Superboy's Legion

Superboy's Legion is a two-issue mini-series, published by DC Comics in 2001 under the Elseworlds banner. It was written by Mark Farmer and illustrated by Alan Davis.

The series is a tale about if baby Kal-El, the last survivor of the doomed planet Krypton, had been raised in the 30th Century. The story uses elements from the Silver Age of comic books, most notably from the original Legion of Super-Heroes series.

Characters

• Superboy
• Saturn Girl
• Cosmic Boy
• Sun Boy: Dirk Morgna is the son of industrialist Derek Morgna, and has the ability to generate heat. He is best friends with Gim Allon.
• Colossal Boy: Gim Allon gained the ability to grow the size of a giant when he came in contact with a radioactive meteor. He is best friends with Dirk Morgna.
• Element Lad: Jan Arrah of the planet Trom can transmute any substance. An acolyte of the Krilli religion, Jan only uses his powers in a passive way, although he will use them aggressively if the situation calls for it.
• Shrinking Violet: Salu Digby of the planet Imsk can shrink down to any size while still retaining her original mass.
• Bouncing Boy: Chuck Taine of the planet Earth can inflate his body like a ballon. Chuck tried out with his friends Val Armorr (Karate Kid), and Andrew Nolan (Ferro Lad), but only Chuck made the cut.
• Shadow Lass: Tasmia Mallor, a native of Tallok VIII, she has the ability to manipulate and create darkness.
• Star Boy: Thom Kallor is the last survivor of the planet Xanthu. He draws his power from the stars and can increase mass and gravity.
• Ultra Boy: Jo Nah of Rimbor has multiple powers, but he can only use one of them at a time.
• Phantom Girl: Tinya Wazzo is the princess of Bgztl and can make herself intangible.
• Chameleon Boy: Reep Daggle is a member of the shape-shifting Durlan race and can transform into anyone or anything.
• The Fatal Five: Emerald Empress, Validus, Mano, Persuader, and Tharok.
• R.J. Brande
• Lex Luthor

Plot

In the year 2987, in the Diadem Asteroid Belt, R.J. Brande, the galaxies' richest man and head of Brande Industries, discovered a lifepod inside of an asteroid. Inside the lifepod was a baby boy, Kal-El of Krypton, a planet long since dead. Kal-El's rocket had been set on a course for the planet Earth in the 20th Century right before Krypton had exploded, but it crashed into the asteroid on its way and had been stuck there for nearly a thousand years.

Flashforward fourteen years later to the year 3001 on the planet Earth at its capital city, Metropolis. The planets in the Milky Way Galaxy, along with various other planetary systems are protected and watched over by the Science Police, who are guided by the computer Universo. Baby Kal-El, now Kal Brande, was adopted and raised by R.J. Brande. Kal gained superpowers due to the effects of the sun's radiation on his Kryptonian physiology. He calls himself Superboy, having been inspired by the legends of heroes from the 20th Century and tries to use his powers to help people. He even fashioned himself a costume. But in the eyes of the S.P. he is a misfit, because he often damages public property and makes unregistered flights into space by using his powers. R.J. is threatened by the S.P. that if he can't control Superboy's actions, Brande Industries will be disconnected from any and all utility and power sources, thus robbing millions of people of their jobs. Superboy and R.J. get into an argument and R.J. makes a rather hurtful comment towards him. Superboy flies off into space to where Krypton was once located, and witnesses a member of the Green Lantern Corps fighting against a Khund space vessel. He helps the Lantern, whose name is Talu-Katu of Space Sector 3142. Talu-Katu reveals that the Green Lantern Corps protects all sectors of space that are not under S.P. protection, but their resources are limited. Upon learning that the Corps no longer protects all space, Superboy gets the idea to form his own group.

Meanwhile, on the luxury space cruiser Lystrata, crew members and young couple Imra Ardeen of Saturn's moon Titan and Rokk Krinn of the planet Braal, try to defend the ship against an energy being called a blister beast. Imra is a psychic and Rokk has magnetic abilities, and the two are helped by Superboy. The three of them decided to form a team, called Superboy's Legion. Imra gives herself the codename Saturn Girl, and Rokk calls himself Cosmic Boy. They hold televised tryouts, covered by young reporter Lois Olsen, for more members on Titan, and they induct best friends Dirk Morgna (Sun Boy) and Gim Allon (Colossal Boy) of Earth, Salu Digby (Shrinking Violet) of Imsk, Chuck Taine (Bouncing Boy) of Earth, Jan Arrah (Element Lad) of Trom, and Tasmia Mallor (Shadow Lass) of Tallok VIII. Following the tryouts, Superboy meets Lois and a spark seems to form between them, when news comes of a giant asteroid which is about to collide with the planet Rimbor, "the planet everyone gave up on". The Legion sets out to save the planet.

On Rimbor, word of the asteroid's collision has caused mass hysteria. Jo Nah (Ultra Boy) and his girlfriend, princess Tinya Wazzo (Phantom Girl) of the planet Bgztl, plan to destroy the asteroid with a bomb when they discover Reep Daggle (Chameleon Boy), a Durlan shape-shifter who was sent by Tinya's mother, Winema, to watch over Tinya. The two decide to use Reep to help them stop the asteroid by having him turn into a spaceship.

In space, as the Legion heads for Rimbor, Saturn Girl senses two minds heading towards their ship. They are contacted by Lyle Norg (Invisible Kid) of Earth, and Querl Dox (Brainiac 5) of the planet Colu. They inform the Legion that Superboy's plan to just smash the asteroid will fail, because the asteroid is too large. So they call in Thom Kallor (Star Boy), the last survivor of the planet Xanthu, who uses his gravity powers to increase Superboy's mass in order to stop the asteroid. Superboy is able to shatter the asteroid, but he soon meets Jo, who tells him that the fragments of the asteroid are going to cause damage, until Superboy shows him that the Legion is collecting the fragments.

After calming the masses and finding the injured, Star Boy tells them that Rimbor would not have been the only planet in space not under S.P. protection that was destroyed by a "natural" disaster, as it would've followed suit to Daxam, Xanthu, and Ghek had the Legion not intervened. Jo is complaining that he could've been the one to save Rimbor, until Brainiac 5 tells him that the bomb they were going to use was faulty, and would've made the asteroid look like a mercy killing in comparison when suddenly, the Legion is attacked by the Fatal Five, five of the most dangerous criminals in the galaxy who were responsible for Xanthu's destruction. The Legion is not prepared for fighting against villains as dangerous as the Fatal Five, but Saturn Girl is able to learn that they are working for someone else. Emerald Empress gains an advantage over Superboy with her powerful talisman, the Emerald Eye, due to his weakness against magic (during Shadow Lass' tryout, it was revealed that Superboy is weak against magic). Mano, a mutant born with an antimatter touch, badly burns Star Boy's face, Cosmic Boy has his right arm cut off by the Persuader's atomic axe, and Colossal Boy is killed in battle with the giant Validus. When the Five leave, they take Brainiac 5 back to their base under orders from their leader, Lex Luthor.

Trivia

• Various other Legion characters seen during the story are Triplicate Girl, Tellus, Karate Kid, Ferro Lad, Wildfire, Dream Girl, and the Legion of Substitute Heroes (comprised of Night Girl, Fire Lad, Stone Boy, Chlorophyll Kid, and Polar Boy).
• Green Lantern Talu-Katu mentions that the power of the Green Lantern Corps had waned somewhat due to the destruction of the planet Daxam and the Sinestro War that followed shortly after. In the recent DC continuity, the rogue Green Lantern Sinestro has started an entire Sinestro Corps thanks to the efforts of the Anti-Monitor and has launched a war on the Green Lantern Corps.

See also

• List of Elseworlds publications