Of course, the Legionnaires were in hiding when they hastily constructed this "rocket urn". Perhaps they later designed a more suitable memorial, or perhaps they left it as is, a grim testament to the circumstances under which it was made.
My views are my own and do not reflect those of everyone else... and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Another (more hopeful) possibility is that KP realized that being a hero was only one of his many talents and possibilities. As the last survivor of Hajor, perhaps he decided a better course of action would be to repopulate his race or to educate others so Hajorian culture would not be lost.
In other words, maybe--just maybe--KP got a LIFE after he learned his diagnosis! Who knows? Maybe he married and had kids at some point. Maybe he did something along the lines of what you suggested. Maybe he did all of that--and more! But when it came down to it, and the Crisis came along, his inner heroism came out, and he just had to try to get out there and help.
Yeah, this is all of us filling in KP's "untold" story, but Legion fans have done that for about as long as there's been a Legion of Super-Heroes! Makes me wish we could collaborate on a "Last days of Kid Psycho" web comic....
Thanks for the image, Reboot. These look like statues the Legion would have erected at their HQ, similar to those of Ferro Lad, Invisible Kid, and Chemical King. I was thinking more along the lines of modifying the memorial on Shanghalla, but either memorial shows how much the Legion honored its own.
In other words, maybe--just maybe--KP got a LIFE after he learned his diagnosis! Who knows? Maybe he married and had kids at some point. Maybe he did something along the lines of what you suggested. Maybe he did all of that--and more! But when it came down to it, and the Crisis came along, his inner heroism came out, and he just had to try to get out there and help.
It's easy to forget there's more to life than being a hero--particularly when the focus of super-hero comics is on heroes.
I've often wondered, for example, how the Subs made a living. Presumably, they were given a very small stipend as Legion Reservists (very small, as we were told at some point that active Legionnaires earned a modest income). So, what did they do in the large stretches of time when they weren't assisting the Legionnaires?
Being a Legionnaire is often compared to being a rock star, with the implication that there is no life outside of rock 'n' roll or being a Legionnaire. You either make the grade or you don't (which probably explains why so many rejected applicants became villains). The stories themselves do very little to support the notion that there is life outside the Legion or joining some other hero team such as the Wanderers, although the Adult Legion stories provide wonderful scenarios of Legionnaires in retirement and growing into different careers.
When rock stars fall of the map of public scrutiny and pop charts, it's easy to relegate them to has-been status. Many spend the rest of their lives playing the nostalgia circuit, trotting out the same songs they recorded 50 years ago, and trying to regain some shred of their former glory. But many others (those who don't show up on PBS specials) simply move on with their lives, find other careers, and raise families.
It's reasonable to assume that Kid Psycho, possessing of advanced intelligence, did the same.
I've often wondered, for example, how the Subs made a living. Presumably, they were given a very small stipend as Legion Reservists (very small, as we were told at some point that active Legionnaires earned a modest income). So, what did they do in the large stretches of time when they weren't assisting the Legionnaires?
While it's not brought up much, I would assume that food and water and a roof over your head is pretty much free in the United Planets (at least on fully developed worlds like Earth!), with credits only being needed to purchase less necessary items (like hairspray capable of holding up a foot high beehive!).
In theory, the Subs probably wouldn't *have* to hold down jobs, although they certainly might, to keep their cave-lair up to snuff.
In any case, Kid Psycho would probably be a big deal on his home planet (as would various Subs on theirs, as each of the original subs represented their worlds most noted hero, Legionnaire or not), and perhaps get some sort of pay as a deputized law enforcement person, even without using his powers.
While it's not brought up much, I would assume that food and water and a roof over your head is pretty much free in the United Planets (at least on fully developed worlds like Earth!), with credits only being needed to purchase less necessary items (like hairspray capable of holding up a foot high beehive!).
In theory, the Subs probably wouldn't *have* to hold down jobs, although they certainly might, to keep their cave-lair up to snuff.
Could be. Life in the 30th century was always open to interpretation. People did have jobs--the Science Police, tour guides, ice cream parlor servers, etc.--but it's not clear what relationship these jobs held to earning a living.
Rokk Krinn left Braal for earth so he could find a job. Braal, of course, may not have been as developed as earth.
Matter-Eater Lad's dad lost his job when the robot plant he worked at closed (Action # 381). He was left with a "crumby pension" on which to buy food and pay bills and rent. The same story mentions that the Legionnaires get a monthly living allowance.
The idea of the Subs being supported, at least in part, by their home worlds is an interesting one. But, as Lardy points out, that sadly wouldn't apply to Kid Psycho.
Being a Legionnaire is often compared to being a rock star, with the implication that there is no life outside of rock 'n' roll or being a Legionnaire.
When rock stars fall of the map of public scrutiny and pop charts, it's easy to relegate them to has-been status. Many spend the rest of their lives playing the nostalgia circuit, trotting out the same songs they recorded 50 years ago, and trying to regain some shred of their former glory.
Actually this analogy can be applied to the retroboot, except that instead of trotting out the old songs they were trying new material that was completely unsuitable for them. Imagine the Rolling Stones putting out an album of hip-hop music. Nobody would take it seriously, because the Stones come from an entirely different background and have no credibility as hip-hop artists.
When the Legion was created there was an unspoken assumption that future society would be based on American values. The Legion we grew up with and are reading in the archives was very much a product of that assumption. The problem is that we as a society stopped believing in that kind of future many years ago, making the Legion and its world somewhat irrelevant to the current generation.
Just as some rock stars try to reinvent themselves every few years to stay relevant (Madonna being a prime example), DC tried, through various reboots and five year gaps, to reinvent the Legion from time to time, each time changing the future universe to make it more in line with current expectations. The problem was, it was not the right background for the Legion.
Finally DC realized that these reboots were never going to work and instead decided to play the nostalgia card with the Retroboot and the return of Paul Levitz. However, instead of putting the Legion back in its original element of a utopian future they saddled Levitz with the whole xenophobia thing, which is totally at odds with the real Legion universe.
It was like trying to recast the Rolling Stones as a hip-hop group.
First comic books ever bought: A DC four-for-47-cents grab bag that included Adventure #331. The rest is history.
It's easy to forget there's more to life than being a hero--particularly when the focus of super-hero comics is on heroes.
Being a Legionnaire is often compared to being a rock star, with the implication that there is no life outside of rock 'n' roll or being a Legionnaire. You either make the grade or you don't (which probably explains why so many rejected applicants became villains). The stories themselves do very little to support the notion that there is life outside the Legion or joining some other hero team such as the Wanderers, although the Adult Legion stories provide wonderful scenarios of Legionnaires in retirement and growing into different careers.
That's why I find scenes which show the Legionnaires' hobbies and interests outside of Legion-related matters to be so interesting. Brainiac 5's lab research aside (since that is arguably part of his job as a Legionnaire), we have scenes like Chameleon Boy taking an acting job just for fun.
I suppose their training in the Legion would make the Legionnaires very marketable if they chose to move on to other careers. Security, training, research, that sort of thing.
While it's not brought up much, I would assume that food and water and a roof over your head is pretty much free in the United Planets (at least on fully developed worlds like Earth!), with credits only being needed to purchase less necessary items (like hairspray capable of holding up a foot high beehive!).
Could be. Life in the 30th century was always open to interpretation. People did have jobs--the Science Police, tour guides, ice cream parlor servers, etc.--but it's not clear what relationship these jobs held to earning a living.
In COIE, a 30th century Suicide Slum area was shown briefly when Dawnstar was "summoned" by Harbinger. Even then I didn't see anyone who looked homeless; there were apartments (small, but still apartments) and only one panel showed what may have been scrap metal/garbage.
It was like trying to recast the Rolling Stones as a hip-hop group.
Coincidentally, today marks Mick Jagger's 70th birthday.
I can't imagine the Rolling Stones doing hip-hop, but they did dabble with disco ("Miss You").
You make an interesting point about the Legion reflecting the assumption that the future would be based on American values. However, I don't know that we've stopped believing in those values so much as our understanding of them has evolved. The Silver Age stories certainly reflected assumptions about race and sex roles that are obsolete. But, in other ways, the Legion anticipated a more cosmopolitan and multicultural future, one that has become a greater reality in America since the 1960s.
It was wise for DC to try to keep the Legion relevant to the times. It was not always wise for them to reboot the series to do so. (That said, I did like the first reboot.) If the Legion had been allowed to progress along its natural course, as it did in the '70s and '80s (and even during TMK), relevant changes could have been introduced naturally.
The artificial constructs imposed by Superboy's removal from the timeline and the reconstruction of the Legion's history without him were the beginning of the end of the Legion as we knew it. While I like your analogy of the Rolling Stones doing hip-hop, I've always envisioned these artificial changes, including reboots and the retro-boot, more like an operation in which too many organs and limbs have been removed and replaced. At some point, one has to wonder what is left of the original patient.
I loved the first Reboot as well, but agree it was pretty jarring of them to do so. Ah well. If they had left it at that, maybe things wouldn't have become so messed up. But then they had to do the Threeboot, and now back to the Retroboot which failed to capture much of the original Legion. So the operation analogy sounds quite apt.
I suppose their training in the Legion would make the Legionnaires very marketable if they chose to move on to other careers. Security, training, research, that sort of thing.
Perhaps, but the cynical side of me likens the Legionnaires to certain military veterans of World War II. Men who did well as combat pilots or bombers or gunners found themselves without any employable skills in the civilian world.
"So, Mr. Morgna, I see you've fought Darkseid, Mordru, and the Fatal Five, and saved the universe fifty times. But can you sell underwear?"
Which leads to the question - the Legionnaires spend a lot of time getting knowledge transferred directly into their minds via hypno ray or telepathy or what have you. How then, does one differentiate themselves in the 30th century job market?
Although I suppose these things only transfer knowledge, but not the experience to use them or the skill that comes from repeated practice. But it still would mean there is a lot of pressure to keep improving oneself to keep ahead of the competition.
"So, Mr. Morgna, I see you've fought Darkseid, Mordru, and the Fatal Five, and saved the universe fifty times. But can you sell underwear?"
If by 'sell underwear' he can lounge around on billboards in them like that soccer dude Beckham, I suspect he could do that.
Working as a clerk at the Space-Mart? Probably not his speed...
Then again, his dad is a rich industrialist, so he's probably got better options than some.
Quite a few Legionnaires have some good options. Gim's parents are basically an ex-President and a retired admiral and likely not living in a 10 x 10 standard efficiency cubicle (although it says something about the living standards of the future that the times we have seen the Allons at home, their home has seemed kind of small and cramped...). Tinya's mom, at least, is also an ex-President. Reep's sitting on a quajillion space-bucks. Brin's got money that Val left him. Jeckie has her own planet. Jan also has his own planet, and can crash commodities markets with a wave of his hand. Dreamy's in line to be the next High Seer of Naltor, which, as far as we've seen, is pretty much the leader of Naltor. Tasmia's a planetary champion and seems to be the de facto heir of one of it's most notable families. At least some versions of Rokk are a former sports star, who may or may not be better-positioned to cash in on his Legion celebrity, due to his past life as a celebrity on Braal.
Garth and Ayla and Jo and Violet and Dawnstar and Brin and other interpretations of Rokk come across as more 'working class' than others, and might be better examples of people who might finds themselves adrift without the Legion, although Jo could likely go back to Rimbor and take over one or more criminal organizations pretty handily, and Dawnstar could have a bright future in expanding her original role as 'space finder' / navigator.
Drake might be in a rougher position than most, as he benefits not at all from a 'three hots and a cot' sort of government dole, and his containment suits probably don't come cheap (and seem unlikely to be the sort of thing one can just have spit out of a 31st century 3D printer for the equivalent of a couple of pennies worth of material cost, as with more normal clothing or basic tools / materials). A government that supplies food and shelter meets the most basic needs of organic life, but not a sack of anti-energy.
Rokk's a weird one. He's 'looking for work.' He's a sports star celebrity. In the Waid/Kitson half of the Threeboot, he says that if he leaves the Legion he'll probably have to go back home and work in the mines. In the Shooter/Manapul half of the Threeboot, Garth has his poster on the wall, suggesting that he was back to being a former celebrity athlete... Go figure!
In COIE, a 30th century Suicide Slum area was shown briefly when Dawnstar was "summoned" by Harbinger. Even then I didn't see anyone who looked homeless; there were apartments (small, but still apartments) and only one panel showed what may have been scrap metal/garbage.
That scene in COIE always makes me pause. I find it sad that Suicide Slums still exists a thousand years in the future. However, there has to be conflict in order for there to be stories. There is a Captain Marvel Jr. story where the title character travels to the year 2044 to find his future-self retired and crime is obsolete. I think that is the wish of many super-heroes. There has to be a reason for the heroes to exist or I begin to suspend disbelief.
Last edited by Emily Sivana; 07/27/1301:21 AM.
Go with the good and you'll be like them; go with the evil and you'll be worse than them.- Portuguese Proverb
I guess the 30th century can't be all that perfect, or the Legion won't have an end goal to work towards. No matter how "perfect" the future is, not everyone will have the same amount of resources and not everyone will be satisfied.
In COIE, a 30th century Suicide Slum area was shown briefly when Dawnstar was "summoned" by Harbinger. Even then I didn't see anyone who looked homeless; there were apartments (small, but still apartments) and only one panel showed what may have been scrap metal/garbage.
That scene in COIE always makes me pause. I find it sad that Suicide Slums still exists a thousand years in the future. However, there has to be conflict in order for there to be stories. There is a Captain Marvel Jr. story where the title character travels to the year 2044 to find his future-self retired and crime is obsolete. I think that is the wish of many super-heroes. There has to be a reason for the heroes to exist or I begin to suspend disbelief.
Yet, I don't think there'd be much disagreement that so much of what makes us better and has contributed to popular culture, comes from the "slums." Music, art, understanding, diversity... A slum is a place where people are nearly forced to work together, to get along in order to overcome and there's the additional motivation to "get out." So much of our industry has been started by people whose drive growing up was to "get out."
There's value even looking from the top end for those that have achieved economic success, to help others follow.
I'm sure we'd rather the disenfranchisement and fear and crime aspects not be there but I think as long as people migrate or look for new starts in their lives, there will always be ghettos and slums. I'm not sure that's a bad thing?
There's always the thought that by the 31st Century, planets don't provide anything to anyone, which is why so many races evolved superpowers to survive. No housing, no food, no healthcare, and if you resort to crime it's Takron-Galtos.
I've also wondered if Earth / Metropolis in particular is mainly made up of upper class and elites (serviced by a robot workforce) while the labor force of the UP economy exists on other worlds like Braal. With more than a little exploitation and inter-galactic politics keeping it that way.
That's an equally relevant and uncomfortable notion for the shiny 31st Century.
Different presentations have gone in very different directions.
In the Threeboot, Metropolis citizen 'Klar' hadn't left his apartment in *years* and had no idea who lived in the adjacent apartments. The head of the Science Police communicated with his aide *who was standing right next to him* over their communications screens, since the idea of turning around and talking to each other face to face wasn't even something either seemed comfortable with. But the Threeboot was hugely different. Daxam was a wasteland. Durla was a bustling transportation hub. Trom had a thriving population.
In the classic continuity, it always seemed like Titan and Naltor, when shown, were glistening artistic spaces, shiny and modern, and no signs of an underclass or poverty or hunger. Durla and Rimbor, on the other hand, were dystopian, in different ways, one a radioactive wasteland, the other corrupt and crime-riddled. As for Orando, one of the more detailed UP worlds, until the most recent annual, with the scene where a nobleman abuses commoners for his own pleasure, there was little hint of the world being anything other than a fantasy theme park.
I think the best way would be to say 'yes to all,' and have some developed worlds, like Earth or perhaps Xanthu, to be relatively utopian, with minimal hunger or corruption, while others, like Rimbor, are kind of cesspits, and places like Talokk VIII and Orando have very different systems (class / caste systems, commoners and nobles, etc.), and still others like Imsk and Braal perhaps being a bit more capitalistic, with permanent wage-slave underclasses that find that the only 'social mobility' is 'shut up or we'll send in the strikebusting mercenaries again.'
There's no reason for *all* of the United Planets to be sterile paradises, and there's *certainly* no reason for every single world in the UP to be a corrupt failed pessimistic craphole. Either option would be boring and stifle creativity, IMO.
Compare to the present United Nations - we have authoritarian North Korea or Zimbabwe and communist China and Russia alongside "enlightened" Norway and New Zealand, prosperous and highly industrialized Japan and Germany, small island states struggling against climate change (Maldives, Kiribati), "forgotten" and laidback nations like Laos or Bolivia, prosperous yet somewhat rural Brunei, growing Philippines and Mexico, stagnating Singapore...
Having the UP be as diverse as Set described above can help make it more relatable to modern day readers.
The UP tends to come across more like the European Union than the United Nations to me. Virtually every country in the world is part of the UN (all but Taiwan, Kosovo, Palestine, the Cook Islands, Niue and the Vatican are full members, and all but the last aren't only because they're still considered "in dispute" or part of another country by the UN), but major powers like the Khunds and Dominators aren't part of the UP, and the UP seems to be more interventionist in its members' affairs than the UN has ever been.
My views are my own and do not reflect those of everyone else... and I wouldn't have it any other way.
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Makes me wish we could collaborate on a "Last days of Kid Psycho" web comic.... 
