Superboy and the LSH #231 (1977)
by Paul Levitz & Jim Sherman
cover by Mike Grell
It’s been a while since we’ve had a proper Legion vs Fatal Five story.
I really need something like that to wash away the best taste of the Karate Kid series.
Enjoy one of the incredibly rare references to that awful stuff, by the way.
Their ship gets stolen by the Fatal Five. We still have Karate Kid losing a hand-to-hand, fight, yes, but it’s against freaking VALIDUS and not some random loser.
The Legion, meanwhile, is busy evacuating an entire planet!
Note the use of an entry of “Geographia Galaxia”, a predecessor of Levitz’s use of “Galactic Encyclopedia” entries.
I appreciate the fact that they’re trying to evacuate the planet in a somewhat plausible way; back in the 60s they would’ve surely used Superboy to move the entire world to a different solar system.
But don’t worry, he’s still ridiculously overpowered.
Although I’m not sure politely asking every person to please evacuate the planet is a good idea.
This really shows the best use of the Legion, when they have to take care of a problem so huge that even the United Planets needs help.
My only complain is that they could’ve used Dream Girl to be the one having the prophetic dream, instead of the leader of her planet.
Levitz is going all out on this one. We have Brainiac 5 trying to figure out why the sun is exploding right now, Element Lad trying to isolate whatever caused the problem, and Sun Boy in charge of keeping them alive.
Cool stuff!
Unfortunately not all the Fatal Five are busy with Karate Kid and Princess Projectra.
One of the reasons why Element Lad is ridiculously overpowered is he can turn anything into Inertron, a.k.a. “the metal so indestructible even pre-Crisis Superboy can’t break it”.
Unfortunately Inetron is still susceptible to magic, so it’s fairly useless against Emerald Empress.
While Saturn Girl is something of a mother figure for the Legion, at the same time she can be called out for being cold. Contrast with Shadow Lass, who is typically the more emotional one.
It’s not unusual for the Legion to have a numerical advantage since… well, it’s the Legion.
But it doesn’t matter when you’re up against Validus.
Also: “he may kill his first Legionnaire”? Are we forgetting Invisible Kid, or is Levitz counting that as Tharok killing him? Probably the first, but the second is debatable.
Speaking of Tharok, he deduces that the Fatal Five are eventually going to lose and decides to explain why exactly the Fatal Five are here. And it’s… uhm, it’s quite something!
Yes. The remains of the planet will become an incredible valuable mineral.
Unfortunately, you DO NOT tell Superboy you want to profit from the destruction of a planet.
Sorry, Superboy, but these are the 70s and you being invincible isn’t enough anymore.
But wait, it gets worse for the heroes: Tharok has Karate Kid and Princess Projectra as hostages!
Too bad for Tharok that this is the REAL Karate Kid, not the imbecile from the solo series.
The Legion vs Fatal Five is mostly out of focus, but damn if it isn’t gorgeous.
It’s been ages since Mon-El had a chance to show off that he is, in fact, an absolute badass.
When you’re such a powerhouse that the villain gets the hell out of there instead of even attempting to fight.
She’s still with the rest of the Fatal Five when they capture Karate Kid and Projectra, holding them with Inertron (remember that).
“Then Ultra Boy has a brilliant idea” is something I get to write very, very rarely.
Mostly because it’s more of a Brainiac 5 thing.
Then Karate Kid breaks out of his INERTRON restrains!!!
If we take that at face value it’s the most absurdly overpowered thing he’s ever done, and we’re talking about a guy who once stopped and reversed an earthquake with a kick.
It would make A LOT more sense if only the pillar was made of Inertron, not the restrains themselves.
Not that it’s going to matter for long.
And it’s no illusion either, so we’re getting the obvious plot twist out of the way.
And that’s how the Legion defeats the Fatal Five. Again.
There’s still the problem of the sun exploding… or is there?
The ship self-destructs, but there’s no attempt to make us believe the Fatal Five are really dead.
At this point you’re probably a little confused: is the sun going to explode or not?
Well, yes: Tharok wasn’t actually responsible for the sun going nova, just for enhancing its power.
The FIRST supernova we saw was actually a fake provided by Superboy and Sun Boy, while Shadow Lass was on duty protecting AN ENTIRE PLANET FROM THE LIGHT OF A SUPERNOVA.
Okay that’s just awesome beyond words.
Historical significance: 0/10
Thoroughly enjoyable, but really of no consequence.
Silver Age-ness: 5/10
Far more attention to realism than in the Silver Age, but we still have Karate Kid possible breaking Inertron and that amazing stunt with the fake supernova.
Does it stand the test of time? 10/10
An underrated classic. Both the Legion and the Fatal Five are at their best, the action is great, the artwork is top notch, the characterization is interesting, the twists are surprising yet believable… seriously, this one has everything!
We are legion
23 Legionnaires
6 reserve members
Interesting letters: some backstory about Mike Grell leaving his place as the Legion’s regular penciler. To say he was doing alright was an understment.
We also have a “Legion Outpost Extra” with bios of the Legionnaires.
No real new information, but this final piece bothers me:
Props for not counting Kid Psycho and Insect Queen as honorary, that’s a common mistake.
But this is obviously conflating reserves and honorary as Elastic Lad, Pete Ross and Rond Vidar have never been counted among the reserves.
And no, I’m not including the Subs in the official count as they’re obviously considered a separate team.
Delighted to see this here. This story was my favorite for decades. A thrill a minute. Great involvement of so many characters and they were placed their levels. Great balance between heroes and villains.
A few details that could be polished up easily, but by and large one of the BEST COMICS OF ALL TIME IMO.
Historical impact? Meh, you’re right, not a lot. But more could have been done with it.
Thanks!
This was only the second Legion story I ran into as a kid (the first also featured the Fatal Five, oddly enough) and was largely responsible for getting me to pursue future issues in the days before we had any local comics shops. Really is an outstanding showcase for all the characters involved, and it’s the main reason I never understood the dislike for Tharok so many fans seem to have. The Five just aren’t the same without the original line-up.
Even in the US it was a real chore finding any given comic on a reliable basis on newsstands, in pharmacies and grocery store spinner racks, especially when you’re still too young to drive and lived in a rural farm town.