ADVENTURE COMICS 360 (1967)
by Jim Shooter & Curt Swan
Second part of the Legion’s latest trouble with the law.
After three pages to recap the previous issue (I know a lot happened, but that sounds excessive), we catch up with the Legionnaires currently on the run in the sewers.
These are the cleanest sewers I’ve ever seen, but then again it’s the 30th century.
Chameleon Boy has stumbled on a secret panel that leads to one of Lex Luthor’s lairs!
A reminder for why Luthor was completely wasting his genius. Just imagine how much money he could’ve made with his inventions!!!
President Douchebag is still worried about the fact that he hasn’t been able to capture ALL the Legionnaires.
He’s quite confident, since his plan has taken care of the Legion’s most powerful members.
However his Achilles heel turns out to be his son. And if you haven’t skipped any Legion story, the real identity of President Douchebag is quite blatantly obvious.
Especially since it’s pretty clear that the son knows the Legion.
But here’s something unexpected: not only Chameleon Boy actually DOES SOMETHING, but this is the debut of the Espionage Squad!
Specifically, while the rest of the team provides a distraction…
…the Espionage Squad frees the prisoners!
Yep! Not only Chameleon Boy did something TWICE, but he takes charge of the Espionage Squad!
And it’s actually a good plan: Duo Damsel delivers a letter that actually hides Shrinking Violet…
…but she ALSO uses her power to make security think that she’s already left the building, while she’s actually stealing secrets!
And it’s not even over yet! Duo Damsel escapes thanks to a different distraction caused by Lightning Lad, helped by Chameleon Boy and Karate Kid impersonating some repairmen!
Unfortunately it was all for nothing, because both Duo Damsel and Shrinking Violet didn’t find any clues.
Then they do what they should’ve done from the start and ask “Hey Brainiac 5, can you please figure out what’s going on in two panels?”.
Which he does, coming out with an antidote IN THE NEXT PANEL.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is one of the reasons why Brainiac 5 is my favorite Legionnaire.
While the Legion is busy disseminating the antidote, the prisoners of Takron-Galtos FINALLY remember they have powers!
It’s cool that they’re giving everyone a chance to shine… but couldn’t Element Lad do that much earlier?
Brainiac 5 is about to save Earth, but someone knocks him from behind. It’s not spelled out, but it’s clear from the story that his force field belt was confiscated when the Legion was outlawed.
The Legion is saved anyway, and everyone is freed from President Douchebag’s mind control.
But who saved the Legion, if Brainiac 5 was unconscious?
Rond Vidar from Adventure Comics #349 of course, because it turns out that President Douchebag is actually Universo.
You know it could’ve been an AWESOME twist if they didn’t show President Douchebag with his son, or if they had done anything to disguise Rond Vidar.
The fact that Universo was also responsible for all the emergencies that kept the Legion away from Earth is a bit of clever writing.
That ties up everything.
All except one: Rond Vidar is made a honorary member for having saved the Legion twice!
I can’t argue with that. This is a well-deserved honorary membership.
Now, if only they would revoke Jimmy Olsen’s membership…
Legion significance: 3/10
Rond Vidar’s honorary membership will be less important than his friendship with Brainiac 5, but his immunity from Universo’s powers will have its significance.
Silver Age-ness: 2/10
Universo sure is lucky that the Legionnaires on Takron-Galtos forgot to use their powers until the very last moment…
Does it stand the test of time? 8/10
A solid finale. It’s refreshing to see that this time a lot of time was spent figuring out where each Legionnaire would be, and what everyone could bring to the table. Nearly everyone gets at least a couple of panels to shine, even if a couple (Princess Projectra, anyone?) really were just benched because they would solve the problem too easily. In a modern story this would probably be a 3-parter, showing us more of the Takron-Galtos team, and they wouldn’t be so blatant about Universo being the villain.
We are legion
23 Legionnaires
2 reserve member: Kid Psycho, Insect Queen
2 honorary members: Elastic Lad, Rond Vidar
1 resigned member: Command Kid
1 expelled member: Nemesis Kid
2 deceased members: Dynamo Boy, Ferro Lad
How much Legion is too much?
With Rond Vidar’s honorary membership, the total number of characters who have been members is now 31.
I’m still not including Pete Ross as a honorary member because WITHIN THE STORIES he’s not clearly been shown as one; he’s only been called this in the letters page or the lists of Legionnaires. If he’s ever explicitly called a honorary member in a story, I’ll add him to the count.
Interesting letters: “The ghost of Ferro Lad” was an instant hit, and deservedly so!
It’s amazing how much actually happened in this one issue. I think of the 60s and early 70s as having some really slight issues. But there were lots of legionnaires in this issue doing quite a lot of things. Makes it a denser, more satisfying read, for me.
I’m extra impressed that Universo managed to fit in a some time travel to the 70s to be a Scooby Doo villain, and Karate Kid left his 30th century gym to travel to the 80s and cameo in Olivia Newton-John’s Physical video (because torso/headband).