Superman Annual #6
Superman Annual #6
Cover Credits
Penciller: Curt Swan
Inker: George Klein

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Title: "The Legion of Super-Heroes"
Pages: 11

Feature(s):
Superboy (of Earth-1)

Writer: Otto Binder
Artist: Al Plastino

Reprinted From:
Adventure Comics #247 (1958)

Feature Character(s)

Guest Star(s)

Supporting Character(s)

Guest Appearance(s)

Other Character(s)

  • Unnamed 30th century science professor, park employee, soda parlor employee, and college students (no further appearances)
  • Several unnamed Legion applicants (no further appearances)

Comments:
Although Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and Lightning Lad (Boy) are the only Legionnaires shown clearly in the story, several other unnamed members are in evidence. Since no members resembling some of these characters have ever appeared in subsequent stories, some must merely be unsuccessful membership applicants. As shown in Adventure Comics #323 in a flashback to Superboy’s induction at the end of this story, Triplicate Girl, Chameleon Boy, Invisible Kid, Colossal Boy, and Brainiac 5 are among those present behind the scenes. The presence of Brainiac 5, who joined the Legion at the same time as Supergirl, indicates that this story takes place some time after the second story of Action Comics #276, in which Supergirl and Brainiac 5 are inducted. Since one panel in this story shows three female members (presumably not unknown applicants) other than Satrun Girl, and since Superboy does not react as he would to the appearance of Supergirl, Phantom Girl and Shrinking Violet must be the other two females present.

As revealed in a flashback in the first story of Superboy #204, which occurs between pages 10 and 11 of this story, the Legionnaires first give Superboy an initiation test which, because of an alteration of the timestream, the Boy of Steel fails. The Legion then decides to give him another chance, and Saturn Girl presumably causes Superboy to forget their earlier meeting. To avoid jogging his memory, Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and Lightning Lad wear the first costumes they were given (revealed as such in Legion of Super-Heroes #297) in this story, rather than their more familiar uniforms. With the alteration in the timestream corrected, however, no one involved remembers that Superboy was initiated twice, and his first "failed" initiation test becomes the deliberately engineered "failure" recounted in this story.

Cosmic Boy’s power is incorrectly shown radiating from his eyes, rather than his hands, in this story.

Lightning Lad cannot "throw" lightning bolts in this story; rather, they occur when he claps his hands.

The final page of the original story has been cut and is not reprinted here.

Synopsis:
One day in Smallville, Superboy encounters three super-youths from the 30th century, Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and Lighting Boy, who invite him to join their super-hero club. Taking him to their time, each of the three in turn takes him on in a test of super-skill. However, during each test, Superboy is sidetracked by other, more important missions. Consequently, he fails all three tests and is rejected for membership. When he takes his defeat like a good sport, the Legionnaires confess that they had engineered each diversion deliberately and lured the Boy of Steel from victory to see whether or not he could take defeat with a smile. In the end, the heroes from the future cheer him for passing his initiation and admit him into the Legion.

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