posted
I had some free time lately thanks to a house move, and with some Archives in hand I started up a tallying project, where I counted each and every appearance of a Legionnaire or supporting character. I've always been interested in something like this, seeing who really gets the most face time and just how many times certain favorites actually appeared, so I thought I'd share it here with fellow Legion fans who may get a kick out of it.
I tracked panel by panel, counting times they were in disguise, a monitor board picture showed up, the works, so I could get the fairest representation possible. The sole exception being Luornu, who even when doubled/triplicated, I only counted her as one appearance in a panel so she wouldn't run-away with an inaccurate tally. Though I know I'm missing a tale or two that weren't in the Archives (I know of a Superman, Jimmy Olsen, and Lois Lane story off-hand), the below list covers every panel appearing in the Adventure era, including the Action back-ups. Rank, name, and then # of appearances.
LEGIONNAIRES 01. Superboy 2670 02. Saturn Girl 1482 03. Brainiac 5 1400 04. Cosmic Boy 1349 05. Sun Boy 975 06. Chameleon Boy 931 07. Lightning Lad 918 08. Ultra Boy 804 09. Mon-el 786 10. Duo Damsel 710 11. Karate Kid 655 12. Invisible Kid 612 13. Supergirl 590 14. Star Boy 584 15. Element Lad 555 16. Phantom Girl 536 17. Shrinking Violet 530 18. Bouncing Boy 491 19. Light Lass 468 20. Colossal Boy 389 21. P. Projectra 387 22. Matter-Eater Lad 348 23. Dream Girl 277 24. Shadow Lass 222 25. Timber Wolf 182 26. Ferro Lad 132 27. Chemical King 104 28. Nemesis Kid 37
SUPPORTING CHARACTERS 01. Proty II 226 02. Lana Lang 216 03. Night Girl 200 04. Polar Boy 195 05. Jimmy Olsen 177 06. Krypto 131 07. Comet 120 08. Fire Lad 103 09. Chlorophyll Kid 95 10. Stone Boy 92 11. Streaky 92 12. Beppo 83 13. Pete Ross 81 14. Duplicate Boy 63 15. Beast Boy 56 16. Proty I 32 17. Marla Latham 31 18. Kid Psycho 30 19. Evolvo Lad 29 20. Gas Girl 29 21. Rond Vidar 27 22. Life Lass 21 23. Eltro Gand 14 24. Color Kid 13 25. RJ Brande 7 26. White Witch 6
VILLAINS 01. Tharok 101 02. Mano 98 03. Dynamo Boy 96 04. Emerald Empress 93 05. Persuader 88 06. Cosmic King 84 07. Lightning Lord 82 08. Validus 81 09. Dr. Mantis Morlo 66 10. Saturn Queen 65 11. COMPUTO 58 12. Time Trapper 57 13. Nardo 55 14. Universo 53 15. Mordru 52 16. Otto Orion 51 17. Command Kid 50 18. Super Moby Dick 39 19. Evillo 38 20. Dr Regulus 35 21. Thora of Taltar 35 22. Glorith 27 23. Starfinger 21 24. Echo 14 25. Tarik the Mute 14 26. Beauty Blaze 13 27. The Hag 13 28. Sugyn 11 29. Spider-Girl 8 30. Ron-Karr 6 31. Radiation Roy 5
I have some notes I'd like to make about the tallying, but I'll take a break to compile my thoughts and see if anyone has any questions about the process.
posted
Apologies for how squished the numbers are next to the names. I had spaced them out, but it must not show up on the UBB code.
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Dang! Nice work, Future! I love stuff like this.
I don't think anyone will be surprised by Superboy, Saturn Girl or Brainiac 5's rankings. I do think it is important to note that Imra's accomplishment of being THE most-frequently-shown Legionnaire (I'm not counting Superboy here) is MASSIVE for a female character outside of Wonder Woman in the Silver-Age.
As I was reading your explanation of the process, I suspected Luornu would have a high count, despite counting her dupli/triplicated appearances as one. I see I was right; she made the top 10 and is the seecond-highest-ranked female.
posted
Wow! What an amazing feat, Future! Very informative. It should go into the Encyclopedia Galactica.
Heh, Saturn Girl was a panel hog even back then. Cosmic Boy, Brainy. Yup, the usual suspects. Sun Boy was such a prominent character; how the mighty have fallen! Cham's exposure took a big dive postboot, no? Maybe you should footnote the fact that Lightning Lad was dead for eight months, and that Star Boy was expelled from the Legion for nine months. It impacts their numbers. I always suspected that Element Lad was given short shrift; now I know it's true. For someone who only visited now and then Supergirl did alright for herself (I'm so glad she's back in the DCU). Funny how some of the supporting characters (Proty II, Lana) eclipsed the bottom-rung Legionnaires. Krypto appeared more times than Chemical King!
I'm really surprised that Tharok comes out as the most prominent a villain. I would never have guessed.
This is the REAL Legion, boys and girls, and don't you forget it.
From: Reimagined Trom | Registered: Jul 2003
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
I wouldn't be surprised if the Time Trapper ends up at the top of the villain's list.
Karate Kid's fairly high-rank shows what a panel-hog he was after he debuted, besting out many characters who were there for the entire Adventure run.
I was a bit surprised by how far down Gim was.
You rock, Future!
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Thanks for all the kind words, gang! Half the fun of tallying up the appearances was actually seeing where everyone started in the early days, and how they fared as time moved on. There was actually a lot of place swapping issue after issue, especially with the bigger storylines. I'll try to comment on stuff that has been mentioned.
Saturn Girl was indeed the biggest panel hog, though I have to give her props for being consistent. There never really was a huge storyline spotlighting her that boosted her numbers...they built up over time. She actually rarely appeared in the last few Adventure issues and had few spots in the Action back-ups, so she would actually be a lot better if she had maintained her prominence.
Even dead, Lightning Lad didn't lose too much ground. Sun Boy slipped past him in appearances, and after his revival, the two best friends have been pulling ahead and then falling behind each other over and over again. The ghost of Ferro Lad story finally broke Dirk loose from Garth, but he's managed to catch up to where he was now thanks to bit parts in many of the later stories. While they were tussling, Cham pretty much flew out of the second-tier ranks and inserted himself between the two. Another Action back-up and Reep would probably pass both of them.
Mon and Jo have stayed in place the whole time, usually at the pit bottom of the top 10. They appeared together often in the early days and had equal time as leaders to keep them fairly in line with each other.
Colossal Boy, Invisible Kid, and Brainiac 5 all started out at the bottom of the list (as did the Legion gals: Vi, Tinya, and Lu). Brainiac 5 slowly but surely picked up pace and then kept on going until he got to his rank of third. Lyle actually stayed fairly low in the ranks until he became leader. He then pretty much shot through the charts, and nested where he was now after he was replaced. I don't think anyone passed him after he was elected leader. Gim, plain and simply, never took off. He never would have broken 300 if it wasn't for the LSV storyline and the Action back-up he was in. He never played too much of a role in any story...and when he did appear he usually only added anywhere from 2-10 appearances throughout the 80+ issues I went through.
Matter-Eater Lad, like Gim, just never got consistently featured in stories. Element Lad suffered from this a bit in the later days too, but a few Action back-ups helped him soar past the Legion gals back into the middle. Another long-standing middle-tier, Star Boy, actually had quite a few appearances before his expulsion. Especially as Sir Prize, it didn't take him long to reclaim his middle ground. He was pretty much right under Supergirl during the whole tallying process until the last dozen Adventure issues.
Hoo boy, the Legion gals! Tinya and Lu first appeared together and stayed fairly neck and neck until Lu started getting some roles. Tinya and Vi didn't get too many appearances until around Archive 2 or 3, and even then they slowly but surely kept up with the others. Lightning Lass/Light Lass actually was the #2 girl for quite awhile. Her debut and appearances with Garth's return secured her spot above the other girls in the early days. Afterward, she pretty much dwindled in appearances. She made enough to not be obscure, but by the time Shooter came on the scene and bumped up PG (just like the Mordru storyline and the last few Adventure tales did for Lu), she just watched the other gals go by. Vi kept up with Tinya fairly well, eventually catching back up to her through Action back-ups and the like.
Luornu, actually stayed pretty consistent throughout the whole of Adventure. Even without her big roles, she'd easily be the #2 femme.
Supergirl was actually fairly high on the list when it started out. She got lots of appearances in during the Legion's early days, and everytime she would start slipping in the ranks, a Satan Girl, Unknown Boy, or Taurus Gang story came along to help her out. She's actually stayed around the 500s for the last five Archives, not really gaining any ground with her last few appearances.
Bouncing Boy was a real shock when I started the list. He was in the top 7 easily (the founders, Dirk, and the Super cousins beat him out), and stayed there surprisingly for the first two dozen issues. Of course, after losing his powers and leaving the book, he quickly slipped in rank with dozens of other Legionnaires finally coming unto their own and getting featured. Even when he rejoined, Chuck was more obscure than Gim or Tenzil. His appearances at the end of Adventure really helped BB out, as before then he had the same number as Colossal Boy.
As per the latecomers, Chem and Wolf would be tied if it weren't for Brin's Lone-Wolf days. Shady actually didn't gain too many appearances...half of her total count is from the Fatal Five two-parter alone. Dream Girl's first story and guise as Miss Terious is where most of her appearances came from, attributing to why she's so low on the list when people who've joined after her sped past.
Supporting characters don't have too many surprises. As usual, big stories or appearances are what kept Jimmy, Lana, and Proty where they were. Though he wasn't a promimently featured Super-Pet, Krypto had plenty of early Legion appearances with Superboy to help him out. Beppo fared the worse of the Pets, while Duplicate Boy for his romance with Vi and Beast Boy for his renegade status spirited them slightly ahead of the rest of the Lallorian heroes. Night Girl had a huge lead over the other Subs, until the Adult Legion story had Polar Boy beat her out. She reclaimed #1 sub with her sole appearance in the Action back-ups. Stone Boy, despite his important role in several tales, was always usually left out of group shots and other parts of stories, making him the Sub founder with the least. Color Kid never had time to come unto his own. I forgot to tally the White Witch, but all but probably five of her appearances would have been of her as the Hag.
Not many surprises with the villains. Tharok and Mano's squabbling sprinted them ahead, while big and bulky Validus usually got left out of panels and gained a lower count. Of the LSV, Cosmic King usually stole the show as leader. Flashbacks are really what kept Mekt in-line with him. The Time Trapper would probably place slightly below Validus from what I remember, with Glorith likely ranking above Thora.
posted
Yeah, it would be pretty hard for Shadow Lass, Timber Wolf and Chemical King to have scored very high on the list as they were the last to join, but Ferro Lad's rank is a bit of a surprise considering he was dead in like, 6 months! I'll bet his ghost and statue kept his numbers up, tough.
posted
You've got it, Lash. Ferro Lad barely broke 100 appearances when he died if I recall correctly (most of those from the Sun-Eater story, too). His statue, ghost, and the funeral rocket with his picture on it is what got him where he is.
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Future, this is really cool! You space-rawk!
It's funny about the top ten, in that you can even tell on the covers that Cos, Imra, Sun Boy and Brainy were *thee* consistently appearing Legionnaires, with other more obscure ones rotating into the stories. Both before and after Shooter.
And Garth, Jo, Mon and Cham are no surprise either! I am a bit surprised (and delighted) to see Luornu though, I'll have to keep an eye out for her when I re-read those issues.
And like you said EDE, it's amazing at how often Karate Kid appeared after he joined! It's so obvious when re-reading these stories and the letter pages that he was a MAJOR fan-favorite and this really shows here.
Off the top of my head, some of my favorite stories feature the top ten: Cos, Brainy, Val and Superboy in Shady's origin and Cos, Dirk, Superboy in the Fatal Five story with Ferro Lad and Jeckie rotating in.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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I --Thora of Taltar-- am pleased with my top-10 ranking. No need to tally up appearances by that ridiculous Time Trapper or his blonde, bubble-chested man-toy. To do so would surely brand you as a cretin and bring you utter misery and unmerciful floggings. To obey Thora of Taltar would surely bring you happiness.
-------------------- On MY world, which your robot space-probes contacted only a month ago, a superior MATRIARCHAL system exists! There, women are the stronger, dominant sex!
From: Taltar | Registered: Sep 2003
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
I bet Nardo would rank higher than Thora of Taltar.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
I updated the villains sections, which means good news and bad news for Thora of Taltar!
The good news is, Thora, that you have nothing to worry. I updated the list with Glorith and she actually ranks below you!
The bad news is, EDE was correct. I tallied up Nardo and added him to the list too. He beat out both Thora and Mordru to secure the #8 spot. That's even without Nardo robots!
I'll have to sit down tonight to look for the Time Trapper. I forgot about a couple of different stories he cameo'd in when I looked up the other two, so I'll have to clarify later.
Registered: Jul 2003
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
I'd guess Universo as another high scorer. He's got his debut, plus the two-parter "Outlawed Legionnaires" story.
Evillo might be in the "Nardo"-range as well, with his two-parter.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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