ACTION COMICS 380 (1969)
by Jim Shooter & Win Mortimer
This is a nice little story giving some much-needed character development to Duo Damsel.
We begin with a Duo Damsel solo mission (ironically enough) to capture a madman who is opening fire on indiscriminate targets.
The bad news is that the Legion is overworked, so she doesn’t have time to relax.
The good news is that she’s Duo Damsel, so doing two things at once is not a big deal.
One of the two bodies goes on vacation on another planet, while the other goes on a date with Bouncing Boy.
This creates an interesting discussion about which Duo Damsel is the real one.
Weeks later (!!!), the second Duo Damsel returns with her fiancé.
Nam’Lor has to go back to his planet, leaving Bouncing Boy understandably confused.
There’s some tension growing between the two Duo Damsels.
In her dreams, she remembers when one of her bodies fell in love with Nam’Lor and took the name “Lelith”…
…and the two end up fighting each other.
This understandably puts quite a bit of pressure on poor Duo Damsel, who is treating Lelith as an alternate personality.
Leave it to Jim Shooter to turn a rather simple superpower into a character study. Good stuff!
This might be a throwaway panel, but the symbols on the Mission Monitor look suspiciously similar to how the Interlac letters will eventually look.
The Legionnaires receive a distress call about two superhumans trying to steal some extremely rare and valuable metal. We are told they are “masked”, although they simply show up as silhouettes.
And they refer to themselves as L and N.
Gee, I wonder who they might possibly be…
When Lelith tries to “link up” with her other body, it’s pretty clear that Lelith is L.
I’m glad we kept the mystery for literally one panel. It’s a 12 page story, but come on!
Again, leave it to Jim Shooter to turn the tired “evil twin” plot into an interesting moral dilemma: can Lelith be punished if the other half of Duo Damsel is innocent?
Also: “Bouncing Boob”. Possible name of a gender-bent Bouncing Boy?
Nam’Lor shows up, and he’s too fast to be put down by the Super-Power Neutralizer ™.
However Nam’Lor refuses to kill Bouncing Boy. And it turns out that he’s not a bad guy, it’s just that his “Hyper-Aura” randomly turns people evil.
Sounds legit.
Realizing that the plot has nowhere else to go now, Nam’Lor just… leaves.
So basically:
I love that gif way too much.
Legion significance: 4/10
Nam’Lor never appears again, which is honestly quite shocking since there’s A LOT of potential in the idea of a superhero who accidentally turns people evil.
The real significance is not on the pre-Crisis Legion, but on the reboot! This is basically the only time Duo Damsel has to deal with alternate personalities, but the entire character of Triad (her reboot equivalent) will be centered on the relationship between the personality of her bodies.
I’m not aware of a direct quote that admits that was based on this story specifically, but it’s a pretty safe bet.
Silver Age-ness: 7/10
The aura that turns you evil without explanation is a delightfully Silver Age thing.
Does it stand the test of time? 7/10
Once again, a mixed bag. Shooter is still struggling with the limited number of pages, but he’s definitely doing a better job than in his first story. It’s a nice character study in the psychological ramifications of Duo Damsel’s power, the relation between her and Lelith is interesting, as is her budding romance with Bouncing Boy. Nam’Lor is where the story falls flat, since he’s not given any space and the ending is devastatingly abrupt. There’s a really good story beneath this, but I really doubt it could’ve been told in just 12 pages.
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.