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great points re Bouncing Boy's power actually being formidable, if overshadowed...

and about the relative health of the Lu/Chuck relationship. Chuck never felt threatened by how strong Lu was, and Chuck was always there when she needed him. and Lu of course returned his love 100%, or 200%, it seems

Love me some Chuck and Lu!

I agree with all the points raised - especially about them being so stable and complimenting one another so well.

I am also on Team That Was Yera In The Hot Tub...I am fine with characters being polygamous but that scene just didn't really seem like it was a healthy nod to polygamy so much as two married people fooling around behind their partners' backs and it doesn't make either of them look good.

(to be honest I hope we get around to Gim and Yera at some point, because I have thoughts about those two!!)

But back to Chuck and Lu - the only thing I really have to add is that I think it actually served them well being comparitively minor characters for so long. They have managed to fly under the radar quite nicely when it comes to dumb soap opera shenanigans due to not being really at the core of a lot of stories, and the Legion for the most part (up until Geoff Johns at least) has nicely managed to avoid the cliche that most other superhero comics have where someone's favourite C-lister from 10 years ago only gets trotted out to have Superboy-Prime punch their head off in a crossover or whatever.

The hot tub scene was out of character for Lu as I saw her, so Yera playing games (like Circe with Dirk) is the interpretation I'd go with. Lu's Superboy/Valor infatuation seemed like more of a teenage crush that faded and she was devoted and faithful to Chuck. There was also a scene in 5YL when she and Chuck meet Valor and Shady. Valor grabs her and puts on this pretense of a great romance, at which Chuck and Shady roll their eyes - everyone knows it's a big joke. Maybe I just want to preserve the purity of the Chuck/Lu stable domestic relationship.

Klar made good points about Chuck's power being quite formidable. He may have been more of a joke to our 20th century minds than to those in the future, who would have a better appreciation of the variety of superpowers. He was a low-key guy; at the Academy, he was the one who provided support and inspiration while Lu was the tough instructor. Chuck might have made an excellent low drama Legion leader. He was certainly the pillar of support for everything Luornu went through.

They are indeed a couple with whom you could comfortably have dinner, or invite to your own home. Less intimidating, exotic and generally less "soap opera" as Raz put it.

As for ChatGTP, its "analysis" is vague and cliché and most of it could apply to any Legion couple. Leave it to real people who read the stories.

I have bumped this up, in deference to razsolo.

#11 Chameleon Girl (Yera) and Colossal Boy (Gim Allon)

Hoo boy, talk about problematic.

While on a break from the super-jealous Duplicate Boy, Shrinking Violet has a sleepover with Colossal Boy in a resort in the Himalayas. Only it turns out that this is not Salu Digby at all, but Yera, a Durlan impersonator. But Gim and Yera are married shortly thereafter anyway.

{This is where my chronology gets messed up. Either the above, or Gim and Yera are quickly and secretly married, then on their Himalayan honeymoon, Duplicate Boy attacks his ex-girlfriend’s husband. When Gim discovers Yera’s true identity, they choose to stay married.}

In any case, as I say, problematic.

But I imagine this might be what is going on behind the scenes-- that is to say, off-panel, in between the stories.

Remember that girl-- or boy-- in High School that you had a crush on, but seemed unapproachable? Then you sat down with them once, almost accidentally, and they turned out to be perfectly nice, normal, and the two of you even had a lot in common?

This is what I mean. Even in a group as small as the Legion, all living together in the same Clubhouse, some Legionnaires will be closer friends than others. We do not see much evidence that Colossal Boy and Shrinking Violet ever interacted very much socially. In fact, Vi mostly hung out with the Legion ladies.

In the Composite Legionnaire issue when the Legion is collecting scales from the space-dragons, Gim makes a colossal blunder, blowing one of the rare creatures to smithereens, and creating the aforementioned multi-monster. Salu seems distinctly peeved with him about this.

In the issue where Dr. Regulus teams up with the one-shot villain The Immune, and Imsk is implicated in treason against the UP, Gim approaches Salu, and asks her what is wrong.

“Is anything right?” she replies. “You don't seem to understand what happened here today, Gim. All my friends. The United Planets leadership-- Even my fellow Legionnaires-- Everyone was ready to believe the people of Imsk were traitors! It makes me wonder about the people I've chosen for friends. I guess I have a lot of reconsidering to do, Gim... And that's something I'd better do alone.” (walks away)

This does not seem like an exchange between two friends who know each other well.

In fact, “Shy Vi” probably did not get to know many of her colleagues well, making it all the easier for Yera to impersonate her.

It is hard for the outside observer to condemn Yera for her impersonation. In recruiting her, Micro Lad appealed to both her sense of duty, and her vanity.

Micro Lad: “Consider it an acting job, Yera, but with higher meaning. We’ve explained our cause to you, and we don’t want anyone to get hurt. Shrinking Violet would have helped us herself, but she’s sick. All you have to do is take her place in the Legion.”
Yera: “I shall do it, Yalo Muldron. But I shall not spy on them for you.”
Micro Lad: “No need. Just keep them from realizing that Violet’s with us.”
Yera: “It will be my most challenging role, and when I have played it, no Drama Guilds will dare bar Durlans-- saying our only talent is shape-changing. For I shall be Shrinking Violet, among those who know her well.”

Yera sticks with the Legion through some tough stuff: her first assignment is the invasion of Khundia, just Timber Wolf and two Durlans. (It does not go well)

She is then stranded on a frozen asteroid with Colossal Boy (and Cham and Brin and Imra), and Gim admits to her his long-standing crush-from-afar. Which brings her to tears.

Then, Yera has a role to play in the whole Great Darkness Saga. She even takes down the Lydea Mallor construct-- from the inside.



She proves herself a true hero.

Shortly afterward, and off-panel, Gim has a sit-down with the girl he thinks is Violet and discovers that she is a perfectly nice and congenial young woman, one who even reciprocates his feelings. In fact, it also seems that Yera is going through the Durlan equivalent of pon farr, because in a very short time, on-panel, she is seductively shrinking out of her new passionflower-purple costume, and rolling around naked in Gim’s soft, curly hair. On his head. And in a couple of issues, they are off to the Himalayas.

After Yera is exposed, we do not get to see the second sit-down between her and Gim, where he accuses her of deceiving him, and wants to break up / have their marriage annulled, but Yera points out that he never really knew the real Shrinking Violet at all, and she was more herself with him than at any time in her impersonation, and besides, doesn’t he want to try it the Durlan way?

This is the way it must have happened, right?

At any rate, we do see Gim and Yera over at his mom and dad’s place a while later, and everything seems hunky-dory, even when Gim springs the surprise announcement that he and Yera are already married, and his folks were not invited to the wedding.

In 5YL, Gim is pretty much absent. An old Starfinger injury has been flaring up, and he has retired from super-heroing, going back to the Science Police, Yera by his side.

In the Retroboot, Gim and Yera are both members of the Legion, but Yera is permanently lost in time, and so Gim is essentially a widower. How he feels about this… well, I do not have access to the 27-issue run of the Retroboot (Vol. 6?) but if anyone would like to enlighten me about Gim’s feelings-- or lack of feelings-- about his Durlan wife, please do.

I like to summarize these relationships in a few words. First, all-in-all, Colossal Boy seems nearly as shy and introverted as Binder-era Violet. Chameleon Boy believes (in a thought bubble) that Gim has “carried a torch” for Salu for years. Yera plays shy violet, but is quite the opposite in her true identity: socially aggressive, wicked sense of humor, willing to shock the elder Allons with unexpected transformations. She does have a certain naivete, as evidenced during her recruitment by Micro Lad, and feels some guilt about her part in what happened to the real Salu. Yera seems to bring out the best in Gim, or, at least, helps him better cope with social anxiety? Despite the problematic origins of their relationship, I think they are, in the end, good for one another.

Or, I could be wrong. Much of this analysis assumes facts not in evidence, and no doubt misses a lot of single-panel characterization. And what do I know?

I think now what draws me to Ayla being in a queer relationship with Vi is that she strikes me as a woman who went through relationships with men that didn't work out, and they weren't entirely the fault of the other half. She's not a perfect, flawless bisexual woman. I think it would work better if the narrative was more willing to directly acknowledge her flaws though, regarding both Brin and her attempts at coming onto Pol. People would probably think having Brin call out Ayla might be seen as him whining or the writers being biased against Ayla's queerness. God what happened to media literacy?

I'm just happy that the writers didn't go the route the Simpsons did when they had Milhouse's parents break up. We were initially shown that both of them were unhappy with each other for mutual reasons, but following the split Milhouse's mom Luann decided that it was all Kirk's fault their marriage failed and acted like a total jerk afterwards (rampantly cheating on her new lovers, committing financial abuse on Kirk, either taking sole custody of Milhouse or foisting him on Kirk depending on what hurt more), while Kirk was written as a shiftless loser who could never catch a break.

So while Ayla blamed Brin for their relationship not working, the writers at least avoided having Brin written as a total loser in every OTHER aspect of his life.

I wonder if Yera's initial naivette regarding Micro Lad's pitch to impersonate Violet might stem from a fairly common failing in people who act (or lie) a lot, feeling a bit self-assured / a little 'superior' in their own deceptive ability, and being completely blindsided by the notion that someone could be lying *to them.* I've even seen it in some not-as-good-as-they-think tactical wargamers, who will come up with brilliant tactics in a vacuum that, as the saying goes, totally fall apart in the presence of the enemy (who never seems to conveniently do the easy predictable thing they needed for their clever plan to come together).

Yera was hot stuff and confident in her role, as long as *it was a role,* and she could imagine that the 'other characters' were also operating from a script. But, when it gets real and the 'other characters' don't operate according to her anticipated script, she finds out the 'game' is very real, and she gets the ultimate test of her ability to improvise. As she says to Micro Lad (IIRC), it will be 'the role of a lifetime! To impersonate someone in the midst of her best friends!'

Another good analysis KK. I agree that although the start of their relationship was based on a lie, they seem to have made good of it anyway, perhaps only the identity of Yera was a lie and not her feelings. Still problematic but history is full of relationships that started off under less than ideal circumstances but grew to be strong through the struggles. (Of course there are just as many examples of the opposite.)

Re the timeline of their relationship/marriage, a bit more happened on the asteroid than just Gim revealing his feelings as we see them kissing, and in the Annual #1 (Computo/Jacques) they are discussing getting away for a few days with Vi/Yera saying "to sort out what happened" and Gim saying "you're a grown girl. If you don't know, I'm not about to tell you. But I hope it was the beginning for us." Then it is strongly hinted that they are married, for example in the Himalayas Gim asks Vi/Yera what she thinks of their Earth custom (which sounds like a honeymoon), and during the next Annual #2 (Val and Jeckie's wedding) two minor scenes have them commenting - Gim: "There is a lot to be said for this style of wedding Violet", Vi/Yera: "I don't know about that ..." - and later during the wedding itself - Gim: "Feel deprived Violet?", Vi/Year: "Not one bit". We get the confirmation at the end of #305 where the Vi/Yera plot is resolved, and Yera says to Gim "I shouldn't have let you marry me at that Himalayan hideaway".

During 5YL as you said Gim is rarely around and almost only on SP business. Yera only appears the once in LSH v4 Annual #4, the big get together on Winath for the christening of the Ranzz twins which we discussed in the Chuck/Luornu comments.

In the Retroboot she first appears during the "Superman and the LSH" storyline in Action Comics where she uses her abilities to sneak in to Justice League Earth HQ but is caught by Earth Man. When Gim finds out that Brainy sent her undercover alone he is enraged at her being in danger but is mollified to learn that she volunteered. This is also where we learn that she is now a legionnaire. When the Legion attacks the HQ Gim finds her injured but this turns out to be Earth Man using her powers. Gim rescues the true Yera and then Brainy asks her to kiss Sun Boy to wake him up and break his link to the red sun. She is disgusted but transforms into a sexy brunette and complies, waking Sun Boy which restores the yellow sun and Superman's powers and saves the day.

LSH v6 was still in the Post -Crisis period and both Gim and Yera are involved with Yera making two appearances, one as Gim's wife at his mother's home (#6) and the other as part of the Legion Espionage Squad investigating the misuse of Brande's fortune (#10). LSH v7 is during the New52 period when Yera is stranded in 21st Century Earth. Gim appears on one page in #1 where we learn he has just left the Legion and joined Starfleet, saying that "when luck ran out for my wife and the others ... well that was enough" showing that he believes Yera is dead. He reappears in the final issue #23 using his powers to help with the devastation on Earth and ponce again confirms his belief that Yera is dead. The Legion and Legion Lost are reunited in Justice League United "Infinitus Saga" but the timeline here is really screwy and we never see Gim and Yera together so who knows how that ends.

Wooh Gim and Yera, thanks Klar!

Their relationship is really the one that icks me out the most outside of Shady and Earth-Man (and with any luck we'll never have to hear about THAT in a comic again)

...and good work fleshing out the timeline, stile!

There is something that doesn't sit well with me that Gim just kind of nursed this infatuation with Vi for years and never really did anything about it, and then as soon as Vi Version 2.0 comes along who happens to be more receptive to his attentions Gim completely forgets about the first one and immediately marries the new model.

Even removing the fact that he had a crush on Vi, he was her teammate for a long time...it's grossly insensitive that he immediately shut aside any consideration for someone he'd known for years after she'd been through a horrific experience and then happily married the woman who is gonna remind her of that every day for the rest of her life. I think I would have liked Gim and Yera's relationship more if there had been a period of time where Yera had to build back trust; as it is it just shows how little Gim actually had any legitimate emotional attachment to Vi to begin with.

I would also have preferred for Yera to remain supporting cast rather than join the team and I find it a bit creepy that when we first see her as a Legionnaire she has long black hair just like Vi did (as opposed to her more standard Durlan appearance earlier)...and if we look at a certain hot tub scene from the 5YL Legion, she also cosplays other Legionnaires for Gim on occasion. She's painted as being mildly histrionic any time she wants something that conflicts with his needs and he never really makes allowances for her having a different cultural background; we saw in Legion Lost that had escalated to them having physical confrontations. It really seems like Yera isn't an equal partner in that relationship as much as she is a blank slate for Gim to project his fantasies on to, and they have friction whenever she tries to be more than that.

I am way more forgiving of Yera though....we really know nothing about how she was brought up (unless that was touched on in the later issues of Legion Lost, I had stopped reading it early on), but we have seen with Cham and RJ that Durla is an unforgiving cruel place, and very different from the utopian norm of the rest of the UP. It's easy for me to believe she genuinely didn't realise she was doing anything wrong by replacing Vi; and if Gim was the first non-Durlan guy who's shown her affection I can see how she could jump into that relationship without really thinking through the nuances.

Yera gives Gim fantasy fullfilment and Gim gives Yera validation and security when she's probably grown up not being able to take those things for granted. I don't think they really do it in a healthy way and I wish we had gotten some deeper exploration with their relationship, but that's how I see it anyway...of all the Legion couples, I think they're the ones I could most see having a big messy breakup at some point when fantasy and security aren't enough to keep them together.

great analysis, raz! you articulated well waht always seemed off to me about Yera and Gim.

It's really not a very comfortable relationship from the outside, based on deception as it is. Yera is opportunistic and self-deluding or naive; it's difficult to warm up to her. I would consider her a bit of a scoundrel, someone who would dump Gim if a better opportunity came along. However, Raz makes a good point that she comes from a culture we don't understand and may have very different ethical standards. She's not a villain, just advancing her self-interest. When that conflicts with Gim's expectations, the sparks may fly.

The couple do have a messy timeline, which leaves plenty of large gaps open to interpretation. The 30th century celebrity gossip media must have loved the Gim & Yera story.

I'll admit that part of my blithe acceptance of Gim and Yera as a couple is the messy bitch in me that loves drama.

I'm not quite at the 'stable couples are boring, I must break up Peter and MJ!' stage, but I also like some variety, and having a few couples that I look at and think, 'Oh, that's a train wreck waiting to happen...' reminds me of some of my real life friends, family and co-workers.

I'm still in the camp of it being a relationship that was off to a very bad start but made it work anyway. Yera made the point to Gim once she was found out that it was against her best interests to get involved with Gim as it made it much more likely that she would be found out, so that speaks for genuine affection on her part. Gim's acceptance of her even with the lie of who she was demonstrates his commitment to following through along with his own affection.

It is a terrible foundation and yet it seems to ne that they made it work and that deserves some praise in my opinion.

That's fair - I try to look at them in the best light when I'm writing them in my fanfic because I don't want to write characters I don't like so I think yours is definitely a valid interpretation as well, stile.

I just think Levitz could have done slighly more work to make them more sympathetic and less problematic really

I'm the same when it comes to my heroes. I could never write a team with, say, Earth-Man or Preboot Atmos in it

looping back though, I do think a heartfelt apology and concern from Yera/Gim to Vi would have gone a long way!!

yes that would have been good to see, although I appreciated the interaction displayed in LSH v4 Annual #2 when Yera couldn't face Vi but Vi chased her down and forgave her. It fit very well with their stories as portrayed so far and perhaps shows the difference in strength in the two characters. When they had previously confronted one another in v3, Yera gathered her courage and faced Vi's anger but did not apologise stating she was a dupe herself. Vi's angry response made sense for her then, but the Imsk/Braal war changed her. She learnt how she too could be maneuvered into actions she later regretted. This time Yera was more filled with guilt for her part in Vi's kidnapping and torture and it took Vi's willingness to forgive to bridge their relationship.

yeah, that was a great scene stile! a bit late considering all the events, but a great scene that helped move both characters forward. I did appreciate that

#5 Brainiac 5 (Querl Dox) and Supergirl (Kara Zor-El / Linda Lee Danvers)

======================================================================
She likes to (time) travel around,
She'll love you but she'll put you down.
Now people let me put you wise,
Su(pergirl) goes out with other guys.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enBXK3oY7Hs
======================================================================

Obviously, I am only imposing my own interpretation of these relationships, based on my impressions as a long-time fan. Having many writers for many characters over so many years and so many issues, it is not reasonable to expect deep and subtle, or even consistent, characterization.

But for Brainiac 5 and Supergirl, the romance is set up right from the beginning.

Supergirl, in her 1959 incarnation, was imagined as a typical teen-age stereotype, overlaid with Superman’s powers. And a particular kind of stereotype: white, blonde, blue-eyed, ethnically Scandinavian in appearance. (Although in the actual world of 1959 USA, only about O.35% of the population fit this ‘typical’ description: a total of only around 600 thousand girls out of 177 million.)

Teen-aged girls in the early sixties were imagined to be primarily interested in boys, fashion, boys, makeup, boys, rock’n’roll, boys, shopping, boys, and telephonic girltalk, aka gossip. Ref: Bye Bye Birdie (196O)

Kara Zor-El is therefore provided over the years with an abundance of romantic interests. Among them are:
>> Richard Wilson ‘Dick’ Malverne (human)
>> Tony Walson (human olympic athlete)
>> Jerro (merboy)
>> ‘Bronco’ Bill Starr (usually a horse)
>> Raspor of Gryyk (two-timing alien)
>> Kim O’Ryan (the Kimor Dann android)
>> Randor Bronarson of Calyx (yet another android)
>> Volar (Ren Uoxon) of Toma (transgender alien).

Okay, I realize that Comet is really a thousands-of-years-old Greek centaur. But still.

In 1982's The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl Kara has a new ‘first date’ almost every issue.

She was also:
>> engaged to Prince Raynor of the Inner-World
>> almost married to the Kryptonian criminal Tor-An
>> and finally, married to Salkor of Makkor for a period of time before her death.

I am surely missing some.

While the character of Kara was made more complex over the decades, becoming a college student, becoming a professional actress starring in a TV soap opera, going back to school to major in psychology… she still ends up with a what seems a surfeit of boyfriends.

When Supergirl is invited to join the Legion, it is in the context of her having some ‘super-girlfriends’ to pal around with.

Anyway, Brainiac 5 is there, and one of those characters created specifically as a love interest for Kara. Initially imagined as the descendant of the (still organic) Brainiac, his major personality trait is guilt over his ancestor’s criminality. This is something I have difficulty identifying with. I feel no personal responsibility for the slave-owning plantation owners on my father’s side, or the tyrant Vlad Tepes on my mother’s side.

Querl is immediately infatuated with Kara, and in typical comic book fashion, saves her from a deadly kryptonite meteor, earning her gratitude, if not her affection. As he is developed further, other character traits emerge. He is brilliant, but often careless. He is brilliant, but often overestimates his capabilities. He has a tendency to repress his emotions. He is mentally unstable, creating the Karabot unintentionally, and the monster Omega during a psychotic break. It is kind of hard for me to see what Kara sees in the boy.

Supergirl does not show up often in the 31st century, but when she does, the Querl-Kara romance is taken for granted. This is the way I would characterize the relationship, I suppose. It is the longest of long-distance relationships. To Querl, Kara has been dead for centuries. To Kara, Querl will not be born for an equal period of time. They literally do not mutually exist in their respective worlds when they are not together.

When they are together, well, Kara is in the future for a reason, and she’s busy. This is great for her character, as she is given a clear goal, can act decisively, and faces such threats that her powers can be exercised at their peak. I am thinking particularly of the Satan Girl episode. Here, Kara takes the initiative, becoming nearly the de facto Legion leader. And she is the leader of the boys only-- the girls are out sick with Crimson Whatever. She leads the Legion to Strange New Worlds, and shows why she is called the Maid of Might.

Of course, so there’s that.

All this means that there is not a lot of time to develop a relationship. There is a maybe-another-time-would-be-better aspect of the relationship. Querl and Kara take for granted that the other one will always be there. Querl knows that this will not always be true.

Well, he can always build a Karabot Mark II.

I always thought the relationship was one of those "long distance relationships" to keep people off Brainy's back about dating anyone, at least the OG Silver age relationship.

I always felt that it was a much more complicated and interesting relationship, Ironically, when Supergirl was transformed into Laurel Gand in 5YL and SW6

Believability of this depends highly on what crimes the original Brainiac commits. Although in all continuities he's the one giving a bad name to Coluans throughout the universe.
It's a bit harder for the Silver Age, but for the reboot? They guy basically sold the planet to the Computer Tyrants. I don't have a problem believing his descendant feels he has to redeem his family's name after THAT.


Being fond of Supergirl's earliest adventures, I think there's a case to be made that it's the respect he shows in her role as a hero. Early Supergirl was always trying to prove to Superman that she wasn't just a kid and that she could be a hero as much as him.
Brainiac 5, on the other hand, gives her a level of respect that she's not used to at that age.
Or maybe she has a thing for green skin. No judging.

I think one of the things that really hurt Supergirl's solo titles, especially after she goes to college, is DC refusing to give her a stable love interest. Possibly because, unlike Clark Kent, "Linda" doesn't have a well-defined personality independent of Supergirl, or a stable supporting cast.
Out of all of these love interests, Dick is mostly around when they're in high school and Jerro is one of the most boring characters in the Silver Age. Everyone else is good maybe for half an issue.
She does have a couple human love interests late in her career, but once again they're rather shallow.

I still can't believe that Supergirl graduated and went to college before Spider-Man did. Her early Action Comics serial is REALLY ahead of its time, and it's a shame most of her potential was wasted in her very bland college years.

I suppose it's not surprising that most of the mention/development of her relationship with Brainy happened in Legion titles and rarely in Supergirl titles. The writers each had their own priorities, and the Supergirl team probably avoided the complications of a "boyfriend" from a thousand years in the future, whereas the Legion writers naturally made their relationship a key component of their development of Brainy's character.

Actually it's more limited than that. During the Silver Age it comes up almost every time Supergirl visits the future but is almost never (that I can remember) mentioned when she is not around. Bronze Age is the same. Even the creepy Kara android story features Kara herself. It is not until Levitz that we start to see Brainy thinking about her when she is not around.

Brainy is one of my favourite characters but your points about his instability are well made. Kara is one of the issues that his instability can come out as well, the Karabot being a prime example. When he is grieving over the anniversary of her death in COIE he claims (in his thoughts) to have invented time travel specifically so he could meet her, which is also not what we would look at these days as a healthy obsession.

Still I enjoy the tales of their romance. I like the vulnerability it puts in Brainy puncturing his almost assumed infallibility on frequent occasions. From Kara's side he is the most interesting of the potential partners presented. Yes she could probably do better but frankly not from the options she experiences in the 20th Century. With her upbringing being so different to her cousin we can imagine perhaps that although she tries to fit in to present day Earth, it will always be different compared to her life in Argo City. Maybe that is the draw of the alien boy from the far future.

It gets tricky when looking at later versions with both characters effectively going through multiple reboots.

Tracing from the Legion side, 5YL has the Morduverse reboot that replaces Kara with Laurel Gand, who while stepping in to Kara's footsteps is not the same character, even according to the writers who made the substitution. I don't know if you plan to look at that couple later Klar but I will leave off comment in case.

Reboot Legion again has a version of Laurel Gand.

Threeboot Legion has quite a lot of stories spent with the post-Crisis Kara but Brainy is then in his "I'm a Vril Dox clone" portrayal of his character and not only shows no attraction form his side but is repugnant in his own personality anyway. The only romance plots involving this Kara in the Legion do not involve Querl at all.

Retroboot Legion never addresses it directly apart from one adventure they share during the "Last Stand of New Krypton" storyline ins Supergirl v5 #52 which is early in her time line and late in his. She mostly thinks he is a jerk but begins to trust him while he is trying carefully not to reveal anything about her future. This is followed a few months later (publishing time) by Supergirl v5 Annual #2 where Kara has apparently been stranded in the future for a while, this time very early in the Legion's timeline, and we get a post-Crisis Satan Girl story in which the two work together. This finishes with the Legion taking her back to the 21st Century where she gives Brainy a kiss and says she is open to a possible date in the future.

We never see anymore beyond this because Flashpoint and the New52 happens soon after, resulting in another new Kara and eventually another new Legion. There has been no interaction that I can remember since then, either because of the Legion being suspended or Supergirl being suspended.

So really we are only left with the original Legion Brainy and the original Kara. Perhaps its the softy in me but I will always like the occasionally creepy but generally sweet, long-distance and tragic relationship.

I've had the thought that it would actually be interesting if the original Brainaic was responsible for Kara's death. So Bariny's motivation would the desire to both atone for and yet somehow prevent this great sin of his ancestor.

Random thoughts about Kara and Brainy;

They remind me of beards, or those imaginary 'girlfriend you wouldn't know, she's from Canada', or whatever. A very convenient 'boyfriend/girlfriend' that you don't actually have to devote a single thought to when they are not right there in front of you, playing the role of your date, and then, pfft, back into oblivion with you.

As for what Kara might see in Brainy, he's got one of the few super-powers that she doesn't just overwhelm / overpower by being her. He will never have any sort of feelings of inadequacy because he's not as strong, fast, tough, etc. because he just flat out doesn't value those traits in himself the way many guys would.

And really, that's the main thing I see about their relationship. Safe, safe, safe. They really aren't ever expected to 'be there' for each other. Neither feels particularly intimidated by the others exceptional traits that might threaten another partner.

From a far enough distance, it almost feels like their entire relationship is centered around feeling comfortable with each other, and not wanting to risk a more challenging relationship... (With someone who is going to live to a rupe old age and he might actually have to make the slightest accomodation for, or adjustment to his own life, to be with, in his case. To someone who's actually present in her life, knows her friends, shares her home, etc. and might get in the way of her own stuff going on, in her case. Both of them know that they don't have to make any concessions or compromises to call each other boyfriend/girlfriend, which makes their relationship feel kind of hollow to me, especially with how 'out of sight, out of mind' both of them seem to be about it, although, I grant that that's more of a writing flaw than a relationship trait, and I would be more generous and assume that they *do* occasionally think of each other in off-panel moments, even when not actually in the same room, or time period...)

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#6 Star Boy (Thom Kallor of Xanthu) & Dream Girl (Nura Nal of Naltor)

”There's only one thing more potent than my black magic… teenage hormones.”
-- Ursula the Sea Witch, in Little Mermaid, the Musical

Opposites attract.

That is the only explanation I can give for Nura and Thom.

(Note that in the first Adult Legion stories, Thom has retired from the Legion and is an astronomer on Xanthu, like his parents. His wife Nura has left Naltor to join him. Considering Nura’s place in the semi-nobility of the High Seers, this seems like the most unlikely future projection imaginable.)

All the boys are crazy for Nura, but it is Star Boy and Mon-El that watch over her while she sleeps.

Lar may like to watch, but it is Thom that really falls for her. “Dream Girl,” he says, “I knew you were only pretending to be mean and evil!”

Only pretending to be mean and evil. Solid foundation for a relationship.

He knows this because he finds her “sobbing from a broken heart”. 'I know I am a good person because I feel so guilty and sad about all the terrible things I do,' said all the guards at Auschwitz.

The ‘mean and evil’ thing Nura has done is to get a couple of Legionnaires expelled for actually violating the Legion Constitution, and temporarily turning a few more into babies. She is, of course, trying to prevent the future she has previously foreseen, obviously not really understanding how her oracular powers work. (If you can only foresee possible futures, you are no better than the average mom. ‘Wear clean underwear in case you get hit by a bus’ is not predicting the future.)

Star Boy is not among those expelled, so he is very forgiving.

Their budding romance hits a snag when an old flame, Kenz Nuhor, attempts to assassinate Star Boy. Thom ends up killing Kenz instead. IIRC, Kenz is a Naltoran, and should have seen what was coming. He should have hooked up with that other girl, Barbiez, instead.

Nura and Thom go and join the Subs, but Superboy and Supergirl have a plan, as usual. To get them back on the team, they are admitted to the Legion (at the super-cousins’ recommendation) in the identities of Miss Terious and Sir Prize at the cousin’s request.
The couple have grown even closer in exile, perhaps finding that lead armor kind of sexy. They fight Evillo, free Mysa, time travel hijinks are involved, their true identities are revealed, and *bang* back in the Legion.

The casual reader may not realize that Nura has more than one super-power. Her feminine pulchritude has been distracting to heroes and villains alike. She is devastatingly intelligent, using Naltoran super-science to de-age Legion members and alter Ayla’s powers. She was the first to weaponize the flight ring. She proved able to do what no other Legionnaire except Brainiac 5 could do: operate Brainy’s force-field belt.

Star Boy also had more than one power in his first appearance, and the story of how he lost his kryptonian-adjacent powers and went missing for a couple of years’ issues is a retcon that makes him look like something of a dope. IIRC, this was also where he was defined as the ‘thirteenth Legionnaire’, and the ‘unluckiest’. (Although there are others who could compete for that title.)

Aside: I should note that when we are first introduced to Star Boy, long before he met Dream Girl, he has a girlfriend named Zynthia, who is never seen again. I wonder if he liked watching her sleep?

He is a regular player in the Legion, because there is always something that needs to be made super-heavy. He is powerful enough to immobilize Superboy or Mon-El, given a little time. I don’t think that Thom is a dim bulb, a rôle he sometimes plays. I’m sure he is perfectly capable of computing tenth-order equations of the fourth dimension, including appropriately altering the infinity constant in the Rox-Url galaxy. But Nura’s intellect just shines.

Their relationship progresses pretty well; Nura is a bit of a hedonist, so we have to imagine that Thom is on that train as well.

There is a break-up when Thom is forcibly recalled to Xanthu to serve as Planetary Champion, and the two lovers do not endeavor to venture a long-distance relationship. Nura ends up in an unfortunate relationship with Marak Russen, aka Atmos, Thom’s primary competitor for the title of Planetary Champion of Xanthu. Atmos, among a plethora of other powers, is a projective empath, and manipulates Nura’s emotions until she clocks him.

There are two endings to this story.

In 5YL, Thom is happily married to Yvyya, the owner of a batball team, which Thom coaches. Nura is happily ensconced as High Seer of Naltor, attended by her-- what do you call a male harem? They have gone their separate ways, and are both more-or-less happy with their lives. But when the Universe is ending, and with Yvyya already gone, Thom gives Nura one last lingering kiss, for old time’s sake.

In the Retroboot, Thom gets stuck in the past, taking the identity of ‘Starman’. Without his 31st-century medication his mental state deteriorates into some form of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Nura travels back in time specifically to rescue him, but he quickly dies anyway in the final collapse of Legion HQ that ends that run.

The complex details of these two Legionnaire’s stories make it clear that Nura is the one more invested in their relationship. In 5YL, Thom found happiness without Nura, but she wants one more fling. In the Retroboot, it is implied that Nura makes some sacrifices to bring back Thom from the 21st century, only to lose him violently and unexpectedly at the end.