Superboy and the LSH #236 (1978)
“A World Born Anew!” by Paul Levitz, Paul Kupperberg & Jim Sherman
“Mon-El’s One-Man War!” by Paul Levitz & Michael Netzer
“Words Never Spoken!” by Paul Levitz & Jim Sherman
cover by Mike Grell
Covers for multiple stories rarely work, but Grell nails this one. Also notice the detail of “Action” and “Adventure” shown like the logos of Action Comics and Adventure Comics… nice touch.
They really didn’t want to invent new logos, because even “Young Romance” was a DC series!
We begin with the Legion spying on Cosmic Boy and his girlfriend Night Girl while they’re on vacation. Notice the narration mentions 22 members (it’s actually 23 now) plus the fact that Brainiac 5 laments being the only one who never gets any vacation time.
I don’t know if Superboy is trying to cheer him up. If he is, that’s a terrible way to do it.
Cosmic Boy is having time off on his native planet Braal. Since everyone has magnetic powers there, we’re treated to a game of “Magnoball”… it’s been mentioned a couple of times before, but it will be shown to be the most popular game in the Galaxy.
Night Girl is more interested in spending some alone time with her boyfriend. Judging by her Joker smile, I don’t blame him for finding excuses!
The game is interrupted when the Magnoball court becomes a swamp!
It’s not an isolated incident, as weird transmutations in the terrain are happening all over the planet; the President of Braal confirms it. Serious stuff, although I’m slightly distracted by the fact that Cosmic Boy’s costume shows more cleavage than Night Girl’s.
The rest of the Legion is called to investigate. Meanwhile the subplot of Brainiac 5 growing more and more critical of his job continues.
The bad guy of the story, and the one behind Braal’s accidents, is a goofy looking alien called Worldsmith who gets paid to reshape planets.
Once the Legion destroys his ship, he proves himself to be quite powerful on his own.
So the story turns into a challenge between Worldsmith and the Legionnaires to show who is the superior, uhm, worldsmith.
The Legion’s interference means that it’s going to be too costly to reshape Braal the way he wanted, so Worldsmith just leaves.
And so we end with the revelation that Worldsmith has definitely been on Earth before.
We don’t learn who Worldsmith was working for, and he never shows up again.
What a waste of a perfectly good premise!
Well that was disappointing. Let’s move to an awesome Mon-El story!
He’s caught up in the hostilities between the United Planets and the Khunds, who will be a far more prevalent threat to the Legion in the upcoming months.
The story features the fight between Mon-El and a Khund juggernaut ship, and can you tell this was published after Star Wars hit theaters?
Remember that Mon-El is nearly as strong as pre-Crisis Superman, so… yeah, Khund ships pack one hell of a punch!
The artwork is just AMAZING in this story. Just look at Mon-El dodging lasers between panels!
And it’s also a great look into how Mon-El thinks.
He’s also smart enough to figure out how to disable the ship without murdering the crew.
And so we end with the Khunds retreating to their sector, allowing Mon-El to get his vacation.
Needless to say, the Khunds will be back at it in no time.
Let’s end with the final story, which begins with Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad discussing marriage.
We are finally addressing the rule that Legionnaires have to leave the team if they get married. That rule made no sense when they were teenagers and it’s ludicrous now that they are… well I honestly have no idea how old they’re supposed to be. Early twenties?
Probably even more if the narration is to be believed, as it’s supposed to be ten years since they founded the Legion.
Fantastic character interaction between the two, plus a great insight of the consequences of being a telepath.
“Titan Academy, the galaxy’s leading university in psychiatric science and sexual harassment charges”.
I’m not the only one who thought Saturn Girl was the one to propose, right?
The solution to their problem involves being subjected to a telepathic illusion of fighting generic goons.
Cue obligatory “If you die in the simulation, you die in real life”.
So, uhm, did the professor explicitly program the simulation to include Saturn Girl being groped by a tentacle monster robot?
What would give you that idea?
Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad work together to defeat the simulation, and that somehow is what they needed to go forward with the marriage.
That’s right, the next Legion review is the marriage between two of the founders!
Historical significance
First story: 1/10
Worldsmith never shows up again. Only mildly significant for the start of Brainiac 5’s *SPOILER*
Second story: 5/10
The first hint of what’s coming with Earthwar.
Third story: 6/10
It’s technically the story where Saturn Girl agrees to marry Lighting Lad, but seriously, was there ever any doubt?
Silver Age-ness
First story: 7/10
Worldsmith is pretty random and goofy.
Second story: 0/10
Third story: 0/10
Does it stand the test of time?
First story: 6/10
A good premise wasted by the rush of the lack of pages.
Second story: 10/10
AWESOME. Nearly flawless in both writing and artwork.
Third story: 8/10
A very solid characters study with great artwork. Somewhat lacking in the simulation plot, but I do admire the fact that technically speaking there is no bad guy… the entire focus is completely on the relationship between the two lovers and their relationship with the Legion.
We are legion
23 Legionnaires
6 reserve members