The Legion Vs. Krypton

Looking back, Superboy has usually been best friends with the Legion of Super-Heroes....

...but, in one case Superboy divided the Legion, pitting friend against friend, setting members against each other in pitched battle!

Let's look back at that classic story!

The War Between Krypton And Earth

It was originally in Adventure Comics #333 (June, 1965) by Jerry Siegel, John Forte and George Klein, under a cover by Curt Swan and George Klein.

In the Legion's 30th Century, the team found proof that Krypton had invaded Earth millions of years ago, prompting Superboy and the Legion to go back in time in two teams to find out what happened.  Superboy, with Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, Colossal Boy and Element Lad go to ancient Krypton, finding it a feudal society, except for a rogue group of scientists led by Zat-El, preparing a spaceship to leave Krypton with "giant tame lizards" (what would be dinosaurs on Earth).  They help them on their way and go with them.  On Earth, Brainiac 5, with Phantom Girl, Chameleon Boy, Star Boy and Light Lass find Leta Lal, who, with her people, came to Earth from Vruun, have already colonized Earth, and are building the city of Atlantis. 

The two teams meet, and opposition begins as to who can get Earth, with the Kryptonians having no powers, as Earth has a red sun millions of years ago.

The battle wages, with both sides supposedly using stun weapons, but the Kryptonians find they are being killed by the Atlantians....with the Atlanteans becoming sick in Earth's atmosphere.  Superboy goes to negotiate with Leta Lal (whom he has fallen for), while Brainiac 5 finds out the Atlanteans are slowly being poisoned by the Xenon in Earth's atmosphere.  Mon-El comes back in time for a last minute save to stop the war, while Kryptonian physiology explains their deaths, Brainiac 5 finds a "cure" for the Atlanteans, which is to turn them into mer-people to survive, which he gives them the formula to do so, and Star Boy sinks Atlantis for them to live there.  The Kryptonians then inherit the Earth....but, Superboy finds their records in his time, finding that the "tame" lizards turned wild on Earth, and killed the diminished Kryptonians that were left.

This was one of 4 Adventure Comics stories reprinted in a four issue run of the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 1970s, at a time when the Legion was only a back up in Superboy's magazine (but, proved so popular with its Nick Cardy covers for the first two issues....

...with the popularity of the feature in Superboy as well, including Dave Cockrum's new costume designs for the LSH, so that with issue #197, the Legion shared the covers and space of the regular comic, eventually taking the comic from Superboy!). 

Losing his own comic (even to his friends) would make even a Superboy mad!