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featuring Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes June 1968 |
"Cringe, Legionnaires! Tremble! Flee! Hide! You can never escape from Mordru the Merciless!" In the 30th Century, a monstrous green face sends four Legionnaires reeling through Legion Headquarters. Mon-El carries Superboy(!) over his shoulder. "Run! He was right behind us! To the Time Chamber!" As a dark shadow stalks them... The four heroes lock themselves in a vault and activate the Time Chamber. (Why not a time bubble?) Mon-El is the last to escape "as an unspoken anger smolders in the air." |
Superboy awakes as they arrive - at his home, Smallville!  "Why here? It's the first place Mordru will look!" Duo Damsel apologizes, she was in a hurry when she set the controls. |
Shadow Lass feels guilty. As a new member, she was exploring the HQ and found a vault. She cracked the wheel just before Mon-El stopped her. "Mordru is in there!" Mon-El recounts how Mordru came from the Sorcerer's Planet. Mastering that world, he readied to conquer the universe, enhancing his war fleets with magical offenses. Mordru conquered the outer planets, then rested and regrouped, then attacked anew - until he reached Earth. The Legion opposed him even as Mordru, the Dark Lord, manifested as a 100-foot giant. He leveled the Legion - until Mon-El and Superboy trapped him in a steel vault. Mordru didn't die, but lack of air induced a coma. Even a little air would revive him - - and Shadow Lass screams as Mordru breaks through the vault! (As seen on the cover.) Mordru melted the vault with heat so intense Superboy and Mon-El felt scorched. Both heroes are susceptible to magic. Superboy would rush even that fire, but he's knocked flat by lightning. Mon-El grabs his friend and bolts. "Our only hope is to run - and dope out a way to stop this magic maker when we're safe!" |
So here our heroes stand, in 20th Century Smallville. Asking, "What now?" Superboy knows "Mordru wants revenge. He'll be hot on our trail fast ... We'll need disguises."  Superboy grins while introducing his friends from the future, as if it's a game to find each a secret identity. Ma Kent is struck by one thought, "Good heavens! A girl with blue skin!" (Ma and Pa Kent are middle-aged at this point. In an earlier Superboy adventure, aliens retro-aged Ma and Pa to look more "natural" as a teenager's parents. The fountain-of-youth process eventually wore off.) |
They can't all stay with the Kents. Mon-El can. He's visited before as Clark's cousin, Bob Cobb, brush salesman. As for the girls... Duo Damsel, Luorna Durgo, crashes Chief Parker's house as "Marie Elkins", a second cousin. Superboy dug up enough information to fool Mrs. Parker, who's too kindhearted to turn away a "distant relative." Shadow Lass, Tasmia Malor, gets pink makeup and the name Betsy Norcross. Claiming to be an exchange student sent by "the committee", she moves in with the Langs. Lana chirps, "It'll be fun having a sister for awhile!" Has she come a long way? Yes, thinks Tasmia, the planet Talok, 57 billion parsecs away - not to mention 1,000 years! |
Yet all this deception is for naught. Superboy and Mon-El watch a shadow blanket the town, creeping in everywhere. "It's Mordru's means of searching for us - if it touches us, he'll know!" Lana watches the weird shadow from the window. Even Shadow Lass, Mistress of Shadows, has never seen its like. In the dim light, she envelopes herself in a shadow to cancel Mordru's. She also projects shadows around her friends, and prays she's in time. Yet the people of Smallville are unprotected. Many find the shadow "seems to take hold of their minds ... then leaves them tools of Mordru." Lana Lang drops like a rock. A command burns in her brain. "Your eyes will be my eyes! You will watch for the Legionnaires ... When you see them, I will come!" Lana wakes, and her eyes feel they're on fire! Shadow Lass wants to call the medicenter - er, the doctor. |
By night the Legionnaires meet in Superboy's cellar. They have to fade into their civilian identities until they come up with a battle plan. Shadow Lass frets: she's unfamiliar with the culture. She'll slip up and "be the death of us all!" Mon-El offers, "We've been through worse scrapes!" Duo Damsel is afraid too. Superboy gallantly invites her to use his secret tunnel to avoid the streets!  "Ohh... men!" Duo Damsel has to CRAWL through the secret tunnel ALONE. Her mind seethes. Shadow Lass has dropped her crush on Brainiac 5 since Supergirl came along, and instead "sunk her hooks" into Mon-El. "I can't even get Superboy to walk me home!" Later, the lonely girl cries into her pillow. "I guess Superboy doesn't have a reason to flip for me" what with Lana and "countless other girls worshipping him!" Further, she's seen the 30th Century tapes and knows who he'll marry! |
Come morning, Lana wakes Shadow Lass for school. "Where do you keep your school-a-trons?" Hunh? "Darn! I almost blew my cover again!" On Talok, children plug school-a-trons into the family computer. The narrator notes, "Don't let this bug you, Shadow Lass! Your secret identity will be the least of your troubles in Part II!" |
On the way to school, Lana introduces Shadow Lass to Clark (they've faced death together), then meets Duo Damsel. Despite being a Legion Reservist, Lana has never met Duo Damsel before. |
Superboy is distracted by the sinister shadow again. And more. A tidal wave sweeps through the streets. The girls scream! Then comes a stampede of monsters! While fires rage all over town!  Only Mon-El, as Bob Cobb, remains calm. "This is obviously an illusion created by Mordru to get us to expose ourselves!" He's right, for things return to normal. |
Some crazy mirage? Better hurry, or they'll be late for school. In class, the teacher introduces Betsy Norcross, exchange student. A kid yells, "She has blue skin!" On her arm, where her makeup smudged off! Clark whips out his fountain pen and cranks the lever - squirting Mike with blue ink. That explains the "blue skin." Lana reminds Clark of their movie date. How about "Bob Cobb" taking "Betsy" for a double? Duo Damsel races off, a fifth wheel. Speaking of wheels, a truck runs out of control. Superboy and Mon-El freeze. If they use their super powers, Mordru will spot them. Duo Damsel saves the day. Grabbing a wedge-anchored sign, she pitches it under the truck's tire as a ramp, so it flips on its side! Gee, in an emergency, people can "double their strength"! And for once, Superboy notices how pretty Duo Damsel is! |
Trouble is never far away, and the Legionnaires can only watch. A "human fly" robs the jewelry exchange and suction-cups up the wall. The newspapers wonder where Superboy is. On "the eighth morning of the Legionnaires' exile" comes BIG trouble. "King" Carter and his gang roll into town with tommyguns. King Carter declares this burg his "new kingdom", and he'll "erase" it if it doesn't suit. His gunsels shoot down the telephone lines. From a "throne" atop a Packard, King Carter demands tribute: money, food, whatever he wants. Even Jonathan Kent must pay from his store. "No one is willing to fight him without Superboy to back us up!" |
In civvies, the Legion talks up a rebellion - and gets volunteers. The next morning citizens stand up to King Carter - as he and his men are pelted with vegetables from the rooftops! "Kill 'em! Defend me, knaves!" yells the King. Citizens yell "CHARGE!" It's riot in the streets as Smallvillers take on gunsels with fists and clubs - and unseen help from the Legion.  Superboy and Mon-El heat-ray guns, melting firing pins. Duo Damsel hurls gangsters around with judo. Within minutes, King Carter and his gang are behind bars. |
Yet the irony is not lost on the Legion. "We told the people of Smallville not to hide from their troubles ... to face up to the gangsters. While all the time, we've been hiding from Mordru!" And so ... Duo Damsel dons her purple-orange costume. Chief Parker asks, "You're going back to which century?" Luorna smiles, "Never mind! Just thanks for being wonderful people!" Poor confused Mrs. Parker adds, "Er, say hello to your mother, Marie!" In full uniforms, and some blue skin, the Legion meets in an alley behind the Kent house. Superboy has a remote gimmick to return them to the 30th Century ... |
... but they're seen. Lana Lang spots the Legion. "I am ... Mordru's eyes!"  Note how Mordru's evil face shines in Lana's eyes. |
With a BLAM! and a blossom of smoke, Mordru arrives!  |
Comments The Legion was totally a teenage title. Even the writer was a teen. Jim Shooter started writing Legion stories at age 13. He shows an amazing depth and perception for such a young age. He wrote exciting and wide-ranging stories, but also found time to throw in romance and character development and humor, all at a breakneck speed. Look how this story starts on the run and just keeps moving. Romance is handled on the fly. The Legion even learns a lesson - to practice what they preach. And we're whacked with a cliffhanger ending that'll keep us awake all month! Adventure 370, the showdown with Mordru, coming soon! |
DC aimed for a teenage audience. Three new comics starred teens. Binky was a 1950's kid's book resurrected for teenagers. Scooter was a British invasion hero transplanted to America. And the Hawk and the Dove reflected the diverse attitudes towards the Vietnam War. One brother favored peace to resolve conflict, the other favored his fists.  None of these titles lasted long. |