Readers got a triple dose of the Legion of Superheroes in comics on newsstands in April 1964.
In their cover feature in Adventure Comics 321, the Legion proper wended their way through the usual suspicions and accusations of betrayal to thwart the scheme of the Time Trapper.
In Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen 77, the ginger-haired cub reporter used an enlarging potion to become a 20th-century stand-in for Colossal Boy, costume and all, so that he could contain the threat of Titano the Super Ape. Titano’s kryptonite vision had rendered the Man of Tomorrow hors de combat.
And in World’s Finest 142, Superman, Batman, and Robin faced a foe who possessed all the powers of 20 members of the Legion. They shouldn’t have been able to beat him, and they couldn’t!
“Readers learn that the Composite Superman is actually Joe Meach, a former high diver who, down his luck, attempted a publicity stunt dive which would have killed him were it not for a timely rescue by Superman,” Matthew Grossman noted. Given a job as a janitor at the Superman Museum, Meach is struck by a freak lightning bolt that blasts statues of Superman and the Legion of Superheroes before hitting him, giving him all of those heroes’ combined powers.
“Vowing to prove himself Superman and Batman’s equal, he torments the duo again and again. Finally deciding to kill the captured and helpless pair, the Composite Superman suddenly finds his powers fading as the lightning charge in his body dissipates… The Composite Superman’s two Silver Age appearances have a distinct charm and a somewhat unique theme.”
Teenage superhero teams were in the air that month. Kid Flash, Robin, and Aquaman also joined forces in The Brave and the Bold 54 for a story that would lead to the formation of the Teen Titans. And over at Marvel, the teenage mutant X-Men were between their fifth and sixth adventures.
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