Member Profile: Ferro Lad

Real Name: Andrew Nolan
Home Planet: Earth
Known Relatives: Douglas Nolan (twin brother)
Height: 5'7"
Weight 155 lbs
Eyes: Unknown
Hair Unknown
1st appearance: Adventure comics 346
Created By: Jim Shooter

Andrew Nolan and his brother Douglas were born mutants with hideous facial features, so hideous they had to hide there faces in masks. They also had the power to turn there bodies as hard as Iron. Andrew Joined the Legion as Ferro Lad, the same time as Karate Kid and Princess Projectra. He had a short and distinguished career, ending when he sacrificed himself to stop the sun eater. Ferro Lad is the first Legionnaire to die and stay dead.

Next time the 2nd story of Superboy # 206 starring my favorite half naked Legionnarie, Princess Projectra.

Superboy # 206 Starring the Legion of Super-Heroes

Superboy # 206 Starring the Legion of Super-Heroes. Cover date Jan-Feb 1975. Cover Price .25 cents. "The Legionnaires who haunted Superboy." Story: Cary Bates, Art: Mike Grell.
Smallville USA, in the middle of the 20th century, Superboy has witness on two different occasions, super feats being done separately by two members of the Legion of Super-Heroes. What is surprising about that is these two members are dead. Ferro Lad died several years ago sacrificing himself to stop the sun eater from destroying the earth. Invisible Kid was killed "recently" stopping the mindless Validus. While recording his thoughts on the matter Superboy is visited by Ferro Lad and the Invisible kid. He quickly checks them out to see if they are indeed real. He can find no evidence that they are not who they seem to be. The two tell him that they have know idea of how they are alive but came to the 20th century because they have been inactive for some time and are out of training and condition. They want Superboy to test them. Just them Superboy's emergency alarm goes off and the three heroes go off to find a huge robot rising up out of the ground. The robot takes Superboy out easily. Superboy tells them to escape but they remind Superboy that they have already died in the line of duty and they are prepared to sacrifice themselves again. They take off and invisible kid distracts the robot while Ferro Lad turns has hard as Iron and attacks from behind and destroys the robot. Invisible kid appears and Superboy agrees that they have what it takes to return to the Legion. After retrieving their hidden time bubble the pair return to Legion Headquarters in the 30th century. Just as they are to touch down in the Legion's court yard the time bubble explodes with the two heroes inside.
Mon-El, Saturn Girl, and Brainiac-5 appear and exclaim that the clones could only survive for 48 hours before they exploded. The clones thought that they were the real thing, but they were grown from cells that the originals donated before they died. In fact they have a huge cell bank of cells from all of the legion members. At least they know that a cloned Legionnaire will be as reliable as the original.
Bits of Legionnaire Business:
Roll Call:

• Superboy
• Invisible Kid (Clone)
• Ferro Lad (Clone)
• Mon-El (Leader)
• Saturn Girl
• Brainiac-5

Equipment used

• Flight Ring
• Time Bubble

Rooms in the headquarters

• Courtyard
• Legionnaire Cell Bank

Notes:
Okay  another time travel story from our good friend Cary Bates. I am not going to knock him again for this no in fact I enjoyed this story a lot, I would like to invite Cary Bates to send me a face book message and discuss the finer points of time travel. I can be found on Face Book as Fred Clyde.
Cover: Nice Nick Cardy cover showing Invisible Kid and Ferro Lad coming to Superboy rescue.
Page 3:
Ferro Lad destroys the building before Superboy could, nice display of Ferro Lad's powers.
page 5:
Clark Kent walking a very pretty class mate to school, one question where is Lana?
Page 6:
 Superboy seems confused to find his two dead friends alive in the 20th century. Why? They could of time traveled to the past before they died to have one of the many undocumented Legion adventures. This should of been one of the reasons that came to mind with him being an expert in time travel.
Page 8:
Superboy has a red crisis alarm light bulb in the ceiling of his basement lab.
Page 9:
Nobody questions the appearance of an advanced robot in 20th century smallville?
Page 10:
The robot takes Superboy down quite easily while the 2 under powered heroes do what Superboy cannot, I smell set up.
Page 13:
The legion has a cell bank, wow that is mind boggling. By the way why did not the master in last issue just steal the cell bank and make as many Legion clones as he wanted, it would be much quicker than that breading idea.
Next time: Member Profile on Ferro Lad.

Member profile: Superboy

Real Name: Kal-El
Alias: Clark Kent
Home Planet: Krypton
Hair: Black
Eyes: Blue
Height: not sure
Weight: Don't Know
Know Relatives: Jor-El and Lara Parents. Jonathan and Martha Kent adoptive parents. Kara Zor-El.
Powers: Super Strength, Super Speed, Vision Powers, Invundable Super Hearing, Super Breath.
Created by: Siegel and Schuster

This will be a quick and easy one. Wanted to put up a post today and figured I would have to do no research on this one, besides I am saving Ultra Boy for a post down the road,
Kal-El, rocketed from the exploding planet Krypton, landed on earth, adopted by a Kansas farm couple, grew up to become Superman.

Next Time: Superboy #206 Starring the Legion of Super-Heroes.

Superboy Starring the Legion of Super-Heroes # 205

Superboy # 205 Starring the Legion of Super-Heroes. "The Legion of Super-Executioners." Story Cary Bates, Art: Mike Grell, Cover date Nov-Dec 1974, Cover price 60 Cents.
One day in 20th century Smallville, Lana Lang surrounded by friends and Family blows out the candles on  a birthday. On of the attendance is Clark Kent secretly Superboy. As Clark hands Lana a present she bemoans to herself that it was foolish to hope that Superboy would remember her birthday with all the things on his mind. Later that night Lana is laying on her bead reading when Superboy appears sitting on her window sill. Superboy is there to give Lana his present, a trip to the 30th century to attend a Meeting of the Legion of Super-heroes. After telling her parents where she is going , Lana lets Superboy wrap his indestructible cape around her body to protect her from the time stream. The pair leave the time stream above Legion headquarters in 30th century Metropolis. Just being Superboy's girl friend is usually not enough to get someone into a Legion meeting but Lana is also a Member of the Legion Reserve in her Identity of Insect Queen. Using her Bio Ring Insect queen can duplicate the abilities of any insect. Lana and Superboy are greeted by a very glum looking group of Legion Members. Shrinking Violet, Wildfire, and Karate Kid tell them that the monthly meeting and all other activities were suspended until further notice, that they are in the midst of a real crisis. They show the Superboy and Lana the communications room that look like an Ion Tornado went through there. Wildfire explains that it took five of them to overcome the culprit before he wrecked the Citadel. They tell Superboy that they have the person responsible locked up in the Triple security cell and to be prepared for a shock. Superboy uses his x-ray vision to look into the cell and sees a crazed looking Ultra boy being restrained by an electronic straight jacket.
  In the meeting room Legion Leader Mon-El and Chief scientist and all around smart guy Brainiac-5 fill Lana and Superboy on what is going on. They ran every test on Ultra Boy and still do not know what made him go insane. Superboy volunteers to go into the cell and see if he can get through to Ultra Boy. Brainiac-5 warns Superboy that Jo Nah, Ultra Boy has all of the powers that he has, but can only use them one at a time, and that the madness has boosted his strength so that Ultra boy is stronger that Superboy or Mon-El. Superboy goes into the triple security cell any ways. Ultra Boy breaks out of his electronic straight jacket and attacks the teen of steel. Superboy holds his off but Ultra boy grabs Superboy's cape and ties him up and is applying enough pressure to knock Superboy out. Outside the cell Lana is sensing something is wrong and has Mon-El open the door and pull the unconscious lad out of the cell. Shadow Lass, Mon-El and Lana stand watch as Superboy regains consciousness. They hand him his cape, still tied in a knot. Known of the heroes could figure out how to untie the knot. Superboy tells them it is a special not that Ultra-Boy taught him and unties it as Brainy rushes into the room. Brainiac says he has found the cause of Jo's maniacal rages. He ties the virus back thousands of years and equates it to demonic possession. He tells every one that experiments done in the 27th century proved that these fits were brought on by a virus. The only cure is water form the oceans of a twin ringed plant thousands of light years away. It is decided that either Superboy or Mon-El have to go because they are the fastest. Superboy volunteers stating that the Legion can not afford to be without it's leader. After getting the star coordinates Superboy takes off and the team tells him that they will take care of Ultra boy and Lana as well. As soon as Superboy is out of sight Mon-El forcibly grabs Lana, she tells him to let her go, but Shadow lass tells her that they are "taking care" of her like they promised.  At the same time Brainiac-5 and Karate Kid enter the cell to find a sane Ultra Boy. Ultra Boy asks if it is time for another shot of the madness drug, that they have been giving him. Brainiac-5 tells him that now that Superboy is off on a wild goose chase that can proceed with their real plan. They escort him out into the hall, and Jo pleads with them to let him help them. He reflects that the last few days have been a nightmare, every Legionnaire expect him has gone crazy. Still weak from the drugs he tries to make a break for it and knocks Brainiac-5 down but gets taken out easily by Karate Kid.
 Ultra Boy comes to tied to a post next to Lana. Mon-El flies down and ask if they have any last words before the firing squad arrives. He tells them that the "Master" had decreed that they must die. Jo because he was immune to the masters control and Lana because she is not a true Legionnaire.
Mon-El puts on special glasses on Ultra Boy so that he emits Ultra Vision so that he cannot use his ultra-invulnerability. Shadow Lass, Karate Kid, Brainiac-5 and Wild Fire are the firing squad. Mon-El gives the command and they blast Ultra boy and Lana. The 5 heroes leave the lifeless duo and return to the secret project that the master wants finished before Superboy returns.

Lana as insect queen
 

Lana and Jo are surprised to find that they were just stunned and are still alive. Superboy shows up and explains that he figured out Jo's clue. When they were fighting earlier Jo tied Superboy up with his own cape using a Hoax Knot from Ultra Boy's Home planet of Rimbor. Instead of continuing into space, Superboy doubled back and found out that Ultra Boy was the only sane Legionnaire left. At super speed he deflected the execution squads blast so it just stunned Lana and Ultra boy and splint the posts. As Superboy explains that he and Jo were the only ones that the Master could not control, Lana changes into her Insect Queen costume. Superboy leads them into the complex and shows them the project the master has the team working on, building a giant space ark. All of a sudden Lana takes off to an abandon store room and Ultra Boy follows. In the store room he finds Lana under control of the Master. The master has Lana fight him and then turns into a deadly wasp woman and while Ultra boy is using his super strength she stings him with her poison stinger. Superboy flies in checking on his missing friends to find Insect Queen standing over a lifeless  Ultra Boy. The master threatens to have Insect Queen destroy herself if Superboy tries anything. He then explains that he is the last of his race and is Immortal by human standards. He explains by using his mind melder helmet he has taken control of the Legion, and has them building the Space-ark. When finished he will take his slaves to another planet far away where he will breed them until he has a vast legion army and then conquer the galaxy. Just as he uses the helmet to order the whole Legion to the store room to kill Superboy, Ultra boy surprises him and removes the helmet and destroys it. Lana explain while she could not resist the masters command to sting Ultra boy, she manage to change to a non poisonous wasp so it would not be fatal. They lock the Master up in the triple security cell and explain what has been going on to the now free but confused Legion.
Bits of Legionnaire Business"

Roll Call:

• Superboy
• Ultra Boy (Jo Nah)
• Mon-El (Leader)
• Wildfire
• Shadow Lass
• Shrinking Violet
• Karate Kid
• Brainiac-5
• Insect Queen (reserve member)

Rooms in the Headquarters:

• Court yard
• Communications room
• Triple security cell
• Meeting room
• unnamed medical room
• Hanger
• Store room

Legion equipment:

• Blaster
• Medical equipment
• Jo's straight jacket

Notes:
Page 2

• Lana's birthday cake has 17 candles, so she is either 16 or 17, (one to grow on)
• Mike Grell draws Lana's mom to look like a milf. The look on Pete Ross's face is "Lana's mom has got it going on."
• Superboy shows up at Lana window like a kryptonian stalker.

Page 3

• Lana's parents were okay with there teenage daughter going off to the 30th century with a guy who's real name they do not know.
• When they show the time stream there are little blocks showing different years the first one shown is 1956. We can guess if that is the year the 20th century part of the story take place in, and that Lana is just turning 16, which means that in modern times (1974) Lana is 34 years old and so is Superman.

Page 10 and 11

• A weak Ultra Boy takes out Brainiac-5 easily but Karate Kid wipes the floor with him.

Page 13

• The blast that the Legion execution squad fires destroys the post but not the clothes on Lana and Ultra boy. Dam comics code!

Page 14

• Jo says the knot came from his home planet of Nimbor. Jo is from Rimbor. This was the first time I ever noticed this mistake, I must of read this book over a dozen times over the decades and never saw it, but reading it a 3:00 in the morning to get ready for this post I saw it. I then took out my copy of Legion archives number 11 and found that they fixed it in the archives addition.

Page 15

• Lana changes into her Insect queen costume. Where did she keep it, she is not caring a bag and while the body suit would of fit under her clothes, where did the mask, wings and ring come from?

Page 18

• Great Mike Grell drawing of Lana as a Spider woman.

Page 19

• Who the hell is the "Master". He is immortal from a race we have never heard of before or since. His back story is never mentioned and he does not appear ever again.

Great story, I did not like the villain, I loved the mystery of why Ultra boy went crazy and then that the Legion looked like they were evil, well done Mr. Bates. This is one of the first Legion books that I can remember buying on the stands from one of my towns convenient stores, not sure which one but that was 38 years ago and I was only 10.
Besides the Villain my only real nick pick with this story is that it is explains that because of there power level the master could not control Superboy or Ultra Boy, what about Mon-El. He has the same powers as Superboy and given that he is older and a little bigger he could be even stronger than Superboy, but he is shown to be firmly under the Masters control. The only thing I could think of is that he could only control one hero with that power level and he chose Mon-El because he is more powerful than Ultra boy and could not risk taking Superboy out of the Time stream to father his new race of slaves.
That's it until next time when we will do a Member profile on Superboy.

Member Profile: Brainiac-5

Real Name: Querl Dox
Home Planet: Colu
Known Relatives: Vril Dox (20th century ancestor)
Height: 5' 10"
Weight: 160 pounds
Eyes: Green
Hair: Blonde
Powers: Super Intelligence
1st appearance: Action comics 276
Created By: Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney
Notes:
  Easily the smartest member of the Legion of Super-Heroes, and the one of the most troubled. He is descended from one of the most vile villains in history Brainiac. He himself created the Monster Computo, who is responsible for the death of hundreds, and the Maiming of one of his own teammates. Heart broken over failed romance with Supergirl, created a Supergirl android in his sleep. But he is also responsible for the most used piece of Legion equipment, the Legion Flight Ring. He perfected the serum that allows Mon-El to be an active member of the team. Has used his abilities to save his teammates lives countless number of times. He is one of the creators of the Time bubble, a device that when used correctly can help in obtaining knowledge that is lost to the centuries. For the time period that we are covering this is one of the more fleshed out members of the Legion. And on the the horizon there is more triumphs and tragedy to come. As Kermit the frog once said "it is not easy being green."
Next Time: Superboy # 205 Starring the Legion of Super-Heroes

Superboy # 204 Starring the Legion of Super-Heroes " Brainiac-5's Secret Weakness"

"Brainiac-5's secret weakness" Story: Cary Bates, Art: Mike Grell
Star Boy and a very tired Brainiac-5 board a Legion cruiser to go on a much needed furlough. Saturn Girl who is at the landing deck to see them off.  comments about how much Brainiac-5 needs this vacation. Brainy agrees, and tells them that he has been very tired but has been sleeping regularly. The two Legionnaires take off and Brainiac is preoccupied with memories, bittersweet memories of the one girl he ever loved the one girl he could not have, Supergirl. Back at headquarters Saturn girl and Cosmic boy is surprised by a mysterious visitor, a person that they would not see again.
  The Legion cruiser approches Recreation Asteroid-7 a man made paradise of fun and pleasure. Brainy goes to check in whle Star Boy goes off to have fun. After he checks in Brainiac-5 is shocked to run into, Supergirl. The blonde of steel tells Brainiac-5 that she can survive without the Legion but life is meaningless without him. The two share a kiss. Hours later Star boy is looking for his teammate, the woman at the front desk tells him that Brainiac check out and had a very pretty blonde wearing an "S" emblem with him. Star Boy is bewilldered to the fact that Supergirl is here, he thought that the kryptonian cutie would not leave her time in the 20th century again. Star boy catches up with them at the Legion cruiser which is all ready to take off. Brainiac-5 tosses Star boy his ring and tells him that he is quiting to be with Supergirl.Star boy tries to talk him out of it but a love sick Brainiac-5 will not hear of it and closes the hatch leaving Star boy to break the bad news to the Legion. On the other end of a trans spacial radio call the team on earth find the new hard to believe.
  Thousands of miles away in the Legion cruiser, Brainiac and Supergirl run into a deadly belt of zotron radiation, who's rays are so concentrated they will filter through the ship and vaporize them into nothing. Supergirl who should be invundable to the radation wraps Brainiac up in her indestructible cape that should protect him from the zotron rays. An instant later the cruiser is blasted with the deadly zotron particles. Brainiac thanks Kara and says it was lucky that she was with him. But Supergirl tells him she was not with him she was on earth at the legion base when Star boy called, she got there just in time. She points to a female shaped robot on the floor, and tells him that she saw the zotron rays destroying the android and her syntheic cape and quickly stepped in to shield him. Brainiac-5 is devastaed the woman he thought was Supergirl was an android he wondered where it came from. Using the last of it energy the android told him that it stowed away on the cruiser before he left earth. And that he was responsible, he created it. The android explained that driven by loneliness, his subconscious mind complled him to build his own Supergirl. Every night for the past couple of weeks, Brainiac walked in his sleep and spent a few hours each night methodically building a perfect Supergirl android. The sleeping Brainiac programed the android to replace the void that Supergirl left in his life, He programed it to love him. The android was done the last of it circuits burt out. Supergirl seeing that the zotron rays had overheated the cruiser photon engines , wraps Brainiac-5 in her cape just before the ship explodes.
 Back on the Legion headquarters on earth Supergirl explains what she was doing here in the 30th century, resigning from the legion, she could not handle being even a part time Legionnaire like her cousin Supberboy. But she she tells them that someday she will return and that maybe they can pick up where they left off.
Bits of Legionnarie Buisness:
Roll Call:

• Brainiac-5
• Star Boy
• Saturn Girl
• Cosmic Boy
• Supergirl

Legion Equipment:

• Flight ring
• Legion cruiser

Planets visited:

• Recreation astroid 7

Notes:
A very good story, it fleshes out Brainiac-5 a little, and builds a little on how unstable his computer like mind is. This story also give us a chance to see Mike Grell draw my favorite supergirl costume, red short shorts, blue v neck, the S emblem over her right breast.
Star boy in this story could be replaced by any member of the team, he is only there to give Brainy a travel compainion and somebody to tell the team he took off with the Supergirl android.
Good to see that the 30th century has a pleasure planet, did not want Star Trek to have the only one.
So Brainy quits the team, takes the cruiser and leaves star boy with out a ride home, nice friend.
Supergirl being in the 30th century the same time as Brainy sleeps builds a Supergirl sex-bot, er I mean andriod, a little too conveinent, but I will give it a pass. If you are going to have a crush on a kryptonian, you cannot do better than the chick of steel. I like Brainiac's purple PJ's, this is the 2nd Legion member we get to see in their night clothes.

Brainy's Pjs
 

Next time Member Profile: Brainiac-5.

Superboy #204 Starring the Legion of Super-Heroes

Superboy # 204 Starring the Legion of Super-Heroes. "The Legionnaire nobody remembered. Cover dated Sept.-Oct. 1974, Cover Price .20 Cents. Story: Cary Bates, Art: Mike Grell.

In the vast Headquarters of the Legion of Super-heroes, in 30th century metropolis a group of Legion members Look at a photo grid that Lightning Lad found in their official records vault. The photo was 4 members of the team sitting around the table. Lightning Lad, Cosmic boy, Saturn Girl, and Anti Lad. The photo had the 3 founders looking younger and in their older uniforms. They all asked Who is Anti Lad?
  To answer that question we leave the team and jump 4500 years into the future into the 75th century. We meet a young man calling his father into his cubicle, something terrible had happen.  The younger man told his father that he was time-peeping into the remote past using his time scanner, to watch how Superboy joined the Legion of Super-Heroes. Calling the screen up on the scanner the young man shows his father, Superboy being rejected by Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy and Lightning Lad. The three heroes where shocked that Superboy failed their initiation. Back in the 75th century The father says something is very wrong and that everyone knows that Superboy passed that test admirably and joined the Legion. After disassembling and examining the time scanner, they find it is defective and rays of the scanner have warped the time stream and altered the portion of the past, namely Superboy's Membership in the Legion. The father is concerned without Superboy in the Legion the entire course of history will be thrown out of control. He explains by using ancient dominoes to show that when one is knocked down the others follow, and now that Superboy never joined the team their will be a ripple effect and time from that point forward will be changed. The Father leaves to take this up with the Science Court, who will surely send an agent to Superboy's era and get him rightfully inducted into the Legion. But the kid thinks it is all his fault and wants to fix it himself. He puts together a gadget in the shape of a visor, that he admits is only a child's toy in his time but 4500 years in the the past it will be his secret weapon. He then enters the restricted chamber that house the timesmitter, his father like all members of the science court has one but the use is forbidden. The Lad steps into the timesmitter and sets the controls for his first stop, 5500 years ago to the 20th century.
  In the 30th century in the early days of the Legion, inside their smaller original clubhouse, a group of Legionnaires are having a meeting. Cosmic boy tells of Superboy's disappointing failure, and opens the floor to other nominations for a new member. Out of nowhere the boy from the far future appears on top of the table. He introduces himself as Anti-Lad and he wants to be their new members. Cosmic boy is a little pissed off but tells Anti-Lad that he can show off what he can do outside. The first opponent in these combat trials is Lightning Lad. Lightning Lad fires his stun bolts at Anti lad who's uniform suddenly becomes insulated, he absorbs the electric charge and sends it back to Lightning Lad and it knocks him to the ground. Colossal Boy is next and picks up Anti-Lad and grows to giant size. All of a sudden colossal boy sinks into the ground, as Anti-Lad laughs at him and tells him how easy it was to take advantage of Colossal Boy's own weight. Next up is the current Leader of the team Cosmic boy himself. Standing face to face Cosmic boy magnetically draws a small meteor swarm from space on a direct course to Anti-Lad. But before the meteorites can stun Anti-Lad they boomerang back into space. Anti-Lad then uses Cosmic boy's own powers against him and Magnetically pins him to the metallic wall of the clubhouse. Anti-Lad lets him down and they go inside to talk about his membership. Around the table they take a Photo-grid, something they do to all applicants that pass the preliminary tests.
   Later Cosmic boy and Brainiac-5, ask Anti-Lad more about himself. The boy from the far future tells them that he has always had the ability to change someones strength into a weakness by turning their own powers against them. Brainiac-5 asks him about the visor he is wearing. Anti-Lad explains that everything would be dark without it and that he comes from a faraway planet with a sun 1000 time brighter than earths. They call it a night and escort Anti-Lad to guest quarters and that they will resume the membership tests in the morning. In private Brainiac-5 cannot shake the feeling that Anti-Lad is not what he says he is and is lying. Late that night in the dark a hand takes Anti-Lad's visor and believes that soon he will learn the truth about him. Suddenly Anti-Lads peaceful sleep is interrupted as the lights come on, he Shields his eyes from the sudden brightness. Brainiac-5 asks him why a person who grew up under a super-bright sun would be shielding his eyes from a mere light like this? Soon the other members are alerted and Anti Lad is restrained. Brainiac-5 examines the visor and tells the team that it is a computer light years ahead of any technology he has seen. He tells them that Anti-Lad powers comes from the visor, the computer analyses the strength of each opponent and instantly creates the correct counter move to overcome him. He also says that if he reads the circuits correctly the computer recently analyzed and manufactured Kryptonite, Superboy;s only weakness. They have Anti-Lad remove his boots and Brainiac-5 finds 20th century minerals in his cleats. Anti-Lad confess that he followed Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl and Cosmic boy back to the 20th century and used his visor to mess up Superboy's test. Anti-Lad reflects that the stop he made in smallville to get earth particles paid off, toughing an hidden button he activates the timesmitter to transport himself back to the 75th century. Once Anti-Lad is gone the team has no memory's of the last 24 hours except that they should give Superboy another initiation test. Back in the 75 century the teen how called himself Anti-Lad explains that he programmed his visor to implant in each of the legion members a post hypnotic command ordering them to have no memory of Anti-Lad once he disappeared. The only evidence of his journey to the 30th century was the Photo-grid.

Bits of Legionnaire business.
Roll Call

• Mon-El (Leader)
• Lightning Lad
• Cosmic boy (Leader past)
• Saturn Girl
• Superboy
• Phantom Girl
• Colossal Boy
• Brainiac-5

Rooms in the Headquarters

• Record vaults
• Meeting Room (old headquarters)
• Guest Quarters (old headquarters)
• Brainiac-5 Lab (old headquarters)

Notes:
Another Time travel story, I know I bitch about these, and for a book that takes place in the future I should just accept them but they still bug me. Maybe they will be better when Shooter takes over in a few issues. Again do not take this the wrong way I love this version of the Legion and I think Bates is a good writer, but looking back almost 40 years it is easy to find problem.
  I thought it was interesting to start the story with a mystery of who was Anti-Lad.
 So in the future people do not have hair? Or is just this family? we only see these 2 people so it is not clear.
It was nice that Dad had an old box of domino's to show his son. Most homes today do not have them,
I liked how Anti-Lad used the Legion's powers against them in his test.
So Anti-Lad planned to get caught, sounds like one of Hannibal Smith of the A-team plans. "I pity the fool".
Another good but kind of silly story.

Next time: the 2nd story of this issue: "Brainiac-5's Secret weakness!" Hint it has blond hair.

Member Profile: Invisible Kid

Invisible Kid



• Real Name: Lyle Norg
• Home Planet: Earth
• Height: 5'7"
• Weight: 140 lbs
• Eyes: Brown
• Hair: Brown
• Known Relatives: Mother and Father unnamed.
• Powers: The ability to turn invisible.
• 1st app: Action comics 267
• Created by: Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney

Notes
Lyle Norg was a child prodigy, sometime in his early teens he develop a formula that changed his body's chemistry and allowed him to turn invisible at will. Lyle was an Honored member of the team, He severed one term as Leader, most notably during the first Khund invasion, the devil's dozen caper and the time the Legion was outlawed by Universo. For most of his time with the Legion he did not have a steady girl friend but, the last few weeks of his life he was involved with Myla the ghost girl. Who after Lyle died said that she would take care of him. Lyle was killed by Validus under the control of Tharok's electronic brain.

Next time: The first story of Superboy # 204, or "Great another time travel story"

Superboy 203 Starring the Legion of Super-Heroes

Superboy # 203 Starring the Legion of Super-Heroes, "Massacre by Remote Control."
Cover date: July-Aug. 1974, Cover cost .20 Cents, Story: Cary Bates, Art: Mike Grell.
It is dark when 4 black clad individuals approach the wall of the Legion Citadel. Each member of the foursome dressed from head to toe in black spandex, the only identifying marking is a roman numeral on the chest of each of them. A man with the numeral "I" smashes through the wall. In a monitor room else where in the headquarters an alarm goes off. Mon-El tells Sun boy to alert the others.
Number I tells his group to split up and that they only need one of them to get through to accomplish their mission. Number one enters the building through a ventilation duct. A shapely woman with "III" on her chest comments to the man marked with "IV" that no one will expect an invasion from underground. IV touches the ground and an electrical burst digs a whole in the ground. Number II says he will make his own entrance using his special power to turn a section of the wall into sand.
Deep within the ventilation shaft number I is almost home free when a flash of light blinds him, he loses his grip and falls to the floor, and to the feet of Sun boy the legionnaire who generates awesome amounts of light and heat. In the lowermost level of the fortress another electrical burst clears the way for  III and IV. Mon-El who is as powerful as Superboy was patrolling the level , uses his super strong and elastic cape to to tie the couple up. The final intruder successfully penetrates the Legions Museum. He takes a small microscopic fuse from a hidden pocket and counts backwards from 5. When he reaches 0 and infra red glow encases the entire edifice. Superboy tells Sun Boy to search every chamber while he heads to the museum. The last man in black tells Superboy he is too late and that he knows what the infra-red effect meant. It meant that number II won and the legion lost. The man in black removes his mask to reveal that he is Element Lad the legionnaire who can transform one element into another by his sheer will power. Superboy congratulates Jan on winning the practice drill, and if this was for real an intruder could detonate a bomb instead of a harmless infra-red cocoon. The pair continues to talk when the other three members of Element Lad's squad enters sans their masks. Karate Kid aka I, Lightning Lad, II, and III the beautiful Phantom Girl. Mon-El enters the room mad as hell demanding to know where the member who was suppose to be on duty in the museum is. Invisible kids materializes in front of the group and collapses to the the ground.
   Mon-El rushes Lyle Norg the Invisible kid to the Legion's advanced medical Lab where Brainiac-5 gives a quick examine. The Legion's super genius finds that Lyle is suffering from shock, and states that something must of happened to him while he was invisible. Brainiac-5 uses the Mento-Scanner to probe the memory cells of his patient. On the screen it shows Lyle's recent memories, It shows an invisible world and Lyle meeting with a beautiful ghostly woman named Myla. Myla tells the invisible kid something but all of a sudden the screen explodes. At the same time the mento-screen violently shatters, Invisible kid wakes up with memory of what happens, he drops the subject and leaves the medical lab.Brainiac-5 deduces that what ever Myla told the kid was so startling it sent him into sudden shock, a shock so severe his brain jolted the scanner with an overload. Brainiac-5 diagnoses that the kid is suffering from hysterical amnesia and does not remember what Myla told him that sent him into shock. The next day Invisible kid is back in the museum talking to Phantom Girl. The kid shows Phantom girl how he sees the invisible world of Myla, and that soon he is going to ask her to marry him and come to our world. Throughout the last couple of days the separated parts of Tharoks electronic brain reassemble itself. That night A scream goes out through the headquarters. It is coming from Dream Girl's quarters, her powers gave her a dream of Validus attacking the legion. The only person that could order the mindless Validus is Tharok the Leader of the Fatal Five. Tharok is millions of miles away in a space prison. Saturn girl is picking up thought waves from Tharok summoning Validus. Superboy takes off to check out the space prison while Mon-El puts the headquarters on Red Alert.
 Soon on Space Prison complex x33, the warden tells the boy of steel that Tharok is not behind the attack on the legion, Tharok who had been injured in a recent battle with the Legion, (some of his brain components dislodged and are now in Legion custody,) is going through emergency surgery to keep his robot half from breaking down.
   Invisible Kids is back on duty in the museum and Brainiac-5, Sun boy and Phantom Girl are in the main control room. They noticed a large blip on the radar, and a smaller blip coming to intercept it. The large blip turns out to be Validus and the smaller blip is Superboy. As Superboy attacks the giant sized monsters he thinks to himself that he knows what is behind the attack. Superboy is stunned by an energy charge and is thrown earthward and crashes through the roof of the Legion's headquarters.
 Before the team can come to the aid of their fallen comrade Validus smashes through the wall. Karate Kid and Sun Boy try and hold off Validus while Phantom Girl and Brainiac-5 go and alert the others. Validus makes short work of Sun Boy and Karate Kid and continues on deeper into the headquarters. Phantom girl tries to warn Invisible Kid in the museum but he is no where around. Else where Mon-El tries to stop Validus but is stop by near lethal energy bolts. At the same time an invisible Invisible kid has figured out that Tharoks brain component are still active and is signaling Validus. Just before he can dismantle the brain  Validus bursts into the room and picks up invisible kid while the kids holds the glowing brain in his hand. As Validus squeezes the life out the Kid, Lyle cracks the brain in his hand. Moments later the mindless Validus no longer controlled by the brain components flees the citadel unaware of the havoc he had wrought. The team burst into the museum to see Lyle's lifeless body. Myla appears in her ghostly form and tells them that she is from a dimension of the dead and somehow Lyle could journey there while still alive. She told lLyle that she was dead and that what sent him into shock. But now that he his no longer living she will take good care of him in her world. The team is sad for losing a comrade but happy to know that Myla and Invisible Kid will be together for Eternity.

Bits of Legionnaire Business:
ROLL CALL:

• Mon-El (Leader)
• Superboy
• Phantom Girl
• Invisible Kid (Lyle Norg)
• Sun Boy
• Element Lad (Jan Arrah)
• Karate Kid
• Lightning Lad
• Brainiac-5
• Dream Girl
• Saturn Girl

 Places in the Headquarters

• Legion Museum
• Advanced Medical Lab
• Dream Girl's Quarters
• Main Control Room

Legion Equipment

• Mento-Scanner
• Radar

Planets visited:

• Space Prison x33

Inappropriate use to the word Space.

• Space Prison.

Notes:
This has to be the longest synopsis I have written yet, this is a full length 21 page story. The issue really gives Mike Grell a great start to his run as Legion penciller. Nice to see the Legion testing their readiness against an attack, but I wonder why they did not test any of their security devices? Except for Phantom Girl you can tell by the use of powers which of the Legion are in the black suits. As I mentioned a previous blog, Bates teams up Lightning lad and Phantom girl again, still not sure if he was planning to make them a romantic item. I question when Mon-El ties up the disguised Lightning Lad and Phantom girl why Phantom girl did not use her powers to escape, she was not shown using her powers at all in this issue. I liked seeing the statue of Ferro Lad in the museum. The Mindless Validus is a great foe to put against the team, he beats them easily. Validus is a foe that should only be able to be stopped by teamwork of some of the more powerful members. I like that they do not stop him, it shows how unstoppable he really is. Once a gain we get Dream girl in her night gown, not a complaint.

Dream girl's appearance is short and is only there to tell the team about Validus. she only is shown in two panels. Which is the same as Saturn girl.
    We see parts of Tharok's robotic brain that came loose in their last adventure against him. Huh? Last time we saw Tharok he was locked in the Legion's brig with out any of the team laying a hand on him. This might of happened in one of the many untold tales that pop up from time to time.
 Okay again we combined the word space with another to get a useless term: Space Prison. So far in our coverage we got Space prison and Space Passport.
   I do not feel bad about the death of Invisible Kid, this was the best he was used in years and he was not a well drawn out characters, but at this time who was?

Invisible Kid RIP.


Lyle Norg Born: ? Died: 2974

 



Next Time Member Profile: Invisible Kid