Adventure Comics #336
Adventure Comics #336
Cover Credits
Penciller: Curt Swan
Inker: George Klein

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Title: "The True Identity of Starfinger"
Pages: 16

Feature(s):
Legion of Super-Heroes (of Earth-1)

Writer: Edmond Hamilton
Penciller: John Forte
Inker: Sheldon Moldoff

Reprinted In:
Best of DC #67 (1985)
Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 4 HC (1994)
Showcase Presents Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 2 TPB (2008)
Legion of Super-Heroes:The Silver Age Omnibus Vol. 2 HC (2018)

Feature Character(s)

Villain(s)

Other Character(s)

  • Vault guards and scientists at the United Planets Building (no further appearances)

Cameo Appearance(s)

  • Benjamin Franklin, Christopher Columbus, Abraham Lincoln, Leonardo da Vinci, and Ludwig von Beethoven (as statues)

Comments:
Part 2: "The Secret of Starfinger"

This story is continued from Adventure Comics #335.

Following this story, Cosmic Boy, Mon-El, Saturn Girl, Sun Boy, Superboy, and Triplicate Girl battle Mordru the Merciless, as seen in flashback in Adventure Comics #369.

Synopsis:
Brainiac 5 cures the Legionnaires injured by Starfinger, and they split into teams to guard the remaining wonders and search for the villian.

Meanwhile, Starfinger remains in his base, plotting to destroy a third wonder. Superboy spots him heading for the Global Tunnel and alerts the Legionnaires guarding it, Cosmic Boy and Matter-Eater Lad. All three heroes pursue Starfinger into the tunnel, only to discover that they are chasing a high-speed missile designed to look like the criminal. The real Starfinger then causes the tunnel to collapse, and the heroes barely escape.

Ultra Boy is the sole guard at the Giant Hall of Fame when Starfinger arrives to destroy its statues, and uses his ultra-strength in a futile attempt to keep them from falling. Seemingly crushed by the collapsing statues, he survives by switching to invulnerability at the last moment.

After posting extra guards at the remaining three wonders, the Legion sets out an exhaustive, fruitless hunt for Starfinger's hidden base. While Superboy and Ultra Boy join Colossal Boy and Cosmic Boy in guarding the greatest wonder of all, the Fusion-Powersphere, Brainiac 5 and Saturn Girl devise shields of the force-proof substance inertron.

Saturn Girl distributes shields to Matter-Eater Lad, Light Lass, and Chameleon Boy, who guard the wonder called the Reversed Waterfalls. Starfinger strikes, and the heroes pursue him. The villains eludes capture, and the others are summoned from the two remaining wonders, the Wind Control Center and the Fusion-Powersphere. With their inertron shields protecting them, the Legionnaires force Starfinger to the ground and unmask him as Lightning Lad, whose robot arm, covered with a flesh-like plastic glove, has been augmented with super-generators to project the various rays he has used against them.

Saturn Girl senses that Lightning Lad is under super-hypnosis and breaks him free of that spell, whereupon he explains that the scientist experimenting on him, Dr. Hanscom, is the real Starfinger. He had forced Lightning Lad to wear a costume like his own and attack the heroes to get the rejuvium. They further learn that Starfinger's base is inside the Fusion-Powersphere. When they hear that the United Planets has given him the rejuvium to save the remaining wonders, Superboy faces him in a showdown and saves the precious mineral. Hanscom is taken to the Prison Planetoid, the rejuvium is turned over to government scientists, and the Legion dedicates itself to repairing the damaged wonders.

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