Best of DC #44
Best of DC #44
Cover Credits
Artist: Gil Kane

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Title: "The Code of the Legion"
Pages: 17

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

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

Reprinted From:
Adventure Comics #321 (1964)

Feature Character(s)

Supporting Character(s)

Villain(s)

Other Character(s)

  • Iresa (Bouncing Boy's girlfriend; no further appearances)
  • Android doubles of Garn and Englen (friends of Mon-El; no further appearances)
  • A mouth-creature and inhabitants of two unnamed alien worlds (appear in flashback only; no further appearances)

Cameo Appearance(s)

Comments:
Part 2: "The Weakest Legionnaire"

Bouncing Boy loses his power and joins the Legion Reserve in this story.

Sun Boy, Element Lad, Invisible Kid, Colossal Boy, Star Boy, Ultra Boy, and Matter-Eater Lad all appear in flashbacks to untold Legion cases in this story.

Following this story, the Legion makes statues of themselves to give to Superboy as seen in flashbacks in World's Finest Comics #142 and World's Finest Comics #168.

Then, Phantom Girl, Shrinking Violet, and Triplicate Girl visit the 20th century and help Lois Lane in the second story of Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #50.

Synopsis:
A general alarm goes out, summoning all Legionnaires to the Clubhouse. A slim, powerless Bouncing Boy appears, telling them that he lost his extra weight and his bouncing ability, when he accidentally bounced in front of a matter-shrinking projector. The others vote him into the Legion Reserve, and then begin discussing the dire menace of the Time Trapper and his impenetrable Iron Curtain of Time. Star Boy suggests that they use a top-secret weapon, the Concentrator, to destroy this Iron Curtain, but the mere mention of its name shocks the others.

Meanwhile, on two different worlds, Chameleon Boy and Triplicate Girl are captured by unseen foes, who demand to know the secret of the Concentrator. Both escape, and inform the gathered Legionnaires that someone else is aware of the weapon's existence. When Science Police Commissioner Wilson calls at the Clubhouse to ask if they have such a device, they admit it to him, but refuse to divulge its function. At his suggestion, they then accompany him to Althar, a barren planet, where they undergo tests, one by one, to ensure that none will reveal the secret under pressure.

When Lightning Lad supposedly cracks and reveals the Concentrator's secret to Wilson, his fellow members imprison him for this betrayal. After the Commissioner leaves, however, Lightning Lad tells them his suspicion that the Commissioner is someone else in disguise, and that he gave him a false secret to lead him astray. Superboy and Mon-El use their vision powers to confirm this: the Commissioner was actually the Time Trapper in disguise.

Discovering Lightning Lad's ruse, the Time Trapper causes black, dead suns to hurtle toward Althar and the heroes. The Legionnaires then use the Concentrator secret to build a machine which concentrates all the power in the universe, for the briefest moment, to blast the dark suns out of existence.

The Time Trapper escapes behind his Iron Curtain, and the Legion, returning to Earth, vows to track him down and bring him to justice.

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