Classic Gone-and-Forgotten: Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #208

Over the weekend, I was reading a copy of Superboy (and the Legion of Super-Heroes) #208, one of those giant-size comics loaded with reprints. They had a story in the very back titled something like "The Evil Hand of the Luck Lords," which is about as obtuse a title as humanly possible, really.

Anyway, it's actually an above-average story for the era, and the Curt Swan art is some top-of-the-game stuff, hands down. The story centers around the often luckless Legionnaires - trust me, even the X-Men take a back seat to the Legion, in terms of hardship and loss. Members keep dying, losing body parts, getting abducted or going nuts, it's fucking endless - suddenly getting clued into some universal trend of good and bad luck of which they're sure they must be part.

Adolescent thoughts began to wander as to the ineffable mysteries of the universe, and specifically as to whether members may have brought bad luck on themselves by making unintended, unlucky portents. For instance, just before Lightning Lad went on to single-handedly fight the skyscraper-sized atomic whale monster from space which claimed his right arm, he stepped on a planetoid with his left foot, and of course that's why he probably barely escaped with his life from a monster that's like twelve Hulks riding Godzilla. BAD LUCK!

Anyway, where I'm going with this: There's a scene where the assorted bad-luck Legionnaires get together and commiserate about their respective problems, and they think to bring visual aids. Seriously, check this out:

Duo Damsel thought to bring three statues of herself, to teach the kids at home about basic math. What's really killing me is Bouncing Boy, who lost his super-bouncing ability (I'm not making this up) and chooses to showcase the fact by bringing a photo of his formerly fat ass. I fucking love this. He looks like the futuristic Jared. (Also, check out Star Boy looking forlornly at his show-and-tell item. "I -- I brought this interesting rock I found.")

Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel are at it again, here on the cover.

At least Duo Damsel's is some sort of memorial to her dead triplet self, I really don't think Bouncing Boy needs to remind everyone how fat he used to be. "Hey guys, remember when you left me at that buffet because I was face-down in the egg salad and I couldn't hear you shouting at me to get my lard butt into the minivan already? Remember? I brought a picture!"

So anyway, at some point, Lightning Lad decides to seek out the mythical Luck Lords on his own, making this declaration:

But when we look at the Legionnaires he actually chooses to take with him, notice who's missing:

Hey, Duo Damsel's there! And all she has is the power to be most guys' fantasy! Why did Bouncing Boy get left out? I suspect several key panels were left out of the story for editorial reasons. I have recreated them as I suspect they must have originally been penned: