Tag: Nix Olympica

The Legionnaire Bride of Starfinger

Bouncing Boy is being examined by Brainiac-5. They speak about the results and both conclude that there is nothing that can be done. BB must leave the Legion.

Bouncing Boy solemnly explores the halls of Legion Headquarters, hitting the library along the way to watch some visitapes and take some trips down memory lane.

We are treated to a sight of Bouncing Boy having some fun with Duo Damsel’s twin selves. They laugh and they play, and Bouncing Boy remembers how fun it can be to get two kisses at the same time from the same woman. Yes Bouncing Boy is a lucky Boy indeed. Perhaps the luckiest in the whole Legion and in the 30th century. The possibilities are endless, but I digress.

BB continues to feel sad and realizes he won’t see Duo Damsel as much especially since he needs to leave and they will be separated most of the time.

But what’s this? BB suddenly has an idea and he must find Duo Damsel. He realizes that she must be due from her trip to a distant galaxy. He finds Chameleon Boy at the ship and he tells him he just missed her that she’s off to get her space-passport stamped. Not deterred BB continues his quest.

Rushing to to the Metro-Center he finds Duo Damsel already waiting for him. She rushes into his arms for a big embrace after a long absent. But BB has things on his mind and he tells her what Brainiac-5 was able to diagnose. Duo Damsel agrees that this is a terrible situation that they’re in. But luckily BB has an idea.

He leans in close and whispers a question in her ear. And she replies with a resounding yes.

Trying to seal it with a kiss, DD suddenly takes off after a pair of Eaglox Birds, which also happen to be the sacred symbol of the United Planets. Seeing a Jet-Flyer descending on both of them, DD needs to split up and tries to activate her Duo powers…to no avail. She just won’t split.

She manages to save one while Superboy quickly swoops in to guide the Jet-Flyer away from the second.

Landing safely on the ground, Duo Damsel cannot fathom why she cannot split into two. BB also says it’s ironic that the same day DD’s power would fail, was the same day that Brainiac-5 discovered that Bouncing Boy lost his powers forever. That’s right the mystery is now solved.

Expressing shock, DD and BB console him that it doesn’t matter because they’re both quitting the Legion and they’re getting married. Happy days!

Part 2

As the other Legionnaires shower BB with congratulations and praise, DD is getting examined by Brainiac. He discovered that the reason she can’t split from her second self is that her second self is actually missing. But the problem is DD doesn’t remember her second half disappearing. Brainiac decides to put her under the influence of the memory-prober and digs deeper. To his great astonishment he sees a fantastic scene.

A battle of both Duo Damsels fighting a large monstrous bird. Suddenly the bird captures her other half and simply disappears, leaving DD alone.

Brainy finally understands the reason DD didn’t remember because they are bound together by a very strong mental link, and with the shock of losing her other half being so great, she repressed the event entirely.

Brainy consoles DD and tells her that even though her other half is lost forever, it shouldn’t matter anymore because she has a whole new life ahead of her.

The next morning we find our Legionnaires boarding various spaceships that will take them to the wedding ceremony in Mars.

BB bids goodbye to Shadow Lass and Mon-El who must stay behind and maintain their headquarters. With their well wishes in hand, BB boards the starship to start the wonderful journey of being husband and wife.

As they leave we see an ominous wraith floating in midair and taking every precaution to not to be seen. It has travelled far but finally it has reached its destination so it can confront the Legion for a second time and take what is rightfully its. Welcome to our first B-Plot.

Meanwhile, our Legionnaires have reached Nix Olympica, a crater in Mars that is now serving as a beautiful resort.

And on page 12, we are treated to the wonderful pin-up splashpage that will create ripples in the comic book universe and put us on a trajectory and change the world. Why? Read on to find out.

But take a moment to bask in all its glory, courtesy of Dave Cockrum and discover why he truly is the master. And on this splash page we see that Duo Damsel and Bouncing Boy are now man and wife.

Bouncing Boy leans in to kiss her but suddenly she collapses. Brainiac rushes on the scene and quickly examines her. He can’t figure out what is wrong but he comes to one conclusion. Duo Damsel is dying!

After this shock is delivered, a villainess voice rings through the air and it is none other than Starfinger, one of the Legion’s deadliest enemies.

Starfinger shows them the prize he has in his hands, it’s the other half of Duo Damsel. Indeed, if the two of them are not brought together, then they both will die. And he orders them to bring Duo Damsel to him or they both will die.

Part 3

Superboy takes Duo Damsel in his arms and BB pleads to not surrender her. Sadly they do not have a choice, because if they don’t they will die. BB continues to be hysterical at the very thought of losing his bride to be. Reluctantly Brainiac administers a nerve-press, making him unconscious. But Brainy’s determination doesn’t waiver, they will bring back his wife, alive, both of them.

Later we see Superboy meet with Starfinger. Not wasting anytime, Starfinger blasts Superboy with a red sun ray, forcing him to lose his grip on Duo Damsel. Starfinger catches her and now has them both. Width both in hand he takes off reveling in his victory.

He thinks back to how he was able to lure them both into his trap. Spraying them with a faint cloud of mis which was actually poisonous gas, this handicapped the damsels which allowed his big pet dragon, Warxi to grab one of them. He knew they would end up dying and the Legionnaires would be forced to give up the other one. He heads back to his spacecraft.

Meanwhile the Legionnaires regroup to assess the situation. The remember that Starfinger is really Dr. Lars Hanscom, a brilliant scientist who became deranged and discovered how to give his hand a multitude of powers. They need to find them but how? Luckily Brainy has a plan and Saturn Girl will be able to help.

While he examined DD, he recorded her wave frequency and Saturn Girl is able to lock into that frequency. Concentrating with all her might and using her powers, she finds the signals and the Legionnaires take off for the confrontation.

Meanwhile, we return to Starfinger as he has both Duo Damsels’ in his Psonic-Analyzer. His intention and ultimate goal is to be able to find out how DD can separate and create a twin, then replicate that power and harness it for his own. All for the purpose of creating an army of Starfingers!

The Legionnaires arrive at at Starfinger’s hideout, which is a giant spaceship in the shape of himself. Saturn Girl is now able to read Starfinger’s thoughts and realizes the plan. Superboy flies off while SG and Brainy rush in to save DD.

Starfinger blasts himself and sure enough, Starfinger #2 appears. Starfinger #1 is delighted and as he decides to join hands with his duplicate self.. POW. He is beaten by himself.

Starfinger #2 grabs DD and makes his escape encountering Cosmic Boy who blasts him with a blast of Super Magnetism, destroying his uniform and revealing…the Teen of Steel himself, Superboy!

That is where Superboy flew off to, Back to Legion headquarters to grab a duplicate of Starfinger’s uniform on display in the trophy room.

As they congratulate each other Starfinger’s giant dragon bird appears, grabs on to the spaceship and then disappears, saving Starfinger from capture.

Meanwhile Brainy manages to bring the two Damsels together saving them both just in time.

Finally we go back to Legion Headquarters where Mon-El admits that with DD and BB getting married, two new spots have opened up and he intends to invite Superboy to become a full-time member again. And we see the wraith once again who is determined to fill that other vacant spot…after all they owe it that much and nothing can stop it!

Letters

In the letters page this issue we get a whole lot of praise for issue #197. But what’s interesting this time around is that we actually get an announcement, which must have been a relief of sorts at the time if you bought this real time. The announcement is simply that the series will move to bi-monthly, and that was the reason why this one didn’t hit store shelves until a whole two months after the previous one.

We also get the new address to the Legion of Super-Heroes Fan Club and more speculation about what’s in store. We also get an inclusion of Bob Rozakis who praises Dave Cockrum and that because of LSH being prominently displayed, there’ll be more of his art…but maybe not. Read on to find out why!

Also what I really enjoyed, is that we get a shout out to the colorist. The colorist is Liz Safian who is a ‘reg’lar Jill-of-all-trades…” And she even gets a big salute from the editor who praises her ability to color all these multi-characterized Legion issues.

Finally they were going to run an autobiography of Dave Cockrum but since there wasn’t any more space allowed they’ll defer it to next issue.

Creative Team

This is it. Superboy Starring the Legion of Super-Heroes #200 was, I would argue, the first full issue in the series. And the main reason I can argue this is because we have the introduction of the B-Plot, which is a follow up from Superboy #195. Also #200 really puts the other issues in perspective. With the skipping of one issue to find the concluding segment of the Hand-Gun and Tyr storyline, I would guess that the Fatal Five was probably an inventory story meant to be a multi-parter as a back up and everything we have been getting since 195 has been a lot of filler. Or really all for the sake of keeping LSH fans entertained until they hit issue #200. Plus, as mentioned in 195, Cary Bates was off working on the script for Moonraker so Boltinoff must have been doing a lot of puzzling and problem solving.

With the announcement in the letters page of this book now being a bi-monthly series, I would also venture to guess that the reason for this was Dave Cockrum running late. And could you blame the guy? He was doing all the art for all the LSH stories, including the Bouncing Boy back-up. If you wondered why Bouncing Boy was included last issue, you now know. We needed to be reintroduced to him so they could take him off the table and free up some room for the new direction. And with his and the Duo Damsel’s spots now vacant, it is quite convenient for Superboy to take one and the mysterious character to take the second spot.

Let’s focus on Dave Cockrum for the moment. He flexed this entire issue. He not only had to contend with a lot of characters in the ensuing battles, including a few new ones, but that pinup shot at Bouncing Boy’s wedding is incredible. It has to rank as one of my favorite moments in LSH history because not only does it include everyone (Supergirl even shows up) but the backdrop gives it that incredible science fiction epic feel. Also this pinup would have incredible consequences in the comic book space time continuum. Because if it wasn’t for this pinup, we might not have gotten that legendary combination of Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum on X-Men, as well as the inclusion of some key characters in the X-Men-verse.

Dave Cockrum loved this pin-up as well and he asked for the original back. DC policy being what it was at the time, they refused despite having a period of negotiation. Quite upset and rightfully so, Cockrum ended up jumping to Marvel, and with that jump right to the X-Men office. And the rest is history.

There’s a lot more juice to this, including the characters that might have been Legion members not members of the X-Men. I won’t go into detail here but if you want some great insight and history, then i can direct you to Rob Liefeld’s podcast, Robservations. Liefeld absolutely adores Dave Cockrum and he is also a huge fan of LSH. He hits on the Dave Cockrum topic over two episodes and I included these episodes in the bonus content below. Please do give them a listen they’re very entertaining.

But does this little tidbit make this the most important comic book issue in the history of LSH? The world even? I will let you be the judge of that.

In the meantime this is a great issue and it shows why the LSH is great. Everything is up for grabs and no one is safe. One moment your favorite character could be standing tall and saving their fellow members bacon, and then the next, they’re gone. Forever.

The Legion Medallion of Merit

This one is no surprise. I’m giving the Legion Medallion of Merit to Bouncing Boy. Not only did he take the news of losing his Bouncing powers like a champ, he also wanted to ride out to the sunset with the girls of his dreams. Also, nothing could stop him from going after the women he loved. Even with the loss of his powers, he was willing to go man-to-man with Starfinger. It took Brainiac to physically take him down to stop him. That not only shows incredible bravery, but also resounding proof that if there’s someone you want at your side at any time, it’s Bouncing Boy.

Enjoy friend Bouncing Boy. As you leave the Legion Headquarters perhaps forever, let the sunset reflect off your beloved medal, and may its shining brilliance blind those who ever doubted your loyalty and love for the Legion of Super-Heroes. Godspeed. And long live the Legion!

Bonus Content

Where’s the Beef? The Rivalries that Made Us

Secret History of Comics! Titans! X-Men!

Note: The above links directly to Rob Liefeld’s podcast website. For best results listen to these in the Apple Podcast app.