9 posts tagged “mike grell”
When DC rebooted the LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES in the mid-nineties, it was a take-off of Frank Miller’s DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, in that it was set in the future of that character’s life. Only difference was, in Dark Knight, Bruce Wayne was now an old man, and in LEGION, the heroes, who’d been mere teenagers in their original comic, were now-gasp- responsible adults living VERY adult lives such as raising families and keeping 9 to 5 jobs!
One of the more offbeat side stories in this controversial update was an interlude featuring one of the Legion’s more wacky members, Tenzil Kem, better known (back in the day) as “Matter-Eater Lad”. We tuned in on Tenzil as an adult and found he’d been running (very poorly) through a multitude of different jobs, including an archaeological explorer and even a space age lawyer!
Tenzil has been called to defend Brek Bannin (Polar Boy) in court, and while I don’t have time to go into it, (Trust me, the story was wacky and funny as hell!) one of the things that I found endearing was his banter with his able assistant, a beautiful blonde named Cal. In passages, I found her name to be “Calorie Queen”, and I laughed that they had created an assistant with a name to match “Matter-Eater Lad”
Little Did I Know that they HADN’T just created Calorie Queen, and that she was a character created a WAYS back! Imagine my surprise when (shopping in a comic store near Pike’s Market in Seattle) I found an old back issue of Superboy (Featuring the Legion of Super-Heroes, of course) and saw that one of the girls in the menacing super-team on the cover was none other that Tenzil’s trusty assistant, Calorie Queen Herself!! Getting that original issue with Calorie Queen as nature intended should have been a real eye opener into the character, for I now knew she had : 1) a costume, 2)a real name (Taryn Loy), and 3) a home planet (Bismoll, just like Tenzil!!!)…but honesty, it really didn’t do much for me. I simply liked the “later” Cal more! Smart and funny, cool and witty, she was the perfect foil for outlandish Tenzil Kem, and besides, If I have to choose between 70’s disco jumpsuit costumes or pretty dresses I always go with the latter. Because I do love a pretty girl in pretty clothes!
Props to Jim Shooter and Mike Grell for creating Cal, and BIG KUDOS to Tom and Mary Beirbaum and Keith Giffen for the “Update”!
Taryn Loy
Calorie Queen
First Appearance: Superboy #212
Bu Jim Shooter and Mike Grell
Taking one look at evil chanteuse EMERALD EMPRESS’ striking features, one would immediately assume that the Marvel Comics character she reminded me of was Lorna Dane, that OTHER green-locked vixen POLARIS of the X-Men...but you would be wrong!
While it’s true that the two girls look awfully similar in both appearance AND their flight/attack mode, for some reason, the character that Emerald Empress always reminded me of was that THOR and AVENGERS baddie The Enchantress! Maybe part of it was the similar sounding names and green-coordinated outfit. And perhaps part of it was her haughty yet alluring personality that was so akin to the Asgardian outcast. But most likely, the BIGGEST reason was that both were paired up with a giant armored warrior with a huge-ass axe!
As the reigning queen of the Legion of Super-Heroes diabolical arch enemy group THE FATAL FIVE , she appeared alongside four other baddies: Leader THAROK and his mind controlled powerhouse VALIDUS, MANO, the mutant with powers to make things crumble at his touch, and finally, THE PERSUADER, the wielder of the giant battle “Atomic” Axe, the character that reminded me SO MUCH of Enchantress’ sidekick / partner THE EXECUTIONER!
Take a Side-By-Side analysis of both Emerald Empress & The Persuader along with The Enchantress & The Executioner:
I never drew any connections between them when I was reading Legion comics with the Fatal Five intact (i.e., all five members present) but when Emerald Empress and Persuader broke off from the group and became a duo , something in my mind clicked! Ahahahaha!
By the way, it was interesting to note that in almost every story where the Fatal Five (or sometimes even all by her lonesome), at the end when The Empress is “defeated”, she’s always detained simply by being held down by one of the male members of the group, and when you look at some of the illustrations, part of me thinks Superboy and the guys rather looked forward to their chance to "subdue" her...!
Sarya's one of the Legion's oldest foes and one of the most enduring characters, She's absolutely my favorite villain in the series, and she sports one of my very favorite costumes as well! That's a thumbs up, all around! Now If I could only catch her without that darn Emerald Eye spying on me...
Sarya
Emerald Empress
First Appearance: Adventure 352
By Jim Shooter and Curt Swan
With the ability to phase through solid objects, Tinya was inducted into the Legion’s fold early on, but it wasn’t until years later when Dave Cockrum updated her character with that swinging’ futuristic bell-bottom jumpsuit that she became the spunky pony-tailed girl that we came to know and love!
While girls like Saturn Girl, Shrinking Violet and Dream Girl were heating up the Legion Outposts, Tinya always came across as the warm and bubbly “best friend” to everyone, she was the “sweet” girl! In fact, I always used to read the old 25¢ Superboy comics thinking that she looked an awful lot like Dawn Wells a.k.a. Many Ann Summers of Gilligan’s Island!
Most of these scans come courtesy of my beloved beat-up copy of Superboy starring the Legion Of Super-Heroes #203, an issue which Mike Grell seemed particularly inspired with his depictions of Tinya. She looked so adorable in every panel! The illustration of Tinya on the cover is a fave, too, drawn by the master himself, NICK CARDY. ..Can this man EVER draw a bad picture of a girl?
Phantom Girl:
First Appearance: Action Comics #276 by Jerry Seigel and Jim Mooney
Favorite Artists: Dave Cockrum and Mike Grell ( the Legion Immortals! )
Growing Up, Shrinking Violet (or “Vi” as the kids called her) was never one of my favorite characters, and I really didn’t much care for her Cockrum-designed costume (This one that looks like Marvel Comics’ Polaris’s Shi’ar
oufit), but I did like how he drew her features, and boy, when Mike Grell was pencilling the Legion Of Super-Heroes, she sure was pretty! Plus, she seemed to be one of the more “serious” characters, and when the 1993 Legion portrayed a grown-up Salu working for the military, that really seemed to fit, for me!
Shrinking Violet
First Appearance:Action Comics # 276
by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney
Mariah
First Appearance: Warlord #6 by Mike Grell
I wasn’t a huge reader of DC Comics’ strip the WARLORD, but the two scantily clad sidekicks the former Travis Morgan carried along with him was enough for me to purchase the DC Digest reprints back in the day when reprinting comics in that form was the happenin’ thing.
The main one of the two (the other, of course, being redhead Mariah) was the striking queen of Shamballah, Miss Tara, the vixen whom was Morgan’s partner until he hitched a ride on a super train that left poor old Tara in the dust! Morgan’s grief over losing Tara must surely be akin to the sadness Keifer Sutherland felt when he lost Sandra Bullock in The Vanishing! :)
But it’s all good, because he’s happily re-united with her a few issues down the line!
Tara’s another fine example of Grell Babe Goodness!
Tara
First appearances:
First Issue Special #8 and Warlord #1 by Mike Grell
“The Third Identity of Replikon”
Among the deserted ruins of the Asteroid Belt, we find dwelling on the remains of an ancient planet an alien creature named Xum. For centuries, the ethereal being has been watching over his two children, still unborn in their giant eggs, until he can find a place where the conditions are suitable for them to hatch.
Suddenly the creature spies a giant mechanism floating past his planet- it is an asteroid probe, and as he logically deduces it will lead him to civilization, stows away into the craft as it makes its journey onward. Soon the probe is malfunctioning and requires technical attention, and so it is that Green Lantern steps into the picture, flying up into space to retrieve the Asteroid Probe for its manufacturers, Ferris Aircraft.
NASA is not too happy about the space probe’s uneven performance, but owner Carol Ferris wants to examine the equipment and figure out what malady has befallen the mechanism before she’ll accept the responsibility for the failure. Green Lantern offers to drive the equipment in his rig to a Star City laboratory where they can fully determine the problem, but meanwhile, within the asteroid probe, Xum is undergoing a strange transformation.
On his journey to Earth, the Asteroid Probe had passed the Justice League satellite station, and using his alien powers, Xum was able to observe the goings-on inside. At the time, three Justice League-ers were present, Batman, Flash, and Wonder Woman. Using the memories of their appearance, Xum creates an amalgam of all three outfits, resulting in a bizarre yet slightly familiar costume for his tangible form.
He burst out of the Truck Rig, where Hal has quickly changed into Green Lantern. Although not able to put his finger on it, he acknowledges that the creature seems like a replica of someone or something he’s seen before. Green Lantern tires to subdue him with a power beam, but the creature changes to mist-like proportions, and the beam passes right through him. When Hal tries to throw a punch, the alien grabs him and slams him into a wall! Before Green Lantern can do anything else, the creature heats up and rockets out of sight!
Meanwhile at Star City, poor Dinah has been the chosen victim of Ollie’s latest Chili concoction! As tears stream down her face she gasps, “Best paint remover I’ve ever eaten!” Suddenly there is a crash below- it seems a gang of young thugs have been threatening Dinah’s florist shop for “protection money” and have come to make good of their threat to destroy the place!
Dinah and Ollie change into Black Canary and Green Arrow, and take care of the punks, while a new adventurer watches from the sidelines. It is Xum, and he has been studying the duo’s fight moves very intently! Noticing the observer, Ollie heartily quips,“You’re either a very GOOD guy, or a card-carrying villain!” by way of a greeting.
When asked who he is, the creature, remembering what GL had said about him looking like a replica of someone, replies, “I am R-R-R-Replikon!” Ollie is in the middle of introducing himself and Dinah, when the alien lashes out and floors Green Arrow!
Green Arrow fires a Kayo arrow at Replikon’s head , only to find that it bounces right off him! Just then , Green Lantern shows up and joins the duo in the fight. Both Green Lantern and Green Arrow lay blows to Replikon, and are returned with the same. Soon Black Canary notices that the creature has been copying every move they’ve made, and maybe if all three of them simultaneously did three different moves, he might not be able to counter them. The three-pronged attack is successful, and soon Replikon is subdued.
While they hold onto their captive and decide what to do with him, Replikon heats up, and as he did earlier that day, rockets out of their grasp, and into the sky! Green Arrow tries to hold on, but then Replikon turns back into mist, sending the archer hurtling to the ground! Green Lantern makes a cushy landing for the Arrow, but chides himself for letting Replikon get away.
Later that night, Hal tries to cheer himself up by visiting his girlfriend Carol at her hotel. His plans for the night are dashed when he finds she’s already spending the evening with a suave gentleman named Andre. They invite Hal to join them, but the adventurer is in no mood to play third wheel, and skulks away.
As Andre leaves a swooning Carol Ferris at her door, she remarks about how his foreign charm makes her feel like a schoolgirl. But soon Andre is on the roof of the hotel, where he turns into mist,and solidifies…as Replikon!
“Assault on Replikon”
Under the guise of Andre, the alien known as both Xum and Replikon has been letting Carol Ferris show him around town. Little does the heiress know that he is cataloging the town’s resources for his own plans of World Destruction! The couple run across Hal Jordan, who is none too happy to see the two together aagain, and walks off. Carol asks Andre if he’d like to go to dinner that night, but he begs off, citing previous plans.
Replikon’s point of return is the Star City Chemical Storage tanks, which Carol had shown him earlier that day. He ruptures one of the tanks, releasing deadly fluorocarbon gas into the atmosphere, which, if uncontained, will destroy the earth’s protective ozone layer. This is Replikon’s diabolical plan: He wants to destroy the Ozone layer to let the radiation in so the world will be suitable to raise his unborn children, still waiting for him on his home planet in the asteroid belt.
Hal is driving his rig out of town, when he intercepts a distress call from the Star City Chemical Plant. He changes into Green Lantern, and arrives just in time to contain the escaping gas in a cosmic “bottle” before Replikon shows up to battle him again!
Lantern sends the bottle up into space where the gas can dissipate without permanent damage, and sets his sights on bringing down the alien! After an ineffective slugfest with Replikon, Green Lantern decides to try another approach- he feigns unconsciousness, and then follows the unsuspecting Alien to his dwelling, where he hopes to formulate some kind of plan. To his utter shock, the alien Replikon turns into his contender for Carol Ferris’ affections, Andre! “Oh No!” thinks Hal, “This is either too GOOD to be true…or too BAD!”
Unable to deal with the overwhelming truth himself, he goes to Ollie and Dinah for a game plan. Knowing that for the most part, their weapons are useless against him, their only option is to tackle Replikon on their own turf and catch him off-guard. They have to set a trap for him and Hal regretfully knows the only way to get Replikon where they want- by convincing Carol to cooperate!
When confronted with the news that her new beau Andre is none other that the alien Replikon, Carol is devastated. To them, he may seem like en evil menace, but to her, he always appeared sweet and gentle. When also admitting she finds him physically attractive, Hal reasons that Replikon used his mind- powers to look into her head and construct an appearance that was her ideal to easily sway her. “Save your breath- I’ll do your dirty work”, says a disgusted Carol. “Just… Don’t touch me!”
Soon it is nightfall, and as she has reluctatly agreed to, Carol has brought the unsuspecting Andre to an abandoned building at the edge of Town. “Why you bring me to this empty building place?” he asks. “I-I can’t answer that,” replies Carol sadly. As she instructs him to go into the building where the heroes lie in wait, she leaves in tears.
Once inside , Replikon is confronted by the trio of Justice League-ers. With an immediate and continual barrage against him, they give Replikon no time to create a fighting strategy. When they have him against the ropes, Green Lantern springs the trap on him- a huge container made out of lead. Before the confused alien can react, GL has shut the cylinder completely, completely containing Replikon in the airtight makeshift prison.
By now, Hal has figured out where Replikon has come from, and using his galactic powers, flies Replikon back to his homeworld. Upon arrival of the barren planet, Green Lantern dissolves the container and allows the creature to explain his attack. When GL finds out that Replikon wanted to destroy the earth’s atmosphere so that his two children could live, an incredulous Green Lantern says “You’d destroy BILLIONS of lives so you THREE could exist in comfort? Bad Bargain, Replikon!”
He flies off, leaving an smoldering Replikon to gaze hatefully at his captor.
Upon returning home, Hal meets up with Carol. It is with a twinge of guilt that she takes the news of Green Lantern’s success in defeating Replikon and sending him back to his home planet. Heartbroken and embarrassed by the ordeal, she lashes out at Hal. “You never fail! You probably can’t understand failure!” When he explains that it was for the greater good, she acknowledges that he’s right but is disgusted by it. “You’re Right…and I despise you for it!” She is fed up with the trails and tribulations that go along with dating a super-hero. “You’re a Hero, Hal…Me, I’m an ordinary woman…I need an ordinary Man! Goodbye!”
Then with a dismissive wave of her arm, she curtly leaves and walks out of Hal’s life, leaving the dejected Green Lantern speechless and alone.
I have to say that this ending was truly heavy to read at the time! Even as a 12 year old kid, we knew this was just destroying poor old Hal, and we loved how that last panel didn't have any dialog at all - the look of pain on GL's face said it all! Years later, this story still holds the impact it had reading it all those years ago.
Up next is the gorgeous vixen Tasmia Mallor, the indigo-hued Super Heroine Shadow Lass.
I have to say that initially, she really didn’t stick out in any way for me, in fact, Tasmia didn’t appear in too many of the early Legion Of Super Hero issues I had growing up.
I actually only started appreciating her character in the 1989 LEGION OF SUPER HEROES revamp. In this she was portrayed as a stoic type, sort of councilwoman “planetary protector”. It was this version that I started accepting as the “real” version, which led to me being completely BLOWN AWAY by how sultry and sexy she was during the old Mike Grell run (when I took the time to bring out those musty old issues.)
You see, the 1989 LEGION run was supposed to be in the future of the original Legion of Super-Heroes, and all the members are shown as older, grown up people. Seeing Tasmia as a young, hot chick after seeing her motherly for so long… WELL! I became an instant fan!
You know, I’ve always thought that Shady’s costume looked an awful lot like Vampirella’s for some reason…Same bathing-suit with the tummy part cut out, and the fancy insignia on the belly button area.
First appearance Adventure Comics #365
Created by Jim Shooter & Curt Swan
So imagine there's this super-heroine whose powers are precognition. Then say that the futuristic visions come to this girl in her dreams. That would naturally set up a character whose comic scenes would ultimately be spent in her bed, wouldn't it? So you'd figure that a character like this couldn't work, because the writers would have to work her bedroom into each issue, as well as outfit the girl with her very own bed in headquarters, right?
Yet that's exactly what happened to beautiful Nura Nal, the clairvoyant young girl from the planet Naltor who became the resident precognitive of DC's Legion Of Super-Heroes. Yes, she spends most of her crime-fighting in bed. And yes, they've been known to feature Nura's bedroom in many issues. In fact, although she does have a body-suit for fighting action, her usual Legion outfit (designed by that master of gal costumes Dave Cockrum) consists of what amounts to more or less a suped-up negligee!
Obviously Nura's called Dream Girl because her powers are the ability to dream the future, but on a more practical note, she could just as easily be called Dream Girl because of her general HOTNESS! The very first time I read an issue of the Legion (it was issue #203) and saw her alerting her fellow members of an imminent attack in that nightie-costume, my mind went..."Whoa....Dream Girl!"
In later issues, she was "toughened up" a bit, and was more prone to butt-kicking than sleeping, but she still retained her gorgeous looks (not to mention that mole on her cheek shaped like a star), thus ensuring her legacy as the dreamiest Legionnaire no matter what her modus operandi!
First Appearance: Adventure Comics #317
Favorite Artists: Dave Cockrum, Mike Grell, Dan Jurgens
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