ADVENTURE COMICS 374 (1968)
by Jim Shooter & Win Mortimer
cover by Mike Esposito
The cover isn’t by Neal Adams this time, but it’s still pretty neat.
We begin with someone looking at pictures of the Legionnaires. One interesting bit of trivia is the time limit on Dream Girl’s power.
Meanwhile Colossal Boy and Shrinking Violet are shooting a movie.
It’s neat to see these two paired up for the first time, but come on, SHRINKING VIOLET as a movie star!?
It doesn’t really matter, though, because it’s just a trap.
Saturn Girl and Princess Projectra are on a double date with Lightning Lad and Karate Kid, but since they’ve been ghosted they decide to go for a ride anyway.
I don’t know, the “mind tunnel” looks like a lawsuit waiting to happen.
Nice catfight power demonstration though!
Between this and the Tornado Twins utterly trashing the Legion last issue, this is becoming a theme.
Only a few Legionnaires escape capture (it’s implied thanks to Dream Girl’s precognition but it’s not really that clear) and discover that a criminal organization called Scorpius is keeping the rest of the team hostage.
The reason is actually kind of clever: they want the Legion to take out the competition, a gang called Taurus.
Although if you’re able to defeat the Legion THIS quickly you really shouldn’t have to worry about these nobodies.
Actually Taurus turn out to be pretty tough: the Legion isn’t able to stop them (even if they go the extra mile by hiding their identities behind costumes), needing to be saved by the Subs!
I love that the Taurus gang is jealous about Scorpius having teleporters.
Businessman Leland McCauley is suspected to be the leader of Scorpius by the authorities.
Additional information on how Dream Girl’s powers work. Props to Jim Shooter for integrating this stuff into the story without a forced infodump.
The Legion’s plan involves Ultra Boy impersonating Black Mace, one of the Taurus guys.
Things don’t go as planned: the Legion wanted to make the switch while the Taurus gang was robbing a casino, but Ultra Boy gets knocked out.
The plan is still somewhat working, though, because Dream Girl SOMEHOW managed to switch places with the only girl in the Taurus gang, the telepath Mystelor.
It’s a good thing that the members of the Taurus gang can’t recognize their teammate.
Come on, she’s not even wearing glasses!!!
Maybe they’re just too horny to tell the difference. It’s Dream Girl after all.
The Taurus gang then tries a hit on R.J.Brande, meaning the disguised Legionnaires have to show up to play along by pretending to be from the Scorpius gang.
You get a disguise reveal! You get a disguise reveal! Everybody gets a disguise reveal!
Then the disguised Legionnaires are teleported back to the Scorpius headquarters to be executed.
But don’t worry, we’re at the last page so the Subs show up to save the day!
How are the Subs stopping criminals who have weapons that can kill the entire Legion?
Who cares, this train wreck is finally over!
Full disclosure: I have no idea what the f##k is going on during 90% of this comic.
Legion significance: 1/10
Leland McCauley has a bunch of appearances in the Silver Age and A LOT more in the reboot, but you can pretty much skip his appearance.
Silver Age-ness: 8/10
There is absolutely no way that Dream Girl infiltrating the gang that easily would be forgiven today.
Does it stand the test of time? 0/10
The idea had so much potential. A criminal gang forces the Legion to eliminate the competition! A Legionnaire has to infiltrate the criminals! Double-crossing and intrigue!
What we got was a barely comprehensible mess. And it’s… what, the fifth Legion story in a row when the team is shown as being easily overpowered and ambushed? It’s getting tiresome.
We are legion
26 Legionnaires
2 reserve members: Kid Psycho, Insect Queen
3 honorary members: Elastic Lad, Pete Ross, 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 35.
Interesting letters: I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we haven’t had ANY rejected member since Jim Shooter took over as writer. And here’s the explanation why:
I don’t know… this makes WAY more sense than Color Kid trying to join, yes, but the tryouts are a Legion tradition even at this point.
Also: this is absolutely brilliant, why has NOBODY done this in over fifty years!?
And finally: this guy will DEFINITELY enjoy the 70s Legion ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
