The Best Women of the Legion of Superheroes?

[RobinGA]

Saturn Girl
Shadow Lass
Lightning Lass
Shrinking Violet

[Confuzzled]

I thought I had selected Dawnstar but I hadn't. So count one more vote for her from me.

[Adekis]

I vote the Legionnaires! These characters are all so fun and cool, and they have so much to offer!

My personal favorites are probably Imra, Tasmia, and Vi! - tho maybe it's worth remarking on the extent to which none of the reboots' "Shrinking Violets" have quite been able to replicate the appeal of the original hard-as-nails adult Vi.

But anyway, although those are my three favorites... I went ahead and voted for almost everyone anyway! They're all phenomenal!

I want to focus on one specifically though - Andromeda. She's not in my top three, but I think she's one of the most interesting Legionnaires to write about! Laurel Gand kind of got her potential cut off at the knees. As a Daxamite replacement for Supergirl, she was always going to be a weird fit. After all, it was kind of weird enough making "Valor" the replacement for Kal-El as the Legion's primary inspiration! Just one more way the post-Crisis reboot sort of broke the Legion. Thanks Byrne. ��

Despite that obvious drawback, Laurel was quickly developed into a unique and likable character on her own, with a tougher personality than Kara, and a distinct backstory about wanting revenge on those who killed the Daxamites! Err, maybe that seemed more unique in the days before Supergirl had lived on Krypton before its destruction and before characters like Rogol Zaar... either way, those details were in Laurel's backatory to 3nrich it, and her frontstory was pretty great too!

Unfortunately with the Zero Hour reboot, Andromeda was probably hit the hardest outside of poor Chuck and Tenzil. Instead of a well intentioned, heroic figure with a tragic backstory, Laurel was recast as the Daxamite equivalent of a hardline racist, refusing to make close friends with other Legionnaires and covertly working for a terrorist Daxamite supremacist group! Though she eventually learned the ever important lesson that Racism's Bad, Idiot, in my opinion she never really recovered as a character, becoming a space nun to atone for her sins, and awkwardly deifying M'onel, to his consternation.

As one of a tragic group of oft-forgotten middle period Legionnaires, Andromeda was not a focus in the threeboot, and has along with Kinetix, Kid Quantum, and Monstress (HEY! She's not even in the poll! What gives?) has faded largely into obscurity. And that's a shame, because in the immediate post-Crisis era, Laurel Gand showed herself as a pretty great and memorable character, with more potential than she was ever allowed to pursue.

[married guy]

In order of preference....

XS
Triplicate Girl
Saturn Girl

[kcekada]

So many good ones. Even those like Projectra/Sensor Girl who started out kinda lame (due to the writers not utilizing her effectively) went on to be great. I did like that Duo Damsel eventually became Duplicate Damsel. Se was unique in that anyone else from her planet would have died if one of their triplicates died, but she carried on after Computo killed one of her. I wish she had been used more in the Bronze Age.

[kcekada]

She really got shortchanged in the Bendis boot robbing her of her wings and replacing them with constructs.
Attachment 113463

Bendis did no favors to any of the Legion. I have to say, at this point -- no Legion would be preferable to the Bendis Legion. It's really disappointing.

[Adekis]

Bendis did no favors to any of the Legion. I have to say, at this point -- no Legion would be preferable to the Bendis Legion. It's really disappointing.

Sad but true...

I will say, in the spirit of not being all negative, while I don't recall much how he characterized her (as opposed to some characters where he really made me upset) I did like Bendis's costume for Saturn Girl a lot. Not necessarily more than the more traditional outfits we've seen over the years, but it's still visually fun. Reminds me of Ultraman Cosmos, haha!

[Marvelman]

Where's Thunder? Where's Kono?

[Adekis]

Where's Thunder? Where's Kono?

A lot of those lesser known later additions got left out the poll. Thunder, Kono, Monstress! And others.

There's only so many options you can fit into a poll, right? Oh well.

[Timber Wolf-By-Night]

Where's Thunder? Where's Kono?

Locked away in some unvisited AU, hopefully never to return?

[Jim Kelly]

As one of a tragic group of oft-forgotten middle period Legionnaires, Andromeda was not a focus in the threeboot, and has along with Kinetix, Kid Quantum, and Monstress (HEY! She's not even in the poll! What gives?) has faded largely into obscurity. And that's a shame, because in the immediate post-Crisis era, Laurel Gand showed herself as a pretty great and memorable character, with more potential than she was ever allowed to pursue.

I think it's not really a case of forgetting Laurel, but that trying to amalgamate her into the continuity--if you're trying to construct a Legion timeline that pleases most of the people most of the time--is hard to do. She replaces at least two other characters--Supergirl (Kara Zor-El) and Laurel Kent. I suppose there is a way to imaginatively have all three co-exist in the same universe. But writers probably don't want to take on that burden, so they just quietly ignore her.

I don't really like what was done with Lar Gand in her continuity (and others). For one he shouldn't be Valor (that's an important religious figure for Krypton's people). He should be in the Phantom Zone. If he's able to come out of the Phantom Zone whenever he wants, and not succumb to lead poisoninng--then why is he still in the Phantom Zone a thousand years later? Since Daxam still exists, there's no need to pull Lar Gand out of the Phantom Zone--other Daxamites (Daxamians?) can play the same role. Let one of them be the head of the Gand clan.

[kcekada]

A lot of those lesser known later additions got left out the poll. Thunder, Kono, Monstress! And others.

There's only so many options you can fit into a poll, right? Oh well.

Kono gets my vote for worst female Legionnaire.

[Zero Hunter]

I think it's not really a case of forgetting Laurel, but that trying to amalgamate her into the continuity--if you're trying to construct a Legion timeline that pleases most of the people most of the time--is hard to do. She replaces at least two other characters--Supergirl (Kara Zor-El) and Laurel Kent. I suppose there is a way to imaginatively have all three co-exist in the same universe. But writers probably don't want to take on that burden, so they just quietly ignore her.

I don't really like what was done with Lar Gand in her continuity (and others). For one he shouldn't be Valor (that's an important religious figure for Krypton's people). He should be in the Phantom Zone. If he's able to come out of the Phantom Zone whenever he wants, and not succumb to lead poisoninng--then why is he still in the Phantom Zone a thousand years later? Since Daxam still exists, there's no need to pull Lar Gand out of the Phantom Zone--other Daxamites (Daxamians?) can play the same role. Let one of them be the head of the Gand clan.

When did Valor become a religious figure to Krypton? I remember it as Valor was a religious figure to many worlds such as Cargg, Brall, Lallor, Thar, and others but Krypton was long gone by that time. He become a religious figure because he rescued the thousands of humans who had been taken by the Dominators during the Invasion event and since they had been experimented on and changed Valor helped them set up colonies on those worlds that would later become core United Planets members.

As for the Lead poisoning he was still only able to leave the Zone after Brainiac 5 was able to come up with a cure. Andromeda even had to wear her transuit all the time at first because her people had still not discovered a cure for lead poisoning even in the 31st century.

[Jim Kelly]

Not the Valor you're thinking of--to be fair I got the spelling wrong--it's actually Val-Lor.

SUPERMAN 176 (April 1965)--3rd story, "Superman's Day of Truth" by Dorfman, Swan and Klein; r. SUPERMAN 241 (August 1971):

On a certain day, the Super-Cousins are bound by tradition to speak the truth. That day, they parachute into the bottle city for a solemn occasion. An elder reads from the Book of Deeds the story of Val-Lor:

"Long centuries ago, a ruthless swarm of alien invaders, called Vrangs, swept down upon our peaceful mother-planet, Krypton!"

As a peace-loving world, the Kryptonians knew nothing of war and could not put up a fight against the Vrangs. A conquered people, they were enslaved, tortured and humiliated, yet they bore it all without complaint, pretending gratitude for their menial treatment by their masters. Until, one day, a young man spoke up, "I will not lie! My name is Val-Lor! I hate and despise you Vrangs! I wish you were all dead!"

For this truth, the gallant lad was shot down in a volley of stun-rays at full power. Yet, in death, Val-Lor inspired a revolution. The masses of Krypton drove the Vrangs from their planet.

To mark the anniversary of the martyr's death, every Kryptonian is compelled to speak the truth on that day, just as Val-Lor did!

[Zero Hunter]

Ah ok. Makes sense. I actually liked them making Valor a religious figure in the original Reboot. It was interesting seeing him deal with people like Triad who really did think of him as holy and how he had to start going by the name M'Onel to hide who he really was from the public.