Violet’s story, decides to help. He is overzealous and removes a lot of scales at once but Violet tries to stop him because that has never been done before. She does not know how the Dragon’s system will react from such a quick removal. And to answer her question the Dragon explodes. And as the dust settle we see four separate forms surge together, propelled by furious, explosive radiation and in the black of space four figures become one…

The Composite Legionnaire is born!

Superboy yells out a timely great Krypton and the Composite Legionnaire strikes, making Superboy its first victim. Instinctively it returns to the Legion cruiser, leaving Superboy boy unconscious floating in space. It activates Shrinking Violet’s powers so it can fit and puts in the coordinates for Metropolis.

Back in Metropolis Chameleon Boy is once again questioning Wildfire’s leadership to Phantom Girl. As they discuss the merits of a regime change, the Cruiser returns and Phantom Girl begins to worry. Were they not suppose to spend at least a week on Imsk? She instructs Chameleon Boy to check it out and he quickly turns into a bird to have a bird’s eye view. As he nears the cruiser a large, Colossal Boy looking fist erupts from one of the doors, knocking him down. Phantom Girl runs to his aid but then is zapped by a fierce bolt of lightning, knocking her unconscious. The Composite Legionnaire emerges from the Cruiser and has its sights on Metropolis.

Meanwhile, Wildfire is brooding and is studying old photographs of himself when he was Drake Burroughs, before he was changed into pure energy. Drake Burroughs who died in the anti-matter explosion which created the hero named Wildfire. Wildfire, the hero without a corporal form, doomed to live forever within a protective uniform. Doomed never to feel as a human feels, doomed to a king of living death. Fated to live it for all time…

These dark thoughts are interrupted by Duplicate Boy who tells him they have big problems and he is not going to believe it. Wildfire looks at the visa-screen and sees the Composite Legionnaire Destroying Metropolis. He and Duplicate Boy connect with Chameleon Boy and Phantom Girl whose heads are still ringing from taking hits. Phantom Girl has already figured out that the creature must be a combination of all of their friends. Duplicate Boy understands the sensitivity of the situation but they have to stop the monster before they can figure out a way to cure them. A lightning bolt blasts Duplicate Boy who quickly recovers, and duplicates Lightning Lads powers and returns a blast of his own. But it did not work. Wildfire spouts off an order to Chameleon Boy to quickly change into a Jovian Claw-Beast and distract him, giving them opportunity to attack its flank. Chameleon Boy follows orders and swoops after the Composite Legionnaire but again questions Wildfire’s decision. The beast is distracted but as Wildfire delivers an energy blast, it activates Shrinking Violet’s power and shrinks, causing Wildfire to miss and he hits Chameleon Boy instead. 

As the others rush to Chameleon Boy who plummets to the ground, the Composite Legionnaire continues to shrink until it finds itself in a dark alley. It surveys the damage it wrought over Metropolis and smiles a twisted smile. Still smiling, it turns and runs through the shadows and is gone. While, in the street, Chameleon Boy weakly tells Wildfire to not worry, he knows it was not his fault. But Wildfire is overcome with frustration and bellows a loud scream of rage.

Part Two: The Final Hunt

We begin part two finding Duplicate Boy, Phantom Girl, Wildfire, and Princess Projectra in the President’s chamber and Wildfire is beside himself with rage. The President has put a bounty on the head of the Composite Legionnaire and has hired Bounty to collect it. Wildfire accuses the President of making the order out of politics alone and it is obvious he does not care for the Legionnaires. The President and his advisors deny the accusation and assert that it is a miracle that the Composite Legionnaires has not yet killed anyone. That is why they set the reward, in order to stop the monster before there is a massacre. Wildfire continues his angry triad against the group and Princess Projectra asks him to calm down. He does so and he knows what they have to do and leaves. Bounty makes a snide remark and the President quickly reminds him that this is not a battle between him and the Legion and they simply want the Composite Legionnaire captured. As Bounty leaves he reminds the President that the reward states dead or alive. Whichever is easier.

We return to the Composite Legionnaire who makes its way slowly to the enormous Tidal Flux machine that powers enormous turbines to supply the world with energy. A machine the people recently turned to after the Powersphere was compromised in DC Special #28 and of which we learned the origin of in last entry’s DC Super-Stars #17. A Legion Cruiser shoots past the monster and the Legionnaires erupt out of it, descending on the beast. Wildfire realizes the President is right it has to be stopped. Not only for their sake but also for the world’s. 

Princess Projectra suggests they try to figure out how their friends became this way but Duplicate Boy tells her to just focus on trying to stay alive. She gets closer to the beast and uses her powers to create an illusion of a large squid that erupts out of the water to attack the Composite Legionnaire. Phantom Girl moves in while it is distracted and attempts to enter its mind to either shock it back to its senses or knock it out. But she forgot that Saturn Girl is also a part of the beast and she is met with a vast amount of images of Saturn Girl who fights her off and repels her away. Duplicate Boy just manages to catch her before she hits the water by quickly duplicating her Phantom form. Wildfire orders Duplicate Boy to bring her back to Legion HQ because she can be of no help to anyone now. He has to fight the beast alone. But Princess Projectra swoops in and reminds him that he is not alone. And though she may be royalty on her homeworld, here on Earth she is a Legionnaire, and she shall fight beside him until the very end. And while Wildfire tells her that nobody is going to help him, Superboy swoops in and tells them both that this fight is finished as of right now. They have been going about it all wrong and as he continued with his plan, a thousand yards distant, we see Bounty with his sights on the group. He watches them leave, which suits his plan because now it is his turn. He puts in a special shock-shell that he acquired from an Alien race they used to wipe out entire infantry companies. And as he clicks it into place and draws his sight on the Composite Legionnaire, he wonders how it will do against this beast. And he pulls the trigger. He watches the explosion with glee and the reward is as good as his. But as the smoke clears he sees, to his horror, that the Composite Legionnaire still stands. And with one mighty swipe the beast knocks Bounty out cold. 

Elsewhere a Legion Cruiser shoots starward with Superboy, Wildfire, Princess Projectra, Duplicate Boy and an injured Phantom Girl on board. They are returning to the scene of the incident in order to find a heard of the Space Dragons that caused the merging. Superboy then lets them on his plan that they will attempt to use the same radiation that caused their merging to shatter the bond. It is a slim chance but it is possible and they pray their best is enough.

On Earth, a bitter bounty hunter has similar thoughts and he rushes after the Composite Legionnaire once more. Before it was strictly business, but now it is very personal. He uses a ray on his multi-weapon to cut a trench that trips the beast and then switches toanother ray to compress the beach and change it from soft sand into super hard silica trapping him. The Composite Legionnaire hurls lightning bolts at Bounty but he easily evades them and shoots a stainless steel spring net and covers him.

Meanwhile, in the space-sector of the planet Imsk, our team of Legionnaires continue to follow Superboy’s plan. Superboy asks them if they are ready. Chameleon Boy, despite still being a little beaten up, slowly changes into a Space Dragon and Duplicate Boy uses that form to Duplicate the Dragon’s sonic mating call. Princess Projectra completes the trap with a senses-dulling illusion and it appears they are ready. Wildfire flies closest to Superboy and tells him that he will resign as Legion leader if this works, which will be in Superboy’s favor. Superboy immediately dismisses the notion and reassures Wildfire that he was chosen for a reason. 

And as Duplicate Boy continues his mating call, they observe a horde of Space Dragons that appear, animals that quickly become curious to the strange creature which is duplicating their mating call. They are only confused for a moment because realizing they have been tricked, they attack. Superboy alerts Wildfire, and Wildfire gives the command to Phantom Girl and the others to ready their tractor rays on his signal. 

Five silver beams lance out, crisscrossing in the blackness of space, forming a vast glowing web around the startled lizards. Whether the web is strong enough to contain four dragons simultaneously, we will never know because the Dragons never have the chance to test it. Wildfire uses his powers to become a human battery and to siphon energy from the Dragons and draws it into himself. He withstands the pain until the deed is done and he silently and without complaint, passes out. 

We return to Bounty who stares in disbelief as the Composite Legionnaire continues to electrify itself on the steel net. But as he continues to observe, to his horror he realizes why. The lightning bands in the net begin to fuse and then melt, releasing the Composite Legionnaire. It swats Bounty away like a fly and continues its walk toward Metropolis. But Bounty is not deterred and has one final trick up his sleeve. He summons his Rocket Sled and as he jets toward the Composite Legionnaire, he loads a weapon that was called a sub-nuclear air-to-air-sensor-controlled proxomity missile into his ship and fires. The rocket moves closer to its target but suddenly Superboy appears and intercepts it with his body.

He flies right at Bounty and reminds him that nuclear weapons have been outlawed on Earth for centuries and therefore he has broken the law. And with one tiny little punch, he knocks Bounty out of the air who is quickly captured by Princess Projectra. She would just love to allow him to fall but unfortunately the Legion believes in taking their criminals in alive. 

Superboy returns to his own weapon, Wildfire, who has sucked up all of the Dragon’s energy. He asks him if he is ready and Wildfire commands him to drop him. And he falls, a plunge that may end either in death or victory. Searing energy tears the sky mingled with an inhuman roar of rage and pain. In the brilliance, a giant form trembles, shimmers, and pulls apart. And our beloved Legionnaires are whole once more. 

But what of Wildfire? Superboy stands over his body and exclaims, “My God…I think he’s dying!”

Only time will tell…

Creative Team

Gerry Conway is back and this time he brought Ric Estrada with him. It does feel like they are reverting back to having two writers on the book that will interchange from issue to issue. But to better effect because what makes it work is that each writer is referencing what happened in the other’s stories. This did not happen during the Bates/Shooter combination. 

But I will tell you. I am absolutely loving these Giant stories that take around thirty-four pages. It gives the writer a lot of breathing room and to not leave it at the last moment to wrap everything up. Also Estrada is perfect for this story. As mentioned during some of the Karate Kid write-ups, Estrada’s style was pretty divisive. Some loved it and others hated it. But I just love it. I can honestly say that I do not think another artist could have pulled off the look of the Composite Legionnaire like Estrada. If you did not have a capable artist, this whole issue would have easily entered campy territory and would be a far cry of what we have been getting story-wise. He handled all the fight scenes, character designs, and constant scenic changes wonderfully. He was just such a solid artist and his look and style was perfect to the Legion. Do I prefer him to James Sherman? No. I think Sherman brings that extra oomph and gives the book a very much mature look. But if Estrada were the main artist I would not have minded at all.

And back to Conway. He is just a fantastic writer and he continues to show us why. He is a master at pacing and is able to juggle a lot of things simultaneously, such as having Bounty run around challenging the Legion and also Wildfire really going against the President of Earth. This conflict was really well done and quite appropriate as you must believe that the Legion would butt heads with any political establishment that attempted to oversee the organization.

Also there were some beautiful character moments. Conway continued the thread of Shrinking Violet’s homeworld of Imsk possibly breaking away from the United Planets alliance from his last outing. But the character that really shined was Wildfire. Until now he was pretty much the established hot head and his leadership was continually questioned. While he continued to show he was the hothead he did show some vulnerability when he confided to Superboy that he perhaps would have done a better job, while then making a possible ultimate sacrifice all for the sake of the mission. His character arc was masterfully crafted and it helped bring this book from ‘okay’ to great.

The elephant in the room is of course the absence of Denny O’Neil as editor and how his departure was not really announced. I do not know the reason for the decision nor was it hinted at anywhere, so I can guess that it was probably that he was given another assignment. Simple as that. But I think O’Neil’s contribution cannot be understated. He brought the book on a secure footing, had faith in his writer Paul Levitz, brought James Sherman onboard to replace a tired Mike Grell, and then brought in B-plot elements and helped give the book a truly epic feel. I think if it were not for Denny’s contribution and guiding editorial hand, we would not have gotten the epics that are down the road. So a tip of the hat to the late, great, Mr. O’Neil.

My only wish of course from Denny’s reign is I do wish he would have been successful in crossing over the Karate Kid and Legion books with the result of producing some great epics. But that was not to be the case. But Al Milgrom will also take over the KK line so maybe we will see it eventually? But with only four issues left in the Karate Kid series, I doubt it. 

To conclude, the Giants keep on killing and this format must have been an absolute joy to Legion fans at the time. To get this quality of stuff for only sixty cents, which was about $3 in today’s money (cheaper than most comic books today by the way), was an absolute steal. 

The Legion Outpost

We have some exciting stuff in this issue’s Legion Outpost Legionnaires!

First is Mike Grell. Not only do they confirm that he and Paul Levitz are working on the big Treasury Edition, but he will actually be returning…NEXT ISSUE!

And this will be his final issue in the Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes line. I cannot bear to even think about reading it and turning the page on one of the greatest artists of all time last contribution to the main series. But alas, we must. 

But other than that, there is a lot of praise for all of the creators but also an unsigned one that basically tears everything apart and goes against everything we have been saying here. It does remain unsigned so I do wonder if it was an actual letter or a prank. Regardless it is not a very interesting letter, just saying that everything after Dave Cockrum and Mike Grell pretty much sucks. I guess there was toxic fandom in the 70’s as well!

And then we have another Legion Outpost Extra which is a very nice essay on the state of the Legion and how far it has come, thanks probably to the fanzines (which also resulted in them bringing back Jim Shooter). It’s actually a really neat timeline of noteworthy events that led up to this point in time. If you have a copy of the issue it is definitely worth a read because it is a nice summary. 

The Legion Medallion of Merit

This was probably one of the easiest Medallions we have ever awarded. Even with a meaty thirty-four page issue it was not the difficult. It goes to Wildfire.

Does this guy just love sacrificing himself, because from the public record we now have three occasions. He is not shy in using his powers to the full that might result in his own death and he does it again here. Also, this was definitely a momentous occasion in that he did show some vulnerability and insecurity to Superboy when he told him that if everything were to succeed as planned that he should be leader. Knowing Wildfire’s personality as well as his rivalry with Superboy, that must have taken some guts and he probably knew the possible consequences of what he had to do. And he did it anyway.

Congratulations Wildfire. You continue to prove yourself time and time again and I think after this issue, regardless of the doubters, you were definitely deserving of the leader title and you are not afraid to put yourself in harms way to save your friends and comrades. 

And that is it for this week’s installment for the Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes blog! Until next time, look to the sky and should you see one of those hard to spot Space Dragons, make sure you let everyone know of your discovery by issuing the only command that is known throughout the entire universe…

LONG LIVE THE LEGION!