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Let's Read: Silver Age Superman

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Superman #122 - The Secret of the Space Souvenirs, Superman in the White House!, The Super-Sergeant!
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    • Today's issue, written by Otto Binder and penciled and inked by Al Plastino, forecasts some pretty crazy stuff. A soldier with Superman's powers? Including, evidently, the ability to absorb shrapnel.



    However, our first story looks to be matching it in crazy. You mind-control Superman and you get him to pick up random stuff? Where the crap is this going?

    The story opens up with Clark Kent scanning around with his telescopic X-ray vision, and seeing no crimes or dangers for him to solve (really, Clark? none at all?), and deciding to take it easy. However, he then suddenly falls into a trance, turns into Superman, and flies into space. Scoping out Saturn's rings, he grabs a "musical mineral" stone from the rings.



    The scientists are pretty confused about this, especially since Superman is weirdly insistent and they don't have any more room in the capsule. Superman shakes his head and leaves the trance, just as confused as they are.

    Later on, when telling Lois about the event, he suddenly locks up, goes into the trance again, and flies off to Uranus, where he digs out an inexplicable fossil of a six-legged horse.



    Superman flies off, leaving the orphans disappointed, to grab a set of giant snowflakes from Pluto. Fortunately, he does a neat little display with the things to content the orphans.

    When he hears the trance again, this time, instead of flying to another planet, he flies to Atlantis, and digs out a golden flying saucer.



    ...who's supposed to be the almighty genius, again, superman

    Superman does indeed go to Rhea, taking a knotted tree, and follows it up with Mars, where he grabs a statue from Mars's dead civilization. He then ends up being caught in a trance when a tiger is escaping, and has to toss a meteor from orbit to scare it off. The final thing he grabs is from Neptune, picking up a stone head that a species there carved of him. Superman asks Lois how she managed to guess all the places he'd visit.



    Real shocker.

    Anyway, that night, Clark Kent gets a dream, when a golden man appears before him. The man explains he's from the 50th century, and his people are about to open the time capsule. They wanted a memorial to the greatest hero of the 20th century, and so they used mental commands to make him gather up the trophies.



    Clark is mostly relieved to have the mystery solved, and decides not to tell Lois about the source of the compulsions - after all, it'd seem pretty conceited to claim that people consider you the most noteworthy element of the 20th century. Lois, though, merely gripes that Superman probably made up the whole "trance" thing so he could honor himself. Clark internally notes that he can't win.

    Superdickery 1/5

    No crime anywhere in the world, Clark?

    Overall Review

    It's times like this that I'm reminded I'm reading stories for children. It's kind of an interesting relic of the days when it was commonly thought that there was life on every other planet in the solar system, though.

    Our next story, "Superman in the White House!", opens with Pete Ross explaining that it's President's Day, and therefore he's going to make Lois and Clark do stories about Lincoln and Washington, because the Daily Planet is a history class. Jimmy Olsen asks if he can do one.



    Yup, this story's all a dream. It's nice to see it just straightforwardly shown instead of treated as a twist.

    Superman is inaugurated with a landslide victory, making Clark Kent his VP. He makes Jimmy his press secretary, despite Jimmy's young age. He reads and signs dozens of documents at super-speed, requiring dozens of clerks to keep his work in place before leaving for fresh air.



    After he is accosted by the stupidest assassins in history, it becomes very clear that the Secret Service is now redundant. For that matter, so is the Vice President, since it's not like Superman is going to die in office. Clark resigns, and the bodyguards are about to follow, when Jimmy tells them that Superman's still threatened by Kryptonite, and so they change their duties to frisking people at public events for the stuff.

    Meanwhile, in the real world, Clark listens to Jimmy's sleeptalking, and mournfully notes that it can never be true.



    Superman precedes on to many super-President activities - shaking the hands of everyone in the nation, throwing the first pitch of the season (which lands in a Japanese stadium; he phoned them beforehand to expect it, which encourages international relations), balancing the budget by digging up sunken pirate gold, christening a battleship and managing to launch it free of a quagmire with his bare hands. He becomes so popular that, in Jimmy's dream, his face is put on the hundred-dollar bill.

    It's at this point that Jimmy wakes up, and says that he's going to write his article on Superman - because if he ever did become President, he'd become the best one ever. Clark ruefully points out that only a natural-born American citizen can become President, to Jimmy's consternation.



    Continuity Notes

    Clark winking to camera is a pretty common element in Superman stories, especially in "imaginary stories" like this one.

    This story seems to have been an inspiration for the eventual Byrne reboot, which rewrote Superman's origin so that he was technically "born" on Earth, by way of a "birthing matrix" that was in his rocket. Presumably because Byrne hates immigrants. On better notes, this did lead to a sorta-remake of this in Action Comics Annual #3, which depicted an alternate future where Superman ran for President, with the "birthing matrix" used to excuse him. (Hey, the Supreme Court let it slide.) It also might be an inspiration for Calvin Ellis, an alternate Superman who's President on a permanent basis and looks uncannily like Obama.

    Superdickery Rating: 2/5

    Gee, crush Jimmy's fantasies like that, why dontcha, Clark.

    Overall Review

    This story gets reprinted with some frequency, most likely because just the premise of "President Superman!" is such an obvious draw. It's true that getting into super-politics is kind of a bland premise for a story, but the only thing Superman actually does in the story that isn't just ceremonial is balancing the budget. I was expecting something on the level of "Superman Red and Superman Blue", with Superman solving all the problems in the world. I hate to say it, but I prefer the 90s comic; it doesn't have Jimmy Olsen making the whole thing up to hold it back.



    Our final story, "The Super-Sergeant!", switches to Wayne Boring and Stan Kaye on art. It begins with an army private, Jones, jumping out of bed and finding he has superpowers. Aside from jumping and flying around, he showers in scalding water, bends a gun barrel barehanded, and heats up his oatmeal by looking at it. A listening Superman beholds the whole thing with some curiosity.



    Superman's amazingly dumb hat, turns out, is so dumb that it attracts a lightning bolt that hits him, transmitting an electrical pattern containing a copy of his powers into a random GI below. Superman realizes that the next morning, the GI will have all his powers.



    It seems Superman could have been luckier, as the GI immediately tosses the trash can into a nearby helicopter. Superman manages to bail Jimmy out, and rather annoyed, Jimmy takes out a box of Kryptonite, declaring that if he drains Jones's power now, the guy probably won't get it back. Superman, however, stops him, and tells him he has a plan. He doesn't explain it, though, for fear of spies.

    Jones begins to master his powers, preventing a collision between a truck and a jeep, and Superman decides he's going to clock out of the Daily Planet and keep an eye on him. But when he gets there, Pete tells Clark that he's going to be temporarily stationed at the base to cover the story of the Super-GI.



    Jones and Clark don't get off to a flying start. Jones shows off his powers, peeling an entire roomful of potatoes in a second and cleaning the messhall in a single breath. Clark, ruefully, has to do this by hand. Jones is immediately promoted to Sergeant. During the demonstrations, Clark watches a pair of people closely, whom he's pegged for foreign agents.



    Clark changes into Superman, and proceeds to cover for the Super-Sergeant, blocking the shrapnel before it can hit something, stopping a lava flow when the Sergeant digs into it, and saving a tank when the Sergeant damages it while dragging it. The two spies assume, based on the guy's performance, that he's just Superman in disguise.



    Okay, I'll give it to ya, this is a pretty amazing panel.

    Realizing that it's not Superman in disguise, the two spies assume that Superman has found some way to transfer his powers to American soldiers. They run back to their leader, and report this information, causing the leader to abandon all attack plans rather than risk fighting an army of supersoldiers.

    Hearing their fear, Superman decides his plan has gone off without a hitch. He then exposes Jones to kryptonite, leaving him powerless again. The next morning, he groans to Kent that he can't possibly know what it was like to be so powerful.

    Superdickery Rating: 3/5

    Jones was kind of an inexperienced ass, but he meant well. Come on, Clark.

    Overall Review

    Well, for once, I didn't manage to guess the twist at the end. There's a charm to this one, mostly owing to seeing Superman's finesse contrasted with Jones's idiocy. It does raise a lot of questions, though; what the hell kind of nation would invade America when Superman's protecting it?

    These last few stories have reflected some tentativeness toward changing the status quo. Tomorrow, I say we fix this.
     
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    • Can't help but wish "Super-Sarge" had stuck around. I think he'd be kind of a fun character to follow.
     
    krinsbez said:
    Uh, Creature Commandos? The Ghost Legion?

    The Haunted Tank is also pretty goofy, and I've been given to understand the Blackhawks could get kinda goofy at times as well.
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    Really, there's a lot of weird DC military stories. Sure, Sergeant Rock and Enemy Ace are pretty po-faced, but then you get into something like the War that Time Forgot and suddenly a Brontosaurus is smashing an aircraft carrier.
     
    krinsbez said:
    Uh, Creature Commandos? The Ghost Legion?

    The Haunted Tank is also pretty goofy, and I've been given to understand the Blackhawks could get kinda goofy at times as well.
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    Man how did I forget about all of those, I knew about them I swear.

    Plus there's characters like Captain Atom and Rocket Red who are more traditional superheroes but still part of militaries.

    Though Captain Atom's stuff I don't know if I'd exactly call goofy. Rocket Red is goofy though, since one of the many Rocket Reds was part of the JLI.
     
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    IfIhadaHammer said:
    Man how did I forget about all of those, I knew about them I swear.

    Plus there's characters like Captain Atom and Rocket Red who are more traditional superheroes but still part of militaries.

    Though Captain Atom's stuff I don't know if I'd exactly call goofy. Rocket Red is goofy though, since one of the many Rocket Reds was part of the JLI.
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    I love Rocket Red, though. Russia's superheroes being a bunch of guys in nuclear-powered knockoff Iron Man armor who are a division of their army is one of those things that makes perfect sense in a comic book universe.
     
    Action Comics #242 - The Super-Duel in Space!
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    • Hoo boy, this one.



    The issue, written by Otto Binder and drawn and inked by Al Plastino, opens with a rocket being launched into space. As this was three years before Yuri Gagarin, this is a big deal - and this rocket is apparently so safe that they're bringing along passengers, and even civilian reporters Clark Kent and Lois Lane. All is going well as the rocket gets to 10,000 miles up, but then the test animals on board start freaking out.



    The alien, Brainiac, starts blasting the Columbus with more dangerous rays. Clark Kent pretends to bail out to get back to Earth for help - in reality, he becomes Superman!



    Since he can't get through the ship's forcefield, Superman is forced to push the Columbus, giving it the speed it needs to evade Brainiac. Unfortunately, Brainiac isn't perturbed by this, and instead heads to Earth, breaking out a set of giant bottles.



    Seconds later, the city of Paris vanishes - and reappears, considerably shrunken-down, inside one of Brainiac's bottles! Superman, trying to push the ship back to Earth, looks from orbit and realizes what's going on. Brainiac follows up with Rome, explaining to Koko that his homeworld has been depopulated, and so he's going to steal cities from other worlds to repopulate it and rule over his adopted populace as an emperor once again.

    After capturing New York and London, Brainiac goes to inspect his new homeland. He takes particular interest in a bridge in New York.



    Well, you're an alien conqueror using a pair of tweezers and a magnifying glass, so I dunno what to tell ya.

    Pausing in his efforts, Brainiac heads to a nearby planetoid to stretch his legs and let the shrink-ray recharge. Superman sees his chance, and fires his X-ray vision at Brainiac, but Brainiac's belt deflects the energy without a scratch.



    After ripping apart an entire planet and failing to hurt the guy, Superman...



    ...Well, shit.

    Fortunately, the Columbus manages to land safely on Earth, and there, Lois meets Clark, who explains he sent Superman up - but not a moment too soon, as the ray strikes Metropolis as well.



    Superman notes to himself that he faked his surrender, so he could return to Metropolis - after all, it was most likely next on Brainiac's list, and being added to his collection was the best way to get past that forcefield. He flies out, uncorking the Metropolis bottle on the way. Brainiac mistakes him for a fly and attempts to swat him, but Superman evades it as Brainiac goes to look at his prize city... a city that's unmistakably from Krypton! Superman flies inside the bottle to get a closer look.



    Superman fills in Kimda on his origins and how he's been acting as a protector of Earth, while Kimda explains that he's been observing how Brainiac's machines work through telescopes. He says that with a superhuman on their side, they'd surely be able to escape, and free everyone else in the meantime - but Superman is depowered while in Kandor, meaning he can't escape.

    Unable to do anything else, Superman lets Kimda take him on a tour of Kandor's many wonders.



    I freaking love Kandor's aesthetic. They don't have flying cars, they have actual personal rocket ships! They have robots, but the robots use garden hoes with wooden poles! They have a giant golden mole that eats metal, so they keep it in a glass freaking cage! And of course, there's that "artificial sun", which is actually just a giant flaming ball on some train tracks. Honestly, forget cyberpunk and steampunk; where's Worldsfairpunk?

    His job done, Brainiac goes into suspended animation, planning to wake up in a century when they arrive at his homeworld. Superman is horrified at this; by the time he could try a revolt, it'll be generations into the future and everyone in all those cities would be dead of old age, at most leaving only their descendents. It's then that he hatches a plan.



    Using the transport rockets from Kandor, he flies up to the top of the bottle, and with the help of the metal-eating mole, he gets through the cork. Now able to fly once more, he starts hitting buttons. He manages to free most of the cities, but when it comes to Kandor, he discovers that the shrink-ray is almost out of power. He has one charge left - enough to unshrink himself, or Kandor.



    It's no real choice; he's just one man, and there's a million people in that city. He prepares to press the button, when...



    Kimda declares that the people of Kandor will not let Earth be deprived of its greatest hero. Superman is grateful - but now Kandor is going to stay shrunken for good.

    Superman leaves Brainiac to his ship, knowing that he won't wake up for another century, and by then, he'll have nothing but a powerless ship and no kingdom to rule. He takes Kandor with him and places it in the Fortress of Solitude.



    Yeah, don't hold your breath on that one. Or do, since I'm pretty sure you could hold it forever.

    Continuity Notes

    This is a big one. It's the first appearance of Brainiac, who'd go on to be arguably the second biggest Superman villain, and inspire an insult in the English language. It's the first appearance of Kandor, which would remain a major element of the lore for good. Hell, it's probably the first time we've seen a villain straight-up overpower Superman without Kryptonite - at the very least, it's the first time we've seen a villain in our current reading do so.

    Koko didn't have many appearances after this, though. Brainiac's design in this issue didn't really last, either; in his next appearance, he's a bit more strong-jawed, and in the one after that, he's changed his design to the one on the cover, sticking with the no-pants look until the 80s.

    The Fortress is now at the North Pole! That didn't take long. And yes, this means that the same two-month period saw Brainiac, the Fortress, and Kandor debut. You can probably see why I started here.

    Superdickery Rating: 0.5/5

    As this is a story where Superman actually spends the whole issue battling a villain, this rating's pretty low. Still, that bit where he explains his plan did sound a bit like ass-covering.

    Overall Review

    This is, no lie, probably the best story so far. It's a great debut for both Brainiac and Kandor, and you immediately get the sense for why both stuck around. Brainiac is wonderfully hammy and smug, and kind of a total prick. He's often seen as something of a dark reflection of Superman - the perfect vision of the all-powerful Other who sees us as insects to be studied or conquered - and that's surprisingly intact here, even if he does have a space monkey backing him up. But hey, what's wrong with space monkeys?

    Honestly, the idea of Brainiac having a motive to shrink down cities for reasons besides SCIENCE! is an element that I wish were more prevalent in modern Brainiacs. It's almost a sympathetic motivation - he wants his home again - but he then, as villains tend to do, ruins it by being a tyrannical douche about it. Brainiac is a character who seems to wear a new face every time he shows up, from a god to a robot to an alien to a crazy person, but this is a pretty good starting point for the guy.

    Also, he's not only our first real villain debut, but he's a massive change of pace from every other villain we've had. He's a proper threat to Superman, not some gangster or mugger, and he's a creative and dangerous opponent aside from that. He's an extremely standard little-green-man, flying saucer and all, but he does it so well, can you blame him? And he has a space monkey, just to have something to explain his evil schemes to. How can you not love that?

    Kandor is another element that works wonderfully. The idea of giving Superman a taste of his homeworld is a major element of this era, and Kandor is the king of that. I love the bit where we see Kandor itself; it's such a wonderful Flash Gordon vision of an advanced alien world. And the scene where Kimda sacrifices his people rather than leave Earth without Superman is genuinely really beautiful, as is Superman's simple weigh-the-odds decision that reviving his people would be worth sacrificing himself. The needs of the many, as they say.

    It kind of makes me want to see a what-if story where Kimda was just a second too late and Kandor appeared on Earth. You genuinely get the sense that the people of Kandor are on the whole good people, so they'd probably try their best to follow Superman's example. Kimda's pretty cool, too, which is why it's a shame that the wiki claims this is his only appearance. You'd think "Jor-El's college friend" would be an easy sell.

    Oh, and the artwork is really nice, too. Brainiac is wonderfully craven, the scene where Superman rips a planet apart is beautiful, and the destruction of the bridge looks like it took hours to draw. Not to mention Kandor's marvels. At this rate, it seems that Action Comics is the place with the best stories - that probably owes to the fact that its stories are thirteen pages long, rather than eight, but still. We'll see if that's a trend that holds.
     
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    • Fun fact; Brainiac being a robot was a later retcon that resulted from threats of legal action by the creators of a toy computer of the same name.
     
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    The Rogues Gallery
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    • With some spare time after that event, here's a list of the major figures to be involved here! It will grow with time, as more people show up.



    Mort Weisinger was the group editor of the Superman family books. He was a long-serving editor even before this, but this era was when he took real control. He was the man who hit on the idea of Superman being fueled by sunlight, and the creator of non-canon "imaginary stories," the character of Green Arrow, and the idea of thicker annual comics. He also originated Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen's books, believing that the characters were strong enough to support their own spinoffs. His style was often to have a cover commissioned before the issue's plot was written, and the plot would be written around the crazy concept on the cover. He even discovered a young Jim Shooter, seeing the promise in the fourteen-year-old fan. However, he was also a rather notoriously controlling editor, with reports claiming that he would go so far as to dictate plots to the writers. He retired from the books in 1970, being replaced by Julius Schwartz, and died in 1978.



    Otto Binder made his name writing a very similar character - Fawcett Comics's Captain Marvel. According to editor E. Nelson Bridwell, he wrote more than half of all comics featuring the character until his cancellation, creating, among others, Mary Marvel, Tawky Tawney, Black Adam, and Mister Mind and the Monster Society of Evil. He was known for his ability to create plots possessing a childish joy, which resulted in Captain Marvel becoming the most popular comic of the 1940s. He wrote for every single Superman family book, and originated or co-created dozens of concepts. He believed in the ancient-alien hypothesis, and contributed to a book on the subject. He died in 1974.



    Milton "Bill" Finger is one of the great unsung heroes of comic books - so much so that a lot of his popularity comes from what an unsung hero he was. He's usually listed as co-creator of Batman, but he's considered by comics historians to be the true originator of most of the character's elements, including most of his design, his personality, his supporting cast and villains, and so on. He also co-created the Alan Scott Green Lantern, and did a lot of scripting work throughout the Golden Age. But a particularly unsung detail is his work with Superman, including the first issue to focus on his origin. He inspired the character of Black Hand, and was fond of mysteries. He died in 1974.



    Curt Swan had been drawing Superman since the 1940s, but it is during this era that he became a paramount artist. His style is noted for its expressive faces, strong anatomy, and somewhat stiff poses. He often clashed with Weisinger, but kept doing regular artwork for Superman stories until 1986, when he illustrated Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow and was let go as part of its "new look" initiative. He is widely regarded as the definitive Superman artist, having drawn him more on an official basis than any other. He died in 1996, but not before delivering a screw-you to DC in the form of doing the artwork of a "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex" article.



    The unfortunately-named Wayne Boring was the primary Superman artist of the 1950s, having been brought on to replace Siegel and Schuster after they left DC over the many rights issues of the era, which continue to this day. Boring's Superman is described as "patriarchal", being considerably taller and tougher than Schuster's, and he tended to favor rather stern expressions. He is noted for his strong brushwork and ability with sci-fi imagery. He was let go in 1967, and died in 1987.



    Al Plastino was the third of the three, along with Curt Swan, to sub in for Siegel and Schuster. Prior to drawing Superman, he drew war posters and field manuals for the US Army. He was most proud of a 1964 issue that featured President Kennedy, which had the misfortune of being finished less than a month before Kennedy was assassinated. He had the unfortunate duty of redrawing Superman and Jimmy Olsen's faces to be more on-model in Kirby's DC work. He died in 2013.



    Stan Kaye    , born Kalinowski, was exempted from the draft due to a previous case of tuberculosis. He served as an artist on DC's comedic books in the 40s, where he co-created the character of Genius Jones. The majority of his work, however, was as an inker, especially in collaboration with Curt Swan. He retired in 1962, and died in 1967.

    George Papp, co-creator of Green Arrow and Congo Bill, was one of DC's main Superboy artists. He fought in World War II, and died in 1973. Unfortunately, that's all the info on him I could find. Not even a picture, aside from his artwork.

    Jerry Coleman's history is even scarcer, and it doesn't help that he shares his name with a Yankees second baseman. Unfortunately, it seems that the Fortress's first appearance was his last big outing, as most of his credits are even earlier. Even his date of death seems to be lost.
     
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    • Mister Bad Guy said:


    Otto Binder made his name writing a very similar character - Fawcett Comics's Captain Marvel. According to editor E. Nelson Bridwell, he wrote more than half of all comics featuring the character until his cancellation, creating, among others, Mary Marvel, Tawky Tawney, Black Adam, and Mister Mind and the Monster Society of Evil. He was known for his ability to create plots possessing a childish joy, which resulted in Captain Marvel becoming the most popular comic of the 1940s. He wrote for every single Superman family book, and originated or co-created dozens of concepts. He believed in the ancient-alien hypothesis, and contributed to a book on the subject. He died in 1974.
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    Slightly OT, but he's also a big deal as being one half of Eando Binder (the other half being his brother Earl, hence the name; "E and O"), creators of the Adam Link stories about a self-aware robot, which was a major influence on Isaac Asimov's Positronic Robot stories; in fact, his famous collection I, Robot was named after the same-titled story in which Adam Link first appeared.

    comradepitrovsky said:
    MBG, will you cover any of the Legion stories?
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    Many of which were written by Jerry Siegel, were they not?

    Ooh, links for the link god?
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    Sure!
    Pacific Anomaly
     
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    Adventure Comics #247 - The Legion of Super-Heroes!
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    • By popular request, this issue, by Otto Binder and Al Plastino, is getting bumped up. I would have saved it for later, since it was released two months before our official start point and I wanted to use it when it was relevant, but you know what? Screw order!



    Our issue opens with a random teen walking up to Clark Kent and calling him Superboy. He's surprised and confused, but tries to dismiss it as the boy having a really weird sense of humor. Or maybe it's just the glasses not working anymore.

    Unfortunately for him, when he goes out on patrol, two other teens greet Superboy with a "Hi, Clark Kent!" At first, he wonders if everyone knows the truth now, but when the three of them come together...



    You know, I'd get annoyed at them, but if I were a time traveler, going up to historical figures and pranking them would probably be on my to-do list. You gotta love their outfits, too; it's not often that you see a hero's entire two-word name printed on their chest. And Cosmic Boy's wearing a patch on his shoulder with the group name on it, "The Super Hero Club." It's probably ironed on there.

    In any case, the trio tell Superboy that they want to invite him to their awesome future hero club, because obviously, being Superboy and all, he'd be a worthy member. Superboy accepts, and hops aboard their time bubble to make his way into the 30th century.



    30th-century Smallville is really not all that far off from what we saw of Kandor - robots picking up garbage, a satellite tour promising to take people "around the world in 80 minutes!", and an ice cream parlor that offers ice cream from Mars. The Kent house is preserved in perfect condition, and next to it, we see a school where a history class is being taught with robots - today's subject evidently being how awesome Superboy was.



    After Superboy is done Bill-and-Tedding it up, he heads over to the clubhouse, where the team explains to him that if he wants to join, he has to pass a test - beat all three of the team's founding members in a contest of powers. They get an alert, regarding the discovery and loss of an ancient statue that fell into the sea.



    The challenge is on - Superboy versus Saturn Girl! Superboy figures that Saturn Girl's "thought-casting" power is no match for his incredible speed, but when he sights the still-malfunctioning robot, he tries to go resolve it, and ends up taking his time to do so.



    Saturn Girl, a powerful telepath, mindcontrols a sea monster, which pulls the statue from the depths of the ocean before Superboy has even arrived on the scene. The Legion are unimpressed with Superboy, and so move on to the next challenge - a forest fire just started, and Cosmic Boy steps up to bat. Superboy figures he can win, since Cosmic Boy's power is magnetic control - how can he stop a fire? Unfortunately, at that very moment, he spies the Cold War Vanguard 1 basketball satellite about to fall from orbit.



    Once again, the future hero soundly beats Superboy before he even shows up. The Legion are pretty dang unimpressed at this point; Superboy's got, like, nineteen different powers and they each have one, so how are they beating him this badly? The final challenge comes up - a nearby spaceship with downed communications has a leaking fuel tank and is about to explode, and Superboy's opponent is the electric-powered Lightning Boy. Superboy's determined not to be sidetracked again... at which he then hears an interplanetary zoo declare that a giant invisible eagle just escaped. Superboy spends a brief while searching for the eagle, unable to find it, when he hits upon an idea: he brings up an iceberg, cooling down the air quite a bit.



    Unfortunately for Superboy, just as he finds the eagle, Lightning Boy claps out a massive message in electricity, spelling out a message to the ship to return for repairs. With that, the team declares Superboy to be a flunky, and denies him membership - he may be a hero in the backward and crappy 20th century, but he's nothing compared to the current model. Superboy does his best to laugh it off...



    Saturn Girl explains that, in fact, all the disasters Superboy faced that diverted him from the mission were created by the very Legionnaires he competed against - Saturn Girl telepathically made the robot go haywire, Cosmic Boy pulled the satellite out of orbit, and Lightning Boy blew open the enclosure of the eagle. Even if Superboy had failed, they could have easily resolved the very disasters they made. And, they declare, by taking the whole thing with a smile, he's proven he's a good person, too.

    Wow, the Legion are dicks.

    But there's one more disaster to be resolved - in South Pole City, their giant heating lamp has broken, and it's too far for any of the Legion to get there. Superboy, then, steps up to the challenge.



    Man, that's dubious science even by Silver Age standards.

    Superboy then tells Saturn Girl that she's wondering why he didn't just, you know, use his super-strength to push the tower back into place. She responds that, yeah, she was thinking that... like he read her mind, even. In that sense, he just used his powers to match the Legion in magnetics, lightning, and telepathy. Impressed, they grant him their highest honor, and he returns to the past to show it to Pa Kent.

    Continuity Notes

    Not sure why I did this issue, exactly. I mean, these guys were basically just one-off characters. Who's ever heard of Lightning Boy?

    Superdickery Rating: 0.5/5

    Another one where Superboy's more of a dickery recipient than disher. Bit smug to call saying an obvious thing "mind-reading", though it would explain Troi on Next Generation.

    Overall Review

    In all seriousness, I've heard it said of the very early Legion stories and characterization that they act like, you know, actual teenagers (which in comics, especially of the time, is an intense rarity). That is to say, they're not bad people, they're basically well-intentioned people who do hero work, but they're still teenagers, and they treat that hero work in the same manner you would your volunteer job. They're also generally catty, arbitrary, cliqueish, and rude. This might sound like a complaint, but it's not. They're massive assholes in this story, but they're assholes in a way that makes perfect sense in messed-up teenager social dynamics. In an era where most teenage superheroes were gee-whiz types, it's refreshing.

    Aside from the personality reviews, this one isn't top tier for me, but it's very nice. I appreciate how none of the Legion have physically-oriented powers. It emphasizes even more the fact that they're kind of hyperfocused in comparison to Superboy. Personality-wise, they're pretty interchangeable, but I didn't expect much more from a story of this format. And it's not like they were ever coming back.
     
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    • no jimmy olson and the newsboy legion 2/10 bamboozle
     
    So, fun piece of trivia that won't come up naturally, since MBG ins't going to do Supergirl, but the Legion's next appearance, in Supergirl, presents the correctly colored Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy, and Lightning Lad as the children of the trio who came and hung out with Kal, in this issue. Which I kinda like? Like, there's a time machine. They don't all have to come from the same time period, ya know?

    It's also heavily implied at Superboy's funeral, in the Levitz years, that Duo Damsel/Triplicate Girl was the one to, ah, make Superboy into Superman if you get my drift.
     
    Lord Ultimus said:
    If we're doing requests, then I'd suggest Superman #161 - "The Last Days of Ma and Pa Kent".
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    That's forty issues from now.
    Rook said:
    no jimmy olson and the newsboy legion 2/10 bamboozle
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    And that's more than a decade from now. I'm not doing requests; like I said, I was gonna do this comic anyway, because the next appearance of the Legion is about ten issues away and I wanted some context.


    comradepitrovsky said:
    It's also heavily implied at Superboy's funeral, in the Levitz years, that Duo Damsel/Triplicate Girl was the one to, ah, make Superboy into Superman if you get my drift.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Lucky bastard.

    As for that next appearance, well. We'll see about Supergirl.
     
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