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Ultra Boy: An awful lot of fans are fond of this character, and it isn't only because of his nifty costume. There is a shady, underworld side to Jo; he's streetwise and cynical, the first of the Legionnaires who didn't shave behind his ears. His love of space speedsters corresponds to a Twentieth Century Gemini preoccupation with fast cars, with some Aries death-defying thrown in. The Legion greasemonkey, he's good with machines, vehicles, robots; he prefers to work with his hands. He likes tricks and undercover work--he was expelled from the Legion as a hoax, but I'll bet he has a juvenile offense record. Rimbor has three purple moons, giving its inhabitants three sets of instincts, habits, subconscious minds. A planet of cosmic schizophrenia. Just compare Jo's tough-guy attitude with the way he treats Tinya. Like Mon-EI, there's a Twelfth House affliction here, involving imprisonment (in an energy beast's tummy), and a secret fear. There was a fair exchange with the energy beast that almost devoured him; he took the powers given by the beast's life energy, but he left a piece of his soul in deep space, frightened and alone. Despite all his Legion fame, deep down Jo is still a street punk, not far from the days of petty theft and glib Gemini excuses.

Lightning Lad and Light Lass: Born within a few hours of each other, twins usually have similar horoscopes. Only the fastest moving planets, influencing mental abilities, and the ascendant, ruling the social persona, are likely to have changed. Born to be human thunder-bolt-hurlers, I assume their sun signs are Sagittarius, ruled on Earth by Jupiter the wielder of lightning (and in Winath's system, ruled by planet Korbal). Archers love to travel, and Saj' women are frequently boyishly athletic-looking. Garth has an obvious strong Leo influence in his chart--the romantic hero and lover, impatient to make a swashbuckling entrance. Note how his old costume drew attention to his Saj'-ruled thighs by painting them orange; how his new costume does the same thing by coloring them white. How could Imra ever pass up those legs? The semiformal effect of the new costume plays toward Leo's love of "dressing up" for an occasion; all he needs is a short opera cape to emphasize his Leonine back. Saj' is notoriously accident-prone, and Garth has gone through death and coming back from the dead, only to lose an arm.

Ayla's secondary influence is Libran. Her emphasis on teamwork and partnership, the feather emblem (symbolizing Saturnine truth and justice to the Egyptians), her androgeny, the artfully designed new costume, even the ridiculous old uniform with the clinched waist and cup of cloth around her Libra buns--all point to the Balance. Ayla cries a lot--over her brother's death, over Brin's problems--but she picks herself up and carries on in the Libra tradition. Her gentle strength is a complement to Timber Wolf's brash moodiness.

What is Night Girl's persona like, with no sun/ego to relate to in her chart? Stone Boy's people must be limited to births under half the zodiac-- they are immobile (and, one assumes, non-childbearing) for half the year. The extrapolations can go on forever, but this article can't. If there are any fans out there who have their own astrological observations about the Legion, I'd like to hear them; you can contact me through the Legion Outpost editors [Note: This offer has long since expired -Ed.]. I hope you've been as surprised and entertained by the correspondence as I have.

Special thanks go to E. Nelson Bridwell, whose calendar instigated this article; to Jim Shooter, for sitting in a hotel room four years ago and engaging a group of fans with his reflections on Legion personalities; to Harry Broertjes, for encouraging me to put this mindnumbing exercise on paper and especially to Janet Holwell--astrologer, teacher, friend--who took a curious fumbler and made a planet juggler out of him.

[Note: Special thanks go out to Michael Leib for providing the majority of artwork for this article. Check out his website for more great pieces from his collection. -Ed.]

Wow! I never thought about Zwennian reproduction, but I'm wondering how it works now.

Maybe they rely on moss or lichens to fertilize each other!

This stuff is fascinating. I'm not into astrology, but he's clearly put a lot of thought into the characterization, and that's what interests me.

Agreed, Set. These are probably rife with typos due to the imperfection of text scanners. I'll have to proofread them later.

Thanks for posting these, Jim. They are indeed fascinating.

I'd never thought of Mon-El as a "darker" version of Superboy, but Rosenberg's rationale makes sense.

Rosenberg has also pegged Sun Boy (which makes the latter's TMK fate all the more ironic, I think).

It's ironic that today (Feb. 24) is Sun Boy's birthday. Here in the Midwest, at least, we are blanketed by what may yet be another blizzard!

One wonders if memories of chilly birthdays prompted wishful thinking in Dirk Morgna, as he lay beaten by Dr. Regulus's robot minions in the atomic reactor, and that his wishes (or the power of positive thinking, maybe) somehow enabled his body to adapt the atomic radiation into Dirk's dream power.

Of course, if Dirk turns out to be a Leo, as Rosenberg asserts, my theory goes out the window.

Where are you in the midwest? I'm in central IL and we're due to get 6 inches of snow tonight.

Kansas City area. We're getting 3-4 inches today. The area to my immediate north may get 5-8 inches.

You ever been to the Midwest Men's Festival just outside of KC? I was there several years ago. Would like to go again some time.

Nope. Never heard of it until now.

Since I'm snowed in and have free time on my hands, I thought I'd revisit Rosenberg's list and speculate on new birthdays for the Legionnaires.

For the days, I've used the issue numbers of first appearances or another comic of particular significance to each character. (There are wide open to interpretation, of course.)

Aquarius:
Brainiac 5: Jan. 27 (after Action 276)
Wildfire: Feb. 19 (Superboy 195)

Pisces:
Dream Girl: Mar. 17 (Adventure 317)
Duo Damsel: Mar. 20 (Superboy 200)

Aries:
Timber Wolf: Mar. 27 (Adv. 327)
Ferro Lad: Apr. 3 (Adv. 353)

Taurus:
Cosmic Boy: Apr. 24 (Adv. 247)
Tyroc: May 16 (Superboy 216)

Gemini:
Chemical King: May 28 (Superboy 228)
Ultra Boy: June 8 (Superboy 98)

Cancer:
Bouncing Boy: July 1 (Adv. 301)
Matter-Eater Lad: July 12 (Superboy 212)

Leo:
Princess Projectra: Aug. 5 (LSH 3rd series # 5)
Sun Boy: Aug. 8 (Adv. 348)

Virgo:
Dawnstar: Aug. 26 (S/LSH 226)
Saturn Girl: Sep. 4 (Adv. 304)

Libra:
Karate Kid: Oct. 6 (Adv. 346)
Phantom Girl: Oct. 16 (Adv. 316)

Scorpio:
Star Boy: Oct. 28 (Adv. 282)
Invisible Kid I: Nov. 3 (Superboy 203)
Shadow Lass: Nov. 5 (Adv. 365)
Element Lad: Nov. 7 (Adv. 307)

Sagittarius:
Colossal Boy: Dec. 1 (Adv. 371)
Lightning Lad & Light Lass: Dec. 12 (Adv. 312)

Capricorn:
Shrinking Violet: Dec. 27 (Action 276)
Chameleon Boy: Jan. 1 (LSH 2nd series 301)
Mon-El: Jan. 9 (Superboy 89)

A Musicology Interpretation of Legion Birthdays
Many years ago, someone came up with the theory that whatever song was Number One on Billboard Magazine’s Hot 100 Singles Chart the week of your birth had some influence on your life. With that in mind, and because I’m bored, I decided to check my archives and see which songs could possibly have been Number One when each Legionnaire was born.

Of course, I completely ignored such logic as the thousand-year differential or the fact that these songs all hit Number One during various years between January 1955 (when the Rock Era began) and May 1990 (when I stopped following the charts). But, hey, if Legionnaires born on various worlds could have birthdays corresponding to an earth calendar, I figure the same cosmic force must be at work to ensure musicological birthdays.

Just for fun, I included a few non-Legionnaires (including a couple of Reboot versions). Otherwise, these are all Pre-Boot versions of Legionnaires:

January
12 Shrinking Violet (Go Away, Little Girl)

February
5 Stone Boy (Hearts of Stone)
8 Fire Lad (Fire)
18 Chameleon Boy (The Great Pretender)
19 Lightning Lad and Light Lass (Lightning Strikes)

March
10 Element Lad (I Will Survive)
23 Shadow Lass (Dark Lady)
26 Phantom Girl (Rich Girl)
26 Magnetic Kid (Man In the Mirror)
30 Sun Boy (Sunshine On My Shoulder)

April
6 Bouncing Boy (Round and Round)
15 Ferro Lad (The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face)

May
12 Dream Girl (All I Have to Do Is Dream)
22 Winema Wazzo (Mother-In-Law)
29 Mon-El (Travelin’ Man)

June
3 Blok (Rock On)
10 Dawnstar (The Wind Beneath My Wings)
14 Saturn Girl (Sister Golden Hair)
29 Night Girl (Sun Down)

July
19 R.J. Brande (Listen to What the Man Said)
20 Invisible Kid II (Invisible Touch)
20 Chlorophyll Kid (Grazing In the Grass)
28 Brainiac 5 (I Almost Lost My Mind)
30 Wildfire (Wild Thing)
30 Polar Boy (I Just Want to Be Your Everything)

August
2 White Witch (Magic)
4 Tyroc (Shout)
12 Triplicate Girl (Three Times a Lady)

September
19 Colossal Boy (Ain’t No Mountain High Enough)
24 Quislet (Don’t Worry, Be Happy)

October
4 Chemical King (Another One Bites the Dust)
8 Matter-Eater Lad (Love Bites)
11 Lightning Lord (Bad Blood)
26 Color Kid (True Colors)

November
3 Ultra Boy (He’s a Rebel)
10 Princess Projectra (It’s Only Make Believe)
26 Star Boy (Sixteen Tons)
28 Timber Wolf (Leader of the Pack)

December
7 Karate Kid (Kung Fu Fighting)
10 Cosmic Boy (Good Vibrations)
12 Invisible Kid I (Mr. Lonely)
12 Andromeda [reboot version] (Faith)
22 Tellus (Telstar)