Adventure Comics #403 (On Sale: January 7, 1971), has a
Legion of Super-Heroes cover by
Curt Swan and
Murphy Anderson.
We begin with "The Stolen Super-Powers" by Jerry Siegel and John Forte and reprinted from Adventure Comics #304 (1963). Saturn Girl is the first to arrive at the clubhouse for the election meeting and sees the arrival of a crystal containing a mysterious message, which she reads and destroys. Later, she uses her mental powers to force each and every Legionnaire to vote for her and then orders them to wear special medallions.
Saturn Girl then "tests" each Legionnaire, and suspends those who fail, which they all do in the face of their new leader’s ridiculously harsh standards. Unknown to them, the special medallions enable her to duplicate their powers, and when the evil Zaryan the Conqueror attempts to attack Earth, she is the only one left to stop him. However, Lightning Lad ignores his suspension and follows her. He destroys Zaryan’s ship but is struck by the villain’s freeze-ray at the same instant.
Saturn Girl brings the dying hero back to Earth, where he explains that Mon-El, watching from the Phantom Zone, had read the note she had received – one sent by aliens, whose computers had predicted that a Legionnaire would die in combat with Zaryan. She had then schemed to become the only one to face him, and thus sacrifice her life for her teammates. She would have succeeded, had not Mon-El telepathically revealed her plan to Lightning Lad.
Unable to join Mon-El in the Zone because of sunspot activity, Lightning Lad dies.
Next, we have "The Secret of the Mystery Legionnaire" by Jerry Siegel and John Forte and reprinted from Adventure Comics #305 (1963). After rejecting two candidates for membership, the Legionnaires meet a worthwhile hero, Marvel Lad, or "Legionnaire Lemon," who demonstrates all the powers of Superboy and Mon-El, but not their weaknesses to Kryptonite and lead. By the end of the day, he passes their initiation by retrieving the rare mineral fluvium, defeating a Sun-Eater, vanquishing the monsters of the planet Brogg, and creating an anti-gravity metal. After being told that they will induct him the next day, he vanishes.
The following day, he appears – and reveals himself as Mon-El. He explains that Brainiac 5 had secretly developed an antidote to his fatal lead poisoning, but thought it best to keep it a secret in case it failed. Unable to resist the joke, though, the two of them concocted a fictitious identity for him to see whether or not he could join incognito.
After a final trip to the Phantom Zone to bid farewell to its criminal inhabitants, Mon-El joins the Legion permanently.
That is followed by "The Return of Lightning Lad" by Edmond Hamilton and John Forte and reprinted from Adventure Comics #308 (1963). While visiting the tomb of Lightning Lad, the Legionnaires watch as their deceased comrade rises from his death-like coma. However, they are concerned that, during this coma, the electrical charge that originally gave him his abilities may have drained away and that, powerless, he will have to resign from the team. The Legionnaires test him during their next mission, but Sun Boy secretly uses his power to cover for his friend.
Before a second test can be done, the team is ordered by the Chief of the Science Police to find the Thieves’ Planet, a refuge for the universe’s criminals. After capturing a pirate ship, in which Chameleon Boy finds and adopts a pet Protean, the team arrives on Thieves’ World. They are captured by its evil master, a being of pure electrical energy. With the help of "Proty", they escape, and with the help of Lightning Lad, who has his powers, after all, they defeat this evil master.
No one is more surprised to see Lightning Lad in action than Sun Boy, who explains that he had suspected from the start that the resurrected Legionnaire was not Garth Ranzz at all, but his twin sister. Exposed, "Lightning Lad" confesses, telling the team that she, too, was present years ago when her brother originally received his powers on Korbal. Later a vote is taken, and Ayla Ranzz rechristened Lightning Lass, joins the Legion.
We end with "The Super-Sacrifice of the Legionnaires" by Edmond Hamilton and John Forte and reprinted from Adventure Comics #312 (1963). The Legionnaires anxiously await the arrival of Mon-El, who has traveled to his home planet to find some way to revive their fallen comrade, Lightning Lad. When he returns, he claims to have failed, but Saturn Girl reads his mind and discovers that he is lying, although she cannot think why.
Refusing to accept defeat, the heroes dedicate themselves to finding a way to return Lightning Lad to life. Unfortunately, although they comb the galaxy for leads, they can unearth no working method. Finally, Saturn Girl confronts Mon-El with her knowledge that he does know a way to bring back their friend. He explains that a device can be built that will channel a lightning bolt through a special steel rod into Lightning Lad’s body and resurrect him, but not without killing whoever holds the rod.
The heroes decide to let fate choose which of them will sacrifice his life. Six Legionnaires bring their comrade’s coffin to Lightning World, and, holding identical rods, wait patiently to see who will be struck. However, Saturn Girl has secretly constructed her rod of duralim, a highly conductive metal. Finally, a bolt strikes her rod, and revives Lightning Lad, just as another Saturn Girl emerges from a nearby cave.
She explains that it wasn’t she who died, but Proty, Chameleon Boy’s pet, who had discovered her plan of sacrifice, lured her into a nearby cavern and then taken her place.
Edited by E. Nelson Bridwell.
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