Legion of Super-Heroes v3 #14

Legion of Super-Heroes v3 #14 (1985)
by Paul Levitz & Steve Lightle

It’s finally time to get some new blood into the Legion!

In fact we begin with an audition already underway, with Power Boy (from the Legion Academy) being the first. Since now he has been shown to have gone through an audition, he gets added to the rejected list.

Speaking of which, this issue is going to add a lot of people to the list. We’ll see most of them in the story itself, but a couple are there just for show: we don’t even learn their names, but since they ARE shown to be in the audition I have to count them.
So I’ll consider “Flying Fish” here (they’re always shown together so I’m going to assume it’s a singular entity) as well as “Red Girl”.

Next up is Comet Queen, who gets to display some of the more unusual applications of her power.

Despite Wildfire giving her a hard time, because Wildfire, she makes it to the next round.

Next up is Mentalla with her mind-control powers.

The Legion has refined the process to admit new members. The auditions are only the first phase: those who pass onto the second one are going to assist Legionnaires in a minor mission.
That’s a great idea to both keep the tradition of the classic auditions and to see how the new heroes act during a crisis.

The mission for the first batch is going to be assisting Brainiac 5 and Mon-El in saving a part of California that is sinking.

One of the candidates is Magnetic Kid, a.k.a. Cosmic Boy’s younger brother.

The other is the telepath/telekinetic Tellus. I’ve always loved the sequence of Brainy sternly looking at them and relaxing only when the job is done.

Magnetic Kid is fine, but the real star here is Tellus. Both because of his AMAZING design and because he’s really charming.

There’s a VERY interesting discussion between the Legionnaires, bringing up that some members never went trough any audition.
That is true for Shadow Lass and White Witch, but Dawnstar is a little questionable since she was part of the Legion Academy when she was selected… plus Blok is forgetting that Invisible Kid II also never got an audition.

Phantom Girl continues her characterization of being a bit elitist against new members.

This issue also contains one of my favorite background scenes EVER. You’ve probably noticed that Shadow Lass is wearing a weird helmet of some kind…

…and we learn in a much later scene why. She was just growing her hair!!!
I love the fact NOBODY comments on this in the scene (the most she gets is a confused look by Blok). Which we can assume means this is a completely normal thing to happen in the 30th century, plus it helps to give Shady a much better look.

But back to the second batch of auditions. We never hear what Energy Boy actually does!
And that’s not my snarky nickname for him, he literally calls himself Energy Boy.

The bombshell of the second batch, however, is that POLAR BOY is auditioning again!
AND he has disbanded the Substitute Heroes. At least he’s already dropped the awful look he had in their special.
As if THAT wasn’t enough, he’s also petitioning the Legion into dropping the rule that you have to be under 18 to join.

We never learn anything about “Fair Kid” and “Lizard Face” here, but they’re there at the audition so they’re added to the count.

We get a small scene with the founders talking with R.J.Brande about the latest developments.
Interesting that Lightning Lad considers his sister his replacement, but Saturn Girl is soon going to be the greatest influence on this new audition.

Back to the other batch, Comet Queen is enjoying herself.

The Legion runs into Dev-Em once again. Now that his uninteresting subplot in Tales of the Legion is over, maybe he’ll be interested in joining the team?
It would be kind of tricky given the “no duplicate powers” rule is still in effect, and he has all of Mon-El’s powers. You can’t even count “he’s not vulnerable to lead” as an advantage, because thanks to his serum Mon-El is not weak to lead… as ALL other Legionnaires are.

Dev-Em was a bit of an ass towards Comet Queen for no reason, but honestly I can kind of see him not trusting Tellus after being forcefully mind-probed like this.

Speaking of Dev-Em’s subplot: Ontiir is back AGAIN.

Ontiir has a device that knocks the Legion applicants, but Brainiac 5’s force field is another story.

But then out of nowhere we have possibly the weirdest applicant ever.

Technically speaking we don’t SEE the applicant: it’s inside that tiny ship.
Meet fan-favorite Quislet.

Quislet has the power to possess and warp inanimate objects.

The catch is that anything it possesses crumbles after a few seconds; that’s why Quislet has to stay inside that little ship: since it’s from the same micro-universe, it can resist is weird properties.

So it’s time for the final decision on who will join the Legion. With Dev-Em still being uninterested.

Polar Boy is given serious consideration, and I love how Star Boy is the one to stand up for him since he WAS briefly a member of the Subs.

Not to mention that the age limit rule hasn’t made any sense for a looooooong time.

The last hurdle is to decide if either Tellus or Mentalla will join the team, since the Legion doesn’t seem to like the idea of having two telepaths in the team.

But then Saturn Girl shows up with a truly bonkers request: to admit her recommendation for a new Legion member without ANY knowledge of them.
(can anyone read the sign? I suck at Interlac)

Wildfire is UNDERSTANDABLY against this idea, showing once again his fondness for the Academy despite his persona…

…but Saturn Girl manages to convince everyone to trust the mysterious Sensor Girl.

And so we end with the new recruits being revealed: Magnetic Kid, Tellus, Quislet, Polar Boy and Sensor Girl.

Sensor Girl is going to be THE mystery of this volume. It’s all in good fun, but I’m going to ask the Legion fans who know her to avoid spoilers in the comments.

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Legion significance: 10/10
Quislet, Polar Boy and ESPECIALLY Sensor Girl are going to be central to the rest of the series. Magnetic Kid and Tellus not so much, but they stick around. Plus we will see Mentalla again.

Silver Age-ness: 0/10
If anything we’re distancing ourselves from some of the old Silver Age random rules.

Does it stand the test of time? 10/10
A classic and pretty much the golden standard for how to do a big change in the Legion membership. It gives you an idea of the personality of all the new people, plus importantly how the current Legionnaires react to them.
Having two non-humanoid members is very welcome, as is the long-overdue redemption of Polar Boy. We’re even teased Dev-Em joining, although I’m glad he didn’t… he has an interesting personality, but his powers would easily make him redundant.
My only nitpicks is that Ontiir is completely wasted and both the introduction of Quislet and Sensor Girl feel more than a bit rushed, but at least those will be explored in the following issues.

We are legion
With 5 new recruits, we return to a more typical 24 active members.
We finally break the tie between members and rejects, with the latter now outnumbering the Legionnaires. I’m adding 8 new rejects, but removing Polar Boy since he’s now a member.

24 active Legionnaires
8 reserve members
10 deceased members
3 resigned members
1 honorary member
46 people have been members
48 people have been rejected
(Legion readers in the comments: this is the total according to what the characters know)