Credits | Characters | Plot Summary | Comments | Reprinted In Editor: Mort Weisinger Writer: Edmond Hamilton Artist: John Forte Roll Call: Chameleon Boy, Lightning Lad (revives), Lightning Lass, Mon-El, Saturn Girl, Sun Boy, Superboy Other Characters: Proty (sacrifices himself in this story), citizens of a double star world at the far end of galaxy AB-213, taroc creatures, space-serpents, employees at the Interplanetary Post Office, scientists at the Science Foundation on Skor, a doctor in the great Medical Center of Daxam, two androids made by Mon-El "The Super-Sacrifice of the Legionnaires" (15 pages; Part I: 8 pages) At the clubhouse, the Legionnaires await Mon-El's return from the planet Daxam, where he has gone in search of finding the science to restore Lightning Lad to life. Mon-El reports: "I found no way we can use to bring Lightning Lad back to life". The Legionnaires go to Lightning World, where Lightning Lad's coffin was taken by Lightning Lass earlier, to tell Saturn Girl the sad news and her telepathic mind catches a glimpse into Mon-El's thoughts, sensing that he does know a way to revive Lightning Lad. Superboy organizes a mission to save their fallen comrade and several teams journey across the galaxy to track down possible leads. Part II: "The Bravest Legionnaire" (7 pages)
Artist John Forte signed his name on the splash page. According to a clock in the Legion clubhouse, the time at the start of this story is 1:27 PM. Proty's brave deed is foreshadowed to the reader at the tale's beginning when Chameleon Boy berates him for using his power to imitate Mon-El's form, which is just a way of reminding the readers what Proty's power is. Lightning Lad's coffin resides on Lightning World, where his sister Ayla had taken it when she had replaced him in an earlier tale (Adventure Comics No. 308). This lifeless world is not to be confused with the planet Korbal, whose indiginous lifeforms, the lightning monsters, originally gave the Ranzz siblings their powers. Mon-El can fly to and from Daxam despite its red sun because of a positive side-effect of his anti-lead serum. Granted, at this time (and previous to this in Adventure Comics No. 305) this new immunity was not yet stated. A possible explanation in lieu of this is that he landed on the planet's night-side and left before sunrise (as Superboy will do in Adventure Comics No. 315). The yellow sun rays have to be forced out by direct exposure to red sun radiation. The fact that Saturn Girl attempts to read Mon-El's mind, when she has said this is something she won't do (Adventure Comics No. 316, Adventure Comics No. 371), shows how desperate she is to restore Lightning Lad to life and shows how much she loves him. The Legion space ship is red with white stripes in this story. Superboy visits the blue-sunned world in galactic sector AB-213 and this prompted the following historic letter that reader E. Nelson Bridwell provided that contributed to a major part of the Superboy/man legend:
E. Nelson Bridwell later became a writer at DC and Mort Weisinger's assistant editor. Proteans don't have to breathe air (page 2, panel 5 of Part II). On page 4, panel 4 of Part II, Mon-El is wearing a radio-helmet "so that he can communicate in space where there is no air to carry ordinary sound waves..." Earlier in the story, however, he is flying through space with Saturn Girl and not wearing a helmet. To explain, he was talking aloud in airless space but Saturn Girl's thoughts that follow are not in reaction to his, no doubt, casual musing. Later, she can hear him on the planet of tarocs because there must be a thin atmosphere. To be able to communicate in space, Mon-El put on a radio-helmet later, but one might also think that Mon-El put the helmet on to dissuade her from picking up on any more of his thoughts (which she had done while he wasn't wearing a helmet). Mon-El says that the life-exchanging device tranfers "life force" from the living being and places it into the lifeless being, restoring them. He also says that only a human life can restore a human to life, proving that Proty and his kind are as sentient as any human being. In that way, some part of the selfless Proty continues to live on in the revived Lightning Lad. Sun Boy calls Lightning Lad his best friend in this issue. Lightning Lad, upon reviving, was allowed back in the Legion even though he had killed Zaryan the Conqueror. In the following letter from Adventure Comics No. 316's letter column, a reader ask how this is possible:
This statement would come back to haunt Mort after fans reacted negatively to Adventure Comics No. 342's trial of Star Boy, in which the Legionnaire was expelled for killing a murderer in self-defense. As a result, Star Boy was reinstated in Adventure Comics No. 351. By way of an explanation, Lightning Lad wasn't technically expelled from the Legion although he had killed because he had died. As such, there was simply no provision in the Legion's constitution covering the membership status of a member who has returned to life so the Legionnaires continued to allow the hero to be a member.
Adventure Comics No. 403 (Apr. 1971) Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 2 |
While flying through space
with Mon-El, Saturn Girl opens her spacesuit's oxygen
valve near Daxam in order to force the Legionnaire to
take her to the great Medical Center there. She overhears
a doctor asking if Mon-El told the others of the method
by which they can revive Lightning Lad. Mon-El takes her
back to Lightning World and demonstrates to the others
why he didn't want to share his findings with them. The
life energy exchanging apparatus can only bring a person
back to life at the expense of another person's life.
When Mon-El had said "no way we can use" he
meant that he was planning to revive Lightning Lad alone
and in secret. The six Legionnaires all decide to take
their chances around the device but Saturn Girl, feeling
responsible for Lightning Lad's death, is determined to
be the one to sacrifice herself to restore him. To this
end, she paints a duralim wand - a metal highly
attractive to lightning - to look like ordinary steel.
Following Proty into some caverns, however, she soon
becomes lost. Minutes later, six Legionnaires gather
around Lightning Lad's coffin and the lightning strikes
Saturn Girl's wand, burning away the paint to reveal her
brave plan. As Lightning Lad revives, with no memory
since being struck by Zaryan's ray, he asks for Saturn
Girl only to be informed that she sacrificed her own life
to bring him back. Garth says that he doesn't want to
live at the expense of her life but, looking down where
she had fallen, the Legionnaires discover that it had
been Proty who had died. Saturn Girl arrives to tell how
devoted Proty had sensed her plan and deliberately lured
her into the caves so he could take her place. 