posted
Chemical King: This character is a puzzle to me. An elusive personality, rather superficial. Jim Shooter believed Condo was very rich, spoiled rotten, and making a game of being a Legionnaire until surprised by World War VII. He used to show off his expensive new sky-car. He spent almost no time with Element Lad despite the similarity of their powers. He might have been a Gemini, a sign that sometimes seems superficial and that likes cars and games. Maybe he played practical jokes and wrote short stories, and was a secret juggler or a pickpocket. But mostly, he's dead. He played an Eighth House fugue and was gone.
-------------------- Buy my new graphic novel! http://www.dodeka12.com
From: Champaign, IL | Registered: Jul 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Dawnstar: She's an incarnation of Astraea, the Greek star goddess who is the constellation Virgo, in American Indian dress. Complete control of body functions, with good business sense and an analytical mind that cuts through illusions, she joined the Legion for money. Virgo, Virgo, Virgo. Boring. At least real Virgos show a sense of humor. A dawnstar is a planet, usually Mercury or Venus, that rises before the sun, seemingly to guide it on its course, much as Dawny guides her clients, or the Legionnaires. It's a good name. Greeks called such a planet Lucifer, the light-bringer. Christians noted that Lucifer rises proudly before the Sun, but falls and sets while the Sun is still shining, and associated the name with the proud angel who falls before God. I wish this proud angel of the Legion would show a little of the devil in her. Interestingly, some astrologers associate Virgo with the asteroid belt, a typical environment for Dawny to thread her way through.
-------------------- Buy my new graphic novel! http://www.dodeka12.com
From: Champaign, IL | Registered: Jul 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Mon-EI is more mature, yet less self-assured, than Superboy. They both came from similar civilizations; Aquarian-futuristic, huge, Jovianly expansive planets. Yet Superboy is obviously a classical sun-hero; Mon-EI is his dark side, the hero who must suffer to find redemption. It's obvious that he has afflictions to planets in the Sixth House of health and Twelfth House of secrets, sorrows, and restrictions. He symbolically died by entering the Phantom Zone, in pain and taunted by his fellow exiles; was able to watch the foibles of mankind for a millennium, unable to warn or teach them--an experience that would make anyone tolerant, if cynical. After a couple of false starts, he was reborn in the Thirtieth Century, with a physical dependence on a rare serum. It is often forgotten that Mon-EI is obsessed with the life-sciences. He will aid another before performing his duties. With Capricorn forethought he planned to revive Lightning Lad with his own life before Saturn Girl impetuously planned to take his place. Fond of physical objects and sensuality, his phobia is probably a desire never to be insubstantial again (does Phantom Girl make him uneasy?). Lead (ruled by Saturn) almost killed him; his lesson was to overcome lead/Saturn (i.e.: inhibition, coldness) and turn it to order and discipline. His girlfriend is fated to die. His whole life is a hard-luck case, and yet he survives. Mon-EI is a very highly evolved Capricorn, with a great deal of Pisces Christ-imagery thrown in. As Superboy would agree, the Goat is, in more than one sense, the "Big Brother."
posted
Shadow Lass is gifted with the dark mystery of Scorpio and Pluto--see the batwings on her boots, the serpenty bracelets? She is gutsy, takes initiative, can be passionately jealous; yet she hides her depths under a Gemini exterior, seemingly chatty, flirty and flighty. With this combination, she could work well as a double agent or spy, talking a great deal, but giving out no secrets while pumping the enemy for his. Her self-image needs improving; if she is pink-skinned when she dies (as the cover of Adventure #354 suggests), it may be because she had her complexion changed in hopes of pleasing Mon by becoming more like him--not unlike the misled Japanese women who had their eyes altered in the hope of keeping American lovers. She feels everything too deeply, is quick to take offense and is an implacable enemy.
posted
Star Boy was born on Xanthu, apparently a colony world of Earth's future. Or rather, he was born around Xanthu, in a space observatory. Quite a problem for an astrologer. I don't think he would have any houses in his birthchart, there being no horizon or midheaven from which to derive them. Astronomy, like astrology, is ruled by Aquarius, and there are all those Aquarian stars on his costume. But look at Thom's career: Secret powers gained in deep space, the ability to induce mass into objects; away for some time on secret missions; expelled for accidental murder. These, plus Shooter's assertion that Thom is endowed like a Jovian camelephant, lead me to suspect his primary influence is Scorpio.
-------------------- Buy my new graphic novel! http://www.dodeka12.com
From: Champaign, IL | Registered: Jul 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Ultra Boy: An awful lot of fans are fond of this character, and it isn't only because of his nifty costume. There is a shady, underworld side to Jo; he's streetwise and cynical, the first of the Legionnaires who didn't shave behind his ears. His love of space speedsters corresponds to a Twentieth Century Gemini preoccupation with fast cars, with some Aries death-defying thrown in. The Legion greasemonkey, he's good with machines, vehicles, robots; he prefers to work with his hands. He likes tricks and undercover work--he was expelled from the Legion as a hoax, but I'll bet he has a juvenile offense record. Rimbor has three purple moons, giving its inhabitants three sets of instincts, habits, subconscious minds. A planet of cosmic schizophrenia. Just compare Jo's tough-guy attitude with the way he treats Tinya. Like Mon-EI, there's a Twelfth House affliction here, involving imprisonment (in an energy beast's tummy), and a secret fear. There was a fair exchange with the energy beast that almost devoured him; he took the powers given by the beast's life energy, but he left a piece of his soul in deep space, frightened and alone. Despite all his Legion fame, deep down Jo is still a street punk, not far from the days of petty theft and glib Gemini excuses.
posted
Lightning Lad and Light Lass: Born within a few hours of each other, twins usually have similar horoscopes. Only the fastest moving planets, influencing mental abilities, and the ascendant, ruling the social persona, are likely to have changed. Born to be human thunder-bolt-hurlers, I assume their sun signs are Sagittarius, ruled on Earth by Jupiter the wielder of lightning (and in Winath's system, ruled by planet Korbal). Archers love to travel, and Saj' women are frequently boyishly athletic-looking. Garth has an obvious strong Leo influence in his chart--the romantic hero and lover, impatient to make a swashbuckling entrance. Note how his old costume drew attention to his Saj'-ruled thighs by painting them orange; how his new costume does the same thing by coloring them white. How could Imra ever pass up those legs? The semiformal effect of the new costume plays toward Leo's love of "dressing up" for an occasion; all he needs is a short opera cape to emphasize his Leonine back. Saj' is notoriously accident-prone, and Garth has gone through death and coming back from the dead, only to lose an arm.
Ayla's secondary influence is Libran. Her emphasis on teamwork and partnership, the feather emblem (symbolizing Saturnine truth and justice to the Egyptians), her androgeny, the artfully designed new costume, even the ridiculous old uniform with the clinched waist and cup of cloth around her Libra buns--all point to the Balance. Ayla cries a lot--over her brother's death, over Brin's problems--but she picks herself up and carries on in the Libra tradition. Her gentle strength is a complement to Timber Wolf's brash moodiness.
posted
What is Night Girl's persona like, with no sun/ego to relate to in her chart? Stone Boy's people must be limited to births under half the zodiac-- they are immobile (and, one assumes, non-childbearing) for half the year. The extrapolations can go on forever, but this article can't. If there are any fans out there who have their own astrological observations about the Legion, I'd like to hear them; you can contact me through the Legion Outpost editors [Note: This offer has long since expired -Ed.]. I hope you've been as surprised and entertained by the correspondence as I have.
Special thanks go to E. Nelson Bridwell, whose calendar instigated this article; to Jim Shooter, for sitting in a hotel room four years ago and engaging a group of fans with his reflections on Legion personalities; to Harry Broertjes, for encouraging me to put this mindnumbing exercise on paper and especially to Janet Holwell--astrologer, teacher, friend--who took a curious fumbler and made a planet juggler out of him.
[Note: Special thanks go out to Michael Leib for providing the majority of artwork for this article. Check out his website for more great pieces from his collection. -Ed.]
posted
Maybe they rely on moss or lichens to fertilize each other!
-------------------- Buy my new graphic novel! http://www.dodeka12.com
From: Champaign, IL | Registered: Jul 2003
| IP: Logged |
Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
posted
This stuff is fascinating. I'm not into astrology, but he's clearly put a lot of thought into the characterization, and that's what interests me.
Registered: Aug 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
Thanks for posting these, Jim. They are indeed fascinating.
I'd never thought of Mon-El as a "darker" version of Superboy, but Rosenberg's rationale makes sense.
Rosenberg has also pegged Sun Boy (which makes the latter's TMK fate all the more ironic, I think).
-------------------- The Semi-Great Gildersleeve - writing, super-heroes, and this 'n' that
From: The Stasis Zone | Registered: Jul 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
It's ironic that today (Feb. 24) is Sun Boy's birthday. Here in the Midwest, at least, we are blanketed by what may yet be another blizzard!
One wonders if memories of chilly birthdays prompted wishful thinking in Dirk Morgna, as he lay beaten by Dr. Regulus's robot minions in the atomic reactor, and that his wishes (or the power of positive thinking, maybe) somehow enabled his body to adapt the atomic radiation into Dirk's dream power.
Of course, if Dirk turns out to be a Leo, as Rosenberg asserts, my theory goes out the window.
-------------------- The Semi-Great Gildersleeve - writing, super-heroes, and this 'n' that
From: The Stasis Zone | Registered: Jul 2003
| IP: Logged |
Hyperpath: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic | Subscribe To Topic
