Talk Like a Pirate Day 2010: Roxxas

Ahoy, mateys! Sept. 19th is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Yo ho ho and a bottle of Silverale!

For this year's pirate spotlight, we go to the dread pirate Roxxas, the scourge of Trom. Here's his pre-V4 bio from "Who's Who in the Legion" #5. That series embellished a lot from what had been seen in the comics, but for the most part it has been accepted as canon, so you might find out a little that you didn't know. Roxxas... you don't have to put on the red light....


KIVUN ROXXAS of MURGADOR

Roxxas, a surly but intelligent young man, was accepted into the naval academy on Amadus only to desert after killing his commanding officer and raiding the compu-vault for credits. As a fugitive, he spent many years fighting and running before he joined a group of techno-pirates. Roxxas pushed the men toward more and more illegal acts until he had become by authority and combat, the leader of a band of space-pirates. Roxxas led them on raids to many worlds. When he heard rumors of a valley of transmuters on Trom, he sent spies to visit the world and report back to him. They told tales of wonder, children turning their toys to gold, young men clearing new ground by evaporating boulders, all in a largely pacifistic civlilation. Roxxas immediately ordered the kidnapping of several Tromians to hold hostrage for their cooperation of the rest of the world. When Roxxas' men tried to take hostages, some were accidentally killed in self defense by the peaceful Tromians, at which point the pirates began slaughtering the Tromians in cold blood. One young boy, Jan Arrah, escaped in a small ship and was subsequently picked up by investigating Science Police. Roxxas, furious that his men had lost control and maddened by the failure of his plan, led his men in search of the one remaining transmuter, who had fled to Earth and joined the Legion of Super-Heroes. When they met again, Jan was willing to sacrifice himself to stop Roxxas, but he was saved by Invisible Kid. [Adventure 307]





Roxxas was captured and taken to Takron-Galtos. Escaping years later, he ran to Trom, assuming no one would think to look for him there. Alone, he gradually became insane. Later, when the Legionnaires raided a prisoner refuge world called Haven, they got a lead on Roxxas, and Element Lad tracked him to Trom. Element Lad, in a vengeful rage, tried to kill Roxxas but was stopped b other arriving Legionnaires. Roxxas, who believed himself to be haunted b the "ghosts" of the Tromians, surrendered and begged to die. Element Lad decided the best revenge was to let Roxxas live. He is currently undergoing intensive psychotherapy on Labyrinth. [Superboy 211]



Roxxas was the primary villain in the initial story arc of the v4 Legion. Sprung from prison by the Earth Government (secretly run by the Dominators) and given advanced weaponry, he was assigned with preventing the reformation of the Legion of Super-Heroes, preferably by killing them. They ignored his irrational behavior, which included hearing voices in his head of his former victims. He set out by murdering ex-Legionnaire Blok. He expected this would cause the remaining Legion members to gather on Shanghalla for the funeral, where he could take them out with one bomb. They instead gathered on Winath, so he attacked them there, critically wounding Chameleon Boy, and injuring several others before being forced to flee. He was eventually tracked down by a team lead by Element Lad and returned to prison. He then provided key evidence that Earthgov was run by the Dominators, which started the next story arc of freeing Earth from their control. In many ways his actions brought about the very thing he was hired to prevent, as the Legion reformed. [via Wikipedia]



Previously:
2009: Captain Frake
2008: Dynamo Boy