16 February 2023
OMG: Supergirl!
This is literally the longest profile I have written for this site — and has taken the longest to write!
Over the past year I've been preoccupied with my careers but I was always picking away at this profile. It encopasses everything about the original, Silver Age Supergirl. That's nearly 30 years and five major series.
Buckle up for a long-read or browse through the eras of the original Kara Zor-El!
"Prior to Krypton's destruction, Superman's uncle Zor-El had invented an experimental dome to protect Argo City and eradicate all disease. When the planet exploded, the dome kept Argo intact and the city was propelled into space by the force of the exploding planet. Zor-El and his wife Alura survived." ... READ MORE »
» SEE ALSO:
- Laurel Gand (post-Crisis)
- Legion of Super-Pets
- Lois Lane (Superwoman I)
- Power Girl (Earth-Two)
- Supergirl (post-Crisis)
- Superman (Earth-One)
- Superman (post-Crisis)
- The Super-Women of the Silver Age
Largest Profiles on Cosmic Teams!
Looking for a good, long read? After this Supergirl effort, I was curious which pages on the site were the largest. Welp, here they are:
- Darkseid
- Seven Soldiers of Victory
- Green Lantern Alan Scott
- Mon-El
- Silver Age Superboys
- Injustice Society
- Adventure Comics #247
- Mister Miracle
- And technically this one is the largest, but it's in two parts: Legion Elseworlds
1 September 2022
Stargirl Show Chronology!
Catch up to Stargirl, which began season 3 on August 31! You can watch it now on The CW.
READ MORE »
8 August 2022
Sandman Characters!
While I have never documented anything to do with Dream of the Endless, per se, two characters (and his successor) are related to the Justice Society.
Lyta (Trevor) Hall and her deceased husband, Hector Hall, were originally the children of the Golden Age Wonder Woman and Hawkman, respectively:
» SEE ALSO:
And of course, the original Sandman was a founding member of the Justice Society. There have been several DC heroes of that name:
18 July 2022
Superboys of the New 52!
This was a terrible iteration of Superboy, but there was a Legion analog associated with the New 52 Superboy.
"For the New 52 being all about a "fresh start," its Superboy (among other characters) sure had a needlessly convoluted back story. It eventually became clear that DC decision-makers wanted to cut their losses and run. …" READ MORE »
» SEE ALSO:
19 July 2021
Alternate Legions!
When I learned the sad news that Legion fan Don Sakers had died, I wanted to preserve his exhaustive list of Alternate Universe Legions — like the bottle city of Kandor!
But as I reviewed the material, I realized that his structure diverged too much from mine. So instead, I used his great research to help me identify missing info on Cosmic Teams and really round out my pages.
Legion Elseworlds reviews every story that involves the Legion characters that are set in alternate realities (aka non-canonical). Now, the canonical Legion has its own variations. The ones in the Elseworlds section are non-canonical to any of the major timelines.
Legion Parodies is all about teams, whether DC or not, that are abviously inspired by the Legion.
24 April 2021
Vartox!
The Vartox profile is a straggler from my Silver Age Super-Boys project. Although the character was not from the Mort Weisinger era of Superman comics, he fits into the pantheon of alien analogs to the Man of Steel, and is a member of the The United Planets Superwatch. I had an existing (and super lengthy) profile of him in my Obscure Heroes section and was able to refashion it for current standards:
"Valeron was a technologically advanced world with two suns and a pair of lunar satellites. Their planetary champion was Vartox, a hirsute man who wore a brown vest, black and yellow briefs and long boots. His origins were never revealed, but his celebrity as a young champion attracted the attention of a beautiful blonde named Syreena. They fell madly in love and as their romance flourished, she gave him a pendant to wear close to his heart." … READ MORE »
» SEE ALSO:
19 Decmeber 2020
Invisible Kids!
Across all the incarnations of the Legion, an Invisible Kid has been an staple of the team's roster. In different eras, it has been the original, Lyle Norg, or his successor, Jacques Foccart, to fill the role. Read about Lyle:
"Lyle Norg was a boy genius who earned a degree in biochemistry ffrom Metropolis University at age twelve. He was employed by a number of laboratories while working privately on a pet project: a serum to make himself invisible." … READ MORE »
"Jacques Foccart grew up on Africa's Ivory Coast with his two sisters. When the younger, Danielle, contracted some sort of electrical dysfunction in her brain that was believed incurable, the Legion's Brainiac 5 took an interest in her case." … READ MORE »
Recently Completed …
5 Decmeber 2020
Bouncing Boy!
Hot on the heels of his wife's profile, the ever-exuberant Chuck Taine:
"Young Chuck Taine was an "errand boy" for a scientist in Metropolis. One day he was entrusted to deliver a special super-plastic fluid to the Science Council, but on the way Chuck was enticed by a Robot Gladiator tournament. In his excitement, he accidentally drank the plastic serum instead of his soda — and gained the power to inflate his body and bounce like a rubber ball!" … READ MORE »
28 November 2020
Triplicate Girl!
For a so-called "weak" Legionnaire, Luornu Durgo has proved an extremely popular and versatile character, even moreso in her more recent iterations.
"Luornu Durgo was born on Cargg to Humre and Silvo Durgo. Carggites live under a triple sun and have the native ability to split themselves into three separate, identical bodies. In most people, all three bodies share the same personality; Carggites whose selves have deviate from this norm are considered schizophrenic. Over the years, Luornu has demonstrated some of this trait." … READ MORE »
24 October 2020
Phantom Girl!
Read all about the Legion's fifth member!
"Bgtzl is a world that lies in the same location as Earth, but each planet resides in a different dimension. Bgtzl natives can become immaterial at will, and pass through solid objects. By extension, they can shift their bodies fully into Earth's dimension." … READ MORE »
24 October 2020
Mon-El!
It feels good to have this profile under my belt. It was substantial to begin with, but in dire need of editing and clarifications, especially since the Retroboot and the New 52.
"Lar Gand was a 20th century space explorer who met Superboy when his ship crashed to Earth. Superboy saw that this alien boy had similar powers and theorized that he was his long lost brother; he dubbed him Mon-El for its family name and because it was a Monday." … READ MORE »
» SEE ALSO:
16 October 2020
Lois Lane as Superwoman and the "Super-Women" of the Silver Age!
Next in my suite of articles that began with the deep dive into Adventure Comics #247, then the Silver Age Super-Boys, comes the revealing look at the super-powered history of Lois Lane! It was astonishing how many of these I uncovered when I kept turn over stones. I'd never realized how frequently she used the name "Superwoman," either.
"Lois Lane grew up in the 'small Midwestern town' of Pittsdale, the elder daughter of Sam and Ella Lane. Baby Kal-El (the future Superman) unknowingly saved Lois’ life for the first time when a toy of his (which was in one of his father’s experimental rockets) went from the planet Krypton to Earth and frightened a deadly snake which was about to strike at Lois." … READ MORE »
Of course there were other Superman analogs in female form. Just as there were many super-men and super-boys, the Silver Age was replete with (mostly alien) super-women (and -girls).
"The names 'Superwoman' and 'Supergirl' have been applied (explicitly and anecdotally) to a variety of characters throughout DC Comics' publishing history. As early as 1942, after Superman exploded in popularity, National (DC) had even printed "ashcan" comics titled Superwoman, Superboy and Supergirl. (An ashcan was a small black-and-white edition printed only to secure the trademark on a name; none of these depicted these super-heroes.)" … READ MORE »
» SEE ALSO:
25 July 2020
The United Planets Superwatch!
This super-fun new group was introduced by Grant Morrison in The Green Lantern #9 (Sept. 2019). Its membership consisted of alien super-heroes who were introduced (mostly) during the Silver Age and appeared just once. In that same issue, he also introduced the Guardians of the Multiverse, a multiversal band of Green Lanterns.
» SEE ALSO: Silver Age "Super-Boys"The United Planets is a legendary part of the Legion of Super-Heroes universe, a 30th century concept introduced in Adventure Comics #340 (Jan. 1966). However, it only existed in the future until the "Rebirth" era. In this continuity, the United Planets was created in the present, inspired by an idea of the young Jonathan Kent (Superboy; Superman v.5 #14, Oct. 2019). Superboy and the U.P. became the inspiration for the Legion of Super-Heroes, a thousand years later." … READ MORE »
28 June 2020
Lightning Lad!
Continuing the long slog toward covering the most iconic and long-standing Legionnaires, read all about the team's "unluckiest" member, Garth Ranzz, aka Lightning Lad.
"Mekt Ranzz was a reckless teenager who one day took his younger twin siblings Garth and Ayla Ranzz, on a ride in a spacecraft. When Mekt's piloting skills got them into trouble, Garth managed to guide their ship to land on the planetoid Korbal. In order to repower the spaceship, Garth suggested they try to attract the native lightning beasts toward the ship. Instead of recharging the ship, the beasts attacked siblings with lightning energies. The Ranzzes survived, and gained the power to discharge electricity." … READ MORE »
27 May 2020
Silver Age Super-Boys!
I first encountered these heroes in Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp's story from The Green Lantern #9 (Sept. 2019). There they resurrected obscure Silver Age space heroes and assembled them into a novel team called the United Planets Superwatch. Even when I read that story, I didn't know they were classic characters. That, I learned from the great Legion of Super-Bloggers.
When I began digging into the Legion's early appearances, I unearthed a trove of these heroes — and more, and more. A few of these were actually the prototypes for Legionnaires like Mon-El and Star Boy.
Be they Super-, Hyper-, Power- or Mighty, there are a bevy of Silver Age boy heroes whose origins and powers mirrored those of Superboy. Most of these characters appeared only once, and the plots of their stories were recycled by Mort Weisinger (who was known for this) years later to make 'new' characters. READ MORE »
FYI, I'm still working on the companion pages to this, covering the adult and female heroes in the same vein.