# The original X-Men vs. the Silver Age Legion of Super-Heroes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 19, 2011, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-x-men-vs-the-silver-age-legion-of-super-heroes/596780 "2011-09-19T02:50:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![MegaBee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@MegaBee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MegaBee)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-x-men-vs-the-silver-age-legion-of-super-heroes/596780/101 "2011-09-22T17:07:51Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Buh? Supergirl and Mon-El are twice as strong as Superboy, and Validus is 2048 times stronger? Supergirl and Mon-El were stronger than Superboy because they’re both nearly full-grown during their Legion appearances. Validus is just the strongest thing around aside from maybe the Infinite Man. DC Heroes stats got really, truly insane at the higher levels. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-x-men-vs-the-silver-age-legion-of-super-heroes/596780/102 "2011-09-22T17:26:36Z")
> [@MegaBee](#): > > Supergirl and Mon-El were stronger than Superboy because they’re both nearly full-grown during their Legion appearances. Validus is just the strongest thing around aside from maybe the Infinite Man. > > DC Heroes stats got really, truly insane at the higher levels. You don’t need to add _nearly_ when you’re talking about Mon-El being full-grown. He was at least 17 when he went into the Zone, and it wouldn’t 't surprise me if he was 18 or 19; during the majority of his Legion career he was in his 20s. Kara was a high-schooler, but during her final Legion appearances she was probably in her early 20s. When they spun Superboy back into his own solo book, the first issue is on his sixteenth birthday. I don’t recall it being explicit that this was “after” his Legion career (“after” in terms of his personal timeline, of course), but I always thought it was, since during the run I had back then he never once mentions or thinks of Legion. That makes sense if it happens “after” Saturn Girl gave him the subconscious command to never come back to the 30th Century (or perhaps not to come back till his parents were dead). Anyway, I can recall a couple of instances of Mon-El manhandling Kal the way older brothers sometime manhandle younger ones, and it was generally clear that Mon was a good deal stronger. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-x-men-vs-the-silver-age-legion-of-super-heroes/596780/103 "2011-09-22T17:31:15Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > When they spun Superboy back into his own solo book, the first issue is on his sixteenth birthday. I don’t recall it being explicit that this was “after” his Legion career (“after” in terms of his personal timeline, of course), but I always thought it was, since during the run I had back then he never once mentions or thinks of Legion. [Here’s](http://www.comiccollectorlive.com/LiveData/Issue.aspx?id=d54678fb-847f-4ce7-85d5-cffec0b004e5) the first Superboy comic I ever read; where does it fit into your timeline? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-x-men-vs-the-silver-age-legion-of-super-heroes/596780/104 "2011-09-22T17:52:50Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > [Here’s](http://www.comiccollectorlive.com/LiveData/Issue.aspx?id=d54678fb-847f-4ce7-85d5-cffec0b004e5) the first Superboy comic I ever read; where does it fit into your timeline? That was after the events I just mentioned. Because I don’t feel like working right now, I will summarize. The Legion of Super-Heroes began as a one-off story in Superboy’s own book. They started appearing more and more – first as a backup series in _Adventure Comics_, then consistently in Superboy’s book, which went from _Superboy to Superboy Starring the Legion of Super-Heroes_ to _Superboy & the Legion of Super-Heroes_. Supes always appeared in the main story in those iterations. All during this time, Superboy was shuttling back and forth between the 20th and 30th centuries, using a self-applied post-hypnotic suggestion to prevent himself from remembering anything specific he learned about his own future (such as the fact that, as an adult, [he was going to eventually meet a hot blonde jailbait cousin with whom he had an emotionally incestuous relationship,](http://www.byrnerobotics.com/forum/uploads/BrianHague/2010-12-28_174604_Superman_and_Supergirl.jpg) or that his efforts to cure Mon of lead poisoning were destined to fail.) Eventually – around 1980 or so, though I could be wrong and I’m too Rhymerish today to check-- it was decided to split the two books. The in-story explanation was that a super-villain revealed the circumstances of his parents’ eventual deaths to him. This was torturous, as Supes in those days had the worst case of survivor’s guilt this side of Bruce Wayne, and knowing he’d be unable to save Jonathan and Martha just made it worse. Seeking to spare him from this grief, Saturn Girl implanted a post-hypnotic suggestion that would prevent him from coming forward in time again (implicitly that would be broken when they died). This was the status quo for a few years of real-world time. Then in an incredibly convuluted adventure I will not describe except to say that it includes an incident of Dawnstar travelling back in time and showering in the Kents’ bathroom and running around naked and dripping in the Kent house in front of hte one male Legionnaire who couldn’t appreciate it, Supes semi-rejoined; this time Saturn Girl took a cue from Professor X (hey, remember what this thread was originally about?) and outright erased the memory of how his parents would die. That said, he was never a mainstay of the team as he had been before. Answering your question, that comic you link to has to be after the Great Darkness saga, so it was long after Superboy became a reservist. No, this entire post was not simply an excuse to post the Superman-as-hebephile pic. I also wanted to post the Dawnstar-standing-naked-in-front-of-Blok pic but I lost interest after about 10 seconds of searching. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-x-men-vs-the-silver-age-legion-of-super-heroes/596780/105 "2011-09-22T18:02:50Z")
> [@Lightray](#): > > Oddly, the Silver Age LSH costumes are actually _more_ risque than anything Emma has come up with at her worst. Saturn Girl and Dream Girl are in swimwear with go-go boots, and Dawnstar… well, Brainy must’ve come up with some sort of superscience taping to keep her puppies in that outfit. > > Even Emma’s “reverse-X cutout” costume is outdone by Cos’ bustier. Thank Og that Greg Land never did a LSH comic, says I. Don’t forget Princess Projectra. I loved her skimpy costume! [http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=794509&GSub=111613](http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=794509&GSub=111613) ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-x-men-vs-the-silver-age-legion-of-super-heroes/596780/106 "2011-09-22T18:13:37Z")
> [@gytalf2000](#): > > Don’t forget Princess Projectra. I loved her skimpy costume! > > [Princess Projectra and Karate Kid by Gene Gonzales, in Travis Ellisor's Legion of Super-Heroes Comic Art Gallery Room](http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=794509&GSub=111613) Even that pales next to Shadow Lass, who wore basically a [bikini, cape, and ankle boots](http://www.comicbookreligion.com/?c=1025&Shadow_Lass_Tasmia_Mallor). And I’ve always suspected that the costume Shady wore after Legion 300 wasn’t a costume at all: just a tightly-wrapped shadow. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-x-men-vs-the-silver-age-legion-of-super-heroes/596780/107 "2011-09-22T18:37:58Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Even that pales next to Shadow Lass, who wore basically a [bikini, cape, and ankle boots](http://www.comicbookreligion.com/?c=1025&Shadow_Lass_Tasmia_Mallor). And I’ve always suspected that the costume Shady wore after Legion 300 wasn’t a costume at all: just a tightly-wrapped shadow. Oh, yeah! Shadow Lass wore that costume well! I loved those skimpy costumes… ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-x-men-vs-the-silver-age-legion-of-super-heroes/596780/108 "2011-09-22T18:53:35Z")
> [@gytalf2000](#): > > Oh, yeah! Shadow Lass wore that costume well! > > I loved those skimpy costumes… [Don’t forget the shy, retiring Night Girl and her uber-confident boyfriend from Braal.](http://www.luchins.com/dickery/cos_night_girl.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-x-men-vs-the-silver-age-legion-of-super-heroes/596780/109 "2011-09-22T20:32:45Z")
Hee. Cosmic Boy bustier + evening gloves; that stuff never gets old! ---
**Author:** ![Clark\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c77e96/32.png) [@Clark\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clark_K)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-x-men-vs-the-silver-age-legion-of-super-heroes/596780/110 "2011-09-23T01:01:56Z")
> [@gytalf2000](#): > > Don’t forget Princess Projectra. I loved her skimpy costume! > > [Princess Projectra and Karate Kid by Gene Gonzales, in Travis Ellisor's Legion of Super-Heroes Comic Art Gallery Room](http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=794509&GSub=111613) You know, I was going to chime in with a complaint that her costume wasn’t really as skimpy as the exaggerated version shown in your link. But then I looked at some images directly from the comic and, damn, it basically _was_ that skimpy. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-x-men-vs-the-silver-age-legion-of-super-heroes/596780/111 "2011-09-23T15:16:10Z")
> [@Clark\_K](#): > > You know, I was going to chime in with a complaint that her costume wasn’t really as skimpy as the exaggerated version shown in your link. But then I looked at some images directly from the comic and, damn, it basically _was_ that skimpy. My first exposure to Jeckie was a backup story in which she had collapsed from psychic trauma due to Karate Kid going to the 20th century to prove his worthiness to marry her (and in the process probably cheating on her with every second hot blonde in sight). Anyway, the story’s splash page had Jeckie sprawled on an exam table showing all kinds of cleavage and and abs. It was basically porn. ---
**Author:** ![bmoak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@bmoak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmoak)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-x-men-vs-the-silver-age-legion-of-super-heroes/596780/112 "2011-09-24T03:21:02Z")
I remember a story from that era where Saturn Girl and Princess Projectra came back from a mission to find not only did their teammates no longer remember them, but they had been replaced by male versions of themselves called “Saturn Lad” and “Prince Projectro”. The scary thing is that the fakes were were wearing the SAME COSTUMES that the girls wore. Pink bare-midriff bathing suit for “Saturn Lad” and cape and evening gloves for “Prince Projectro” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-x-men-vs-the-silver-age-legion-of-super-heroes/596780.md?page=5)