Credits | Characters | Plot Summary | Comments | Reprinted In Supergirl Chronology | Legion Chronology Editor: Mort Weisinger Writer: Jerry Siegel Artist: Jim Mooney Feature Character: Supergirl Supporting Characters: Lois Lane, Superman (in Lois' thoughts), Fred Danvers, Edna Danvers, Streaky Guest Legionnaires: Bouncing Boy, Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy, Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Sun Boy Villains: The positive man, a negative creature, nine chameleon men, two robots remote-controlled by crooks, a chemical thief Other Characters: Margie, Ethel and two other of Linda's friends from school, Joe (a forest ranger), two unnamed forest rangers; citizens of 30th century Metropolis, an officer of the 30th century's Earth Police, a 30th century 3-D camerman, Whizzy (telepathic 30th century descendant of Streaky), an android musician, an android laborer, Lon Duryal (head scientist at a 30th century android factory), a mother with twins, a short space yacht owner, a shorter android pilot, an android baby-sitter double, a hot-house lab technician, two tree-people from Arbro, a chameleon man android "Supergirl's Greatest Challenge" (14 pages)
Linda Lee Danvers has a model of the Legion clubhouse in her room that rings to alert her. When the heads of the Cosmic Boy and Saturn Girl figurines - that are affixed to a bookend on her shelf - glow, it signifies that the Legion wants her to join them in the future immediately. This is (on the Legion's chronological timeline) the first of several times that the Legion's era is referred to as the "21st century". Besides excusing it as being merely a typo, one can assume that by the Legion's time, a number of different calendar systems are being used. The Mars City exhibit in Metropolis is a "small reproduction of Mars' greatest city and its impenetrable dome". Note that the Mars Spaceport shown in Adventure Comics No. 372, is in a city outside Mars City. Understandable, since spaceships could not land if there was an inpenetrable dome surrounding the city. A number of other domed Martian cities, located in the polar regions, can also be seen in Adventure Comics No. 378. This is the first time that law enforcement other than the Legion of Super-Heroes is shown in the 30th century. The Earth Police stage a testimonial in honor of the Legionnaires at the start of this story. The next time law-enforcement is mentioned it is in the form of the World-Wide Police (Adventure Comics No. 300); from Adventure Comics No. 303 on it is the Science Police. It is ironic that android-maker Lon Duryal has invented androids whose brains can invent great scientific discoveries, when, according to Saturn Girl in a previous story: "Machines do all our heavy physical work. Man is free to labor mainly with his mind." Now, it seems, man has seen fit to have the thinking done for him as well! The Triplicate Girl seen in this story is an impostor from the chameleon men gang; the real Triplicate Girl is never shown. At the end of the story, we see that Supergirl captures nine chameleon men but we only see eight Legionnaire impostors, including Triplicate Girl. The ninth chameleon man may have either been the one who would take the place of Supergirl, or it is the android chameleon man that Lon Duryal made for Supergirl's plan. When Supergirl destroyed the Positive Man and the Negative Creature, she was not breaking her code against killing since it was said that the Positive Man was once human but is no longer a living entity. The Phantom Zone projector (or ray machine) that Jor-El built and which eventually found its way to Earth and Superboy (who used it to project Mon-El into the Zone), is kept in the Museum of Forbidden Weapons in the 30th century. The chameleon men gang steal the projector from the museum in this story and use it to send Supergirl and Whizzy into the Zone. When Supergirl and Whizzy fly around the Zone she says that it is empty since all the criminals must have been released as the years went by. This is not true since Jor-El, who invented the Phantom Zone projector, ejected the device into space even though many of the criminals had been sentenced for 30-40 years. As a result, we have seen a number of criminals still trapped in the Zone past their individual sentences. Also, we know that Mon-El was trapped in the Zone, along with some criminal tormentors all the way to the 30th century (Adventure Comics No. 305). The criminal scientist known as Gazor still resides in the Zone in the 30th century as well (Adventure Comics No. 323). It could be that Supergirl simply overlooked them in the foggy, twilight dimension, to which she was unaccustomed. Supergirl couldn't telepathically contact someone outside the Zone herself, like Mon-El does in Superman No. 156, because, in the Zone, phantoms can talk to each other telepathically but can only communicate with people outside the Zone if the receiver has telepathic abilities or a special device. Only through great group concentration have they planted suggestions into susceptible minds beyond the Zone (Action Comics No. 288/2). It is surprising that Whizzy was not nominated by Supergirl to become a member of the Legion of Super-Pets, but perhaps Whizzy is content to just be the descendant of the famed super-cat, Streaky, who is himself a member of the Super-Pets. The green-skinned chameleon men seen in this story look nothing like shape-changing Durlans, and so are presumably from a different planet than Durla. They also cannot be from the planet Nyorp, where everyone has duplication powers, because the inhabitants there could alter their shape for only a few minutes at a time (Action Comics No. 285). This story marks Bouncing Boy's first in-story appearance as a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Previous to this he was confirmed as being a member in the "Origin and Powers of the Legion of Super-Heroes" feature of Superman Annual No. 4. The Legion use a space-ship for the first time in this story. It is not an official Legion cruiser, which are typically red in color. Action Comics No. 373 (G-57) (Mar.-Apr. 1969) Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 1 Showcase Presents: The Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 1 |
When the model of the
Legion clubhouse in Linda Danvers' room rings and the
Cosmic Boy and Saturn Girl figurines on her bookends
start to glow, Supergirl races to the future. Using her
telescopic vision, Supergirl locates the Legionnaires at
Metropolis Stadium where they are entertaining a
worldwide audience at the testimonial the Earth Police
staged in the team's honor. After the event, the Legion
take Supergirl in their space-ship and inform her of the
menace of the Positive Man - a destructive force which
was once human - that is heading towards Earth. After
luring a Negative Creature to cancel the threat of the
Positive Man, Supergirl returns to Earth. When the Legion
spaceship lands the members discover that their
super-powers are gone, postulating that the radiation
fallout from the destruction of the two menaces robbed
them of their powers. Fearing that a crime wave will
erupt should the public discover that the Legion is
powerless, Supergirl secretly assists the Legionnaires in
performing various super-deeds. Supergirl also meets
Whizzy, a telepathic cat who is a 30th century descendant
of her pet Streaky. Later, returning to the Legion
clubhouse, Supergirl and Whizzy are projected into the
Phantom Zone by the "Legionnaires", who reveal
themselves to actually be chameleon men in disguise. In
the Zone, Supergirl instructs Whizzy to communicate with
an android maker to construct a chameleon man android
which enters the Clubhouse and releases Supergirl and
Whizzy from the Phantom Zone. Supergirl places the
chameleon men in the custody of the Interplanetary
Police, then frees the real Legionnaires from inside the
asteroid where they were kept in suspended animation
since the time Supergirl was fighting the Positive Man.