Posted by darren in Comics
Four more Legionnaires up to bat.
Here we have Sun Boy, the stylized Sun pictograph, Bouncing Boy, who is the bouncing ball, Mon-El, who is the interlac version of the letters M, E, and L, as well as Matter-Eater Lad who is represented by the tooth.
Sun Boy is Dirk Morgna of Earth. The son of a solar physicist and quite the junior scientist in his own right, Dirk was trapped in a nuclear reactor by his dad’s rival, Doctor Regulus. Instead of killing Dirk, it imbued him with the ability to project light, heat, and even fire. Sun Boy is one of the Legion’s best pilots and scientists however, he does have a bit of a tendency to be a womanizer, he has not settled down with any of the Legion ladies.
Bouncing Boy is Chuck Taine of Earth. As an errand boy, Chuck was charged with delivering a serum to a laboratory, well Chuck wanted to also watch the Moopsball game. So, Chuck went to the game with the serum and of course, mixed up his serum with his refreshment. His body naturally inflated and he began to bounce like a big rubber ball. Chuck is the morale officer of the Legion, More >
Posted by darren in Comics
Here we are again, ready for the next ones? I hope so, because here they are.
These would be Superboy, Ultra Boy is the large “T” or very stylized bird, Star Boy, and Shrinking Violet.
Superboy is the junior high-high school version of Clark Kent prior to his leaving Smallville and going off to Metropolis. The Legion became a plot device to get Clark out of the rather boring Smallville scene and into the future for some sci-fi stories, and the Legion has existed ever since. Clark is an outcast in Smallville due to his powers and the Legion comes back in time to be his friends. The Legion winds up teaching Clark what it means to be a hero, which they learned by watching historical records of what Superman did. You have to love time travel loops, huh?
(the awkward implications of X-Ray vision.. and why are the guys checking each other out? Poor Lana never had a chance.)
Ultra Boy is Jo Nah from the planet Rimbor. While piloting a space cruiser, Jo Nah was swallowed by a space whale (Jo Nah and the whale? easy to remember huh?) While in the space whale he became imbued with Ultra Energy which he can use More >
Posted by darren in Comics
Well seven members down and we are going to cover four more, ready?
and
So here we have Colossal Boy, Invisible Kid I, Supergirl, and Brainiac Five.
Colossal Boy is Gim Allon of Earth who was exposed to the radiation of an asteroid (which has to be one of the top 10 most common origins of all times) which gave him the ability to grow to immense proportion, which matches his symbol which is the overly large “male” symbol. He has a crush on fellow Legionnaire Shrinking Violet, but has not been able to win her heart yet.
Invisible Kid is Lyle Norg or Earth who created an invisibility serum for himself. He is one of the Legion’s best scientists and leaders. Unfortunately, Lyle was killed in battle by the Legion foe Validus.
Supergirl.. *wha*? Yes Virginia, there is a Supergirl. Kara Zor-El, from Argo City which was a large part of Krypton which flew off the planet relatively intact. Eventually Argo City was also doomed and Kara’s parents who were related to Jor-El, rocketed Kara off to Kansas to meet her cousin. Kara can do all the things that Superman can do, just usually in a skirt.
We’ll talk about the turn the male superhero into a female hero comic conceit a More >
Posted by darren in Comics
Okay.. so I have hesitated to get into the Legion for a few reasons.
- It scares people. Too many characters, locations, and things going on.
- The goal of this site is to ease you into these concepts, so how do I boil it down to the essence when we are talking about a cast of 30+?
Here’s how. First off, I will have faith in your comprehension skills and hopefully you will have some faith in my ability to convey this team to you. And there ARE some shorthand methods we can use. In any team book there are typically shortcuts you can use to “decode” the world we are in.
- It’s the 30th Century, so it’s all futuristic at the same time it is Super-Heroes so it’s a mingling of Star Wars/Star Trek and other sci-fi tropes along with the 20th century heroes.
- It’s about the characters. Heroes fighting villains is great, but why should you care? The reason: These characters for a true legion are all different, conflicts occur, relationships begin and end.
- The writer and artist in this era of the Legion, Mr. Paul Levitz and Mr. Keith Giffen gave us a “short-hand” in the form of symbols that represent each of the Legionnaires. Like More >
Posted by darren in Comics
Well, here we are back in the New Teen Titans world for a little bit.
We’re going to buzz through New Teen Titans #18-20. Keep in mind we’re in 1982.
In New Teen Titans #18, a Russian woman is infected with a disease that could infect and kill millions. Her boyfriend is the Russian hero named Starfire, who after this story is rechristened Red Star. Red Star is Leonid Kovar and he becomes an on again off again supporting player for the Titans. He appeared first in the original run of Teen Titans.
Wait. What did I say just then?
“the original run of the Teen Titans.”
Well that makes sense right, if these are the “NEW” Teen Titans then there must have been an original set of Titans right? Well there were an original set of Titans and we’ll be covering them soon.
Needless to say, Leonid is trying to help his girlfriend and misunderstanding runs amok, especially as Leonid and Kid Flash have a large ideological difference. Imagine sitting down Reagan and Lenin, and expecting them to play nice…and frankly in 1982, no American seemed to have a pleasant view of the U.S.S.R. or at least was not that brave to publicly voice it.
Unfortunately, despite all the best efforts Raven’s More >
Posted by darren in Comics
So.. you’re thinking to yourself.
“The Royal Flush Gang? You have GOT to be kidding me.”
Nope. The Royal Flush Gang. Interesting premise and over the years the writers tend to get more inventive with them and because they are villains, they are more changeable than our heroes. They are a natural team in a world populated with Brainiac, Cheetahs, and Jokers.. well, could this card themed group really have been far behind?
The Royal Flush Gang employ weapons based on their card motifs. Spade shaped grenades, illusion scepters, lasers, hypnosis, and they ride flying cards. Come on, Flying Cards! It’s like surfing!
Aquaman and Firestorm open up our adventure on the open seas, where Aquaman is giving Firestorm a test. While Firestorm is a JLAer, he’s still the rookie and so the other Leaguers try to help him along a bit with his training. Unfortunately, the two JLAers are ambushed by people wearing outfits that look like playing cards and they are riding playing cards. Weird, huh?
Before long, many JLAers fall to the Royal Flush Gang. Superman. Wonder Woman. Green Arrow. All the JLAers who are zapped by the Royal Flush Gang’s weapons go into a sort of debilitating coma.
We eventually get to More >
Posted by darren in Comics
Okay, well in the second JLA story I ever read, it was a very simple done in one story which featured JLA members Superman, Flash, Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman, and Black Canary versus a misunderstood hero that has been around and been not an enemy of the JLA for the most part, but is a character that tends to let his naivety get in the way of his ability to do good things.
Ultraa is the hero in question, the man with the bright red hair and purple outfit.
And as you can tell, he packs quite a punch.
Now, this story is fairly simple, Ultraa duped by a con man named Joe Parry is tricked into helping Joe commit some robberies and the JLA gets involved as the police can’t handle Ultraa. Ultraa realizes at the end that even though Joe offered him friendship it was not worth his soul and recants. All is forgiven, for the most part.
Now, the REAL juicy part of this story is that Ultraa is not from the Earth that our heroes are from, but instead is from an Earth designated Earth-Prime.
Okay, here is where we get our first piece of DCU Cosmology.
There are multiple Earths in the DC Universe, all are vibrating at slightly More >
Posted by darren in Comics
So there I am, looking at the comics on the rack again. My escapism in full throttle and my diving into this world of colorful heroes continuing with abandon.
The next comic I bought with my hard earned funds mowing lawns, my first job, which I grew to hate with a passion. I found this cover which featured Superman on it, but he was lying unconscious and there were all these other heroes that I had no idea who they all were.
You see him right? He’s over there on the left lying in front of a woman in a green outfit, while these two fiery guys are fighting it out and an alien guy with antennae and another girl with white hair are unconscious on the other side of the two fighting? Yeah, I figured that was Superman.
WRONGO!
That’s Superboy. Turns out in the DCU, Clark Kent had adventures when he was a teenager in his home town of Smallville, Kansas. Most likely you are familiar with Smallville, eh?
It is one of the WB’s consistently highest rated shows and nothing against the cast, but it looks like Tom Weiling is going to be collecting Social Security before he puts on that cape, More >
Posted by darren in Comics
So, the question posted last time was, “Where was Robin?” Well, I wondered that and I paid my local Magik Market a visit and found this on the shiny comic book spinner rack.
Well, you can clearly see Robin’s costume on the left side of this cover, so I figured this would explain were Robin was, it did that and so much more. This is issue #17 of the New Teen Titans, written by Marv Wolfman and drawn by George Perez. So, let’s run down the characters inside this comic really quickly.
First off, Robin, the Boy Wonder is the team’s leader and he certainly is the same protegee of the Batman as most pop culture has noted. Dick Grayson was a member of the Flying Graysons, and he worked in the Haley Circus. Due to a Protection Racket gone wrong the Flying Graysons, save Dick, were sent to their deaths by unpaid mobsters. Bruce took Dick under his wing as his ward and he began to train as Batman’s protegee.
In the present, Robin seems to be struggling just a bit with his relationship with Batman and how to get out from the Bat-shadow. Dick is the leader of the Titans and More >
Posted by darren in Comics
Well, the JLA is reunited and they break off into teams to go beat the bad alien conquerors into submission, so let’s get to it, shall we?
Team One: Batman, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Zatanna take off to fight the Crystal Creature, the Wood King, and the Mercury Monster in the woods of the Vermont forest.
The Appellaxians are already battling each other as Superman and Hawkman swoop in to break it up. The Wood King sticks his roots into it again and manages to grow an offshoot that catches Hawkman. Superman avoids the sneak attack and collides with the Wood King and smashes him into so many splinters. Unfortunately Superman failed to think ahead and the Wood King’s sap was full of Green Kryptonite.. (when will he learn?) Wonder Woman uses her golden lasso to pull Superman out of harms way of the other aliens while Green Arrow uses a saw arrow to trim the root still choking Hawkman.
While this drama is going on, Zatanna has encased the Mercury Monster in a bubble of super heated oil causing the monster to evaporate. Mercury boils at 357 degrees Celsius, so make a mental note, do not tick Zatanna off. More >
