Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! Legion Creators

I was hoping you guys could help me fill this out. I was trying to come up with a definitive list of which Legionnaires were created by who, and this is what I came up with, based on wikipedia, memory and extrapolation. If anybody can help complete or correct this, I'd appreciate it.


Andromeda: Keith Giffen, Al Gordon and Tom and Mary Bierbaum
Atmos: Paul Levitz and Greg Larocque
Blok: Gerry Conway and Joe Staton
Blood Claw: Tom and Mary Bierbaum and Stuart Immonen
Bouncing Boy: Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney
Brainiac 5: Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney
Calamity King: Edmond Hamilton and Curt Swan
Catspaw: Tom and Mary Bierbaum and Chris Sprouse
Chameleon Boy: Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney
Chemical King: Jim Shooter and Curt Swan
Chlorophyll Kid: Edmond Hamilton and John Forte
Color Kid: Edmond Hamilton and Curt Swan
Colossal Boy: Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney
Computo: Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen
Cosmic Boy: Otto Binder and Al Plastino
Crystal Kid: Bob Cohen
Dawnstar: Paul Levitz and Mike Grell
Dragonmage: Tom and Mary Bierbaum and Chris Sprouse
Dream Boy: Mark Waid and Barry Kitson
Dream Girl: Edmond Hamilton and John Forte
Echo:
Element Lad: Edmond Hamilton and John Forte
Ferro Lad: Jim Shooter
Fire Lad: Edmond Hamilton and John Forte
Firefist: Tom and Mary Bierbaum and Stuart Immonen
Flederweb: Tom and Mary Bierbaum and Stuart Immonen
Gates: Tom McCraw, Mark Waid and Lee Moder
Gear: Tom Peyer, Tom McCraw and Scott Kolins
Impulse: Al Gordon
Infectious Lass: Dave Cockrum
Invisible Kid: Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney
Invisible Kid II: Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen
Karate Kid: Jim Shooter
Karate Kid II: Paul Levitz and ??
Kid Quantum: Tom and Mary Bierbaum and David A. Williams
Kid Quantum II:
Kinetix: Tom McCraw, Mark Waid and Lee Moder
Kono: Keith Giffen and Tom and Mary Bierbaum
Light Lass: Edmond Hamilton and John Forte
Lightning Lad: Otto Binder and Al Plastino
Magnetic Kid: Edmond Hamilton and John Forte
Magno: Roger Stern, Tom McCraw and Jeff Moy
Matter-Eater Lad: Jerry Siegel and John Forte
Mon-El: Robert Bernstein and George Papp
Monstress: Tom Peyer, Tom McCraw and Lee Moder
Neon: Al Gordon
Nightwind: Rob Harris
Phantom Girl: Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney
Polar Boy: Edmond Hamilton and John Forte
Porcupine Pete: Dave Cockrum
Princess Projectra: Jim Shooter
Quislet: Paul Levitz and Steve Lightle
Reflecto:
Reflex: Keith Giffen, Al Gordon and Tom and Mary Bierbaum
Saturn Girl: Otto Binder and Al Plastino
Shadow Lass: Jim Shooter and Curt Swan
Shikari: Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and Olivier Coipel
Shrinking Violet: Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney
Spider Girl: Jim Tillery, Jerry Siegel and John Forte
Star Boy: Otto Binder and George Papp
Stone Boy: Edmond Hamilton and John Forte
Storm Boy:
Sun Boy: Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney
Superboy: Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
Superboy II: Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett
Supergirl: Otto Binder and Al Plastino
Superman-X:
Tellus: Paul Levitz and Steve Lightle
Thunder: Jerry Ordway and Mike Manley
Timber Wolf: Edmond Hamilton and John Forte
Triplicate Girl: Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney
Tyroc: Cary Bates and Mike Grell
Ultra Boy: Jerry Siegel and Curt Swan
Veilmist: Tom and Mary Bierbaum and Stuart Immonen
Visi-Lad: Paul Levitz and ??
White Witch: E. Nelson Bridwell and Curt Swan
Wildfire: Cary Bates and Dave Cockrum
XS: Tom McCraw and Jeff Moy

Echo: Jim Shooter

Was Mark Waid involved in Xs's creation as well?

Weren't the Subs created by readers? Or does that not count?

I think you're thinking of Nightwind, Lamprey and Crystal Kid.

Technically I think you are both right. The original Subs were all suggested by readers in "Legion Outpost" letter columns, but the writer and artist of the time would probably get credit for fleshing the characters out, backstory and visuals.

So it will probably depend on what your definition of the word "created" is... (yikes, that sounds way too much like President Clinton's defense!)

Reflecto first appeared in the famous Adult Legion story, along with Chemical King, Shadow Lass, Wanderer Quantum Queen, and Power Boy. All were seen in memorial statue form only. They were all the product of Jim Shooter and Curt Swan.

PS - Echo also first appeared in the Adult Legion story as a member of the adult LSV. Jim Shooter and Curt Swan should be credited here as well.

PSS - VisiLad appears on an Adventure cover drawn by Curt Swan when Element Lad first applied to the Legion. He should predate Paul Levitz's first writing stint. I would guess Edmond Hamilton would get the credit if he also created Element Lad.

You would probably get better results if this list was placed in the topic under "Need a Legion Reference?..."

Polar Boy & Bits - Buddy LaVigne

Color Kid - Jeff Greenberg
Beast Bo...) - Leslie Leibow
Evolvo Lad - Mark Wade

Weight Wizard - Maggie Fraser
Blockade Boy - Tom Kegley

Gas Girl - Charlie Hendrix

Blackout Boy - James Vincent

Quantum <strike>Lad</strik...gt;Lad</strike>[Kid] - Bill Martin

Plant Lad - Mike Young
Power Boy - ...rels
Lard Lad/Crisco Kid - Bill Cummings

Weight Wizard - Maggie Fraser

Plus, Dave didn't "create" Infectious Lass and Porcupine Pete. He just designed them based on Cary Bate's script.

Well, designing a character's costume deserves co-creation credit (especially in the case of Infectious Lass... those mucus-dripping sleeves make the character). It would be most accurate to say Porcupine Pete and Infectious Lass were created by Bates and Cockrum.

Speaking of which, I think all the Shooter creations should probably be credited to just Shooter, not Shooter/Swan. Shooter laid out the stories, so I would presume that means he, not Swan, designed the costumes for characters like Shadow Lass and Chemical King.

That's fine. I'm just stating what Dave had said about those two + Molecule Master.

Karate Kid II: Paul Levitz and Steve Lightle, if I recall correctly.

Some character's are missing like Kent Shakespeare, Ivy, Celeste, Bounty, Sade, Jewel, Umbra and Inferno.
Some were reconceptions but I think that the differences are great enough to merit credit.

I could be wrong, of course.

Of those that Candle mentions I seem to remember that Kent, Celeste and Bounty were all created by Al Gordon

While this list is a nice idea, it really oversimplifies the way that comic book characters are "created." For example, Mort Weisinger's name appears nowhere on the list, and many, many Legion stories were plots that Mort told his authors to write. If a character appeared for the first time in one of those stories, then wouldn't that character have originated with Mort? Also missing is E. Nelson Bridwell's name, who was Mort's assistant and most likely the guy that wrote all of those letter columns. So when characters like Polar Boy were culled from reader suggestions, it was probably Nelson that did the culling. From there, an artist designed them.

The assumption being made here is that a story begins with a writer, and therefore the character begins there, too. Often times, the writer is the second man in, and even when he's the first, his story is often rewritten by his editor before the artist even sees it. Editors back then were even more involved than they are today, and they're pretty involved today. They do more than just check for spelling mistakes; more often than not, they're the ones driving the story and the writer is just following instructions. Sad, but often true. That doesn't mean the writer isn't creative, or doesn't make great-tasting lemonade, but if we're talking about where a character started, then the editor has to be given his due.

Projectra, Karate Kid, and Ferro Lad are the only Legionnaires originated by Jim Shooter. Shadow Lass and Chemical King were characters submitted to Weisinger by George Vincent and Mike Rickford, http://books.google.ca/books?id=5iFklF_oCMgC&pg=PP2&lpg=PP2&dq="best+of+the+legion+outpost"&source=bl&ots=osidGJxh-b&sig=U1tsVPriTrfGayUxUvdnee4z4U8&hl=en&ei=fWPeSr2NLYPj8Qbptu1l&s a=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=chemical%20king&f=false (click where it says Page 12) where George (who is still active in Legion email lists today) explains that they even designed the costumes. The only character on that Adult Legion cover that started with Shooter was Ferro Lad. Why? Because the rest (minus Superman) hadn't appeared yet, which was the whole point of the cover. That made them throw-away characters, and whenever Weisinger needed a throw-away character (Legion reject, Legion Sub, etc.) he used reader suggestions because it made the readers feel like the book belonged to them. It was smart, and it worked.

Another thing to consider is which co-creator was the dominant force. Tellus and Quislet originated with Steve Lightle, and Paul Levitz fleshed them out. In the case of Quislet, he departed entirely from Steve's intentions for the character. Is it accurate to give Steve second billing for them? And while Dave Cockrum was right that Cary Bates wrote Infectious Lass and Porcupine Pete into a script, he was unaware that they originated as suggestions from fans. Dave's perspective in this instance is the same as Jim Mooney's in that when Jim got a Supergirl script that called for a never-before-seen Legionnaire, Jim just made a costume up. In some instances, the look may have defined the character, but second billing would be accurate in those cases.

A much more interesting list would be one of Legion villains. Now there is a place where the writer would, in all likelihood, have been the first man in. We know that Shooter's villains originated with him, and I even ran design sketches in The Legion Companion which prove it. That's where the author's creativity can really be measured somewhat objectively.

Thanks for clarifying the relationship between creators, editors, and characters, Glen.

Things get even harder to pin down when characters change over decades. Is the Timber Wolf of the 1970s (feral look) the same character who debuted in ADVENTURE # 327? Even his name is different.

Then, of course, you have the reboot and characters who are the same yet not the same. Who gets credit for "creating" Leviathan with his new name, costume, and bad-ass attitude? The original creators of Colossal Boy or someone else?

So, in order to be thoroughly objective and accurate, we need to define exactly what makes a character that particular character: the name, the costume, the powers, the (ever-changing) personality, or some combination?

I'd be interested in hearing more about this, being not-a-fan of Quislet. Perhaps Lightle's original version would have worked better for me?

Steve\'s Quislet and Steve\'s Quislet