ADVENTURE COMICS 331 (1965)
by Jerry Siegel & Jim Mooney
We continue one of the worst stories in Legion history with a pretty nice cover.
Dynamo Boy is now the only Legion member, so he’s running auditions. So if anything we’re up to some silly powers.
First up: Golden Boy!
Of all reasons to reject a relatively useful power, I wasn’t expecting one that made at least a little sense.
No doubts on rejecting the guy who has the power to stink, though.
Then there’s Animal Lad, who has a very interesting and useful power.
He’s rejected because he’s not evil. Too bad he never came back when the rest of the Legion returned, it’s an interesting and unusual power.
Tusker also has an unusual power, but he sucks.
The Legion of Super-Villains also shows up!
We get a recap from their origin (see Superman #147), which I mention only because Lightning Lord’s origin is expanded to add Light Lass. Once again, the Lightning Beasts of Korbal have changed design.
Since Dynamo Boy learns that these three are still evil, he accepts them into the Legion.
They have a brief fight with the Subs, but Dynamo Boy sends them away once they’re defeated.
Hilariously, the Legion of Super-Villains were posing as heroes to infiltrate the Legion… just like Dynamo Boy, who only now informs them of his plans.
This new Legion is EASILY able to pose as heroes, so I guess their crimes were not particularly well-known.
Dynamo Boy is even able to conquer the Pirate Planetoid.
Once he returns to Earth, Lightning Lord informs them that they have murdered the ENTIRE Legion during his absence. (!!!)
Except Superboy, who is just about to murder Dynamo Boy in revenge.
And graciously the villains help Dynamo Boy escape through a conveniently placed time machine.
Except it turns out that the villains can’t be trusted (YOU DON’T SAY!), and the time machine has been rigged to take Dynamo Boy into the far, far future, even beyond the Iron Curtain of Time.
And so Dynamo Boy is stranded into the distant future. Since we never see him again, I’m going to assume that he’s dead.
It might sound weird that Dynamo Boy was never connected in any way to the Time Trapper, but considering that he sucks I’m definitely not complaining!
Of course, since the real Legionnaires aren’t actually dead, they contact the villains and challenge them.
They fail pretty spectacularly.
And once again, Element Lad is useful when he isn’t written by Edmond Hamilton.
The villains surrender and this AWFUL story is finally over!!!
Legion significance: 0/10
And for good reason!
Silver Age-ness: 10/10
Not especially by itself, but considering the shenanigans of the first part I can’t give any other score.
Does it stand the test of time? 0/10
THIS STORY SUCKS. That is all.
We are legion
5 Legionnaires active in this story: only Superboy, Element Lad, Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy and Shrinking Violet are shown.
14 not shown but officially member: everyone else!
1 reserve member: Bouncing Boy
2 resigned member: Dream Girl, Command Kid
1 honorary member: Elastic Lad
1 deceased member: Dynamo Boy
How much Legion is too much?
With Dynamo Boy’s death, we return to 19 active members.
Technically speaking Dynamo Boy was still a member when he added Cosmic King, Saturn Queen, Lightning Lord, and they were publicly recognized as members during at least 1 mission… but they are all EXPLICITLY older than 18, which at the time was the age limit, so I’m not counting them as official members.
Thanks to the above mess, the total number of characters who have been members is still 24.
Legion rejects: 26
Technically speaking Dynamo Boy was still a member during the audition, so we get to add 4 rejects: Golden Boy, Polecat, Animal Lad and Tusker.