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I suppose, technically, that you could say I've done
these characters before. On that occassion, I was
working within the anti-matter version of the DC
universe, as presented in the graphic novel, JLA:Earth
2. This time, I'm playing with them in the context of
the current run of the Legion of Super-Heroes. But
first, the history lesson.
Way back in the dark mists of history, there was a
time known as "the 60s". In this time, it was actually
possible for a young comic book fan to find regular
work as a comic book writer. So it was that young Jim
Shooter found himself writing the Legion of
Super-Heroes. Shooter introduced some of the Legion's
great heroes, Karate Kid, Princess Projectra, Ferro
Lad, and Shadow Lass, as well as some of the best
known villains and adversaries of the Legion, such as
the Khunds, Universo, the Dark Circle, Mordru and the
Fatal Five.
Recently, the Fatal Five appeared in an episode of
Justice League Unlimited and they will feature in the
upcoming Legion of Super-Heroes cartoon. With the
latest incarnation of the Legion, we can hope to see
the Fatal Five again.
I'm pressed for time, this month, so I have to resort
to using scans from the original comics, which isn't
so bad, for a change.
This is how the appeared in their mug-shots from
Adventure #352.
Validus, the fearsome giant with lightning bolts
shooting from his brain, Persuader with his atomic
axe, the Emerald Empress and her Emerald Eye of Ekron,
Tharok the cyborg super-genius and Mano, whose right
hand can disintegrate anything it touches.
Tharok is the leader, of course. In the future, the
smart guys are always the leaders. Heh, yeah, right . . .
In the old version, Tharok's origin involved half his
body being accidentally vaprorized.The idea that a
stray shot triggering a small nuclear device could
vaporize exactly half of a guy's body, and with swift,
high-tech medical intervention, he could survive,
strains credibility. Even in a universe where a boy
can fly faster than light and the like, it's just too
much good luck for one guy to have.
For Tharok, I'd say he was involved in a malfunction
of a suspended animation process that resulted in the
left side of his body being so badly damaged it could
not be restored or regenerated. In order to save his
life, he was forced to undergo emergency cybernetic
enhancement, including replacement of his left brain
hemisphere with a computer brain that elevates his
cognitive functions to near-Coluan level.
This allows us to keep some of his vital organs
intact, while replacing much of this skeleton and
musculature on the left half of his body.
The trickiest bits of symmetry to work around are in
the face, especially the mouth. And at the other end,
where the stuff that goes into the mouth comes out.
One thing they're doing with the new Legion is trying
a little harder to make the "alien" characters more
alien than they were in the past. Still, they look
pretty human to me. Tharok, in the early days, had one
feature that was certainly non-human. His eyes were
shown to be like glistening black orbs. That's fine,
let's make him other than human . . . humanoid, whatever.
On top of that, how about making the people he was
stealing from, or whatever, non-human? This means
their medical science will make it difficult for them
to find compatible cybernetic parts. Their knowledge
of his body chemistry, too, would be limited. The
digestive system is tricky and there's just no reason
to fit half the intestines with cybernetic
replacements. I figure his digestive system will be
simplified, and whether or not the guy gets to keep
his "joy department" is up to the readers to speculate
upon.
I think he should have some speech defects, do to
difficulty synching up the organic and cybernetic
halves of his mouth and vocal apparatus. Or, barring
that, maybe the rot doesn't extend to his vocal
apparatus and airway. I'd also like to have him keep
his spine more or less intact, it makes the cybernetic
enhancement so much simpler (yeah, like I know what's
involved in building and installing cybernetic limbs
and organs based on an alien biology!).
For the Persuader, I wanted to borrow elements from
various versions of the character. I particularly
liked the "reboot" version, especially as drawn by
Chris Sprouse. It had a bit of a medieval feel to it,
but still looked cool. For mine, I looked at the
different versions and tried to find ways to evoke the
look, but with my own sense of style.
I like the loose-fitting boots and gloves and the I
borrowed the idea that he armors himself in stolen
police armor or somesuch.The Atomic Axe is my own
refinement of various designs.
Mano gives me the opportunity for using brown in a
costume, again. I like brown and I think it should be
used more. Mano needs a unique environment, his
homeworld's atmosphere is laden with methane and other
gasses that humans find toxic.
Of course, I like green, too, so the Emerald Empress
is going to be one of those characters I like to play
with. I tried to stick with her colors, but make her
costume more elegant. The eye . . . who knows what it
really is? A construct? an artifact of some ancient,
magical civilization? All we know is, it's an object
of enormous magical power.
I never liked Validus, much. Giant, mindless
characters just never interested me all that much.
Even so, he's part of the team and needs
consideration. His costume always bugged me, as I
could never understand why a big, mindless monster
wore clothes, in the first place. What I went for with
my design is a kind of prison uniform idea. When he
was introduced, Validus was about to be executed by
the UP, presumably because they have a law against
being a mindless monster.
I wish I had more time to expand on some of these,
this month, but I'm getting ready to move and time is
running out. See you next month.
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