Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Who's Who: An Ryd

An Ryd
by Russell & Siskoid


Real Name: An Ryd
Super-Power(s): None
Planet of Origin: Rimbor
Relationship to Legion: Pawn in supervillain plot

Legion Log
The one and only time we met An Ryd was when she uses her past history with Ultra Boy to get him to suddenly visit her on Rimbor. He arrives when she calls him, not really knowing what she might need to talk to him about. As soon as he meets up with An, however, he is shot in the back, literally.

A few moments after he is unconscious, instead of getting paid to lure Ultra Boy to Rimbor, his assailant murders An Ryd with a weapon which burns her body in a way that Ultra Boy's flash-vision would. At the time of her death her murderer was unknown.

An Ryd made at least two memorable DOA appearances. The first was when Wildfire and Chameleon Boy confronted Brainiac 5 as being one of the conspirators in her death. She then re-appeared as a victim profile when EarthGov reminded the Legion that her death was still unsolved. Brainiac 5 then soon proved that her murderer was actually Pulsar Stargrave.

After the changes to the timeline brought on by Glorith taking the Time Trapper's place, it was revealed that An Ryd had been the girlfriend of Ultra Boy's gang leader on Rimbor, though she nevertheless had a thing for Jo, who had once saved her life before he ever gained his powers. Whether these events occurred as depicted in the original history is unknown.

An Ryd does not appear after the Reboot or the Threeboot. After Infinite Crisis, her original history has presumably been more or less restored.

Important An Ryd stories:

Superboy/Legion of Super-Heroes #239


 An Ryd makes her debut and then exits, stage morte

Superboy/Legion of Super-Heroes #250
An Rydd's death is a still open murder case

Legion of Super-Heroes (v2) #273
An Ryd's murderer is determined to have been Pulsar Stargrave

Secret Orgins (v3) #42
 
An Ryd's chronological first appearance, 
as Jo Nah's girl-friend in Phantom Girl's origin story

Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) Annual #1

Jo Nah rescues An Ryd, his gang leader's girlfriend

5 comments:

  1. An's backstory was further fleshed out in the 5YL Legion (vol. 3) Annual #1. She was originally the girlfriend of Jo's gang leader, Cy, until the accident that gave Jo powers. Jo once saved her life before that, and she had a thing for him even while she was with Cy. How come no mention here? Still, good review.

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  2. Replies
    1. Thanks. Good to know that I made a positive contribution. Gee... I'm starting to feel like a Legionnaire. >sniff< lol

      Knowing the details of An's relationship with Jo, and that she had had real feelings for him (she even said in the Annual that she couldn't live without him when she thought he was going to die), makes her betrayal of him in her first appearance all the more sad. It adds a bit of depth to what is otherwise a very poor story (as it developed, not as it began.)

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  3. I don't think I've ever been able to see the name "An Ryd" without managing to read it as "Ayn Rand". (I have no idea if the similarity is intentional, although there doesn't seem to be anything about the character to suggest such...)

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  4. Me neither, but it makes me queasy.

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