ADVENTURE COMICS 344 (1966)
by Edmond Hamilton & Curt Swan
The Hamilton era concludes with a two-parter, starting with “The Super-Stalag of Space”.
We begin with the Legion receiving a distress call: Brainiac 5 has been captured.
I’m sure Brainy will appreciate this rescue.
The source is a very small camp.
Unfortunately the Legionnaires are no match for the amazing power of… Nardo.
Look, I don’t want to sound racist, but notall aliens can pull off being scary, okay?
This guy doesn’t look intimidating at all! Especially considering he’s named NARDO.
Even when you give him a legion of not-trademark-infringing-Doombots, he still can’t look threatening.
Told you Brainiac 5 would be grateful!
This is one of those very rare occasions where we see heroes from other planets.
Nardo is as generic as stereotypical as he can be, but apparently we’re supposed to believe that he’s an unbeatable powerhouse.
Interestingly, one of the prisoners is a Durlan shapeshifter stuck in Superboy form.
Come on, Chameleon Boy, this is just embarrassing! First you’re upstaged by freaking Proty, and now from a member of your own species who doesn’t even get a name!?
There’s a reason for that, actually: the fake Superboy gets killed.
Nardo figures out that Brainiac 5 has been put in charge of coming up with an escape plan, so he resorts to psychological torture.
Some really, REALLY cheesy psychological torture.
Amazingly, hours of being yelled by his own face doesn’t break Brainiac 5.
One of the non-Legion prisoners, Weight Wizard, doesn’t want to try to escape since apparently Nardo can immediately sense whenever they use their powers.
That would’ve been fun to actually see.
One of the other prisoners, Plant Lad, has had enough of it.
It’s a rather creative use of his power, and yet another case of Chameleon Boy losing the spotlight to another shapeshifter!
Plant Lad is killed, while Brainiac 5 is planning something.
But at least this shocks Chameleon Boy into FINALLY do something…
…and immediately fail at it.
Meanwhile, Blockade Boy and Matter-Eater Lad make a break for it. This is where we learn something about M.E.L: he can eat at super-speed!
It’s not something that gets pointed out often, but it makes his super-power a little more useful.
On the other side of the mountain that M.E.L. just ate through, they find a second prison camp for the girls!
Unfortunately we don’t get to learn anything about the non-Legionnaire girls, which is a shame since some of them have interesting designs.
But Nardo finds them and confirm what Brainiac 5 has been thinking all along: there’s a spy among them.
Who is it? Find out next chapter, in the last Hamilton story!
Legion significance: 0/10
I suppose Nardo could’ve become a major villain, if it wasn’t for his looks and his name. And despite introducing multiple other heroes, we’ll never see most of them again.
Silver Age-ness: 5/10
All things considered, pretty standard stuff for the times.
Does it stand the test of time? 3/10
Nothing particularly offensive or even particularly stupid, but Nardo having so much power over so many Legionnaires is not particularly credible. He’d have to be shown to be more powerful or at the very least have a way to disable the Legion’s powers.
We are legion
9 Legionnaires active in this story
9 not shown but officially members
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?
The Legion currently has 18 active members. The total number of characters who have been members is 25.
Interesting letters: a little history about Adventure Comics, which is WAY older than you’d think: it’s older than Superman!
