Adventure Comics 301
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Contents
The Secret Origin of Bouncing Boy!
(13 pages/67 panels/2,310 words)
Synopsis
As the Legion gathers for a meeting, Saturn Girl switches on a force-field activator to shoo away a group of fans clustered around the Legion Clubhouse. Inside, the Legionnaires check in on various members busy on urgent missions to other planets. By the time they are done, the crowd has dispersed and the Legion begins to review its latest crop of applicants. One boy or girl, says Cosmic Boy, will be admitted to the team.
The first applicant to apply for, or rather, demand a place on the team, is Lester Spiffany, who has no powers but offers to buy his place. The Legion refuses, with Cosmic Boy pointing out that every member must have a unique super power, causing Lester to storm off in a huff.
Next, is Storm Boy, who fails because his power comes from a device and is not natural. Triplicate Girl gives him the bum's rush.
As the remaining applicants gaze over the Legion's trophy room and dream wistfully of making the team, Cosmic Boy fires up the selector machine, which will pick a Legionnaire at random to inspire the applicants with the unique tale of how he or she made the team.
The machine picks Bouncing Boy, who cheerfully relates his origin story.
As Bouncing Boy tells it, he was an errand boy who was to deliver a super-plastic fluid to the Science Council. Instead, he was distracted along the way by a robot gladiator tournament and, caught up in the excitement of the game, he accidentally drank the formula, mistaking it for the soda he had just purchased.
Suddenly, he found himself inflating like a giant balloon and, unable to control himself, bounced down into the stadium, ruining the game. Scientists determined that there was nothing to be done and so, spying Lightning Lad in action, Bouncing Boy resolved to join the Legion. Unfortunately, he was summarily rejected, his power said to be of no use "crusading against evil."
Bouncing Boy's audience expresses shock that he was ever rejected, but Bouncing Boy goes on to tell how he persevered. First, he flubbed again by being too eager to prove himself and mistaking an advertising missile message for a sky borne bomb. Soon after, however, he happened upon a thief using an electrical backpack to steal a medical wonder. After watching Saturn Girl succumb to the thief, Bouncing Boy sprang into action. By bouncing off walls and staying airborne so that he was never grounded, Bouncing Boy stayed immune to the thief's electrical charges, knocking him out and recovering the stolen item.
The Legion decided that Bouncing Boy's power can be useful after all, and inducted him as a member.
The Legion applicants vow to follow Bouncing Boy's example and keep trying until they, too, succeed in becoming members.
Key Quotes and Catchphrases
- "It sure feels great to have so many admirers!" (Funny how one off-hand comment can so completely foreshadow a characters eventual persona, isn't it, Sun Boy)
- "You lucky Legionnaires . . . I have decided to join your . . . er . . . ranks!" (Lester Spiffany)
- "Swear me in promptly because I have an important appointment on Mars, soon!" (Lester)
- "Sorry, but we don't want your gem, or you! No one can buy his way into the Legion!" (Well, at least not until Threeboot, Cosmic Boy)
- "You're stupid, all of you! Stupid!! Stupid!!" (Lester)
- "No one can join the Legion unless they have a genuine super-power of their own which works without the aid of mechanical devices!" (Cosmic Boy)
- "It's sure tough to get into this club! I hope I succeed!" (an unnamed Legion applicant)
- "En route to my destination, I yielded to temptation . . . " (Which just goes to show you Bouncing Boy, never yield to temptation when en route to your destination)
- "Ugh! This soda-pop sure tastes awful! - - ULP!" (See, told ya so, Bouncing Boy)
- "Look . . . h-he's expanding - - like a balloon!! He's lucky he's wearing clothing made of stretchable fiber!" (So say we all, Mr. unnamed robot gladiator spectator dude. So say we all.)
- "Your talent for . . . er . . . bouncing . . . is not very practical for . . . crusading against evil!" (Cosmic Boy, channeling William Shatner)
- "<Gasp!> - - You mean the Legion rejected you!!!" (Hi, I'm a Legion applicant, I go by the name of the Brown-Nose Kid)
- "I will myself to become . . . Bouncing Boy!" (Not exactly Shazam!, but it'll do)
- "I've become . . . a laughing stock! Should I forget my dreams about joining the Legion?" (Bouncing Boy)
- "Well, well! Saturn Girl . . . in person! How shocking to make your acquaintance this way!" (the electrical thief)
- "Become . . . Bouncing Boy!!" (who else?)
- " . . . and I promise to use my super-power only for good, without expecting financial reward, and I pledge to do my best to aid fellow Legionnaires who are in peril!" (Bouncing Boy)
- "Bouncing Boy made the grade - - maybe I can, too . . . " (The hope of Legion applicants, everywhere)
Roll Call
In order of appearance:
Legionnaires
- Bouncing Boy (38 panels - inc. 31 in flashback, 896 words; origin, induction ceremony)
- Chameleon Boy (7 panels - inc. 2 in flashback, 7 words)
- Cosmic Boy (31 panels - inc. 6 in flashback, 515 words)
- Saturn Girl (11 panels - inc. 7 in flashback, 45 words)
- Sun Boy (8 panels - inc. 2 in flashback, 30 words)
- Shrinking Violet (3 panels - inc. 1 in flashback, 0 words)
- Lightning Lad (9 panels - inc. 3 in flashback, 53 words)
- Colossal Boy (1 panel, 0 words)
- Phantom Girl (1 panel, 0 words)
- Ultra Boy (1 panel, 0 words; 2nd appearance)
- Triplicate Girl (6 panels - inc. 1 in flashback, 37 words)
Legion applicants/rejects
- "Curly-haired red pants boy" (1 panel, 0 words; only appearance)
- "Purple-Pot Leaf Boy" (3 panels, 0 words; only appearance)
- "Gas Girl" (2 panels, 0 words)
- Storm Boy (8 panels, 49 words; 1st appearance)
- "Light-Blue Carggite (3 panels, o words; only appearance)
- "Spider-Girl (6 panels, 14 words)
- "Tiger Shark" (1 panel, 0 words; only appearance)
- Lester Spiffany (4 panels, 93 words; only appearance)
- Matter-Eater Lad (5 panels, 26 words)
- "Kid Green V" (5 panels, 0 words; only appearance)
- "Purple Diamond Boy" (3 panels, 16 words; only appearance)
- "Pointy-Shoulder Lad" (2 panels, 25 words; only appearance)
Villains
- An unnamed giant on planet Grykk (1 panel, 0 words; only appearance)
- A berserk lead monster on planet Ferno (1 panel, 0 words)
- An unnamed electrical thief (8 panels, 92 words; only appearance)
Supporting characters
- Lester Spiffany's unnamed chauffer (2 panels, 13 words)
- The unnamed inventor of a super-pastic fluid (1 panel, 17 words)
Other characters
- 18 Legion groupies (4 panels, 44 words)
- 2 unnamed police officers on planet Lumbak (1 panel, 0 words)
- Citizens at a robot gladiator tournament, including
- A ticket girl
- A possible Carggitte (3 brown-haired guys in green that sit near Bouncing Boy) (3 panels, 15 words)
- Two four-man robot operator teams (1 a possible Braalian)
- An unnamed soda-pop salesman
- 3 unnamed doctors (2 panels, 42 words - all by white-haired doc with flesh-colored moustache)
- 2 unnamed criminals in a "247" cruiser (1 panel, 0 words)
- Citizens of Metropolis, including:
- A guy who thinks he's funny (2 panels, 17 words)
- An electrifried good samaratin (2 panels, 9 words)
- 3 presumed Science Police officers (2 panels)
- 4 camera operators
- Crowd at Bouncing Boy's induction ceremony
Planets and Settings
- 30th century Earth, including (all presumed to be in Metropolis):
- Legion Clubhouse, including
- Meeting room
- Trophy Room (1st appearance)
- A robot gladiator stadium
- A hospital
- Downtown Metropolis (presumed)
- The Museum of Medical Wonders (only appearance)
- Grykk (World with Russain-style buildings, terrorized by a giant; only appearance)
- Lumbak (only appearance)
- Ferno (only appearance)
- Xandu (mentioned as home of the Dazzle Gem; only mention)
- Mars (mentioned by Lester Spiffany)
Technology, Gadgets and Other Neat Stuff
- Sensitized scripto-plates (used by Legion groupies to collect autographs)
- A dupli-writing stylus (used by Lighting Lad to sign "thousands" of autographs simultaneously)
- Legion Clubhouse, including:
- A force-shield activator (used to keep groupies at bay)
- The Mission Monitor Board (actual name not used)
- Legion trophies
- Divided by hero, Invisible Kid has earned three to Sun Boy's one.
- The Selector Machine (See also: Planetary Chance Machine)
- The Dazzle Gem of Xandu (reportedly "worth a fortune" only appearance)
- Storm Boy's weather manipulator
- Super-plastic fluid (1st mention)
- Robot Gladiators (looking very much like "Rock 'em, Sock 'em Robots")
- A Missile Message (A flying bomb that explodes like fireworks to light up an advertising message in the sky; only appearance)
- 4-D Movies (Never mentioned again, so must have been a 30th century fad)
- Legion Plane (1st mention of the Legion having its own transportation fleet. See also: Legion Crusiers)
- The Healing Urn ("invaluable" tool "whose radiations can cure almost any illness; only appearance)
- The electrical thief's backpack generator and rubber costume
- Flags of the future
- Mid 20th century television cameras (??)
Notes
First appearances
This issue marks the first appearance of the following characters and recurring key Legion story elements:
Other stories in this issue
There is an additional story that does not feature the Legion - "Lex Luthor and Clark Kent: Cell-Mates"
Reprints
This Legion story has been reprinted in the following:
- Superboy-v1-180.jpg
See also
- Legion Publication History - Other issues published 1950-1964
- Legion Publication History - Other issues of Adventure Comics
- Pre-Crisis Chronology
- Quick index of links to other Adventure Comics issues
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