Credits | Characters | Plot Summary | Comments | Reprinted In Superboy Chronology | Legion Chronology Editor: Mort Weisinger Writer: Jerry Siegel Penciller: Curt Swan Inker: George Klein Feature Character: Superboy Supporting Characters: Jonathan Kent, Lana Lang, Chief Parker (voice over radio), Ma Kent Guest Legionnaires: Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl The Legion of Super-Pets (first appearance): Krypto, Streaky the Super-Cat, Beppo the Super-Monkey and Comet the Super-Horse (first preview appearance) Villains: Jax-Ur, General Zod and other unnamed Phantom Zone prisoners, the four Brain-Globes of Rambat Other Characters: Unindentified crew and passengers of an MC Airlines charter plane "The Legion of Super-Traitors" (14 pages)
The lamp in the Kent home blinks to signal Clark that either the President, the Pentagon, or Police Chief Parker wants to contact Superboy (usually notated as "the White House, Professor Lang, or Chief Parker" - Superboy No. 89 and others). When the Legion of Super-Heroes wishes to contact Superboy, the signal-lamp flashes a code message. In this issue it is sent by Lightning Lad via his mastery of electricity; in Adventure Comics No. 300 a lever in the clubhouse activates this signal. Later, the Legionnaires use glowing statuettes of themselves to alert Superboy (Adventure Comics No. 350). Although Superboy refers to the heart of the Gobi desert as being the "usual" place the Legionnaires meet him, this is the only time they are ever shown doing this. Before and after this story, the Legionnaires usually go straight to Smallville to meet Superboy, as when they first went back to invite him to join, hiding the time-bubble in a park. It makes no sense for them to "arrange" to meet him on the other side of the planet in Northern China. What might explain it is that just "a few miles away", also in the Gobi desert, the Brain-Globes have their mind-blasted "meteor pit" containing the gravity mechanism with which they plan to move the Earth to another solar system. As proven earlier in the story, the Brain-Globes can partially - but not completely - influence the Boy of Steel's mind. They must have implanted the belief in his mind that meeting the Legionnaires in the Gobi desert was a normal occurance when in fact it was not. The Legionnaires call their time-bubble a time-sphere in this story, while Superboy calls it a time-cabinet. The three Legionnaires travelled back to Smallville using two separate time-bubbles. Although the Legionnaires do happen to have need of two bubbles later in the story (Saturn Girl returns to her own time separately from the boys, who take the Pets home first) it seems strange that they originally used two time-bubbles to travel back to the 20th century. As the Legionnaires were summoned back to 1930s Smallville under the Brain-Globes mind-control, we have to assume that the Brain-Globes also instructed the heroes to come in two time-bubbles in case they themselves needed to be transported through time. The figure shown emerging from the intra-dimensional lens in panel 5 of page 6 is often colored to look as though it is Mon-El. While the hero's voice can be heard through the speaker warning Superboy of the criminals, the figure that is starting to come through is that of General Zod. If the gnarled, groping hand and baggy, military-style boot weren't indicative enough, the fact that Superboy smashes into the mirror and the figure let's you know what the writer and artist's original intention was, despite the coloring mistakes. This is the first time, chronologically, that Superboy sees his "big brother" Mon-El after he sent him into the Phantom Zone. All other appearances by Mon-El in the Zone take place in Superman's time, and, later, the Legion's time. This is the first time the Legionnaires learn of Mon-El, who will eventually become a member of their team (Adventure Comics No. 300). It is interesting to note that before the Legionnaires used flight-rings, they used kryptonite ray-rings with lead lids. Superboy has four Superboy robots at this time (all are destroyed by Cosmic Boy in this story), which he can activate and summon by whistling an ultrasonic note, even in a kryptonite-weakened state. This is the first time within a story that Cosmic Boy uses his magnetic power exclusively through his hands, instead of his eyes (the first time he was ever shown using his power through his hands was in Superman Annual No. 4 "The Origins and Powers of the Legion of Super-Heroes").
Also, although this story was first published in late 1961, the Legionnaires could not have picked up Streaky from Midvale Orphanage at that time because the Danvers had adopted Linda the past summer - in Action Comics No. 279 (Aug. 1961) - and Streaky had moved into their house with her. Therefore, the Legionnaires are probably getting Streaky from the year 1960 when he and Supergirl were still at the orphanage, and at a time when his on-and-off-again powers were working. The Legionnaires also employ the use of space-suits when venturing out onto Phobos, a moon of Mars. Cosmic Boy can be seen using the familiar twin-rocket space-jets in this issue. The "preview glimpse" of Supergirl's near future takes place some time after "the Super-Steed of Steel story from Action Comics No. 292 (Sept. 1962) , which is the first time Comet and Kara meet. It is interesting to note that Krypto retains his knowledge of the other super-pets, who are from his future. This story is the last time that Krypto appears with the Legion of Super-Pets as the dog from Superboy's time. The Super-Pets appear next as a group in Adventure Comics No. 313 and in this and all later appearances, Krypto comes from the "present" of Supergirl and Superman (and so do Streaky, Beppo and Comet, of course). Krypto's invulnerability accounts for him living 35 years - the equivalent of 245 human years - when he was reunited with Superman in 1958, although he did show signs of ageing, particularly in his mental faculties. Superman took Krypto to a place where drinking out of a special spring regenerated him and brought back the youth he once had (Jimmy Olsen No. 29/2). The fact that Saturn Girl does not want to tell Superboy about Comet (and therefore Supergirl) shows that he has not yet received a post-hypnotic command to forget all that he learns regarding his own future once he returns to his own time. This makes sense, since Supergirl is the one who gives her cousin that post-hypnotic command in the first place (Adventure Comics No. 333 "The Legion Outpost"). The first time the super-cousins meet in the future (Adventure Comics No. 304) is also most likely the time when the post-hypnotic command was deemed a necessity. This aside, the post-hypnotic command only works for knowledge Superboy has gained about his future while in the future. Once he returns to his own era, the post-hypnotic command kicks in and he does not remember those details of his own future life. There is always the danger that Superboy might learn something about his future while in the past, in which case there is no trigger of returning to his own time to make him forget. Actually, Saturn Girl could have told Superboy that Krypto, Beppo, and other super-animals stopped the Brain-Globes, which wouldn't have told Superboy anything about Supergirl. In fact, even if Saturn Girl had mentioned a super-horse, there is no connection to Supergirl in that. Superman didn't meet Super-Horse until after he knew of his cousin. Perhaps Saturn Girl didn't trust her own mind on the matter, for if she had mentioned Super-Horse, she might have thought about Supergirl and accidentally projected her thoughts into Superboy's head. This is an aspect of her telepathic nature that she worries about on other occasions (Adventure Comics No. 321). In any case, Superboy trusts Saturn Girl's reasons behind not telling him everything. The fact that Superboy is powerful enough to blow the Earth back into its proper orbit with just his super-breath gives you an idea of just how phenomenally powerful he is! Superboy No. 147 (June 1968) Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 1 Showcase Presents: The Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 1 |
During a rescue
mission to save a plane in distress, Superboy is suddenly
overcome with an evil desire to wreck the plane's
propeller instead. Thankfully, Krypto is there to save
the crashing plane. Superboy grows uncontrollably angry
with the "mutt" and is about to toss him into
outer space where he spots a green kryptonite
meteor-swarm. As Krypto gives into his despairing fate,
Superboy's terrible rage departs abruptly and he
apologizes to his pet. Superboy confides his fear to his
parents, the Kents, and they wonder if their son is the
victim of some alien force. The next day, Clark's
signal-lamp flashes a code message from the Legion of
Super-Heroes telling him to meet in the "usual"
place. Streaking to the heat of the Gobi desert, Superboy
is greeted by Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad
(who had used his mastery of electricity to send the
message). They ask Superboy to identity various Phantom
Zone villains through an intra-dimensional lens they
built. Suddenly, Superboy's Zone imprisoned friend Mon-El
warns the Boy of Steel that the "viewer" is
really a doorway to Earth and that the Legionnaires are
betraying him! Superboy quickly smashes the lens before
General Zod can emerge. The Legionnaires switch to
"Plan B" and remove lead-lids from their rings
that project kryptonite rays at Superboy. Though
weakened, Superboy uses an ultrasonic whistle to bring
his robots to save him. Cosmic Boy destroys the robots
with his magnetism, then the four alien Brain-Globes of
Rambat appear and reveal that they have been using their
mind-control abilities to see if they could control
Earth's mightiest defender. When they failed they
summoned the Legionnaires from the future and forced them
to do battle with him instead. They planned to move Earth
to a purple sun system to replace their own lost world.
When Krypto shows up the Brain-Globes flee, revealing
that they cannot control the minds of super-animals. The
three Legionnaires, no longer under control, run to their
time-sphere; Saturn Girl has an idea to defeat the
Brain-Globes. They materialize in Midvale orphanage
decades later and recruit Streaky the Super-Cat. Next
they pick up Beppo the Super-Monkey on Mars. Flashing
ahead a short time into the future, they pick up Comet
the Super-Horse on Asteroid Z. Back in the 1930s the
Legion charge into battle with the four pets and drive
the Brain-Globes from Earth. After talking with the other
Legionnaires, Saturn Girl officially names the four
animals the Legion of Super-Pets, an animal branch of the
Super Club. With the pets from the future returned to
their own eras, Superboy awakens and Saturn Girl tells
him that she can't tell him exactly how the Brain-Globes
were defeated (as then he would know about Supergirl).
Superboy destroys the planet-moving engine then uses his
super-breath to blow the Earth back to its proper orbit.
According to the
caption of page 10, panel 4, the Legionnaires travel
"twenty years in the future" from Superboy's
time to get Streaky from Midvale Orphanage. Since the
present time for Superman is late 1961 and Superboy's
time is in the mid-to-late 1930s, the difference between
eras is closer to 25 years than 20. This margin can be
explained by it either being an approximation or the fact
that the Legionnaires were already enroute before the
caption mentioned having to go an additional 20 years.