Secret Origins v2 #42 (1989)
written by Tom and Mary Bierbaum
pencils by Dave Cockrum
cover by Dick Giordano
This is an important debut in the creative team: it’s written by Tom and Mary Bierbaum, a husband and wife duo that will be SO important in the Five Years Later incarnation of the Legion that the period is also called the TMK era (Tom-Mary-Keith), as they’re just as central as Keith Giffen in the creative minds behind it.
For better and worse.
You may also recognize Dave Cockrum by name only, as the artwork absolutely pales in comparison to the classic Cockrum run.
The Bierbaums will stay on the Legion longer than Giffen, and they will be infamous for some of the worst retcons ever conceived.
Parts of this story take place during Adventure Comics #316, so I’ll pay attention to whether they’re already making changes.
The fact that the story begins with her thinking about Ultra Boy wrestling Mon-El checks out, as that DID happen in the original…
…but am I the only one thinking that the version where they’re wrestling with their clothes on is MORE homoerotic than the one where they’re in speedos?
The story referenced here is the one where Ultra Boy is accused of a crime he didn’t commit, and thus far everything checks out.
While the original is basically THE source of the relationship between Ultra Boy and Phantom Girl, the Hamilton style didn’t allow for a lot of characterization. So we’re going deeper this time.
So Phantom Girl narrates her origins story, back when she was in her home dimension Bgztl.
And already there’s something weird going on: in her dreams she’s having visions of what she’ll eventually learn is Earth, which is in a parallel dimension to Bgztl.
I say weird because Bgztlians move through dimensions physically, not with their minds, and based on the narration she’s not PHYSICALLY going to Earth.
Also, throughout this entire story and nowhere else before, she repeatedly calls out “Mistress” where you’d mostly expect to see “God”. Not a bad worldbuilding idea, but very sudden.
See, she’s waking up from witnessing her dream. We also have a brief appearance from Phantom Girl’s brother Gmya, who you may recall from Superboy #215.
This is also the first appearance of her mother Winema! If I’m not mistaken this is her ONLY appearance before the Reboot.
However she will be INCREDIBLY important during the entire Reboot era, and in the cartoon series as well.
Oh so she IS physically phasing to Earth? Then how is she just waking up in her bed every time she returns, that’s not how her powers are supposed to work right?
This story depicts Phantom Girl as the boy-crazy teen rebelling against a very uptight mother.
I think it’s a bit of a stretch for the original Phantom Girl… did she ever show any interest whatsoever in anyone BUT Ultra Boy?
I do like that her mother’s uptightness doesn’t come out of nowhere, but it’s tied to the social impact of having a society where everyone can become intangible.
Bgztl is shown to be VERY isolated from Earth, but some of the culture is breaking through.
And Phantom Girl gets into trouble when her date convinces her to go somewhere they’re not supposed to go.
Out of all the Legion planets where everyone has a superpower, Bgztl is one of the least explored. Which is too bad because I find it FASCINATING, and this is coming up with little details that make sense.
You’d expect the “no phasing allowed” sign would be for something related to security, but it’s just in order to hide a sex party by politicians.
Which might just be the most realistic thing we learn about any Legion planet.
She gets into trouble when the Prefect tries to get a bit too handsy.
Winema being more upset about the fact that her daughter disobeyed the law than about the fact that a grown man molested her underage daughter is… not exactly 100% something that Reboot Winema would do.
Probably just 90%.
Once again I really wish we had more stories set on Bgztl, because that “they’re going to take away your phasing power” sounds like a terrific idea for a Phantom Girl storyline!!!
Her mother’s connections save her from being punished by the authorities… because she has to suffer something worse.
Bgztl is unique among the Legion worlds because it’s not in another solar system, it’s in the same position of Earth but on a different dimension. Kind of how the pre-Crisis Multiverse used to work, but Bgztl was spared.
And this is when Phantom Girl learned the existence of the Legion of Super-Heroes.
R.J.Brande’s publicist deserves a raise for getting the name out here!!!
It’s always funny to think that these people don’t consider their abilities to be “superpowers”, because… well it would be like a human applying as “Air-Breathing Lad”.
Then tragedy strikes at home, with Phantom Girl’s father dying of natural causes.
He probably knew that if he stayed around during her superhero years he would’ve been susceptible to Mentor Figure Disease.
The story is being narrated by an older Phantom Girl, who with the benefit of hindsight is able to see that her mother wasn’t an uncaring monster.
Just 90% of one.
Phantom Girl is now set on going to Earth, and we get more worldbuilding.
There are so many narrative possibilities in exploring this: why are there so many Bgztlians trying to escape their planet, to the point of ships coming up with a way to stop them?
Is it just the chance to see a new world, or things are bleak on Bgztl even if you’re not an angsty teenager?
This is SERIOUSLY dangerous, but Phantom Girl is desperate enough to try.
We finally DO get an explanation for the dream stuff, and I find it needlessly complicated.
Linking Bgztl to the Phantom Zone is a good idea (we’ve already seen that Phantom Girl can get in the Zone without problems), and we do know that being inside the Zone can give you telepathy… but having her mind drift into the Phantom Zone feels VERY forced to me.
But this finally takes Phantom Girl to Earth.
Turns out the guy who was breaking the law to allow a stowaway is not exactly on Earth for strictly legal reasons.
She’s quick to get a name for herself, causing the criminals’ ship to crash and landing a Legion membership.
I find it interesting that Triplicate Girl was kind of her best friend in the Silver Age, but she basically ditches her over the years.
Yeah, uhm, Brainiac 5 is my favorite Legionnaire but I absolutely believe that spending time with him would be unbearably tedious.
Alright, up to this point I’ve mostly praised the Bierbaums, but now I’m beginning to see stuff to complain about.
Starting from Saturn Girl warning Phantom Girl not to go to Rimbor (Ultra Boy’s planet) because it’s “not a place for a proper woman”. That REALLY doesn’t sound like something Saturn Girl would EVER say, and a precursor to the Bierbaum tendency to force personalities on characters despite their history.
Then for SOME reason Phantom Girl fights Sugyn, one of the Devil’s Dozen from Adventure Comics #350.
Which means that either this story is SOMEHOW set before #316 of the same series, or that Phantom Girl had already fought Sugyn before #350.
Also, once again I absolutely must point out the absurdity of the fact that the “Devil’s Dozen” has ONLY FOUR MEMBERS.
Ultra Boy helps her in the fight, so she decides to push for his membership.
I like the fact that she puts this in the terms of “it’s good publicity for the team”, showing that she DOES have some of her mother’s political instincts.
Although I do question the need for it… isn’t Lightning Lad’s planet also considered quite poor?
But did you HAVE to drag Reflecto into this? Isn’t his story already WAY too complicated as it is???
Because you might remember that “Reflecto” in that trainwreck of a storyline was just an amnesiac Superboy with the mind of Ultra-Boy.
This story now tells us, OUT OF NOWHERE, that there WAS an actual Reflecto who was supposed to join the Legion in Ultra Boy’s place? WHAT???
We also have the revelation that the Ultra Boy tests from Superboy #98 were Phantom Girl’s idea.
But this doesn’t make much more sense: if Reflecto was already a candidate, why is Ultra Boy is given the tests but Reflecto isn’t?
In fact Reflecto doesn’t even show up in the rest of the story!!! This entire plot will be expanded in the next era… in a story ALSO written by the Bierbaums.
Since there’s only a mention of Reflecto being a potential candidate, without showing him actually trying to join, he’s not included in the count.
The extended flashback then ends, bringing us back to Adventure Comics #316.
Which had some AMAZING John Forte aliens that I really wish Cockrum could draw in his 70s style, but they’re disappointing here.
The aliens are eventually defeated, with Ultra Boy becoming closer to Phantom Girl like in the original.
But she’s way, WAY too unnecessarily aggressive and judgmental here!
There are more than enough red flags suggesting this is FAR from a perfectly healthy relationship, but these two ARE teenagers.
Legion significance: 2/10
Despite the first appearance of Winema, she’s WAY too different from the Reboot to count too much… but this IS the start of Phantom Girl having a hostile relationship with her mother, which will be a core part of her Reboot incarnation.
The Annual will basically re-tell the story from Ultra Boy’s point of view, while also adding A LOT of more unnecessary complications. Time travel and reality warping will play a big factor.
Silver Age-ness: 2/10
While it does inherit some of the silliness of the original stories, the entire approach is completely different.
Does it stand the test of time? 8/10
I enjoyed this one a lot more than I thought I would, considering I’m definitely NOT a fan of later Bierbaum stories. But while there are hints of what I consider their negative traits, they’re not distracting enough to detract from the story itself.
The origin part is by far the best and most interesting part, with nearly everything prior to her joining the Legion holding up. It’ a bit weaker and needlessly complicated after that.
Cockrum is completely unrecognizable, but I assure you that’s him.
The Reflecto thing gets even more ridiculous when they reveal in the Mayfair 2995 Sourcebook, which is considered official canon for that era, that the Rimborian Reflecto was a Legionnaire during the 5-year gap and he died fighting the Molecule Master…the inscription on the statue that the original Reflecto story tried to fulfil. Silly fanwank.
The idea that Sugyn had a criminal career of his own before Evillo tried to assemble his Devil’s Dozen doesn’t sound so difficult to me. I thought that was a fine addition to the lore.
This also seems to be the first of a number of places in their involvement with the Legion that the Beirbaums build Zaryan the Conqueror into a known galactic threat prior to his demise in Adventure Comics # 304.
IIRC, it is Braal (Cosmic Boy’s sort-of-origin planet) and not Winath (Lightning Lad’s and Lightning Lass’) who was under economic duress.
Tom Bierbaum has been quite candid about how much he liked the Devil’s Dozen as a kid, and it clearly had an impact on his writing.
I almost see Reflecto as a running gag in the 5YL run. He gets more screentime as a reanimated corpse than in flashbacks and every time he shows up, it’s always in a way that makes you throw up your arms and scream.
We’ll get to it eventually, but v4 Annual #1 (which I quite enjoy) was the first attempt of many at getting a second Legion book running during the 5YL era. There were at least 2 different attempts prior to Legionnaires (the other being Legion Academy), and this one would have essentially been Secret Origins but just for Legionnaires. The Ultra Boy story gave the Bierbaums a green light to produce a second story, but it was apparently unsatisfactory and the Ultra Boy story was reused in the form we eventually got. I’m sure you know, but a lot (and I mean a LOT) went wrong behind the scenes in the 5YL era and plans had to be altered frequently.
Annual #1 was such a disorienting experience. I kept wondering what I was missing.
I read the TMK run starting in the teens issues, so I understood the Annual (and, IIRC, the letters column therein explained what it was about). Did you read the Annual before or during the Superboy/Time Trapper-Valor/Glorith retcon was rolled out in the main book? I imagine it would have been very confusing to read in progress.
At the time I did not have access to the concurrent monthly issues.
I read the Annual by itself.
Not recommended, IMO. It does not help that at the time I had never read the story of Brainiac 5’s insanity either.
There are several possible ways for Phantom Girl’s powers to work, and different stories support different means.
If Tinya is moving fourth-dimensionally, she isn’t going through three-dimensional objects, she’s going around them. As she moves in a direction we can’t perceive, she would appear to be receding into the distance while also not moving. This story seems to support fourth-dimensional moving, but then everything on Bgtzl would likely be built with four dimensions. Earth would be a flat reflection of Bgtzl.
If Tinya is changing from solid matter to spirit-like energy, she would be a true phantom. Some stories support this. The idea that her ability could be removed backs this concept.
If Tinya is spreading her molecules apart, she could pass through solid matter because “solid” matter contains a lot of empty space. The stories where Chameleon Boy copies her abilities support this.
I wonder how many Legion writers actually think about how “phantom” powers work.
You would think that in the future there would be solid means of psychological testing, but the Legion proves constantly that it is not the case.
I know that you are taking an extreme approach about Legion mentions, so I have to ask: did you / do you want to include 1980’s “DC Comics Presents” #17, which is very borderline indeed? What about Action Comics #385-387 (1970) and Superman 295 (1976)? You briefly mentioned #387 in the 1970s cameos article from October 20th.
If I’m not missing something DCP #17 is just Superman telling Firestorm that he used to be in a team when he was his age, not really a cameo.
But it is interesting that it plays a role in convincing Firestorm to join the JLA, so thanks for bringing it up!
Superman #295 is among the 70s cameos.
Action Comics #385-387 are already in the retrospective during the Action Comics era, the reviews also include the Superman stories.
https://comicsarcheology.com/index.php/legion-of-super-heroes-retrospective/action-comics-era/