ADVENTURE COMICS 309 (1963)
by Edmond Hamilton and John Forte
Believe it or not, THIS is the first original supervillain introduced in a Legion story.
We start with one of the EXTREMELY rare instances of the Legionnaires going to school… 30th century style.
And again we have the idea that the team is spread across the entire universe.
Meaning… you guessed it: new auditions!
First we have Rainbow Girl. We don’t get to see her audition, so we have to guess that she’s rejected because her power is something lame like making raibows.
Jungle King is also rejected, because while he can telepathically control animals… he sucks at it.
He doesn’t take it lightly: Jungle King becomes the first Legion reject to come back as a supervillain. There will be many more.
On Monster World, Jungle King recruits several powerful alien animals.
I’ve said it before: John Forte’s art may not be the best at facial expressions, but if you need weird aliens he’s your guy.
With his new legion of space animals, Jungle King… now calling himself Monster Master… decides to rob a bank. A space bank, specifically.
He’s surprisingly effective against the Legion too!
To the point that he’s supposedly the first enemy to defeat the Legion.
I would comment on that, but I’m more distracted by the fact that the Legion’s spaceship is apparently piloted with a steering wheel.
They follow Monster Master to Inshar, the World of Giant Flowers.
Lost opportunity not having Colossal Boy around, really.
Also, the Legionnaires keep dismissing Bouncing Boy for his useless power.
The Legion’s plan is actually kind of clever: capture one of Monster Master’s animals and have Chameleon Boy infiltrate his team by disguising himself as the real animal.
And it would’ve worked too, if Bouncing Boy hadn’t blown their cover because he was trying to follow the action.
The Legion follows Monster Master to Monster World. It’s apparently a mission so dangerous that the Legionnaires draw lots to decide who is going after Monster Master… leaving out Saturn Girl because she’s a girl.
Brainy… leave that kind of crap to 1960s Reed Richards, okay?
The Legion regrets their choice when Bouncing Boy is the one who draws the lot.
They’re going to eat their words once Bouncing Boy saves the day!
Well, do be fair, Monster Master basically defeats himself.
The moral of the story: “Monster Master sucks”.
And “don’t underestimate seemingly useless powers”, I guess.
There’s also a Superboy story where it’s revealed that the fake Clark Kent shown throughout the story was actually Brainiac 5.
The Superboy story itself isn’t interesting enough to explore. Just thought to mention it because typically it’s Chameleon Boy who gets to do this stuff.
Legion significance: 1/10
First rejected applicant to turn supervillain.
Silver Age-ness: 8/10
The alien animals and the weird planets aren’t the strangest ones in the Silver Age… but they’re pretty close.
Does it stand the test of time? 2/10
The idea of “no superpower is truly useless” is really hammered during this period, but it holds up. The team’s attitude towards Bouncing Boy and Saturn Girl, not so much. And Jungle King / Monster Master is not exactly a compelling villain.
We are legion
- 13 active in this story: Ultra Boy, Mon-El, Colossal Boy, Bouncing Boy, Chameleon Boy, Saturn Girl, Brainiac 5, Sun Boy, Matter-Eater Lad, Shrinking Violet, Superboy, Triplicate Girl, Cosmic Boy, Invisible Kid
- 5 not appearing but officially members: Phantom Girl, Triplicate Girl, Supergirl, Element Lad, Lightning Lass
- 1 unknown: Star Boy as usual
- 1 deceased: Lightning Lad
How much Legion is too much?
Legion now includes 19 members.
Legion rejects: 14
Rainbow Girl and Jungle King are added to the ever-growing list.
This review is sponsored by the Space Bank. For when you need to exchange living money for liquid money.
