Comic Book Review: The Best of DC Blue Ribbon Digest #44 by various creators
Archie Comics wasn’t the only company doing digests, of course. DC Comics also had a vast library of back issues able to be reprinted in a smaller, checkout aisle friendly format. At one point, it was used as part of a way to reprint the stories of the Legion of Super-Heroes in chronological order.
The Legion had started off as a one-time story for Superboy, the young teen version of Superman. They came back in time to offer him a membership in their superhero club–after some hazing. The characters were popular, and more members were added as they kept reappearing, finally becoming a spinoff feature (but still with Superboy in every mainline story.) And it was a cool concept. Teenage superheroes in the future (quickly settled on as the 30th Century) that Clark could pal around with, and the writers (most of whom had worked in the science fiction pulps) could use all sorts of SFnal ideas.
This volume contains reprints of the Adventure Comics Legion stories from issues 319-323, plus a stray from Lois Lane #50.
“The Legion’s Suicide Squad!” (not to be confused with any of DC’s other Suicide Squads) starts with the inhabitants of the planet Throon, who hate and fear all outsiders, developing a ray that knocks out all nuclear energy. The idea is to disable the engines of any spaceship that flies too close. At first, that’s only a hazard to nearby ships, but after a couple of incidents, the Throonians declare their entire star sector a no-fly zone. Since that sector happens to include most of the heavily used trade routes, this is causing severe problems.
The Legion is called in to disable the ray projector. They come in small squads, chosen by the infamous Planetary Chance Machine. (Basically a spinning mobile, you sit around it until one of the “planets” comes free and hits you, making you chosen for the mission.) But as each squad arrives on Throon, they are defeated by the advanced science weapons of the Throonians–not even getting close enough to see the inhabitants of Throon themselves.
Finally, all the regular members of the Legion of Super-Heroes are down, and it’s up to the Legion of Substitute Heroes (rejects with less useful or poorly controlled powers) to form a suicide squad to finally bring the ray projector down. Sure enough, most of them are mowed down as well, but one manages to attack from an unexpected direction and reveal the true nature of the Throon threat. No one actually died, so happy ending! (Note: there’s a moment where Brainiac Five tells Saturn Girl this mission is “too dangerous for a girl.” This is treated as the brain fart it is.
“The Revenge of the Knave from Krypton!” is a sequel to a previous Superboy story. It turns out that the next door neighbors of the El family on Krypton were the Ems. Dev-Em, the teenage son of the family, was a juvenile delinquent whose parents were particularly dim and trusting and didn’t realize what he was up to. Until the day baby Kal-El caught him stealing rocket designs from Jor-El’s laboratory and alerted his father. It was the first time Dev-Em had ever faced consequences, and he developed a hatred for Kal-El.
However, Dev-Em was a bright kid and from his study of Jor-El’s materials realized the genius scientist was right and Krypton was about to explode. He converted a bomb shelter from Krypton’s ancient wars into a space-worthy suspended animation chamber, and when the time came, got himself and his parents out of danger. By the time they arrived on Earth, Kal-El had aged into teenage Clark Kent, also known as Superboy.
Dev-Em, still holding on to his grudge against the little informer, trapped Superboy in the Phantom Zone, then impersonated the young hero while performing a bunch of mean pranks. Then he brought Superboy back out of the Zone and flitted away into the future, leaving the good lad to face the consequences.
All this is told in flashback when Dev-Em is caught breaking into Legion headquarters. They threaten to turn him over to the Inter-Stellar Counter-Intelligence Corps, only for Dev-Em to laugh. It turns out he’s gone straight, and now works for the ICC! (And the art turns his face from sneering punk to clean-cut young hero literally between panels.) The back half of the story is Superboy impersonating Dev-Em to try to get the goods on crimelord Molock the Merciless. Dev-Em saves Superboy sneakily, proving he’s now reformed, declines Legion membership to stay with the ICC…and then didn’t appear again for decades.
“The Code of the Legion!” introduces the Time Trapper, a mysterious villain who lives in the far future, behind an impenetrable Iron Curtain of Time, but has designs on the Thirtieth Century. For reasons. It’s suggested that the Legion’s greatest weapon, the Concentrator, could break through the curtain, but this is immediately vetoed as no member of the Legion must ever reveal the weapon’s secret, and it’s best if no one even mentions its existence. Also, Bouncing Boy has lost his powers (temporarily) and leaves the Legion.
Commissioner Wilson of the Science Police has learned of the existence of the Concentrator through the criminal grapevine, and needs to make sure that none of the Legion can be forced to give up its secret. So he takes them to a concentration camp and one by one tries to break their wills. Who will crack, and what is the Concentrator’s terrible secret? Fun bit: the prison chamber for the weakest Legionnaire has clearly marked buttons for “Food” “Water” and “Books.”
“Lois Lane’s Luckiest Day!” is the odd one out in this issue. Ace reporter Lois Lane visits her fan club, which has three new girls asking for membership. The member test is following Lois around for a day and writing about the events like a reporter. As it happens, this is Lois’ day as a volunteer nurse at the local hospital. (Lois is of course fully licensed to perform nursing duties and is competent enough she could get a job there if the Daily Planet ever fired her.)
Wacky events occur, and Lois eventually realizes her “fans” are three members of the Legion of Super-Heroes who used their powers to aid her. Sadly, they have to erase her memory of this, as history doesn’t record their visit. Fun bit: Phantom Girl gets to use her rarely-discussed ability to see inside physical objects as well as just pass through them.
“The Super-Tests of the Super-Pets!” sees the creation of the Legion of Super-Pets as part of protecting the Legion clubhouse from the Time Trapper. Krypto (dog), Streaky (cat), Beppo (monkey) and Comet (horse, kind of, it’s complicated) all have Kryptonian-level superpowers, and are unimpressed by the shapeshifting abilities of Proty II, pet of Chameleon Boy. They each assign Proty a test of worthiness. Proty, who uses male pronouns despite being a lump of protoplasm when at rest, manages to pull it off. It’s a profoundly silly story played absolutely straight.
“The Eight Impossible Missions!” features one of Legion fans’ favorite traditions, choosing the new leader. The current leader at this point was Saturn Girl, the first ever female leader of an American comics superhero team. Proty II suggests a contest. He will send Legionnaires on a series of bizarre missions, and the one who guesses the riddle he’s basing these missions on gets to be leader next. it’s actually pretty inventive stuff.
This story is notable for being the only time that honorary Legion members Jimmy Olsen (as Elastic Lad) and Pete Ross (Clark’s best friend in Smallville who never let on he knew Clark and Superboy were the same person) actively participate together in a Legion story.
At this point in the continuity, the Legion of Super-Heroes was still very much a Superman comics spinoff. Superboy appears in all the mainline stories, there are frequent tie-ins to the Superman mythos, and the one time Superboy isn’t in a story, Superman’s girlfriend Lois Lane is, and the Legionnaires’ motive for appearing is tied directly to Superman.
That said, there’s a lot of cool ideas in here, the beginnings of individual personalities, and the first appearance of one of the Legion’s greatest villains.
You can find most of these stories published in the Showcase reprint volumes in black and white, which will be much easier to track down. Watch for these digests at garage sales and such!
