Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Who's Who: Stone Boy

Stone Boy
by Siskoid

Real Name: Dag Wentim
Super-Power(s): Turn to immovable stone
Planet of Origin: Zwen
Legion Seniority: Stone Boy was the twelfth recruit to join the Legion in the mostly-unchronicled era known as the Five-Year Gap.

Legion Log

Stone Boy hails from Zwen, a world where everyone has the ability to turn into a dormant stone statue, a form of suspended animation to survive their planet's six-month-long nights. Applying for Legion membership was a long shot, to be sure, and he was naturally rejected. Fortunately for him, he was found by Polar Boy, another reject who felt that even rejected applicants could be useful, and became one of the original members of the Legion of Substitute Heroes.

For several years "The Subs" worked behind the scenes to assist the actual Legion until officially deputized as official "back-up" Legionnaires. During their nearly ten-year career, they fought such foes as the Khunds,  Ambush Bug and Pulsar Stargrave, as well as Darkseid himself. In one adventure, Stone Boy won Legion membership in a contest, but chose instead to stay with his friends, the Subs. When the team was disbanded after Polar Boy joined the Legion, he found employment as a deep-space explorer, since in his stone state he needed no food, drink or air.

After Polar Boy became Legion leader in the so-called Five-Year Gap, Stone Boy was finally asked to join, but his heart was never in it. He was still with the Legion when it disbanded. From there he joined the underground movement run by Jacques Foccart, the second Invisible Kid, where he fought the Dominion Occupation of Earth. Jacques' doctors studied him and came to the realization that his immobility in stone form wasn't due to the fact that he was stone (although that did limit his potential agility), but due to the fact that he was asleep. Using hypnosis, the doctors were able to induce him to move in his stone state, as if he were sleepwalking. Soon he was able to master his full range of waking movements through hypno-therapy, and a post-hypnotically suggested code word was implanted in his mind to allow him or another person to place him in his hypnotically mobile state when necessary. With this, he became one of the Resistance leaders, and was instrumental in the fight to liberate Earth. With the other former Subs, he helped with the resettlement of Earth's survivors after the planet's destruction, and the training a new super-powered United Planets Militia Academy. He and his fellow Subs were called upon to help transport the pocket universe's Earth to the true universe, after which they disappeared as a result of Zero Hour.

After the Reboot, Stone Boy tried to apply for Legion membership, but was rejected. He would later become a student at Legion Academy.

After the Threeboot, Stone Boy does not seem to exist.

After Infinite Crisis, Stone Boy's original history has more or less been re-established. When Earth Man and his Justice League took over Earth, the Subs were instrumental in helping form the resistance.

Stone Boy has had two appearances on the Legion of Super-Heroes animated series, voiced by Yuri Lowenthal.

Important Fire Lad Stories:

Adventure Comics #306
Stone Boy makes his debut in the Legion of Substitute Heroes

Adventure Comics #311
The Substitute Heroes stops an invasion of Earth

Adventure Comics #315
The Legion offers Stone Boy membership, but he declines

Adventure Comics #319
The Substitutes receive galaxy-wide recognition

Adventure Comics #331
In the Adult Legion era, competent Subs fight the Legion of Super-Villains

Adventure Comics #351
The Substitutes battle an amnesiac Supergirl


Adventure Comics #374
The Substitutes defeat the Taurus Gang

Superboy/Legion of Super-Heroes #243
The Substitutes fight the Khunds during Earthwar

Legion of Super-Heroes (v2) #294
The Substitutes help during The Great Darkness

Legion of Super-Heroes (v2) #300
The Subs merge with the Legion in an alternate reality

DC Comics Presents #59
The Substitutes meet Ambush Bug

Legion of Substitute Heroes Special #1
The Substitutes help defeat Pulsar Stargrave

Secret Origins #37
The secret origin of the Legion of Substitute-Heroes
 
Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) #20
Five Years Later, Dag returns to the book as a member of the Earth Resistance
 
Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) #27
Stone Boy infiltrates the Dominators' underground cells
 
Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) #40
The Subs have liberated Earth
 
Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) #57
Stone Boy prepares the next generation of super-powered defenders
 
Valor #22
Stone Boy in the last days of his reality, before it collapses in Zero Hour


Legionnaires #43
After the Reboot, Stone Boy unsuccessfully applies for Legion membership

The Legion #25
Stone Boy is seen as a Legion Academy recruit
  
Action Comics #862
After Infinite Crisis, very competent Subs act as a Resistance movement
against Earth Man and his Justice League
 
Brave and the Bold (v3) #35
The Substitute Heroes team up with the Inferior Five

Legion of Super-Heroes (v7) #5
Stone Boy scores a cameo as one of Computo's search results when
Dream Girl tries to figure out a prophetic dream about a stone
 
Legion of Super-Heroes animated series
Stone Boy, voiced by Yuri Lowenthal

4 comments:

  1. I always liked him. I preferred him to Blok, anyway.

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  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. I wouldn't go that far - Blok was a favorite of mine. But I do think they missed an opportunity by never putting those two in a story together.

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  4. Fight the power, Blok fans!

    The all-gravel issue will be at the top of my list if they ever let me write the Legion.

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