SUPERBOY #98 (1962)
by Jerry Siegel and Curt Swan
This is the last story involving the Legion that was published before they got their regular series. And it’s not technically a Legion story.
The scene on the cover does appear inside the issue, but I’m disappointed the actual scene doesn’t involve Superboy randomly peeking under a boy’s clothes with his X-Ray vision.
Interestingly enough, the story is told from the point of view of Ultra Boy and to a lesser extent of Marla, who is his… mentor? Sidekick?
Once their origin is revealed, remember they arrived to Smallville by train.
They are here on a mission from “them”: discover Superboy’s secret identity.
Ultra Boy’s power is his “penetra-vision”, which is basically the equivalent of all of Superboy’s eye powers… x-ray vision, heat vision, telescopic vision and so on.
It will eventually called “ultra vision” in most stories because A) it’s better branding B) it’s harder to turn it into a dirty joke.
In case you’re worried you will forget that penetra-vision can see through lead while x-ray vision can’t, don’t worry, this comic will hammer on the notion on nearly every page.
Ultra Boy assumes the alias of “Gary” and enrolls to Superboy’s high school with absurdly ridiculous ease.
I know the Superboy stories are supposed to be set somewhere in the 30s, but come on, I refuse to believe they were so naïve!
Superboy’s friend Pete Ross is conveniently there, and “Gary” immediately suspects he knows Superboy’s secret identity.
And he does the “recognize someone is lying because his heart beats faster” a full two years before Daredevil appears at Marvel.
Later, when Pete Ross is working at Pa Kent’s store, Ultra Boy spots a robbery with his penetra-vision and uses the same power to stop it, melting the bullets with it.
Okay I get why “penetra-vision” can work as alternate name for x-ray vision, but using the same name for heat vision somehow feels really cheap.
As a reminder: Pete Ross actually does know Superboy’s real identity, but Superboy doesn’t know that.
Superboy also doesn’t know who stopped the robbery. His first suspect is that his personal army of robots took care of it with their heat vision, but they deny it.
Okay so heat vision does exist in this story. In this early period it’s sometimes integrated with x-ray vision. We saw this in Adventure Comics 282 , where Superboy used x-ray to light up a cigar.
But when Superboy investigates the scene of the crime and finds the bullets, he’s shocked because his x-ray vision can’t melt lead!
Which is completely baffling to me. If heat vision exists, why is Superboy so certain that someone used x-ray vision to to melt the bullets!?
Was it because nobody was seen at the scene of the crime? Superboy routinely uses his heat vision in secret, sometimes from across the entire town!
The question SHOULD be “who else has heat vision”, NOT “who is able to use x-ray vision like this”!!!
What is going on!?
In an effort to prove that Pete Ross is Superboy, Ultra Boy creates an avalanche to stop his car.
But Ultra Boy’s suspects are proven wrong when the actual Superboy shows up and takes care of the boulder blocking the road…
…BY TOSSING IT AT THE NEAREST DAM TO PLUG A HOLE.
Smallville must be the most dangerous small town in America!!! Crooks showing up to rob a convenience store with a machine gun, dams that could break at any moment… no wonder the school was so quick to accept the story of another town where a fire destroyed all school records, I bet the same thing would happen every other week without Superboy!
Investigating the scene, Superboy discovers that the boulder contains lead…
…which even his heat vision can’t melt.
Wait, WHAT!?
I’m SO confused!!!
Since when heat vision can’t melt lead? It was already well established that x-ray vision can’t see through lead, but where is this business about heat vision coming from!?
Also, why was Superboy SO concerned about someone using x-ray vision to melt the bullets when the same exact problem apparently happens with heat vision!?
Ultra Boy and Marla give their report to “them”, but they’re spotted by an unusually paranoid Krypto. Apparently seeing someone putting clothes above a costume upsets space dogs?
Not that it matters much, thanks to penetra-vision.
With Pete Ross no longer a suspect, Ultra Boy runs into Clark Kent being bullied and notices that his glasses aren’t easily broken.
This is apparently enough to suspect Clark is Superboy, which the penetra-vision confirms.
The previous panel makes it look like it’s Lana shouting “what the devil” (my thoughts exactly throughout this issue, Lana), but a nearby photographer.
Leading Clark to check Gary to see if he’s wearing a costume underneath his regular clothes, something that apparently you have to do if you wear a costume.
Side note: see that little 9 next to Clark’s shoulder? That’s the page number. It’s usually on the bottom right of the panel (on odd pages), but they must’ve figured out that they had to move it because otherwise it’d be located above Clark’s shirt, which is also white.
And with the shocking revelation that Gary is actually some kind of super-being… Superboy does nothing, because we immediately cut to Pete Ross.
Now… I agree that keeping a diary that spells out “Superboy is Clark Kent” could be dangerous.
But 1) why even bother writing it down? 2) if you don’t want to bring attention to it, maybe putting it in a safe isn’t the best option.
And if your story features a safe with a super-secure door and an old man, there’s only one thing that can happen… a heart attack that leads to someone being locked inside the safe.
So let me get this straight: if anything happens to the one guy who knows the combination, there is absolutely no other way for the staff to open the safe… and if you try to force it open, it EXPLODES!?
I’m no expert on how banks work this kind of stuff, but am I the only one who thinks this is a TERRIBLE idea!?
Naturally they bring Superboy to deal with this. It shouldn’t be a problem for him, right?
Of course he could just rip off the door, but he could also tunnel through the ground. Or he could figure out the combination by listening to the mechanisms with his super-hearing while he tries a combination, or he could… wait a minute.
Why CAN’T he just open the door?
They mention explosives that are supposed to stop a robber, sure, but Superboy is invulnerable.
It’s not like the explosives are designed to damage what’s inside the vault, right?
ARE YOU FREAKIN’ KIDDING ME!?
Who designs a bank vault that EXPLODES ON THE INSIDE if you try to force it open!?
Even looking past the thing about heat vision having no effect on lead, WHICH IS STILL RIDICULOUS BY THE WAY, this is unbelievably forced!!!
*sigh*
Okay. So… since according to this issue Superboy is powerless against lead, you know where this is going. Penetra-vision to the rescue!
Despite the hundreds of questions raised by the story so far, Superboy is interested in only one thing: who the heck is Ultra Boy?
And the answer is… some guy who was once swallowed by a space monster.
In the future.
Because being eaten by a giant space lizard gives you superpowers.
Sounds legit, but don’t try it at home.
And in case you missed the fact that the guy is named Jo Nah…
Every time I read the phrase “an astounding coincidence” in a Silver Age comic my blood boils in anger.
If you’re note a Legion fan and you’re wondering what the heck does any of this have to do with the Legion… this entire thing was Ultra Boy’s initiation.
Let’s count the ways this makes no sense, okay?
It’s well established that, in the Legion future, Superboy’s secret identity is common knowledge.
IT WAS THE POINT OF THE FIRST STORY OF THE LEGION.
Why send Ultra Boy to discover something everybody knows!? Even accepting that it’s not public knowledge on his home planet Rimbor, how can you join the Legion at THIS point in their history and not know about it!?
And why park the time-bubble (this time called time-globe) near Metropolis and catch a train to get to Smallville? Marla says it was to avoid Superboy spotting them, but every time the Legion travels to his time he never notices them until they call him!
Ugh. At least Peter Ross gets a pass to visit the Legion whenever he happens to be a thousand years in the future.
Historical significance: 2/10
Pete Ross having a connection with the Legion is even less significant than Jimmy Olsen and Lana Lang, and they almost joined.
Legion significance: 4/10
Ultra Boy joins Star Boy in the “Legion members who debut on Superboy as Legion members but whose first story is ever referenced” club.
Ultra Boy is, of course, one of the most consistent members of the Legion. But here he’s almost unrecognizable: his only power is penetra-vision. His main gimmick (having all of Superman’s powers but only being able to use one at a time) is completely absent here.
Marla will make a few sporadic appearances, but I wouldn’t call him important in the history of the Legion. In fact, having an old guy being an official observer of the team is really at odds with this era’s Legion.
Silver Age-ness: 6/10
“Astounding coincidences” aside, it’s nothing too crazy for the DC Silver Age. The constant confusion between x-ray vision and heat vision is more of a Golden Age thing, which is not entirely surprising since the writer is Superman’s creator Jerry Siegel, but at this time Superman’s mythos was already well established.
Does it stand the test of time? 4/10
This has aged terribly. The mystery makes no sense, the use of powers makes no sense, Ultra Boy’s suspects make no sense, his mission makes no sense, the pun in his name makes no sense… the only thing that has aged well is the space monster. Look at that thing, it’s awesome!!!
How much Legion is too much?
With the introduction of Ultra Boy, the Legion of Superheroes currently consists of 16 people.
Time travel doesn’t work like that
Not exactly about time travel, but… “to prove you are worthy of joining our team, go back in time and discover something literally everybody on the planet knows”.
I PROTECTED SUPERBOY’S SECRET IDENTITY AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOUSY COIN!
At first it puzzled me as to why you weren’t listing Pete Ross as an honorary Legionnaire shortly after “The Boy with Ultra-Powers”. Not because of this story, though, because you’re quite correct that Pete Ross was not made an honorary Legionnaire at the end (contrary to the [mis]information of God-knows-how-many Legion-related web sites). As you indicated, all Ross received was a coin which would admit him to the Super-Hero Clubhouse whenever the Legion convened.
The first mention of Pete being an honorary Legionnaire came from Mort Weisinger’s response to a letter printed in the Smallville Mailsack in Superboy # 102 (Jan., 1963). Fan Ed Kenny, of Worchester, Massachusetts, asked for a list of the members of the Legion of Super-Heroes, and the last name on the list Unca Mort provided was Pete Ross, as an honorary member.
Now, for me, any pronouncement by Weisinger, editor and architect of the Superman mythos, is the Word of God. If he stated that Pete was an honorary Legionnaire, that was good enough for me. But, as I read in your Question section, you required stronger evidence—that Pete be declared as an honorary Legionnaire in a story proper. That’s fair enough. But I was confused over the fact that you didn’t find any in-story proof of that until Adventure Comics # 370 (Jul., 1968).
That’s because Pete Ross was established as an honorary member of the Legion within a story ‘way back in Adventure Comics # 323 (Aug., 1964). The caption of the first panel of the story proper reads: “One day, outside of the Legion clubhouse, as honorary members Pete Ross and Jimmy Olsen, who are visiting the 30th century, watch the Legionnaires test some new applicants . . .”
Then, at the end of the tale, when Saturn Girl outlines her solution to Proty II’s puzzle, she has the Legionnaires who embarked on missions assigned by Proty to line up in the order of their assignments while holding up a card with their respective first initials on it. However, in the cases of Pete and Jimmy, she states: “And will honorary members who followed Proty’s orders write down the first letter of their last name!”
I do want to applaud you for making the distinction between honorary Legionnaires (Ross, Olsen, and Rond Vidar) and Legion Reservists (Kid Psycho and Lana Lang). That’s keen attention to detail. (You can probably guess that I’m vexed by all of those sites maintained by Legion “experts” that insist Kid Psycho and Lana were honorary Legionnaires.)
On a more general note, you’ve probably noticed by now that I’ve chimed in with explications on a number of your comments. You’ve done an excellent job at reviewing these tales and your criticisms of the plots are pretty much valid and insightful. My comments to you are in no sense meant to be an “Aha! You missed this!” I’m just trying to answer questions that you raised yourself and provide information which will make your commentaries even better.
Hope this helps.
I was one of those convinced that Lana and Kid Psycho were honorary! And I did read their stories years before the review, but seeing them mentioned has honorary cemented the idea into my brain until this project.
On Weisinger, I take the “word of god” comments from creators with a grain of salt because they can always be contradicted in the text later on.
That’s also why I didn’t question Pete’s membership until I re-read the Ultra-Boy story and thought “wait a minute, there’s no mention of him becoming a member, when did that become a thing?”. It became a pet peeve of mine.
As per Adventure Comics #323 mentioning him as a honorary member in a caption… I honestly missed that!
Which is weird since it’s JUST above the Spider-Girl panel that I posted, but what’s done is done. Thanks for the highlight, I’ll highlight the discrepancy on that story and in the Questions page.
Don’t worry I really appreciate your comments, you’ve been very helpful. In a project of such a vast scope I’m bound to make mistakes and I can easily admit them. As we all know only Doctor Doom is perfect and definitely not saying that to avoid being blasted to pieces.
The x-ray/heat vision thing isn’t that bad. Superman’s ability to see through things was established early. Some clever writer later realized that since things exposed to x-rays heat up (similar to microwaves), Superman’s x-ray vision could be used to heat things!
(Though, this does suggest that Superman’s eyes are emitting x-rays, while just having the vision only suggests that he can receive ones already occurring in the environment. I’d complain about this more, but glowing eyes are really common in fiction, despite the obvious problems.)
There were a number of stories that played on this. I remember one where clever criminals announced that if Superman tried to find their hidden hideout with his x-ray vision, the heat from it would trigger a bomb, killing their innocent captives! Why they couldn’t just detect the x-rays, I don’t know. Superman had to use a special visor that blocked the heat from the x-rays while letting the x-rays through to find their hideout! (This makes not a lick of sense, of course, but, hey, comic book science rarely does.)
Somewhere along the way, authors started treating heat production as a separate, independent power. It’s hardly the first time that’s happened with Superman’s powers. (See jumping turning into flying, for one.)
Wait, so the reason Ultra Boy and Marla had to wear costumes was so that “they” (The Legion of Super Heroes) knew Ultra Boy was the real Ultra Boy calling and not an imposter.
You know, in case some people who look and sound exactly like Ultra Boy and Marla (or are disguised as them) decide to call the Legion from the exact time that Ultra Boy went to to tell them Superboy’s secret identity so they can … help Ultra Boy cheat on his entry exam??? Give the wrong answer and get Ultra Boy kicked off the team???
Good thing if, say, a pair of Durlans or Chameleon Men impersonated Ultra Boy and Marla they couldn’t possibly … also copy … their super hero outfits …
If I had a nickel for every time a Silver Age DC story made a forced reference to Jonah, I’d have two nickels. Not that that’s much, but it’s weird that it happened twice. Incidentally, that other story (Jimmy Olsen 115) had a phrase that makes my blood boil whenever I see it in a Silver Age comic ‘What a twist!’ Specifically, ‘What a fantastic twist’ after Jimmy Olsen randomly finds one of the Titanic’s life preservers in an iceberg.
I dunno…. this is a favorite of mine for some reason. I like the introduction of Ultra Boy, who for some reason can only use “penetra vision” at this point. And from a purely juvenile point of view, I’ve seen a version of this cover where Ultra Boy’s vision also “accidentally” reveals Lana’s undergarments…. Pink, in case anyone wants to know.