Superboy #100

Superboy #100 (1962)
by Jerry Coleman & George Papp

One of the advantages of having reached the Superman Family era for both Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane is that I can find stuff I missed.
And thanks to Superman Family #147, I noticed that I completely skipped a story that should’ve gone into the Hamilton era of the Legion retrospective, having been published just after Adventure Comics #300.
So let’s correct that oversight, shall we?

We begin with Pete Ross showing us just how unbelievably boring Smallville can be.

Time travel in the early Legion stories never makes any sense. Superboy can travel through time AT WILL, so there’s absolutely no reason for him to be absent more than a second.

A reminder that Pete’s only claim to fame is knowing Superboy’s secret identity.
That’s actually going to come up in a 70s Legion story that I’ve scheduled to review pretty soon, so it’s a weird coincidence to discover this story now!
(although the flashback has already been shown many many times in stories I’ve already reviewed)

I think we can excuse Superboy for letting his secret identity leak ONCE. But the fact that he doesn’t notices Pete just found the secret entrance to his house is troubling.

On the other hand, Pete might be the only reason Superboy still HAS a secret identity.

Talk about a blast from the past! Also, what is Saturn Girl’s action figure doing?

Jimmy Olsen isn’t the only one to stumble upon random Super-souvenirs.

Pete accidentally damages one of the Superboy robots… not sure how since they’re supposed to be nearly indestructible.
We also discover that Superboy can only be contacted by the White House (makes sense), Chief Parker (a little limited but okay) and Lana Lang’s archeologist father (nepotism much?).

Get this: Pete fools Pa Kent by using a recording of one of the robots taking off… which is well and good, except Pa Kent doesn’t recognize the voice is NOT from his own son!!!

Perfectly normal behavior, guys.

Pete can fly thanks to that antigravity belt, but he doesn’t have other powers: how is he going to save the day? By proving that calling Superboy was completely unnecessary!!!

You know, whenever I see a story that justifies not having Superman solve a problem as “if we let Superman handle everything we’ll become too dependent”, I hardly ever buy it.
But thanks to this story I think I’m getting it.

We are used to consider Smallville as being in Kansas, but that’s actually a surprisingly recent thing: back in the Silver Age they were pretty vague about its location.
I think we can safely assume it wasn’t in Kansas in 1962, though, unless you can believe there are icebergs there!!!

I reluctantly admit this is pretty clever.

Pete also sends a tree into space by tying his flying belt to it and programming it to come down after five minutes. Not sure HOW he programs it.

But there is one last emergency, by far the most important of all!!!

They could just use a fire extinguisher. But no, this is serious enough to involve THE LEGION.

Once Pete thanks Ultra Boy for repairing the Superboy robot, we discover that the Legion’s involvement… makes no sense whatsoever!!!

They were watching the past to see when their friend would leave to get to the future… my brain hurts SO much for trying to figure this out…

Superboy must’ve taken his time to travel through time (?????) because while they’re waiting for him to arrive (??????) the Legion has been able to follow Pete’s adventures.

And so we end with Ultra Boy saying goodbye, and Superboy being oblivious to this whole affair.

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Legion significance: 0/10
What a shocker.

 Silver Age-ness: 8/10
I genuinely missed seeing those action figures.

 Does it stand the test of time? 8/10
Surprisingly decent. Some of the little tricks Pete pulls can get repetitive, but not too much. If you can get past the fact that the premise makes no sense whatsoever and that some of the “emergencies” are blown way out of proportion, it’s not a bad story.