From: [mac 7] at [po.CWRU.Edu] (Michael A. Chary) Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.info Subject: LSH: The General Information Post Followup-To: rec.arts.comics.dc.lsh Date: Wed, 20 Sep 95 20:05:35 GMT Reply-To: [mac 7] at [po.CWRU.Edu] (Michael A. Chary) Okay, this is going to be a post similar in nature to my Starman General Information Post. The idea here is to provide a springboard for people such that they can read this post, and then buy the next issue of the series without feeling lost. I am going to do this in what might seem an unusual fashion but I think it will work :) I am going to begin by explaining a bit about the history of the Legion of Superheroes as a comic book feature. This isn't terribly relevant in the sense that you don't have to know it to enjoy the series, but it might help explain some of the causes of recent events. (Particularly why the issue numbers don't seem to match the amount of back history. You see they restarted the series from scratch but without restarting the numbering. Because they're in charge, that's why :)) I am *not* going to get into various individual creators and era on the title, but rather just briefly skim the history of the concept as it has appeared in comic books over the last few decades. In other words, if you read Usenet, you will see arguments over the merits of various interpretations of the Legion of Superheroes, but I am going to ignore all that. We have a new book here, for all intents and purposes, and I am only concerned with getting people to read it. Okay, here's the general idea: The Legion of Superheroes first appeared in Adventure Comics 247 in a Superboy story. That was around 30 years ago. They have been one of the most enduring concepts in comics history, having appeared almost constantly since that time. They have also generated a lot of trivia and history and confusion :) Essentially, the Legion of Superheroes (or LSH) was situated one thousand years in the future where they operated as a "superhero club" They were founded on the inspiration of Superboy, and were intimately tied with Superboy (and thus Superman) continuity. Then around ten years ago, DC Comics hired a popular creator of formidable talents named John Byrne to revamp Superman for the modern days. It is not the place of this document to speculate on whether DC Comics had remembered to take it's prescription medication on that particular day :) In any event, part of what John Byrne did was retroactively remove Superman's career as Superboy from the canonical history of the Superman character. (He was able to do this because shortly before, DC Comics had restructured it's entire fictional cosmology in a series called "Crisis on Infinite Earths.") In any event this was a bit of a burden on LSH continuity and the next 7 or 8 years of real time were spent trying to come up with ways of dealing with it. There were some good ideas and some bad but nothing *really* worked to the satisfaction of either the creaors or the fans, so the upshot is, they decided to try and start over essentially from scratch. (They were able to do this because shortly before DC Comics had restructured it's entire fictional cosmology ina series called "Zero Hour" and in a variety of crossovers. The LSH segments of these crossovers were called "subtitled" "End of an Era" as indeed they were.) That brings us essentially up to date :) In any event, the new titles are only a few months old, and don't have a terrible amount of history behind them, so a new reader could jump right on theoretically. These are excellent titles. Well written and thought out by creators who have a genuine love for the project. I encourage you to read them if you haven't tried them before. If you are an old fan, and were turned off by the idea of a reboot, there is enough familiar stuff to make a fun ride. Okay, so that's a bit of explanatory history, here's an introduction to the current title. There are currently *two* regular[1] titles featuring the Legion of Superheroes. They are LEGION OF SUPERHEROES and LEGIONNAIRES. The basic premise is this. There are many inhabited planets in the galaxies, and they are tied together by a loose league of sorts called the United Planets (or UP) but they are not too fond of each other. Travel in between these worlds is facilitated by means of stargates. The only person who knows how to make stargates is R. J. Brande. One day some people tried to kill R. J. Brande as he was disembarking from from a passenger ship. This attempt was foiled by three teenagers with extraordinary abilities. Their bravery and exuberance impressed Brande and gave him an idea to forge a symbol for galactic unity in an attempt to help solidify the UP. He would use his own vast fortune to fund a group of of superpowered teens whose youth and bravery would be a beacon of hope for interplanetary peace and a rallying point for worlds to point at and say "Look, there's our superhero, that's what the UP means." And so the Legion of Superheroes was formed. Alright, now I am going to go over some important concepts and characters and artifacts in the world of the Legion of Superheroes. These will be mentioned in whatever order they happen to come to mind :) R. J. Brande: One of the richest sentients in the known cosmos, Brande controls stargate technology. He has several enemies. When three superpowered teens foiled an assassination attempt on him, he got the idea for the Legion of Superheroes. He is Luornu "Triad" Durgo's guardian. Cosmic Boy (Rokk Krinn): Rokk is from Braal. Like all Braalians, he possesses various magnetic powers. He was a magno ball champion before joining the LSH. (kinda like Michael Chang) He was one of the three founders of the LSH along with Garth "Livewire" Ranzz and Imra "Saturn Girl" Ardeen, after they saved R. J. Brande from an assassination attempt. He is either the first or first and third leader of the LSH, depending on how you count :) Currently he is leader. (He was replaced for one mission by Gim "Leviathan" Allon who resigned after doing a poor job in his own estimation.) Rokk shares what appears to be a mutual attraction with Imra Ardeen but this is complicated by two factors. Imra might also be interested in Garth Ranzz who is Rokk's best friend. Braal and Imra's homeworld, Titan were recently at war, and there are still some tensions. Rokk wears a costume that has metallic disks attached to it which can be detached for use as weapons. Rokk seems to have succumbed to the pressures of the job of late, and he has been acting like a bit of a tyrant. Saturn Girl (Imra Ardeen): Imra is from Titan, a moon of Saturn. Like all Titanians, she is telepathic. She can detect, read, and broadcast thoughts. She can also control the minds of others to a certain extent. These powers are harder to use depending on how different a mind is from that of her own. Because of their telepathic abilities, Titanians are viewed with distrust. This distrust apparently has resulted in a requirement that Titanians must wear a symbol of Saturn to identify themselves. (I don't really know how it happenned. They might have volunteered. Maybe it's a fraternity initiation thing, but they have to wear the symbol, so who cares why? :)) Imra was a a cadet with the Science Police. She was one of the three founding members of the Legion of Superheroes along with Garth "Livewire" Ranzz and Rokk "Cosmic Boy" Krinn, after they saved R. J. Brande from an assassination attempt. She apparently is attracted to Rokk which is complicated by the fact that their two worlds were recently at war. Additionally, she also sems to have some attraction to Garth who is Rokk's best friend. Imra was recently damaged mentally in a fight with the Composite Man. She had the mind of a child. Recently she has been making a strong recovery though and recently led a mission. Livewire (Garth Ranzz): Garth is from Winath. He received his powers of generating electricity during an encounter with lightning beasts on the planet Korbal. Garth is concerned about his powers because he believes that they are causing irratic, destructive behavior. He has two siblings, an older brother and a twin sister, who possess similar powers. Garth ran away from home to find his brother, Mekt, who has gone missing. He has since found his brother who had become a criminal. He lost his arm fighting Mekt.He was one of the three founding members of the Legion of Superheroes along with Imra "Saturn Girl" Ardeen and Rokk "Cosmic Boy" Krinn, after they saved R. J. Brande from an assassination attempt. Garth is a wanted fugitive on Winath on account of his status as a runaway. He was, thus, replaced in the LSH by his sister, whereupon he joined another group of superpowered youths funded as a private taskforce by Leland MacCauley. This private group is called Workforce for reasons it is probably best not to speculate on :) Garth has since quit Workforce as well. Garth has a crush on Imra Ardeen which might be reciprocated. This is complicated by her attraction to Rokk Krinn, and by the fact that Garth is no longer around most of the time. Garth has Triad (Luornu Durgo): Luornu is from Cargg. Like all Carggites she possesses the ability to seperate into three distinct bodies. How much actual use this is unless the LSH reaches DefCon 4 and she's the only one in the clubhouse is a matter of some debate. She differs from others on her homeworld in that her individual bodies each have distinct personalities. This is consider perverse on Cargg and she was subjected to treatments to "correct" the condition. She escaped and found R. J. Brande who hired her as an assistant and later gained custody of her. She is apparenly proficient at a martial art caled "tri-jitsu." She was recently attacked and nearly killed by a group called the "White Triangle." She has made a full recovery from all appearances. Apparition (Tinya Wazzo): Tinya is from the planet Bgztl. Like all the denizens of that place, she can pass through solid objects without damage to either the object or herself. The only limit shown thus far is that she cannot pass through another person with the same ability. This power is called phasing. Tinya's mother is an ambassador to the UP and is on the appropriation committee for the LSH. She likes to keep Tinya on a tight leash and doesn't approve of her LSH membership. Tinya is attracted to Jo "Ultra Boy" Nah, who is a member of Workforce. (Well, attracted isn't really strong enough, basically picutre John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara in "The Quiet Man" and you've goit the idea :)) This complicated by Jo's involvement wirth another member of Workforce Sussa "Spider Girl" Paks, but not really. It's fairly obvious that Jo and Tinya aren't terribly concerned about Sussa, who I feel rather sorry for to be honest :) However, change every verb up there to the past tense because Tinya was just killed by a Daxamite in Legionnaires Annual #2. XS (Jenni Ognats): Aarok is her homeworld. She's a descendant of the Barry Allen Flash (Barry spent his last few days living in the future) and she possesses super speed powers. Her mother was Barry's daughter, and her uncle is the father of a character named Impulse (which is another title you should be reading if you aren't already :)) She has some problems with self-confidence, or she did. (She ran away in the first battle with Tangleweb which showed immense good sense if you ask me :) I would have run too :)) Her father is still alive. XS appears to have something of a crush on Cosmic Boy but that hasn't really been addressed :) She was recently lost in time during an adventure. You can see her in Impulse, which is anothere book well worth reading (see "IMPULSE: The General Information Post" :)) Lyle Norg (Invisible Kid): Lyle Norg is a genius from Earth. He developed a serum to give himself the power to turn invisible and to see with transparent retinae. :) Lyle is the only member of the team who speaks Durlan, which makes him good buddies with Reep "Chameleon" Daggle. Lyle has apparently done a some "favors" for Earthgov. What that means exactly is up in the air. (I think he cleaned the grout in Earthgov's bathroom, myself :)) Lyle invented the Legion flight rings using an element discovered by Querl "Brainiac 5" Dox. He also has a slight problem following orders :) Chameleon: Reep Daggle of Durla possesses the native Durlan powers of shapechanging. He cannot speak interlac but is learning. Recently, his father and, perhaps, the rest of his family was killed by the Composite Man. Since he is a member of the religious caste, and his father was the pontiff, there is some *possibility* being hinted at that he now has some special stature on Durla. Brainiac 5: Querl Dox. The smartest person in the Galaxy, or darn close. He's from Colu. He had a bit of a crush on Laurel "Andromeda" Gand. He spends most of his time in his lab. He recently cured Laurel of lead poisoning which was a condition hitherto thought invariably fatal in Daxamites. He is experimenting with time travel. Spark: Ayla Ranzz is the sister of Garth Ranzz. She seems to have identical lightning powers. She has a secret admirer. She replaced her brother in the Legion when her brother turned out to be a wanted runaway. Kinetix: Zoe Saugin from Aleph had the power to restructure and control inanimate objects from a distance via energy powers of some sort. She lost this power recently and is on a quest for more power. She has just the slightest touch of megalomania from all appearances. She's good friends with Shrinking Violet. She might have some romantic interest in Gim Allon. Shrinking Violet: Salu Digby of Imsk possesses the native ability to shrink to microscopic size. She is also a formidable hand-to-hand combatant. She is also a bit of a snoop. Andromeda: Laurel Gand of Daxam possesses the same powers as Superman when exposed to the Earth's yellow star. She was a member of the White Triangle but turned against them and helped save the Earth from their rampage. She turned herself into the UP who then locked her in prison. The world at large including all the Legionnaires except Cosmic Boy believe she was killed fighting Ambassador Roxxas. She was cured of lead poisoning recently by Brainiac 5 and might have developed some attraction for him. Kid Quantum: James Cullen of Xanthu. He was a rather arrogant young man who had a stasis belt. He died on his first mission when the belt malfunctioned. Leviathan (Gim Allon): A Science Police officer, he received the power to grow up to thirty feet in height when exposed to the radiation of a meteor. He has some natural talent for leadership and was appointed Legion leader for the first mission on which Cullen died. Despite that failure he has shown some leadership abilities recently. He possesses super-human strength at larger sizes. Okay, those are the important dramatis personae, here are some other things which might pop up on occasion. The Legion Flight Rings were invented by Lyle Norg using an anti gravity metal created accidentally by Brainiac 5. These rings enable the user to fly. They also contain a tracking device and a communicator. Transuits are thin protective enviromental covering that the user can wear for lifesupport in hostile enviornments. Daxamites, for example, have a severe, fatal allergic reaction to lead, and usually have to wear a transuit when away from their home planet. Workforce: a rival team run by Leland McCauley. It consists of: Karate Kid: a *FORMIDABLE* martial artist. Spider Girl: A young woman with prehensile hair Evolvo: a man with the power to ride up and down the evolutionary scale. In devolved form he is a powerful brutish ape, and in evolved form he is superintelligent and possess telekinesis. Ultra-boy: A man with power to adapt one Kryptonian style power at a time. (Like he can be superstrong or invulnerable or have heat vision or be really fast, but not all at once.) Ultra boy might have quit Workforce. Inferno: a rather vicious young woman with flame generation powers. It's not known exactly how well the two groups get along but they do seem friendly toward each other. The members of the LSH do not approve of McCauley, however, and feel that the members of Workforce could do much better. Tenzil Kem is the LSH chef. Jan Arrah is the last survivor of Trom. He is capable of transmuting elements. His ability to fabricate tarnium is the basis for stargate technology. Madame Chu is the president of the United Planets. SDhe has recently been giving Cosmic Boy a difficult time because of the amount of tragedy coming the LSH's way recently. Ambassador Wazzo was Tinya's mother. She blames the LSH for Tinya's death and has sworn revenge. -- Court Philosopher and Barbarian, DNRC http://www.teleport.com/~knauer/mchary/ Happy Birthday, Glenn Gould, late pianist, 1932-1982. "I have a lick that's better than Jeff Beck's and Jeff has a lick that's better than mine, but Jimi Hendrix is better than either of us." - Clapton