Thursday, July 30, 2009

I thought this was easy, but my answers are probably wrong

Kurt Busiek asks:

How many Legionnaires can you name who had letters on their costume?

Naturally, the 'L' on the flight ring doesn't count.

I got five — or eight, depending on how technical you want to get.

Mark Waid got the same five, but agreed that those other three shouldn't count.

Paul Levitz got four, with the same caveat.

James Robinson got five.

Tom Galloway came up with a sixth, but then, as I understand it, he was at the Challenge last year, so he's had much more time to think about it. And I spurn his sixth name as a technicality anyway, while Mark grumbled that yeah, it's a technicality but he should have gotten it anyway.


I can think of five, plus the "three who shouldn't count" -- but again, I am not really a Legion scholar, so I'm probably missing something:

1. Superboy
2. Supergirl
3. Phantom Girl
4. Element Lad
5. Ferro Lad

... and the "honorable mentions" would be Cosmic Boy, Lightning Boy, and Saturn Girl, whose codenames were written out on their costumes in their very first appearance.

Now off to Busiek.com's forum to check my work!

4 comments:

Matthew E said...

Without looking at the ones you listed:

- Element Lad had the interlac E at one point
- Phantom Girl had a P on her costume a couple of times
- I think Atmos had an interlac A
- Invisible Kid had an I a couple of times
- Lightning Boy (sic), Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy had their entire names on their costumes in their first appearance
- M'Onel's costume had an M integrated into the design in the reboot
- Did Ferro Lad have an Fe on his costume?
- Superboy, Superboy II, Supergirl (and I'm pretty sure Superman-X from the animated series) had the S-shield, of course
- Oh! Shadow Lass had an S at one point - I think it was a brooch that was like an S with a line through it

I wouldn't be surprised if there were a couple more but that's what I've got for now.

Richard said...

Matthew, Element Lad had a plain old English language E on his original costume. (After his very first appearance, that is, when it was a question mark to denote his identity as Mystery Lad.)

I'm quite certain the "technicality" Kurt refers to that would raise the count to 8 must be the original three members with their names on their costumes. However, I will bet even he and Mark and Paul are all forgetting Elastic Lad.

Matthew E said...

I certainly was, but then I don't think of him as a full-fledged Legionnaire anyway.

Tom Bondurant said...

Ferro Lad did have the "Fe" on his chest.

I had forgotten about M'Onel, probably since Kurt and company were all thinking of the original Legionnaires. Now, though, I wonder if M'Onel's "M" or Elastic Lad's "nametag" are the ones which shouldn't count.

I always liked Shadow Lass's brooch, and not just for its strategic placement.... :-)