Even though it was probably a popular title that whole time, the Legion of Super-Heroes only appears once in the classic
Brave and the Bold run? Both Sgt. Rock and the Metal Men make a bunch of appearances there! Counting this issue, I can think of maybe three times Batman has met the Legion, but I still figure Bats has to spend 40 minutes confirming his identity every time he sees them. Also, I feel like they always have vaguely insulting questions for him, like "you're a founding JLA member and have no powers, at all? How?...seriously, how?" From 1981,
Brave and the Bold #179, "Time-Bomb with the Thousand Year Fuse!" Written by Martin Pasko, pencils by Ernie Colón, inks by Mike DeCarlo.
This could maybe have used another pass; but after Batman stops some really dumb thugs from stealing a time capsule before it's buried; 1000 years in the future two scientists investigate the "Mandorian relic" that was in the capsule? (
Not that one!) The relic seems to be some kind of egg with an anti-matter shell, so cracking it could be disasterous; it is of course immediately stolen by...some guy we've never seen before, wearing headgear that looks like he's cosplaying as Conan's axe. The Legion of Super-Heroes arrives, but fails to stop him and his "super-hypnosis," and the bad guy escapes--to Gotham City, 1981! Batman holds back a moment, after the guy hypnotizes down some guards, but then tries to keep him from messing with the relic; then Batman is taken back to the 30th century with the baddie!
The axe-head guy, Anton, meets up with the main villain, Argus: they're casual in the future! But 'Argus' might have been the villain's first name and never used again: he was really
Universo! I had forgotten he was a Green Lantern once; I mainly knew him for using hypnotism and mind control, but his kid Rond Vidar was immune to it, so Anton was needed to control Rond, with a skullcap helmet under a wig! Anton appears to have just popped Rond's hair off like a Lego minifigure's.
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While several girl Legionnaires are disappeared into the time stream as hostages (Universo refers to them as 'nubile,' a word that isn't used much anymore and we're better as a society for it) Batman breaks into Legion HQ to get help--you know, I'm 90% sure he could've just knocked, but that wouldn't be Batman. Later, the Legion fights the bad guys, which involves the usual getting hypnotized and fighting each other, while Batman has to launch the egg into space before it blows. The girl Legionnaires are returned--they were going to be put at ground zero of the explosion, but that instead puts them into position to wrap up Universo. With everything squared up, the Legion takes Batman home.
I don't think Anton adds much to this one, it felt like somehow subcontracting from one of the Legion's usual bad guys. And I had thought the Legion was maybe being condescending, but they might have really liked Batman and getting to hear about how things used to be done. Maybe; they're kinda gathered around him like they're waiting for Grandpa Simpson to tell them how this tree dates back to frontier times or something.
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Not that he’d ever admit it or anything, but you’d think going to the far far future would be kind mind f*^k for Bruce right? Sure he’s used to dealing with all sorts of crazy stuff in his line of work, but witnessing the future, especially the 30th century, has got to mess with him even a little. And of course you’d want to know the fate of your home town & everyone in it just to see if all that time & effort you put into making it a better place actually paid off in the long run.
ReplyDeleteI think it’s mostly that the Legion is a Superman thing, not a Batman thing. He did the time and space travel thing in the late 40’s and 50’s, when everybody was big on sci-fi, but they wanted to make him more grounded by then. If he does go into the future or interact with future people, it’s going to be Kamandi or someone from that timeline- much darker and less optimistic, like people think it should be.
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