Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Who's Who: The Wanderers

The Wanderers
by Russell & Siskoid


Membership: Celebrand, Dartalg, Elvo, Immorto, Ornitho, Psyche, Quantum Queen
Relationship to Legion: Allies

Legion Log
The Wanderers were a seven-member group of traveling super-heroes who first met the Legion during Ultra Boy's term as leader. They consisted of Celebrand, the non-powered leader; Dartalg, armed with a blowgun and a pouch of darts; Elvo, armed with an energy sword; Immorto, who was unable to be killed; Ornitho, who could transform himself into any bird species; Psyche, who could manipulate the emotions of others; and Quantum Queen, who could turn herself into a living laser.

Soon after meeting the Legion, the Wanderers were infected by the Nefar Nebula; their personalities then became temporarily criminal. The Legion battled with them, captured them, and then cured them of the radiation poisoning.

The next time the Wanderers met the Legion was when they helped them, along with the Substitute Heroes and the Heroes of Lallor, to fight against the forces of Darkseid.

During a mission to track down a swarm of space monsters that were terrorizing remote colonies and outposts at the edge of the United Planets, the Wanderers were killed. However, a Controller came upon their corpses and decided to clone them. Unfortunately, during the cloning process three of the members' genes were compromised, so when they were re-animated they had upgraded powers and drastically different looks. Dartalon now had quills coming off of his body, à la Porcupine Pete; Elvar was still a master swordsman, but was shorter and more elf-like in appearance; and Re-Animage now could heal others as well as himself. Ornitho changed his name to Aviax but was basically the same; Psyche and Quantum Queen also regained their original forms and powers.

Although the cloning procedure for Celebrand failed, his remaining undamaged genes were spliced into Re-Animage's left lung until future breakthroughs in cloning might allow for him to be successfully cloned.

This group of "new" Wanderers were able to track down and destroy the monsters who had killed them. They then became deputized agents of the United Planets. As such, they "wandered" around the galaxy fighting against evil.

On a mission to help the indigenous population on planet W-23, the Wanderers met a race of aliens that invited them into a "rip" in space. Feeling compelled to venture into it, the Wanderers were never seen again.

Several years later, in one possible timeline, Superman encounters a statue of Quantum Queen in the Legion's Hall of Heroes. After the Wanderers presumably returned to reality, that Quantum Queen left her original team to join the Legion, where she would eventually die preventing a prison outbreak.

After the so-called Five-Year Gap, though the Wanderers do not appear, Dartalg and Elvo are seen among Leland McCauley's collection of captive statues, in their pre-death state.

After the Reboot, the Wanderers per se do not seem to exist. However, following the events of the so-called Final Crisis, several members of the Reboot Legion, whose universe was destroyed during the events of Infinite Crisis, decide to travel the Multiverse under the guidance of Shikari Lonestar in an attempt to find and rescue survivors of other lost universes. They take the name "the Wanderers." 

After the Threeboot, the Wanderers are a black-ops superhero team created by the United Planets to covertly combat the Dominators and are unrelated to the original continuity's team. The majority of them, including former members of the terrorist Lemnos' army called Terror Firma, are killed fighting the Dominion. The sole exception is Mekt Ranzz, who then recruited heroes such as Polar Boy, Inferno, White Witch, Nemesis Kid, and Plant Lad to recreate the team. These Wanderers joined forces with the Legion to stop a Dominator invasion of the U.P. and were then offered Legion membership by Supergirl. Instead of joining, they fled when Mekt was arrested for mind-controlling the population of Winath, and most turned to crime despite Sun Boy's attempts to reform them. The team's other known members include Grav, Jeyra Entinn, Kid Quake, Kromak, Micro Lass, Physo, Tarik, Telekinesis, Thoom, Tyr, and Vrax Gozzl.

After Infinite Crisis, the Wanderers' original history has presumably been more or less restored.

After Flashpoint, the Wanderers are Neo-Sapiens from half a dozen worlds who are either from the 20th Century or have access to it. They are based on the original continuity's team. These Wanderers work with Captain Comet to help Superman during a multi-dimensional crisis.

Important Wanderer Stories:

Adventure Comics (v1) #354
(reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 6
and Showcase Presents The Legion Vol. 3)
Quantum Queen makes her debut as a future (dead) Legionnaire 

Adventure Comics (v1) #375
(reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 8
and Showcase Presents The Legion Vol. 4)
 
 
The Legion meets the Wanderers for the first time 

Superboy/Legion of Super-Heroes #200
(reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 10
and Showcase Presents The Legion Vol. 5)

The Wanderers attend the wedding of Duo Damsel and Bouncing Boy

Legion of Super-Heroes (v2) #294
(reprinted in LSH: The Curse TPB)
The Wanderers help fight against the hordes of Darkseid


Legion of Super-Heroes (v2) #300
(reprinted in LSH: 1,050 Years Of The Future TPB 
and LSH: The Curse TPB)
The Wanderers attend the Legion's anniversary celebration

The Wanderers #1-13
The Wanderers are revived in new, cloned bodies


Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) #39
5 Years Later, some of the original Wanderers are in Leland McCauley's "collection"

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #21-30
The Threeboot Wanderers are a black ops team led by Mekt Ranzz

Legion of Super-Heroes (v5) #48
Sun Boy explains the Wanderers' final fate

Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #5
The Reboot Legion become Wanderers in the Multiverse

Action Comics (v2) #18
After Flashpoint, the Wanderers work with Captain Comet to help Superman during a crisis

7 comments:

  1. Interesting stuff. I've always kind of wondered how the Wanderers got the makeove...HOLY $#!+! Why and HOW was Martian Manhunter at the wedding of Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel?

    Chris

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  2. He survived to the 30th Century. You didn't know?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Did Superboy meet him? Did J'onn just keep his mouth shut about knowing him in his future? Did Superman say "Hey...!!!" when the JLA first formed? Or was this just Dave Cockrum being cheeky and sneaking him in?

      Chris

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    2. It was Dave Cockrum being cheeky. The wedding was on a moon of Mars, hence Jonn and Tars Tarkas attended.

      Delete
  3. Y'know, I'm not sure when the last time I saw something that mentioned the Wanderers without covering... THAT story. (Definitely a "what were you thinking?" moment for DC, that's for sure...)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, we decided to leave the details of the series out so we didn't have to cover its quite a few odd plots....

      Delete
  4. Orintho popped up recently in a back-up story in Shade the Changing Girl (issue 2 or 3). He looked more like his original self but the dialogue implied that the events of the 13 issue series had taken place.

    Beast Boy was also in that backup story.

    ReplyDelete