On the other hand, it tells the badguys you’re there.
Problem is, his power supply isn’t sufficient to run him for an indefinite period of time. In a first season episode (#05, Sum of His Parts), Cyborg’s power cell started to die, and he explained that this happens periodically. Part of being a cyborg. (Of course, he stupidly decided to jury-rig one from two car batteries instead of replacing it with a proper Cyborg-power-cell, which caused him Much Trouble.)
Somehow, when I started this thread, I never envsioned it being turned into a Devotion Forum to All Things Legion. Not that I mind, mind you! Let me add another topic here so I can join in the cnversation again.
Here’s a genre of superheroes I wish weren’t so passe: super animals. They come in two types: super-pets who fight alongside superheroes (Krypto being literally top dog in this department: you’d think Thor would have a goat or something, but no) and anthropomorphic funny-animal superheroes, from Hoppy the Marvel Bunny to Rocket Raccoon to Captain Marvel. In fact, Captain Carrot is what got me collecting comics.
Of all the Zoo Crew members, Pig-Iron is easily my favorite, even if he is a dead-on Ben Grimm/'Thing-personality knock-off cast in molten steel instead of orange rock. Captain Carrot had the coolest job (cartonist), Rubberduck was a Hollywood star (completely wrong personality to live up to the name Byrd Rentals, tho), Yankee Poodle had the weirdest power (animal attraction!), Alley-Kat-Abra had the token mystic powers and Timmy Joe Terrapin was the contradictory fastest turtle alive – although I’d like to know where his powers come from, if not from the Speed Source.
The issues where the Zoo Crew teamed up with the Justa Lotta Animals to battle Feline Faust and Doctor Hoot a was fantastic moment in childhood. I still remember running 15 blocks downtown in the seamy sunny southern town I grew up in to the local drug store to get part two when it shipped.
With 80s nostalgia gearing up, I kinda wish they’d revive these guys again. If only to give Scott Shaw! a steady gig.
Who said anything about combat? What if you’re, say, changing a tire? Or participating in search and rescue work?
He said his power cell dies “every couple of years.” Considering the amount of power he must have to consume, I’d still say that a flashlight probably wouldn’t make that much of a difference, even if he was using it for really long stretches of time (like tens of hours, or days)…which he doesn’t.
IIRC, Cyborg’s power cell burns out in more than one episode. It seems to be somewhat problematic.
Just when I thought I was finally past all this funny-book stuff youy folks bring up the Legion. (And Barnes & Noble has a buncha’ great DC reprint volumes…)
First, to get it out of the way, it seems that sometime in the Nineties when Supes and Mon-El were tied together as distant relatives (very distant) someone got the idea to tie in Jo Nah with Krypton as well. While Rimbor was not genetically linked with either Krypton or Daxam (as they were with each other) it seem that the Energy Beast WAS of Kryptonian origin! Which means, BTW, that the patrolling space police or whatever would have to have had some pretty sophisticated equipment to cut it open, since it would have been invulnerable. Either involving a “super” level of energy, such as a device that propelled a whole world through warp space and was powerful enough to stun Superman at the merest touch – or, more likely, involving the big K, Q-energy, or “red solar radiation” to weaken the critter at the point of impact.
I’ll have to take issue with your explanation about Mon-El, Kal-El and Kara. First of all, Superboy and Supergirl were descibed as “special” exceptions (both to same-powers and same planet-of-origin) – no doubt because the Weisinger-era Legion was specifically based on their honorable memory.
Now to the point of disagreement. While to first LSH appearance referred to Supey as an “honorary member” this was quickly forgotten. The first reference to his part-time status (quite a different designation at any rate) was his loss to Wildfire in spite of having more votes. Keep in mind that there was sufficient reason to believe that he was full time for a considerable period before this, however. In “The Colossal Failure” he and Shrinking Violet spend a whole shift together on guard duty. Also, he spent time that required camping equipment, at least for the others, on Talok VIII or whatever and there was the interdimensional decoy trip to “protect” the Dominators from assassins. These might have been exceptional. But on top of that he not only led individual missions but was Deputy Leader (under two Leaders?) I doubt that even a Deputy Leader could have been chosen from part-time members.
Juggling time would have been easier for S than for anyone requiring sleep (or more that one hour per day as first suggested in the Wally Wood era Superboy) even if he didn’t “cheat” on his fixed time link.
Coming to Supergirl the same may have applied. Ultimately she became the least active member as stated in the Superboy resignation story in Action comics, and thgough she was persuade to stay her appearances afterward were pobably even more sporadic. But at first she could very well have been as much a time juggler as Superboy. It has never been clearly stated why she changed. Perhaps the involvement with two sets of parents had something to do with it. And she definitely played the field. So while she did return B-5’s affection, even to a great degree – she used it to help resist hypnotism from the Taltar bitch – she amy have ultimately felt his persistnet affections to be a bit cloying. In any event she was never explicitly stated to have part-time status. It may very well have been that she drifted off gradually without either requesting it or being given it.
Now for Mon-El. He was probably admitted for his “special” status. He was a hero in Superboy’s time, albeit briefly. In the Phantom Zone he aided Superman on many occasions, including perhaps saving his life in the “Last Days” story, in conjunction with Saturnian telepathy. Thus he was shown to have a close relationship with the Legion even before Adventure 300, and perhaps before anyone thought of making him a Legionnaire. Therefore we don’t have to presume that the other two had part-time status. In any event he would have had to have started with part-time status himself – very part-time! He actually joined in that issue and could only have stayed on earth for an hour at a time.
Remember, too, that he was considered so special that he was not even required to take the “usual initiation test.” He did so issues later anyway as “Marvel Lad”/“Legionnaire Lemon” but that was clearly for fun. At that point he would have been given full-time status, with B-5’s improvement of Saturn Girl’s serum.
True Blue Jack
Hell, if his power cell gives out, he and his teammates have got a hell of a lot more to worry about than his light going out. And I just don’t see how powering a 3w flashlight is going to put any considerable strain on a system designed to power a cybernetic body capable of lifting several tons, keep his biological components alive, and power a huge energy weapon built into his arm.
It’s also the cgs unit of energy, equal to the amount of work done when you apply a force of 1 dyne across a distance of 1 centimeter. 10,000,000 ergs make 1 Joule.
Right! I first came across the term in one of the Time-Life books, probably Energy. There was a very graphic illustration of how a mere penny had tens of thousands of ergs when dropped a mere hand’s breadth. Or maybe hundreds of thousands.
I always thought it odd for them to give him the name ERG-1, even though it also was an acronym. A single erg would barely be noticeable, even impacting a fingertip. Of course, a joule is ultimately rather small compared to a superbeing who could battle Superboy and endanger the earth. And “joule” has the wrong sound, sounding too much like “jewel” , which would give the wrong idea.
How about TERRAWATT-CENTURY?
…:eek:
It’s likely that this would not be the explanation the Legion would give to Braalians, Durlans, Imskects, etc.
Rather, it would be the fact of Mon-El’s regular nearly impeccable invulnerability. We start with immunity to all forms of Kryptonite (Daxam and Krypton had related populations, as well as similar gravities and suns, but the genetic similarities only led to similar power-potential, not special weaknesses). Add to this full protection from lead-exposure, from the serum. The serum’s positive “side effect” was the retention of powers under a red sun. Go figure how and why THAT works. It was most prominent in the one million B.C. story wherein he showed up for a last minute rescue with Superboy powerless under Earth’s then-red sun. (I’ll bet you didn’t know that it was in a T Tauri state THAT recently.)
A letter column explained that Superboy could not take the same serum because one of the chief ingredients (in B-5’s improvement) was powdered K!
This would leave a few weaknesses, such as magic, and things on a “super” level, such as the lightning attractor from Daxam, and a youth pool obtained from descendants of the Kryptonian city of Kandor. Q-energy? Probably. Virus-X? No doubt the original version from Krypton (as above) but perhaps not Luthor’s artificial imitation using K radiations on Earth microbes.
True Blue Jack
…Unless, of course it happened in a red-sun system!
True Blue Jack