Superboy and the LSH #232 (1977)
by Gerry Conway & Ric Estrada
cover by Mike Grell
Conway, Levitz and Jim Starlin will alternate the writing credits between them for several issues.
Unfortunately this one is penciled by Ric Estrada, of Karate Kid infamy.
We have some Legion lore with the first celebration of Klordny!
In addition to being the name of a historically important Legion fanzine, Klordny is still celebrated by Legion superfans to this day.
Despite the fact that nobody knows what the heck it’s celebrating!
There’s trouble with her planet, however, since Imsk is threatening to leave the United Planets.
Space politics are going to play a part in this series, with varying levels of importance.
The ship where the Legion is partying is attacked by space pirates (presumably they don’t know the Legion is here), and Shrinking Violet is not afraid to get politically incorrect by 30th century standards.
As you might have guessed, this issue is going to focus a lot on Shrinking Violet.
Told you this was getting political. I like this, it makes the Legion universe feel more realistic.
Saturn Girl also gets a spotlight. Notice how at this point she’s using her telepathy pretty casually, as opposed to earlier eras where she was far more reticent.
Sorry, I meant to say Saturn Girl and her butt were getting the spotlight.
Come on, Estrada, you’re not fooling anyone.
Saturn Girl’s butt is right: this was a diversion, to teleport someone inside the Legion HG while the actual Legion was dealing with the pirates.
Not that it was necessary or anything, since the Legion is still busy celebrating Klordny.
When earlier I said that nobody knows what Klordny is supposed to celebrate, it wasn’t the whole truth… it celebrates freedom, friendship and frunt.
It’s just that nobody knows what “frunt” actually is.
Legion superfans might tell you they know, but don’t trust Legion superfans.
They’re not very frunt.
The space station visited by Colossal Boy and Cosmic Boy is hit by a weird space phenomenon that is drawn in a very cool way.
Alright Estrada, you get ONE.
Considering the effect is shrinking them down, you’re probably connecting it to the Imsk plot.
You’re not the only one!
Back to Legion HQ, the intruder has made the mistake of using darkness as his advantage… while Shadow Lass is around.
The rest of the Legion has to help her, though, since the intruder is tough enough to resist Mon-El’s heat vision AND fight with Timber Wolf.
He does manage to escape after stealing information that leads to the real target: Legion financial backer R.J.Brande.
Back to the Imsk plot: interesting to see Superboy reference Brainiac’s death. I wonder if he’s referring to the original 20th century death, or if he’s acknowledging Pulsar Stargrave’s weird claim about being the reincarnation of Brainiac.
With the shrinking attack, plus the political situation, Cosmic Boy insinuates to Shrinking Violet’s butt that her planet is behind it.
(side note: Colossal Boy can grow giant, why isn’t he doing that to be his regular height!?)
The situation escalates when the Legion is ordered to threaten Imsk by the Science Police, who are back to wearing silly hats.
This is a very cool idea. I really wish the scene was given to a better penciler: someone else could’ve made it tragic, but Estrada makes it very silly.
The weird phenomenon reaches Saturn. I think this might be the first time Saturn Girl is formally acknowledged being from its moon Titan and not literally from Saturn, but don’t quote me on that.
And then she faints because of the telepathic scream of her entire planet!!!
Of course Superboy would unquestionably follow orders. He’s growing up into The Worst.
Meanwhile the rest of the team follows the pirates to Brande’s private planet, where Mon-El shows them he does not f#ck around.
Still, the bad guy manages to go toe-to-toe against him because he basically has Wolverine healing abilities on a cosmic level.
His backstory is quite tragic, involving a biological global war that lead to a complete genocide.
He blames R.J.Brande, but there’s another bad guy we have to deal with. It’s the return of Doctor Regulus.
We now learn the truth: the one behind the weird space phenomenon is Regulus, who also sent the super-soldier against Brande.
Who is apparently innocent, so I wonder what he told the super-soldier.
He has counteracted all the Legionnaire powers, but that doesn’t stop Sun Boy from kicking his ass.
The twist is that Saturn Girl and Shrinking Violet switched places.
Because apparently nobody ever looks at their faces, which… well this is 70s Saturn Girl, so it checks out.
There’s still the trouble of the super-soldier with immunity powers, but Brainiac 5 deals with him.
Everyone affected by Dr. Regulus is cured, and we end on a sour note with Shrinking Violet being disappointed in her friends acting like jerks.
I sympathize with her, but it’s not like the Legion’s record is spotless on the subject.
They’re not particularly frunt.
Historical significance: 6/10
This won’t be the last time Imsk has trouble with the United Planets, or that Shrinking Violet has to re-evaluate her Legion membership. Plus we have the perennial Legion inside jokes of Klordny and frunt. Unfortunately, the immune super-soldier won’t appear again.
Silver Age-ness: 7/10
A space plague that moves between planets and shrinks people.
Does it stand the test of time? 7/10
A flawed but enjoyable story. It’s one of the first to split the Legion into three sub-groups, each one following its own plot, then re-grouping everyone at the end.
The introduction of some worldbuilding is good, although I would’ve preferred a bit more depth to Shrinking Violet feeling accused… they reference the connection to Imsk just a couple of times. I understand her taking it personally, but it could’ve been done better.
I do appreciate the fact that she doesn’t fully reconcile with the others at the end.
It might not have been in the spirit of Klordny, but it made the story more frunt.
We are legion
23 Legionnaires
6 reserve members
Interesting letters: a good post mortem on the whole Pulsar Stargrave fiasco.
I think this might be the first time Saturn Girl is formally acknowledged being from Titan, and not literally from Saturn . .
It might be the first in-story acknowledgement that Saturn Girl was from Titan, but the fact was established long before.
Either you, or someone else on another site, raised the question before, and I recalled seeing the reference to Saturn Girl being from Titan in a Silver-Age letter column. But I had no other frame of reference to narrow down which particular issue—other than it was probably an issue of Adventure Comics or Superboy. But when I saw you mention it again in your review of this Legion story, I figured I might as well track it down.
And I did. It appeared in the Legion Outpost lettercol from Adventure Comics # 350 (Nov., 1966). Jerry Herrington, of Plainfield, Iowa, wrote in, pointing out that, because Saturn is a larger planet with a greater gravity than Earth, Saturn Girl should be able to fly on Earth.
Mort Weisinger, or, more likely, E. Nelson Bridwell, who was writing most of the lettercol responses for Mort by then, replied:
The answer is simple. Actually, Saturn Girl was born on Saturn’s largest satellite, Titan, which has a gravity comparable to Earth.
Hope this helps.
Yeah I’m pretty sure I wondered about the Titan situation before. As always, help is much appreciated 🙂