Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! Legion Grand Total Index

Reposted from a post on the old DCMB by bizarro brainiac zero.

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Well, now.

I was surfin around and saw some hubbub about the new board. Checkin out the old board I find this “memoirs” topic. And I see my old fellow indexers, Wanderer, Juan, & Jim Jackson, fondly remembering our high-falutin’ Legion Grand Total Index. Juan wondered if anyone saved the topic. Well, since I started and “finished” the project (by compiling all our totals in a final tally,) I decided to save that final tally.

So what the hell. For the old times sake, I’ll post a condensed version of my final tally of our index project from way back in the summer of 2001.

Again, this is all the result of the work of He Who Wanders, Juan, Jim Jackson and myself (posting as The Time Trapper.) I did additional calculation for this final tally by creating combined multi-period indices of our work [for example, from Superboy period thru Baxter period, etc] to see what interesting info popped up.

Overall, the final tally covers the Pre-Zero Hour Era, Adventure 300 thru Legion V4, 61, over 32 years worth of Legion stories. My estimate was that we indexed 440+ stories. Truly, it was a project.

I listed the entries in reverse order to “build suspense” as I posted the different Sections. My commentary increases as it gets closer to the finish. I may have missed deleting any parenthetical comments regarding my physical health (I was recuperating from injuries at the time.) Hopefully the transferred graph spacing won’t be too bad. And don’t forget there’s probably a few infamous “Time Trapper typos” somewhere here. Collect ‘em all. Win a scholarship. Or a donkey ride! Choose wisely, Nassdropper.

Hoo. Hah.

Legion Grand Total Index.

Final Tally of Pre-Zero Hour Legionnaires Appearances

Notes: Series issues and annuals only; no guest-appearances or mini-series included. Variant names/identities are combined under character’s most popular/longest used name, i.e. Lightning Lass & Light Lass combined in Lightning Lass totals, and Projectra & Sensor Girl combined in Projectra totals. [Our majority group decision was to not include SW6 in the indexing.]

Categories: During the course of the indexing, we standardized our tabulation into three categories for each Legionnaire: Total Appearances, Total Featured Character Appearances (a starring appearance by the character,) and Combined Total Appearances & Total Featured Character Appearances (this last I believe was to balance/unite the “weight” of each focus. Sections 1-3 below (mostly minor players & limited duration characters) only cite the one category of Combined Total Appearances & Total Featured Character. Sections 4-6 (the major players) break out all three categories for characters.

SECTION ONE - THE INFREQUENT FRIENDS AND FALLEN COMRADES - Ranks 41-55

55 Beast Boy - 3
54 Gas Girl - 8
53 Insect Queen - 9
52 Life Lass - 12
51 Evolvo Lad - 13
50 Ferro lad - 14
49 Dev-em - 16
48 Duplicate Boy - 17
47 Color Kid -18
46 Tyroc - 19
45 Rond Vidar -20
43 tie - Chemical King, Celeste Rockfish - 22
42 Kent Shakespeare - 23
41 Kono -25

SECTION TWO - THE VIGILANT BACK-UP SQUAD AND SINGLE SEASON SUPERHEROES - Rank 31-40

40 Stone Boy - 27
37 three way tie - Chlorophyll Kid, Devlin O'Ryan, Quislet -28
35 tie - Fire Lad, Supergirl - 31
34 Laurel Gand 35
33 Magnetic Kid -38
32 Night Girl - 42
31 Tellus -46

SECTION THREE: THE FADE-AWAY HEROES AND THEIR EVENTUAL REPLACEMENTS - Rank 21-30

30 - Invisible Kid 1 - 60
29 - Matter-eater Lad - 61
28 - Polar Boy - 65
26 - tie - Blok, Invisible Kid 2 - 89
25 - White Witch - 90
24 - Karate Kid - 98
23 - Bouncing Boy - 102
22 - Duo Damsel - 104
21 - Dawnstar - 115

Section comments:
1 - Notice big gap between #28 & tied #26; 65 apps and it then jumps up to 89.
2 - Notice how close the three Volume 2/Baxter Legionnaires are: Blok & I kid 2 at 89, and WW at 90.
3 - BB & DD near identical stats

SECTION FOUR - THE BIG LEAGUES - Rank 11-20

Category Abbreviations: CT = Combined Total of Total Appearances (TA) & Featured
Character roles (FC)

Period Abbreviations & Issue Runs (includes annuals also)
ADV = Adventure 300-380
ACT/SB = Action 378-387,389-392, Superboy 172 (intermittent run) to 195
SB/LSH = Superboy 197-230, Superboy/LSH 231-258
VOL 2 = Legion Volume 2, 259-313; Tales of Legion 314-325
BAXTER = Legion Volume 3, 1-63
VOL 4 = Legion Volume 4, 1-61, (I indexed Legionnaires 1-18 separately, since Jim Jackson preferred to not include these issues in his index of Pre-Zero Hour Volume 4. I included Legionnaires 1-18’s numbers in the Final Totals, but they are not included in any Period index.)

20 - Star Boy - 129 CT - 125 TA - 4 FC
19 - Dream Girl - 134 CT - 126 TA - 8 FC - Another Legion couple almost identical in numbers

18 - Projectra - 136 CT - 123 TA - 13 FC - A little surprising, she has fourth highest FC in the index.

17 - Wildfire - 146 CT - 140 TA - 6 FC - Highest placing post-Adventure Legionnaire. He was a Top Ten ranked Legionnaire in three consecutive Periods, SB/LSH, Volume 2, and Baxter.

16 - Shadow Lass - 155 CT - 150 TA - 5 FC - Only female character to take first place in a Period Index (Volume 2.) [Note: Saturn Girl came in first place during the first SUB-Period, the Siegal/Hamilton run in Adventure.]

15 - Phantom Girl - 160 CT - 157 TA - 3 FC - She has lowest FC in Top 25 on this index.

14 - Element Lad - 167 CT - 162 TA - 5 FC - Except for a 2nd place during Baxter Period, he never placed in Top Ten during any other Period.

13 - Colossal Boy - 175 CT - 170 TA - 5 FC - After he got his second costume, his apps grow big, during the middle periods. In SB/LSH and Volume 2, he placed 6th in both. In combined multi-period of Adventure thru Baxter, he ranked 8th.

12 - Timber Wolf - [Apparently I skipped over posting T-Wolf’s final numbers in his entry! If anyone mentioned it, the correction was on a following page that I didn’t save. The following comments on his apps were included.] Timber Wolf's late arrival in Adventure keeps him out
of Top Ten, otherwise his numbers are incredible: for combined multi-period of SB/LSH thru Volume 4, he ranked SECOND. He also has 3rd highest FC in this index.

11 - Lightning Lass - 180 CT - 172 TA - 8 FC - Ayla almost makes the Top Ten. She beats out her one-time lover because of her Adventure apps. She was 4th in Baxter and 6th in Volume 4. Roughly only 2/5ths of her apps are as Light Lass. In combined multi-period of Volume 2 thru Volume 4, she ranks an impressive 6th.

SECTION FIVE: THE ALL-STARS - Ranks 6-10

10 - Lightning Lad - 189 CT - 177 TA - 12 FC - The Hard Luck Legionnaire edges out his sister and starts off the Top Ten. Garth phenomenally stayed in 4th place for three consecutive Periods: ACT/SB, SB/LSH, & Volume 2. But after Ayla got her electricity mojo back in early Baxter, she replaced Garth as the Lightning Legionnaire, placing 4th in Baxter & 6th in Volume 4, while Garth
dropped down to 28th & 22nd respectively. Twins. Whadya gonna do.

9 - Superboy - 192 CT - 174 TA - 18 FC - Remember him? The Franchise? For almost two
decades his name always preceded the team's name. It was his team, like Babe and the Yankees. I'm sure other posters besides He Who Wanders thought Kal had a shot at #1, but you have to consider it hasn't been Superboy AND The Legion of Super-Heroes for over two decades. Yet even past that point, his power was still felt. For the combined multi-period of Adventure thru Volume 2, he was ranked #1. He has second highest FC in the index.

8 - Shrinking Violet - 193 CT - 188 TA - 5 FC - The Littlest Legionnaire beats out Superboy. She has the least FC in this section, only half of next closest amount. But for combined multi-period of Volume 2 thru Volume 4, she notably ranks in 5th place. She's only one of two females in this Top Ten here. [As for Yera/Vi, there were 16 apps of Yera/Vi, which by our group agreement are not counted as Vi.]

7 - Sun Boy - 196 CT - 186 TA - 10 FC - The Solar Legionnaire ranked 4th in Adventure and 9th in SB/LSH, and for combined multi-period of Adventure thru Baxter, he pulls down 6th place.

6 - Cosmic Boy - 211 CT - 201 TA - 10 FC - Cos is the beginning of the elite 200 appearances club. He missed making the Top Ten in three out of six Periods. His best Periods are the bookends, 5th place in Adventure, and a very impressive 2nd in Volume 4 (it was Volume 4 that blew him past his pal Garth's numbers.)

SECTION SIX: THE SUPERSTARS OF THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES - Rank 1-5

I will add recaps of the Period rankings for these Top Five.

5 - Ultra Boy - 215 CT - 201 TA - 11 FC

ADV - 9th
ACT/SB - 8th
SB/LSH - 14th
VOL 2 - 12th
BAXTER - 9th
VOL 4 - 1st

Four Period placings in Top Ten, the first two and the last two. His combined multi-period numbers are more impressive. From SB/LSH thru Volume 4, he ranks 3rd. From Volume 2 thru Volume 4, he still ranks 3rd. From Baxter thru Volume 4, he ranks FIRST.

Duuuuude!

INCREDIBLY, THERE’S A TIE FOR THIRD PLACE!

3 - Mon-el and Saturn Girl each have 216 CT (Actually almost a three-way tie, with these two beating out Ultra Boy by just one appearance!!!)

Mon-el - 216 CT - 203 TA - 13 FC -

ADV - 8th
ACT/SB - 2nd
SB/LSH - 8th
VOL 2 - 11th
BAXTER - 6th
VOL 4 - 12th

Overall, those Period rankings don’t look that impressive, but while others went up and down in different Periods, steady & ready Mon remained fairly consistent throughout. He always suited-up.

He was in Top Ten in four Periods, but his combined multi-period numbers are much better and reflect his steadiness, perhaps even a growing “appreciation” of the character. From Adventure to SB/LSH, he ranks 7th. From Adventure thru Volume 2, ranks 5th. From Adventure thru Baxter, he ranks THIRD, his best numbers. From SB/LSH thru Volume 4, he ranks 4th.

Mon really picks up the "slack" left by Superboy's departures in Volume 2, filling in the multi-powered deus ex machina/savior role several times, and explicitly as Valor in Volume 4. I should point out that Mon is the highest placing "new" Adventure Legionnaire, as he was first inducted in Adventure 300, the first series issue. (Lightning Lass, at 11th place, was second
highest.)

Saturn Girl - 216 CT - 207 TA - 9 FC

ADV - 2nd
ACT/SB - 4th
SB/LSH - 3rd
VOL2 - 5th
BAXTER - 20th
VOL 4 - 21st

Her Period rankings show her severe change of fortune. Saturn Girl was in Top FIVE for four consecutive periods, then drops into the twenties for the last two. Yet for combined multi-period of Adventure thru Baxter, Imra ranks SECOND. From SB/LSH to Volume 4, she still ranks in Top Ten at 8th.
And let's not forget she beat out Superboy in the first sub-period in Adventure, Siegal/Hamilton, by placing 1st, ahead of Supes & Sun Boy tied at 2nd. Quite a singular achievement! “And she’s a girl, too!”

Her biggest hinderance is her single digit FC. I recall one or two of the other indexers were also surprised by how few featured appearances she had in their respective indexed Period. She was very often used in a “next-to” role, just below star billing, but often interacting with the star.

Still, all in all, not bad for a simple telepath surrounded by multi-powered demigods and energy casters of all kinds.

And easy on the eyes too. Woof.

And, of course, she’s Ferro Lad’s aunt.


2 Chameleon Boy - 224 CT - 211 TA - 13 FC

ADV - 6th
ACT/SB - 3rd
SB/LSH - 5th
VOL 2 - 19th
BAXTER - 5th
VOL 4 - 8th
[LEGIONNAIRES 1-18 - 1st; though not done as a separate Period index, he ranked 1st here
among all (non-SW6!) characters]

Yep, our favorite Durlan snags the number two spot. Basically because of his additional apps in Legionnaires 1-18. He had 15 apps there, while most other (again, non-SW6!) Legionnaires' only had 2 apps. Otherwise, he would of placed 5th in this index!

Out of "seven" Periods, he made Top Ten six times, and Top Five three times. Very
impressive. And his combined multi-period numbers are all Top Ten (and no combined multi-period indices numbers include stats from L's 1-18.) From Adventure thru SB/LSH, he ranks 4th. From Adventure thru Volume 2, ranks 7th. From Adventure thru Baxter, ranks 5th.

Reep had great utility as Espionage Squad Leader and an adaptive diverse power for the writers to play with. I think his antennae were a maximum "cool factor" for attracting new readers. A few times I've mentioned the Legion to non-comics fans who read the series as a kid and the first Legionnaire they recall, after their faves, is the orange kid with the antennae.

Papa Rene would be proud.

Okay. Finally, here it is...

1 - Brainiac 5 - 270 CT - 249 TA - 21 FC
First place goes the 12th-Level-Effector Brain. With all the flashy powers, costumes, and personalities among a literal legion of characters, the top spot goes to a guy whose only super-power is his mind, wears a dark drab non-costume, and goes a little "nutty" once in a while.

That's pretty damn good for a guy who started out as a passing puppy-love interest, a "dreamy" alein crush for Supergirl. (Anybody remember his "rival," Jerro?)

Basically, Brainiac 5 blows away everybody in almost all numbers.

ADV - 2nd
ACT/SB - 7th
SB/LSH - 2nd
VOL 2 - 3rd
BAXTER - 1st
VOL 4 - 3rd

His worst is 7th, and that's in the very short (and really, negligible) period of ACT/SB. Otherwise his worst is THIRD! Think about that. Out of 55 characters, appearing over 32 years, one character, one of the least dramatic, manages to not drop below 3rd place in appearances in any of the five major Periods of the series. Is that duplicated by any other character in any of other superteam? I think not. Seriously. Nobody. Wolverine didn’t exist in the first Period of X-men. Nobody.

His combined multi-period numbers are just monsters, or "pure genius" if you want. In the six major combined multi-periods I indexed, he ranks FIRST in four, and SECOND in two. That’s right, his worst showing is second place...

He has the highest FC, three more than Superboy. Think about that too. More featured
appearances in Legion than Superboy, whose name was in the title for twenty tears.

It doesn’t stop. Even more incredibly, he has the highest Total Apps by 38 Apps! That's gigantic! Compare that there's only 12 apps difference between 2nd & 3rd, and only one app difference from 3rd, 4th, & 5th! 38 apps is like another whole major Period's apps numbers added in to his total that no other character gets. Maybe he was in another Legion series that we didn't know about! "Brainiac 5 & The Legion of Super Heroes Stories and Puzzlers." Perhaps it'll show up in the Archives.

The smart kid's unbeatable. No wonder a Coluan was such a "rare prize" in the recent
SUPERBOY'S LEGION.

Net geeks/comic fans have got to love this "triumph" of Brainiac 5. Speaking of which, why isn't he a cult hero for Netheads? Really. And what typical physically atrophied nethead wouldn't want a force field belt for protection against the bullies of the world? (Talk about a ready-made icon...)

And why hasn't Brainiac 5 had a mini-series?

Only Querl could answer those questions. DC sure can’t.

Brainiac 5 has appeared more than any other version of a Brainiac in the DCU, and probably more than all other versions combined. He is THE Brainiac.

And, without any doubt, as his gargantuan numbers show, Brainiac 5 is THE Legionnaire.

POST INDEX COMMENTS

Amazing But True!: The Legionnaires that finished in the Top Ten during the very first ever (sub-)Period of the Legion series, the Siegal/Hamilton run in Adventure, are the exact same ten Legionnaires that finished in the Top Ten in this final index. Only their positions are different, none had the same rank! Most had ups and downs over the decades, in and out of Top Ten, but they all made it back into Top Ten at the end.

A first place prize-conundrum for Brainy. Let him figure it out!

---

Hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane, guys. If anyone wants to save this data before whenever this board closes, I guess you better do it soon.

I picked up Legion 19. Interesting. Maybe I’ll read some more new issues. Oh, it’s gotta be Universo.

Don’t know if or when I’ll get around these cyber-regions again.

Toodles and Ta.

LLL,

TTT/bbz

It doesn't surprise me that Brainiac came in first. For a sci-fi book set in the 30th century, you need someone to explain stuff. And unlike others whose powers are somewhat interchangeable in a fight, Brainiac's the only one with the scientific knowledge to provide the proper exposition. While he's certainly a popular guy, I think his high numbers are more for his function in the book rather than his popularity.

Probably his being so prominent has something to do with his popularity, as well!

I think Drake's absolutely right about Brainy's function as scientific interpretor for the readers. Sure you could use narration for basically the same thing, but who really wants to read a bunch of captions on every page. It's much more engaging, story-wise, to work the details in through dialogue than narration.

In addition to that, Brainy's role as inventor has been the catalyst for literally dozens of Legion stories. If he's not out there solving problems for the Legion he's often in his lab causing problems for the Legion.

I guess with that in mind it's not much of a surprise that Brainy is one of the most useful weapons in the writers' arsenal.

Not to mention his perennial role as iconoclast foil for... practically the rest of the team.

That's my Brainy! Always #1 for me, but more for his failings than his IQ.

Of course we remember Jerro, but who could truly fall for a fish?

What a lot of surprises on that list!

Glad to see someone had a copy of this.

a very interesting list !!! it's good to see ULTRABOY at number 5 !!!

DUDE !!! indeed ......

Matthew.

Was cruising the back pages. Thought I'd bump this for any newbies who might enjoy our efforts at The Big Honkin' Index.

Wowsa! Reep in second place is unexpected!! I thought for sure it'd be Imra.

What's even more surprising was that Ultra Boy beat out Lightning Lad by 5 whole points!
I know the guy was "dead" for a while, but sheesh... he is a founder after all.

I came across this thread as I was rereading the Adventure run from 514 - 529. I wondered what some updated figures would look like.


So here's Ad 514-529, v6 & v7 - including Annuals, Specials and Issue 0

Caveat: I've used the Total Appearances from the old post, rather than weigh up feature characters. While this means characters from the old post get some free points from their feature appearances this has not made an impact on the top 20 (as yet) and such points are fairly few. I may work my way back to remove these too.

A little commentary around the top 20:-

Levitz really liked to cram in as many characters as possible. Not only in each story, but in every issue. The story structure seemed to be geared towards trade paperbacks. Each threat was stretched a years' worth of issues. So, there was probably more scope across each arc to place team members rather than having everyone appear all the time.


Sensor Girl- Didn't appear often (2nd lowest of top 20), but was used as a deus ex machina to solve the Legion's problems on a number of occasions. Ended up with a Karate Kid that may or may not exist in her own mind.

Star Boy- When he finally appeared he was comatose. Then he he was a little demented. Following that great introduction he was stuck in a chair and used as an add on to Dream Girl and to add a bit of foreshadowing. His best moment is when he tries to rescue Dream Girl. But the moment he returns to active duty...no more Star Boy appearances.

Wildfire - Used as part of Legion's rapid response and in numerous Dawnstar scenes as usual. He was part of the Legion Lost series, so he appears as a statue in v7 (which I don't count)

Dream Girl - A very respectable number of appearances. However, a lot of these were to give Brainiac someone to talk to. A number of others slowly built towards Star Boys fate. She did establish she was third choice scientist. A regular feature, possibly due partly to her costume.

Shadow Lass - Apart from the odd scene training the recruits, Shady's life revolved around the man in it. First with Earth Man and then with Mon El. Shady's costume seemed to have been made on Imsk.

Superboy - Made some appearances as some of the Adventure run consisted of flashbacks. Beyond that, when he was referred to it was as "Superman" as dictated by DC's legal department.

Phantom Girl - The v7 Phantom Girl seemed to be a doppelgänger. DC messed around with Tinya back in the v4/L.E.G.I.O.N. days. Here, Tinya hides waiting for help, and runs from danger. While her leadership may have gone badly wrong, her personality seemed off from the beginning. Hung around with Ultra Boy a lot as usual.

Colossal Boy - Building from the old Levitz issues where he was injured a lot, Gim left the team. So fewer appearances for this usual mainstay.

Element Lad - Appeared regularly but frustrating when he did. Highlights for Jan were training Chemical Kid. However, this very powerful Legionnaire was rarely used to his potential and seemed deliberately weakened. He stood by while Mon El was taken apart and almost got Chemical Kid killed. Jan was also a victim of the Rocks of Convenience that knock people out to make new members look good.

Timberwolf - Appeared in a number of action scenes that promptly vanished as soon as Brin was lost to the Legion Lost title. This undoubtedly knocked him out of the top 10.

At joint 9th are the Ranzz twins. Garth was on an extended vacation arriving to help save the day at the end of v7. His total was boosted by flashbacks to the origin of the team. Ayla appeared in the present day much more, but frequently in the background.

Much like Shrinking Violet. The odd comment about detective work and interest in separatist movements was about it. Vi and Ayla had their best moments in the Annual, but were background scenery for a lot of issues they were in.

Sun Boy got to show his powers off in the issues that showcased Dragonwing. He also had a grudge against Earth Man. Dirk was shown in decent amounts of action in his appearances. His general popularity in appearances is at odds with the fate he ends up with.

Saturn Girl - One of the Adventure issues had Imra get an officer killed; wrote her into self doubting situation;, had her overly concerned about her gender; had her sleep and then mind wipe a fellow member. Following that you see interest in another member only for her to declare a crush on Superboy too. The worst written issue of Imra, and among the worst of any other Legion member. A dreadful deconstruction of a Legion founder. Ignoring that nonsense, Imra still picked up appearances, mainly from flashbacks. However, she was a big faller overall, having left the present team with Garth. She was pivotal in shutting down the Fatal FIve in v7.

Mon-El - Elected leader just as Levitz had written him out of the team. The result was fairly messy and the writer took the first opportunity for another leadership campaign. Lar's old Eltro Gand self doubt appeared and vanished mysteriously. He was used effectively as the team's big gun on several occasions. One that almost got him killed, while his colleagues sat about.

Ultra Boy - Over took Mon-el as Jo is a bit more vulnerable and useful for a writer. Ultra Boy's popularity is clearly still there from his v4 incarnation and he appeared frequently with Phantom Girl.

Chameleon Boy - Took a while to appear. As one overly long arc concerned Durlans he soon picked up appearances. But with many characters appearing alongside him, Cham was always going the struggle to catch up.

Cosmic Boy - The top ten's highest climber. Rokk appeared in the flashback issues as founder. He appeared in many of the Adventure issues as Legion leader and with Night Girl. He was also a regular in the other issues, teaming up with Jan and Hadru against Braalians or infiltrating the Dominator embassy. A poor moment saw him whine at MonEl's leadership which wasn't really in character.

Brainiac 5 - "Brainy, it's always about you," says Mon El. Even more so in these issues where Brainy was practically ever present. Showing a number of his poorer personality traits, Brainy was the team's go to guy for most situations. No doubt many of the others seemed like furniture as a result. While a great character, the others could have been developed along with their appearances.

A final note. Levits really tried hard to integrate new members such as Dragonwing and Chemical Kid. Overall, they are ranked 50th & 43rd respectively overall showing just how deep the team's history is. Teacher's pet Harmonia Li, who became a much better character when everyone stopped falling over themselves over her, also comes in at 43rd.

Now with the additions of Adventure 504-513, Action 858-864 and Legion Lost.

So the Legion Lost team reassert themselves, with Timber Wolf going back into the top 10 again and Dawnstar now going into the top 20.

Some of Legion Lost was quite painful to read. There are crossovers to other tittles that I've not included.

Likewise, the Legion becomes lost in a mess of Superman titles beyond the above inclusions. I don't remember enjoying them much from what I read at the time. I've not included those either, as it starts to stray from a core Legion book into a crossover.

Now with added Pre Adventure Comics #300 taking us all the way back to Adventure #247

The effects of adding these were minimal with only some minor jostling in the top 20 as the founders got themselves a few more appearances.