"The Outlawed Legionnaires"
Editor: Mort Weisinger Writer: Jim Shooter Art: Curt Swan (pencils); George Klein (inks)
Of all the science-fiction concepts that Mort Weisinger conceived for his Silver-Age Superman mythos, the Legion of Super-Heroes was the one from which he would mine the most gold.
The concept of a club of super-hero teens from the future had gone from a routine idea for a Superboy story in 1958, to one of the most popular features in Weisinger's Superman family of magazines in 1967. When the Legion of Super-Heroes became a regular series, with Adventure Comics # 300 (Sep., 1962), it was a back-up feature with the plots churned out by Superman-creator Jerry Siegel. So they brimmed with emotional passion, but had little in the way of plot structure. Nor did it help that second-tier artist John Forte pencilled stiff, wooden characters against cartoonish backgrounds.
But within five years, the Legion had taken over the book. Its stories had become marvellously sophisticated, at least, by Silver-Age standards, with complex plots, and characters who interacted realistically, with natural emotions and dialogue---thanks to Unca Mort's wunderkind, the teen-age writer Jim Shooter. To ensure Adventure's status as a lead comic in his stable, Weisinger had assigned his premier art team of Curt Swan and George Klein.
The years 1966 and 1967 saw the Legion of Super-Heroes at its peak, with the introduction of one of the most popular Legionnaires, Karate Kid, and the dramatic death of another, Ferro Lad. Young Shooter also created the team's most distinctive arch-foes to this point, in the Fatal Five. The Legion series gained the reputation for actual change (Ferro Lad didn't get better), and the readers, well aware of this, were often left nail-biting over story events. A fan could never be sure that his favourite Legionnaire wouldn't be permanently injured, or expelled from the club, or even die at the end of an adventure.
And that brings us to one of the more undersung sagas, one I don't see mentioned a lot, but deserves the spot as the best Legion story of the period. I'm talking about the time that the Legion was declared illegal, and the heroic teen-agers became outlaws, hounded by the state, the citizenry, and even their own parents.
It began in Adventure Comics # 359 . . .
The universe is a busy place. Especially in the thirtieth century. And this tale of tales begins with three critical emergencies which call the entire membership of the Legion of Super-Heroes into action off-Earth. Half the team works feverishly to keep a star from going super-nova and destroying the inhabited planets of its solar system, while the other half combats a horde of space-pirates invading the peaceful world of Tartos. That leaves Superboy to rescue a damaged space-train, adrift at the "farthest end of the known cosmos".
For a week, the Legion Clubhouse has been unattended, and the Earth left unprotected. But things at the Legion's home world seem to have gone uneventfully---until days later, when the Legion cruisers approach the Earth, returning from their various missions. They're met by a squadron of Science Police ships which, incredibly, fire energy blasts across the Legion crafts' bows.
They are forced to land at the Metropolis Spaceport. As soon as the teen-age heroes debark from their ships, the portmaster appears and orders the disassembly of the Legion cruisers.
You can't do that, challenges a stunned Invisible Kid. "We have A-1 priority in any spaceport in the galaxy!" insists the LSH's leader. "We're the Legion!"
Wrong, replies the portmaster, there is no more Legion of Super-Heroes. It's been ruled unconstitutional by the United Planets and outlawed. He hands Invisible Kid a document stating so. The Kid gasps. It's an official U.P. injunction, all right.
Invisible Kid leads the team to their clubhouse, where he can contact the U.P. High Council on their direct line and get things straightened out.
Everybody who thinks that the Legion's bad day is just beginning, raise your hands. Yup, that's all of you.
For when the teen heroes arrive at their headquarters, they find it locked, sealed, and surrounded by electrified barbed wire---with a squad of Science Policemen barricading their entry, in front of a big sign reading "Off Limits to Legionnaires".
But all of our stuff is in there, argue the Legionnaires. That's not our problem, replies the officer in charge, who also points out that the youngsters are in violation of the curfew.
"We never heard of any curfew!" protests Superboy. But the S.P. officer has the same response often heard in the Boy of Steel's time: ignorance of the law is no excuse. And he places the Legionnaires under arrest. Invisible Kid orders the others not to defy the law, and the group of them are sent to the local lock-up.
Eventually, the super-youths make bail, and those whose parents reside in Metropolis find their way home. Duo Damsel is one of these, and she learns from her mom and dad what took place while she was away saving other worlds.
Shortly after all of the Legionnaires departed the Earth on their urgent missions, Dad Durgo explains, the President of Earth was killed in a terrible motor accident. Vice President Kandro Boltax succeeded to the Executive Mansion. His first act was to replace the Cabinet with his own appointees.
The new president got off to an excellent start. Mere days after assuming office, he pushed through Congress a bill for a global water purification complex and signed it into law. But it appeared that Boltax was only getting his feet . . . er . . . wet. As the President of Earth, Boltax was also chairman of the United Planets High Council, and the next day he brought a matter before the council.
"These Legion teen-agers are allowed to run wild," Boltax proclaimed, pounding his fist on the lectern. "To go anywhere in the universe, to take the law into their own hands . . . to make fools of the Science Police!"
It seemed a bizarre attitude for the Earth President to take, and the other U.P. council members were opposed to the idea---at first. But Boltax continued to hammer his objections to the Legion relentlessly. And remarkably, within a few days, the rest of the U.P. representatives were swayed. When President Boltax proposed a motion to make the Legion of Super-Heroes illegal, the High Council voted for its approval.
But, why? After all the Legion had done for the universe, gasps Duo Damsel. She gasps again when her father tells her, "Because Boltax was right!" Besides, he never did like the idea of his daughter risking her life on Legion missions. After all, she was already down one of her original three selves.
Via the Legion communicators in their own homes, the rest of the Legionnaires are eventually brought up to speed on the events of the last ten days. The word is passed that Invisible Kid has called a meeting of the entire team in front of Metropolis' Midtown Terminal for to-morrow.
The next morning, some members of the Legion have already arrived for the meeting, when Dream Girl makes an alarmed report. She points to a passenger monorail overhead, approaching the terminal.
"In seconds, that monorail will fall!" she predicts.
For a few moments, her companions are frozen in indecision. Lives are in peril---but the law has forbidden them to act. They glance around. The only city workers in sight are some maintenance workers cleaning the streets, but no Science Police. Moments later, Dream Girl's prediction is proved right, as always, when the monorail shudders and skips off its railing!
As the passenger-jammed cars tumble in a deadly plunge groundward, the Legionnaires go into action. Utilising their various super-powers, the nine super-heroes prevent disaster by seeing the monorail cars safely to the street, saving the lives of all the occupants within.
The youngsters are still patting themselves on the back when---surprise!---the near-by street-cleaners reveal themselves to be Science Police officers in disguise. The S.P.'s place the Legionnaires under arrest for defying the anti-Legion ban.
Justice is swift in the thirtieth century. That afternoon, the case against the charged Legion members is submitted to a computo-jury, while the other Legionnaires watch from the gallery. Not surprisingly, the computo-jury returns a verdict of guilty, recommending the severest punishment. However, since the now-convicted super-teens did save innocent lives, the judge decides to go "easy" on them. He sentences them to ten years at hard labour on the prison planetoid, Takron-Galtos.
Invisible Kid protests, only to have the judge cite him for contempt.
But His Honour is just warming up. He addresses the Legionnaires in the gallery. "Also, you may not use your powers nor wear your costumes. I give you twelve hours grace . . . then, if found in uniform, you will be jailed!"
As the convicted youngsters are marched off to serve their sentence, Invisible Kid realises that the Legion has now lost its four mightiest members---Superboy, Mon-El, Ultra Boy, and Element Lad---as well as the telepathic power of Saturn Girl, which would've proved handy to uncover what was back of this machination against the Super-Hero Club.
As the fourteen remaining Legionnaires file out to the street, Karate Kid voices what they're all thinking.
"Something's fishy, Kid! It isn't like the whole U.P. to turn against us this way!" Karate Kid---master of the obvious.
Princess Projectra reminds them that they still have some political pull; she's the daughter of the king of Orando.
However, before they can play that ace, the Legionnaires are confronted by a gang of street hoodlums, eager for a brawl. The town toughs are aware that the teens are forbidden to use their super-powers, so they pelt them with rocks, forcing the Legionnaires to defend themselves.
The Legion members fall back on their hand-to-hand combat training, so even without using their powers, they make quick work of the bullies. Unfortunately, before they can do so, one of the delinquents manages to clobber Princess Projectra over the head with a club. This enrages Karate Kid, who puts down the last of the creeps like a one-man army.
(Note: Supergirl appears in this sequence. But, in case you're thinking that she'll fill her super-cousin's boots in this crisis, the readers are informed that, shortly thereafter, the Girl of Steel has to return home to A.D. 1967. I know . . . I know . . . even Jim Shooter had to understand the flaw in that excuse. But we just have to go with it.)
Science Policemen show up, itching to arrest somebody. However, once they get the facts, the S.P.'s grudgingly allow that the Legionnaires acted in self-defence and let them go. However, they confiscate the members' flight rings, forcing them to call an ambulance for the injured Princess Projectra. The delay proves critical, for at the medi-center, the Legionnaires are informed that Projectra has lapsed into a coma. The doctors evaluating her condition report that, at best, she'll be unconscious for weeks. So, scratch any help from the king of Orando.
The fact that the street hoodlums knew that the Legionnaires were forbidden to use their powers only minutes after the judge's ruling is a big red flag. Certain now that there's a sinister agency behind the anti-Legion sentiments, Invisible Kid orders the team to go to their homes. He will contact them later to formulate a plan.
However, that evening, when Invisible Kid attempts to get in touch with the other members through his view-phone, he discovers that the device has been bugged---by his own parents! Even they have been turned against the Legion.
The Legion leader is forced to resort to the secret communicator "which all Legionnaires have in their homes for emergencies"; not even their parents know about these. The Kid contacts Brainiac 5, who draws the only possible conclusion . . .
"Somehow, someone is controlling everyone on this planet . . . except us!"
Brainy suggests one possibility as a source for help: R. J. Brande, the billionaire who sponsors the Legion. Invisible Kid agrees, and contacts the other Legionnaires, directing them to meet to-morrow at Brande's Metropolis penthouse.
O.K., everybody who thinks this will be the Legion's salvation, raise your hands. Yep, I thought not.
INTERLUDE.
Far out on the rim of the galaxy, dawn rises over Takron-Galtos, the prison planetoid. The male inmates are marched out to perform their day's hard labour in the space-jewel mines. That includes the new-arrival Legion members. Superboy is kept in thrall by shackles plated with green kryptonite, just enough of the stuff to cancel his super-strength. Similarly, Mon-El, his anti-lead serum having worn off, is confined by chains coated in lead paint, and Ultra Boy, by chains made of a special radioactive metal. Meanwhile, ordinary leg irons are good enough for Element Lad, Colossal Boy, and Matter-Eater Lad.
In the section of the prison housing the female inmates, Saturn Girl and Light Lass and Dream Girl are put to work doing the laundry with nineteenth-century washboards and scrub brushes.
Through her super-telepathy, Saturn Girl has read the minds of the warden, Brugol, and the prison staff. Now she knows the full story of what caused the United Planets to turn against the Legion. But she's unable to project that information to the Legionnaires on Earth. An invisible barrier surrounding Takron -Galtos prevents that.
END OF INTERLUDE.
It's late afternoon, after work hours, when the Legionnaires, now in civilian clothes, arrive at R. J. Brande's business complex.
(One of the overlooked qualities of Curt Swan's art is how he can draw futuristic clothing on the Legionnaires, yet their attire does not look like costumes. The reader intuitively understands that these are civilian clothes of the era. The effect is more than just we're unaccustomed to seeing the Legionnaires out of costume. If you look at the ordinary Earth citizenry of the thirtieth century, as drawn by Swan, one gets the same impression; despite the futuristic styles, they don't look like they're wearing costumes, but simply ordinary civilian clothing. It takes a sharp artistic eye to accomplish that.)
Noting with dismay that the private elevator tube Brande had installed for the Legion has been removed, the teen heroes take a regular elevator tube to the billionaire's penthouse office, where he receives them harshly.
The Legionnaires plead their case to their benefactor. They need information, some background on why their super-hero club was summarily disbanded. "We thought maybe you could help!" says Invisible Kid plaintively.
R. J. Brande's response? Drop dead!
Brande orders the youngsters to get out, and when they don't move fast enough to suit him, he sics his private security forces on them. The Legionnaires are forced to fight their way out, but in the process, Lightning Lad, Duo Damsel, Sun Boy, and Cosmic Boy fall to the guards' stun guns. In a desperate measure, Invisible Kid orders his still-active colleagues out a penthouse window, a sheer drop of forty floors. The security guards figure, even if the Legionnaires somehow survive the plunge, they're fugitives now, and the Science Police will catch them soon enough.
But the fleeing Legionnaires have floated safely to the street below, thanks to Chameleon Boy's transformation into a giant parachute.
"We might as well use our powers now!" says Cham. "Nothing could put us in worse trouble than we're in already!"
But the super-youths don't have a chance to catch their breaths, as two S.P. patrol flyers arrive, forcing them to go on the run. Though they manage to elude the cops, Our Heroes are up against it, for the next day, President Boltax declares the fugitive Legionnaires to be subversives, and posts a ten-million-dollar reward for their capture. Now, every person on Earth will be hunting for them.
And just where are the well-sought super-teens? They've taken refuge in the city sewer system, near one of the outtakes for the World Purification Center. Over the course of three days, the mighty Legion has been winnowed down to eight members, hiding like bilge rats.
Invisible Kid reaches a grim determination. "The Legion has never defied the law before . . . but now it's the law that's turned against us!"
They've been declared subversives, so subversives they shall be---until they can uncover how the people of Earth are being controlled into hating the Legion, and the hidden mastermind behind it.
* * * * *
With every hand against it, the Legion turns rogue!
Jim Shooter certainly understood story structure, choosing this breath-bating juncture to end part one. You can bet that Legion fans were already squirreling away their twelve cents to purchase next month's issue. And while we wait to cover part two in my next Deck Log entry, where I can examine the plot proper, I have a few stray thoughts on the story so far.
By 1967, Jim Shooter was the writer who had the best handle on the Legion of Super-Heroes. He had taken the first few efforts at humanising the Legionnaires instituted by Edmond Hamilton and cranked it up to ten. Young Shooter understood the Legion more thoroughly than any other writer in Mort Weisinger's stable. He knew the teen heroes' personalities as well as he knew his own, and how they interacted with each other. He deepened the Legionnaires' romances and planted hints of future relationships. And he was well versed in the history of the Super-Hero Club.
But even so, I couldn't help noticing that Shooter missed a few details in "The Outlawed Legionnaires", small things that, granted, only a purist would find niggling.
For example, we're told that the Legion Clubhouse remained unoccupied during the ten days or so that the entire team was out on space missions. However, in the past, such as during the events of Adventure Comics 350-1 (Nov. and Dec., 1966), when all of the members were needed elsewhere, they called in a Legion Reservist to man the monitor board and generally keep an eye on things. True, the honorary Legionnaires (Pete Ross, Jimmy Olsen) and one of the Reservists (Lana Lang) lived in the twentieth century, but that had proved to be no barrier in other tales. And the remaining Reservist, Kid Psycho, lived in the Legion's time. Certainly, one of them could've been tapped to serve. Or, at least, the script should've noted why that wasn't possible in this instance.
And, no doubt, it wouldn't have been possible, for if someone had been monitoring the developments on Earth from the clubhouse, he would've alerted the Legion to what was going on long before they returned from space---and that would've undercut the surprise and growing sense of persecution that Shooter had invested in the opening chapters.
And then, there's the matter of the Legion of Substitute Heroes. Where were they during this rise of anti-Legion sentiment on Earth? Were the Subs affected by the agency behind it, or were they forced to lie low, from being tainted by the same brush that outlawed the Legion? If the latter, why haven't we seen them offer to join forces with the Legionnaires?
Certainly, there are a lot of "well, maybes" that would've adequately answered why the Legion received no help from these quarters. But if Shooter really wanted to nail down the Legionnaires' plight, he should've addressed them. E. Nelson Bridwell, with his attention-to-Superman-mythos-detail, would have. (On the other hand, I don't think Bridwell's auctorial skills were up to delivering the sense of tension that was ratcheting down on the Legionnaires, and that was critical to the story.)
One detail that Jim Shooter didn't miss was the inclusion of Supergirl---although it might've been better if he had. Shooter keenly got the most powerful Legionnaires out of the main plot early on; he had to, in order to keep the story from ending on page five. But, somehow, Supergirl missed the cut.
I suspect that Shooter did overlook the Girl of Steel, at first. She doesn't show up until the sequence in which the Legionnaires confront the street gang. After that, she disappears from the tale, and we're not given an explanation for that until five pages later, when the Legionnaires confront R. J. Brande in his penthouse office.
"We could use Supergirl's power now," bemoans Invisible Kid. "But . . . she returned to the 20th century, and our time-signalling devices are locked in the clubhouse, so we can't call her!"
One gets the feeling that, as soon as Shooter remembered to put Supergirl in the story, he realised, "Oh, yeah, I have to get rid of her, too." But, it's a lame excuse. It's difficult to imagine the Girl of Steel running out on her colleagues in a crisis like this. And the explanation that she had an urgent requirement to attend in her own time doesn't wash. She travels through time. She could stay in the thirtieth century as long as she wanted and still make it back to 1967 to handle whatever chore awaited her.
It would've been less clumsy if Shooter had simply left the Girl of Steel out of the story. It was well established that she was the most absentee Legionnaire, and most readers wouldn't have given it a second thought.
There were two sequences that elevated the story---and it goes to Shooter's grasp of the LSH and what the fans wanted to see.
The Legion's rumble with the street gang livened up the proceedings with a nod to the trope of "What if the heroes had to fight without using their super-powers?" (Gardner Fox had designed an entire issue of JLA---# 28 [Jun., 1964]---around that fan-favourite idea.) Granted, it's not like they ran up against the Fatal Five, but still it was fun to see the Legionnaires forced to roughhouse, rather than just point a finger and zap the hoodlums.
There was also one of the first hints that the Legionnaires received in-service training, in this case, lessons in self-defence. It was one of the seeds that would eventually grow into the Legion Academy, first seen in Adventure Comics # 371 (Aug., 1968).
Let's face it: who didn't get a kick out of seeing the Legion clobber those plug-uglies in a good, old-fashioned donnybrook?
And we get a welcome look at the Legionnaires' parents. Well, the folks of two of them, anyway. Duo Damsel and Invisible Kid. Even though they served as plot functions, to provide exposition and to show just how deeply the conspiracy against the Legion went, it was nice to see two of Our Heroes have some family time.
For the most part, the super-teens operate in the autonomy of the Legion, and like the characters on Mission: Impossible, they have no outside lives. So, it's easy to forget that they are youngsters, with parents, siblings, and friends outside of the Super-Hero club. One has to imagine that these parents struggle to provide guidance to children who have just saved the universe for the umpteenth time and fret constantly over their frequent peril.
It would've been a nice departure if, at one of the Legion try-out sessions, a teen fully qualifies for the Legion and just as he's about to be inducted, the youngster's mother steps forward, wailing, "I don't want my baby to get killed by a super-villain. Sob! I won't let you join. Boo-hoo!" "Awww, mom!"
I joke, but it raises a point in passing. We rarely got to see the feelings and attitudes of the Legionnaires' parents come into play. So, I appreciated Shooter giving us these brief glimpses into the teens' private lives. He would do more of that in future stories.
Replies
I first read this story in Superboy & The Legion of Superboy-Heroes #238 (Ap'78) and loved it! It was even referenced in the new story of #239!
I immediately saw the Supergirl mistake but, as you, chalked it up to dramatic license.
Worse, though was the locking up of Superboy for ten years in the future theoretically affecting the past which will not only have no Superboy but no Superman! Since Supergirl was sent to Earth to meet a Superman who is no longer there, the Maid of Steel simply vanished until all this was settled.
Then again, what was stopping Superboy from simply refusing to be arrested and returning to the 20th century? Beyond his code of obeying any law? Would they have gone after him?
I never thought about the Substitute Legion or the Reservists guarding the clubhouse except what about Bouncing Boy? Though without his powers, he would have been a better choice to watch the base due to his familiarity with it. And they missed another emotional beat had Chuck Taine, and the Subs for that matter, turn on the Legion as well.
They said that Boltax controlled the UP Council but he couldn't control the planets. After the arrest of their teenage heroes, wouldn't Titan, Daxam, Winath, Rimbor, Bismoll and Naltor protest their incarnations?
And with the Legion outlawed, why wouldn't the Khunds attack again? Or any other invader?
Then again, what was stopping Superboy from simply refusing to be arrested and returning to the 20th century? Beyond his code of obeying any law? Would they have gone after him?
That's something I'll probably mention in part two, but the answer to your question, Philip, is---nothing. After all, that's exactly what Jim Shooter told us that Supergirl did. She defied the anti-Legion law to return home. What I find more interesting to contemplate is the fact that Superboy remained in the thirtieth century in order to help his fellow Legionnaires out of their jam. (Granted, he had to get of off Takron-Galtos first.) Yet, Supergirl took off as soon as it was convenient. A good writer could make hay of that---why she didn't care about the Legion as much as Superboy did, and that her more laissez-faire attitude toward the Legion explains why she absent so often.
. . . except what about Bouncing Boy? Though without his powers, he would have been a better choice to watch the base due to his familiarity with it.
I may be misreading you here, Philip, but Bouncing Boy was out on space-assignment with the rest of the Legion---the idea was that the entire active Legion membership was off-Earth for several days, remember? Bouncing Boy wasn't available to do monitor duty at the clubhouse.
They said that Boltax controlled the UP Council but he couldn't control the planets. After the arrest of their teenage heroes, wouldn't Titan, Daxam, Winath, Rimbor, Bismoll and Naltor protest their incarnations?
Those planets might protest, but there's little else they could do. I imagine interplanetary relations in the thirtieth century are pretty much the same as international relations are now. If an American visiting a foreign country breaks a law of that country, he is subject to that country's due process of justice, no matter how it differs from ours. The Legionnaires from those planets violated the anti-Legion law on Earth, and thus, were subject to Earth's due process. Their home worlds could yell and scream, but there's nothing they could directly do about it, short of going to war with Earth---and they wouldn't likely do that, not even for the sake of one of their own citizens.
And with the Legion outlawed, why wouldn't the Khunds attack again? Or any other invader?
That likely would've happened, if the anti-Legion situation had gone on longer. But the Legionnaires saved the day before the Khunds, or some other invader, could get their act together.
I got the timeline wrong, Commander. I thought that Bouncing Boy hadn't regained his powers yet and was still a Reservist.
Earth's electro-towers destroyed the Khund invasion fleet before — it's not like they're lying helpless without the Legion. And Khund, in the Silver Age, was on the far edge of known space — even with 30th century technology, invading is more complicated than, say, Pancho Villa's raid.
Earth's electro-towers destroyed the Khund invasion fleet before — it's not like they're lying helpless without the Legion.
Good catch, Mr. Sherman! In my response to Philip, I'd completely forgotten about the electro-towers in Adventure Comics # 347 (Aug., 1966). It stands to reason that Earth would have its own global defences.
Well done. One of my favorite Legion stories. I enjoyed it back then and still enjoy it. Yes, there are things we can nitpick (e.g., what about the Heroes of Lallor or Dev-Em) but it is solid and not contrived like many Weisinger stories back then just to justify the cover.
Nor did it help that second-tier artist John Forte pencilled stiff, wooden characters against cartoonish backgrounds.
Was it John Forte who drew every character standing at attention with their mouths open?
The years 1966 and 1967 saw the Legion of Super-Heroes was at its peak, with the introduction of one of the most popular Legionnaires, Karate Kid, and the dramatic death of another, Ferro Lad.
Before 1966, I had dumped all Weisinger-edited books in favor of the Schwartz-edited books and Marvel books. I had been around for the earliest Legion stories, which were as guest stars in the Superboy books.
President Boltax declares the fugitive Legionnaires to be subversives, and posts a ten-million-dollar reward for their capture.
Mort and Jim probably didn’t think about it, but one thousand years in the future ten million dollars would have a lot less buying power than in 1966.
Mort and Jim probably didn’t think about it, but one thousand years in the future ten million dollars would have a lot less buying power than in 1966.
In "The Secret Origin of Bouncing Boy", from Adventure Comics # 301 (Oct., 1962), in the flashback to how B.B. got his powers, we see Chuck Taine at the robot gladiator tournaments, where he buys a bottle of pop for fifty cents.
In the Smallville Mailsack three issues later, in Adventure Comics # 304 (Jan., 1963), this missive by Ronald Berglund of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and response by Mort Weisinger was printed:
So, aye, Mr. Weisinger was aware of inflation---but I think he deliberately underestated it, both in the Bouncing Boy story and in "The Outlawed Legionnaires" You see, if he had gone with a more-likely inflation-adjusted price for a bottle of pop in the thirtieth century . . . say, $145 . . . accurate or not, it would have bounced the readers right out of the story. Especially, the younger readers who would most likely not have a grasp of inflation. So, Mort had the writer, Jerry Siegel, bump the cost up somewhat, to acknowledge inflation, but not so high as to make the readers react, "Go on!"
I'm just guessing all of this, mind you, but if I'm close to right, then Mr. Weisinger and Mr. Shooter did the same thing with the reward for the Legionnaires' capture---higher than what was normal for the time, but not the outlandish amount it would really be in A.D. 2967, which wouldn't have registered with kids of A.D. 1967.
1)The assumption the government can ban "super powers" as simply as setting a speed limit always bugs me. Cosmic Boy and Duo Damsel don't have powers in the sense Colossal Boy and Lightning Lad do — they're natural abilities (how can the courts tell when Brainy's using "super" intelligence and just thinking?). However as the whole government's in Boltax's pocket, it's easy to see why nobody's raising the point. And simply because this is such a great story, it doesn't annoy me the way it does in Legends or Civil War.
2)E. Nelson Bridwell introduced Brande in #350. Was this the first time he'd appeared on camera (so to speak)? I could find out by going over to my comics but a dog is sitting on me as I type. I believe this was also the debut of Takron-Galtos.
3)Very good point about Swan's fashion sense.
4)Something I noticed rereading this issue recently, Karate Kid mentions talking to "his folks" about their situation. Knowing he'd be later revealed as an orphan, I asked Brian Cronin whether Jim Shooter had course-corrected. No, Shooter was trying to be coy about KK's orphan status but realized afterwards he'd botched it.
5)One thing I love about this story is that the villain (I imagine everyone in this corner of the Internet knows who it is but just in case) is using his powers strategically. Subtlety and cunning are much underrated in comics.
6)As a kid I'd never seen anything like this — heroes outlawed, forced to go underground, turning against the law, OMG!!!! No longer so novel but the story is still great.
Fraser,
I don't intend to thread jack, but as I read your point #1 I thought of Kurt Vonnegut's short story "Harrison Bergeson." The story could have been developed in that direction by handicapping the Legionnaires, which is what they actually did to Superboy, Mon-El, and Ultra Boy on Takron-Gatlos.
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