ADVENTURE COMICS 369 (1968)
by Jim Shooter & Curt Swan
cover by Neal Adams
This is a big one: the first appearance of one of the Legion’s greatest adversaries, Mordru.
We begin with one of the best cold opening scenes ever: Superboy has already been badly injured…
…and the four Legionnaires who are still standing are so terrified of the unseen villain that they escape by time machine!
Specifically, they escape to Superboy’s time.
We then begin our flashback to understand what happened. Shadow Lass, the latest Legion recruit, stumbled upon a sealed chamber in the Legion HQ and was stopped by Mon-El before she could open it.
Sealed behind the vault is Mordru. He does look a little ridiculous…
…until you realize that he’s so powerful that he can hold off entire space fleets by himself.
Much like he did with Dr. Morlo, Shooter treats Mordru as if this was his second appearance and just summarizes a previous encounter.
Mordru is basically invincible except for one extremely specific weakness: if he’s buried alive or trapped in a very tight spot, he immediately falls into a coma.
Unfortunately, while Mon-El stopped Shadow Lass from completely opening the vault, even if just a little air reaches Mordru he comes back to life.
All of this could’ve been avoided if they just put a sign on the door saying “Don’t open or Satan breaks free”.
Mordru wants revenge on Superboy and Mon-El, so he’s going to look for them.
Good news: this means that the 30th century is safe.
Bad news: they’re f##ed.
Superboy’s solution is to give everyone a secret identity. Because glasses are going to fool the most powerful wizard in the universe.
And yes, these ARE Superboy’s parents. They changed their looks in Superboy stories for absurdly convoluted reasons.
Unfortunately, Shadow Lass will have to be in whiteface the whole time. I wonder if that’s considered a racist thing on Talk VIII.
Duo Damsel will stay at the home of Smallville’s chief of police.
Superboy’s time is about fifteen to twenty years before Superman’s publication date, so I guess in the late 40s this could’ve happened?
Shadow Lass with share a room with Lana Lang.
57 billion parsecs would be almost 186 billion light-years, which can only mean two things:
1) The distance from Earth to Talok VIII is several times bigger than the entire diameter of the observable universe.
2) 1968 Jim Shooter has no idea of what a parsec is.
Mon-El resumes the secret identity from his origin story (I can’t think of any other time after this storyline where he uses it).
The Eye of Sauron Mordru’s magic is still looking for the Legionnaires.
However Shadow Lass is able to use her powers to protect the team. Somehow.
This works to protect the Legionnaires, but the rest of Smallville isn’t so lucky.
The four discuss their situation in Superboy’s basement, which I guess is wizard-proof.
This storyline is a great step forward for Duo Damsel, who finally grows out of her initial lack of characterization and out of her crush on Superboy.
Shadow Lass is the one with the least knowledge about Earth, so she’s bound to make mistakes.
A little fun with secret identity dynamics.
Mordru, still suspecting that the Legionnaires are hiding in Smallville, creates a series of illusions to force them out of hiding.
The heroes don’t take the bait, and the illusions disappear on their own. The real emergency is keeping their secret identities.
A problem solved by the schools in Metropolis issuing high pressure pens to their students. (WTF!?)
This is still a superhero story, though, so SOME kind of accident is just bound to happen sooner or later. And it’s time again for Duo Damsel to shine, preventing a truck collision without exposing her identity.
The story seems to suggest that Duo Damsel has twice the strength of a regular girl, but in other stories that’s not a thing.
This is her best story so far, without question.
Unfortunately it appears that Smallville is entirely dependent on Superboy: when he doesn’t show up (for just a few days, mind you!!!), some mobster LITERALLY declares himself king!!!
Until the undercover Legionnaires remind them that they don’t have to take it anymore.
This gives them the courage to finally face Mordru and stop hiding from him.
Which turns out to be a really bad idea, because as we’ve seen earlier Mordru is using Lana Lang to look for them.
So… yeah. These guys are screwed.
Legion significance: 10/10
Mordru is one of the greatest enemies of the Legion, but this is also one of the most important stories for Duo Damsel.
Silver Age-ness: 6/10
The girls inserting themselves so easily into the lives of total strangers is less believable that the almost omnipotent wizard.
Does it stand the test of time? 9/10
Some of the Smallville little plots drag a little too much, but they don’t seriously hurt the story. We have of the best cold open scenes of the entire Silver Age, not just of the Legion. And while Mordru doesn’t exactly shine in complexity, he makes up for it for being so scary that SUPERBOY prefers to run and hide rather than face him!!!
We are legion
24 Legionnaires
2 reserve members: 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?
The total number of characters who have been members is 32.