Just So We're Clear On This...
This, my friends, is Polar Boy, whose power was potent enough to cool even the raging lava of an active volcano:
He applied to the Legion of Super-Heroes and was subsequently rejected and sent to live in a cave with Stone Boy.By comparison, this is decorated and beloved Legionnaire Bouncing Boy:
I'll go through that one more time for those of you in the back.
Here, we have Night Girl, who, through the amazing science of The Future, was granted super-strength surpassed only by Superboy and Mon-El while in darkness:
She is the third strongest person in the universe for twelve hours of every day, and was summarily rejected from the Legion of Super-Heroes for having a power that was "too limiting."And over here, we have the Legion's own Matter-Eater Lad, chewing on somebody's fence:
The prosecution rests.
posted by Chris Sims at 3/14/2006 10:14:00 PM
13 Comments:
Meet Legion Subs member Color Kid, who could change the colors of things - and in doing so to Kryptonite, he made it harmless to Superboy and Supergirl. But they didn't take him because he had a wussy power.
3/14/2006 11:27 PM
Is it me, or does curt swan seem to only like drawing matter-eater dude sticking phallic things into his mouth? I mean, how hard is it to show him eating a rock like a hamburger?
As an afterthought, how would he eat an upright, solid wall? Would he start by licking it and dissolve it with his super-saliva, thus making a hole he could get his mouth into and thus get his teeth around the bricks, or does he have some kind of futuristic penetrative teeth?
I'm just curious...
3/15/2006 12:43 AM
This just goes to show why Keith Giffen rocked, and continues to do so. All those Subs became kick ass guerilla fighters in the Five Years After... Legion stories. Even Color Kid! Even Chlorophyll Kid!
3/15/2006 12:44 AM
Surely she's the fifth strongest--after Superboy, Mon-El, Supergirl and Dev Em?
Wow, I really am a Legion geek...
3/15/2006 1:49 AM
Grife, the Giffen issues were sweet, but I used to love the scabs, losers, and dweebs that would show up for Legion Try-Out Day. A lot of them have pretty effective powers, really: Radiation Roy, Infectious Lass, Tusker...wait, what? I had to have just halluncinated that last one.
My favorite Legion issue ever, and one of my favorite panels ever: Giffen "Five Years Later" Legion #2, Ultra Boy finishes a killer robot with flash vision (not heat vision, no, Flash vision!). Kono asks why he didn't do that in the first place. "Oh, too mad, not really thinking." Perfect.
3/15/2006 9:47 AM
Long time lurker, first time commenter.
Since you seem to know what comics are good, can you tell me if V for Vendetta (not the movie, the book) is worth reading?
3/15/2006 9:53 AM
Yes. Yes it is.
V For Vendetta is really fucking good.
In other news, read that panel: Surpassed only by Superboy and Mon-El.
3/15/2006 9:54 PM
Yes, precisely. Any super-team that won't let Polar Boy or Night Girl join, but lets Matter Eater Lad and Bouncing Boy join, is no super team I want to read about.
And don't get me started on the Legionaires with "opposite" powers. Colossal Boy, Shrinking Violet. Star Boy, Light Lass.
Wouldn't it have been smarter to recruit someone who can do both? What if you really, really need to make something heavy for a mission, but you stupidly only brought Light Lass along?
3/15/2006 10:19 PM
Maybe if Light Lass made everything in the vicinity super-light but left one thing at its normal weight, that would be functionally equivalent to making that one thing super-heavy.
The thing to remember about the LSH rejecting Polar Boy and Night Girl in favor of Bouncing Boy and Matter-Eater Lad is that they're teenagers. Teenagers frequently make decisions that make no sense. Some might say it's their defining characteristic. I tell you, it's a miracle they didn't take Arm-Fall-Off Boy.
3/16/2006 9:05 AM
Please remember that Polar Boy was eventually elected as leader of the LSH! That baxter series was the best Legion... The whole Time Trapper stuff was so sweet. Battle at the end of time FTW!
3/16/2006 2:49 PM
The characters were not always that interesting for what they could do; Lightning Lad and Sun Boy mainly zapped things, which made them helpful for speedy resolution of crises, but not compelling characters. Shrinking Violet was probably easy for a writer to fit into a story not only because she could creep into small places, but because she was portrayed as a real person. Bouncing Boy's chubbiness also gave him a character that outclassed that of his more macho peers. It would have been nice to have seen more of Matter Eater Lad, not out of interest in his power -- gross, when you think about it -- but because amidst these super-jocks he seemed to be a regular guy. I understand that in his adult life, he became a politician (a decent elementary school civics course model, of course); was there ever a Legion story where he made this 'career change'?
7/25/2006 4:53 PM
The reason they didn't take Night Girl is because she was a creepy stalker who only got powers so that she offer Cosmic Boy "backrubs".
8/06/2006 9:37 PM
Yes, there WAS an issue where M-E Lad became a politician. It was one of the early Grell-drawn stories that had an interesting (and possibly unique) concept that was handled in a marginally competent way. Namely, the six Legionnaires whose powers are "native" were challenged by BETTER teens from their home planets. As I recall it was the top Magno-Ball player from Braal (Magno Lad?); a boy from Imsk, since boys are better than icky girls, right? (Micro Lad?); another Durlan, a better telepath; someone I forget, and the other Bismollian, Calorie Queen. No joke. Calorie Queen. The great thing was was that she was actually better than Matter Eater Lad. Her scientist-father figured out a way to channel some of the energy from the stuff she ate into her muscles, so she could eat anything AND she was super-strong. Anyway, the Legionnaires get their asses kicked, but in a rematch, they swap dancing partners and win the day, showing the power of teamwork (Saturn Girl finds the Durlan disguised as a tree, and he surrenders after ME Lad tries to eat him). The story basically ended there, but after a two-page ad spread, there was one last page where ME Lad gets drafted into the Bismollian government. Yes, they draft their politicians there. Sadly, despite his recommendation that Calorie Queen be considered for Legion membership, we never see her again.
So it was a good idea to show why THESE teens should be Legionnaires and not just anyone from their homeworlds, bu the story was just as goofy as any Legion story from the Silver Age.
9/10/2006 6:14 AM
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