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).

Phantom Girl's primary power was actually her ability to access the Phantom Zone.  You see, her home planet of Bgztl was actually in another dimension that was separated by the Phantom Zone, also know at time as the Bgztl Buffer Zone. It is through this dimensional interphase that allows her to become a phantom.  She could enter the Phantom Zone freely and often was able to communicate with Mon-El who was imprisoned in the Phantom Zone for approximately 1000 years. It wasn't always portrayed consistently as to whether Tinya could take people with her into the Phantom Zone.  She was one shown taking both Superboy and Dawnstar to Bgztl.  In the Baxter series, she had to meet Tellus in the Phantom Zone who had to travel by projector.  It appears not everyone from Bgztl has this level of ability to even traverse the Buffer Zone.

Tinya's phasing powers have not been accurately portrayed over the years.  Sometimes, she is very keen in using her powers by phasing and allowing enemies attack either other, other times, she needs others to tell her what to do.  She's been known to rely on a combination of martial arts and selective phasing of her body to dodge and land attacks at the same time. It's not clear what effect she can obtain by phasing her body parts into people and she was rarely seen using it.  In fact, it's inconsistent whether she can phase objects with her normally.

There was even a story with her brother Gmya who was able to phase into someone and control that person's body.  These abilities where never seen again.  Some versions show her able to fly under her own power and even disrupt electrical fields with her abilities.

If some of this sounds familiar, it's because her powers are very similar to Kitty Pryde, despite Tinya being created first.  When Byrne/Claremont created Kitty, they seemed to be very consistent in defining her powers.  Kitty learned early on that her powers could affect electrical items.  She tried to disrupt Magneto's EM field but he turned it back on her.  Later, she was shown phasing through Storm's lightning but not immune to an attack from Harpoon.  Ironically, Kitty was possessed by a demon ninja and she gained extraordinary combat abilities.  She was later able to use her disruption abilities on people as well.   Kitty though was generally seen as resistant to telepathy.  Tinya seems to have some weaknesses to certain energy attacks but this was never quantified. I would assume she has no defense to psychic attacks either.

It's a shame when you think about it.  Intangibility is a form of invulnerability.  Tinya essentially becomes out of phase with our dimension and a lot of our universe should not physically affect her while  phased.  By socking her with some undefined weaknesses it really doesn't make her any type of asset on the battle field.

Her leadership potential always seemed in question.  Her battlefield experience, though strong, wavered at times and she had to be mansplained on how to use her power.

Volume 7, as of the writing, is the last published ongoing for Legion of Super-Heroes. Some members quit, some were thought dead, and some just disappeared.  So they take on 4 newbies from the Academy.  One mission finds Phantom Girl and Ultra Boy with the inexperienced Chemical Kid and Dragonwing.  They get attacked by a young Daxamite, knocking all of the out except Tinya.  What happens?  Tinya doesn't fight. Now Tinya was never written to use her powers in more damaging ways, like phasing objects into opponents but in this case, she could have provided a distraction while her teammates recovered. Instead, Levitz has her hide and call for help.  Mon-El comes on the scene to defeat the Daxamite.  So much for a tactical leader.

Issues later though she does some good detective work of her own, determining that the Persuader's Atomic Axe is a fake.  But here comes the big one. Some background first.   When volume 6 came out, there was a wave of nostalgia for elements of the Pre-Crisis Legion.  So much so, that they decided to have reader elections.  Unfortunately, Mon-El and Brainy became leaders.  It was done online and may not have been done in a most scientific way.  When they did it for volume 7, there seemed to be a concerted online push to get Phantom Girl in as leader.

Historically, some of the more popular leaders were those who weren't the most powerful:  Invisible Kid I and Dream Girl to name two. And Tinya seemed like a natural choice with her years of experience.  What happened was a disaster.  Giffen returns to the title to shake it up.  Perhaps there was a greater plan at work that never came to fruition due to cancellation? The Fatal Five strike hard and the ship that Tinya, Invisible Kid II, Sun Boy and Polar Boy are on has to make a crash landing on what turns out to be a Promethean Giant.  Sun Boy is decapitated.  Tinya loses control and immediately becomes plagued by self-doubt.  Fearing that Polar Boy and Invisible Kid were killed on the Giant's body, Tinya escapes using her power.  Where she goes, we never see.  Presumably she went back to Bgztl but she is gone for the remainder of the series.  She became leader then deserted them. Clearly not her finest hour. Now it's possible that Tinya running was planned regardless of whether she was leader.  I guess that's the thing about fan polls; they often interfere with what the writers are plotting.

So Tinya really is a case of two issues, inconsistent powers and inconsistent characterization.  I'm fine with her not being able to disrupt electronics, but allow her to phase other people through walls or objects. In combat, she could use this to help divide combatants   Since her powers work on her shifting dimensionally, let's quantify another invulnerability, like being immune to all energy attacks while phased.  This helps make her a tank in absence of other invulnerable members but allows her to protect people too. All of this would make a pairing of her and Jo in combat quite formidable.

As for the characterization, she doesn't have to be the Legion leader.  She should still be shrewd enough that she could lead a squad if she needed to.  Her powers lend to infiltration so you wouldn't expect that person to be a dummy.  So don't make her a dummy.

I do like Tinya.  I feel there is enough about her to make her interesting without turning her into a clone of Kitty, but as is, she really isn't that useful to the team. Time for her and Jo to be written off into married bliss.