Random Happenstance

I wish I knew exactly what the Legion's sales were before and after this storyline. Of course, any readers willing to stay after this one, they were fans, damnit. Hardcore. From 1981, Legion of Super-Heroes #282, "If Answers There Be..." Plot by Roy Thomas, script by Paul Levitz, pencils by Jimmy Janes, inks by Bruce Patterson. And a Jim Aparo cover!

This was the conclusion of a storyline that had been running since at least #274, under previous writer Gerry Conway. Ultra Boy had been believed dead, then returned with amnesia under the sway of some space pirates, and was seemingly killed again. Then Reflecto appeared, saving Phantom Girl: he had previously been seen in Adventure Comics #354, as a memorial statue in the future. PG suspected something about Reflecto, that he reminded her of her beloved Ultra Boy; but he was later unmasked...as Superboy? With Ultra Boy's memory? Then the Legion went back to the 20th century to try to sort out the mystery, and end up at an A-bomb test, then get attacked by the Time Trapper, who destroys their time bubble! The Legion defeats the Trapper's robot, a returning Molecule Master, but are then captured and imprisoned by the army!

Evading capture, Phantom Girl brings Superboy and Dawnstar to her trans-dimensional world, Bgztl. After a brief fight with the forces of the "Dirigible Dictator" of her world's history (a thousand years before her time) Phantom Girl helps Dawnstar track through trans-dimensional space, to find Ultra Boy! He explains what happened to him: his invulnerability had protected him from a massive explosion, but by making him an intangible phantom, going backwards in time! Thinking maybe Superboy could help him, Ultra Boy went back to 20th century Smallville, but Supes couldn't see him either. Panicked, Ultra Boy screamed, and either through the telepathic plug the team used for communication, or some freak accident, accidentally switched bodies with Superboy. Confused, he then messed up the atomic test--which the army was still mad about--then when he got back to the 30th century, Saturn Girl's post-hypnotic suggestion keeping Superboy (from Legion #259) in the past confused things further. Now unsure if the Legion were friends or foes, Ultra Boy-in-Superboy's body created the Reflecto disguise. Superboy's still not sure what's up, but by causing a nuclear explosion, he's able to free Ultra Boy. Somehow.

Meanwhile, back in Smallville, honorary Legionnaire Lana Lang redons her Insect Queen costume to try and free the team. She doesn't get very far, but Superboy and others are able to get them out. Returning to the future, the Legion confronts the Time Trapper, and defeat him in about two-thirds of a page. Saturn Girl removes the memory of his parents' death from Superboy, leaving him free to stay on the team. (Although, I'm not sure he would much longer.) Supes also isn't sure how he'll clear his name in his own time; presidential pardon maybe? It's not important. Finally, the memorial statue of Ultra Boy is changed to Reflecto, as he and Phantom Girl opt to take a little time for themselves.


Although there's a much later story with Ultra Boy getting thrown back in time, his powers didn't and never worked like this again. I'm not sure Phantom Girl or Dawnstar's powers did, either. This wasn't a great start--possibly because the story had gone through three writers--but I thought this was the start of Paul Levitz's long stint on Legion. Well, yeah, besides all those issues of Superboy & the Legion he did. I think the Legion's sales were usually pretty good for that time, but I think they would get even stronger going forward with Keith Giffen on art.