Adventure Comics 342

ADVENTURE COMICS 342 (1966)
by Edmond Hamilton & Curt Swan

“The trial of Star-Boy”, one of the most influential Legion stories.

We begin with Star Boy leaving the Legion headquarters for personal business.
We get a good glimpse at the Mission Monitor Board:

There’s enough space for 18 members on the board, and one is covered by a speech bubble.
Only Cosmic Boy and Supergirl are left out; I was wondering if Supergirl was perhaps left out of the official membership, but she is very clearly considered a regular member later in the story.

We get a glimpse at the Legionnaires in their spare time: Phantom Girl has learned to dance after her abysmal performance in Adventure Comics 326.

Of course Superboy and Brainiac 5 would be the only single Legion guys not interested in the 30th century equivalent of “spin the bottle”.

Star Boy is still thinking about Dream Girl, who he hasn’t seen since Adventure Comics #317.

But in the meantime: it’s audition time!

First up: Calamity King, who has the power to bring misfortune wherever he goes. That would actually be a useful power… if only he had any control over it.

Then there’s Color Kid, who has a rather useless power. He’ll eventually join the Substitute Heroes.

Star Boy is off to visit his parents, but he’s ambushed by a guy named Kenz Nuhor who kills a local explorer in cold blood.

Star Boy tries to use his power to make Kenz super-heavy… but he has a special shield that reflects this back to Star Boy.

Turns out that this guy is a former suitor of Dream Girl, who dumped him for Star Boy.

And so in order to defend himself, Star Boy grabs the explorer’s gun and fires it to kill Kenz.

Dream Girl even testifies that it was in self-defense, clearing Star Boy’s name.
Nice cape!

So… why is this called “the trial of Star Boy” if he’s cleared by page 5?
Because the Legion has a much stricter code than the Science Police.

Brainiac 5 will act as prosecutor since he’s the current leader (despite the fact that we never saw his election, which is a bit unusual for the Legion), Saturn Girl will be the judge, and Superboy volunteers to be the defense attorney.

I love this. While the Legion as a whole has a very absolutist view of the “no killing rule”, individual members have a more nuanced view.

Brainiac 5 is a bit of an hard-ass, but his point is that Star Boy didn’t need to kill Kenz to save himself and therefore it wasn’t a legitimate case of self-defense.

While Star Boy maintains that there was nothing he could do to stop Kenz except kill him, Brainiac 5 demonstrates that there WAS an option: he could’ve made the tree branches super-heavy and knock him out, as demonstrated with a miniature model.

Suddenly, things aren’t so cut-and-dry, are they?

What I love about this story is that both sides have a point: Superboy is right about the fact that even superheroes should have the right of self-defense, but on the other hand, Brainiac 5 is also right about the fact that Star Boy had other ways to defend himself!

Dream Girl visits Star Boy while he’s in jail, and I really wish she kept the cape as part of her regular costume.

Since she has precognitive powers, Star Boy asks her to look into the future to see if he’ll be acquitted. But she can’t give spoilers.

Another point that I like: we’re not explicitly told if she DOES know how things end, or if she simply doesn’t want to tell him. Good stuff!

Meanwhile, Superboy is looking into the history of the Legion to find something to help his case, but unfortunately he can only find instances of Legionnaires using their powers to avoid killing.

Curt Swan is no John Forte when it comes to weird aliens, but cool design on this one!

The court is now in session, and GO AWAY, PROTY!!! This is a serious story!!!

Superboy presents his case, asking to amend the Legion Code to permit killing to save other lives. And it’s based on the fact that Brainiac 5, of all people, has done this in the past!

Or not. Good thing that your other identity is a journalist and not a lawyer, Superboy, because you really suck at this.

Superboy’s next stunt: trying to get the entire Legion killed!

Wow you really, REALLY suck at this, Superboy!
(also: you have to love Brainiac 5’s “no s#its given” attitude!)

Brainiac 5 agrees that the Legion Code SHOULD be amended to include killing in self-defense… but he also believes that doesn’t clear Star Boy, because the code isn’t changed retroactively.

Superboy’s final plead is basically the same of the start of the issue. From his side nothing has changed, but we gained a little insight on Brainiac 5’s side.

And so it’s up to a vote. In the story point that definitely has aged the worst, most of the Legion girls vote “not guilty” out of sympathy for Dream Girl… except Saturn Girl.
Considering she’s been shown to be very big on enforcing the Legion rules, it checks out.

The vote takes place between 2 pages, but even then the comic does a good job to draw this out for maximum drama.

Other tidbits: all the Legionnaires with invulnerability share Superboy’s position, and Lightning Lad is the only founder to vote “not guilty”.

But when the last votes arrive, including from the 20th century… Star Boy is judged to be guilty!

Three things of interest here.
One, Supergirl is definitely considered a member here, even if she’s not shown on the Mission Monitor.
Two, this should put to rest the idea that Pete Ross was a honorary member, since he doesn’t vote.
Three, if they DIDN’T make Jimmy Olsen an honorary member, the verdict would’ve been 9-9.

But yes, it’s official: Star Boy becomes the first Legion member to be officially expelled.

On the bright side, both Star Boy and Dream Girl join the Subs!

We won’t get a good look at them during their membership with the Subs before they inevitably rejoin the Legion.

Legion significance: 10/10
The idea that the Legion doesn’t kill will become a very important part of its lore, and this story is probably why. Sure it’s been mentioned before, but it’s never been analyzed to this depth.
Interestingly, Superman’s view of the subject matter is typically far closer to that of Brainiac 5, so it’s very interesting to see his younger self having a more relaxed view.

Silver Age-ness: 0/10
This story is DECADES ahead of its time. No big bad behind everything? A hero that simply screws up and has to deal with the consequences? Almost no action, concentrating everything on characterization and a dive on the philosophical implications of self-defense?

Does it stand the test of time? 9/10
The line about the girl Legionnaires siding with Star Boy because he has a love story hasn’t aged particularly well, but at least there’s Saturn Girl to show some nuance on this point as well. Superboy’s courtroom antics are a bit silly, but nothing too far-fetched for the genre.

 We are legion
18 Legionnaires active in this story
2 reserve members: Bouncing Boy and Kid Psycho
2 resigned members: Dream Girl, Command Kid
1 honorary member: Elastic Lad
1 expelled member: Star Boy
1 deceased member: Dynamo Boy

How much Legion is too much?
With Star Boy’s expulsion, the Legion goes down to 18 active members.  The total number of characters who have been members is 25.

Legion rejects: 28
Adding Calamity King and Color Kid, the rejects are still more numerous than the official members!

Interesting letters: another complaint that the Legion has too many members…

…and a question about adult supervision. I suppose the answer is referencing Marla from Superboy 98.