Credits | Characters | Plot Summary | Comments | Reprinted In Editor: Mort Weisinger Writer: Edmond Hamilton Artist: John Forte Roll Call: Bouncing Boy, Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy, Colossal Boy, Mon-El, Saturn Girl, Sun Boy, Ultra Boy Applicants: Rainbow Girl, Jungle King Villains: Monster Master (Jungle King) and his Legion of Super-Monsters (an earthquake beast, an eye monster, a mirror monster, a drill beast, and an omnibeast) Other Characters: A famous science professor, Dez-Nu (Jungle King's father, in flashback), a super-spinner beast, a gas creature, tellers at the Space Bank, clients at the Space Bank, guards at the Space Bank, a Science Police officer, citizens of Sky City on Korr "The Legion of Super-Monsters" (17 pages; Part I: 9 pages) After an applicant named Jungle King is rejected because he cannot fully control the beasts under his command, he vows revenge on the Legion and sets about recruiting various creatures to form his own Legion of Super-Monsters. On Monster World, Jungle King - now calling himself Monster Master - selects an earthquake beast, eye monster, mirror monster, drill beast and omnibeast but rejects a super-spinner beast and a gas creature. The first place he hits on his crime spree is the Space Bank. Then he steals the comet jewels of Sky City on Korr, giving the Legion the slip.
Though the Legionnaires prevent Monster Master from stealing the valuable seeds of the planet Inshar, the rogue himself escapes. The Legionnaires follow the Omnibeast as it instinctively returns home and decide that it would be best if only one of their number go in secretly to get Monster Master. Lots are drawn and Bouncing Boy is chosen to invade the stronghold and defeat the earthquake beast before Monster Master can recruit more monsters. Ironically, Monster Master is destroyed by the very gas creature he rejected as being worthless, just as he himself had tried to destroy the Legion for rejecting him. With this issue, the Legion of Super-Heroes takes over the lead spot in Adventure Comics. It also marks their first two-part story in their "Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes" run in Adventure. Also, this issue marks the first time they have a full-page splash page. This is the first time a "roll call" is listed on the splash page of those Legionnaires that appear in the story. It is not officially called a roll call yet, saying instead: "featuring (in this issue)". Ultra Boy is still spelled with a hyphen in this story. The famous science professor shown in this story is a private tutor to the Legionnaires, who are part of his class of "special students". In that regard, he is the Legion's official academic professor for their continuing education. According to the Legion's constitution, as prescribed by Saturn Girl (in Superboy No. 147):
Matter-Eater Lad, Shrinking Violet, Superboy, Triplicate Girl, Cosmic Boy and Invisible Kid make cameo appearances in this issue with pictures of their faces appearing on a map-like monitor board known as the map of the universe. This map is a precursor to the later mission monitor board (see Adventure Comics No. 321). Jungle King's older brother, Dr. Marden King, later tries to avenge his brother's death by duping the Super-Heroes of Lallor into attacking the Legion as the Legion of Super-Outlaws (see Adventure Comics No. 324). Since Jungle King and Marden King's father is named Dez-Nu, one must assume that they had taken the surname of their mother. Jungle King's first name is not "Jungle" because in Adventure Comics No. 324 Marden says that his brother called himself that because of his mastery of animals. This is the first appearance of the four-engined, red-colored rocket ship that will become known as the Legion cruiser, although in this story it is simply called a Legion ship. The Space Bank is not the same place as the Interplanetary Bank. The Interplanetary Bank, shown in Adventure Comics No. 350, is the heavily-guarded main branch. Although Bouncing Boy proved himself to be worthy of joining the Legion despite his initial rejection, both Sun Boy and Brainiac 5 express serious doubts as to his capabilities. If they had listened to the applicants talk about him so highly in Adventure Comics No. 301, perhaps they would appreciate their teammate more. Brainiac 5 displays his over-protectiveness of females in this story by excluding Saturn Girl from the lot-drawing process because "it's too risky a mission for a girl". Though she remains silent, Saturn Girl's facial expression as she reacts to this comment tells the reader that she is not impressed with Brainy's sexist attitude. This is the first of three times he makes such a comment to Saturn Girl. On the second occasion (Adventure Comics No. 319), Saturn Girl asserts herself by claiming her right to go on any mission; after all, she is a Legionnaire. On the third occasion (Adventure Comics No. 345), Saturn Girl basically tells Brainy what to do with his "male ego" and it is the last time he demeans her like this. Saturn Girl doesn't use her hypnotic power to take control of the monsters away from Monster Master because he had already assumed a deep control over them. While Saturn Girl can and has used her hypnotic power to control animals, she has not tried to wrest mental control away from another controller. Bouncing Boy knows that Monster Master rejected the gas creature that ends up killing him because he does say aloud in his presence: "I never knew it had this power to vaporize anything it grabs". He says it in such an ironic way that Bouncing Boy correctly deduced that he must have initially rejected the creature. The fact that Bouncing Boy was once a reject himself made him inclined to think this way about it. This issue went on sale Thursday April 25th, 1963. Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 2 |
Part II: "The
Legion's Super-Showdown" (8 pages)