The Greatest Hero of Them All - Legion of Super-Heroes 38

Legion of Super-Heroes (Volume III) #38 (September 1987)(cover by Bill Sienkiewicz)
"The Greatest Hero of Them All"
Paul Levitz-Greg Laroque/Mike DeCarlo/Arne Starr

Doug: That's a worthy cover by Bill Sienkiewicz, don't you think? It certainly has the majesty due an icon, and the color palette seems fitting as well. If there's one thing I can say based on the comments of the past three weeks (and they've been a bit weak in number, don't you think? C'mon -- help a brother out! These things take a few hours to craft!), it's that we stand unanimously on the error that was the decision to usher in the Crisis. Some of you have remarked that DC had a unique thing going with the multiverse as it was; others have stood specifically with Karen and I in our disdain for the divorcing of Superboy and Supergirl from Legion lore. But whatever our collective beef, this has been an emotional trip down memory lane. Let's see how the Legion creators finish it off.

Doug: When last we left our heroes, Superman had defeated the more-powerful Superboy. He'd done it due largely to the fact that Superboy's heart just wasn't in the fight. Having been raised by the Kents with strong Midwestern values (I always wonder if that's a glorification of the region where I've lived, or a flat-out knock on everywhere else), there was simply no way that Superboy could be a part of any heinous plots or crimes hatched by the Time Trapper. So now the Teen of Steel and four of his Legion teammates rocket through the time stream in a Legion time bubble. Along the way we get a basic recap of this adventure, some theories laid down by Brainiac-5, and then "the rest of the story" from Superboy himself. He narrates a tale that those of us who read Crisis On Infinite Earths way back when will recognize -- skies lit red, anti-matter moving into and around a planet. In this case, Earth. But not our Earth -- Superboy's Earth, part of the Time Trapper's pocket universe. Superboy tried every power he had and every strategy he knew. And just when he was about to sacrifice himself in a heroic effort by flying into the heart of the anti-matter, the Time Trapper appeared.

Doug: The Time Trapper offered Superboy a deal -- ally with him, and Superboy's Earth would be spared. And then the Trapper narrate his side of the story, as it continued. In the gymnasium of Smallville High School the Trapper held Ultra Boy, Cosmic Boy, Night Girl, and Mon-el hostage (all still in stasis from their zapping in LoSH #37). The Trapper says that every event we've seen over the past three weeks was orchestrated by him. Indeed, since the Legion first attempted time travel (see Adventure Comics #247 if you don't know to what he's referring), they have lived on his terms -- always journeying to a time and space of his creation. In other words, even if accurate history books of Superboy's exploits would have existed, they'd never have existed in our reality. We then get a one-page interlude with Wildfire and Dawnstar -- she is none too happy with Wildfire's change in appearance, much to Drake's dismay.

Doug: Back in Smallville, the time bubble approaches the high school. Brainy had created a phony stasis ray that Superboy could use to incapacitate the Legionnaires temporarily -- by intense concentration, the young heroes could break its bonds when action demanded. Superboy burst through the sidewall of the gym with the bubble. The Time Trapper was ecstatic. Superboy offered his teammates to his "ally", thinking to himself that he was going to defeat the Trapper once he was certain the anti-matter threat had been permanently removed. But he felt more confident now, knowing that this teammates were with him. But when Superboy said the deal was over, the Trapper scoffed at him... and then caused a very large gun to appear. A gun which Superboy should now use to slay his eight friends. After all, the Trapper mused, as true heroes they surely wouldn't mind sacrificing themselves to save the planet Earth. And of course you can guess Superboy's response -- he crushes the gun in his bare hands, forming it into a ball and hurling it at the Time Trapper. And the Legion breaks free of their trance!

Doug: The Time Trapper rose to meet the Legion, growing his form to Colossal Boy-proportions. Superboy and Sun Boy attacked, but were repelled. The Trapper gloated that he was entropy incarnate, the dark ending of time itself. The Legionnaires mounted the best offensive they could, and it got a little better when Brainy figured out that he could use the stasis ray of his own crafting to free the first four that had been trapped by Superboy's ray. So now nine super-teens rallied against an unbeatable foe. Superboy launched a violent attack that only resulted in destroying the machine that held Earth together against the anti-matter. Now with that safety net gone, the focus shifted from the Time Trapper to saving lives outside Smallville High School. And then, in the midst of this suspense, we get another one-pager, this time showing mopey Polar Boy doubting his leadership abilities while being comforted by Dream Girl. Who cares??

Doug: All of the Legionnaires headed outside, sans Superboy, Ultra Boy, and Mon-el -- the power trio. Those three took to the very skies, attempting to halt the advance of the red skies. The Time Trapper stood atop the high school, mulling over his plan and other-worldly events conspiring against him. He settled back to the ground to goad Brainiac-5. The Trapper reiterated that this Earth was never that of the Legion's past, but only a sliver of reality. Brainy threw a forcefield around the Trapper in a vain attempt to hold him. Brainy pressed him -- would the 30th Century survive? Sure -- your 30th Century, said the Trapper. But not this one. And as a true hero, Brainiac said to think again. The Time Trapper laughed loudly and vanished.

Doug: Cosmic Boy implored Brainy to figure out a way to save the day, but Brainy balked. The technology and power sources were beyond him. He didn't have the right supplies to fix what had been broken in the fight. But in the sky, Superboy suddenly had an epiphany -- he could fix what was wrong! Streaking past his teammates and straight to the containment device, Superboy attached himself to it as a living conductor -- he was attempting to allow it to repair itself by running all the energy through himself. With his teammates begging him to stop, the Teen of Steel used his super-breath to repel Mon-el and Ultra Boy. Sun Boy remarked that he felt like the team was being pulled back -- even transported away, to their future. As the Earth groaned, the residents of Smallville could tell that the end was nigh. Lana, Pete, Ma and Pa Kent -- all of them knew something was not right. Ultra Boy and Mon-el could hardly contain themselves as they watched their "brother". But you know what? He did it. Superboy saved his Earth. Instruments showed that the Earth was moved away from the anti-matter -- Superboy's universe was healthy, alive. The Legionnaires quickly grabbed his limp body, Brainy ordering everyone into the time bubble so that he could examine young Kal in the multi-lab back in the 30th Century. Superboy muttered to Brainy, asking if Earth was OK. Brainy assured him that it was. And as everyone got into the bubble and Blok readied for take-off, Superboy moved back outside and slammed the door shut!

Doug: Hoisting the bubble on his shoulders, Superboy flew it under his own power into the time stream, all the way to the Legion's time. As they passed through the final year, the Legionnaires burst out of the bubble, catching Superboy as he fell away from the strain. Mon-el caught him and flew like lightning toward the multi-lab. As they sped, Superboy mustered one more breath, and asked Mon-el to take care of the Earth for him. And then he died. The Legion assembled for the funeral some time later. The White Witch reported that she could not find Superboy's Earth, but that she knew it was fine. And then the team met in their hall of fallen heroes, among the statues that memorialized Supergirl, Ferro Lad, the first Invisible Kid, Chemical King, and Karate Kid. Now another statue joined those ranks -- that of Kal-el, Superboy.

Doug: I think Paul Levitz wrote a touching story that was a bit more emotionally-charged toward sadness than Alan Moore's "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow" 2-parter. Moore's story seemed to want to shock, almost as if he was mad at this turn of events in the DCU and wanted to take everyone else down with him. Here Paul Levitz pulls on our heartstrings with the heroism of Superboy, and the void we know he will leave in the lives of Mon-el and the rest of the Legion. But did you catch the "out" there at the end of the story? The White Witch said that while she couldn't find that Earth, she knew it was OK. But aren't all serialized stories written with that sort of a fail-safe? But I'm still left wanting here. How did Superboy die? Where did the pocket Earth really go? Where did the Time Trapper go? How did the Legion journey back to the pocket Earth without creating a divergent timeline that would have led to a Legion of Super-Heroes in the pocket universe? And someone please help me with this -- how could Kara and Kal-el exist together in the 30th Century, with Kara always believing that Kal was the teen version of her older (to her) cousin? Was the pre-Crisis Superboy "real" on the same Earth on which Kara arrived to?

Doug: Yeah, that multiverse thing was a lot simpler. Give me Mr. Tawky-Tawny on Earth-S any day...

The Greatest Hero of Them All - Legion of Super-Heroes 37

Legion of Super-Heroes (Volume III) #37 (August 1987)
"A Twist in Time"
Paul Levitz-Greg Laroque/Mike DeCarlo/Arne Starr

Doug: Among our readers, both those who comment and those who lurk (c'mon... what are you waiting for?) there's a sizable Legion following. For most of us, our comics' understanding was shaken by DC's Crisis On Infinite Earths event, as heroes we'd loved met their demise and the wonderful mythology of the multiverse came to an end (well, a temporary end from what I know of today's DCU). But for those who loved the Legion, the now-fact that Superman had never been Superboy rocked us. Rocked us hard. Although the Legion had been "on their own" for many years by the time the Crisis happened, we all knew that their sole reason for existing was through the inspiration of The Greatest Hero of Them All. And, if there had never been a Superboy, what would that mean for Mon-el, whose very name had come from a young Clark Kent? And Supergirl...? We saw what happened to her in the Crisis. Did that wipe out her previous adventures with the Legion, and her relationship with Brainiac-5? Oh, what a mess this was turning out to be. What we have before us in September, then, is DC's answer to this quandary, and to some of the specific questions raised. Next week we'll head over to John Byrne's revamped Superman book, and in that post I'll quote from Byrne himself as to how he was told all of this would turn out, and then how it actually went down. We'll finish the storyline with Byrne's Action Comics before heading back to the Legion of Super-Heroes for the conclusion. I hope along the way we'll get some nice conversations going on retcons, cloudy continuity, creators directing titles/characters, editorial decisions, etc.

Doug: This was the first Legion book I'd purchased in close to eight years, so as I entered past the front cover I soon found that this wasn't the Legion of Dave Cockrum, Mike Grell, and James Sherman. Well, it was -- but with some add-ons. New to me were Blok, Tellus, Sensor Girl (I didn't know yet that she was Princess Projectra), and the fact that some of the Substitute Heroes were now actives. So all this wasn't bad, just different. And it gave me a real sense that I'd missed some fun along the way. We open with a very cool splash page -- any time there's a giant doing his thing, I'm hooked. And how about the dialogue? No decompression here, my friend -- six word balloons and a narration box ensures that! The Legion is assisting in the repair of the Time Beacon at Metropolis University. The big guns are out, with Mon-el (my personal fave Legionnaire), Ultra Boy, Colossal Boy, Sun Boy, Light Lass (called Lightning Lass here), and Brainiac-5. The Legion works with a sense of urgency, as time travel is in jeopardy after the events of the Cosmic Boy mini-series (which spun out of the Legends mini-series, which of course was an epilogue of sorts to the Crisis, laying the groundwork for the new DCU -- got all that?). Cos had fought the Time Trapper in that story, and the Legion was here afraid that he could attack if they were vulnerable. Fixing the time travel possibilities was essential.

NOTE: For anyone wondering, as was I, the Time Trapper debuted in March 1964; Kang the Conqueror first faced the Avengers in September 1964. There's no point to me saying that, other than trivia.

Doug: Brainy orders the new-and-improved time bubble be brought up. Blok and Timber Wolf oblige, and Lightning Lass remarks at how much larger it looks than their old models. Of course Brainy has little patience for his teammates, much as we've seen from Reed Richards whenever Ben was asked to do the heavy lifting. Cos and Night Girl are also present, and Cos remarks how powerful the Time Trapper has become. Brainy says it will take the power of the entire Legion to put him down. But as he readies to use his flight ring to send out an alert, his hand is iced over by Polar Boy, now leader of the Legion. Brainy's urged to stop -- Polar Boy doesn't want to send everyone off and leave the Earth unprotected. He'll instead choose a team to go. Sounds like a plan.

Doug: There are some brief interludes in this book that deal with plotlines from the past few issues. For the sake of relevance to our September theme, I'll be skipping over those. Just FYI.

Doug: So Polar Boy chooses a mighty fine team, anyway, despite Brainy's protestations. Entering the time bubble are Invisible Kid (the new guy to hold that moniker), Blok, Sun Boy, Ultra Boy, Cos, Night Girl, Brainy, and Mon-el providing the lift from the outside. So Mon picks up the bubble and away they go, looking for the end of time and their purple-robed nemesis. Leaving 2987, they soar past the rainbow of dates we've come to know, but in descending order. Suddenly the bubble hits a "time storm" and all sense of direction is lost. From inside the bubble Brainy tells Mon to just keep pushing -- he'll use his instruments to keep them on course. We cut away to the end of time, where the Time Trapper is fully aware of what is transpiring (he's a master of time, get it?). He says cryptically, "I shall grant their secret desire -- let them travel to the one time they surely felt was denied them -- and in granting their wishes, I shall achieve mine." Back in the time stream, the team struggles against the storm, when the bubble suddenly pops out of the turbulence. Only then does Brainiac realize that they had not been going forward in time, but backward. Blok asks if it matters -- if the end of time could not be reached at either end of the time stream (man, that's deep). But while Brainiac does some deep computations, Night Girl blurts out that they've arrived in Superboy's time! Briany is incredulous -- until we pan back and see Mon setting the bubble down just on the outskirts of Smallville, Kansas (does anyone know when it was decided that Smallville is in Kansas?).

Gratuitous Dream Girl shot

Doug: We get a one-pager of the ever-scrumptious Dream Girl awakening from a cloudy dream -- not clear, as usual. Whatever is about to happen she doesn't like it. Back in Kansas, a small team of Legionnaires comprised of Mon, Cos, Ultra Boy, and Night Girl has strolled into town. I'd encourage you at some point, maybe this point, to make the leap to our reviews of Adventure Comics 369 and 370 for a previous Legion romp in Smallville; it's a story that was particularly endearing to me early in my Legion learning. The boys have all been to 1950s Smallville before, but not Night Girl. She's a fish out of water, as she walks right in the path of an approaching police car. But it gives Mon a chance to reintroduce himself to Chief Parker, who surely must remember Bob Cobb, a friend of the Kents. The team is very puzzled, as their history is telling them that Superman was never Superboy, yet here they stand in his home town, among people who know the Kents -- who the Legionnaires know! Mon remarks that everything is as it should be, down to the sights, sounds, and smells. And then who should approach but Pete Ross! Pete greets the team by name. Ultra Boy says that everything must be alright; Pete says it sure is, since Superboy saved the town from some eerie red skies and an energy field. There's a mystery deepening here, as Pete says Superboy won't talk about that episode. So the team heads to a source for answers -- the Kent General Store!

Doug: The Kents immediately recognize the three boys, and are introduced to Lydda. Let me make one comment about an interlude that's in the middle of this scene -- Wildfire went through a big change looks-wise in this story, as he ditched the helmet for a really odd (to me at least) look of a "normal" face and long flaming "hair". Not sure how long that lasted; it's a cinch it wasn't an improvement on Dave Cockrum's design. But anyway, the Legion is invited to the Kents for dinner while they wait for Clark to return home. Ma stuffs them with a big country spread, and suddenly Clark walks in. The team is really excited to see him, as again -- they'd thought he never existed (in spite of their own memories). But Clark's reserved, and quickly invites the Legionnaires to the basement to talk while Ma cleans up the kitchen. Clark distracts them by directing their attention to a shelving unit with statuettes of the Legion members. But while their backs are turned, Clark pulls out a device that looks like the Phantom Zone projector; instead, it's a Time-Stasis ray and freezes the teen heroes in their tracks. We find that Ma and Pa Kent were in on this. Clark knows of the Legion members who remained with the time bubble, and says he must stop them as well. But before he can leave, Lana Lang barges in, wanting help with her algebra! I love it! Back in 2987, Polar Boy confides in Element Lad that h'es not sure of his leadership abilities. They talk, and run through the last several Legion leaders and how all of them, in their own way, proved themselves.

Doug: In 1950-whatever, we drop in on the boys at the bubble. They're a little bothered that they haven't heard from their teammates yet. As they small talk the difference between their time and their present, Pete rides up on his bike. He warns them that something has happened at the Kent house, and that the Legion and Superboy may have been defeated! Brainy wants Pete to accompany them as they flee to plan, but Pete says he'll go back and see if he can find out any more information. So the team launches the time bubble, and as they leave Smallville they spy Superboy trailing the bubble, the time-stasis ray in hand. The Legionnaires look right into Superboy's eyes as they speed into the time stream. They are alarmed that Superboy would try to harm them. Sun Boy says they couldn't have been in the real Smallville. Brainy says they may have just witnessed the extent of the Time Trapper's corruption of history. Back in Smallville, Superboy pledges to save the Earth, Smallville, and the universe if need be. He says he won't let Ma and Pa down -- that if it means he has to track the Legionnaires through time until he's trapped each and every one of them, he will. Hmmm... And back at the end of time, the Time Trapper guffaws as only a megalomaniacal super-baddie can guffaw.

Doug: Paul Levitz crafted a nice little mystery here in this first installment, didn't he? I really loved the sense of nostalgia generated by this story -- as I said above, it really dovetails nicely with those much earlier Adventure Comics issues I linked to. I thought the art in this story was really "grown up", mature past what we might have seen in the Bronze Age. That is not at all to denigrate any former Legion artists (or any other BA artists, for that matter)... but I think it's safe to say that there was just something about the entire art job that was somehow evolved from what we'd seen in years prior. I will comment that Greg LaRocque seems to favor the profile shots used by Keith Giffen, although not to the same extent. Do you think some of the faces seem elongated? I think that's just LaRocque's style, but it was noticeable. But overall, I enjoyed this "updated" version of "my" Legion, and I'm excited to take you into the next three chapters!