ADVENTURE COMICS 348 (1966)
Written by Jim Shooter
Pencils by Curt Swan & George Papp
One of the problems of the very early Legion was a lack of villains. Shooter doesn’t waste much time to fix that, introducing Dr. Regulus in his third story.
It’s time to elect the new Legion leader.
And it’s also time for some character development for Duo Damsel, who turns out has a crush on Superboy.
This won’t really go anywhere, but the moment when she finally grows out of this crush will be a moment fondly remembered by Legion fans.
But more importantly, the new leader is Invisible Kid!
This is a great idea. Invisible Kid has been, well, pretty much invisible up to this point: he’s a blank slate. So it’s a good way to give exposure to a relatively minor character.
Note that if we can add up all the votes we are shown, there are 23 votes in total.
The Legion currently has 21 active members; the 2 reserve would’ve needed to vote to reach 23.
Also, Duo Damsel receiving 2 votes made me chuckle.
Invisible Kid is off to a good start:
The business is attending a charity event, which is really just an excuse to reintroduce the powers of the Legionnaires.
During his run as Marvel’s Editor-In-Chief, Jim Shooter will often repeat the idea that every issue could be someone’s first issue, and so he pushed to repeat often what the reader would need to know about the characters.
It’s very cool that even at 13 he was already doing this!
But it’s not all fun and games. Earthquake!
Also: random amnesia! (WTF?)
They let the doctors figure THAT out because there’s another emergency: someone has stolen their headquarters!
The man behind all this is Dr. Regulus. He’s kind of a generic mad scientist, but he definitely has some presence.
The Legion tracks his ship… not that hard since it’s golden, it glows and since it’s LIFTING BUILDINGS.
Superboy opens a hole on the ship’s hull to let the others get through, something that I mention only because I find it hilarious that the one getting help to get inside is the girl who can turn intangible at will.
Invisible Kid splits the team. For some reason, the only indication he gives is to keep both girls in the same group.
Great idea!
(shouldn’t Phantom Girl be able to phase through the gas?)
Not that the guys are having much luck…
…but at least Brainiac 5 manages to land some punches.
At this point the strength of his force field wasn’t very well established, but I have a feeling this shouldn’t have worked even back then.
Superboy gets taken out ridiculously easy.
No, I don’t know why the robots are wearing a medieval armor.
While all this was going on, the amnesiac Sun Boy managed to sneak away from the authorities and into a nuclear waste facility.
And that was enough to shake him off his amnesia, which we learned was caused by Dr. Regulus.
Invisible Kid, the last Legionnaire standing, is also defeated very easily.
Sun Boy to the rescue! Nice shadow effect.
Sun Boy’s powers disable almost all the Dr. Regulus weapons (more on that later), but he’s saved by the other Legionnaires who have since escaped OFF-PANEL.
You know, for a guy who keeps saying that all of his weapons are now useless, Dr. Regulus sure has a big supply of weapons that still work just fine.
Dr. Regulus manages to escape, and the only one who was injured was Colossal Boy.
In the previous era, this would’ve been the end. But Cosmic Boy asks something that the reader was probably thinking: what’s the deal between Sun Boy and Dr. Regulus?
We’re told the extended origin of Sun Boy. Regulus was a scientist working with Sun Boy’s father, and he blames him for an incident he caused.
Except he forgot that radiation used to be the primary cause of superpowers.
Still no explanation on how the guy who works with sun power gave him amnesia, though.
While not exactly a frequent villain, Dr. Regulus will return a few times.
Legion significance: 5/10
Dr. Regulus isn’t a major villain, but he does have some history with the team. Sun Boy’s complete origin also adds some significance.
Silver Age-ness: 5/10
The arsenal of Dr. Regulus is pretty much what you’d expect from a Silver Age supervillain.
Does it stand the test of time? 6/10
A step down from the previous two issues, but still enjoyable. The traps for the Legionnaires are a bit simplistic and the whole amnesia plot is definitely redundant, but it’s easily adaptable if given some additions here and there.
We are legion
8 Legionnaires active in this story
13 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
2 expelled member: Star Boy, Nemesis Kid
1 deceased member: Dynamo Boy
How much Legion is too much?
The Legion currently has 21 active members and the total number of characters who have been members is now 29.
I’m reading through Volume 4 right now (spoilers for the uninitiated), and the SW6 Legion has to come from either this story or the very next one, doesn’t it? Any earlier and we don’t have Karate Kid, Ferro Lad, or Projectra, and any later and we would have Bouncing Boy, since he regains his powers in the 2-part 350-351. I doubt this counts towards either story’s significance score, but it is certainly notable, if nothing else.