Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes The Great "Troy Stewart" Mystery

I completely forgot to post this last year when I did the research but, last January, I tried to do a little detective work to track down an obscure bit of Legionalia that has always bugged me: where did Tyroc's real name of "Troy Stewart" come from?

From his intro, he had merely been known as "Tyroc" until a seemingly random reference in text page in the back of DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #1 (March 1980) where the Stewart name first appeared. It always drove me batty...who wrote that page?


I decided to ping Jack C. Harris, the editor of the digest, on Facebook, to see if he had any recollection. Though he was very forthcoming in his response (telling me of his overall dislike of the character's origin and background, but of his fondness for Grell's design) he had no recollection of the page authorship.

Next stop was Paul Levitz, who I had heard kept meticulous records about everything he had ever written. Although he had left the Legion title by that period, I thought perhaps the "Stewart" moniker might have been a left over bit of info from his famous "scorecards". Paul said he had no memory of the name, and that his records showed definitively that he was not the text page author.

I next pinged the actual Legion writer during that period, Gerry Conway, who told me that, nope, it wasn't him either, but that I should reach out to Jack's former assistant, Paul Kupperberg, as he likely would have been assigned text pieces for Jack's books.

I reached out to Paul Kupperberg, who told me that not only did he never have anything to do with Tyroc, nor ever been involved in Digest creation, but that Conway had misremembered, and that he had never been Jack Harris' assistant.


Dead end.


Until... quite randomly, I was sitting a Legion panel at the Baltimore Comic Con over the summer, and one of the panelists, Chris Roberson, was reminiscing about his intro to the Legion via the old digests. He said that one of the most invaluable things to him to figuring out the team were the digest text pieces written by E. Nelson Bridwell.


[seinfeld thwarted voice]Bridwell![/seinfeld thwarted voice]


Of course! The other book that ran around that same period was the "Secrets of the Legion" mini-series... plotted by E. Nelson Bridwell. (although, oddly, scripted by Kupperberg who had previously said he had never done any Tyroc-related work - it's only a panel or two, so he probably just forgot).

Sure enough, though... that miniseries is the only other place apart from the Digest, that the "Troy Stewart" name appeared, until "Who's Who", where it's canonocity was cemented.


So... clearly not definitive proof but, given all of the info, and everyone else involved claiming no knowledge, it seems very likely to me that "Troy Stewart" was a Bridwell creation.

Since Bridwell passed away in the mid-80's, if he did come up with the name, the why of its creation is probably lost to the ages, but at least now I have what I consider to be the most likely origin of "Troy Stewart".

And now, so do you.

Hmm... given that it was Bridwell, and given Bridwell's fondness for linking up bits of continuity, this certainly gives some credence to those who think the name was supposed to connect to "John Stewart"...

Y'know, this thread makes me realize that I don't generally think of Tyroc as "Troy Stewart", especially in his current incarnation. This is despite the fact that I'm a huge 5YL fan, and he played a prominent role under his given name (as most of the Legionnaires did).

When I read issue 4 of Legion Lost, other Legionnaires calling him "Ty" just seemed the most natural thing in the world as I subconsciously equated "Tyroc" as both his name and his codename, much like Dawnstar and Blok.

So that just full-circles into this: since "Tyroc" isn't the character's name, then what the hell is it supposed to mean? Is it some sort of Marzalian title? Has an explanation ever been provided?

(I should add that I've never read any of Ty's early appearances--basically including his entire first career as a Legionnaire--so apologies if the meaning of his codename was made clear in them.)

Indeed, I always thought that "Troy Stewart" was an attempt to link "John Stewart" to the character; moreover, as Marzal was supposed to be a version of Brigadoon, a Scottish Isle, it would be linked to the British royal family. The Anglicized House of Stuart was originally the Scottish Clan Stewart which ruled Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland, France, &c. Furthermore, Tyroc's powers are those of the mystic Banshee,originally "bean-nighe" or"bean-sith" in Scottish.


* The More You Know *

Tyroc is supposed to be Marzalian for "scream of the devil". Not sure offhand when that bit of trivia was introduced, however.

or Lynn Stewart, Black Lightning's ex-wife.

The weird thing is, nobody else from Marzal has anglicized names at all.

He is the only one.

And he just happens to share his name with one of the most famous Green Lanterns.

And he also happens to be the only native of Marzal (that we've seen) with powers.

HMMM CURIOUS. I think there is a story there....

Much as I like John Stewart, I'd just as soon see this forgotten. Honestly, does every hero or villain in the future have to be a legacy character?

^ Ditto x 1000. And the idea that two black characters who happen to share the same last name have to be related even though they live 1000 years apart is almost disturbing IMO. Like, I know there aren't many black characters in comics but come on! It's as myopic as meeting a Nigerian and saying, "My friend Scott is from South Africa, maybe you know him?" (And yes - I have heard people say things like that.)

Getting back to Exnihil's first post, I don't know which I'm more impressed by -

1. your tenacious detective work in tracking down the origin of one of the most minor pieces of Legion trivia;

or

2. that you know so many comics professionals well enough to bother them with said trivia.

Oh, I didn't mean to imply that I actually know any of the people above, just that they were each nice enough to reply to my Facebook message. Sort of a modern-day letter column.


On the John Stewart front, I agree, too... legacy characters give me agita.

Although one Legion fan, Carol Strickland, did write a great article which somewhat tongue-in-cheekedly ties Marzal into Wonder Woman history, suggesting that not only is Tyroc a John Stewart legacy... but also one of Donna TROY:

http://www.carolastrickland.com/comics/wwcentral/misc_indexes/nubia/nubia.html

Maybe Tyroc only took on the anglicized name after he joined the Legion. And maybe he chose a name that would honor two heroes of the past: John Stewart and Donna Troy.

Or, perhaps one of Tyroc's ancestors adopted an Anglicized name as a secret identity during one of Marzal's previous appearances on Earth?

[snip]

Yes. (And if my brain hadn't been asleep, I might have thought of pointing that out, Blacula.)

But there are lesser problems with it, too. For example, the constant emphasis on legacy heroes/villains always smacks to me of a Puritan-like obsession with predestination. Whatever your ancestor did is what you will do. You don't get any agency or free will, and so on.

It also creates a disturbingly stratified idea of society in what's supposed to be a Utopian future. If everyone's a legacy hero, then essentially good deeds and the will to do them are a literal form of wealth that can't be earned through one's actions. They can only be inherited. Uh... yuck.

Finally, if everyone became a hero because they were fated to by the actions of a long-dead ancestor, it contributes to cookie-cutter origins and characterization. Why have a team where everyone supposedly celebrates diversity but arrived on the scene for the same reason? Kinda' pointless.

I, too, admire Ex's detective skills. But I don't want Tyroc to be a legacy hero. DC, give us something new. Don't just keep tying a book set in the future to your books set in the present. You're discouraging original ideas and hamstringing Legion writers in the process. (If something happens to present-day Stewart, it's going to impact his supposed future descendent and mess with an already murky, constantly-debated continuity.) Enough already!

reincarnation of John Stewart, like they do with Thom Kaller as he is a reincarnation of Scalphunter/Matt O'Dare? *heh*

although that Donna Troy and John Stewart used to work together as Darkstars....hmmm....not to mention that Paradise Island is the island that s well hidden from the world....can see the slight connection .

So why does someone have to share a surname to be a descendant? Half my grandparents, 3/4 of my great-grandparents, 7/8 of my great-great grandparents, etc. etc. had different surnames than I do. Really, when you think about it, probably half the current population of earth will be an ancestor of any given individual 1000 years in the future.

All of this is reminding me of Tyroc's still-untapped potential! I hope DeFalco is wise enough to give Troy a big spotlight and delve into his history and origin. It would be a shame for this not to happen when he is part of a Legion book with a comparatively small cast.

Did the Darkstars even exist in current DCnU continuity?

Well, at the moment it appears that even Donna troy may not exist in DCnU continuity! We'll have to keep an eye on the GL books to see if the Darkstars or even L.E.G.I.O.N. still exist. (I wouldn't hold out too much hope for the Darkstars between the two given its relative obscurity.)

Playing devil's advocate...would being a descendant of John Stewart automatically make him a legacy character? If he doesn't actually have anything to do with the Green Lantern mythos, it could just be nothing more than an interesting bit of background....the same way over at Marvel, Franklin Richards joined Power Pack as Tattletale, but it's not like he was specifically honoring his parents in the Fantastic Four or basing his identity on them. Granted, it would be unlike comics (and DC specifically) NOT to over exploit a family connection, but it is possible at least...

Having said that, I can understand the concern with making Tyroc and John related as it can be seen to imply "well of course they're connected, they're both black!" I remember way back in the day when I was reading Generation X and they implied that M (Algerian) was related to Gateway (stereotypical mysterious indigenous Australian from the outback) and thinking that was equally insulting...

Whether or not there's any connection to John, the fact is that the incredibly Anglicized name does seem to stand in need of explanation.

*weeps openly*

LAUREL KENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!! *SOB* I WANT YOU BACK AND NOT AS A ROBOT!

Poor dear!
Come sit on Auntie Anita's lap, kitten.
Would you like to borrow my hankie?