LIGHTNING LAD (Garth Ranzz)

Silver Age Lightning Lad:
-Lightning Lad is a charter member of the Legion, and one of it’s all-time most important members. Kinda hard to think of a time when “Electrical Guy” WASN’T one of the more common super-powers in comics, but there it is, I think he’s one of the very first. He’s also had kind of an iffy place in Legion history, dying once but coming back (in another then-rare instance of a comic-book resurrection), leaving the team to marry Saturn Girl, coming back, becoming leader, a cyborg-arm guy- kind of just bouncing all over the place with no direction. Never mind the REALLY stupid Retcon they added later, involving Chameleon Boy’s sidekick critter, Proty. But he’s managed to be a charter character in every incarnation of the team, originating the squad in three continuities, and being a major character in the cartoon series as well.

In any case, Garth Ranzz hails from Winath, where he, his twin sister Ayla, and their older brother Mekt (a much-feared SINGLE birth) were all attacked by a Lightning Beast and given great powers (Ayla would become Lightning Lass and join the Legion; Mekt was the villainous Lightning Lord). Apparently nobody ELSE can gain powers this way, I suppose, or else we’d see a lot more of that. Early on, Lightning Lad sacrificed his life to fight Zaryan the Conqueror, but several Legionnaires willingly risked their own lives to resurrect him- unbeknownst to the lot, Chameleon Boy’s sidekick Proty had included himself among their number, and was randomly chosen to give up his life.

“The Super Moby Dick of Space” took Garth’s right arm, and it was replaced by machinery. He and Saturn Girl would eventually marry and have a child, becoming adults over the duration of the Legion book, but one child was stolen away by Darkseid, where it later grows into the monstrous Validus. Garth had to deal with his own younger clone in the “SW6” kids, who soon took the name Live Wire. It was also revealed, through a REALLY STUPID RETCON, that Garth had never, in fact, been resurrected at all. See, during his “resurrection”, Proty had simply TAKEN HIS PLACE, and lived on in Lightning Lad’s form. So all of the stuff since the 1960s was actually a different person all along! A “Clone Saga”-like ridiculous twist! This idiotic change, called out even by Jim Shooter as stupid, was eventually undone by the “Reboot”.

Later Garths:
-Here, Garth was now Live Wire all the time, and still a Legion founder. He managed to lose an arm again (this time to Mekt), then was killed fighting the Progenitor (an insane Element Lad). He was resurrected using some energy-absorbing crystals that held his essence, and he was reborn in Element Lad’s body, causing some strain with the Legionnaires (especially Saturn Girl, who was his girlfriend in this continuity, too). Here, Garth seems a lot more like Johnny Storm, as a “Hot-Headed Energy Guy”.

The “Threeboot” saw Garth as a founder once more, and he AGAIN dates Saturn Girl, being the only one to realize that as a Telepathic race, the Saturnians no longer have the ability to speak. Here, he is an obsessive “youth movement” champion, spending more time travelling the stars than on Earth, which drives Saturn Girl into the arms of Ultra Boy. The Post-Infinite Crisis Un-Reboot sees him & Saturn Girl married as usual.

SATURN GIRL (Imra Ardeen)

Silver Age Saturn Girl:
-Saturn Girl is as old-school as they get on the Legion, and seems to be the only female character to make it out of the humorously sexist 1960s as a strong, independent woman who never reverted to self-parodying weepiness, bitching about nobody noticing her new haircut, or falling easy victim to every super-villain. Strong-willed, capable and powerful with her psychic powers, Imra Ardeen & Garth “Lightning Lad” Ranzz make up the Legion’s TRUE official Power Couple (most of the other couples miss at least one of the three major continuities), and they’ve had some of the most fascinating stories. I mean, she’s been married, one of her twin boys was captured and sent to the past to become VALIDUS, she’s toppled countless villains solo, and she’s tried to sacrifice herself to save others more than once. And all without going bad, wearing a slutty black costume (the slutty Mike Grell pink costume was the worst it ever got- and she was practically Mother Theresa in THAT Legion era in terms of costumes!), or turning post-modern bad-ass killer. Truly something special & unique in comics- there’s always something appealing about the Team Mom, y’know? She’s basically “The Invisible Woman” of the Legion, though seems to have adopted the Sue-like traits first (it took Sue till the ’80s to really become the version we recognize today), so give her credit there.

Saturn Girl debuted as an original Legionnaire alongside Lightning Lad & Cosmic Boy. In an early story, she attempted to sacrifice herself after learning that a Legionnaire would die during an attack, but Garth took the shot for her. She later attempted to sacrifice herself AGAIN in the attempt to revive Garth, but Proty, admiring her courage, sacrificed himself instead. Saturn Girl was elected leader of the Legion twice during this span, making her the first female superhero to ever lead a team. In the SIXTIES!

Her relationship with Lightning Lad, initially based off of her rebuffing his advances, started in earnest when he sacrificed himself for her. However, she rejected multiple proposals of marriage because it would mean they’d have to retire (thanks to the Legion charter- WHICH THEY WROTE- indicating such). However, after ten years (and her consulting her mentors on Titan), she relented. They retired, but quickly rejoined the fight when the Legion was captured, and the charter was rewritten after her telepathy was instrumental in victory. They retired once more to raise their son Graym.

Saturn Girl single-handedly defeated Universo when he hypnotized and imprisoned most of Earth, and rejoined the Legion, while Garth played “house-husband”. They never rejoined the Legion after the “Five Years Later” era, having grown independently wealthy, and helping people through charity work and feeding the hungry instead. They would even be reunited with a second son- a twin who was kidnapped by Darkseid and turned into the monstrous Validus. They added two more children as this first continuity faded.

Later Saturn Girls:
-Reboot Imra was once again a charter Legionnaire, and began dating “Live Wire” after initially being unable to choose between him and Cosmic Boy. After some initial struggles, she and Garth were married in this continuity as well. They ended up in the Legion Lost story, stranded in a faraway galaxy, and Garth was killed fighting Element Lad. They had somewhat reconnected by continuity’s end, though she had a hard time dealing with him living in a facsimile of Element Lad’s body.

In “Threeboot”, Imra’s Titanian people were mute telepaths, having atrophied their ability to speak. Here, her coldness is exaggerated to its highest level, but she also has feelings of inadequacy which lead her into an affair with Ultra Boy, straining things with Lightning Lad considerably. In the Post-Infinite Crisis books, she appears in the 21st Century, believed to be insane because she’s ranting and raving about the Legion of the future.