|
FAMILIAR
FOES
Jim Valentino has
never hidden his love for the Legion, or at least the concept of
an intergalactic force of super-heroes. This was reflected in his
humorous parody of the group in NORMALMAN.
When he revived Marvel's GUARDIANS
OF THE GALAXIES in the 1990s, he had them battle a couple
of alien groups who boasted some Legion-inspired characters. (The
series was also set 1000 years in the future.)
They adversaries looked nothing like the Legionnaires,
but the power sets were similar. Combined, the two villain teams
consisted of super-powered beings that were rough analogs of the
futuristic teens.
Valentino has confirmed the nod to the Legion
in a couple of interviews.
But because his scripting idea was perhaps just
a little too subtle, many fans did not recognize the tribute.
The first team was called simply Force, which
debuted in GOTG #3 (1990). The member Broadside, a female Monstress-looking
alien, had Star Boy's powers; Brahl had a demonic appearance and
possessed Phantom Girl's intangibility skills; leader Interface
was Brainiac 5 and Element Lad combined; a lizard-like creature
named Scanner could track any prey across the galaxies, much like
Dawnstar; while Photon was of Guardian Yondu's Centauri race, and
could project energy akin to Wildfire. EightyFive was of the maligned
pink Kree subspecies and could control magnetism. "He was Cosmic
Boy in Mon-El drag," Valentino said. Tachyon seemed like a
counterpart of Lazon's.
The second group was a collection of mutants led
by the vicious Rancor, who claimed to be Wolverine's granddaughter,
and suitably modelled after Timber Wolf. She and her band of mutants
would make recurring appearances throughout the series.
The crew included a teenage female named Replica,
who was a Skrull and therefore, like Chameleon Boy, was a shapeshifter;
a stocky, chunky brute called Blockade, who could grow to giant-size
like Colossal Boy; a Saturn Girl-esque telepath named Mind-Scan,
who hid her enlarged brain under a wig; and Shaddo was an obvious
Shadow Lass imitation, composed of pure blackness.
And in another nod to the Legion, in GOTG
Annual 2, there is an appearance by a diplomat named
Ambassador Jacques and his assistant Rene. The former looks exactly
like Legion founder Rene Jacques Brande.
None of the Legion-influenced cameos by Force
and Rancor's Lieutenants are obvious homages of the Legion, so the
issues in which they appear do not make in into the Indexes on this
site.
However, the really obsessive Legion fan may wish
to include them in their collections. If so, here's where they appear:
› Force: GOTG (1990) 3-6, 11, 13-16
› Rancor and her lieutenants: GOTG (1990) 8-11, 19, 21-23,
30-34, 36, 38-39, 46, 50, 52, Annuals 2, 4.
|
