by Siskoid
Real Name: Grava
Super-Power(s): Flight; emit noxious cloud of comet gases.
Planet of Origin: Colony Extal (Quaal III)
Planet of Origin: Colony Extal (Quaal III)
Legion Seniority: Comet Queen was the fourth Legion recruit after the Retroboot, joining with
three other Academy members, but second among them alphabetically.
Legion Log
The impatient Grava grew up on Extal fantasizing obsessively about the Legion and her crush, Bouncing Boy. The obsession pushed her to try and duplicate the accident that gave Star Boy his powers, flying through the tail of a comet. When she emerged from the gas, her hair had turned into a streak of energy, and she had gained the power to fly and emit noxious gases. She was Comet Queen.
When Bouncing Boy came to her corner of the galaxy, Comet Queen tried to impress him with heroic deeds, but got them both in a spot of trouble. He was nevertheless impressed enough to invite her to study at the Legion Academy. She became great friends with other cadets (except the ones recruited by Wildfire, who she thought of as a creep), who didn't seem to mind her trademark "cosmic valley girl" speech patterns. She did well in her first Legion try-outs, but was passed over for applicants with greater or more useful powers, including fellow cadet Magnetic Kid.
When Cosmic Boy reorganized the Legion of Substitute-Heroes, Comet Queen became a member. The team was meant to provide back-up for the primary Legion, but was short-lived. It is not known what happened to her in the so-called Five-Year Gap, but she presumably had to flee Earth's growing xenophobia.
After the Reboot, Comet Queen tried out for the Legion and also became a cadet at the new Legion Academy. She does not appear in the Threeboot.
After Infinite Crisis, Comet Queen's original history has more or less been re-established. She graduated from the Academy after years of study, and Legion membership continued to elude her. Stone Boy approached her to join the original Legion of Substitute-Heroes and she joined.When the moon Titan was destroyed, she arrived on the scene to find Ultra Boy possessed by Saturn Queen, who then promptly removed most of Grava's recent memories completely. Over weeks, Tellus helped reconstruct some of her past, but all of her training was gone. She elected to re-enroll in the Academy, and was soon awarded membership in the Legion proper after the team lost several members to the time stream.
Comet Queen served with enthusiasm, and some members, like Polar Boy, found her to be quite a handful. At least until a mission to rescue Legionnaires from the Dominators went pair-shaped and she seemed to betray the Legion before slipping into a catatonic coma. Brainiac 5 later determined that Saturn Queen had turned her into a sleeper agent back at Titanfall. Her current status is unknown.
Important Comet Queen Stories:
Legion of Super-Heroes (v2) #304
Comet Queen makes her first appearance at Legion Academy
Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #8
Comet Queen is there for her friend Laurel Kent when she is mysteriously shot
Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #11
Comet Queen's origin story
Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #14
Comet Queen tries out for the Legion, but doesn't make the cut
Legion of Super-Heroes Annual (v3) #3
Comet Queen joins Cosmic Boy's new Legion of Substitute-Heroes
Legionnaires #43
After the Reboot, Comet Queen tries out for the Legion
The Legion #25
Comet Queen is a member of the Reboot Legion Academy
Legion of Super-Heroes (v6) #6
As the original timeline resumes, Comet Queen is once again a Legion cadet
Adventure Comics (v2) #523-525
Comet Queen and friends get up to no good on Phlon and face Black Mace
Adventure Comics (v2) #527
Comet Queen's life story is told, including her brainwashing at Titanfall
Adventure Comics (v2) #528-529
Comet Queen and friends return to the Academy to find it under siege from Cosmic King
Legion of Super-Heroes (v7) #1
Comet Queen joins the Legion on her first official mission
Legion of Super-Heroes (v7) #2-5
Comet Queen's first assignments and growing chemistry with Polar Boy
Legion of Super-Heroes (v7) #11
Comet Queen betrays the Legion to the Dominators
Legion of Super-Heroes (v7) #13-14
Brainiac 5 determines why Comet Queen turned on them
Maybe it's me, but maybe Bouncing Boy shouldn't be making fun of other people for getting their powers by doing something dumb... :P
ReplyDeleteIt's not (just) you.
ReplyDeleteYeah, well we all do stupid stuff when we were teenagers.
ReplyDeleteBeau
True; it's really just the irony of Bouncing Boy, of all the Legionnaires, being the one to call Comet Queen dumb. (He did, after all, get his powers by drinking a bottle of experimental fluid instead of the soda he was reaching for. People in glass houses and all that...)
DeleteLike drinking super-plastic, sleeping in fertilizer, and flying your ship into the mouth of a star beast.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could explain it but I like Comet Queen.
ReplyDeleteI think that her exuberance feels natural and was fresh in the Legion world. I liked that she was excited to have her powers and elated to use them.
Now I don't know if I can say I remember any of her stories as being memorable. But the concept of Comet Queen is a winner.
I never much minded Comet Queen, either, though I also can't really remember much of anything she ever did. Of course, I also liked Quislet, so my opinions might be a tad off. But they both seemed like fun characters, the type who actually seemed to enjoy being superheroes, which is something I usually don't mind seeing in comics...
Delete