ADVENTURE COMICS 302 (1962)
by Jerry Siegel and John Forte
Nothing special about the cover, but the detail of the direction of the shadows is a nice touch.
We’re once again in the 21st century, where the the mayor of Metropolis is about to dedicate a statue to one member of the Legion.
Although, considering how the mayor is dressed, I wonder if we’re actually in the 19th century.
Also Sun Boy is apparently “the most gallant Legionnaire of them all”, which… uhm… I’m not very fond of how Sun Boy will be treated at the end of the Silver Age, but “gallant” is quite a stretch.
Later, Sun boy inexplicably loses his powers.
He recalls his origin, which is slightly different from how he told it in issue 290, but there’s nothing to contradict it.
Since Sun Boy’s origin is having been locked inside an atomic reactor, his solution to get powers is TO LOCK HIMSELF INTO ANOTHER REACTOR:
Saturn Girl’s reaction is just priceless! You’d have to be a moron to jump into a reactor like that!
WHICH SUN BOY DOES.
When that doesn’t work, he asks to be DANGLED ABOVE AN ACTIVE VOLCANO.
Now I see how Sun Boy got his reputation of not being one of the Legion’s brightest.
Which is kind of hilarious given his “super-radiance” power.
Then an entomologist, of all people, brings a gift to the Legion clubhouse… his bug collection.
Perfectly normal gift for superheroes.
Sun Boy forgets that he’s lost his powers and lights the scientist’s pipe when it goes out.
Literally: the only reason his powers work is that he forgot he lost them!
Sun Boy… you’re not helping my attempts to demonstrate that you’re not an idiot.
Actually his next idea isn’t so bad: use Superboy and Ultra Boy’s powers in order to restore Sun Boy’s powers.
Note that Ultra Boy FINALLY stopped using the name “penetra-vision”, preferring “flash-vision”.
In a rare occasion, the cover scene actually makes it into the story! It even shows Cosmic Boy and Saturn Girl in the same position.
Unfortunately for Sun Boy this doesn’t work either, so he decides to resign from the Legion.
But despite his resignation, Cosmic Boy still says that Ultra Boy is expelled… WTF?
This technically makes him the first member to be expelled from the Legion.
At least he gets his own action figure and his nameplate. Unfortunately it’s the version that only says his name and doesn’t add “super-radiance”.
Despite the dick move of expelling him, the other Legionnaires are actually rather kind to him.
Sun Boy still keeps himself updated on the latest Legion mission: rescuing a “sub-oceanic liner”, which is accomplished by Cosmic Boy’s magnetic powers.
And I kind of have to take back my remark about the Legion being kind to him… they send Bouncing Boy to take back the “porta-monitor” that Sun Boy took with him.
We than cut to a nearby prison, where a notorious criminal called Kranyak escapes.
I know it’s hard to take Kranyak seriously when he’s wearing THAT prison uniform in the future.
Once he gets his actual clothes, however…
…it’s actually impossible to take them seriously.
Notice the arrow on their “criminal uniforms”. That design is remarkably similar to one of the future costumes of Element Lad… and Kranyak’s escaped from prison by turning into a gas.
Coincidence?
Yes. It’s a coincidence. Nobody would voluntarily remember Kranyak’s costume.
From the dialogue it’s pretty clear that Sun Boy was the one responsible for putting him in jail. Kranyak takes his revenge by attacking him with A BAZOOKA THAT SHOOTS FIREBALLS…
…and then letting him go for no reason.
What was the point of shooting him with fireballs if you don’t want to kill him!?
After warning the Legion that Kranyak is out to get them, Sun Boy looks for yet another way to get his powers back: a planet that has fire-breathing beasts that evolved on Krypton.
WHICH WORKS.
Kranyak’s plan to destroy the Legion turn out to be using a freezing ray to drop a block of ice as big as a mountain on their base!
Okay, he might have the worst costume ever (after Urthlo), but that’s not too bad.
Unfortunately for him… Sun Boy is back.
Good! Story’s over, right? Well, there’s still the issue of how he lost his powers.
Yes, okay, that explains how he got his powers back, but how did he… wait a second, if all he needed to restore his powers was being blasted by living beings, what about the attempt by Superboy and Ultra Boy?
What the…
Okay… him noticing the detail about the robots being attracted to Cosmic Boy (no, not that way) kind of makes sense, although I don’t buy it that Cosmic Boy himself didn’t notice.
But if these are robots, where are the real Superboy and Ultra Boy?
Delivering a birthday cake to Pete Ross, of course.
You may wonder why they’re the only Legionnaires to celebrate Pete’s birthday, but they’re the only two who have already met him at this point.
They actually sent the robots back to the future to warn the Legion about their absence, but the robot’s “tapes” were damaged when they traveled back to the Legion time.
Sounds legit. So that leaves only one thing to explain… how did Sun Boy lose his powers in the first place? NOBODY KNOWS. The issue ends here.
Legion significance: 1/10
To the best of my knowledge, Kranyak and his awful costume never appear again. Sun Boy’s origin has already been told, and equally briefly. The only significant thing is Sun Boy’s real name.
Silver Age-ness: 3/10
Causal attitude towards potentially lethal ways to get superpowers aside, the only ridiculous parts are some of the space monsters. Very low Silver Age for DC.
Does it stand the test of time? 4/10
It’s not an entirely bad story, but it’s no classic either. Sun Boy’s efforts to regain his powers can easily be adapted, as the idea of a former villain exploiting his situation… but Kranyak is barely a threat to anyone. Completely forgetting to explain how Sun Boy lost his powers is simply inexcusable.
We are legion
- 7 active in this story: Sun Boy, Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, Bouncing Boy, Chameleon Boy, Superboy, Ultra Boy. There’s a green guy in the last panel, but given the hair I think it’s a miscolored Ultra Boy. Also note that Chameleon Boy does literally nothing the entire issue.
- 9 not appearing but officially members: Lightning Lad, Colossal Boy, Invisible Kid, Phantom Girl, Triplicate Girl, Supergirl, Brainiac 5, Shrinking Violed, Mon-El
- 1 unknown: Star Boy as usual
How much Legion is too much?
The Legion currently has 17 members.
A hundred years in the future, you say?
Mayors in top hats! Prisoners in black&white uniforms!
Time travel doesn’t work like that
Superboy and Ultra Boy leave for the past, then send their robots to the future to warn the Legion about their absence. Looking past the fact that they could’ve simply left a note… if they can travel through time, why not come back one minute after you left?