Adventure Comics 309

Adventure Comics #309 Preboot » Pre-Crisis Cover by Curt Swan, George Klein and Ira Schnapp Story title The Legion of Super-Monsters Previous story Adventure Comics #308: The Return of Lightning Lad Next story Adventure Comics #309 (backup story): The Fake Superboy from Krypton Publication date April 25, 1963 Cover date June 1963 Creators Writer(s) Edmond Hamilton and Mort Weisinger Penciller(s) John Forte Inker(s) John Forte Letterer(s) Milton Snapinn Colourist(s) Unknown Editor(s) Mort Weisinger Cover artist(s) Curt Swan, George Klein and Ira Schnapp

The Legion of Super-Monsters

The Legion rejects an applicant named Jungle King, who claims he has control over all forms of animal life but whose control over a borlat slips momentarily, endangering his life. Jungle King bitterly seeks revenge against the Legion by going to the dangerous Monster World and recruiting beasts for his so-called Legion of Super-Monsters. After recruiting five such animals -- an earthquake beast, an eye monster, a drill beast (or driller), a mirror monster, and an omnibeast (which can adapt to land, air, sea, and space travel) – Jungle King robs the Space Bank and then forces Sky City on the planet Korr to turn over its valuable comet jewels. The Legionnaires intervene, but as they save Sky City from being toppled by the earthquake beast’s power, Jungle King and his monsters escape with the jewels.

Part 2: The Legion's Super Showdown

The Legion tracks Jungle King to Inshar, the World of Giant Flowers. Sun Boy devises a plan to capture one of the animals and have Chameleon Boy imitate it and infiltrate the Legion of Super-Monsters. While they carry out the plan with Brainiac 5, they leave Bouncing Boy to monitor their ship’s radio with Saturn Girl. Bouncing Boy grows impatient, however, and tries to join the others, but accidentally bounces on an “elastic bush” which propels him high enough to alert Jungle King to the Legion’s presence. Jungle King and his monsters leave – with Cham disguised as the captured drill beast.

Hiding inside a rocky planet, Jungle King discovers Cham’s identity when the latter tries to alert the Legion. Cham flees from the attacking animals and barricades himself inside a tunnel with the omnibeast (which Cham distracts by disguising himself as another omnibeast). By the time the Legionnaires have arrived to rescue Cham, Jungle King has fled, but they believe he will return to his base to recruit more monsters. They set the omnibeast free so they can follow it as it returns home.

On Monster World, Jungle King rejects a gas creature because it doesn’t seem powerful enough to suit his purposes. Meanwhile, the Legionnaires arrive and, learning that they can’t land their ship without it being destroyed by the earthquake beast, draw lots so that one of them will go to confront Jungle King in secret. Bouncing Boy wins the lot; he attacks the earthquake beast and tricks it into causing a landslide, which buries the beast in rocks. But when Jungle King is alerted, he is attacked from behind by the gas creature, which unbeknownst to him, has the power to vaporize whatever it touches. The Legionnaires remark on the irony that Jungle King was killed by a creature he had rejected, just as they had rejected him.

Critique

This is the Legion’s first lead feature story, and its first classic (or, arguably its second, after “The Stolen Super-Powers” in Adventure.# 304). The story works on all fronts: plot, theme, and (surprisingly) character development. For the first time, we get a sense of the Legionnaires’ individual personalities and personal conflict, as Bouncing Boy desperately wants to take part in the action, but is relegated to the sidelines. So desperate is he to fit in that he disobeys the others and endangers their mission. But he redeems himself in the end, thereby proving – as he would again and again – that his bouncing power is useful, after all.

Sun Boy, on the other hand, is the “star athlete” and “most popular guy in school,” who comes up with the ideas for how to proceed (in spite of Brainiac 5's super-intelligence) and who calls the shots (in spite of Saturn Girl’s role as Legion leader). Sun Boy makes a telling comment that they keep Bouncing Boy around because “he’s jolly and we like him,” not because his power is particularly useful. Real-life parallels can be drawn with the “cool kids” in any setting or era, and their hangers-on, who are allowed to participate because they are funny, smart, or possess some other quality that amuses the popular kids. Sun Boy perceives Bouncing Boy to be the court jester in the Knights of the Round Table. But Bouncing Boy’s actions in this story (and the fates of both characters in subsequent pre-Crisis stories) show that sometimes the court jester is the smartest and bravest knight of all.

Interesting parallels can be drawn between Bouncing Boy, Jungle King, and the gas creature. All are rejected by others in this story. All turn out to be more formidable than they were first thought to be.

The story ends on an ominous note, as the Legionnaires come to realize that rejecting others – as they do routinely in membership tryouts – can have serious consequences, particularly when a judgment is made in haste. Too bad this theme was never followed up on in subsequent stories.

One of Edmond Hamilton’s great strengths as a writer was that he fully explored the Legion’s science fiction universe, inventing a rich universe with planets such as Monster World and the world of giant flowers, and alien beasts, such as those recruited by Jungle King. Hamilton’s collaborator, artist John Forte, created appealing and uncomplicated designs for these ideas. The world of giant flowers, for example, is full of earth-like flowers – only larger. Other designs are absurd (the Barakian living money consists of large coins with legs!) But this is part of the charm of Silver Age stories: They presented a world the reader would have been familiar with, but altered in key ways.

Of course, the story is also a product of its time and reflects then-prevalent attitudes, particularly with regard to the role of women. Note that Saturn Girl is the only female Legionnaire present (as she is in most early Legion stories) and has little to do. (See also Key Phrases and Quotations, below.)

Jungle King was the first original super-villain the Legion ever faced (not counting Lex Luthor). In spite of this, he never reappears. This is just as well, as his death serves as a reminder that, despite the "Silver Age silliness" of some of these stories, they often dealt with complex themes and serious consequences.

Key Phrases and Quotations

• ”He’s jolly and we like him, but bouncing won’t conquer those mighty monsters!” -- Sun Boy
• ”We’ll draw lots for the job, excluding Saturn Girl, because the mission is too risky for a girl!” -- Brainiac 5

Other Stories in the Same Issue

There is an additional story in this issue, "The Fake Superboy from Krypton." It contains an appearance of Brainiac 5.

Text Features in the Same Issue

There is a text feature in this issue, "Bits of Legionnaire Business." It contains the first mentions of Color Kid, Beast Boy, and Life Lass.