Legion of Super-Heroes #298 (1983)
by Paul Levitz & Keith Giffen
Too bad the logo and the ad for the Amethyst story take so much space, because this would’ve been a good cover otherwise.
Wildfire and Dawnstar are investigating the murder of a consul in a faraway asteroid, so expect a lot of bickering…
…but Blok is there to be his usual awesome self, even though he’s wearing a truly ugly costume.
I don’t what it is, but this look seriously doesn’t work on Blok. I blame the fact that the pants are so high wasted. Maybe he should’ve copied the Thing and just wear trunks.
Of course it does help to have a witch around when you need to do an autopsy.
That’s a great moment for White Witch, and Dawnstar even gets to be the comic relief this time… which is great, because she’s always been too stuck-up so far.
Wildfire wouldn’t be Wildfire if he didn’t take shots at whoever is the current leader.
In the B plot, Duplicate Boy is coming to Earth after he learned that his former girlfriend Shrinking Violet is dating Colossal Boy now.
He seems fine.
Duplicate Boy was already very powerful, being able to duplicate any superpower he came into contact with… but giving him the ability to copy the powers of heroes who aren’t even there is making him WAY too overpowered.
That’s worse than Composite Superman!!!
Colossal Boy and Shrinking Violet are busy 
.
I didn’t mind Duplicate Boy so far, but considering that in this issue he goes out of his way to kill a guy dating his FORMER girlfriend… yeah I don’t get why this guy isn’t treated like garbage by the Legion after this story.
Also, blink and you’ll miss it but there’s an early sign that something is up with Shrinking Violet:
Back to the A plot, Wildfire and Blok continue the investigation in this absolutely beautiful splash page.
Wildfire and Blok are a fantastic duo. Their personalities really bounce off each other.
The investigation isn’t going terribly well, though. Even once figuring out the earthquake wasn’t a natural occurrence, the asteroid’s miners are not cooperating.
In the C subplot, Element Lad and Science Police liaison Shvaughn Erin are blatantly dating. By playing Future Pac-Man™, of all things.
Besides the fact Element Lad is still mad about losing the election (come on Jan, get over it!!!), it’s a neat excuse for explaining why this issue doesn’t feature the full roster.
I can’t wait for Element Lad to get his character development, because he’s just plain insufferable these days.
Even Ultra Boy calls him out on this, and he was just as competitive during the election!
The emergency is Duplicate Boy, who is beating up Colossal Boy in the Himalayas (that’s where he and Shrinking Violet where vacationing).
Also note Ultra Boy is his old overconfident self.
He’s a little too okay with Duplicate Boy’s stalking, but I did enjoy the fact that for once it’s Ultra Boy the one claiming victory because the opponent is only using one superpower. Nice reversal!
Back to the A plot, all heroes except White Witch have recuperated enough to join the investigation. Wildfire can be an ass, but notice he blames himself for everything.
Turns out the villain is the same Khund who faced the Legion in issue #287.
And he’s pretty tough, taking out Dawnstar AND Wildfire at the very start of the fight.
He’s also strong enough to defeat Blok in a one-on-one fight.
The Khund leaves, but there’s a bigger problem at hand: Wildfire’s energy has seemingly disappeared, and Invisible Kid continues the investigation while Blok attends to the injured Dawnstar.
That will be resolved next issue. We return to the anticlimactic conclusion of the Duplicate Boy plot, where the dude just admits he’s a stalker and then leaves.
Everybody leaves, with the case being considered closed… except by Element Lad and Shvaughn Erin, who suspect something’s up.
We will learn what is up with Shrinking Violet, but please no spoilers in the comments for any potential reader who doesn’t know… it’s one of the best reveals in Legion history.
This was already a pretty full story, but Levitz can’t help himself and introduces a new subplot in the very last page!
Legion significance: 6/10
Inching closer and closer to the Shrinking Violet bombshell.
Silver Age-ness: 3/10
It’s more of a Marvel trope, but that is some seriously forced conflict between heroes.
Does it stand the test of time? 6/10
A great story with lots of little moments. Not much action, but it doesn’t feel like it’s missing it. The only flaw is Duplicate Boy getting a free pass from trying to murder someone because they’re dating his former girlfriend! The whole thing seems to be treated as a “boys will be boys” thing by other Legionnaires, which gives me the creeps.
It’s salvaged from going into negative score territory by the fact that it’s definitely not considered okay by the Legionnaires, but it’s still enough to bump this down from an otherwise easy 10/10.
We are legion
22 active Legionnaires
8 reserve members
1 honorary member (Rond Vidar)
41 people have been members
Duplicate Boy was just ridiculously OP, and I found it frustrating that Levitz never set out any bounds or limitations on him. I mean, for example: How many powers could he duplicate at once? Did he have to make contact with someone to duplicate them? (apparently not, since he duped Dawnstar based on secondhand information only.) Could he dupe Mordru? Darkseid? The Time Trapper? The Infinite Man? Does he dupe weaknesses along with powers? If he duped Nemesis Kid, would it result in the destruction of the universe if the two fought?
In an Silver Age LSH story, Duplicate Boy tried to copy Validus’ power, and passed out because it was beyond him, so there had ALREADY been a story that established that there were SOME limits to his power. IMO, for the amount he appeared in LSH, it really wasn’t necessary for Levitz to spend time establishing some specific limit.
Ironically, Amethyst here clearly has nothing to do with the Legion… until much later, when she’s directly tied to the White Witch
I don’t believe Shrinking Violet was Duplicate Boy’s “former” girlfriend as stated in the review. There was no indication that they had broken up although their relationship certainly was long-distance. Dupe’s last major role was in #219, when he and Vi were still very much a couple. Dupe appears anomalously in the 230s (the Bounty issue), but I don’t think he had appeared since. So, from his perspective, Vi was two-timing him or Gim was taking advantage of her. Doesn’t make his actions justified, of course.
I also wouldn’t read too much into his threat to kill Colossal Boy. People say “I’ll kill him!” all the time without meaning it. But Dupe certainly does let his wounded pride get the best of him.
I’ve always wondered about his last comment, “She’s not the Violet I fell in love with.” Later, it would be taken that he knew SPOILER, but, at the time, I took it that Vi had grown or changed without him. In any case, it’s a wonderful line to look back on.
That’s always been my opinion, too…I think Levitz dropped the ball having Vi spouting off about Duplicate Boy knowing SPOILER…at first I wrote it off as bad writing, but it could also be (more positively) explained by it coming from a character who was clearly damaged from her experience and not thinking clearly.