Credits | Characters | Plot Summary | Comments | Reprinted In Superboy Chronology | Legion-Relevant Stories Editor: Mort Weisinger Writer: Jerry Siegel Penciller: Curt Swan Inker: George Klein Feature Character: Superboy Guest Legionnaires: None (see below) Villains: Parallel-world doubles of Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy, Element Lad, Invisible Kid, Ultra Boy (all from 30th century Metropolus), and some petty crooks (from Smallvile) Other Characters: In a parallel-universe: Citizens of Smallvile, Chief Parker, a school teacher, Lana Lang, Pete Ross, the inhabitants of Inanor, the inhabitants of Sttzzl, the inhabitants of Beztia, and two Science Police officers from 30th century Metropolus; also, three citizens of Smallville (two seen, another must be driving the car) "Superboy and the 5 Legion Traitors" (8 pages) After pushing an inhabited world safely into orbit around another sun, Superboy returns to "ride the nova" for fun. He returns to Earth in time to see the Legion time-bubble materializing in town. When robbers steal a payroll, Ultra Boy, Brainiac 5, Invisible Kid, Chameleon Boy, and Element Lad spring into action. The next morning, Clark arrives at school to see the five Legionnaires entertaining his classmates with their powers and knowledge of future worlds. For the finale, Ultra Boy is about to reveal the secret identity of Clark Kent. In a split second, Clark surmises that the exploding sun must have thrown him into a parallel world and that these Legionnaires must be villains in this universe, in which, he notices, Smallville is spelled Smallvile. Clark uses his super-speed to signal the Superboy in this universe to arrive just in time to capture the five Legion traitors. Superboy takes them back to 30th century Metropolus, where he discovers that they are the most wanted criminals of that time. Superboy speeds across the dimensional maze and then through the time-barrier, returning to his own world where he is thankful that his own Legionnaires are heroes and not villains.
The parallel-world Legion time-bubble is referred to as a time-globe in this story, but as it is often called different names in the real Legion's universe, it was not an indicator to Clark that he was in a parallel-world. The parallel-world Ultra Boy's hair is mis-colored blond on page 3, panel 3. It is possible that the future cities and planets that the parallel-world Legionnaires mention exist in the real Legion's universe as well. If so, they may be spelled differently. But as Necropolis is spelled like Metropolis and not Necropolus like Metropolus, it may be only Earth that has different spellings in this parallel-universe. Superboy speculates that these five Legionnaires, because they didn't salute the Legion flag, were probably "thrown out of the club for conduct unbecoming Legion members". The fact that the welcoming citizens of Smallvile aren't surprised by the five's appearance proves that they were all familiar with them as Legion members. This shows that they were Legionnaires who "went bad" and so were expelled. Superboy comments that - in the previous issue (Superboy No. 116) - a similar accident sent a parallel-world Superboy into his universe. It is not the same parallel-world Superboy who appears in this story, as that one had the colors of his insignia reversed - with a yellow "S" on a red shield. It is humorous (albeit slightly sexist) when Superboy is hypothesizing all the possible parallel-world variations of Chief Parker and says that he "may be a criminal in one world, an ape-like being in another... or even a woman!" He says it like being a woman is the the most far-out variation possible, even more so that an ape-like being!
It is interesting (and tragic) that the five Legion traitors are considered to be "the most wanted criminals" of the 30th century. It is almost as if they are that universe's "fatal five". It makes one wonder if the Fatal Five are a super-hero team there to balance things out. Because some parallel-universes are based on the continuance of some choice that was made, with the time lines diverging in reality, it makes one wonder what it could have been that made each of the Legionnaires go bad. We hypothesize the following scenarios:
The real Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy, Element Lad, Invisible Kid, and Ultra Boy of our universe have a cameo appearance in this story in Superboy's thoughts. Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 3 Showcase Presents: The Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 2 |
The Superboy of Smallvile
seems to be much the same as our Superboy. The Lana Lang
of Smallvile is different, however, in that she doesn't
suspect Clark and Superboy of being the same person (Wow,
that really is
an alternate reality!)