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The Best of DC Vol 1 44

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"The Legion's Suicide Squad!": This story is reprinted from Adventure Comics #319.

The Best of DC #44 is an issue of the series The Best of DC (Volume 1) with a cover date of January, 1984.

Synopsis for "The Legion's Suicide Squad!"

This story is reprinted from Adventure Comics #319.

When the isolationist planet Throon builds a giant tower with a ray that incapacitates passing ships, the Legion of Super-Heroes is sent to try and stop them. The first squad which consists Saturn Girl, Bouncing Boy, Superboy, Lightning Lad, Chameleon Boy, Brainiac 5 and Invisible Kid are dispatched and find themselves easily defeated by devices that are tailor made to deal with their individual threats.

When the remaining members of the Legion all try in their own ways to get past the tower on Throon, they all meet defeat in different ways until all of the members of the Legion have been defeated. Having watched the entire fiasco on their viewing monitor, the Legion of Substitute Heroes goes in for the rescue. While the others keep the defenses of the tower busy, Night Girl uses her strength to burrow through the ground into the main control room of the tower. There she finds that the whole operation is controlled by two crazy old men. Easily defeating them and smashing their machine, Night Girl and the rest of the Substitutes free their Legion counterparts and return to Earth. There a special parade is put on in honor of the Legion of Substitute Heroes, finally giving them the recognition they deserve.

Appearing in "The Legion's Suicide Squad!"

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  • Elderly Throonians (Single appearance)

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  • Science Police
  • James Bannon (Single appearance)
  • Tim Vare (Single appearance)

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Synopsis for "Revenge of the Knave from Krypton!"

This story is reprinted from Adventure Comics #320.

After finishing his homework, Superboy travels to the 30th Century for his regular visit with the Legion of Super-Heroes. There they are alerted by the security system of an intruder and Superboy is shocked to find it is his old tormentor Dev-Em. Capturing Dev-Em, Superboy explains how Dev-Em was a juvenile delinquent on Krypton who was sentenced to suspended animation, survived Krypton's destruction and was revived on 20th Century Earth. Superboy then recounts about how Dev-Em managed to trap Superboy in the Phantom Zone and pose as him to cause chaos around Earth. After returning from the Phantom Zone, Superboy was unable to stop Dev-Em who escaped into the distant future. Superboy would finish his story by explaining that the only way he was able to clear his name was with the help of his friend Chief Parker who told everyone Red Kryptonite was the "reason" for Superboy's rampage.

However, it is revealed that Dev-Em has turned over a new leaf in the 30th Century and is a member of the Inter-Stellar Counter-Intelligence Corps. However, when reporting back into the I.C.C., Dev-Em has his mission to stop interplanetary criminal Molock to Superboy. Disguising himself as Dev-Em, Superboy manages to bluff Molock with fake Gold Kryptonite, which is actually Proty II in disguise. After Superboy smashes up Molock's operation and turns him over to the police, the Legion offers Dev-Em membership in the Legion, to which Dev-Em declines, preferring to work with the I.C.C.

Appearing in "Revenge of the Knave from Krypton!"

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Synopsis for "The Code of the Legion"

This story is reprinted from Adventure Comics #321.

When the Legion intruder alarm goes off, it turns out to be Bouncing Boy, who has just lost his powers due to an accidental exposure to a ray being developed by Element Lad. Instead of expelling him, the Legion decides to keep Bouncing Boy on as a reserve member of the Legion.

Later the Legion is visited by Commissioner Wilson who has heard of a secret weapon the Legion has developed called the Concentrator. It's a device so devastating, the Legion refuses to tell anyone it's secret. The Commissioner decides to test the Legion's ability to keep this secret by putting each Legion member through a test designed to put them up against the most lethal attack possible, in an attempt to coerce the secret out of them. All the Legion members pass except for Lightning Lad who tells the Commissioner the secret. As punishment, Lightning Lad is to be imprisoned.

However, Lightning Lad confides in his fellow Legionnaires that the information he told the Commissioner was false, and the if the Commissioner was an impostor he would soon be flushed out. Sure enough, the "Commissioner" turns out to be the Time Trapper, and when he realizes the deception he returns behind the Iron Curtain of Time once more. After his defeat, the Legion rescue the real Commander and vow to stop the Time Trapper once and for all. Later, the Legion meets up with their now powerless member Bouncing Boy who introduces them to his new girlfriend, who turns out to be just as fat as he used to be.

Appearing in "The Code of the Legion"

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Synopsis for "Lois Lane's Luckiest Day!"

This story is reprinted from Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #50.

Three female Legionnaires come back in time to help research a Superman Encyclopedia and, in disguise, help Lois Lane in her rounds as a volunteer nurse.

Appearing in "Lois Lane's Luckiest Day!"

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  • Dr. Sloan
  • Lois Lane Fan Club
    • Carla
  • Mr. Appleby
  • Perry White (On a TV or computer screen)
  • Superman (Mentioned only)
  • Tommy

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  • Hypnotic Mirror
  • Superman Encyclopedia (Mentioned only)

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Synopsis for "The Super-Tests of the Super-Pets!"

This story is reprinted from Adventure Comics #322.

While the combined efforts of the Legion of Super-Heroes, and the Legion of Substitute Heroes are busy working on a was to pierce through the Time Trapper's Iron Curtain of Time, the Legion of Super-Pets are gathered together to act should there be any crime while both Legion's are otherwise busy. Proty II decides to apply for the Super-Pets team, and is put through an initiation for membership.

The Super-Pets initially do not believe that Proty has what it takes to be a Super Pet and puts him on different "impossible" missions to see if he can be an asset to the group. First Proty manages to collect a sample of Vortum disguised as Superboy, later he helps Saturn girl against a giant eye-ball disguised as Chameleon Boy for the purpose of disguising himself as a member of the Legion without her notice. The third test is keeping the Legion out of their base for one hour, which he succeeds by disguising himself as an automated super-weapon, his final test is to accompany Krypto to explore a mysterious led lined trunk. When the trunk turns out to be full of Kryptonite, Proty braves the dangers of the deep to bring Krypto to safety.

As a test of his own, Proty disguises himself as Krypto and Krypto as a "dead" Proty to fool the Legion of Super-Pets, but quickly reveals the truth when they fall for it. After this final test, Proty II is officially selected to be part of the Legion of Super Pets.

Appearing in "The Super-Tests of the Super-Pets!"

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Synopsis for "The Eight Impossible Missions!"

This story is reprinted from Adventure Comics #323.

Saturn Girl announces that her one year term as Legion leader has come to an end. She suggests using a computer to help select the next leader but Brainiac 5 voices his protest. He feels that selecting a leader by computer would give him an unfair advantage and he would be selected. Proty II intervenes and suggests that he be allowed to construct a puzzle. The first Legionnaire clever enough to guess the correct solution would become the next leader. All the members unanimously agree. They observe as Proty changes his shape into Bizarro form and fashions a medallion for himself with his name written backwards on it. Proty then sends Saturn Girl on mission to the planet Rorbis where she is instructed to win the most difficult event at its Interplanetary Rodeo. Saturn Girl travels to the planet and readily wins the Kangobronc race. Ultra Boy is assigned the next mission where he is instructed to capture crooks that have escaped to a certain asteroid but have taken an invisible form. Ultra Boy arrives on the asteroid and uses his flashvision to heat up the rocky surface. The villains cry out in pain as their feet are burned by the hot surface thus revealing their location. Phantom Girl is the next to be selected for a mission. She is instructed to find Jor-Els greatest award that he received on Krypton. She is not to use a timescope or time bubble to find her answer. Phantom Girl enters the Phantom Zone to interview an old villain named Gazor who reveals that Jor-El was awarded the brain of Garf-Og and that turned out to be his highest honor. Proty then turns to the Legion members and asks them if any of them has figured out the solution to his clues. No one speaks up so Proty continues with his puzzle. Element Lad is then instructed to travel to Doom Crater where he is to use his powers to turn a block of marble into Uranium. He is then to remain in the crater for ten minutes without changing the block back to marble. The other Legion members express their concern that this task is rather deadly but Proty states that he has confidence in Element Lads abilities. Element Lad arrives at the site and changes the block into Uranium but he also attaches an anti-gravity belt to the block to get it to streak away a safe distance to allow Element Lad to stay in the crater unharmed. Despite Element Lads success, no one is able solve the puzzle and the contest continues. Proty then asks Pete Ross to display a super power. Everyone is taken aback because Pete Ross does not have any powers. Pete then uses his resourcefulness to take out a lead tablet and he scrawls Clark Kents name on it. He then shows it to Proty and tells him that he has used his mind reading abilities to find out Superboys secret identity. Proty sees that the secret identity is correct but no one is able to solve the puzzle with this additional clue. Brainiac 5 is then instructed to defeat three different computers at Chess at the same time. He easily completes his task but notes that there is a broken wire and that the computers were not functioning at their peek ability. Jimmy Olsen is given task, he is instructed to entertain the group in his Elastic Lad identity. Elastic Lad performs an amusing marionette show using his unique stretching abilities. Once the show comes to an end, Proty asks once more if there is anyone in the group that can solve his puzzle. This time Saturn Girl speaks up and announces that she has figured out the solution. She then asks the Legionnaires to line up in according to completed mission order. Once in line she then gives them cards with the first letter of their first or last name. They easily see that their cards spell out SUPERBOY with Protys medallion completing the last letter. He had turned into Bizarro earlier to indicate that his name is to be written backwards to highlight the Y in his name. The puzzle was meant as a tribute to mark Superboys anniversary of joining the Legion. Since Saturn Girl solved the puzzle, she earns the right to remain leader of the Legion once more.

Appearing in "The Eight Impossible Missions!"

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