SUPERBOY 202 (1974)
by Cary Bates & Dave Cockrum
cover by Nick Cardy
A pretty busy cover, since this included several reprints as well as 2 new stories.
The first story focuses on Colossal Boy and Shrinking Violet.
They are both going back to Earth, but their ship breaks and leaves them stranded in deep space.
It’s a rather simple but compelling premise for a mystery.
If I’m not mistaken, this is the first use of the Telepathic Plugs ™, a staple of the Legion across multiple continuities.
What I love about the setup is that they don’t try to fool us with something like “Colossal Boy is going to be stranded here FOREVER!” or something like that.
Instead, since his presence on board seems to be what’s blocking the engine, Shrinking Violet is simply going to ask for help and then come back.
But obviously that would make for a rather boring comic, so let’s go for some horror!
The whole situation doesn’t make all that much sense, so back on the ship Shrinking Violet watches the tapes of their latest mission:
So she just gets back and saved him from being swallowed by a rock.
And we are already at the end, with Shrinking Violet explaining what actually happened.
A nice self-contained sci-fi story.
Moving to the second story: Wildfire officially joins the team and gets his codename.
And the rest of the story has absolutely nothing to do with Wildfire!
It’s actually about Superboy, Mon-El, Element Lad and Light Lass (in the first good view of her new costume) and it begins with them drowning.
We then backtrack to discover what happened to them, starting with their visit to Sea-Station.
Which is a, uhm, sea station… powered by pollution. (???)
They are here because THIS happened:
They trace signs of invaders coming from the sea, so they simply follow them.
And the culprit is an awesome Cockrum design: Devil-Fish.
And he’s surprisingly tough!
Who could’ve thought that bubbles could be so dangerous!?
Remember when Element Lad was a completely useless dead weight? That’s mercifully over.
Despite appearances and despite his name, Devil-Fish is actually a good guy.
As soon as I read the words “powered by pollution”, I just knew that the bad guys would be straight out of Captain Planet.
The Legionnaires and Devil-Fish have a typical misunderstanding fight, but it turns out that it was only so that Mon-El could give him a telepathic earplug!
So naturally:
The invading aliens are sent back to their planet, and we learn that Devil-Fish is also powered by pollution.
This was clearly a tryout for Devil-Fish to join the Legion.
That would’ve been awesome: yes his power is rather specific, but he would’ve been the first non-humanoid Legionnaire!
Devil-Fish is concept that Cockrum pitched to both Marvel and DC! Both companies bought the concept, but both Devil-Fish and Marvel’s Manphibian stayed in obscurity.
At least Devil-Fish can be proud to have a far superior name to “Manphibian”.
Bonus: we have a “Lore of the Legion” feature, showcasing the new costumes and providing some additional information.
First of all, Saturn Girl is FINALLY said to come from Titan and not Saturn.
Oddly enough for all Legionnaires we are told if their parents are living or not. Most of them are (although very few will ever appear).
Significantly for MUCH later stories, Chameleon Boy’s parents are said to be alive.
Hilariously, members who aren’t dating a fellow superhero are said to have “no special girlfriend”.
There is no female equivalent: ALL the girls are dating superheroes!
Historical significance
First story: 4/10
The telepathic plugs aren’t the most outstanding Legion technology, but they’re a staple. Plus this is the first time Colossal Boy and Shrinking Violet show any chemistry, making their future relationship feel more organic.
Second story: 2/10
Unfortunately Devil-Fish has only one additional appearance and some cameos. Wildfire joining is more of an afterthought of last issue, luckily changing his name from “ERG-1”.
Silver Age-ness
First story: 3/10
Parasite space rocks! Radioactive bullets designed to be effective once they are turned microscopic!
Second story: 4/10
Who are those aliens who want to blame the Legion for pollution? Who knows!
Does it stand the test of time?
First story: 10/10
It’s not a masterpiece or anything, but you can EASILY publish this in any decade or continuity without changing a single thing.
Second story: 6/10
Cockrum’s art is the real attraction here, because the story is a bit clunky. At least it was satisfying to see the Legionnaires being competent throughout the issue, but it’s nothing special at this point.
We are legion
25 Legionnaires
3 reserve members: Kid Psycho, Insect Queen, Duo Damsel
4 honorary members: Elastic Lad, Pete Ross, Rond Vidar, Bouncing Boy
1 resigned member: Command Kid
1 expelled member: Nemesis Kid
2 deceased members: Dynamo Boy, Ferro Lad
How much Legion is too much?
With Wildfire officially joining, the total number of characters who have been members is 36.
Interesting letters: first published letter of Mike Flynn, a Legion superfan who will be the explicit inspiration for a minor character.
It’s hard to convey just how popular the new Legion run was.
I wonder if they knew that Grell would replace Cockrum as the regular artist starting next issue?
Cockrum’s Devil-Fish design is suspiciously similar to the monster from the Jonny Quest episode Sea Haunt, which came out a good ten years before this comic. Dave’s version is a little more striking (the head in particular, although the longer tail and scales help too) and the color choices on the character make him stand out better underwater, but it’s still arguably a knockoff.