Today is Presidents' Day in the USA. We honor all 44 Presidents, the Great Leaders as well as The Duds.
So here at
the Legion of Super Bloggers we have decided to honor *our* Great Leaders of The Original Series, in chronological order....
Year One: Cosmic Boy
the computer picked him
Members: 3 at its lowest, 11 at its highest
Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and Lightning Lad form the Legion
and admit eight other members
Most important missions:
The Case of the Quintile Crystal, renegade GL attack on Time Institute
Year Two: Cosmic Boy
you like him, you really like him
Members: went from 11 to 18
Mon-El is asked to join, even though he is still trapped in the Phantom Zone
Most important missions:
Lex Luthor sends a robot to destroy the Legion, the Legion of Super-Pets is formed
Note:
Cosmic Boy's second term is never actually confirmed in any story.
However, because the "open application for new members once every year"
comments are mentioned several times by several applicants,
it is strongly implied that he served more than one term
Year Three: Saturn Girl
she told you to vote for her
Members: 18 at its lowest, 21 at its highest
Lightning Lad is put into a coma but eventually gets better,
Lightning Lass joins but then becomes Light Lass,
Dream Girl joins but quickly resigns, Bouncing Boy loses his powers and resigns
Most important events:
Lightning Lad sacrifices himself to save Saturn Girl (and Earth),
Roxxas and his raiders murders everyone on the planet Trom,
The Legion of Substitute Heroes is formed
Note:
Saturn Girl learns of the invasion plans of
Zaryan, so commands the membership to vote for her so
she can sacrifice herself to stop him. After her plot is discovered,
the membership votes her back in officially.
Year Four: Saturn Girl
she solved the riddle of The Eight Impossible Missions
Members: 19 throughout the year
Command Kid and Dynamo Boy try separately to infiltrate and destroy the Legion
Most important events:
Lex Luthor attacks again, the Flight Rings are invented,
Mordru attacks Earth, Lightning Lad loses his right arm
Year Five: Brainiac 5
thinks he knows more than he actually does
Members: 19 at its lowest, 23 at its highest
Triplicate Girl is killed, becoming Duo Damsel; Star Boy is expelled;
Ferro Lad, Karate Kid, and Princess Projectra join;
Nemesis Kid is expelled.
Most important events:
Computo takes over Metropolis, Star Boy is charged with murder,
the Khunds attempt to invade Earth
Year Six: Invisible Kid
quiet, almost non-descript, but solid as a rock
Members: 18 at its lowest, 24 at its highest
Superboy and Supergirl are expelled but soon return;
Star Boy, Bouncing Boy, and Dream Girl rejoin; Ferro Lad is killed;
Shadow Lass joins
Most important events:
Dr. Regulus attacks, Universo takes over Earth, the Fatal Five is formed,
Ferro Lad sacrifices himself to stop the Sun-Eater
Year Seven: Ultra Boy and Karate Kid
too much work for one man?
Members: 24 at its lowest, 26 at its highest
Timber Wolf and Chemical King join;
Superboy quits in order to keep the membership at 25
Most important events:
The Legion of Super-Villains is discovered, the Taurus Gang attacks
Year Eight: Mon-El and Ultra Boy
the year that Time forgot
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Members: 25 throughout the year
Most important missions:
Lightning Lord is captured by his siblings,
Mordru attempts to kill Superboy in the past
Year Nine: Mon-El
back to tradition...
Members: 25 at the beginning, 23 at the end
Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel retire to get married;
Superboy rejoins; Wildfire joins;
Invisible Kid is killed; Supergirl resigns;
Matter-Eater Lad resigns; Tyroc joins
Most important events:
Tyr attacks, the Fatal Five returns, the Legion of Super-Villains attacks,
Validus under control of Tharok murders Invisible Kid
Year Ten: Wildfire
The New Kid Makes Good
Members: 23 members
Dawnstar joins; Chemical King is killed;
Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad resign to get married
but rejoin when the Constitution is re-written
Most important events:
The Time Trapper strikes, Pulsar Stargrave attacks, the Infinite Man is created,
Chemical King is killed preventing the Dark Circle invasion of Earth
Note:
Starting with this election, the fans themselves chose the Leaders.
Superboy won the popularity contest, but writer Paul Levitz
chose to give the position to the 2nd placer,
then write a story about it.
Year Eleven: Lightning Lad
long-time coming
Members: 23 at the beginning, 21 at the end
Superboy resigns; Tyroc resigns; Blok joins; Invisible Kid II joins;
Princess Projectra and Karate Kid resign
Most important events:
Brainiac 5 is temporarily unbalanced, the League of Assassins attacks,
The Dark Man attacks
Year Twelve: Dream Girl
she had a dream
Members: 21 at its lowest, 22 at its highest
White Witch joins; Light Lass resigns
Most important events:
Darkseid attacks, Shrinking Violet is replaced by a spy,
the Emerald Empress attacks
Year Thirteen: Element Lad
Finally!
Members: 23 at its highest, then 19 at the end
Lightning Lass returns; Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and Lightning Lad resign
Most important events:
Graym Ranzz is born, the Legion of Super-Villains invades Orando,
Karate Kid is killed, the Dark Circle moves to invade UP space
Year Fourteen: Element Lad
"Keep Up The Good Work!"
Members: 19 at the beginning, then 24 at the end
Five new members join; Star Boy resigns; Saturn Girl rejoins
Most important events:
A new Fatal Five attacks, the Infinite Man returns,
the Crisis arrives in the 30th Century, Universo takes over Earth
Note:
This screen shows Superboy voting, even though he was no longer
an official member.
Year Fifteen: Polar Boy
be careful what you wish for...
Members: 24 at the beginning, 18 at the end
White Witch, Brainiac 5, Dream Girl, Quislet,
Shadow Lass, and Mon-El all resign
Most important events:
A new Starfinger attacks, the Manhunters return,
Superboy is killed fighting the Time Trapper
Year Sixteen: Sensor Girl
a sense of duty
Members: 18 at the beginning, then 17 at the end
Magnetic Kid dies
Most important event:
The Magic Wars
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You can tell right away that none of them are gonna make it. Up first is this guy:
I
happen to think that Arm-Fall-Off-Boy could have given the Legion a
hand, but they don't agree. I mean, look at their (future) track record:
Guy that turns into a bouncing ball, yes. Dude who can whup your ass
using his torn-off arm as a club, no. Maybe it was the unsightly warts.
He's followed by Mnemonic Kid, which leads to a cute bit with how to
spell her name, but only if you buy the idea of Saturn Girl as a dumb blond.
Mnemonic
Kid can make you lose memories (but not restore them). Get ready to
checkmark the cliché about rejects becoming villains, because there's a rebellion brewing among the rejects. And if you've recognized the Legion clubhouse in the yellow
guy with red winglets in the group shot above, you know where this is
going. Enter Fortress Lad, from the planet Fwang where, because of
constant meteor showers, the males have evolved the ability to turn
themselves into buildings. Look at this inhospitable crap-hole:
You
shouldn't be surprised that such an evolutionary adaptation is
possible. You should be surprised that anything on that planet managed
to evolve at all. Anyway, the Legion-for-pretty-humanoids-only rejects
him, and he leaves crying. But he's got a good heart, so when he finds
Memenonumic Kid wiping out the Legion's memories and about to shoot
them, he promptly protects his rejectors!
Then
hit with memory loss, he's turned into a vegetable. Well, into a
building really. And the Legion, figuring that they just forgot they had headquarters because of Mnemonic Kid, adopt it as their home. So there you
have it, the Legion's first recruit and no one ever knew it.
Actually a reprint of Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #195 (June 1973) and #201 (March-April 1974), this issue of Tales of the Legion actually takes us through two, count 'em, TWO Legion try-outs. And both involve Wildfire, or as he was originally known, Erg-1.
He shoots himself at the machine, destroying it. And when the Legion finds his empty suit, they leave him for dead and put his suit on display in their personal cemetery (population at this point: Ferro Lad).
To me, funny. Superboy is worse than Simon Cowell as he rejects Pete's application, even as he shrugs off a bunch of quills with his eyes (without a single doubt in my mind the inspiration for that scene in that Superman movie). Next up is Infectious Lass whose power is to give you any disease she likes. She uses Star Boy for a demonstration:
Never a good idea to give a Legionnaire explosive diarrhea at your Legion audition. She gets summarily rejected too. Third is Molecular Master, who can apparently create a giant atom and then boast about how big and powerful it is.
I know he told us to watch his hands, but it's very hard to concentrate on anything but the gazillion quills covering the Legion's audience chamber. I'm really glad Pete at least made it to the Legion of Substitute-Heroes. Meanwhile, Wildfire IS back, this time as energy. See, they left with his suit before he could return to it and it took him a year to get back to Earth to get physical again. To make matters worse, the Legion's put the suit behind a force field that prevents him from getting to it. He can sort of possess the bodies of other living beings, but the Legionnaires' flight rings create the same kind of force field around them. (This all begs the question: Isn't there ANYONE on Manna-5 which could have been possessed long enough for him to make a call back to Legion HQ?) Anyway, Molecular Master isn't a Legionnaire yet, right? So Wildfire tries to possess him. Doesn't work: He's a robot sent to destroy the Legion and steal the "Miracle Machine", a gadget from a previous adventure that grants the user any wish he cares to make.
One rocket-fueled kick to the noggin splits Molecular Master's head in two! Told you that was his unique power.
Reprinting the Legion try-outs from Legion of Super-Heroes vol.2 #14 (September 1985), this try-out occurs in the Paul Levitz era, which to me IS the Legion of Super-Heroes. It's not really his characterization, since many Legionnaires remain interchangeable. It's not the plotting, which is ok, but rarely memorable outside key story arcs. No, it's his total commitment to his 30th-century world.
My thoughts exactly, Timber Wolf. I wouldn't mind her so much if she didn't speak like some kind of outer space valley girl. "Parse me to the Nth power!" "Boost me to stardrive, this is maximal!" "Prism you for C-speed fools!" "Burn me no more - glim your eye-sockets at the lizard lounge now." I don't know what any of that means, but it just leaves me wondering where Superboy is to scream out "REJECTED!"
A nuclo-globe? Shades of Molecular Master, right there. Anyway, his audition is interrupted by Polar Boy, the leader of the Legion of Substitute-Heroes who never deserved to be rejected in the first place. He steals Energy Boy's thunder, and boldly asks the Legion to wave the rule requiring new members to be under 18 years of age (yes, the Legion has yet ANOTHER stupid rule when it comes to recruiting).
...I would be mighty pissed. I mean, look at those new members:
From left to right: Magnetic Kid is Cosmic Boy's brother (nepotism). Tellus is a sea monster. Quislet (that little ship) can't even be seen and didn't even show up at the try-outs. Polar Boy is over 18. And Sensor Girl is there because Saturn Girl pulled rank and asked for this mysterious character to be accepted sight untried.
How DARE they not uphold this Legion tradition? What's next? Scripts that make sense? So of course there's a mob of super-teens clamoring for a shot at the new Legion. I guess they didn't notice you had to be a clone of the original LSH to be in the SW6 club.
Aside from being a sexpot, she has the power to not get sued by Marvel for putting an X on her costume without the proper trademark. Oh wait, this is the 30th century... the copyright no longer holds. No, her power is to create a 150 million megaton explosion... but she can do it only once. Homage to Wildfire's original appearance? As Superboy would say... aw, you know by now.
She has unrefined telekinetic powers, and after dropping Live Wire on his ass, he calls her names and makes fun of her chunkier disposition, acne and split ends. That sends her straight to an alley where she is destined to meet the Emerald Eye, which will turn her into a new Emerald Empress as part of the Return of the Fatal Five storyline. If you've got your Legion clichés card handy, go right ahead and checkmark the box next to "rejected hero will turn into a villain". I'll wait.
It never rains but it pours for the Tartan Teen. Matter-Eater Lad (whose a real hoot in this incarnation) has the last laugh: "I'm sorry, Plaid Lad, but until you learn to better control your unique abilities, you'd be as great a danger to us as to our enemies." Dissed by the guy whose power is to eat stuff. That's got to be the worst.
