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, Cosmic Boy, Element Lad, Invisible Kid, Lightning Lad, Lightning Lass, Mon-El, Phantom Girl, Saturn Girl, Shrinking Violet, Sun Boy, Superboy, Ultra Boy Villains: Olen Jor (on Science Police file picture), three alien "Mystery Raiders" Other Characters: Proty II, three workers at a super-modern foundry, Science Police Chief Commisioner Wilson (first named in Adventure Comics No. 321), two members of the Galactic Patrol (in flashback), giant puppets on the Puppet Planetoid (in flashback), a green-skinned scientist and his three volunteers, two prison record clerks at Science Police Headquarters (in flashback) "The Renegade Super-Hero" (19 pages; Part I: 9 pages) Superboy speeds to the 30th century to attend the memorial for Proty, who gave his life to revive Lightning Lad. After the ceremony, mystery raiders attack several places on Earth, including Science Police Headquarters. Superboy and Ultra Boy use their super-vision powers to search for a trail but turn up nothing. Scanning through the super-rogues' gallery at the Science Police headquarters the Legionnaires discover that their own Ultra Boy is really Rann Varal of Rambor, an escaped convict with super-strength! Ultra Boy pleads to his friends that he's reformed but after a vote (from which Phantom Girl abstains), he is formally expelled from the Legion in disgrace, his insignia burned away by Superboy and Lightning Lad's powers. Of all the Legionnaires, only Phantom Girl continues to believe in Ultra Boy. After Superboy departs for his own time, Sun Boy announces that it is the Legion's responsibility to turn Jo over to the police. Ultra Boy flees in anger but is pursued by Mon-El. After a battle at Metropolis Spaceport, Ultra Boy manages to escape when Mon-El has to prevent the towering space beacon from falling in the aftermath of their super-tussle. Grabbing a spacesuit from a space ship at ultra-speed, Jo flees the Earth. Sun Boy orders the Legion to hunt down Ultra Boy despite Phantom Girl reminding him of how Jo had once saved his life on the Puppet Planetoid. Part II: "The End of A Super-Traitor" (Part II: 10 pages) Far across the universe, Ultra Boy lands on a little-known world where he discovers a number of intelligent monsters that had their human minds transferred into the bodies of strange creatures. They lead Ultra Boy to the scientist who regrets doing it and he begs Ultra Boy to help reverse the process. Ultra Boy admits it is beyond his knowledge but as Mon-El approaches the planet he tells the scientist to secure the Daxamite's help, thus giving him the time to make a getaway. Hunted through space, the outlaw ex-Legionnaire misdirects his pursuers by thinking of heading for another world for Saturn Girl to pick up on telepathically. On a strange world of crystals, Chameleon Boy finds Ultra Boy but his bluff is called when it becomes apparent that his gun was only Proty II in disguise. Again, Ultra Boy makes an escape but not before Saturn Girl picks up an image in his mind of where he might be heading. Phantom Girl, knowing which world that is, secretly dreads Jo's capture and, after arriving on Mirage World, goes off on her own to warn him. Just as she finds Ultra Boy, the couple are sucked up by a strange tube and drawn into the ship of the mystery raiders. The aliens have been monitoring the Legion and ask Ultra Boy to join them by leading them to the Super-Heroes arsenal. When Ultra Boy agrees to take them there, Phantom Girl can't believe that he could commit such treachery. In the arsenal beneath the clubhouse, Ultra Boy turns a selective freeze ray on the aliens and then admits to the Legionnaires that he planted a fake prison record in the file when he saw with his ultra-vision that the Legion was continually being monitored. His criminal past was merely part of a ploy to trick the raiders into enlisting him as an ally. Sun Boy apologizes, and the honor of replacing Ultra Boy's insignia goes to Phantom Girl, who never doubted the Legionnaire!
The clubhouse's gymnasium is shown for the first time; they get a new one in Adventure Comics No. 361. This is the first story in which Ultra Boy is spelled un-hyphenated. It continues to be non-hyphenated from here on out. The Legionnaires hold a memorial in honor of Proty, who sacrificed his life to save Saturn Girl and bring back Lightning Lad. Element Lad and Lightning Lad make a golden statue in honor of Proty. This statue is destroyed by the adult Lightning Lord in Adventure Comics No. 331. Ultra Boy retells his origin to his teammates in this story. The first two panels are re-drawn by John Forte from Curt Swan's original work from Superboy No. 98, though Ultra Boy is anachronistically shown wearing his super-costume during and shortly after the event. This error can be dismissed as a trick of the memory. The second two panels of the flashback depict how he originally only used his ultra-energy for penetra-vision power but later, upon experimenting, discovered that he could use the energy for a variety of other super-powers, but only one at a time. (This story is the first time his multiple powers are confirmed, although in Adventure Comics No. 314, there is evidence that he possesses powers similar to Superboy and Mon-El's.) Though he earned the name "Ultra-Boy" and helped the law with just his penetra-vision, it wasn't until after he discovered his variety of powers that he decided to apply for membership in the Legion of Super-Heroes. Olen Jor, seen in the Science Police file photo, is said to be a native of Thar with the power of super-hypnotism. The Legion probably arrested this criminal, which is why the grateful scientists of Thar give them their universe monitor in Adventure Comics No. 315. On page 5, panel 5 of Part I it is Phantom Girl who says the line: "It must be only a coincidence... some criminal who looks like Ultra Boy! The attatched fingerprints and pore-patterns will prove that!" Although it is drawn to look like the back of Tinya's head, the yellow lighting reflecting off her hair might make readers incorrectly assume it is Saturn Girl (who is really standing on the other side of Sun Boy, as seen in the previous panel). After Ultra Boy is "discovered" to be an escaped con, Phantom Girl doesn't wear her costume's white gloves for the rest of the story. Having Tinya bare-handed throughout this issue gives her defense of Ultra Boy more feeling and intimacy. It is not clear how all the members voted in the expulsion of Ultra Boy. Those who definitely did vote against Jo were Superboy, Chameleon Boy, Bouncing Boy, Mon-El, Sun Boy, Saturn Girl, Element Lad, Lightning Lad and Shrinking Violet. Phantom Girl abstained from the vote. Brainiac 5, Colossal Boy and the others votes are obscured. The events of Ultra Boy saving Sun Boy on the Puppet Planetoid take place between the second-last panel and last panel of Adventure Comics No. 313. The flashback panel in which Phantom Girl recalls Ultra Boy promising to take her to Mirage World takes place shortly after the events of Adventure Comics No. 313, on the space-ship ride back to Earth. The Legion has two golden-orange space-ships in this story, called Legion cruisers for the first time. One of the "monsters" that the scientist places a volunteer's mind into looks much like a pyramid man from Altair, although with different coloration. The scientist says he is duplicating an experiment once conducted by a Kryptonian criminal. A footnote in that panel references "Supergirl's Wedding Day" in Action Comics No. 307, which would have come out the previous month. The scientist and the three volunteers all have green skin; it is possible that they are from Colu, the home world of Brainiac 5. Ultra Boy refers to Mon-El a "boy", even though he is the oldest member of the team. Saturn Girl says in this issue that she would never pry - out of curiosity - into a comrade's thoughts. Element Lad reuses his knowledge of coded messages (from Adventure Comics No. 307), when he creates a series of dots and dashes using flashes from the Legion cruiser's rocket exhaust. It looks more like straightforward Morse Code than the Legion's Secret Code, in which the dots and dashes are vertically placed as well as horizontally. This issue marks the first full-length Legion tale. Five pages of the issue consist of "The Origin and Powers of the Legion of Super-Heroes", a pictorial and textual membership "roll call" that was originally presented in Superman Annual No. 4, but has been updated to include new members. It is interesting to note that Elastic Lad (Jimmy Olsen) is depicted as an honorary member but not Pete Ross. This is probably because Pete Ross (and later Rond Vidar) doesn't have super-powers that can be presented excitingly on the page. It is also interesting to note that the write-up on Ultra Boy continues to only mention his penetra-vision power and not the others he is capable of switching to. This issue went on sale Thursday November 28th, 1963. Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 2 |
