The Super-Stalag of Space

This is one of the hardest reviews I've ever written. Why? Because this story is crammed with so many cool and imaginative moments that I had difficulty in deciding what images to use. Blog posts need to be short, because many of you are reading them while you should be working or paying attention to your families!--so I can't ramble on too long. "Daddy, my leg is stuck in a bear trap and a hungry mountain lion is stalking me!" "Just a minute, honey, I need to finish reading about Blockade Boy!" So no matter what images I choose to use here, I'm leaving out several that are equally cool.

It's a two-part tale, running through Adventure Comics #344 & 345 (May & June 1966), with a script by Edmond Hamilton and art by Curt Swan. The story begins when the Legion receives an emergency signal from Brainiac 5, who has been taken prisoner on a remote planet. A team flies off to help and discovers a large prison camp, with android guards and surrounded by a jungle filled with deadly flora and fauna, located on that planet.

They all end up getting captured, with the guys put in one section of the camp and the gals in another. For most of the story, we are focused on the guy prisoners.

We find out the camp is run by an alien named Nardo, who was exiled from his home by lawmen, so has declared war on all good guys everywhere. Aside from the Legionaires, the camp is populated by superheroes from many other worlds. Nardo's guards wield enough raw power to keep everyone in line despite their powers.

What follows is a story line overtly based on the movie Stalag 17. With Brainiac 5 as escape officer, the prisoners start coming up with schemes to break out. But everytime they try something, Nardo is waiting for them. A shapechanging alien locked in the form of Superboy is the first to die trying to escape. Later, Matter Eater Lad chews a tunnel to freedom, followed by a hero called Blockade Boy. But once again, Nardo is waiting. In a single panel that contains an astonishing level of emotional impact, Blockade Boy sacrifices himself to save Matter Eater Lad.

Another hero, Plant Boy, falls when he loses his temper over brutal treatment and gets gunned down.

In Stalag 17, when the prisoners find out who has been feeding the Germans escape information, they set him up to get killed by the guards. That M.O. doesn't fit the Legion, though, so when a "hero" named Weight Wizard is fingered as the stool pigeon, he has an attack of conscience and makes a break for it. That doesn't end well for him.

Meanwhile, the girls are doing better than the guys. Duo Damsel and Light Lass come up with a clever combination of their powers, allowign Duo Damsel to getaway and start a stampede of jungle monsters into the camp. This jump-starts a series of action vignettes, which ends with Matter Eater Lad about to be executed when Superboy, Mon-El and Ultra Boy show up in the nick of time to finally capture Nardo.

Matter Eater Lad, by the way, is stunned by an atomic ray during all this, which has the side-effect of making him super-fat. This would be re-set a few issues later, but poor M.E.L. would have to endure some pretty lame fat jokes for a short time.

I've raved about Edmond Hamilton's incredible imagination many times in the past. This might be the Ur-example of just how much cool stuff he could inject into a story (backed up in this case by Curt Swan's equally cool art, of course). "The Super-Stalag of Space" drips with fun and imagination in every panel.

That's it for now. Next week, we'll return to prehistoric Earth for another visit with Tragg.