DC Special #28 (1977)
by Paul Levitz & Arvell Jones
cover by Al Milgrom
This is probably one of the most obscure Legion stories of the 70s, appearing in the anthology book “DC Special” that mostly included reprints of Golden Age stories.
Although if I challenge anyone to pick up this comic without thinking that the name of the series is “Earth Shattering Disasters”.
Despite the cover this is not a team-up with Batman (don’t worry, the Legion will meet him soon anyway), but a completely independent story.
All the stories in this issue area about disasters, and this one involves 30th century Metropolis.
Specifically, what happens when the Fusion Powersphere ™ that powers it fails.
We’ve seen the Powersphere before, but this time we find out that it’s not just a power plant: it’s able to broadcast energy to everything in the city. That’s pretty cool.
I’m not too familiar with Arvell Jones, but his depiction of the chaos of Metropolis is very good and compliments Levitz’s script. I wish he drew more Legion.
Also: 30th century Metropolis has a population of 30 million people. The topic of “what’s the largest city in the world” is surprisingly complicated, but several cities in 2021 come very close to this number.
Interesting shift from the 60s to the 70s: DC superheroes not considering themselves gods.
The reason behind the failure of the Fusion Powersphere ™ is this dude, who actually intended for the whole thing to blow up but didn’t quite manage to get it to blow up.
You might have noticed that this is one of the rare appearances of Chemical King in this period. Surprisingly, Levitz gives us a reason for that! It’s going to happen more and more frequently: previous the Legionnaires would just randomly disappear for months, but Levitz will at least try to keep track of all of them.
Be honest, which one of you actually remembers the bad guys from Tyroc’s latest adventure?
I definitely didn’t, but apparently one of them is back for revenge.
The bad guy (he’s too forgettable to try to remember his name) has some kind of phasing technology that allows him to escape. Phantom Girl wants to follow him, but Brainiac 5 has more pressing concerns.
Meanwhile Ultra Boy, who a few pages ago was complaining he wasn’t a god, is POWERING UP THE CITY’S HOSPITAL BY HAND.
Leave it to Paul Levitz to give such a quintessential Superman moment to Ultra Boy, while at the same time humanizing the situation by having Timber Wolf unable to fully process the disaster.
That’s just great writing.
Okay, so how does Brainiac 5 stop the Fusion Powersphere ™ from exploding?
First of all, he exploits the fact that Chemical King’s powers have never made much sense.
Chemical King being able to lower the radiation given off by a fusion reactor feels WAY outside of his area, but since it’s all because we need Phantom Girl to survive the radiation… maybe it’s better if we think that he’s slowing down her body’s reaction to radiation?
While Phantom Girl repairs the reactor (!!!), Brainiac 5 has another stroke of genius: when the reactor blows up, all of Metropolis is going to be destroyed… so how is the bad guy planning to survive the disaster?
By hiding inside the Inertron cage that the Legion prepared for Mordru!!!
Told you there was no need to memorize the bad guy’s name. He’s down in one hit.
Phantom Girl fixes the reactor juuuust in time before Chemical King reaches his limit, fainting from sheer exhaustion.
Historical significance: 0/10
Completely forgotten. I would argue that if this was published on the main series it might’ve been more popular.
Silver Age-ness: 4/10
This would’ve been MORE Silver Age if Ultra Boy somehow powered the entire city by hand, but it’s just one hospital.
Does it stand the test of time?: 10/10
It’s very short and the bad guy is a walking cliché, but dammit if this isn’t well-written and engaging! Comic book readers are mostly desensitized to big disasters, but this time it felt more personal and the Legion’s desperation really comes across. Plus you have a great character moment for Ultra Boy, Brainiac 5 coming up with a cool plan that makes use of minor Legionnaires AND of Legion continuity, and this could easily be done almost shot-by-shot in any era.
We are legion
24 Legionnaires
6 reserve members