Adventure Comics #247: The Legion of Super-Heroes (1958)

November 19, 2020

The silver age of comics introduced an integral and fascinating element to the DC Mythology. The Legion of Super-Heroes, and the idea that Superman’s legacy will extend far into the future. It’s a fascinating concept, and the fact that the idea is introduced within stories that depict Superman as a teenager, adds an interesting element to Clark’s growth into the hero we all know.

The issue begins with three unknown figures addressing Clark Kent as Superboy, something that deeply worries Clark as he feels that his identity has been exposed. However, the three figures reveal themselves to be superheroes from the future, known as Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and Lightening Boy. When they explain this to Superboy, they offer to take him with them to the future to audition for a position in the Legion of Super-Heroes.

Superboy agrees, and the heroes travel to the 30^th Century. Superboy is shown around the Smallville of the 30^th Century, even visiting a local school that is teaching about Superboy in history class. The teacher is using a robot double of Superboy to demonstrate feats to the class, but when the robot stops working, Superboy himself volunteers to complete the demonstration. It’s interesting that it’s specifically Superboy they are teaching in history class, and not Superman. There seems to be a very specific reason why they are talking about the young Clark Kent, and not the adult version who arguably performed greater feats.

The Legion take Superboy back to their clubhouse, where they inform him that they need to test his abilities against each of the Legion members. First up is a race against Saturn Girl to rescue a statue at the bottom of the ocean. Saturn Girl only has telepathic abilities, so Superboy assumes that he’ll be able to win using his super-speed and strength. However, as the contest begins, the Superboy Robot from the school begins to go haywire, and Superboy decides to deal with that, deeming it a bigger threat than a rescuing a statue. However, because of this diversion, Saturn Girl rescues the statue and wins the contest.

The second contest is between Superboy and Cosmic Boy where they need to put out a fire caused by a jet crashing in the forest. Cosmic Boy’s abilities centre around Magnetism, so yet again, Superboy feels that the contest will easily go in his favour. However, yet again, Superboy becomes distracted by another emergency. A small satellite is falling the Earth and will likely cause terrible damage. While Superboy deals with the satellite, Cosmic Boy wins the contest. Finally, it’s Superboy vs Lightning Boy. The Nova Express Is on its way to their destination, however the ship does not realise that their fuel tank is leaking, so it’s a race to get the message to the ship’s captain. For the third time, Superboy is distracted by another emergency, which causes him to lose this third contest.

Back at the clubhouse, the Legion rejects Superboy for failing to live up to his reputation. This initially upsets Superboy, before the Legion reveals that the whole thing was a joke, he is already a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes, and all of the distractions were set up by the Legion as a true test. That Superboy did the right thing, despite the personal gain. While they are celebrating, another emergency comes up, which the Legion are genuinely not responsible for. However, with there being no distractions, Superboy deals with the situation single-handedly, causing the Legion of Super-Heroes to reward Superboy with a medal reading “Super-Hero Number One”.

It’s an interesting introduction to the Legion of Super-Heroes, and does provide an interesting edition to the DC Mythos. It’s an idea that is heavily expanded upon in later years, but this first appearance sets up the team nicely.