ADVENTURE COMICS 312 (1963)
by Edmond Hamilton and John Forte
The very first true “comic book death” resurrection.
This could be one of the most influential stories in the Silver Age. It certainly is for the Legion.
When Lightning Lad died eight issues ago, he was the first superhero to die in the line of duty.
In almost every story since that issue, several characters have vowed that they wouldn’t stop looking for a way to resurrect him. But when we had a fake resurrection just four issues ago, there was a distinct possibility that Lightning Lad could stay dead.
If the letters page is any indication of the reaction from the readers, it seems they were split.
For every letter that praised the writers for the bold choice to kill a character, there seemed to be an equal number of others that point out that Lightning Lad couldn’t really be dead because we already saw his adult version. In fact, we saw him twice.
Was Lightning Lad resurrected due to popular demand? Doubtful, if we trust the letters.
Was it all planned from the start? It seems unlikely for the Silver Age.
Was it a disagreement between current writer Edmond Hamilton and Lightning Lad’s killer Jerry Siegel? We may never know.
And most importantly… does the story actually hold up after 57 years?
Without further ado, let’s take a look at “The Super-Sacrifice of the Legionnaires!”.
The cover is, of course, pretty iconic in the Legion lore. Here’s a tip for causal Legion readers: if you see a lightning rod anywhere, something really really big will happen within a couple of issues.
We begin at the Legion headquarters, with a planet that shows the time on several planets.
It sure is convenient that we have a single time for every place on Earth.
The Legionnaires are waiting for Mon-El to return from an important mission. When they mention him, Chameleon Boy’s pet Proty changes into a copy of Mon-El for one panel.
I can’t stand Proty. He/it makes Chameleon Boy completely useless: just like in his first appearance, it means that Chameleon Boy won’t use his powers during the entire story!
He/it also has the worst design in the history of everything.
Mon-El does eventually return from his mission: a visit to his planet Daxam to find a way to resurrect Lightning Lad.
He actually DID mention in previous issues that he would go to Daxam specifically for this, so props to the writers for making good on his promise.
Unfortunately… it didn’t work.
As Lightning Lad’s sister, Lightning Lass is understandably heartbroken. But most attention is given to Saturn Girl’s reaction.
For the readers, it’s because we’ve been shown that she’s destined to marry Lightning Lad (even though there’s been zero chemistry between the two in stories set in the Legion’s present).
In-story, it’s because she feels responsible for his death and because we have to find any excuse to see this panel AGAIN.
However… even though Mon-El tells her there’s no way to revive Lightning Lad, she reads in his mind that he’s lying.
John Forte tends to draw blank expressions on every face, but that is an impressive Mr. Spock Raised Eyebrow ™.
Despite all hope being lost, Superboy STILL insists that they have to find a way to save Lightning Lad!
And the Legion FINALLY mentions that Lightning Lad isn’t entirely dead… he’s just in some kind of stasis thanks to the freezing ray that hit him.
He’s only mostly dead.
This is nice and all, but… you guys have been saying this over and over for the past eight issues!
I mean it’s not like you can just ask a computer “where can I find a way to cure death”, right? Otherwise you would’ve done it several issues ago!
Seriously!? You had this option and only NOW you remember it!? Now we’ll need to split the team into three groups!
First stop: a planet that orbits two stars, one orange and one blue.
Interesting to see it called “orange sun”. When Superboy/Superman is involved, it’s always “yellow star”. Blue stars do exist, by the way.
We still don’t know whether they resurrect people who die under an orange sun, though.
It’s worth a shot. They could bring Lightning Lad’s body here, or Superboy could CREATE A MINI-STAR.
The good news is that Lighting Lad doesn’t develop skin cancer.
The bad news is that he’s still mostly dead.
Second stop: a planet where there’s a creature that is said to resuscitate itself.
Sure, Mon-El, the animal punched by someone who can bench-press planets just “died of old age”. Sounds legit.
Turns out this is how this species gives birth.
I hope a Taroc doesn’t give birth EXCLUSIVELY after she dies, otherwise that’s going to be an extraordinarily short-lived species.
But the important thing is that Saturn Girl gets a telepathic confirmation that Mon-El knows how to resurrect Lightning Lad… he just doesn’t want to.
John Forte is killing it with Saturn Girl’s reaction shots!
I have the same face when I read 99% of DC Silver Age comics.
The third group of Legionnaires is off to investigate another planet, but they have to stop to deal with an emergency at the Inter-Planetary Post Office.
And what’s the emergency at the post office?
SPACE SERPENTS FROM ANOTHER UNIVERSE.
I love comic books. Where else would you get something THIS crazy?
While Sun Boy and Lightning Lass deal with the space lizards in… well, in space… Chameleon Boy deals with them inside the building.
I’m sorry, PROTY deals with them. Chameleon Boy doesn’t do ANYTHING.
Have I mentioned yet that I despise Proty with every fiber of my being?
The good news is that the office workers “frozen to death” by the space monsters can be revived on a nearby world.
The bad news is that Lightning Lad is still mostly dead.
All seems lost… but Saturn Girl still knows that Mon-El does have a way to save Lightning Lad.
So she asks him to take her to Daxam and sabotages her own spacesuit to suffocate (!!!) so that he has to take her to a Daxamite hospital.
She convinces Mon-El to explain the method to revive Lighting Lad, which he does with the help of some androids.
You can now see why the plot device of the lightning rods will be teased in the future.
The problem with resurrecting dead characters is that the story can lose all stakes… who cares if your favorite character dies, we can always resurrect him later! That’s the main reason why “comic book deaths” have such a bad reputation.
But the lightning rods allow for a very smart workaround: you CAN resurrect a dead character, but only if you kill another one!
I’m very surprised that a similar plot device hasn’t become a mainstay of any series. Sure there’s room for abuse, but it seems like a nice way to have both reversible deaths AND keep the consequences.
We also have the acknowledgement of a potential plot hole: how could the rods kill Superboy or Mon-El if they are invulnerable?
The answer… isn’t really an answer, but at least they tried.
Naturally Saturn Girl is the first to volunteer, but so does Sun Boy.
Until Superboy suggests to leave it to chance.
Wouldn’t it be hilarious is Chameleon Boy was about to say “fine by me, I’m not volunteering for this” but now he’s forced to participate by peer pressure?
Saturn Girl, once again demonstrating her determination, finds a way to ensure that she will be the one to give her life to resurrect Lightning Lad.
We also get a nice shot of her going into the caverns to look for Proty.
But we’ve had enough distractions! It’s time to enact the cover, for real this time!
And the one to save Lightning Lad is… drum roll… Saturn Girl!
Or not.
Wait, what?
My reaction to this:
Yes, despite sharing zero panels together before this story, Proty was apparently so devoted to Saturn Girl that he/it committed suicide to save her life.
Rest in peace, Proty. I still hate you.
Mostly because we’re eventually going to get… *sigh*… Proty II.
Who is, if you can believe it, a thousand time worse than the first one.
Legion significance: 10/10
If only because it’s one of the most referenced stories. On the positive side, we have the “Lightning Saga” of 2007 that re-introduced the pre-Crisis Legion. I didn’t like the move, but the impact is undeniable.
On the negative side… in the 1980s, during the Tom & Mary Bierbaum run, in a somewhat controversial story the worst decision in comic book history, it will be revealed that Lightning Lad never came back to life… Proty’s mind was actually transferred into Lightning Lad’s body.
And yes, that means Saturn Girl actually married and had kids with freakin’ Proty. Mercifully, this was completely erased by the Zero Hour reboot.
The moral of the story?
1) my hatred of Proty is entirely justified
2) reboots are not always a bad thing
Silver Age-ness: 7/10
Superboy creating a tiny star is worth several points alone. I don’t consider it more than a 7/10 because we are given a pseudo-scientific explanation for pretty much everything.
Does it stand the test of time? 8/10
Surprisingly well! Sure, you have to consider the storytelling tropes of the era and to accept some pretty implausible science. But the characterization is rather modern and everyone plays a part.
Except Chameleon Boy. Thanks a lot, Proty.
We are legion
7 active in this story: Lightning Lass, Sun Boy, Chameleon Boy, Superboy, Mon-El, Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad.
13 not appearing but officially members
How much Legion is too much?
With Lightning Lad’s resurrection, the Legion now includes 20 members.
A thousand years in the future, you say?
In the 30th century, Earth will have a single time zone. And we’ll still be using analog clocks.
Interesting letters: only one addresses Lightning Lad’s death. Based on the editorial answer, I wonder if they received more protest letters than they published.
