Far off in the thirtieth century, Garth Ranzz was born on the agricultural world of Winath. Along with his twin sister and older brother, Garth went joyriding in small sky-skimmer, touring the exotic planetoid of Korbal. Their craft lost power and crash landed.
Marooned, the siblings devised a means of re-powering their ship by harnessing the electrical energy of the native fauna, specifically the Korbalian Lightning Beasts. They underestimated these creatures' power, however, and all three were bathed in bio-electric energy. Amazingly, this resulted in all three siblings gaining the ability to manifest and wield electricity.
They were able to return home and sometime thereafter Garth ended up aiding two other super-powered teens in thwarting the assassination of the influential philanthropist R.J. Brande. Mr. Brande suggested the three teens form a team and hence The Legion of Super-Heroes was born.
Garth originally took on the name ‘Lightning Boy’ but later changed his hero name to Lightning Lad. His sister would eventually join the Legion as well; while his older brother turned to evil and helped to form the Legion of Super Villains.
Lightning Lad served as chairman and leader of the Legion for a time and married his longtime sweetheart Saturn Girl. The couple have gone on to have three children together.
A version of Lightning Lad appeared in the television series Smallville where he was portrayed by actor Calum Worthy; while actor Andy Milder voices the hero in animated projects. Lightning Lad first appeared in the pages of Adventure Comics #247 (1958).
Adventure Comics #282 is one of five comic issues from 1961 that features the Legion of Super-Heroes. It's not the first story, or the most impactful, but it is one of the only two stories to make the cover. This is one of the Legion's greatest strength as a feature. Welcome to the Gutters!
I've mentioned before how DC comics from the silver age suffer from Cover Art Syndrome. This is when the editors commission a drawing for the cover of their comic, and then tell the creative teams to make a story based on that. It's a frustrating method and often leads to disjointed stories. Most commonly, the cover will show an element that doesn't mesh with the story the creators actually want to tell, and they will crowbar it in with all the ease of a sex toy designed by soviet brutalism. If you've ever seen an episode of Transformers or Power Rangers where the plot is halted so the characters can shill a new action figure or plastic accessory, this is the same principle, except we don't get any toys out of the bargain.
The Legion of Superheroes stories appeared in all of the Superman books, but often they were backup stories to the Big Blue Boy Scout. This means they were less likely to make the cover of the issue, which means that the editors were less likely to impose a story on them. Also, the Legion didn't star in their own comic until the mid-1970s. Because they were only supporting features in Superman's books, they weren't under an obligation to appear on a regular schedule. Superman and related characters appeared in an exhaustive 150 stories over eight series in just the year 1961 which is the creative equivalent of whittling a tree trunk down to a toothpick. The Legion only appeared five times in four books, which meant they would only appear when the creators had something they actually wanted to do with them.
Well, I say that, but their first appearance this year, Superboy #86, is just a gimmick story precipitated on the fact that almost every significant person in Superboy's life has the initials "L. L." They do this kind of thing every six months, it was the "Martha" of its day. Lex Luthor invents a machine that lets him telepathically control rocks, and uses that to create an army of Kryptonite men. He's got little miniatures and props in his lab and he's having so much fun just thrashing Superboy's entire existence. Luthor stories are so fun just for the sheer joy he takes in destroying his hate-husband.
Luthor nearly did it, too, if not for the Legion's timely interference. The team had been watching the events in the future, a sentence that doesn't even pretend to make sense, and they send Lightning Lad back to rescue him. Why him? Because Lightning Lad begins with "L. L." This is blatantly cheating, anyone can choose a superhero name with the initials like that. I could call myself Linguini Leviathan and that wouldn't give me a mystical connection to Superman. His real name is Garth!
The next issue of note is Adventure Comics 282, which introduces Thom Kallor, AKA motherfuckin' Star Boy. This is kind of a weird one, because Star Boy as introduced here is basically a superman copycat with all his flying brick powers. When the league stories develop, his powers change completely, and they become more of a traditional superhero ensemble of characters with different, limited power sets that compliment each other without overwhelming anyone.
The Legion itself is significantly downplayed as well. The Legion only appears in one panel and you already saw it. Superboy and Lana have an adventure in the 30th century, but it's just an excuse for them to pretend to be into other people to make each other jealous. It's really every bit as full of shenanigans as the Justice League comics are, but it works better here because it's a romance story, and those at least have a strong character focus. There's a very Rumiko Takahashi quality to how these two characters are basically in mutually unrequited love for each other. I can't get enough.
The legion next shows up in Action Comics #276, in one of the better Legion stories. Supergirl is visited by three other girls, all of whom have their own superhuman abilities, and she quickly identifies them as members of the Legion. They've come back to offer her another chance to join their team, as last time she interviewed her application was spoiled because of Red Kryptonite nonsense.
I greatly prefer the Supergirl Legion stories to the Superboy Legion stories, I think they're a much better fit for each other. Superboy in the Silver Age never seems to be insecure about his place in the world, nor does he struggle with loneliness or isolation. Supergirl is always in the shadow of her more famous cousin, and she's had to keep her identity secret while living in an orphanage.* Traveling to the future gives her a surrogate super-family that she never has in her adventures in the present, and I just want this poor girl to be happy.
*(This story was published before the "Unknown Supergirl" story in Action Comics #278-285)**
The other reason I love Supergirl and Legion stories is Brainiac 5. Brainy is without a doubt the smartest hero in the DC universe, to the point where he can hang on this team of 30th century superheroes on intelligence alone. As the name suggests, he's the descendant of Superman's longtime foe Brainiac, although given the thousand year difference it really should be more like Brainiac 50. Brainiacs 2 and 3 are both born in the 20th century, so there's some weird generation dissonance happening here.
Supergirl is naturally suspicious, because she knows what Brainiac is like, but Brainiac 5 basically falls in love with her immediately. The way he begs for her not to hate him, he's basically just like me in high school. Supergirl's impression of him is upended when he gives her his nigh-invulnerable force field belt to protect her from a kryptonite meteor that just happens to... do kryptonians just attract this stuff like magnets? ...actually that might be a good plot hook. James Gunn, call me, I'll take you to a public market, get some craft beer, we can talk about it.
Brainy gives Supergirl the force belt as a gift (it immediately breaks), and she starts to develop feelings for him in return. It's very much a slow burn thing, which looks like Fifty Shades of Grey compared to the open state of war going on with Clark Kent and his Bermuda Love Triangle, but it lasts a long time. Supergirl and Brainy are an item up until Crisis on Infinite Earths, which - without wanting to spoil - does not go well for Supergirl or the Legion as a whole.
Superboy he never really makes any strong connections to the rest of the Legion, let alone any romantic entanglements. He's got enough on his plate, and I don't think he could survive any more vertices on his polygonal romance. Supergirl having an ongoing romance in the 30th century gives her a much more personal reason to keep coming back to the Legion. With all art, it's all about making those personal connections. Until next time!
