Should have been a contender: Issue 9

This one is pretty short.  He's one of the longest running Academy members, being a trainee was Dawnstar was there.  We all know him: Jedidiah Rikane, aka Power Boy.

Jed's power was original termed as a condensed molecular structure, granting him super strength and a degree of durability, though nothing on the level of Kryptonian invulnerability. It's a power that would be tough to get into membership given how many members possessed super-strength.

He was from Earth but we never got an origin story as to how he received his powers.   Nevertheless, he made several appearances over the years, mostly cameos.  Sometimes showing some true combat ability, sometimes not..  He was killed off during the 5YL timeline and wasn't seen in either of the other two Legions.  His character returned in the Legion Academy stories in Adventure Comics.  Here, he changed greatly.  The first notable change was the while he dated Lamprey in the Academy during the Levitz/Giffen years, now he may be considered bisexual, as he began a relationship with Gravity Kid. 

Secondly, his appearance, while muscular seemed slightly less bulky.  Thirdly, his power is referred to as personal density control, indicating that he could increase his density at will, and decrease his density to the point of becoming intangible.  He was like the Vision or Jesse from Mutant X if anyone remembers that show. 

As a side note, can I say that I enjoy the use of black over blue in his costume.  It helps tone down the garishness of having purple skin with his ginger hair

With these expanded powers, he obviously would be much more useful, being able to handle both espionage and be in the thick of combat.  If Tinya and Jo ever decided to leave the Legion, he makes up for both their absences . Even if they were not gone, he would still remain a unique member of the Legion. How many Legionnaires powers can be used in place of others?  Reep or Yera instead of Vi anyone?

Personality-wise he was a bit of a meathead. Levitz, his creator, seemed to favor giving people with super-strength a lack of intelligence.  I doubt Levitz ever intended to give him much respect as a character.  I get it, not everyone can be a Legionnaire, but there is also something to be said for having characters with more unique abilities.

Unfortunately, the Retroboot was not kind to Power Boy.  Jed graduated from the Academy but was not offered Legion membership.  He, Lamprey, Crystal Kid and Nightwind were shoveled off to the SP or something else.  Long term Legion fans probably wanted to see these characters again and become members, instead of Comet Queen, Chemical Kid and the rest. I don't think Levitz ever really had an interest in developing those characters. 

Now, he may be relegated to Limbo again as there is no Academy in the Bendis-boot nor has he made an appearance yet as a tertiary character.  I think it is a shame. Bisexual characters are few.  His powers were unique enough to make him useful.  

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 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). 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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: