A case of Karate Kid

Unfortunately, the past two months have been busy, so I apologize for not posting more.  I ran of out of some of my easier topics.  I'm working on a big one that I might have to split, so let me get some thoughts out on Val Armorr, Karate Kid.

Should have been a contender, issue 8

This is sort of an odd one here.  Both a villain and a hero at one point, because he did not seem very evil.  He just wanted to belong!  He tried out for the Legion and was rejected, joined the LSV, but eventually ended up joining the Subs in Vol 4.  It's Ron-Karr.

Electric Warriors #1 - spoilers abound.

Finally getting down to writing some thoughts on this issue.  The issues starts out, letting us now that this is not an Earth we are familiar with.  The year is 2735 and humans are no longer the dominant species.  Turns out that animals have been transformed into language proficient, bi-pedal beings and take over a la Animal Farm. In the first few pages we find out that Earth is attempting to rejoin the United Planets and that a human and animal representative will split the title of Electric Warrior which is to be some type of Planetary Champion.

A profile in mediocrity: Otaki

I did not make it to the comic book store due to bad weather in the northeast so I did not get Electric Warriors #1 from my LCS.  I hope to get it for next week.  Besides my schedule is off since I just did a "review" last week.  So I'll try something a little different this time.

Otaki was a character from the Retroboot, appearing in a handful of issues from volume 7.  Presumably, she was part of a new class at the Academy after Comet Queen and the others moved up. 

Legion: Secret Origin series- a review?

So as I was sorting some back issues, I came across this series and realized I have forgotten what it was about.  Legion Secret Origins ran concurrently with volume 7, starting one month after.  I'm not 100% why it came about unless Paul Levitz was under some type of contract for 2 series and this somehow fulfilled the contract.  We've been told the Legion's history countless times so I may have glossed over this, but still picked it up. The art is by Chris Batista, one of the best artists from the Reboot IMO.

Issue 1 shows the Brande incident with the founders being monitored by 3 other people, an Earthling, a Coluan and a Naltorian called the security directorate.  I'm not sure what role this people really serve to the story; they are new characters. What this also sets up that Phantom Girl met Brainiac 5 prior to the Legion while he was working as a contractor for the UP.  Admiral Allon also makes an appearance.

Issue 2 starts up with new member Triplicate Girl and the introduction of the Headquarters. Phantom Girl is set up as having a rare gift among her people.  We also see Gim Allon express and interest in the Legion as well. We get a small cameo from Marla Latham. The mysterious security directorate know something is coming.

Issue 3 has Brainy investigating a world for the UP and interacting with Admiral Allon.  Phantom Girl meets the security directorate. They note she does not disrupt electrical functions but she says she probably could if she tried.  The one thing I'm noticing here is there is a lot of youthfulness in the new and prospective Legionnaires.  Levitz primarily had them as adults so interesting to see his writing it here.  Brande appear to try to get Chameleon Boy in and we find that Brande has Invisible Kid in his employ. The thing I don't understand about this issue is the lack of diplomacy attempts to a perceived hostile enemy. Sure they just killed a world but one would think that they wouldn't just shoot first, knowing that they may have more advanced tech.

A side note here the costumes depicted are interesting with Rokk, Imra and Garth also sporting versions of their more modern costumes, with Phantom Girl and Colossal Boy in costumes more like their originals, and Lyle in his Legionnaires/Reboot costume and Triplicate Girl's looks nothing like any of her costumes.

Issue 4 introduces Circadia Senius.  Seems like Levitz is trying to introduce all of the Legion's cast of supporting characters.  There seems to be some sort of mutual attraction here between Phantom Girl and Brainy. We see new members formally introduced and Tinya clearly has the ability to disrupt electrical systems if she tries.  I still am not sure why Levitz is doing this now as he always wanted to keep Tinya separate from Shadowcat.  This series does seem to be focused on her and Brainy a lot but they are usually Levitz favorites.

Issue 5 we see Shrinking Violet and Ultra Boy on the cover but Vi does not appear in this issue.  The founders try to go to Superboy but some some shadowy creature sends them back. More alien menace from a wormhole that the Legionnaires assist with.

Issue 6 does hint that Bgztl is something more than may have been previously we thought of in the past. Phantom Girl is pretty useful here.  Her intangibility is treated like invulnerability.  Why can't Levitz write her like this all the time?  We see Chameleon Boy with one of the security counsel members who tried to assassinate Brande.  We see more of the shadowy figure which starts to assume a form similar to the Time Trapper.  Meanwhile, the Legion closes this wormhole and at the same instant this figure disappears, sucked through a portal.  The security counsel Naltorian confirms that is exactly who it is.  The visuals here remind me of JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time. Nevertheless, the Trapper does not appear to be the seemingly omnipotent creature we had seen in many Legion adventures.

So I wonder what purpose does this series actually serve? It doesn't set up any new continuity in the post-Flashpoint DCU or make it clear up continuity that Kal El was a member. To retcon in the security directorate and then do nothing with them in vol 7 is wasted. The attacking alien race could have been used as a new villain but we learn nothing about them, who or why they are. Maybe we could have returned to Bgtzl and explored that society again for the modern comic reader. The 0 issue that appears in volume 7 plays into some of this retold origin but nothing really that would have been earth-shattering if this limited series wasn't published. Just a lot of missed opportunity to add something new but that would have continuity. Instead, we got a lackluster volume 7 that never materialized anything new and great, sort of like this mini series.

Should have been a contender, issue 7

Visi-Lad (Rhent Ustin) is one of those characters that seemed to be created as someone to fill a page.  He appears to be a human with some strange eyes, 4 total, and he was found on a doorstep outside an orphanage.  OK, how depressing is it that they still have orphanages in the 30th century?  Also, this origin would not fly today as many places now have surveillance.  Moving on.  Of course the only place for this poor child was to join the Legion Academy.  He has a few scenes over the years but nothing significant.  It appears that he joined during the 5 Year Gap but we never saw it.

A case of Shadow Lass

I know I have a lot of posts about female characters.  It's not that I hate female characters; I love female characters!  However, most of the Legion females are terribly written. Few are allowed to grow in power.  Often times, they are simply the "girlfriend-of" which brings me to my next character: Shadow Lass.  This is going to be a long one.

Universe Building: the Kents

So I'm not really thinking of the elder Jonathan and Martha.  I'm thinking of those two possible descendents of Kal-El.  Namely,  (Richard) Kent Shakespeare and Laurel (Elna) Kent and

Should have been a contender, issue 6

Today I will be considering another long-term Academy member.  This one never saw too much action or development.  He was another fan creation and sometimes, the fans can make some pretty good designs.  This would be Bobb Kohan, aka Crystal Kid.

How a woman dresses.

I know these days that women should be able to dress how they want without fear of being judged or being sexually assaulted.  And I am not a prude by any stretch of the imagination, but when I was at Comic Con, artist Luciano Vecchio was there.  He is known for doing some LGBT art but he had drawn a piece that had all the LGBT characters from the Legion of Superheroes in it.  I stopped by his table and purchased this: 

Pretty much, it has all the current X-Ladies in their current costumes.  The one thing I notice about these characters though, is that they are covered up.  Only Storm and Psylocke have lower necklines and Husk and Emma are the only ones that show any type of midriff.  The costumes here are not redesigns, this is basically what they are wearing in the current comics.  So why is it that the X-Ladies, in our "enlightened day and age" are more covered up than ever before? 

One of my criticisms of the Legion has been that the females are often there for eye-candy for horny boys.  They are there to be "girlfriend of" a strong male character.  They don't often do anything because most of them have defensive or sensory powers. Yet characters like Dawnstar and Projectra must spend a fortune on intimate waxing.  Meanwhile, most males are covered except for their head and hands.  When people say that in 1000 years, we will be even more enlightened, I say BS.  The fact that the Legion has transuits wouldn't mean that women would dress with more exposed skin.  Why doesn't that also apply to the males?  And yes, Cosmic Boy, Star Boy and Tyroc have all had costumes that look like they come from an International Male Catalog but that was an exception, not the norm.  In last volumes of the Legion, they were all covered up fully but Sensor Girl is now sexy Sensor Girl.  *sigh*

It's a shame when even artists like Jiminez support these types of costumes instead of favoring more practical designs.  Dream Girl literally wears a silver one-piece bathing suit with boots and gloves/gauntlets.  Some have tried to clothe her more but we always end up back to her same basic uniform.

I believe that comics have the ability to subconciously influence readers. Granted, I think there should always be a spectrum of characters, but showing female characters as capable, smart, even powerful at times, but equal to male characters, then comics does it part to help women. 

Baltimore Comic Con 2018

So today I attended Baltimore Comic Con.  I was excited because I hadn't been to a Con in 18 years (due to laziness mostly).  Baltimore is mostly a comic oriented event so a fair amount of creators and studios. Both Paul Levitz and Mark Waid were going to be there, probably 2 of the most well known Legion of Superheroes writers and they were both going to be a panel discussion on Team Building.  Bascially, how to build a superteam.  The panel was being moderated by Bob Greenberger with Denny O'Neill and Ron Marz.  Denny was there for his JLA contributions and I totally had forgotten that Ron worked on Stormwatch pre-Wildstorm.  Well, I found out a couple of days ago that Levitz had cancelled.  Bummer!  He must have known I would be there so he cancelled.  Instead, they had John Ostrander on the panel, known for Suicide Squad, so they really had a good mix of team books represented.  It was  a pretty interesting panel, though Denny could get off topic a lot.  Mark noted that he was a big fan of the Legion.  

A Case of Phantom Girl

Tinya Wazzo, aka Phantom Girl, aka Phase, aka Apparation, held the distinction of being one of the longest serving Legionnaires in the original continuity.  She was the 5th to be granted membership, after Triplicate Girl.  She factored into a lot of stories, whether just by the nature of her powers or by her relationship with Ultra Boy.  For the most part, her various incarnations have been variations on a theme, except during the Reboot when she was said to be part Carggite, but I'm going to skip that convoluted mess. She made appearances in all continuities except 5YL where she was said to be killed.  Coincidentally, a female wearing Tinya's uniform from Giffen's later stint on the Baxter series popped up in L.E.G.I.O.N 89 with the ability to phase, so they gave her the name Phase.  She had no memory of where she came from and she spoke a form of Interlac that was strange to members of the L.E.G.I.O.N. title.  No surprise, Keith Giffen was writing that book.  Her move to the 20th Century was caused by the Time Trapper in a strange switch with a Durlan who would become RJ Brande. The origin of Phase has been retconned due to other editorial shifts.  (The current Phantom Girl in Terrifics will not be touched upon).

Universe Building: The Legion of Substitute Heroes

The Subs are those characters I never quite got.  Their genesis is pure Silver Age and meant to be fun.  Their usage, however, didn't really hold up to scrutiny.  Making them a last line of defense seems odd when they aren't worthy enough to be Legionnaires. They seem to be used less in the Bronze age.  They get a couple pages in Earthwar.  We do see them make an appearance during the GDS and Night Girl is seen in a Cosmic Boy spotlight issue (#297). They gain some additional members and form an auxiliary.  But they do not appear again until the Subs specials where they are clearly meant to be comedy relief.  By this time, Night Girl has left and Polar Boy decides to disband the Subs and join the Legion.  We see Night Girl used a bit more and then that is it until the 5 Year Gap.

During that time, we find out that many of the Subs join the Legion when it's on its last legs until everyone finally gives up.  In the 5YL series Polar Boy and Night Girl make a few appearance both nothing significant. Infectious Lass is show to be married to Invisible Kid II, but she doesn't see much action.  It's not until well into vol 4 that we see that the Subs are no longer jokes, at least  Fire Lad, Stone Boy, Chlorophyll Kid and Color Kid.  Fire Lad really never had silly powers and it appears he controls them well.  Color Kid is able to generate blinding strobe lights, lighting up regions of outer space.  Stone Boy is taught how to retain his powers even in suspended animation state by a form of hypnosis and because the Dominators have plant based tech, Chlor is a natural in its sabotage. It's a nice bit of redemption for these characters.  We do see a bit more of them and they remain capable.

Fortunately, a Reboot of the Subs is only hinted at with Polar Boy and Night Girl and never happens. Infectious Lass however is in the Cadets program.   The Threeboot shows Night Girl applying for Legion membership but doesn't make it, but may be part of a Legion reserve.  This is not explored further as  it was towards the end of the Threeboot.

When we come to the Retroboot, the Subs make a valiant effort again.  While Color Kid is taken out of action, we see Rainbow Girl now as a member.  Stone Boy is back to his original powers and Chlor says he can talk to plants, but can't really.  So we are back to more of a comedic approach and there are only 4 of them present (Fire Lad is there).  However, this is their only appearance. Night Girl and Polar Boy are members of the Legion.

Now beyond the original Subs, we see a Legion Annual for the Baxter series where Cosmic Boy, Night Girl, along with Duo Damsel, Bouncing Boy, Karate Kid II and Comet Queen form a "new Subs."  Why?  I don't know.  There is literally no point to it as they are basically the Legion Academy with Lu, Chuck, Rokk and Lydda. And why would Cosmic Boy retire from the Legion in order to head up a new group?  Maybe Levitz just needed a filler story and that's what we got.

The Subs as a group really serves no purpose.  It seems like they sometimes get their own missions but who funds them? I can't believe there is work for them that the SPs couldn't handle.

If you are rejected from open tryouts, then you need to go into the Academy or join the SP.   As Legion leader, if your  team of nearly 25 plus Reserves and Academy is not adequate, a bunch of rejects won't make a difference. I know some people enjoy them, and truly, I don't dislike them either. Fire Lad could easily qualify for Legion membership with the proper control and my post on Color Kid would expand him a bit.  Chlor could probably get work in conservation. Stone Boy, Porcupine Pete and Infectious Lass may not have the most useful powers.

I really feel the Subs is one of those concepts that should not be revived.

Volume 7: a reflection

I recommend the Legion of Super-Bloggers Blog.  One of the contributors, dranj,  has been going back and reviewing issues from the last two volumes of Legion of Superheroes.  He did volume 7 first and I reread them along with him and gave my opinions.  Currently he is doing volume 6.  I recommend checking it out!

Volume 7 was the last Legion series written, mainly by Paul Levitz with some contribution by Keith Giffen on both art and story.  It was an interesting time for the Legion, and readers!  Between volume 6 and 7, something happened to the Legion Lost team of Tyroc, Chameleon Girl, Timber Wolf, Dawnstar, Wildfire, Tellus and Gates.  Legion Lost's appearance in the 21st century appears to be part of their mission but in vol 7, they are presumed dead.  Maybe there is a reason for this divergence but I will touch upon that later.  Colossal Boy has resigned, presumably because of the presumed death of Yera.  Quislet has completely disappeared and nothing more is said about that.  I find it to be a shame that the truly alien looking members of the Legion are gone.  

In place of those 9 members, 4 of the Academy members are moved up:  Chemical Kid, Comet Queen, Dragonwing and Glorith, with Harmonia also becoming a member.  Rumor is that Levitz was told to bring some new blood onto the team.  Honestly, I would have liked some new blood in volume 6, besides Earth-Man. I wonder if Levitz would have moved on some of the other Academy members from Adventure comics knowing he needed to add new characters in a few months.  What I do know is that when Fabian Nicienza took on Legion Lost, he was given his pick of Legionnaires and he got whom he wanted.  Fabian confirmed this for me on twitter. 

What we got with the volume 7 team actually turned out to be one of the most diverse Legion teams ever.  

Should have been a contender, issue 5

Danielle Foccart was a character that got ignored in the Retroboot.  In fact, I don't recall Jacques mentioning her once.  It's not quite clear how many years were to have transpired between the end of the Baxter series and Vol 6.  Obviously, there had to be a few years because Saturn Girl's boys were not infants.  If they aged, it makes me wonder how far Danielle had aged.  She easily could have been in the Academy.  Perhaps Levitz felt anything he had shown with her would have been derivative to her development from the 5YL continuity. Maybe he only threw that hint about her having powers as  just a random element years ago, never to be developed again.   It's unclear.

What happened to COMPUTO?

Going back into Vol 6 & 7, I just realized something was missing.  That is the Legion's majordomo: Computo.  I'm not talking about Danielle Foccart here.  That's another post.  No, Computo had been there for all of volume 3.  He added a bit of humor to interactions and helped run their headquarters.  During the Five Year Gap, he was acquired by the Dominators and rebuilt into B.I.O.N. but that continuity is now separate.  I guess he could have been there in the background, but Levitz  didn't even give him a nod.  With Tharok's dismantling of technology in volume 7, it makes me wonder if there couldn't have been some storyline there, such as being destroyed, becoming a weapon against the Legion, or something else.  It could have been interesting to have Tharok acquire him and in the process, he evolves.  I think I may go to Baltimore Comic-Con this year.  Levitz will be there.  Maybe it's worth an ask?

A case of Ultra Boy

Yes, I'm sure many people will think me weird thinking that Ultra Boy is problematic in some way.  It's no surprise Jo is one of the most popular Legionnaires. His one-man-show in Superboy and the Legion of Super-heroes 239 showed that he was plenty capable to best many of his teammates, including Superboy and Mon-El.  Many times, Jo was seen to be quite proficient at switching his abilities on the fly, except maybe when he was flying at full speed across space.  His intelligence, however, varied with writers.

Universe Building: the Legion Academy

The Legion Academy, at one point known as the UP Militia Academy and the Legion Cadet program, was a training school for the Legion of Superheroes.  The wikipedia entry on it makes me chuckle:

Training there may be deficient to some degree, however, as Chemical King, Karate Kid II and Magnetic Kid have all died in the line of battle, though as two of those were selfless sacrifices made to save others, they clearly teach heroism quite well.

LOL.  Initially, it is not clear who was in charge of the training at the Academy.  Wildfire does appear to be heavily involved in it after he becomes a member, but that is after Timber Wolf and Chemical King join.  We see later that Duo Damsel and Bouncing Boy later become instructors, which was actually a pretty good way for Levitz to keep their fans happy.  In the Retroboot, however, Levitz demotes Night Girl from full membership to Academy instructor (and presumably reserve status). 

The future is fluid. Some thoughts on Electric Warriors

So writer Steve Orlando is going to the future, but not the 31st century.  Instead he is going somewhere in the middle between present day and Legion with a new series called Electric Warriors, which is inspired by the 1980's mini series Electric Warrior by Doug Moench.  This series will focus on a post-apocalyptic future after the age of heroes, reminiscent of Kamandi.  It will showcase four major races, Earth, Khunds, Dominators and the Vrangs.  I don't know much about the Vrangs but Orlando has a penchant for digging into obscure Superman mythos.  Essentially, Orlando plans to look at these races and how they will/may change in about 500 years.  He notes that the Vrangs, a conquering race, change and become a nomadic, farming racing.  I'm somewhat interested in the concept.  But will it impact the Legion?

The article, which you can read here, has some interesting thoughts from Orlando. 

 io9: Is it divergent from the mainline continuity?

Orlando: My opinion of how this fits in, along with all the other futures DC has, is that it’s all happened until it’s happened.

io9: That’s a very Hypertime way of looking at it.

Orlando: But it’s true! Until decisions in the present are made, Electric Warriors is happening, Kingdom Come is happening, and so is the future of Professor Zoom—which is also the 25 Century. Until we reach that time, everything is fluid

I find this info to be pretty significant.  Basically, the next Legion writer will have choices: 

1. build off what Orlando creates
2. go back to what was
3. go in an even different direction

It's actually a good position to put the next writer in and maybe some fans should accept Orlando's zen-like stance to continuity. I do have to wonder why any writer would go back to what was.  DC has continued to mine LSH continuity for modern day purposes.  We have heard Braal pop up in modern day context and Phantom Girl from the Terrifics appears to be from a Bgzlt that may be in our own universe. And she has the last name Wazzo!  In fact, as Phantom Girl II notes, she was traveling from Bgztl to Bismoll, implying that those races had contact before the UP. Dominators and Khunds have appeared for 20+ years in the modern DC stories after being introduced years prior in LSH.  And yet when Levitz returned to the Legion, he used the same Dominators race that has always existed and who seemingly don't change.  So maybe some fresh new concepts isn't such a bad thing.  What happens if the Dominators overthrow their caste system? Could the Khunds make peace with the UP?  Maybe it's time to give rest to old familiars and try to look at these races in a new light.  We've seen Khund Legionnaires in the 5YL saga; could we see a Dominator Legionnaire?  

I'll be picking up Electric Warriors just because I think it sounds interesting, not because I think I'll miss something when the LSH returns.

Should have been a contender, issue 4

For this installment, I figured I would focus on one of the Subs. Ladies and Gentlemen: Ulu Vakk, aka Color Kid

A Case of Light Lass

If there has ever been a character I've had a conceptual problem with in the Legion, it's Light Lass.  I'm not talking about Ayla Ranzz in general; I like Ayla with her lightning powers.  So I'm going to focus on those times when she went by the name Light Lass or Gossamer, which is basically pre-COIE, the SW6 Legion and the Threeboot.  People seem to like Light Lass, even writer/artist Phil Jimenez.

First of all, let's explore the origin. Ayla was first admitted to the Legion as Lightning Lass.  When Lightning Lad returned, they shared the same powers.  This did not seem to be an issue at the time.  However, Edmond Hamilton must have thought it was, so he creates a story where Dream Girl thinks the Legionnaires are going to die and Lightning Lass is one of them.  So in a weird case of semantics, Dream Girl thinks that if she changes Ayla's powers, she won't die, because she is no longer Lightning Lass.  Ayla thinks her powers were taken away, not changed.  So a week after the supposed incident occurs, Ayla discovers her new powers to make things "super-light" (because there is nothing extraordinary about making objects lightweight) and changes her name to Light Lass.  Turns out, Dream Girl changed her powers for nothing but Ayla is unfazed as she can now lift the clubhouse.  Light Lass keeps the alliteration of her original codename, despite it being somewhat confusing to describe her powers.

Universe Building: Heroes of Lallor

One of the notable things about the Legion is that it literally had to build its own universe of characters over the years.  Having Batgirl join them for a mission wasn't going to happen, so they had to create characters that could serve as antagonists/allies/supporting character.  Introducing the Heroes of Lallor:

L-R: Beast Boy, Gas Girl, Duplicate Boy, Life Lass, Evolvo Lad

They initially showed up as Legion antagonists but they were really tricked and it was just a misunderstanding. Beast Boy later dies but appears to be connected to Orintho of the Wanderers, another 30th century team that was once pitted against the Legion and became allies (they didn't really care much about these similar stories in the 60s).  Lallor's status in the UP varies based on the continuity over the years.  Duplicate Boy is probably the most prominent member and has been seen the most in various stories.  He also came into play because he was dating Shrinking Violet prior to being replaced by Yera.  We get a Gas Girl solo appearance during the Universo Project storyline.  Gas Girl could have even played a bigger role in the Universo Project story and been considered for membership, but Levitz appeared to be looking for a way to get Saturn Girl back on active status in a logical way. The team makes a 5YL appearance. Some of them are seen in the Reboot as parts of other teams and Evolvo Lad makes an appearance during the Threeboot, but they are missing from the Retroboot.

The Heroes of Lallor have been used successfully as supporting characters over the years.  They seem to be fairly powerful, more powerful than some of the Legionnaires! Duplicate Boy can imitate multiple superpowers at one time with none of their weakness, just not intelligence.  Gas Girl can change into any gas, which can be quite useful for defense, offense and infiltration. Life Lass had an almost magical ability to imbue "life" into objects.  The upper limit of this wasn't shown.  Evolvo Lad could go from a big-brain to a super-strong Cro-Magnon form strong enough to punch Supergirl.  His Threeboot version had telepathy in his evolved state.  

Given Lallor's proximity to the Dominion and Khundia, the Heroes would make an excellent border patrol team which helps to justify their existence as a superteam.  When we got the Tales series, we should have had a story or at least seen one or two of them support the Legion team. Perhaps a Reserve membership is order for the Heroes?  I feel like there is some unexplored territory with these characters and they interest me enough to want to see them again.

As a side note. I feel there was a missed opportunity to revive these characters in the Retroboot.  In Vol 7, Star Boy decides to mount on a rescue mission for Brainy and Dreamy.  What he gets is a rag-tag bunch from the Academy.  Given that the Heroes are not Legionnaires, I think Star Boy should have contacted them to help with the rescue mission.  Duplicate Boy can mimic Dawnstar's tracking powers and could have gotten them to the Dominion world. It would have also spared us the horrible Comet Queen betrayal. (I did mention that mind control was one of Levitz's crutches).  I hope a new writer finds a way to bring these characters around again.

Should have been a contender, issue 3

In my appreciation, or condemnation, of all things LSH, I don't want to leave out the Threeboot.  It seems so many hated that run, that by the time Jim Shooter came on, I think people felt it was tainted.  It's a shame because I think Shooter really did some interesting things.  He introduced three new characters, one of those became a reservist, even though she was meant to actually be a new member  I'm talking about the little known Sizzle.

What Sells a Book?

I've been meaning to watch the Chris Claremont's X-Men documentary for a while.  There were essentially two comics books that started shaping my love of comics in 1982:  The X-Men* and Legion of Superheroes.  The LSH Facebook group I'm a part of asked today what was my first Legion comic.  It was LSH #293, right in the middle of the Great Darkness Saga. This time period of course was part of the Levitz/Giffen collaboration.  The Legion seemed to have a lot in common with the X-Men to me.  Female leaders, alien characters.  Unfortunately for me, LSH was not quite as available at my local drugstore, but X-Men was.  I have went back and collected and read most of the Levitz/Giffen stories though. 

There is one line in the documentary that really got me to thinking and it deals with when Claremont was removed from the title.  He said that Marvel thought that the characters were selling the books, not the writer.  I realized he summed up Marvel's take in a nutshell, and even DC to an extent.  Wolverine was appearing everywhere.  There were multiple X-books.  And yes, many of those characters are beloved, but we see sales figures now that all the X-books combined is is nowhere near the 400,000+ units Uncanny used to sell on a monthly basis.

Now before I go too far, I acknowledge that Claremont's statement is somewhat boastful but he did help to develop many of the X-Men even though he did not create them. And if you watch the documentary, you know his artists, his editors all helped to play a role in his success. 

But I wonder what, if any of this, applies to the Legion?

So let me dissect this a bit because it's two parts.  Unlike the X-Men who Claremont started with a blank slate, Levitz had many established characters to work with, some he had a hand in developing or creating.  So you might give this a resounding yes for the creators. There were plots and subplots that spun out.  Levitz also tried to focus on more characterization as well.  Dream Girl became a developed character.  We saw more of the interpersonal relationships populate the title, similar to what Claremont was doing with the X-Men.  

When Giffen took over the title with T&M, I still think the creators were driving the story.  The Legion was doing what Claremont wanted to do with the characters:  move them forward. Obviously this changed with the Reboot.  It's no surprise that the Reboot closely resembled the SW6 Legionnaires, even just for some type of continuity.  I feel though the Reboot is also where DC started following Marvel and decided that the characters will sell the book. Don't get me wrong, I like Roger Stern.  I have always enjoyed his Marvel work, just not his Legion work. I didn't the writing to be strong at all.

Of course our next course change was Abnett and Lanning.  I feel they tried get back to what they feel worked in the past, but it was an attempt to move forward at the same time.  Eventually this era would come to a close in preparation for Threeboot.  The Threeboot didn't work for me.  Just having new versions of the characters was not enough because the story itself did not appeal to me.  I feel Threeboot was another attempt to have the characters sell the book.

Which brings us back around to Levitz's last endeavor.  Something seemed different this time.  I don't think the characters were selling the titles and it did not appear that Levitz's writing was either.  There are obviously going to be some characters in the Legion, though I am loathe to admit, that need to be there:  Mon-El, Brainiac 5, the founders.  It's no surprise that when volume 6 came out and they had a reader election, Mon and Brainy were voted as leader and deputy . Despite attempts to bring back Steve Lightle on covers and even Giffen, readers were not having it. (I think this is where the X-men is these days.) Hopefully the publishers are realizing it's not enough to have the characters if the writing isn't there. 

And people will always say which version? which Legion?  I feel if a writer gets in there are starts developing these characters again, it shouldn't and won't matter.  The Legion is not so precious that it has to return to some status quo.  Characters have died over the years.  They should continue to die.  Some characters should move on to allow new characters to come in. Maybe some characters should be revisited to see if they can be improved.  It will be no small task to revive the Legion, moving forward into 2019 and 3019.

*If you were wondering, my first X-Men comic was Uncanny #157

A case of Harmonia

Once again, I delve into a slightly problematic character in the Legion of Superheroes.  This time, it's that volume 7 recruit: Harmonia.

What's old is new: Earthwar

This story was before I was old enough to read.  I didn't start reading comics until 1982.  Any older Legion stories I read was because they were collected in the DC Digests.  The Legion had very few multi-part epics by this point.  This one seems pretty significant though.  I believe it will be part of the next hardcover Superboy & LSH available next month.  I read it earlier this year from Comixology because I wanted to see what the fuss was all about.  Expect some brutal opinions.

A case of Kem

I don't want to make it seem like I pick exclusively on the female Legionnaires.  They have usually been most of the unrepresented characters in Legion Lore.  You know, 4 males/1 female per team?  It's time to address one of the biggest WTF characters in comic-dom:  Matter-Eater Lad

From point A to point B

I get it.  Legion of Super-Heroes is supposed to be about... super-heroes.  Unfortunately, it's set 1000 years into the future, which means it will have to border on science fiction.  There has always been elements of sci-fi in Legion stories (advanced science, alien races, space travel) but they were never really thought out much.

I've somewhat touched upon this in my transuit and Dawnstar posts.  It's never made sense for Legionnaires to be flying around through space, especially Daxamite/Kryptonians because of this whole speed of light thing.  There have been references how the Legion lore was influenced by Star Trek, especially in the design of some of their cruisers and technology.

Many older fans are familiar with this image.  The parallels to Star Trek are pretty obvious here as it notes Impulse engines, Warp Engines, Transporter Room - all design elements from Star Trek, though I don't really think we ever saw Transporters used much as these ships were capable of landing. It is interesting to note how the Legionnaires have to man the Engineering section.  All things considered, perhaps there were some missed opportunities here.  It was always stated that Sun Boy was one of their best pilots.  What if they needed civilian support staff?  Wildfire was an astro-engineer so perhaps he should have been admitted based on his knowledge of engineering, not what powers he actually had as ERG-1.  

Warp travel aside, we also had hyperdrive technology.  It appears hyperdrive tech is used in the 21st century DCU though but there was one in-panel reference in the 70s to hyperdrive.  In the Dawnstar initiation story, we have Dawnstar following thieves through a space warp.  Now, was that more like a wormhole, something that occurs naturally, or was it caused by the ships?

In the Fatal Five story, we also see Ferro Lad used a jump ship. I would assume that would be based on folding space tech.  This is also noted to be experimental tech.

One of the most used tech used has been Stargates.  They factored prominently during the Reboot and was part of a significant storyline.  Stargates themselves are generally regarded as a type of wormhole travel, although, they could be part of a larger part of some type of tunnel system. Geoff Johns did have the Legion using Stargates in his Superman and LSH story.  

We have also seen transmat used briefly in the Threeboot as a method of instantaneous transport without a ship, but it was noted to be very expensive.

Wikipedia has a very nice reference of different FTL travel methods in TV and other fiction.  Hyperspace   If you do go to the Wikipedia page, it has a see-also to Boom Tube. Boom Tubes currently will allow for point A to point B travel, without necessarily going to Apokolips.  Cyborg has this tech but potentially, it could be incorporated into other tech and make its way to the 31st century.  

The inconsistencies of travel

So this has been one of my biggest pet peeves.  Superman writers have been much more cognizant of his ability to travel near the speed of limit by noting that he can only travel from the Sun to the Earth, in that it takes about 8 minutes. Legion writers, not so much.  We have Legionnaires traveling too distant worlds not using a ship.  A trip to Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our sun, would take 4.22 light years.  YEARS. There really is no way for the "power squad" or whatever you would like to call them to travel to distant worlds without a ship.  And just consider, throwing relativity out the window for a second, that if they could travel several times the speed of light, that they wouldn't be exhausted from their trip?  Even Superman would need to recharge.  Meanwhile, the Legion has SuperBOY,  who hasn't developed the stores of energy that adult Kal has, doing this.  So when it is written that Dawnstar is faster than a Legion cruiser, she potentially could be, until that cruiser engages its hyperdrive.  It makes me question who ever decided that Dawnstar, Wildfire and others should fly along side Legion cruisers.  It's a fun visual, but really isn't well thought-out. Even Stargates require a ship to use to power them up so a cruiser would have to accompany the "power squad." 

And furthermore with Ultra Boy, he should never be able to travel at the same speed as Daxamites and Kryptonians as he relies on a transuit to protect him through space.  If those things can stand the stresses of traveling at the speed of light, makes one wonder why they don't build stuff out of transuit material.  Well, I guess they did with Earth's polymer screen.

The future needs to be imaginative.  I think some writers have been more successful than others over the years. With fantastic technology, the challenge is finding a place for your characters who are supposed to be "super." How to get the Legion to move at the speed of Plot becomes more of a footnote but maybe figuring that out helps to figure out which characters should be in the next version and which characters need updated or need to be moved on out of the Legion.

Should have been a contender, issue 2

Since it is Pride month, it only feels right to discuss the first original Legion character that is openly gay.  No ret-cons, no slash fic, no coy references.  I am of course referring to Tel Vole, otherwise known as Gravity Kid.

A case of Dawnstar

I have always kinda liked Dawnstar even though she can be a pretty terrible character.  Her visual appeal is undeniable.  Winged characters have always been a go-to in comics.  Yes, her costumes are a bit objectifying.  Her personality is somewhat unlikable at times, being totally officious, but then her hot and cold with Wildfire.  She never developed many female friendships and seemed to be most antagonistic with Phantom Girl. Then again, Levitz was not that strong in writing female personalities.

Levitz obviously created her with the purpose of making her tracking abilities a plot device in stories; but she had no offensive abilities.  Her best attempts over the years were dodging and weaving her attackers into destroying themselves. Since many of the Legionnaires had high profiles, one would think that attackers would leave her alone since can't really stop them herself, but instead during a chase, they fire upon each other or go headlong into the sun while chasing her.

She was extremely fast even though were are never given any explanation as to how her wings work in outer space.  This also raises a huge issue with faster-than-light travel.  Unfortunately, details about this have been overlooked in most of the Legion's publication history.  We should never see Dawnstar flying outside a cruiser if that cruiser uses some type of hyperdrive. She somehow survives in space unaided, no transuit or anything.  As I mentioned in my transuit post, they obviously have to protect against radiation in space so much so she must be naturally protected against that.  Early on, she is noted as being extremely tough (you would have to be to survive the vacuum of space) but she has show to be susceptible to physical injuries.  She has also been shown to be immune to the intense heat of Tharr, but not Wildfire's loving touch when he had a more solid form.

At times, her tracking abilities have been inconsistently portrayed, first as not very accurate, and they couldn't work on the moon or on planets, but she could also track people to asteroids.  She also did some interesting things, like sense fluctuations that a world was not in the proper place or sense if there was life in an area.  But no, Levitz loved her tracking abilities especially and that seems to be where we saw Dawnstar used most.  I joke that when he didn't have Dawnstar for vol 7 because she was in Legion Lost vol 2, he had to create a tracking character (Mwindaji) to fill that void because loves his missing Legionnaire stories.

I feel like the identity of Bounty for 5YL was almost an attempt to snub at Levitz for not doing more with Dawnstar, or creating her with such a limited purpose.  And really, there is no reason to believe that Dawny couldn't use her tracking power to be a sniper shot.  Many historical Legion storeis have shown characters using weapons and it would help to give Dawnstar some type type of offensive measures.

In the JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time  animated, Dawnstar had some sort of light abilities, able to create light daggers but able to imbue herself with the energy that she flew into the Time Trapper, knocked him off balance and caused a huge explosion. It's a decidedly different take on her.

It's difficult sometimes to discuss Dawnstar without bringing up Shikari who seemed to be a bit better thought out than Dawnstar, with a retractable body armor, the ability to fight in close quarters, and not a tracking power, but almost a precognitive/ESP ability to see pathways.

It appeared that later writers, Johns and Nicienza, tried to expand Dawnstar's powers, maybe borrowing a bit from Shikari, but she seemed to be progressing more towards cosmic awareness.  This isn't a bad take on Dawnstar and would definitely explain how she was able to ascertain certain events in her early adventures.  The only concern with that is that those powers can overlap with Sensor Girl's to an extent or can just make her a McGuffin like Dream Girl.  It's a shame too that so many "classic" Legionnaires have sensory powers and not combat abilities.

So with Dawnstar, some things need to be finally quantified:  how invulnerable is she?  how fast is she/how does she go so fast?  Are her powers only limited to tracking or is she capable of more?  These are some pretty difficult questions to answer if she ever returns to print.

What's old is new, issue 1

This segment is based on my read of an old comic that I had not read before to see if the story holds up.  I will critique or maybe just be an ass about it all. Today's subject is Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #1.

I picked this issue for several reasons:
First, it is the introduction of Invisible Kid II, Jacques Foccart, and his sister Danielle who would later become a hero named Computo.  Second, this is the reintroduction of Shvaughn Erin, a character first introduced by Levitz in Earthwar, but no one seemed to run with.  Officer Erin became an important supporting character through Levitz's run, somewhat in the 5YL storyline, and again in the Reboot.

Random idea

Legion Lost vol 3, but with these guys:

Image credit to Nick Marino ganked from somewhere

Should have been a contender, issue 1

It's always bothered me that some characters in the Legion of Superheroes never got their due.  Some just had powers that got them written out.  Others just were not liked for whatever reason.  I wanted to give a shout out to one of my favorite characters who became a Legionnaire once, but we never saw it.  That character is:

Superboy & the Legion of Superheroes Vol 1

Picked up this hardcover on Free Comic Book day because my local shop was giving a 20% discount.  Some of these stories are pure rubbish.  More later.  Maybe.

A Case of Dream Girl

Disclaimer: going to make a few TV references here.

I can say that Nura Nal of Naltor was never one of my favorite characters.  Somedays I like her more than others.  And maybe its no surprise considering she can go from manipulative schemer to intensely clever, from wilting flower to bodacious blond. Usually, she is portrayed as highly intelligent with a scientific background and many remember her successful run as the leader during the Great Darkness Saga.  She has often been acknowledged as being powerful enough to be the next High Seer of Naltor, but often times, her premonitions are just vague statements that become plot MacGuffins. "I saw a Legionnaire die!"  Well which one?!

To be fair, Precognition is one of the worst powers in comicbookdom. For many characters, it's accompanied by blindness and they often talk in riddles. Thankfully, we don't see that with Dream Girl. In her first appearance, Dreamy could actually see future events, her problem, though, was she had no context of the event.  What she thought was a ship full of Legionnaires was just a bunch of dummies.  Realistic looking dummies, obvi.  So that's one way premonition can work.

However, Dream Girl has shown multiple forms of telling the future.  She could intuit an opponents moves, similar to how Spider-Man can anticipate a punch before it's thrown. Sometimes, her premonitions came while she was sleeping, sometimes it came on like a ton of bricks. It appears she also trained to enter a meditative state that would help produce visions. Sometimes it was just like turning the pages of a comic book.

It's what they wear in the 31st century

I belong to a Legion of Super-Heroes group on Facebook and someone posted about essential equipment for the Legionnaires. The OP then made mention of transuits.  He asked:

"I can't recall; were the suits ever said to have any special qualities? Protective? Self-cleaning? 'Smart' Fibers?"

I replied that even though it was Saturday but that is simply not enough time for me to give my dissertation on what transuits should or should not do and how their usage breaks the science fiction. Now it doesn't really break the sci-fi of the Legion but I feel their usage has only been partially considered.

So what is a transuit?  The DC Wikia describes it as:

The Legion Transuit is a thin, translucent polymer that fits snuggly over the top of a Legionnaire's costume. The suit enabled them to function in environments without a sustainable atmosphere, such as outer space. The suit is durable enough to protect them from extreme temperatures and pressure.

And just to clarify, the quick definition of polymer is:

a substance that has a molecular structure consisting chiefly or entirely of a large number of similar units bonded together, e.g., many synthetic organic materials used as plastics and resins.

It's never been explicitly stated how Saran Wrap was able to do all of this. I can not find the first appearance of the transuit.  Some of the earliest mentions of space suits were accompanied an advanced headglobe. 

It appeared initially that the transuit was something that the wearer had to put on. But later it appeared that once activated, it would just envelope the wearer and seal. The method of activation is still unclear.  Did it have a manual activation?  Was it activated by a thought from the wearer?  Or did it also have an automatic activation in cases of explosive decompression?

Depictions of the suits during the Reboot showed a metal cuff that presumably housed all the environmental circuitry but artists have been fairly inconsistent in showing the suit and it's armband.  

But what does it really do?

Here is where the usage of the transuit in stories becomes somewhat inconsistent.  First, we must look at what our current era 21st century spacesuits do.

1. pressurize for the vacuum of space

2. protect against the cold of space while providing a cooling environment inside

3. provide a breathable atmosphere

4. shield from UV radiation

We know it to be self-sealing which would help in case the suit is punctured in some what.  It would have to be somewhat ablative that it could help cushion against space debris and other impacts, In fact, At one point, Dawnstar dives into a cruiser to save Light Lass.  Light Lass is unharmed but Dawnstar gets cut up.  Shoulda worn a transuit Dawny.

Now, as far as additional functions like drinking water and waste management, I would assume would not be included no matter how far Mon-El wants to carry Shadow Lass across the galaxy. By the way, that's a dumb idea but I'm not talking about space travel methods this post.

We have never seen, though, is what are the upper limits of temperature management.  When 5 Legionnaires were stuck on an asteroid, they built a fire to keep warm (nevermind that they probably did not have the oxygen to sustain a fire). 

And when on hothouse world of Tharr the White Witch doesn't use one, instead relying on her spells.I have no idea why other than Levitz adding some unnecessary plot point.  We have no in-continuity detail on Tharr's temperatures, however the planet Venus can get up to 462 degrees Celsius so we could assume Tharr would be somewhat similar. 

But as written, should we infer that transuits fail at such high temperatures?  If Legionnaires can exit and re-enter a planetary atmosphere with a transuit, then it can withstand the heat and friction from traveling through the atmosphere quite easily.  Our modern day space shuttles withstand heat up to 1649 degrees Celsius, much hotter than the temperatures on Venus and likely Tharr.  Maybe the explanation is that it can sustain a higher heat for a shorter time, but lower heat for a longer time is more taxing.  A transuit would have to be able to protect automatically against light as sunlight is quite brilliant without an atmosphere to help diffuse it.  If you can barely look at the sun on the planet Earth, you won't be able to look at it at all in space. So it must be self regulating to a point for light, temperature, and pressure. Similarly, liquid environments should pose very little stress to a transuit.

What about radiation though?  One would have to assume that with all the outer space missions the Legionnaires go on, that transuits would have to offer a bit more in radiation protection that what our modern space suits do. Here's where the science fiction really starts to break down. Ultra Boy has been shown to keep up with Mon-El and Dawnstar, but to do so, he relies on a transuit for protection since he is not using invulnerability. Earth is surrounded by the Van Allen radiation belts so the transuit would have to offer him protection from that as well.  These things have to be pretty tough but it also means that while they are not forcefields, they are going to prevent a lot attacks from various supervillains.

 

Maybe Tinya should have just activated her transuit instead? But this raises other conundrums as well.  In the Reboot, Andromeda wore a transuit to protect her from lead poisoning, but she was exposed because those transuits were not self-sealing and hers was torn in a confrontation.  What else could a transuit do?  Protect Superman(boy) from green Kryptonite radiation and red sun rays?  Could it filter out all visible light to give Night Girl her powers even during daylight? Enemies with heat powers would be defeated easily as well as those with gas and pheromone powers.  Hail the almighty transuit!

Disclaimer

This blog may focus on mainly comics related ideas, but there could be sci-fi or other things pop up if I decided to go along with it.  I used to keep a Livejournal back in the day and someone commented on one of my old posts I made reviewing an episode of Heroes 10  years ago.  I thought, hey, this isn't so poorly written.  Maybe I should get back to this?  

I do not claim to be an expert on anything, especially writing.  Here goes!