Adventure Comics # 370 Starring the Legion of Super-Heroes

Adventure comics # 370 Cover dated July 1968 Cover Price .12 cents
Cover Credits: Curt Swan and Jack Abel. Writer Jim Shooter, Pencils Curt Swan, Ink Jack Abel.
Last Issue our Heroes, Superboy, Mon-El, Duo Damsel, and Shadow Lass were hiding from the sorcerer Mordru in 20th Century Smallville, They were about to return to the 30th century when Mordru attacked.

 They escape Mordru and his Magic by borrowing underground. Superboy builds a device and gathers the Legionnaire's and his parents all back in their disguises. The device he built will remove their memories of being Legionnaires and reinforce their disguised persona's, this should last for about an hour. The device works and the foursome go about their separate business.
Duo Damsel disguised as Marie Elkins returns to the Parker home, where she was pretending to be a cousin. Shadow Lass returns to the Lang house where she is sharing a bed room with Lana Lang as exchange student Betsy Norcross. Mon-El is living with the Kents as a relative named Bob Cobb a brush sales man and Superboy is of course mild mannered high school student Clark Kent.
   Meanwhile Mordru uses his power to touch the citizens of Smallville brains. The thought is searching probing and all secrets are laid to bare. He sees in several people minds clues to the fact that Clark and his friends are Legionnaires, but when he search their minds he find no memory of them being heroes. He thinks that the heroes are still hiding in Smallville and is determine to find them. Mordru power does have an effect on the heroes, erasing the post hypnotic suggestion which would restore their memories at the end of an hour.
   Mordru summons his army from the 30th century and seals the time travel Lanes so that no one will be able to Leave or enter this time period. To limited the area his men will have to search Mordru uses magical Lightning to shatter the earth around Smallville and raises it off the ground. Higher and Higher the town soars until at the fringes of space it stops it ascent then at Mordru's command an Impenetrable shield forms about the sky island, holding in the air supply and completely isolating the community. The people of Smallville realize that they are in trouble and hopes that Superboy will save them, not knowing that Superboy is among them unaware of who he is. Mordru's army appears  and starts it search for the missing Legionnaires, searching every home looking for secret rooms or any thing that will help their search. The soldiers have gathered up all of the teen-age girls including who they call the prime suspects Betsy Norcross and Marie Elkins. Betsy and Marie cower when the soldiers fire their blasters near them, but Lana Lang attacks the solider but she is pulled off him. The officer sees that the girls are frightened and turns them loose they do not have fire like the power less Lana.
    In the Kent General Store a solider notices Clark resemblance to Superboy and tries to get him to talk by beating his Father. After Jonathan is beaten Clark confess to being Superboy but the soldiers laugh it off because he did not use super-strength to stop his father's beating. The Soldiers leave but they are observed by Pete Ross, Clark's best friend who unknown to Clark knows that he is Superboy. Pete calls Lana to meet him at a deserted house and he tells her that he knows that she is a member of the Legion reservist and that he is an Honorary member. He tells her that Superboy needs their help and that he will have to tell her his secret Identity. Lana scoffs at him and ask why Superboy would confide his secret to him. Pete tells her that he isn't aware that he accidentally found out that he is Clark Kent. He tells Lana how he discovered Clark's Identity on a "camping" trip and tells her to get her Bio Ring and change into Insect Queen. Late at night Lana dressed as Insect Queen turns into a Fly girl and climbs the side of the Kent home. Turning into a caterpillar Queen she spins a cocoon around him including his mouth so he will not wake his sleeping cousin, Her caterpillar form turns into a Butterfly and carries Clark off to meet Pete. They untie Clark and Pete uses a pair of scissors to cut Clark's hair but the scissors break, breaking Clark out of the hypnotic spell he was under. He flies off to get his costume and Reinforcements.
 Back in costume Superboy gets the hypnosis ray and uses it on the other 3 legionnaires. Shortly all of the heroes are dressed in their uniforms and meet Superboy  back at the deserted house with Lana and Pete. Superboy introduces the Legion members to the smallville team and starts to fill them in on his plan.
   The next Morning in the Kent basement Duo Damsel splits into two and Pete Ross is wearing a Superboy costume and his legion flight ring while Superboy is mixing up Make up.
 A little while later troops patrol the streets still looking for the legionnaires when out of the ground comes Mon-El, Duo Damsel, "Superboy" and "Shadow Lass". Mon-El moves a tank out of the way while "Superboy" punches one of the soldiers. The Soldiers fire their Magi Rays on them knocking the heroes down and take them captive. Out of sight the real Superboy and Shadow Lass along with Lana watch as they are marched down the streets. The captive heroes are brought to Mordru's cave throne room he is ready to kill them when Superboy and his two female Friends arrive. Shadow Lass quickly covers the cave in darkness while Superboy starts to beat the stuffing out of Mordru, the heroes think they are winning when Mordru uses his magic on them and knocks them off their feet. He uses his magic to bind them and puts them on trial with a Jury made up of the greatest criminals of the 30th century.

 

 

 

 

 

With Mordru acting as the Judge the "trial" starts with a man name Wraithor acting as the prosecutor and Pete Ross for the defense. The Legion is charged with Anti Crimes against various foes such as the Time Trapper, Universo, Dr. Regulus and several others, but the main charge is that they trapped Mordru in an airless vault where he remained unconscious for years. Mordru asks Pete if he denies any of the charges. Pete tells him that the Legion is proud of protecting the universe from fiends like Mordru. Pete insults the jury, and they come back with a guilty verdict. Mordru sentences them to life imprisonment on the Devil's island of space. But Wraithor has another suggestion. He has designed a Lead/Kryptonite triple steel Inertron vault to entombed them just like Mordru was. Mordru likes the Idea and the 5 heroes and Pete are sealed in the vault and lowered into the Pit. Inside Lana is crying but Superboy tells them that something is off the Kryptonite has not weakened him and Mon-El  is not bothered from the lead even through the serum he uses has worn off. The Kryptonite and the Lead are not the only think that is faked the Inertron walls peal apart like it was tinfoil. Outside the vault they wondered who helped them when Wraithor emerges from the shadows. He explains that he was once a sorcerer and on the council of wizards on the planet Zerox but Mordru discovered a means of stealing their powers and when he took over the planet he made Wraithor his chief lackey in jest. He says Pete's speech broke the spell that mordru had on him and used what little power he had left to fake the death vault. When Wraithor was done explaining he was disintegrated by a blast from Mordru. Mordru cast a spell leaving the Legionnaires powerless and trapped in a force field. Mordru generates a massive fireball of force to hurl at the six helpless mortals. But as Mordru pours his last Iota of terrible force into his weapon and lifts it high above his head to drive it down upon the heroes the cavern walls unable to withstand the presence of the awesome energy, crumble around him and buries him. The heat of the fireball fuses the fallen rubble sealing the villain in. But Six figures make it to the surface. The Legionnaires are the only ones that survived Mordru force field shielded them from the cave in and when their powers returned they were able to dig out. Later after returning smallville to earth Superboy uses the hypnosis ray on Lana having her forget about his secret Identity. He goes to do Pete next but Mon-El grabs the ray and uses it on Superboy having him forget that Pete ever knew his identity. Mon-El tells Pete that it is a reward for helping them. But what he does not mention is that sometime in the Future he will save Superman's Life because he knows his identity.

 When the four heroes get to the Future they expect to find it destroyed, But every thing is well. Invisible Kid tells them that Dream Girl had a vision of Mordru attacking and with the help of the White Witch and Princess Projectra they were able to protect the Legion headquarters from Mordru's Magic and project an Illusion of the headquarters being destroyed. Mon-El smiles a big chauvinistic smile thinking it is Ironic that Mordru was foiled by three girls.

 

Bits of Legionnaire Business

Roll Call:

• Superboy
• Mon-El
• Shadow Lass
• Duo Damsel
• Invisible Kid
• Dream Girl
• Princess Projectra

Guest Starring:

• Lana Lang
• White Witch
• Pete Ross

Villain:

• Mordru

Legion Equipment

• Flight Rings

 

Notes

Page 2:

• Mordru uses his powers against the Legion

Page 3:

• They turn tail and tunnel away from Mordru

Page 4:

• Superboy builds a Hypno ray to use on the Legion. At least he did not use Super Hypnosis.(The worst of his powers)

Page 5 and 6

• Mordru uses his powers to see through the minds of every one in smallville looking for the legion.
• He finds them but does not believe it is them

Page 8:

• Mordru lifts the town of smallville up into pace.

Page 9:

• Mordru has his men gather up all of the Teen-Age girls, the sick pervert.

Page 10:

• Lana attacks a solider while the hypnotised Legionnaires stand by and watch.
• Clark watches as the soldiers beat the snot out of his father.

Page 11:

• Pete Ross figures out what is going on and convinces Lana to kidnap Clark in the middle of the night. One might think this is not the first time Lana has broken into Clark's room.
• 
  Lana Becomes a Fly Girl.
• Not one of those fly girls

Page 12:

• Clark's Hair breaks another pair of scissors.

Page 14

• Superboy's Big plan is to have Pete disguise himself as Superboy and have one half of Duo Damsel dress up like Shadow Lass.

Page 16:

• Superboy is beating the crap out of Mordru until Magic rears it little head again. Magic is almost as much a pain as time travel.

Page 17:

• We get a look at Mordru's S & M play room.

Page 18:

• Pete Ross for the defense. The old saying is the person who defends them self has a fool for a client, what does that mean when Pete is your Lawyer?

Page 23:

• The Legion does not beat Mordru he beats himself having his own fireball bring down the cave on top of him.

Page 24:

• Mon-El says that Pete will save Superman's Life in the future, but I have read a shit load of Superman comics and up till Crisis of Infinite Earths Pete does not Save Superman's life because he knows his Identity. He does go Evil for a little while but that does not happen in a Legion story.
• This is not the last time a Legion Member will hypnotise Superboy without his knowledge.

Page 25:

• Mon-El is a smug bastard saying it is Ironic that Mordru is foiled by three girls.

The ending to this story is the only part that I find weak, but this is my favorite story from the Adventure Run. I first read this in one of the Tabloid size books they published in the 70's. Since then I have picked up the original Issues as well as the Legion archives.

 

Next time back to our coverage of the Legion Stories in Superboy with number 214.

 

Have a Happy and safe new year.

 

D

 

 

 



Merry Christmas

Hi I know this is going up the day after the holiday but I have been a little busy. I just want to wish all of the readers of this little blog a very merry Christmas and a Happy new year. I was not able to find my copy of the Legion holiday story that I was looking for, but hopefully I will find it when it comes time to cover it chronologically.  I hope to keep pushing out post well into the new year continuing on covering the appearances of the Legion in Superboy, but if there are people who want me to cover their later Pre crisis appearances or go back to the Adventure comics Run, Leave a comment on the Blog. I am thinking about getting an Email account for this blog but I will let you know.
Have a happy holiday and I will see you next time with the 2nd part of the the Mordru the Merciless story.

(Hey I was just thinking if you put a red hat on Mordru he might make a good Santa, in an evil sort of way.)

Dave

Adventure Comics # 369 Featuring the Legion of Super-Heroes



Adventure Comics # 369
Cover date: June 1968, Cover Art by Neal Adams. Price  .12 cents
"Mordru the Merciless: Story by Jim Shooter, Pencils by Curt Swan and Inked by Jack Abel.
I took the issues credits from Mike's Amazing world of Dc comics an excellent site, I recommend you check it out.
Synopsis:
Mon-El, carrying and unconscious Superboy leads Duo Damsel and Shadow lass to the Time Chamber. They are being pursued by Mordru the dark lord. They make it to the chamber and Duo Damsel sets the controls and one at a time they step into the time cube and vanish. Mon-El the last to appear recognize that they are in Smallville, in Superboy's time, the 20th Century. Shadow Lass blames their predicament on herself and explains that as a new Legionnaire she was trying to familiarize herself with the New HQ, and while exploring the Sub-Basement she came across a vault. She moved the dial a little when Mon-El came in and told her to stopped. He explains that Mordru is locked away in the vault. Mordru was a Sorcerer from the planet Zerox, decades ago he acquired massive mystic powers and made himself master of his world. Overtime Mordru conquered the outer planets and eventually turned his attention to earth and the united planets, He seamed to be unbeatable until Mon-El came up with a plan to trapped Mordru in an air less vault and negate his powers. When Shadow lass started to open the vault air came in and Mordru used his powers to break free. Mon-El uses the signal device in his flight ring to contact Superboy and moments later Superboy and Mon-El enter the vault like chamber. Mordru is free and uses his magic against both heroes. Magic being the only thing both Mon-El and Superboy are vulnerable to. Superboy gathers up his strength to attack Mordru but the sorcerer blasts him with a magic bolt. Mon-El picks Superboy up and they along with the two female heroes end up in the 20th century. With the story finished our foursome decided how they are going to deal with the problems they have. Originally they thought this would be the first place Mordru would look, but Superboy has second thoughts, it might be too obvious, He might not figure that they would go here, but they will need disguises. They go to Superboy, parents home and and the girls meet Martha and Jonathan Kent. Martha is a little shocked to see a girl with blue skin but gets over it and they come up with a plan to hide the teens. Superboy applies all over body make up to Shadow Lass and she takes on the identity of Betsy Norcross an exchange student and gets taken in by Lana Lang's parents. Duo Damsel takes the name of Marie Elkins a 2nd cousin of Leah Parker the wife of the police chief and moves in with them. Mon-El uses the identity he had the last time he was in Smallville, that of Bob Cobb traveling brush salesman, a Kent family relative.
 Later after the new Identities are in place  Mon-El and Clark notice that Mordru's shadow is blanketing the town searching for the missing Legionaries. When the shadow touches Lana see becomes Mordru's eyes and is programed to watch for the Legionnaires. Shadow Lass in her Betsy disguise uses her powers of shadow to hide the gang in her own shadow. The Shadow passes and Lana returns to normal. Later when Lana is asleep Betsy gets out of bed and meets the others in the Kents Basement. At the meeting they say that they are just going to fade into smallville and hide until they can come up with a plan to battle Mordru. Shadow Lass is worried and frighten and seeks comfort with Mon-El. Duo Damsel tries to do the same with Superboy but the Teen of steel is dense and sends her home through his secret tunnel. That night the pretty brunette cries her self to sleep. Douglas and Leah Parker watch as the young girl sleeps. Next morning at the Langs house Betsy and Lana get dressed in the room they share. At breakfast Betsy makes a slip and almost tells the Langs about the Computer schools that she used to go to. The girls meet up with Clark and he introduces them to Marie Elkins (Duo Damsel). Suddenly the teens start seeing disasters all over town, they seem so real but a calm Bob Cobb (Mon-El) tells them it is an Illusion created by Mordru to get them to expose themselves. When the heroes do not react everything returns to normal. At school the teacher introduces Betsy Norcrosss (shadow lass) to the class. One of the kids notice that she has blue skin on one of her arms. Clark thinks fast and uses a fountain pen to squirt ink in one of the kids faces. The rest of the class thinks that Clark must of squirted Betsy's arm as well. After class Lana reminds Clark about their movie date that night, and Clark suggest that his Cousin Bob and Betsy join them and make it a Double Date. Marie feeling like a fifth wheel leaves them. Just then two truck look like they are going to have a head on collision, neither Clark or Bob dare use there powers and are about to let the drivers get killed when our favorite double D Heroine pick up a school road sign and throws it in front of the truck and it causes the truck to tip over, only causing minor injuries to the driver. Both drivers gush all over Marie and Clark explains that sometimes in emergency people do things that are beyond their normal strength, he makes a joke about doubling their strength. As Marie leaves Clark watches and thinks about how Pretty Duo Damsel is.
  Lana wonders where Superboy is and Clark brushes her off saying that he is probably off on a space mission. They watch as a Human fly robs the Jewelry exchange and hopes that the police can head him off. The heroes remain hiding and on the eighth day of their exile the morning calm breaks with "King" Carter and his gang arrive in smallville and declare that this is their kingdom and they are taking over. The "King" has his men cut the phone lines and threatens the people that if anyone causes trouble he will erase the town. The "King" and his men loot the town and bully all of the residence even Jonathan Kent. Clark watches as the gangsters force his father to give them money. Jonathan tells Clark that he would like to fight them but no one else is willing to help without Superboy to back us up. Clark and Jonathan call on the disguised Legionnaires to convince the townspeople to fight. Marie is shown "talking" a Hardware store owner into helping. And that night Betsy tells Jonathan that she has four others that are willing to help. Jonathan tells them that by tomorrow they will have enough.
   The next morning Jonathan and some neighbors confront the hoods. "King" tells them that the town is in their grip and they are keeping it this way. Jonathan keeps them distracted while other town folks got into position on the roof and start to pelt the hoods with vegetables. the town folk attack the hoods with Clark and Bob secretly using their heat vision to melt down the firing pins on the hoods guns. Shortly the town have got "King" tied up and drag him off to jail. Later the four Legionnaires meet and talked about feeling guilty about telling the town to face up to the hoods while they are hiding from Mordru. They deiced to return to the 30th century and are soon back in costume behind the Kent home. Nearby Lana is watching form her window and sees the Legionnaires, and the spell from Mordru kicks it. Just as they are to head back to the 30th century Mordru appears out of a cloud of smoke. To be Continued next issue.

Bits of Legionnaire Business
Roll Call

• Mon-El
• Shadow Lass
• Superboy
• Duo Damsel
• Saturn Girl (leader in flashback)
• Other members of the Legion in the background (Flashback)

Guest Star

• Lana Lang

Villain

• Mordru

Legion Equipment

• Flight Rings
• Time Cube

Rooms in the Headquarters

• Time Chamber
• Sub-Basement Vault

Notes:
Page 3:

• The Legion appear in Superboy's time and you know it is that because you can see the "Smallville home of Superboy Sign"
• Shadow Lass comes across of a big vault in the lowest Sub-Basement of the headquarters so of course she tries to open it

Page 4:

• Flash back inside a flashback as Mon-El tells Shadow Lass the story of Mordru, the legion's greatest villain who we first see in a flashback to an appearance that we never saw in print.

Page 6:

• Mordru burst from his chamber and Mon-El calls Superboy with a signal from the flight ring.

Page 8:

• Ma Kent looks a little fluster meeting a blue skinned chick. The woman raised an Alien baby and she is shocked by skin color.. WTF.

Page 9:

• The Legion girls con their way into staying at the Parker and the Langs.
• "It's a good thing Superboy dug up some info on all these relative" Duo damsel thinks this while she con's Mrs. Parker. I can just imagine what dirt Clark has on all of his neighbors.

Page 10:

• Shadow Lass saves the day by covering the team in 3 different houses with her shadow. I think this is a little out of the scope of her powers, at least as we seen this far.

Page 11:

• Lana is possessed by Mordru.

Page 12:

• We see the beginning of the Mon-El, Shadow Lass romance and we also see that Clark is a stupid bastard. Duo Damsel is coming on to him and he makes her go home crawling through a tunnel.
• Duo Damsel is a little catty when she thinks that Shadow Lass finally figured out that she was not going to get anywhere with Brainiac-5 with Supergirl around so she sinks her hooks in Mon-El.
• Duo Damsel cries herself to sleep.

Page 13:

• Pervy Chief Parker watches a strange teenage girl sleep.
• We see that Lana and Shadow Lass share a room and maybe a bed, cannot tell if there is a 2nd bed in the room.
• Same Panel Lana starts to take her nightgown off in front of a girl she just met yesterday.

Page 15:

• Mon-El in his Bob Cobb identity just casually strolls through town as all hell breaks loose.

Page 16:

• Clark has Shadow Lass and Mon-El join him on his Date with Lana.

Page 17:

• Superboy and Mon-El are going to let two trucks crash into each other to save their secret Identities.
• Duo Damsel saves the day by throwing a sign under the truck causing it to flip over.

Page 18:

• Clark makes a comment about Duo Damsel having Double strength, I am not sure that this was ever shown before but it makes sense due to her powers of being able to split in to two.
• It is not shown but I swear Clark is using his x-ray vision to check out Duo Damsel's butt.

 

• The Heroes ignore a crook robing the Jewelry exchange.

Page 19:

• With Superboy missing for a week a bunch of hoodlums come into take over the town.

Page 20:

• Hoods take Jonathan's money with his son the most powerful being on the planet just looking on.

Page 21:

• The good people of Smallville beat the crap out of the gangsters.

Page 23:

• The team feeling guilty get ready to return to the 30th century and face Mordru when Lana rats them out.

Page 24:

• Mordru!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is one of my favorite issues of the adventure comics run, we have a small core team, a great villain and some very good Curt Swan art. I am not sure but I think this is where we first see Duo Damsel's crush on Superboy. This is the start of the Mon-El Shadow Lass relationship, up to now she had been flirting with Brainiac-5. Mordru is bad ass, making the two most powerful heroes turn chicken an run and hide. Good issue we will cover the 2nd part in a future blog but....

Next time: A Legion Christmas story, if I can find it.

Member Profice Ultra Boy

ULTRA BOY
Real Name: Jo Nah
Home Planet: Rimbor
Parents: Cray and Mytra Nah
Height: 6'
Weight: 190 lbs
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown
Powers: similar powers of Superboy, and Mon-El (strength, speed, vision, invulnerability, flight) but can only use one at a time.
1st app: Superboy 98
Created by: Jerry Siegel and Curt Swan

As a young teenager Jo Nah was joyriding in a space cruiser when it was swallowed by a radioactive Energy beast. He was saved when a Science Police cruiser saw what happened and blast him out. But not before the radiation he absorb from being inside the beast gave him Ultra energy. Energy that he could channel into one of several amazing powers at a time. His powers were on the same level as Superboy and Mon-El but he could only use one at a time. Joining the Legion he met Phantom Girl and the two has shared a long term relationship. Jo is a former 2 time Legion Leader and is considered one of the Big 3 on the team.

Next time: Adventure comics 369

Superboy # 213 Starring ther Legion of Super-Heroes "Trapped to Live Free to die!"

Trapped to Live Free to Die! Art: Mike Grell & Bill Draut, Story: Jim Shooter

Timber Wolf answering a faint distress signal lands his Legion Cruiser on Nolor IV, a waterless, barren world. Leaving the ship he activates the automatic sentinel system and goes off to look for the source of the signal. He finds the ship and a bald man trapped under a console. He lifts the console and the Man knocks him out with an energy charged mace. The man is the old Legion villain Black Mace, and he is going to leave Timber Wolf stranded on the barren world while he takes the Legion Cruiser. Taking Timber Wolf's flight ring so that the wolf cannot signal his fellow heroes, Black Mace starts to leave when Timber Wolf stops him, by telling him that the Legion craft have auto defenses programmed only to respond to Legionnaires. Mace remembers that he heard about a mug who tried to steal a Legion ship and got hung up by automatic defenses. He takes the Wolf with him but warns him that he turned his mace up to full power and one dose and poof, Timber Wolf would just be ashes. The door to the ship automatically opens when the pair approach. Inside Mace has Timber wolf sit in the pilot chair but the ship reacts just as Timber Wolf hoped. It treats him as an unauthorized pilot and trapped the Legionnaire in an Plastie globe. Every power systems in the ship shut down. Black Mace pissed off that Timber Wolf made a fool out of him, uses his mace and smashes the globe. But it does not shatter the globe but it weakens it enough so that Timber wolf can break free and use his speed strength and agility against Black Mace. But the Mace fights back and the two goes back and forth, Timber Wolf picks up the Mace's weapon and uses it against him but Black Mace's suit was insulated. Just as Black Mace is going for a killing blow Timber Wold activates the flight ring that Mace is wearing so it lifts him up and smacks him into the ceiling. Recovering his ring and turning off the ship defense Timber Wolf retrains the criminal and takes off, thinking that all Black Mace need to steal the ship was the Ring any one trying to fly the ship with out one is considered an intruder, Not even a Legionnaire can fly the ship without a ring.

Roll Call:

• Timber Wolf

Villain:

• Black Mace

Legion Equipment:

• Legion Cruiser
• Flight Ring

Notes:
Page 1:

• Timber Wolf references his time at Legion Academy before he became a Member of the team.

Page 2:

• Black Mace 1st appeared in Adventure Comics 374.
• Jim Shooter reminds us that bald men are evil.

Page 3:

• Timber Wolf cons Black Mace into taking him with him.
• Timber wolf is channeling his inner John Travolta, (a boy in the plastic bubble reference)

Page 5:

• Black Mace and Timber wolf go toe to toe.

Page 6:

• Timber wolf activates the flight ring and sends mace flying.

Another issue where the single hero back up is better than the main story. This is the first story where we have a 2nd artist credited, Bill Draut, I assume that he is Inking the story but the credits do not list who does what. Timber Wolf vs the Black Mace today would be a multiple page fight but here Shooter and Grell show the fight in about a page and a half of action. Not looking forward to Superboy 214 which is why after the next blog posts Member Profile on Ultra Boy I am taking a short break from this title to do a Two part story from Adventure comics, featuring Mordru the merciless.

Superboy 213 Starring the Legion of Super-Heroes

Cover Date December 1975, Cover Price .25 cents. " The Jaws of Fear" Art: Mike Grell, Story: Jim Shooter.
 In the Legion Council Chamber, Members of the Legion of Super-Heroes are discussing team issues, while out side the room a man is bypass the iron clad security of the Legion Headquarters in a variety of ways. He walks on air with anti grav shoes, he changes into a beam of light and even into a gas form to avoid the security devices. He appears in the Legion council Room, and introduces himself Benn Pares the greatest burglar in the galaxy. This does not sit well with the Legion and hot headed Wildfire tackles him to the ground but he vanishes out of his grasp, and reappears across the room. Brainiac-5 says he has never heard on him and that there is no Benn Pares in their Files Burglar of otherwise. Of course he was never heard of he is the best, and has never been caught or even left a clue. Benn tells them he has gotten bored and needed a new challenge so he has decided to steal the Legion;s Miracle Machine within 48 hours. The thief then walks out of the building with no one trying to stop him. Acting Leader Brainiac-5 sends Chameleon Boy and Superboy to check on the miracle machine to make sure it is still there. Saturn Girl had tried to use her telepathic powers or Pares, but all she learned is that he has a sixth sense which wars him of traps and alarms and some unique powers to over come them. She also caught a vague thought of huge jagged white gates, somewhere in space sector 14. Superboy and Chameleon boy return with the miracle machine still sealed in its cube on inertron, the other Legionnaires report that the security systems check out A-okay. They plan to guard it tonight, and Brainiac reminds them of how dangerous the machine is, if used by an untrained user.
  The Miracle Machine was entrusted to the Legion by the Controllers (think guardians of the universe, except Pink and tall instead of short and blue.) The machine converts thoughts into reality, any think the user thinks of happens, if used incorrectly it could enslave the whole galaxy or worse. Lightning Lad suggest that they just destroy it, the team spends time arguing about it until Brainy puts it to a vote. We do not see the vote but afterwards Superboy and Ultra Boy tear the inertron cube to unpack the Machine. The super strong teens then use there powers to smash the machine but nothing happened they could not even dent it. The energy based members of the team, Wildfire, Lightning Lad, Sunboy, Ultra Boy and Superboy used there powers on the machine to no effect. They talked about other options but they decide to guard the machine in the headquarters. Superboy packs it back up while Shrinking Violet, Phantom girl and Chameleon Boy, use their powers and try to pierce the additional defenses that Brainiac-5 devised and fail.The team spends the night in the vault with the machine, but in the morning they find that they have been robbed, not the Miracle Machine but of the clock that was on the vaults wall. Pares is toying with the Legion proving he can steal anything from under their noses. The team have another meeting and decide to follow up on the lead to Space Sector 14, leaving Superboy behind to guard the machine. Superboy monitors the team using his super vision, as the Legion cruiser flies through sector 14. They find a lot of nothing, until they come across a giant Galactosaur. The galactosaur has huge white jagged teeth, they must be the white gates that Saturn girl saw in Pares's mind. The Legion head for the beasts mouth, meanwhile inside the creatures moth a capsule is firmly anchored to its jawbone, inside Benn Pares plots to steal the miracle machine that very night. A buzzer goes off signaling that the Galactosaur is opening its mouth, but Pares had wired the nerves so that only he can open the jaws, he guesses Saturn girl is using her mental powers to have the creature open it's mouth. And he would be correct, inside the ship Saturn Girl is concentrating on the creature, while Cosmic boy flies the ship closer. At the same time Ultra boy is freaking out. Years ago  while joyriding in a space ship young Jo Nah was swallowed alive by a radioactive space dragon. A science police ship blasted him free but he never forgot the terror of those hungry fatal fangs closing behind him. The radiation form the beast made him ultra human , but now years later his eyes widen in fright at the duplication of that deadly drama. He yells at his team mates to turn around and accidentally knocked Saturn girl out. Pares is regaining control of the monster and is closing the massive jaws around the Legion's space craft. Back on earth Superboy is watching the whole thing and wishes that he had his hands on Pares. Just them Superboy is inside Pares hideout with the thief in his hands, thinking that he is too late to save his friends he punches Pares out. While Superboy thinks his friends crushed Ultra Boy is using his Super Strength to keep the jaws from closing, he had pulled himself together and left the ship at super-speed, to try and stop the creature from killing his teammates. Unfortunately Ultra boy can only use one of his powers at a time and while he is using his strength he can not use his invulnerability and he will die himself in the cold vacuum of space. Praying for a miracle they get one, a red and blue one, Superboy using super-speed grabs Ultra boy and the ship and makes it free of the monsters jaw. Back on earth out side the medical center Brainiac-5 tells Superboy and Shrinking Violet that Ultra boy will be fine in about a weeks time. Violet asks how he managed to pop up at the right time. As they fly back to headquarters Superboy tells her that when they were trying to destroy the machine they must of accidentally turned it on and while he was on guard duty in the vault he desperately wished that he could help and the machine picked up on his super-thoughts and reacted. Violet said that they should of used the machine to capture Pares in the first place, but Brainy reminds the minuscule maid that, that is the ultimate danger, they cannot allow it to make them lazy.

Bits of Legionnaire Business
Roll Call:

• Brainiac-5 (acting Leader)
• Saturn Girl
• Chameleon Boy
• Superboy
• Cosmic Boy
• Lightning Lad
• Wildfire
• Phantom Girl
• Shrinking Violet
• Ultra Boy
• Sunboy

Villain

• Benn Pares

Legion Equipment

• Miracle Machine
• Legion Cruiser
• Flight Ring

Rooms in the Headquarters

• Legion Council Chambers
• Vault

Notes:
Page 2:

• In the Legion Council chambers the team is arguing about something probably about where to order lunch from.
• We see an intruder using a vast array of abilities to sneak pass the Legion's defenses.

Page 3:

• Benn Pares the self proclaimed greatest burglar in the galaxy, boast that he is going to steal the Miracle Machine right under the Legion's noses. This is where he went wrong he should of just took the machine and be done with it, but we would not have an issue if the villain does not make a fool out of himself.

Page 5:

• We see the team using their powers on the miracle machine with Brainiac-5 directing traffic, why? Because he has no useful powers himself.

Page 6:

• We see the three least power full members (after Brainiac-5) try and fail to get by the defenses.

Page 7:

• Again Pares is an idiot, he sneaks back into the vault and does not take the machine but the Legion's fancy wall clock.

Page 8:

• We see the Galactosaur, a giant mineral eating space beast.

Page 9 and 10:

• Ultra Boy freaks out, he must of seen Jaws one to many times as a kid, I know that movie scared the hell out of me, to this day I am afraid to swim int he ocean. I wish Brainy said the line " I think we are going to need a bigger cruiser."

Page 10:

• We get a quick recap of Ultra Boy's origin, and then he knocks out the one member of the team that is needed for this mission.
• Superboy is a peeping Tom or is that Thom in the 30th century?

During this period of the Legion I enjoyed the Shooter stories more than the Bates, but this one not so much. It was one of Jim's weaker efforts, the Villain was poor and all this issue did was to show Ultra Boy's phobia of getting eaten.

Next time: I will get to the back up tale, "Trapped to live free to die!

Superboy # 212 Starring the Legion of Super-Heroes, "A Death Stroke at Dawn"

"A Death stroke at Dawn" Art: Mike Grell, Story Jim Shooter.
Late night in 30th Century Metropolis, Shadow Lass flies powered by her Legion Flight Ring towards the Legion Citadel. When she see light in an abandoned monorail terminal. Shady peers through a high window she sees a fallen Night Girl from the Substitute heroes in a Bright room trapped by Crafty Colson and his gang. Night Girl has super strength only at night or in deep shadow, in bright light she is normal. Shadow lass uses her powers to create darkness to black out the room. Whit her strength returning she avoids the attack by the thug called Hunk. She then knocks all 3 of the criminals to the ground. One of the men named Gunner from the planet Ankar who can see in the dark fires his weapon at Shadow Lass but Night Girl steps in her way and takes the blast. Fearing that Legionnaires might be on the way the three thugs high tail it out of there. The Gang believing that Night Girl is dead think that her boy friend Cosmic boy might come after them deiced to go after him first. Back at the monorail terminal Night girl begins to stir her powerful body only stunned. The two heroines thank each other and Night Girl explains that she was tracking the gang after they looted the satellite warehouse orbiting mars and followed them here, but Colson turned on the lights and trapped her. Shadow Lass chastise Night Girl to mixing it up with vicious thugs where all they have to do is turn on a light switch to weaken her. Night Girl tells Shadow Lass the story of how her Father a Scientist developed a ray  that would give her Super Strength. Being stronger than everyone made her lonely so she went to earth to join the Legion of Super-Heroes, but because she was from a planet of complete darkness she discovered on earth that her powers did not work under bright light and she was Rejected. She then joined the Legion of Substitute heroes and after that fell in love with Cosmic Boy. But today Cosmic Boy broke up with her. He was tired of Night Girl risking her live with her weakness and when she breaks a date on his night off he breaks up with her. After telling the story Night Girl leaves to trace Colson with a miniature mento track that will pick up his trail. Meanwhile Cosmic boy is on a date with a blond air head named Sinde. Thinking of Night Girl he ends the date early and brings the girl home. Later moments before dawn Cosmic boy heads home and is ambushed by Colson and his thugs, Gunner is about to shoot him with a plastic pistol but as the soon rises Night Girl flies into them knocking them down. With the gang distracted Cosmic boy is able to get the upper hand and beats the crap out of the thugs. He then makes up with Night Girl and offers to take her out on a date, in the day time of course, when he knows she cannot resist him.

Bits of Legionnaire Business
Roll Call:

• Shadow Lass
• Cosmic Boy

Subs

• Night Girl

Legion Equipment

• Flight ring

Notes
Page 1:

• Shadow Lass flying around metropolis at night. If she did not walk in when she did I am certain that the "Crafty" Colson gang would of done Night Girl.
• I like Night Girl's costume, Keep this in your head for about 5 issue's another character has a similar one.

Page 2:

• Shadow Lass turns out the lights and the bad guy just happens to have a guy that can see in the dark.

Page 3:

• Night Girl jumps in front of the blast in a very heroic move.

Page 5:

• We get Night Girl's Origin, nothing that long time fans did not already know.

Page 6:

• Cosmic Boy breaks up with Night Girl just because she does not have time for him, and then he mentions her weakness, I think he just was pissed that he was not getting any that night.
• But it does not take long for Cos to hook up with Sinde.

Page 7:

• Am I the only one that thinks Cos got a piece of Sinde when he dropped her off?
• Night Girl saves her butt head boyfriend just as she loses her powers.

Page 8:

• Cos takes care of the thugs and finally he will get his from Night Girl.

Okay, what I get from this is Cos is a Horny bastard. Night Girl does not have time for him so He hooks up with Sinde. He finishes with her, does the Hero bit and then flies off with Night Girl. Way to go Cos. Jokes aside, this is a well done short story, Night girl gets a little fleshed out, no that is not a joke about her costume. I wish that future writers teamed Night Girl and Shadow Lass together, there powers work well together and would help counter the fact that Night Girl can be defeated by a light bulb. The bad guys were generic thugs but not every story needs Universo or Modru, some times you want to slow it down a little and show that the Legion goes after every day crooks as well.

Next time: One of the more forgettable stories from this error Superboy 213 The Jaws of Fear. Or Ultra boy goes nuts against a space lizard.
  PS, I think after I cover both Stories in 213 and the member profile I have in the works, We take a step back for a couple of Post and cover my favorite story from the Adventure Comics Run, The story that introduces Modru the merciless. Leave a comment if you want to see that.

Member Profile: Matter Eater Lad

Matter Eater Lad
Real Name: Tenzil Kem
Home Planet: Bismoll
Known Relatives: Rall Kem, Nits Kem (parents) Renkil Kem (brother)
Height: 5' 10'
Weight: 150 lbs
Eyes: Blue
Hair : Black
1st app: Adventure comics 301
Powers: Consume any form of Matter with out harm.
Created by: Jerry Seigel and John Forte

History
Matter-Eater Lad is one of the sillier members of the team,(he ranks up there with Bouncing Boy, but at least Chuck married a hot chick.) with the power to eat anything, thankfully he was not used very often. His most notable time in the team was when a villains weapon blast bounced off Superboy and hit him charging his molecules and mad him Fat. This was later reversed in another story. His parents have been portrayed as poor white trash and his brother once tried to discredit him so he could take his place on the team.

Next time: The 2nd story of Superboy 212, Featuring 2 ladies of the night.

Superboy# 212 starring the Legion of Super-Heroes

SUPERBOY # 212 Starring the Legion of Super-Heroes Cover date Oct 1975, cover Price .25 cents.
"Last Fight for a Legionnaire" Art by Mike Grell, Story by Jim Shooter.
30th century Metropolis, Nolan Plaza the home of the Legion of Super-heroes, a hopeful young man enters the building. A little later the same man walks out rejected.  Rejected and angry, the man uses his powers to lift the Iron statue of Ferro Lad the deceased Legionnaire and fling int the sky. Just then in his head a voice tells him to put the statue down. He is unable to resist and returns it gently to its pedestal. He is commanded to turn around and he does seeing 5 young people. It turns out the other 5 were also rejected from the Legion. A scantly clad brunette woman tells him it was her esp powers that made him put the statue back. A very healthy Blond flirts with him, while the 3 males toss around compliments, the young man Magno lad agrees to join with them on their plan to get even with six legionnaires. Meanwhile on a distant planet a man called Tribune is giving a mission to an Agent Bek. Bek tells him that their target will not come willingly but Tribune reminds him that no one is above the law not even a Legionnaire. Bek will do every thing necessary to bring the chosen to the selection board, even if the entire Legion stands in his way.
 Shrinking Violet, Chameleon Boy, Matter Eater Lad, Cosmic Boy and Phantom Girl respond to a telepathic summons they thought was from Saturn Girl, but She did not send it, she received one herself. The Message was sent by Meta Ulnoor, Esper Lass. It turns out that the six young people from earlier are from the same Planets as the six Legionnaires, and they were rejected because they had the same power as the Legion Members. The rejects want to challenge the Legion to prove that they deserve a shot, but the Legion will not play along. But the Fight gets started when Magno Lad, Kort Grezz from Cosmic boy's home planet of Braal uses his magnetic powers to fling cosmic boy up against the wall. Quickly the other five rejects go up against their own counter parts. Esper Lass is blasting Saturn Girl with her Psychic powers. Solon Garga who is from Phantom girl's Dimensional world of Bgztl wants to be known as Phantom Lad is using his phantom powers against Phantom Girl. Smaller than what can normally be seen Shrinking Violet is losing to Micro Lad, Lalo Muldron. Chameleon Kid, Toog Lintens smacks Chameleon boy, telling him that he is stronger than him know matter what form they are in.  Calorie Queen, Tary Loy the daughter of Bismoll's most brilliant scientist. All bismollians can consume enormous quantities of any type of matter. Their bodies are like nuclear furnaces anything they eat is changed to energy. Excess energy usually escapes through their pores. Calorie Queen's Father discovered a way to divert some of that excess energy to her muscle to make her as strong as three men. She uses that strength to beat the crap out of Matter Eater Lad. Just as the rejects are wiping the floor with the Legionnaires, Superboy comes into the room and sees that his friends are getting punked,uses his super cape to wrap up the six intruders and deposit them outside. The beaten heroes are snippy at Superboy and go outside to the fallen rejects and tells them if that they are still game they will settle this tomorrow morning  alone. The rejects accept and the Legionnaires tell Superboy to mind his own business and that they will take care of it.
 At the Metropolis space port the President greets agent Bek and asks if they can bypass his mission. Bek tells him that by the laws of his planet there will be one less Legionnaire by this time tomorrow.
  The next Morning in Nolan plaza the 12 teens square off against each other with Superboy and Karate Kid watching. They start to approach each other when Matter Eater Lad runs away into the opposite direction. His teammates thinks he is running away but he runs to the flag pole and bites it down so it hits Calorie Queen and he ties her up with the Legion Flag. She cries for Magno-Boy's help but he is trying to hurl a monument at Cosmic Boy but it turns out that the monument is actually Chameleon Boy who punches him in the jaw. Phantom Lad  stays solid and runs at Phantom lady but a minuscule Shrinking Violet  grows and cold cocks him. Phantom girl phases behind Micro Lad an lets him have it. Cosmic boy has Esper Lass spinning magnetizing the iron in her amazing body. Saturn girl uses her telepathic powers to find Chameleon Kid hiding as a tree and directs Matter Eater Lad to use his powers but the kid gives up. The rejects surrender and the team gloats that they win using team work. The heroes are patting each other on the back when Agent Bek arrives and hands Matter Eater Lad a draft notice from his home planet of Bismoll. Bismoll does not have an Army but they draft thier candidates for polical office and he has been chosen to run for representative. Having no choice Matter Eater Lad leaves but his parting thought is that they should give Calorie Queen another shot.
Bits of Legionnaire Buisness
Roll Call:

• Cosmic Boy
• Saturn Girl
• Phantom Girl
• Chameleon Boy
• Shrinking Violet
• Matter Eater Lad
• Superboy
• Karate Kid

Villains

• Magno Lad
• Calorie Queen
• Esper Lass
• Phantom Lad
• Micro Lad
• Chameleon Kid

Big event

• Matter Eater Lad leaves the team and goes into public office, as predictied in Adventure comics 354.

Notes
Cover:

• Great drawing of the rejects standing over the fallen heroes damanding to take thier place in the Legion. This is repeated on the Splash page but I perfer the cover image.

Page 2:

• How many statures of Ferro Lad are there? There is one inside the headquaters and another outside in Nolan plazza, which is named after him. I think there is also one in place where they have him burried.
• Magno Lad uses his powers but is mind control by his soon to be new partner, a great way to start a relation ship.

Page 3:

• Calorie Queen is hitting on Magno Boy.
• Agent Bek gets his assignment but does not like it.

Page 4:

• The rejects whine about not being accepted on the team because they have the same powers as the Legion members.
• While it is not said it seems that Legion Policy is first come first served.

Page 5 and 6

• The Rejects wipe the floor with the more experinced Legion members.

Page 7:

• Superboy buts in and saves the day and his ungreatful teammates tell him to mind his own business.

Page 8:

• The president makes a cameo greeting Agent Bek. You would thing that the head of a plantary government would have better things to do than to greet a process server.
• Matter Eater Lad runs away.

Page 9:

• We see a bad depiction of Matter Eater Lad's powers and some Bondage fun with Calorie Queen.
• This was suspose to be a one on one battle but the Legion cheats and double teams thier opponents.

Page 11:

• Matter Eater Lad is drafted, and asks that Calorie Queen be given a shot at taking his place, but that never happens.

Notes:
I might of said this before but this is one of my favorite storys from this time, it is just fun. We find out that other people with the same powers try to join and are not given a chance. I do not like spoiling upcoming events but it takes about 8 years to find out that 5 of the 6 rejects become villains, one of who is responsible for for having a Legion Member impersonated and mind probed. I like the costumes on Calorie Queen and Esper Lass, not sure how she fights in that get up. I do not like Phantom Lad's costome at all. The teams reaction to Superboy's interference is a little harsh but it makes the story fun to see that the all powerfull heroes a pissed off at being beaten up.
I own both the original issue and the Archive additon but until I was re reading them for this blog did I notice that there was an extra page in the Archive. Between pages 7 and eight there is a page of Karate kid giving a pep talk to Matter eater Lad. I belive it was cut for length, but glad they included in the archive. This was a good send off to Matter Eater Lad, a hero that was never used that much or well. Writer Jim Shooter dropped a hint on the last Panel that we might see Calorie Queen back as a member or a canadate but it is never pickup again. We do not see Calorie Queen again until the 5 year gap Legion by Keith Giffen. I think some interesting things could of been down with her. Being a former foe of the Legion and then joining the team and maybe having some of the members not trust her or just not get along. The do some of this with a future member down the road.

Next time
Member Profile: Matter Eater Lad.

Superboy # 211 Starring the Legion of Super-Heroes "The Legion's lost Home"

"The Legion's Lost Home"  Story: Cary Bates, Art: Mike Grell

Years ago, the Legion, consisting of Brainiac-5, Shadow Lass, Cosmic Boy and Superboy, watch as their damaged original clubhouse is taken away. They talk about the new Headquarters they are about to built and about how much they will miss the old clubhouse. Cut to today and Canaveral graveyard, located some miles from Metropolis, we see the wreck club house amongst the junk. A guard recognizes Shadow Lass and cosmic boy  landing by the club house. They give the guard a story about how they have to look for a missing weapon from the Legion arsenal. The guard lets the famous hero go about unescorted. The pair enter the headquarters reminiscing about the past. Lights come on powered by the old atomic generators, they head for the Legion's security chambers and Cosmic boy uses a weapon to melt the security bars. He then uses a crow bar to remove a metal plate and retrieve the flawless pyram jewel where he stashed it years ago. Shadow Lass swoons over the jewel and the two plan to leave when they are interrupted. The teen turns out to be Stone boy of the Legion of Substitute heroes. They attack the hero but he uses his powers to turn himself to stone. Cosmic Boy's gun has no effect on him. They head out side when they are attacked by plants under the control of Chlorophyll Kid. Cosmic Boy goes to fire his gun again and he his stop by Fire Lad's flaming breath.

Who are Stone Boy, Chlorophyll Kid and Fire Lad, you ask? They are members of the Legion of Substitute heroes. A good of former Legion applicants who were rejected that formed together to become their own back up squad for the main team.
  They wrap up the pair and it turns out that Cosmic Boy and Shadow Lass, are really 2 impostors wearing costumes. The fake Cosmic boy hid the Pyram Jewel in the detention center years ago and they dressed like the heroes so that they could move about unnoticed. The Subs were at the junk yard to pick up the headquarters, it seems that the Legion has given building to the lesser known heroes to use as their new headquarters.

Bits of Legionnaire Business
Roll Call (all in flashback)

• Cosmic Boy
• Shadow Lass
• Superboy
• Brainiac-5

Legion of Substitute heroes

• Chlorophyll Kid
• Fire Lad
• Stone Boy

Notes:
Page 1:

• Shadow Lass says she is going to hate to see the old clubhouse go. Now at this point she has been a member of the team for a bout five minutes. She Joined the group around the time of the building's destruction.

Page 2:

• The junkyard that the headquarters is left in also has the U.S.S. Enterprise and the Jupiter II along with other space vehicles.

Page 4:

• The fake Cosmic Boy's says he spent enough time around the Legion Security Chamber to know the lay out in his sleep, the reason why is because he was locked up in it.
• My first hint that something was not right was when Cosmic Boy used a weapon to open the cell, the real Cosmic Boy would of been able to use his powers to do that.

Page 5

• Nice use of the Subs, Later uses of the team would make them a joke but they are used well hear.

Okay story not one of my favorites, but I am not going to pick it apart. The Subs appearance was good to see, I know we won't see the whole team again for a while but we will see a member next issue.
Next Time: The first story of Superboy # 212

Member profile: Element Lad

ELEMENT LAD
Real Name: Jan Arrah
Home Planet: Trom
Known Relatives, Parents (deceased) Arn and Valla Arrah
Height: 5'11"
Weight 170 lbs
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blond
1st App: Adventure Comics 307
Created by Ed Hamliton and John Forte
Powers: Alter elements, changing one into another, matter transformation.

History
Jan Arrah is the sole surviving member of his race. The peaceful Trommites possessed the power to transform elements due to the radioactive nature of their world. The pirate Roxxas wanted them to use the power for him but they refused and he wiped out the entire race except for the young teen who would become Element Lad. Element Lad joined the Legion and helped them capture Roxxas. Jan spent his time in the Legion in the background it was not until later adventures that he took more of a leader ship role. As one of the Legion Orphans he does not have much of a life outside the team, he does not even have a romantic relationship. At the time of when we are covering Legion history Element Lad is deputy Leader.
  His powers make him one of the more powerful members of the team but at times he can be under used. Writer Paul Levitz will make him (and most of the other members) a more fleshed out Character.

Next Time: The 2nd Story of Superboy 211 "The Legion's Lost Home"

Superboy # 211 Starring the Legion of Super-Heroes

SUPERBOY # 211 Starring the Legion of Super-Heroes. Cover date: Sept 1975, Cover Price .25 cents. First Story: "The Ultimate Revenge" Art: Mike Grell, Story: Jim Shooter.
 A small space craft flies through the vast emptiness of space. The pilot is looking for a place called Haven, when a hidden door opens in the middle of space. The craft lands and out comes Roxxas, he is greeted by the Havenmastter Gorra. Haven is a refuge for the most wanted men in the universe.  It is hidden in the outermost reaches of the Galaxy invisible to all who gaze at it. The refuge is invisible and transparent to radar. Roxxas escaped takron galtos the prison planet over a year ago. Gorra asks when he had been hiding, a very disturbed Roxxas answers the last place anyone would look for him, but he had to leave it he could not stand it there any longer. Roxxas tells how he had a ship stashed on the prison planet and he fake an injury to break out of the infirmary. Gorra is showing Roxxas around when one of the walls breaks open and the Legion of Super-Heroes arrive. While haven is invisible from our side of the galaxy it is visible from the other side. Star boy, Light Lass, Chemical King and Element lad take out the villains. During the fight Roxxas escapes to his ship but not before Element Lad spots him and hesitates giving Roxxas the opportunity to rocket away.
The team leave the Science Police to wrap up and return to Legion Headquarters on earth. Sun Boy takes the Auto-Log tape of the mission and puts the foursome on leave.
 Star Boy is excited and asks Element Lad if he is going to visit his parents. Star Boy did not know that Jan Arrah, Element Lad's parents and the whole population of his planet Trom were murdered. He then tells his origin story. " Trom was a small, barren radioactive planet, there was only one Valley where the radiation level was low enough for life to exist. A side effect of this is that the people of Trom developed the power to transform any element to any other element. The four million people of Trom lived a peaceful life, until they were visited by a fleet of space-pirates led by the villain Roxxas. Roxxas wanted the people of Trom to use there powers for his benefit. They refused and were ready to defend themselves but roxxas rained Photon Torpedoes on the valley. The Tromites had no defense against energy weapons their power only affected matter. Roxxas's men pursued the few survivors through the ruins, gunning them down in cold blood. Jan was the only one who escaped, after finding a spaceship that survived the holocaust, and that was when he joined the Legion and helped capture Roxxas. A grim faced Element lad makes his leave saying he has a cruiser warming up on the flight deck. At the same time in the computer room Sun Boy is running the tape of of the raid on Haven when Superboy arrives from the past. He shows Superboy the scene of Roxxas escaping. He tells Superboy that none of the Legionnaires with Jan were involved with Roxxas' capture but he recognizes him instantly. They look at the Legion locator's board and see that Element Lad blasted off with no destination stated. Superboy and Sun boy think that Element Lad has gone after Roxxas so they gather the Light Lass, Star Boy and Chemical King and take off in a 2nd cruiser.
  At the same time Element Lad is talking to the Science Police and they tell him that under Hypnosis Gorra said that Roxxas's hideout is the last place anyone would look for it. That was enough information for Element Lad and he heads for Trom. Superboy is tracking with his telescopic vision and watches him land on Trom, but they are about 3 hours behind.
  Once on Trom Element Lad searches for Roxxas, through the ruins. Roxxas sees him and recognize that it is the one surviving Trommite. Roxxas steps out of the shadows and faces Jan. Element lad uses his powers to turn all metal on the villain to gas. Jan pulls out a Death Ray Gun and aims it at Roxxas, he is about to fire when the Legion shows up. They tell him to turn Roxxas over to justice. But Jan says he is the law and it is his right to execute him. Star boy explains that he once killed a man in self defense and was kick out of the Legion for a while, and that Legionnaires do not kill. So Element Lad resigns. As he fires his weapon Superboy is about to stop him at super speed but Chemical King stops him and the weapon fires. Roxxas slumps to the ground and the others berate Jan. Superboy who has had enough of Chemical Kings shit, picks him up and is about to toss him into the sun, when element lad breaks down regretting what he did. Chemical King free of Superboy picks up the Death ray gun and holds it to his own head and fires, the same glowing beam comes out but it does not harm the Legionnaire. King explains that he used is power to deteriorate the Quasi batter in the gun, it only had enough power to throw a light beam. He also used his power to slow down Roxxas' metabolism so he appeared to be dead. Just then Roxxas gets up and is raving about how he is being haunted by the souls of the trommites who he killed and begs for them to kill him. Jan see that Letting him live with his madness is the ultimate revenge.

Bits of Legionnaire Business
Roll Call:

• Element Lad (Jan Arrah)
• Star Boy
• Chemical King
• Light Lass
• Sun Boy
• Superboy
• Brainiac-5 (flashback)

Villain

• Roxxas

Rooms in the headquarters

• Computer Room

Legion Equipment

• Legion Cruisers
• Death Ray gun
• Auto Log Tape
• Legion space suits

Notes:
Page 3:

• Legion breaks into haven, it looks like from the outside wall, but know one is sucked into space.

Page 4:

• Haven is invisible from one side of the galaxy but it is visible from the other, not sure how that works.

Page 5:

• Last time we saw Light Lass she was a blonde now she is has orange/red hair.

Page 6:

• Star boy and Element Lad has been team mates for years but he never heard his origin story before, I find that hard to believe.

Page 7:

• Superboy does not show up until page 7 of his own comic book.

Page 8:

• Legion Locator board shows Cosmic Boy on Kathoon, keep that in mind for next issues back up, I might call back to this.
• Gorra being interrogated under Hypno-Prisms, I wonder when they stopped using Miranda rights in the 30th century.

Page 10:

• Flash back to when Star Boy Killed a guy who had a crush on Dream girl.
• Chemical king should be dead for jumping in front of a moving Superboy.

Page 11:

• Superboy looks like he is going punch Chemical King into orbit.
• last panel of page, Chemical King is doing the most useful thing he has ever done as a Legionnaire.

Very good story tieing in Element Lad's Origin, which has not been mentioned since he first appeared back in the sixties. Not much character development being done at this time but Shooter has a good handle on the Team.

Next time: Member Profile on Element Lad

Member Profile: Karate Kid

Karate Kid
Real Name: Val Armorr
Home Planet: Earth
Known Relatives: Kirau Nezumi (father) Valentina Armorr (mother)
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 185 lbs
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown
1st App: Adventure Comics 346
Created By: Jim Shooter
Main Foe: Nemesis Kid
Powers: Super Karate

History
Val Armorr was an orphan born in Japan. His Father was the villain Black Dragon and his mother was Valentina Armorr. He was raised by Sensei a former Japanese Hero who unknownst to Val killed his father. Sensei taught Val martial arts and help Val develop the skills that make him a living weapon. Val as Karate Kid, joined the Legion along side of Princess Projectra, Ferro Lad and Nemesis Kid. During his first mission Karate Kid was deemed a traitor, but it turned out Nemesis Kid was the real traitor. During his time in the Legion he fell in love with Princess Projectra.
   Despite having no real superpowers Karate Kid is one of the greatest fighters in the Universe and is considered one of the tougher members of the team. Val served one term as Legion Leader, and takes time to help train his fellow heroes in self defense.

Next time: The first story in Superboy # 211

Superboy Starring the Legion of Super-Heroes # 210 "The Lair of the Black Dragon"

Before I get into the recap of this story I will like to tell a story that I should of told at the begining of the post for the first story of this issue. I have my older brother Tim to thank for my love of these stories, when I was 10 I started collecting comics, and stayed mostly with Superman, and Batman, but the Summer I turned 11 my brother who is a year older then we was working for a relative or neighbor, I can't remember. He used a little of the money he earned and bought me a bag full of comics books. In the bag as best I can remember was an issue of the Amazing Spider-Man, a few Marvel team ups, a Marvel two-in one starring the thing and issue 210, 211, and 212 of Superboy starring the Legion of Super-Heroes. Now I might of seen the Legion before in a reprint but I fell in love with the team with these stories. These were the issues I first seen back stories on the Karate Kid and Element Lad. The first time I seen my favorite Legion uniform (the member was PP but I was 2 young to apprieated at the time.) A member quit, and we got a back up starring of all people Night Girl. Great Issue and these molded me into the Legion fan I am today. So thank you Tim you started me on quite the trip. Now on to our story.

"The Lair of the Black Dragon" Art by: Mike Grell and Story by Jim Shooter.

 

 

Karate Kid out for a stroll on the syways above metropolis is attaced by 4 martial art using men, he takes three of them out noting that they were highly skilled. Going after the last one who seems to be the leader his punch was parried, a feat that was rarley done. The man whos name is Sadahru tells him this was a test to prove that he was Val Armorr the famed Karate Kid and that he was not overrated. Sadahru explains to Val that he needs his help to kill a man. Val turns him down and refers Sadahru to the fatal five. Sadahru is looking for revenge for the murder of his best friend Val's father. Val never new his father and was shocked that Sadahru did. Sadahru and his friends say they will avenge his father's death even if the Karate Kid will not. Hours later Val wearing a spify hat and coat is following Sasahru to the metroplis core tube terminal, a transit system that travels straight threw the earth. Some time Later they arrive in a remote mountainous area in Japan.. Where Sadahru and his crew come upon a large dome made out of Nullitorn and one of the thugs says that their quarry is inside. Their foe chosed his hideout well, Nullitron is imperious to energy blasts..even power drill rays, Sadahru says even he can not crack it. 

  Waiting to night fall Karate kid goes up to the dome, this is why Sadahru needed him, to crack the dome. The kid was not about to kill anyone  but figures if he can get in without tipping anyone off he might get the lowdown on this setup. Val examines the dome and found that the wall was broken once before and repaired, he then prepares to try and hit the weak spot, knowing that the nullitron deads sound and he will not be overheard.

He his welcome to the Lair of the Black Dragon he is greeted by the last person he expected, the man who raised him and trained him in the art of Super-Karate, his Sensei. Sensei tells Val that Sadaharu did not lie he is the one who killed his father. The dome was his stronhold and after his death Sensei took it over and repaired to use as his own last refuge. Sensei then tells Val the story of when He was a young super hero, His arch enemy was the brutal Black Dragon.. Kirau Nezumi.. whose skillrivaled the Sensei's own but his villainy was unsurpassed. Over the years they had many encounters, the last being in the very lair they were now standing. Sensi broke in and they had a life or death battle and it was the Black Dragon who perised. After the battle he learned the Black Dragon was the farther of an infant son, the Karate Kid. He tells him how he raised him and trained Val to be a hero to atone for his father's crimes. He also tells Val that he gave him his mother's madien name of Armorr. Val's Mother was Valentna Armorr an american who died shortly after Val's birth. As the Sensei tells the story Sadaharu and his men enter the lair. Sadaharu tells Val that he was taught by the Black Dragon and after his death he inherited the Black Dragon's organization. Sadaharu says that he searched for Val but the Sensei kept him hidden. Years later he discovered Sensei in tokyo and Sensei then fled to the mighty fortress that he stole from the Black Dragon. He also tells Val that he was easily duped into opening the fortress for him and now nothing can stop him from avenging his master. Val stands against Sadaharu and his 5 men, using his skilll speed and raw corage he triumps and knocks out Sadaharu and his men. Val tells his old Sensei that the Black Dragon gave him life but the Sensei gave him ideals and moral values, mad him a fource for good and in all the ways important he was his true Father.

Bits of Legionarrie Business:

Roll Call:

•  Karate Kid (Val Armorr

1st App:

•  Sadaharu
• Sensei
• Black Dragon (flash back)

Notes:

Page 1:

•  Karate Kid attacked by four thugs.

Page 2:

•  Sadaharu blocks the kids punch.

Page 3:

•  Metropolis core tube is the shaft that Supergirl tunneled way back when she first joined the Legion.
• Karate Kid thinks that a hat and cape is a good disguise.

Page 6:

•  Sensei has a portait of Val's mother that he never showed him.

Jim Shooter wrote a great Origin for Karate Kid, the first one he had ever had, which make sense since Shooter created the charater back during his first run on the book. Grell has Karate Kid looking more asian in this appearence, I believe that DC was trying to take advantage of the martial craze that was going through pop culture. In this book I counted 4 seperate ads for Martial art training. I am not going out on a limb saying that this is one of my favorite Jim Shooter Stories and my favorite Karate Kid Story.

 

Next time: Member Profile on... come on you can guess it.

 

 

 

Yes the Karate Kid.

Member Profile: Lightning Lad

Real Name: Garth RanzzHome Planet: Winath
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 190 lbs
Known Relatives: Ayla Ranzz, (Twin Sister), Mekt Ranzz (Brother)
Hair: Red
Eyes: Blue
1st App: Adventure comics 247
Created by:
Arch Foe: Lightning Lord
Powers: Lightning Powers

History
Garth Ranzz, got his powers when along with his Brother Mekt and Sister Ayla space ship got stranded on the planet Korbal. Attempting to recharge the ships battery using the native Lightning beasts, the 3 siblings got blasted by the beasts instead, and each had the power to generate electrical charges.
 Later when searching for his Brother who left home he met Rokk Krin and Imra Ardeen on a space flight and together they stopped RJ Brande from being kidnapped. Brande was impressed with the teenagers and decided to sponsor them and start the Legion of Super-Heroes.
Out of all of the members of the team Garth is known as the unluckiest Legionnaire. He has died once and lost and arm, both of those conditions got reversed, and he has a long term relationship with Saturn Girl so maybe he is not that unlucky. At the point in Legion History that we are covering with this blog Garth is the only founder to not be elected Legion Leader. Garth is one of the more stable members of the team and is well liked by his fellow members, Garth has a close relationship with Cosmic Boy, Phantom Girl and other members.
I have always like this version of Lightning Lads costume It is a great Dave Cockrum design that I think nobody drew better than Mike Grell, see the two pictures the top is by Grell the bottom is Cockrum.

Next time the 2nd Story of Superboy 210 featuring Ralph Macchio, oops no I mean the Karate Kid the real one.