Credits | Characters | Plot Summary | Comments | Reprinted In Editor: Mort Weisinger Writer: Edmond Hamilton Artist: John Forte Roll Call: Bouncing Boy, Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy, Cosmic Boy, Invisible Kid, Lightning Lad (frozen and in flashback), Lightning Lass (joins), Mon-El, Saturn Girl, Shrinking Violet, Sun Boy, Superboy, Supergirl, Triplicate Girl Villains: Two three-headed criminals from the Hydra World, two pyramid men from Altair, an ant-race criminal from Canopus, various other criminals of the Thieves' Planet, the Master of the Thieves' Planet Other Characters: Jon Arkol (a metallurgical scientist), a Science Police officer, Science Police Commissioner Wilson (named in Adventure Comics No. 321), Proty of Antares, autom guards, three lightning monsters of Korbal (in flashback) "The Return of Lightning Lad" (11 pages)
This story marks the first appearance of the Legion Flag, which is made of a luminous, indestructible material. Legionnaires must salute in the presence of the flag according to the Club's constitution (and seen in Superboy No. 117). On page 1, panel 2, Cosmic Boy is missing his right epaulet, while in the next panel he is missing both.
When Cosmic Boy suggests that "Lightning Lad" may no longer have his power, Sun Boy reacts strongly: "Don't suggest such a thing! Without his super-power, he could no longer belong to the Legion!" This is a perfectly understandable reaction, since - besides claiming to be Garth's best friend - Sun Boy knows exactly what it's like be expelled due to loss of power (as seen in Adventure Comics No. 302). Cosmic Boy's flashback to Lightning Lad's origin is incorrect as he remembers that Garth Ranzz, upon receiving his super-lightning power, thought "maybe this power will win me membership in the Legion of Super-Heroes". Cosmic Boy reccounts this based on the "origin he told us when he joined the Legion". Technically, this is only a mistake looking back in hindsight. When this story was published, no origin in any form was established and Lightning Lad could very well have joined after the team formed. Still, because it was later established that Lightning Lad was a charter member (as told in Adventure Comics No. 352's text feature "The Origin of Cosmic Boy" and Superboy No. 147), we the reader are only left to assume that Cosmic Boy had a memory lapse, perhaps brought on by the shock and confusion of the death and reanimation of his close friend. (And he says that maybe Lightning Lad's memory has been affected!) As with many flashbacks to origins, the heroes often recall the event with the person wearing, strangely enough, their super-costume. In this flashback, for instance, Garth Ranzz is already wearing his Lightning Lad costume, complete with cape and lightning bolts insignia! This "phenomenon" may be explained by the fact that people end up so strongly associating the person with their Legionnaire persona and costume, they find it hard to imagine them ever having worn anything else! The lightning monsters shown in this story look markedly different from the ones shown in Superman No. 147, which are the first published account of what a lightning monster looks like. This is backed up by the origin tape in Superboy No. 147, which shows the same three-eyed, elephant-trunked monsters as described previously by Lightning Lord. The explanation may be as follows: According to Beast Boy in Adventure Comics No. 339, the armored, bovine type of lightning monster is "one of the lightning monsters found on the planet Korbal," indicating that there are (at least) two types of creatures with lightning power on that planet. Cosmic Boy only recalls the bovine type because that is the kind on show at the zoo outside of Metropolis (Adventure Comics No. 339) and probably the only type he's ever seen. The fact that Lightning Lass recalls the bovine type as well means that both kinds of lightning monsters were there at the time of the incident, with the ones that she recalls standing closest to her. Furthermore, in Superman No. 147, Lightning Lord claims that it was a single lightning monster with the "frightful ability to transfer some of its lightning power to its victims... like an infectious disease" that gave them their power. According to the origin tape of Superboy No. 147, it was also Mekt that deduced "the bolts seem to be forming a force-field around us... charging us with their lightning", confirming what both Cosmic Boy and Lightning Lass say in this issue: that the blasts of the four beasts, coming from all directions, neutralized the deadly electrical effects and created an electric force field around them, one that transfered the power into them. That Mekt later refers to it as an "infectious disease" only reflects how his criminal mind has warped over the years. Scientist Jon Arkol says he needs tremendous electrical energy for an experiment to try "to create a super-tough new metal". This metal is probably inertron, which will soon be developed for use in the Fusion Powersphere (Adventure Comics No. 336). Since Lightning Lad in that later issue is able to recognize the metal at a glance, it is highly suggestive that Arkol later called upon the real Lightning Lad for further assistance in creating inertron, which is how the Legionnaire would be familiar with the substance. The Hydra World villains' space ship is made of non-magnetic metal. Non-magnetic metals on the periodic table of elements include: aluminum, copper and lead. Several real star names are mentioned in this story: Vega, Sirius, Antares, Altair and Canopus.
It should be noted that Chameleon Boy probably didn't just "keep" Proty after freeing him from the thieves. Although it can be argued that Proty, an obviously highly intelligent telepathic creature, deserved to be set free, the Legionnaires most likely returned all the stolen animals to the zoo after using them to accomplish their mission. Chameleon Boy probably did so both regrettably and relunctantly, but he was bound to do so as a law-abiding Legionnaire. The zoo-keepers, on the other hand, were probably all too happy to give the protean to Chameleon Boy as reward for the Legionnaires having helped them recover the stolen animals. At the beginning of the story, Mon-El goes with Saturn Girl on a space mission, but turns up suddenly on page 6, panel 5 to help the Legionnaires load cages of stolen animals onto their ship. Invisible Kid also appears briefly in that panel to help; presumably he was always there but as invisible back-up on the mission. It is odd that the Legionnaires, in playing "wanted criminals", continue to wear their super-hero costumes. Obviously it would have been smarter for them to wear disguises but the Thieves' Planet was mainly populated by non-humanoid races throughout the universe and perhaps to them "all humans look alike" and they would hardly remember individual human clothing styles. It is not until the Legionnaires use their powers, the true signature of their identities, that the alien criminals say: "They must be members of the Legion of Super-Heroes. I've heard some of them have powers of magnetism and radiant heat like that!" This further indicates that they hadn't actually seen the Legionnaires, just heard of their amazing powers. The "living paintings" stolen in this story are from the planet Thar, which - though it is spelled similarly - is not the same planet Tharr that Polar Boy is from. The grateful scientists of this world also gave the Legion their universe-monitor (Adventure Comics No. 315), and the hypnotic criminal Olen Jor (Adventure Comics No. 316) is from this world. The Master of the Thieves' Planet did not read "Lightning Lad's" mind to determine directly as to whether or not "he" had powers. Scanning other thoughts, who were positive that "Lightning Lad" was powerless, was enough to convince him apparently. Garth obviously had told Sun Boy that he had a twin sister at one time, but just left out the fact that she gained a super-power along with him in order to protect her.
Sun Boy had one more piece of evidence to back up his deduction that "Lightning Lad" was really a girl - on page 9, panel 2 he places his hand on her chest! Obviously, Sun Boy detected that her chest had been specially padded to disguise the fact she was a girl. Ayla (her real name is not given in this issue) must have also worn platform shoes to add to her height and some 30th century make-up to add to the masculine effect. The Lightning World in which Ayla takes the body of her brother to is not to be confused with the planet Korbal. Lightning World - named in Adventure Comics No. 312 - is barren and lifeless, whereas Korbal has life on it in the form of the lightning monsters who gave the Ranzz siblings their powers. Lightning Lass was voted in by the Legionnaires the next time they voted on new members. The girl members re-named her Lightning Lass. As Ayla probably didn't wait months for her hair to grow back before she joined as Lightning Lass, she must have used a 30th century method of regrowing hair at super-speed after her ruse was exposed and before she was sworn in as a new member. Adventure Comics No. 403 (Apr. 1971) Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 2 |
One day in the 30th century,
the Legionnaires make the sad pilgrimage to Lightning
Lad's tomb with the intention of draping their new flag
on the hero's coffin. Suddenly, after the ceremony,
Bouncing Boy sees the fallen hero's hand move. Cosmic Boy
believes Chuck to be deeply moved and imagining it. When
Sun Boy sees him move again, they take Lightning Lad out
of the transparent coffin. The Legionnaires conclude that
the constant discharge of electric bolts over his coffin
must have revived him from the deathlike coma into which
the freezing-ray threw him. As Lightning Lad makes the
transition back into action, Sun Boy wonders if his
"death" affected his power of super-lightning
and so covers for his friend using his own super-power on
a number of occasions, including during their mission to
the Thieves' Planet. When the Legionnaires are about to
be destroyed by the hypnotic Master of the Thieves'
Planet, Lightning Lad saves the day by revealing that he
truly still has his powers. Then Sun Boy makes the
dramatic revelation that Lightning Lad is actually not
Lightning Lad, but a girl double of him! He explains to
the others that he noticed that the back of the
"revived" Lightning Lad's neck wasn't tanned,
indicating that his hair was once longer and then cut. He
also saw that he had no Adam's apple, proving he was a
girl. Figuring that she must be Lightning Lad's twin
sister, Sun Boy felt sorry for her and didn't want her to
be exposed and expelled, so he covered for the power he
assumed she didn't have. She informs them all that she
got her power at the same time as her brother but they
chose to keep that knowledge a secret "lest evil men
try to force her to help them". She brought her
brother's coffin to Lightning World and took his place in
the coffin on Earth, intending to carry on his work in
secret disguised as a boy. Some time later, Lightning
Lass is voted into the Legion. 
Supergirl makes a brief,
one-panel, appearance in this story. As she had
previously visited the adult Legion and saw Lightning Man
married to Saturn Woman (Action
Comics No. 289), she knew that
Lightning Lad would have to come back to life after his
death in Adventure Comics No.
304, although she didn't know how or when exactly. Not
wanting to try to interfere with fate, and finding it
hard to bear the sorrow of her teammates, especially
knowing it was for naught, Supergirl doesn't rejoin her
comrades in the future until now, when the Legionnaires
broadcast the news of "Lightning Lad's" return
in this issue. No doubt she used her x-ray vision on
"him" and, after discovering him to be a phony,
promptly left for her own time. The next time she appears
in the future is in Adventure Comics
No. 313, the story immediately
following Lightning Lad's actual return.
The story features the
first appearance of "the legendary protean beast of
Antares", named Proty by Chameleon Boy who rescues
him from an alien vessel. Proty will play an important
role in another story regarding Lightning Lad (see Adventure
Comics No. 312). 
Sun
Boy deduced that "Lightning Lad" was a girl
because when "he" first revived he noticed that
the back of "his" neck was not tanned like the
rest of his skin (page 2, panel 6), as though he'd had
long hair and recently cut it off. He also saw that
"his" throat had no Adam's apple, which men
have but girls don't.