Friday, July 11, 2008

Trivia Answers #25

This month's theme was Marvel Comics.

1. The Imperial Guardsmen were Legion-analogs in the Marvel Universe. When did the Legion meet Marvel-analogs in the DC universe?

By my count, three times (with allowances for possibly more). The League of Super-Assassins (X-Men), Dead Earth Annual (Avengers), and Dr. XXX's team in the 20th century (X-Men).

I don't think the Khundish Legionnaires were Marvellian (Flederweb had wings like a bat and could stick to walls, Veilmist could teleport, Bloodclaw had metal claws, and Firefist had strength/speed/endurance and a built-in blaster). I suppose you could argue analogs to Nightcrawler and Wolverine, but that seems to be pushing it. Similarly, I think the Wanderers aren't close enough. And while three of the Fatal Five appear to resemble the Masters of Evil (Enchantress, Executioner, and Melter), the other two don't (Power Man and Baron Zemo).


2. More than once, when the Legion met a DC-Earth analog of the X-Men (in the above examples), one of the "X-Men" joined the Legion. Which Legionnaires, and which X-Men did they correspond to?
Hmmm, apparently I misremembered Ferro as being on the "X-Men" team in the 20th century, but others report it was his brother. In the League of Super-Assassins, it was Blok. Interestingly, both were the Colossus analog.


3. Which Legionnaire alias name, from a story by Jim Shooter, was later used by him in the Korvac storyline in Avengers, also written by Jim Shooter?
Carina Walter was an alias of Light Lass in Action 382, while Carina Walters was Korvac's lover and also the Collector's daughter in the Korvac Saga.

(Although I'd love to take credit for this question, it seems to have come from "retroman1964" on the DC Message Board).


4. It’s common knowledge that the character we know as Nightcrawler was originally created by Dave Cockrum for the Legion before he left DC for Marvel, where the character became a member of the All-New X-Men. What would this character’s name and backstory have been had he stayed with the Legion?
According to Dave Cockrum in the Nightcrawler FAQ, he was originally a demon, but after Jack Kirby's Demon, he became an alien instead. "His name was Balshazaar. He came from another dimension, and his people were the source of Earth's legends and mythology about demons. He kept most of the original demon's characteristics, though he wasn't quite as nasty as the original Nightcrawler. He also gained the ability to disappear in shadows."


5. In one Silver Age Legion story, a character broke the “fourth wall” of the comic and addressed the reader in the middle of a story. Who was this character, which Marvel character did he/she refer to, and what was the context?
Here's the panel, from Adventure 350. More on the backstory in a couple days.


6. Which Marvel character(s) “snuck” into the group photo as seen in LSH v2 #300?
Spider-Man is in the top row, just behind Sun Boy. (Incidentally, the caption in this picture says that it was for the Legion's 25th anniversary. Holy crap, that was 25 years ago!)



7. How did the Legionnaires aid the X-Men in the “Days of Future Past” storyline?
As Jim said, Brainiac 5 constructed a nullifier for the Sentinel power dampers for a while, before it was destroyed. See the Unlimited Access miniseries #1 and #2.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmm, the mapping of the Fatal Five to the Masters of Evil hadn't occured to me before, but I think there is something there. First off, Power Man was never a member of the classic MoE; he was created by the Enchantress using Zemo's machine which had first been used to create Wonder Man. But that was a solo act on her part. The original MoE member you didn't mention was the villainous Black Knight.

So you'd have mappings of Enchantress - Emerald Empress, Executioner - Validus, Melter - Mano, Persuader - Black Knight (medieval style weapon, helmet), and Zemo - Tharok (brains were their "powers", along with a significant facial deformity).

I think there is at least something there; probably worth sending it in to the Comic Book Urban Legends folk, who have gotten replies from Jim Shooter before, to check out.

Jim Drew said...

Actually, it was already covered there:
http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2008/01/31/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-140/
(Shooter says no connection.)

Most of the online connections between the two appear to be from me, but I know I didn't invent the idea. I picked it up somewhere, probably 15 years ago, probably in conjunction with something about Shooter trying to bring a Marvel aesthetic to DC at the time.

This page presents the Masters of Fatality, a 2099 extension of the Marvel/DC Amalgam event:
http://www.geocities.com/schablotski.geo/HYWSourcebook.htm

By the way, Power Man wasn't in the MoE v1, but Radioactive Man was, which is a better connection for Validus. And if Baron Zemo=Tharok isn't to your taste, the MoE v2 was led by Ultron, which is a better mapping

Anonymous said...

hm. the group shot from #300 has been part of my brain for 25 years now, but still questions remain.

L-R:
• i do believe that's lenny & squiggy behind the subs. appalling.
• who's that behind shvaughn?
• is that broot or groot or whatever his name was behind gim's right arm?
• his LEFT arm?
• assuming those are don&dawn allen, innovatively NOT standing together
• and is that the creative team behind the wanderers contingent?
• the wanderers are a little dodgy, too... looks TO ME like celebrand / quantum queen / echo(?!) / dawn allen / orinthar or thanagarian or are those just palindromes?

hm.

thought i'd seen an annotation once, but it is not forthcoming.

Anonymous said...

Off the top of my head, I'd say the lineup for the back row is as follows, from left: Infectious Lass (Subs), Batman, Polar Boy (Subs), Porcupine Pete (Subs), Night Girl (Subs), Lenny (from “Laverne & Shirley”), Chlorophyl Kid (Subs), Squiggy (from “Laverne & Shirley”), Fire Lad (Subs), Kid Psycho (Honorary Member), Stone Boy (Subs), Color Kid (Subs), Duplicate Boy (Heroes of Lallor), Dr. Gym'll, Life Lass (Heroes of Lallor), Shvaughn Erin (Science Police), Larry “Bud” Melman (Letterman sidekick), Evolvo Lad (Heroes of Lallor), Garfield (the Cat), Gas Girl (Heroes of Lallor), someone in shadow between Sun Boy’s legs (Gigi Cusimano? LOL!), possibly another someone just over Spidey's right shoulder, Spider-Man, Broot (Omega Men) or possibly another Changralynian, Flint Brojj (the Legion’s #1 fan), Circadia Senius (headed the Time Institute), Dev-Em, Elastic Lad (Jimmy Olsen), Don Allen (Tornado Twins), Light Lass, Rond Vidar (Honorary Member, also of the Time Institute), Celebrand (Wanderers), writer Paul Levitz (?), Quantum Queen (Wanderers), artist Keith Giffen (?), Elvo (Wanderers), inker Larry Mahlstedt (?), Dawn Allen (Tornado Twins), Ornitho (Wanderers), editor Karen Berger (?), & Matter-Eater Lad.