Legion of Super-Heroes vol.3 #35 (1987)
by Paul Levitz & Greg LaRoque
cover by Steve Lighle
The conclusion to the Universo Project. Will it stick to landing?
The four Legionnaires who escaped Universo’s brainwashing are on Earth now, looking for answers.
Turns out Universo managed to conquer Earth by making everyone fall asleep.
And then he mind-controlled the President of Earth into going full fascist.
Nobody’s heard anything about the Legionnaires, except Element Lad…
…but it’s short-lived, because Universo has the Legion hunting down the four Legionnaires.
I should point out that, by now, he also has Mon-El and Ultra Boy under his control, after Zymyr delivered them last issue.
Which kind of makes their side quest almost pointless.
Universo is also discriminating against shapeshifters. This is probably the first time see overt discrimination against Durlans; we knew Colossal Boy’s wife faced distrust, but nothing to this level.
The four Legionnaires sneak into the President’s palace, where naturally the Science Police is no match for them.
They were under the impression that the President was Universo himself, but he’s just a puppet… almost literally.
This is a nice team scene, but… since when can Dream Girl foresee the future while awake? Or did she mean to say she “foresaw” an attack?
This is when Universo sends the Legion after, well, the Legion.
It’s Saturn Girl’s time to shine again, keeping off five Legionnaires!
If you think this is a bit much for her, she immediately clarifies that she wouldn’t be able to do this if the Legionnaires weren’t under Universo’s control.
Notice that she’s worried the most about Mon-El, Ultra Boy and Dawnstar.
I think this is because her mental blast was actually just a distraction to allow Brainiac 5 to enact his own plan: the guys’ super-senses and Dawnstar’s power would’ve found them quickly.
Universo gives us an explanation on why he imprisoned those four Legionnaires in particular: he considers them the most dangerous.
As discussed in the previous issue, most likely because he thinks they’d be the hardest to control.
Brainy’s plan requires him to sneak inside the old laboratory where he built Computo.
Dammit Dawnstar, THE ONE TIME you actually find a missing Legionnaire it’s when you’re working for the bad guys!!!
Universo has sent some pretty powerful Legionnaires, and Shadow Lass.
How will the rebelling Legionnaires manage to face them off?
Well, having Chameleon Boy with you helps…
…but it mostly gets down to just 2 words.
Brainiac.
Five.
A reminder that the original Computo design might look ridiculous, but it was a powerhouse.
Still, we’re talking about the freaking Legion of Super-Heroes. Even mind-controlled, they’re way too much to handle.
You might have noticed Saturn Girl wasn’t part of the fight. That’s because she’s still on the hunt for Universo.
Maybe she should ask the Beyonder, because apparently he’s visiting the 30th century.
But eventually Saturn Girl figures out Universo is posing as the President’s… assistant? Prime Minister? This false identity has been used so little I honestly don’t remember and don’t care.
Even without the Beyonder’s help, Saturn Girl got the solution thanks to Colossal Boy’s mom.
Universo has one last line of defense available: the two most powerful active Legionnaires.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you: the reason why Saturn Girl might just be the most dangerous Legionnaire.
She’s also PURE. UNADULTERATED. BADASS.
Saturn Girl was able to break away from Universo’s control before… when he was on the other side of the galaxy. Now she faces his full power in person.
AND IT’S STILL NOT ENOUGH.
She then uses Universo’s Hypnotic Medallion® to reverse the brainwash.
Do we ever get an origin for that thing?
So everything’s back to normal now.
Saturn Girl DESERVEDLY gets nearly all the credit for defeating Universo, and she asks only for one thing: returning to full active duty.
“What took you so long” indeed. Technically speaking it hasn’t been THAT long and she’s always been around… but it doesn’t FEEL like the Legion without our favorite Titanian.
Legion significance: 9/10
Saturn Girl’s return was a given, so it’s not THAT significant. But it does influence the next election, which itself will have consequences.
It’s also the last appearance of Universo during Volume 3.
Silver Age-ness: 1/10
Seriously, what’s up with that medallion?
Does it stand the test of time? 10/10
To answer my initial question: yes, the saga DOES stick to landing.
Despite Saturn Girl ultimately being the one to save the day, the other three Legionnaires contributed in one way or another. Brainiac 5 doesn’t get the same level of spotlight the others received in the previous issues, but he’s had the spotlight many times before so he doesn’t really need it.
The only nitpick I have on the saga as a whole is that the detours following the other Legionnaire teams, ESPECIALLY the one with Mon-El, are ultimately pointless… they’re interesting in their own way, but ultimately contribute very little to the main plot.
Regardless, there’s a reason why it’s considered one of the best Legion sagas ever.
We are legion
Saturn Girl returns to full membership after a brief stint as a reserve. This brings back the count to:
24 active Legionnaires
7 reserve members
11 deceased members
2 resigned members (Command Kid, Tyroc)
1 honorary member (Rond Vidar, who I’m still counting as alive even if at this moment the Legionnaires think he’s dead)
45 people have been members
48 people have been rejected
Interesting letters: why am I not counting Rond Vidar’s death, even though I pretended that Projectra and Sensor Girl were two different people until the reveal?
Because in the letters page, Levitz pretty much spoils that Rond isn’t dead.
One thing I forgot to mention when Dream Girl used Brainiac 5’s force field belt: it wasn’t even the first time he lent it to a beautiful girl!
Volume 4 will establish that the Hypno-Gem is actually a Titanian crown jewel. The other hypnotic Legion villain is the Titanian Saturn Queen, who considered the gem hers by right, although she did reform and marry Matter-Eater Lad
In the reboot, Universo himself is Titanian… and Imra’s cousin.
Did you ever review Superboy #117? I searched through the site and it doesn’t seem to be anywhere, but it’s entirely possible that I just missed it.
Not yet, but it’s scheduled for the “Legion apocrypha” retrospective that’s coming up this year.
The hypno-stone is, if not “explained”, at least given a little more background in the Bierbaum Legion run, issue # 49, where it’s said to be a crown jewel of the Titanian royal family. I had a theory that it’s made from the stuff of Saturn’s rings that makes people on Titan not criminal (remember that old, old story where Superman is captured by the Legion of Super-Villains?).
This issue’s was a particularly well-presented and satisfying conflict. I will say that it provided nice spotlight moments for several Legionnaires, including Brainiac 5. The panels chosen do not show it, but one member who had a surprisingly good showing was Magnetic Kid. As show above, Violet and White Witch also had logical and effective moments.