Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! Give Garth some respect

In the "winnah is" thread, everyone picks Ultra Boy over Lightning Lad in a fight. I think it's about time the writers started giving the hard-luck kid his due. Garth has been SERIOUSLY underused as a character, and his powers never fully explored IMO. Let's break it down...


Garth got his powers from the lightning beasts on Korbal. In nature, animals develop abilities as a means of survival, be it for hunting prey or defense from predators. I think it would be safe to say that the lightning beasts could use their powers for more than just throwing bolts of electricity, even if these other abilities could only be used at an instinctual level. Now back to LL...

Electro-magnetic fields are prevalent in nature. With a little imagination, Garth could learn to manipulate these fields and be THE most powerful Legionnaire.Here are a few examples-

1. Control electro-magnetic fields- it's not that far a stretch to think that a guy who can throw lightning bolts could refine his skills and control the flow of electricity. Since magnetism is based on the flow of electrons, I could see Garth using magnetism as a new power very easily.

2. The brain runs on a series of electrical impulses. It's a bit of a further stretch, but by manipulating these electrical impulses, LL could possibly exhibit mind control powers.

With just a slight touch of creativity, Garth could have some the powers of all 3 founders. With a bit more effort, he could track people by the electrical signature of their brain, or generate a charged field to repulse/attract positive or negative objects, or even change the molecular composition of a material by adding or subtracting electrons from the atoms of that material.

If the writers ever give Garth the respect the character deserves, watch out. Ultra Boy would be Ultra Toast.

So LW, what do YOU think???

People have forgotten that the only time Jo and Garth fought (early postboot), they fought to a *draw*. They probably could have continued fighting for hours if it wasn't pointed out to them they had already destroyed a city block. Jo had superior brute strength and power diversity, no question about that, but Garth proved to be the far better tactician. He disabled Jo quite handily at the end of Legion Lost, too, by faking him out and screwing up his nervous system. Could Jo have stopped the Progenitor/Omniphagos thingie? I wonder.

3boot Garth is still an excellent tactician and seemingly more powerful than ever, while 3boot Jo's powers are going verruckt. All bets are off for the moment.

One of the things 3boot LL ought to be able to do is to block or interfere with Saturn Girl's telepathy. Brain waves are electrical impluses, right?

I think the sheer variety of powers has at times limited Legionnaires, at least in terms of writers' uses of them.

If Ayla can make things light, why would Thom need to use that end of the spectrum? The DnA Thom, using heaviness and lightness, was much more effective. Ditto Vi without Gim.

With Imra and Rokk around, no writer has ever had to dabble with broadening Garth's spectrum. I remember the first time I ever read Magneto using his magnetism to manipulate electricity... Imra amy be as potentially powerful as Prf X, but we generally don't get to see her go that far... because they haven't needed to.