I was replying to a post on another blog earlier this week and the subject of my favorite Legion of Superheroes episode came up. Specifically, I was remembering one of their try-outs where one of the characters was Plaid Lad. You can see his appearance in the middle of the following scans. What I had forgotten was both X Bomb Betty and what jerks some of the members of the Legion were. The first part of this is from Legionnaires #2 from 1993 (written by Tom and Mary Bierbaum, art by Chris Sprouse and Karl Story):
At this point, the soundtrack would be going all ominous. It's clear from the way this is going that Stephen King's Carrie is unknown in the 30th Century. But let's continue, shall we? In the next issue, Legionnaires #3, we return to poor Cera:
...and cue the revenge fantasy. Sheesh, you'd think that a thousand years of superheroics would have demonstrated that when you're a jerk to someone, that someone is going to come back as a supervillain to kick your ass. But, hey, the Legion is young. Perhaps they haven't covered the roots of supervillainy in class yet.
As a post script, we have this episode from Legionnaires #4:
At the end of this particular story, Saturn Girl makes up with Lightning Lad (they were calling him Live Wire in this particular incarnation, by the way) and all was hunky dory. Which just goes to show that some things never change. Gorgeous, smart, telepathic women will STILL be hooking up with absolute jerks a thousand years from now.
Alas.
As a postscript, here are some additional thoughts. The notion that Matter Eater Lad is judging the try-outs amuses me. I mean, come on. It must REALLY suck to get bounced by someone with as lame a power as that.
I also ran across this posting at Comic Book Resources, detailing the top five Legion rejects. Plaid Lad comes in at #5, while X-Bomb Betty gets an honorable mention. Arm-Fall-Off Boy is very disturbing, in a lame kind of way...
Cheers.
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3 comments:
Ooo, I remember this! I'd been reading LSH for about a year at the time - I'd forgotten that Cera became the Emerald Empress in the end. I must admit that the characterization of Saturn Girl by Tom and Mary had a great deal of influence in my decision to play her on the (now-defunct) LegionMUSH. Are they saying that you need to be able to read minds to be a decent human being, though?
By the way, it made no sense to me why she'd give Live Wire a second glance. Not all gorgeous, smart, telepathic women hook up with absolute jerks. ;-)
I think this is what's known as "a designated romance." No reason for it at all except, perhaps, as a plot device somewhere down the road.
Heh.
Tom and Mary's work on the "5 Years Later" arc is one of my all time favorite Legion volumes, although most fans seemed to HATE their stuff. I'm just sad it all got wiped out. Although there is that new Legion of Three Worlds mini-series coming out like next month that brings 'em all back - yay!
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