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I can't say what sparked this month's column. I was browsing the internet and for some reason these characters caught my attention and I started my usual non-process of re-imagining them. As much as I generally hate the term re-boot applied to moribund comic, or other series, there are cases where it really does work. Alan Moore is, perhaps, the most famous "re-booter" of them all, with his Marvelman series, taking a poorly conceived family of characters and turning them into ground-breaking comics.
So, it was with this sort of thing in mind that I took a trio of relatively minor Hanna-Barbera characters and went to work on them. The Galaxy Trio ran as the back-up for two years on the Birdman cartoon series. Set in some future galactic civilization, they work with or are part of the Galactic Patrol and each of the three possesses a unique super-power, seemingly derived from their home planets. To me, they always seemed like a poor man's Legion of Super-Heroes. Meteor Man is from the world Meteorus, Vapor Man is from Vapous, and Gravtiy Girl is from Gravitas. Even the writers at DC weren't so lazy as to give names to the alien homeworlds of Legionnaires from planets where everyone had the same powers that were so specifically descriptive as these.
Meteor Man has the power to expand any part of, or all of his body, as well as contract them to small size, though he seems to do that rarely. As he expands he gains great strength, making him the team's strong man. Add Ted Cassidy's voice to that, and he was a big, scary alien guy. He also seems to be pretty near invulnerable.
Vapor Man has the power to transform into a large cloud of vapor, with varying chemical and physical properties. He is shown shooting jets of freezing vapor, at times and using his ability to escape bonds and traps. He can also fly at great speeds.
Gravity girl has the power to manipulate gravity. This allows her to lift heavy objects and to fly. She can also amplify gravity to bring down an opponent. From the coloring used on her in the cartoon, she could be a cousin of Starfire from the Teen Titans.
They flew around the galaxy in a small ship called Condor 1, though for some reason, it was one of the least birdlike designs you ever saw. It does seem to show a tiny bit of Star Trek influence, though I guess Alex Toth just couldn't stand to leave off the snazzy fin.
I have to say that, while the episodes are short, and fairly simplistic, it's impressive that not all of the villains are members of generic alien races. In the episode THE CAVEMEN OF PRIMEVIA, the villains are members of Vapor Man's race. The cosmic storm in THE EYE OF TIME is laughable, and the computer communicates with them on punched tape!
The science is pretty weak in these very, very short stories, but there's a great deal of imagination and potential.
First, I took a look at their ship. I always figure if you're going to use a bird name, there ought to be something birdlike about the design. My version of Condor 1 has a raptor silhouette, maybe a bit more hawklike than condorish, but I think it works. One of the things Galaxy Trio borrowed from Star Trek is the concept of the matter transmitter; in this case they call it a "Lazon Cube". This means Condor 1 wasn't going to be landing a lot, which works fine with a design possessing only the rudiments of aerodynamics.
My Condor is meant to be a long range patrol craft, for Galactic Patrol Special Operations teams, like the Galaxy Trio. I figure they choose extraordinary recruits for these independent action teams, and there are probably several other teams like the Trio, managed by the Chief of Special Operations, at Galactic Patrol Headquarters. The regular Patrol handles the normal, routine business of interstellar law enforcement, but the Special Ops teams deal with the unusual threats, like the Moltens of Meteorus, or Titan the Titanium Man.
The design is also inspired by one of my favorite Romulan ships from FASA Games Star Trek Starship Combat game, called the Winged Defender. The Winged Defender is much more aggressive looking and larger, but I always liked the bird-shape it evoked.
These Condor class craft also carry an assortment of weapons and sensors, permitting them to function as survey or intelligence craft, with the ability to defend itself. There are stations for 4 or more on the command deck and there are 4 cabins, as well as a galley, medical bay and a separate engine room where main power is generated by mass-energy converters.
The Trio themselves, I've revised to more modern styling. I tried to keep their colors close to the original uniforms, but I hated the yellow-green on Vapor Man, so I eliminated it. I worked the Roman-style numerals into the design of the costumes, a bit. Toth had already done this, to a certain degree, with Meteor Man's collar, but the other two just had them stuck on. I'm not sure I like the implications of make the girl "III", seeming to make her the last of three, but the way the episodes are written, the numerals don't seem to indicate rank or have any other meaning, apart from differentiating them. Since they're all of different races and colorings, it's not as if they'd get confused one with the other. Regardless, it's part of their design, so I worked with it.
In Alex Toth's original design sketches, Meteor Man's costume was all black, with the yellow collar and boots, and red trunks and belt. The trunks were sometimes depicted as yellow, which is the color I used. Of course, in modern costume designs, one of the first things to go is the old-fashioned trunks, so I made Meteor Man's bodysuit black and reworked the boots and belt.
I always liked the idea of the open top mask, and it works perfectly for Vapor Man, especially if he's "steaming" from the top. The different shades of green/blue-green work very well on a guy with blue skin, too.
Gravity Girl was my favorite of these three. I was able to work the III on her chest into a sort of bird-shape on her extended collar, sort of like the Legion's Ultra Boy. Her bracers, I worked into gloves and I was able to incorporate three chevrons on her leggings, to match her number. Plus, I like purple/violet with white, so it makes for a very striking design.
But, that's not all. Since the Trio works with the Galactic Patrol, I figured I'd include them, as well. I designed a standard patrolman's uniform, in pretty standard policeman's colors. My idea is that the suit doubles as an emergency pressure suit, with the helmet's visor incorporating a memory plastic breathing mask to be deployed when pressure drops significantly or contamination is detected by the helmet's sensors. As well, the helmet and suit incorporate a holocom and impact armor. The weapon is a variable power shock cannon.
To get around, the Patrol uses many ships, but of primary concern to the Trio and other SpecOps teams are the Galactic Patrol Command Cruisers. Large enough to transport and service the Condors, they have "fly-thru" support decks, mount impressive weaponry and shields and have faster-than-light drive enabling them to cross interstellar distances in a matter of hours or days. Of course, the Condors are FTL-capable, as well, but their speed and range can't match the big cruisers.
If this ever turned into a comic or cartoon series, I'd love to see more special operations teams showcased. There are bound to be lots of other planets where people share extra-normal powers, or individuals with super-powers who could fill the role. There might be several Trios working the galaxy.
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Copyright © 2009 Joe Singleton
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