Who's Who: Princess Projectra

Princess Projectra
by Russell & Siskoid

Real Name: Projectra (nickname Jeckie)

Super-Power(s): Ability to project life-like illusions
Planet of Origin: Orando

Legion Seniority: Princess Projectra joined at the same time as Ferro Lad, Karate Kid, and Nemesis Kid. Traditionally she was listed before her male team-mates, making her Legionnaire #22. 

Legion Log 
Princess Projectra made her debut during the open call for applicants during the first Khund invasion attempt of Earth. However, during their first mission the new members fell under suspicion of helping the Khunds. Although the traitor turned out to be Nemesis Kid, the three others bonded together under the adversity of suspicion and quickly became good friends. Later, Princess Projectra was one of the Legionnaires who helped form the Fatal Five. At the same time she was one of the Legionnaires who was unable to stop Ferro Lad from sacrificing himself to save the universe from the Sun-Eater. This was a shocking experience for the four survivors, and created a bond that was never broken. From that point on she took herself and her responsibilities doubly seriously.

Princess Projectra had originally come to Earth to learn more about the United Planets, as an Ambassador from her home planet, Orando. When she learned of the Legion, however, she decided to join, seeing it as the closest thing she could find to a group of peers. She served with the Legion honorably for approximately six years.

She found herself attracted to Karate Kid, and when he reciprocated they began dating. However, because he was a commoner, her father, King Voxv, insisted that he go through a rite of passage or "tournament" to prove his worth to him. He banished Karate Kid to 20th Century Earth but did not explain to Projectra why her boy-friend was leaving her. Their relationship was strained until the truth came out, and their love grew even stronger. After a certain amount of time Karate Kid returned permanently to their time and together they went to Orando to report to the King and to ask his permission to marry. Unfortunately, before they could receive his blessings, King Voxv died. After facing down a challenge to her rule, Projectra ascended to the throne as Queen. After a suitable time of mourning, she married Karate Kid in the grandest wedding Orando had ever seen.

Their happiness was short-lived, however. When they returned to Orando from their honeymoon, they were shocked to find that the Legion of Super-Villains had taken over. The Super-Villains had captured the entire planet, planning to warp it into another dimension so that they could control it forever. Although the Legion spoils this plot, Karate Kid is killed in battle Nemesis Kid; Queen Projectra subsequently executes him with her bare hands. Projectra then reluctantly continues Orando's journey into "limbo" in order to protect her planet from other threats. She sends her Legion friends back into the "real" universe, then says goodbye to the 30th Century forever. 

During her Legion tenure, Princess Projectra made friends with most of her fellow Legionnaires. Although she was of royal birth, she was not haughty and did not carry herself above anyone else. Besides her lover, Karate Kid, and her good friend Ferro Lad, she was on especially good terms with similar "minor" powered members such as Chameleon Boy, Shrinking Violet, Saturn Girl, and Dream Girl.

and then....

Sensor Girl

Real Name: Projectra

Super-Power(s): Heightened senses akin to super-hearing and super-vision; ability to cast life-like illusions; advanced hand-to-hand fighting techniques
Planet of Origin: Orando

Legion Seniority: Sensor Girl joined at the same time as Polar Boy, Magnetic Kid, Quislet, and Tellus. At the time she joined she kept her Projectra identity a secret, so was considered a new Legionnaire. Tradition had her listed before her male team-mates, making her Legionnaire #34. However, after her true identity is revealed, she is retroactively made Legionnaire #22 again.
Sensor Girl was elected Leader in Year 16. It was during her term that The Original Series ended in Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #62. 

Legion Log 
After the three founding members announced their resignations, the Legion held the biggest Open Try-outs they ever had. Sensor Girl showed up and was voted in, solely on the recommendation of Saturn Girl. Over the next few months she exhibited heightened abilities akin to super-vision and super-hearing. She was also able to "sense" things that were beyond normal human perception. 

Eventually, it was revealed that Sensor Girl was in fact Projectra of Orando, who had been ordered back to "our" universe to serve penance for the trouble she had "brought" to Orando. The Royal Council of Orando had increased her abilities, but had ordered that she keep her identity, position, rank, and riches secret in order to better challenge her. She returned to the Earth and found Saturn Girl, whose telepathy could see through her illusions, and asked for help in re-joining the Legion. 

After serving in the Legion for several months, Projectra revealed her identity. She then returned to Orando to report and face judgment. The Royal Council agreed that she had performed admirably, and offered her the throne again. However, due to her new heightened abilities, Projectra realized that the throne and all its "power" was just another illusion. Realizing that she could do more good as a Legionnaire than she could as a queen, Projectra abdicated her throne and returned to "our" dimension again, forever. The Legion voted to re-admit her, judging that the execution of Nemesis Kid was self-defense. 

Although her real name was now known to her fellow Legionnaires, Projectra kept her Sensor Girl identity in public. This gave her the advantage of being able to use her illusion-casting powers in secret. 

As Sensor Girl, Projectra became something of a "big sister" to the younger members, especially to those Legionnaires who had joined with her: Polar Boy, Magnetic Kid, and Tellus. She also spent time with Timber Wolf, who had been the executor of Karate Kid's will. During the Conspiracy incident, she found herself on the other side of the moral question from equally strong-willed Saturn Girl, Brainiac 5, and Mon-El. Due to her experiences, immediately after the trial of Brainiac 5, her fellow Legionnaires voted her Legion Leader. 

During and after the five-year gap following the Magic Wars, Projectra was convinced to return to Orando when her people began having troubles living in their new dimension. The first thing she did was return the planet to Earth's dimension. When the Dark Circle attempted to assassinate her, former Legionnaires Valor and Shadow Lass stepped in to help dismantle the cult's presence on Orando. She joined with the Legion one final time to help rescue Rokk Krinn from the clutches of Glorith and Mordru.

Projectra was also one of the members of the SW6 Legionnaires, but died along with the SW6 Karate Kid and Chameleon Boy during the war to free Earth of Dominion oppression.

But after the Reboot...

After the Reboot, the princess of Orando, Jeka Wynzorr, though initially maintaining the illusion that she was a humanoid (looking like Projectra), joins the Legion as the decidedly NOT humanoid Sensor. All along, her father, King Charlz, had been trying in vain to convince her to resume her royal duties, and demanded she do so after finding out she'd had a date with Chameleon. She returned home in time to foil a Dark Circle plot, and abdicated her royal position.

In battle against Ra's al Ghul's Terrorforms, Sensor was badly wounded and her body spun a regenerative cocoon. When Jeka emerged from it, she'd been transformed. She now had a humanoid head and torso but retained her snakelike lower body. Traumatized; she considered her new form hideous, and isolated herself from her team-mates. Between this withdrawal from social contact and the nature of her powers, she would become instrumental in freeing other Legionnaires from Universo and defeating the villain.

After the Threeboot, Orando is the wealthiest planet in the galaxy. Its Princess Projectra (given name Wilimena Morgana Daergina Annaxandra Projectra Velorya Vauxhall), like so many youths across the galaxy, heeded the call of the Legion and rebelled against her "safe" society. She received special status as a core member of the team by becoming its financial backer. When her parents were killed by the terrorist group Terror Firma as part of the Orandan genocide, she found herself possessed of the hereditary Orandan powers of illusion-casting. This trauma unbalanced Projectra, and further enraged by the loss of her diplomatic status - Orando no longer existed, after all - she began plotting revenge on her own team with er world's few survivors. To prevent Dream Girl from seeing her actions, she blinded her on the astral plane and took away her powers. Projectra's own powers continued to grow, but her sometime lover Timber Wolf became suspicious and began tracking her. She critically wounded Phantom Girl and drew Saturn Girl onto the astral plane, altering both their memories to cover her tracks, but the time line ceased to be before any of this was resolved. (According to artist Francis Manapul, the plan was to turn her into a proper villain.)

After Infinite Crisis, Projectra's original history has more or less been re-established. Under unrevealed circumstances, she participated in a successful ceremony to return her husband to life, the same way the Legion revived Lightning Lad years before. She was part of the Espionage Squad that traveled back to the 21st century to shepherd the hero Mon-El on to his destiny, disguised as the Metropolis Science Police officer "Wilcox", and to help Superman in the Last Stand on New Krypton. Eventually returning to the 30th century, Jeckie still serves the Legion as Sensor Girl.

Important Princess Projectra Stories: 

Adventure Comics #346

(reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 6
 and in The Life and Death of Ferro Lad TPB)

Princess Projectra makes her debut and joins the Legion

during the first Khund Invasion of Earth

Adventure Comics #352

 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 6
 and in The Life and Death of Ferro Lad TPB)

Princess Projectra is on the mission that costs Ferro Lad his life 

Adventure Comics #353

 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 6
 and in The Life and Death of Ferro Lad TPB)

Princess Projectra is able to stop Validus from attacking them 

Adventure Comics #357

(reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 6
 and in The Life and Death of Ferro Lad TPB)

Princess Projectra holds a seance to talk to the ghost of Ferro Lad

Adventure Comics #359

 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 7)

Princess Projectra attempts to use her royal position to help the Legion 

Adventure Comics #362

 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 7)

Princess Projectra leads a Legion team to her home planet, Orando

Adventure Comics #362

 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 7)

Karate Kid admits his love for Princess Projectra

Adventure Comics #370

 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 8)

Princess Projectra helps save the Legion from Mordru

Adventure Comics #378

 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 9)

 Princess Projectra thinks she is dying, so bequeaths her personal fortune to the Legion

Action Comics #383

 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 9)

Princess Projectra introduces Chameleon Boy to his girlfriend

Action Comics #392

 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 9)

Princess Projectra must pass a harrowing psychological test

Superboy #183
(reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 10)

Princess Projectra gets a temporary new uniform

Superboy #199

 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 10)

Princess Projectra gets a Dave Cockrum original

Superboy/Legion of Super-Heroes #206

 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 11)

Princess Projectra feels guilt about not visiting her parents

Superboy/Legion of Super-Heroes #208

 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 11)

Princess Projectra faces Nemesis Kid for the first time

Superboy/Legion of Super-Heroes #209

 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 11)

Princess Projectra suffering from Pain Fever

Karate Kid #10

Princess Projectra learns why Karate Kid has exiled himself into the past

Karate Kid #10

Karate Kid vows his eternal love to Princess Projectra

Superboy/Legion of Super-Heroes #231
 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 13)

Karate Kid and Princess Projectra take on the Fatal Five

Superboy/Legion of Super-Heroes #233
 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 13)

Princess Projectra suffers from loneliness without Karate Kid around

Legion of Super-Heroes (v2) #276

Princess Projectra helps defeat Mordru again

Legion of Super-Heroes (v2) #279

Karate Kid & Princess Projectra help defeat Grimbor

Legion of Super-Heroes (v2) #285

King Voxv dies

Legion of Super-Heroes (v2) #286

Projectra prepares to ascend the throne of Orando

Legion of Super-Heroes (v2) #288

Officially renamed Queen Projectra

Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #2 (1983)

Queen Projectra marries Karate Kid

Legion of Super-Heroes (v2) #309

Queen Projectra and Karate Kid are attacked on their honeymoon

Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #1-5
(reprinted in An Eye For An Eye TPB)

The Legion of Super-Villains take over Orando

Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #4
(reprinted in An Eye For An Eye TPB)

Karate Kid is killed fighting Nemesis Kid

Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #5
(reprinted in An Eye For An Eye TPB)

Queen Projectra executes Nemesis Kid

Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #5
(reprinted in An Eye For An Eye TPB)

Queen Projectra orders Orando into limbo

Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #31

Untold story of Projectra, Karate Kid, and Ferro Lad

Important Sensor Girl  Stories: 

Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #14

Sensor Girl joins the Legion while keeping her identity secret...
even from her fellow Legionnaires

Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #15-24

Curiosity about who Sensor Girl really is builds into suspicions
and distrust

Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #25

 
Sensor Girl's real identity is revealed

Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #26

Sensor Girl reveals her secret origin

Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #27

Sensor Girl abdicates the throne of Orando

Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #47

Sensor Girl confronts "the Conspiracy"

Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #48

Sensor Girl works to undermine "the Conspiracy"

Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #49

Sensor Girl knows the details of  "the Conspiracy"

Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #58

Sensor Girl confronts the Emerald Empress again

Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #60

Sensor Girl is elected Legion Leader, but doesn't want to serve

Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) #18

Projectra discovers Orando is under threat from the Black Circle

Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) #32

Last appearance of the SW6 Princess Projectra; she would die in an explosion a few pages later

Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) #44-48

Projectra helps the Legion fight Mordru and Glorith

Superman (v1) #687

Sensor Girl's 21-st century cover story, to help guide Mon-El's destiny

Superman (v1) #692

"Wilcox" revealed to be Sensor Girl, who misses Karate Kid terribly

Adventure Comics (v2) #8

Sensor Girl is part of the team sent back in time to participate in New Krypton's Last Stand

Legion of Super-Heroes Annual (v6) #1

Sensor Girl battles the Emerald Empress on Orando

Legion of Super-Heroes (v7) #23

After the team is decimated by the Fatal Five, Sensor Girl returns to Orando with the resurrected Karate Kid;
she will be back with the team in Justice League United

Important Sensor Stories:

Legionnaires #43

Sensor joins the team as a humanoid

Legionnaires #43

The illusion is broken! Sensor's real serpentine form is revealed!

Legionnaires #60

Sensor and Chameleon go on a date, attracting the unwanted attention of her father

Legionnaires #62

Sensor returns to Orando where she will ultimately renounce the throne

Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) #116-117

Sensor helps Thunder on her quest for Eternium

The Legion #17

Sensor is badly hurt by an explosion and falls into a coma

The Legion #18

Sensor awakens from her coma a changed woman

The Legion #21

Sensor withdraws from her friends, unable to handle her new appearance

The Legion #22-23

Sensor is instrumental in defeating Universo and freeing the Legion from his clutches

Important Threeboot Projectra Stories:

Legion of Super-Heroes (v5) #6

Projectra joins the Legion after losing almost her entire people

Legion of Super-Heroes (v5) #39-49

Projectra descends into instability and criminality

Legion of Super-Heroes (v5) #46

Phantom Girl tries to heal Projectra's psyche with Superman comics

Legion of Super-Heroes (v5) #47

Projectra blinds and de-powers Dream Girl

Legion of Super-Heroes (v5) #49

Projectra alters the memories of Saturn Girl, Phantom Girl, and others; 
this story line would never be resolved