Credits | Characters | Plot Summary | Comments | Reprinted In Superboy Chronology | Legion Chronology Editor: Mort Weisinger Writer: Otto Binder Artist: Al Plastino Feature Character: Superboy (joins the Legion as an honorary member this issue) Supporting Characters: Jonathan Kent Guest Legionnaires: Cosmic Boy, Lightning Boy, Saturn Girl, and several other unnamed members (see Comments section below for details) Other Characters: (30th c.:) Robot park attendant, citizens of Smallville, ice-cream parlor vendor, Superboy Robot, history teacher, history students, several unnamed Legion applicants, oceanic salvage craft captain (voice only), science teacher, science students, huge sea-bottom creature, Interplanetary Zoo keeper (voice only), an invisible eagle of Neptune, citizens of South Pole City "The Legion of Super-Heroes" (12 pages) One day in Smallville, Clark Kent meets three strange youths, all of which seem to know his secret identity. Clark brushes off the incidents as jokes but later that day they confront Superboy in a park. The three teens shed their 20th century clothes to reveal that they are actually from the future and have come back in time to have a "bit of fun" with him. Cosmic Boy tells Superboy about their Super-Hero Club, whose members perform super-feats, and asks the Boy of Steel to journey with them back to the 30th century to be installed as an honorary member.
Travelling in their time bubble they emerge in 30th century Smallville. After a brief tour of the city, including a stop off at the Ice-Cream Parlor and then a history lesson on himself, Superboy is taken to their clubhouse. At the meeting he is informed that in order to earn his membership he must compete against three of them. Superboy loses his first test against Saturn Girl when he fails to retrieve the sunken statue of the Unknown Spaceman after he is diverted to stop the history class Superboy robot from running amok. Saturn Girl completes the task by using her telepathic ability to instruct an undersea creature to raise the statue. Superboy also fails his second test against Cosmic Boy when he is diverted from the task of putting out a raging forest fire in order to redirect a falling satellite. Cosmic Boy succeeds by magnetically pulling down a meteor shower to overflow a lake and flood the forest. Superboy's third test also ends in failure as he is drawn from the task of warning the Nova Express spaceship to Mars of its leaking fuel tank in order to capture the Invisible Eagle of Neptune that has escaped from the Interplanetary Zoo. Through electric sky-writing, Lightning Boy manages to warn the Nova Express in time. Returning to the clubhouse, Superboy is ridiculed but decides not to explain the reasons behind his failures. Rejected from the Club, Superboy is about to return to his own time when Saturn Girl explains that each failure was arranged only as part of his initiation test. She telepathically commanded the Superboy robot to run amok, Cosmic Boy magnetically pulled the old satellite out of orbit, and Lightning Lad burst a hole in the zoo's plastic dome so the eagle could escape. Because Superboy took his rejection with a smile and was such a good sport about his initiation, he is accepted into the team. When South Pole City's giant cosmic heat lamp breaks Superboy flies there at super-speed and uses a magnetic meteor to straighten the tower then throws salt into the surrounding clouds to cause heat lightning to warm the city until the lamp can be repaired. Upon returning to the clubhouse, Superboy does a mind-reading trick when he guesses Saturn Girl's question of why he didn't simply shove the tower straight with his super-strength. By "duplicating" the effects of all their powers on one job, Superboy earns the Legion's highest award and is presented with a medal citing him as "Super-Hero Number One". The three charter Legion members journey to 1930s Smallville. The first time it is confirmed that Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl and Lightning Boy (Lad) are charter members of the Club is in the following letter from a reader in Adventure Comics No. 326:
The Legionnaires' first costumes are quite different from the ones they will later make famous. Lightning Boy's costume looks more like Sun Boy's will (he will also later change his name to Lightning Lad). Saturn Girl's is green and yellow instead of red and white, and Cosmic Boy is wearing purple pants and has a bubble-helmet. The telepathic tape of the Legion's origin story (seen in Superboy No. 147) incorrectly shows the Legionnaires first having their more familiar costumes. This inaccuracy was done to abbreviate the "origin story" of the team to make it simpler for visitors. Cosmic Boy's position as leader is recognizable in the "Super Hero Club" patch he sports on his left sleeve. The origin tape in Superboy No. 147 shows how he was chosen to be leader by the clubhouse computer. Just a few issues after this, in Adventure Comics No. 250, the story "The Impostor from the Year 2958" states that time-travel was outlawed in the 30th century. However, this does not mean that the Legionnaires were breaking the law when they use the time-bubble to go back to meet Superboy. Obviously this law was rescinded sometime after 2958 and before the year the Adventure Comics No. 247 Legion tale takes place. In regards to what (future) year that is... The years in which Silver Age stories are published only apply to characters who lived in the modern day. For instance, all of Superboy's adventures take place within a smaller time frame, during the late 1930s. For the Legion of Super-Heroes, chronology is linked to years of leadership, each of which has a one-year term. Therefore, although the Legion's first appearance was published in a 1958 story, by counting back the terms of leadership from the dates that are mentioned specifically in the comics, we discover that the team was actually first formed in 2962, which is the same year that this story takes place. The Legion's time-bubble was most likely funded by R.J. Brande, the richest man in the universe and bankroller of the team. It was first employed by the Legionnaires with the intention of giving Superboy, who was the team's inspiration, honorary membership. The fact that the Legion of Super-Heroes owns one of the few time machines in operation during the 2960's is evident in Adventure Comics No. 314 when Alaktor breaks into the clubhouse to gain access to the time bubble to further a crime plot. In Adventure Comics No. 349, Universo steals a bubble for similar purposes, but by then a Chrono-Research centre has been established to keep track of all temporal disturbances. Prior to the "rediscovery" of time-travel in the 30th century, all historical information on Superboy was limited to a few photographs and written records. Through the use of the time bubble, historians had the means and opportunity of sending people back to the 20th century to find out what the legendary Boy of Steel was really like. No information as to Superman's existence is known at this time (hence the Superboy museums and history classes). Before embarking on their historic journey, the Legionnaires initiated the routine procedure of checking on Superboy's near future with their futurescope-recorder so as not to risk changing history (this routine is first mentioned in Adventure Comics No. 267). Later, time-travel scientists and the Legionnaires would realize that history can not be changed, so such a procedure is not necessary. The Legionnaires use space-jets to fly at this time. The Legionnaire's are shown attending classes at school in this story, as per the Legion constitution, which requires all members to continue their education. The Legion clubhouse closely resembles an inverted rocket ship design. This is probably not a coincidence. Because the Super-Hero Club was inspired by the career of Superboy and is based in Smallville, it is highly probable that the clubhouse was built on the exact site where Superbaby's rocket ship crashed. This explains why the building is designed to look like a rocket ship half buried in the ground. In this story, the Legion Clubhouse is shown as being in Smallville, although in later stories it is said to be in Metropolis. In the 20th century, Smallville is a town located about a hundred miles north of the city of Metropolis. By the 30th century, Metropolis has expanded so much that Smallville is now a suburb of Greater Metropolis. The Legion clubhouse was originally built in an open park-like area but over the years we see the city skyline rise up around it. In Superboy No. 86, Superboy indicates that the three Legion figurines he was given were "some members of the Legion of Super-Heroes", indicating that there were more than three members during his visit. In Superboy No. 147, we learn that Triplicate Girl joined "days" after the Legion first formed, followed closely by Phantom Girl (who does not appear in Adventure Comics No. 247, so must have been on a mission). Therefore, in retrospect, it can be deduced who the "mystery members" appearing throughout this story are.
From lower left to lower right: Triplicate Girl (with the wavy light hair),and Invisible Kid (straight hair), Colossal Boy (curly hair). The male at the far right may have been either: a) Chameleon Boy, having just demonstrated Superboy his power of super-disguise; b) Marla, the Legion's senior advisor, or c) another applicant. We have seen in subsequent stories that applicants are indeed invited into the clubhouse, sit at the briefing table, and are given their own nameplates (as seen with Bouncing Boy, Sun Boy, and Shrinking Violet in Action Comics No. 276). On panel 7 of page six, their is a figure looking out from the clubhouse who appears bald and could be considered to be Chameleon Boy. On page 10, panel 4, the heads at the bottom (from left to right) are: Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, Invisible Kid, and either: a) Marla, the senior advisor, or b) an applicant.
Again, these deductions are all made in hindsight, as none of these characters had been conceived of yet. It should be noted that in some Bronze Age reprints, the bent-over boy wearing purple is colored with a green face as if to indicate that he is Brainiac 5. This is because many post-Silver Age chronologies assume that Brainiac 5 (and Supergirl) joined the team before Superboy. This misconception orginated with a scene in Adventure Comics No. 323. Saturn Girl has a flashback to Superboy's induction ceremony and Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy, Colossal Boy, Invisible Kid and Triplicate Girl are shown among the Legionnaire's present. (not only that, but the three charter members are shown wearing their more modern costumes). A later, Bronze Age story cemented the misconception by writing in Brainiac 5 as being a member prior to Superboy being approached for membership (Superboy No. 204). The most illogical part of accepting that Brainiac 5 joined before Superboy is that since Brainiac 5 was shown joining the Legion on the same day as Supergirl (Action Comics No. 276) it means accepting that Supergirl joined before Superboy! This is an illogical, unnecessary complication of the timeline. The fact of the matter is that the plot of the very next Legion tale in Adventure Comics No. 267 hinges on the very fact that the Legionnaires admit to knowing nothing about Superboy's life further than five years into the Boy of Steel's future. All historical records regarding the life of Superman (and therefore the existance of a Supergirl, his contemporary) simply did not exist to them; they were "lost in a fire," as Cosmic Boy says. It is not until time-monitoring technology progresses that the Legionnaires learn about Superman, and then Supergirl, and that is what prompts them to later induct Kara into the team. Adventure Comics No. 323's flashback can be explained easily without having to destroy continuity in Silver Age lore. Firstly, flashbacks (like covers) are notoriously inaccurate. If you think of them as what they are, recollections of past events, then they are easily subject to human error and "tricks of memory" (to the writers as well as the characters!). A good example of this is in Adventure Comics No. 308, when Cosmic Boy is recalling the time that Garth Ranzz acquired his super-power yet he is already shown wearing his Lightning Lad costume at the time of his origin! Cosmic Boy further misremembers that Garth hoped his new power would then win him membership in the Legion! The second thing about flashback panels is that - in the Adventure Comics No. 323 story - it is the beginning of a new term year and a new leader is being decided upon. Therefore, Saturn Girl simply could not have been recalling the anniversary of the day Superboy was first made a member because that would necessitate Superboy having to have joined on the very day the Legion was formed, which we know was not the case. To explain this seeming "error" on her part, it is entirely possible that Saturn Girl was recalling the day that Superboy was made a full member and not the first time he was made an honorary member. This now makes it possible for Superboy to have a one-year anniversary on the same day as the new term year starts. Saturn Girl's flashback cermenony could have taken place in Adventure Comics No. 304 just before panel 5 of page 2. And since Bronze Age material has no bearing on the self-contained Silver Age universe, the continuity error presented in Superboy No. 204 simply does not apply. Cary Bates was notorious for his lack of Legion knowledge, once writing Garth Ranzz to be the twin of Mekt and ten years older than Ayla (Superboy No. 210). He also gave Starfinger genuine super-powers (Superboy No. 200). These are two of many mistakes he made, contriubuting to the Bronze Age's lack of continuity. Editor Mort Weisinger addressed the flashback concern in the letter column of Adventure Comics No. 326 after a reader wrote:
It makes sense that Superboy was only made an honorary member at first. As stated previously in this write-up, time-travel was new territory for the people of the 2960s. The Legionnaires didn't know if involving Superboy full-time in their affairs, thus removing him from events in the past, would alter the course of history. Only through experience would they discover that time has its own built-in safeguards against drastic change. They also realized that time was like a vast jigsaw puzzle, in which the pieces - the moments of time - could be laid down in almost any order in order to make up the whole. This meant that Superboy coming to their time or a Legionnaire going to his could have been "fated" to do so in order to fulfill history. Note also that the Legionnaires invited Superboy into their time-bubble to take him to the future. They didn't know that he was capable of time-travelling via his own super-power at this time. The unknown spaceman who first explored Venus appears in this story as a statue only.
Superboy knows what a satellite is, although the first one ever (the Russian Sputnik I) wouldn't be launched until October 4, 1957, two decades after the Boy of Steel's time. Obviously, Superboy knows many things about future events having done a fair bit of time-travelling. It is ironic that Cosmic Boy, who is an Earth history buff, would have pulled down (and wrecked) such an historic object as the Vanguard III. But you have to remember that the Legionnaires' knowledge of history beyond Superboy's time was scarce. To him, he only saw an old, useless satellite, one of thousands of objects cluttering up Earth's orbit. (Then there's the fact that even NASA didn't expect the satellite to orbit for more than a few hundred years, so it beat the odds by surviving until the mid-30th century!) Superman Annual No. 6 (Winter 1963) (Last page omitted with "Lightning Boy" changed to read "Lightning Lad" in the text) Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 1 Showcase Presents: The Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 1 |
Finally, the last
panel of page 11 (pictured at left) shows unidentified
male characters chiming in with congratulations for
Superboy. The chorus cheer at the end: "Hooray for
Superboy, our newest member!" There are three
unnamed boys in the scene, one of which is probably an
applicant (note that only two of the unnamed boys
actually have speech indicators joining the group
dialogue balloon. Again, the straight-haired male on the
far right could be Invisible Kid (sans his
later trademark headband). The boy seated at the front
has wavy hair that indicates he could be considered
Colossal Boy.
The "U.S.
Project Vanguard" Satellite that Cosmic Boy
magnetically pulls down out of orbit and which Superboy
slam-dunks into a volcano is probably the Vanguard III
satellite that the U.S. sent up on September 18, 1959.
The original Vanguard satellite was the second U.S.
satellite ever launched (on March 17, 1958) and would
have been first launched shortly after this issue first
hit the streets; however, it was only six inches in
diameter. Vanguard III was a half-meter in diameter and
so looks more like the size of the object Superboy caught
and threw. The Vanguard III was designed for studying
magnetic fields and x-rays in Earth's atmosphere.
Fitting, since it is handled by both Cosmic Boy and
Superboy!