Just for fun, I’ve decided to rank the Silver Age Legion of Super Heroes. This is my list, so if you disagree, please create your own. I’d love to see it.
Here are the guidelines I’ve set for myself for this list:
Characters will be ranked in several areas:
I’ll tell you all right now, there are gonna be some surprises.
Tags:
Let's put Supergirl in Teen Titans instead! After all that was the sidekick team.
Wouldn't Stan have them be Imra Irdeen, Tinya Tazzo, Ayla Aranzz, and Luornu Lurgo?
Ronald Morgan said:
"Imra Ardeen." "Tinya Wazzo." "Ayla Ranzz." "Luornu Durgo."
Sounds like Stan was working both companies for awhile there.
16. Shrinking Violet
Intangibles – 5 – She gets small.
Perceived Value – 8 – I for one think that having a character who can change size readily makes for someone who’s useful—maybe not so much in a fight, but in other ways.
Actual Value – 8 – She got small. She got smaller. She did what she was supposed to.
Total: 21
As I recall, Mort Weisinger was much more likely to assign alliterative names to characters, especially female characters.
John Dunbar (the mod of maple) said:
Wouldn't Stan have them be Imra Irdeen, Tinya Tazzo, Ayla Aranzz, and Luornu Lurgo?
ere.
What Stan would have done is forget the exact name and take a guess at it.
Yeah, Weisinger gave us Lyra Lerroll, Lena Luthor, Lori Lemaris and one or two others. Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Lana Lang and maybe Lex Luthor would have preceded him.
Meanwhile, Stan gave us Peter Parker, Sue Storm, Reed Richards, Dr. Doom, Matt Murdock, Mike Murdock, Bruce Banner, "Bob" Banner, Scott Summers, Dr. Droom, Warren Worthington, Betty Brant and God knows how many others. I have to give the alliteration award to Stan!
And as long as we're talking names, Stan should get some sort of award for Cain Marko. Think how it would read in the phone book.
Randy Jackson said:
And now for a question: was an upper limit ever established of how much matter Jan could actually convert at one time? Part of the reason I’m asking is the story where Superboy and Supergirl were forced to quit the Legion because of the Green Kryptonite dust surrounding Earth that Color Kid eventually turned into Blue Kryptonite. Why couldn’t Element Lad have turned into, say, helium or hydrogen or some harmless gas? And is Color Kid really that powerful that he can change all of that Kryptonite in such a quick fashion? Seriously, just how powerful was Color Kid? That’s a lot of mass to change the composition by changing it’s color.
You're so close to the money, Randy, that I suspect you read the story that answers your question, and just the details elude you.
It was Adventure Comics #350 where the kryptonite cloud encircled Earth, and with Superboy and Brainiac Five watching, various Legionnaires tried their powers against the cloud. It wasn't Element Lad, but Cosmic Boy, who found his powers inadequate for the task at hand.
"I flopped," thought Cosmic Boy. "My power isn't great enough for a titanic job like this. Earth's field is too strong."
Lightning Lad and Sun Boy also tried their hand with no results.
"My most powerful bolts have no effect on this confounded cloud," says Lightning Lad.
"I'm projecting the heat of an exploding supernova," says Sun Boy "the hottest thing in the universe -- but this green K is completely heat resistant!"
None of that makes much sense -- green K is lightning and heat resistant? Tell that to Superman, and all the times he destroyed green K with his heat vision!
But then the Legion brought out its (seldom used) big gun: Element Lad.
"I'll use my element-changing power to turn the kryptonite into harmless helium gas," he thought. "But wait! I never expected this! Suddenly the dust is sparkling like a fireworks display!"
Two panels later, Brainiac Five delivers the bad news.
"Your hunch was right, Element Lad," he says. "If you'd used any more power on the green K dust, you would have caused a chain reaction that could destroy Earth!"
So the plot called for the most powerful Legionnaires to fail, but for Color Kid to succeed.
Captain Comics said:
Yeah, Weisinger gave us Lyra Lerroll, Lena Luthor, Lori Lemaris and one or two others. Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Lana Lang and maybe Lex Luthor would have preceded him.
Luthor preceded Mort, but he didn't become Lex Luthor until Mort added him to the Superboy cast, probably because having a teen with no first name would be odd.
Characters I Would Have Liked To See Developed More
- Duo Damsel - At least in the stories I saw, they never really did much with what it might be like for a person to have more than one body. Must have made Chuck Taine's life real interesting, at least.
- White Witch - One of the later additions that I would have liked to see developed more.
I was on board for the earliest Legion stories, but for the most part didn't buy the Weisinger titles after discovering the titles from Schwartz and Lee. As young as I was at the time, it never occurred to me to question why, in 1,000 years, the world was so close to our world. How different is the 21st century from the 11th century? It would have made more sense if the Legion was 100 years in the future, not 1,000.
17. Colossal Boy
Intangibles – 6 – He gets big. There’s a certain psychological effect when you see a giant striding towards you. Even if the enemy isn’t scared, he’ll draw a lot of attention because of his size.
Perceived Value – 8 – He’s a brick on a team loaded with bricks. Still, it never hurts to have an extra brick—just ask Ignatz.
Actual Value – 7 – Did what he was supposed to. Wasn’t quite as effective as one would hope--probably because it was impressive to see an enemy stop him (oh no, they just stopped the giant--now what?)--but he did well enough.
Total: 21