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.

Tel is a newer addition to the Legion mythos, making his appearance in the Legion Academy stories in Adventure comics several years ago.  He was part of a new class that included other newcomers such as Chemical Kid, Dragonwing, Glorith and Variable Lad.  We never really had an origin for him though he is stated to be from Earth.  His given name itself doesn't evoke any particular region of Earth and we have no indication of how he gained his powers either. The other other thing we know about him is he is in a relationship with Power Boy/Jed Rikane (on the right side of the pic there).

Tel seemed to be one of the more serious Academy members with powers to match.  As with Chemical Kid, he was somewhat a rehash of a previous Legion character, as his costume evokes 1970s Star Boy, with the low cut front and black and white color scheme.  But unlike "classic" or Retroboot Star Boy, he had anti-gravity powers as well, filling the Light Lass void.  Tel seemed to be much more adept with his gravity powers though as he was able to fly under his own power, but was also able to increase his mass enough to drop from the sky to basically create an destructive impact without being harmed.

Tel had much more control over his ability produce various other effects that his inspirations couldn't do, unfortunately his time was cut short.  When Variable Lad dies, Gravity Kid decides to give up on the Legion and join Jed who was rejected for membership as security on Takron Galtos.  While we see a few mentions of him in volume 7, he really doesn't do anything significant.  I feel that Tel was one of the better picks of the Academy and it's a shame he was shuffled off while some of the less liked Academy members move up to the Legion team full time.  Perhaps his powers would have been redundant with Star Boy who was still medically recovering at the time, but considering that I find Star Boy to be utterly boring with limited powers, I would have taken Gravity Kid over him for membership.

I often feel that Levitz was limited at times as to how he viewed both Light Lass and Star Boy.  Even simpler things such as causing much more attractive or repulsive forces as opposed to simply causing objects to be heavier or floating them.  Perhaps someone will dust him off in the future, even if he isn't with Jed.