Growing Up on the Wrong Side of the Spaceways

 

What I remember best about being a kid and reading comics are the characters that I liked and ended up pretending to be while having numerous imaginative adventures, either with friends or by my lonesome. Loving Super-hero teams and growing up in the early eighties meant that I was exposed to such titles as The New Teen Titans, The X-Men, The Justice League, etc. However, none of these Supergroups could hold a candle to the 30th century's Legion of Super-Heroes (at least in my mind!) I loved the issues written by Paul Levitz and pencilled by Keith Giffen best of all, enjoying the intrigue, action and drama that could consitsently be found in every issue. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that my favorite futuristic superhero of all time also came from the pages of Legion. 

Ultra Boy's first appearance!

One of the most famous of all Legion members, Jo Nah of the planet Rimbor, a.k.a. ULTRA BOY never lost his appeal for me, even after the numerous reboots the Legion have faced over the years. Even though I don't read new comics featuring the LHS (written by Mark Waid, Brain Michael Bendis, et al - nothing against you Mark, keep up the good work) I still find myself fondly retracing childhood steps when I pick up any old back issues featuring Jo and his terrific adventures with the Legion. 

I'm sure every comic fan has a favorite character. It just comes naturally, since we tend to identify with some characters and personality types portrayed in fiction quite easily. Not in my case though, since Ultra Boy is as different from me in temperament and personality as Kryptonite is from Carbonite (Superman flees, Han Solo shudders). When I was young I wanted to be him, not be like him, precisely because of the differences, and that's why I think he appealed to me. I was a kid who didn't grow up on the wrong side of the tracks, but always wondered what it would have been like. 

Yildiray Cinar art

I also gladly suffered (and probably still suffer, although not as much) from fantasy addiction, meaning that I need some kind of fantastic element (sci-fi will also do) to be present in any story, either novel or comic book, that I read in order to enjoy it. This being the case, I fanatically followed the adventures of the LHS throughout my early years and well into my teens, liking most of the characters for their genuine personalities and space-spanning activities (the latter helping to retain my interest in the title whenever some members I didn't care for were featured in the comics - I'm looking at you, Invisible Kid II). 

Now let's get into the character of Ultra Boy, and why he is the optimum futuristic super-hero. In Jo's very first appearance in the pages of Superboy's own mag (Superboy #98) he was sent on a time-travel assignment by the Legion to discover Superboy's secret identity, which was unknown to Ultra Boy at the time, since he grew up on Rimbor in the future and not on Earth). Not using any of his overt ultra-powers, and relying only on his vision powers, he discovered who SB was and helped avert numerous disasters in Smallville in the process. 

Ultra Boy's origin - swallowed by a Space Whale, then gifted strange Ultra Powers by the beast's unique radiation. Now you know why his alter ego is 'Jo Nah.' Wacky!

After being accepted into the Legion Ultra Boy hooked up with one of the cutest Legionnaires, Phantom Girl, who had a crush on him. PG was the only Legionnaire who believed in U-Boy after he had seemingly 'gone bad' and joined a crew of space pirates in order to take them down, displaying acting ability and a level of intelligence he had never been credited with before. After this he worked many cases, and even served as leader for a successful term. 

Oftentimes hotheaded, but sensible and responsible, Jo used the experience he gained growing up as a boy who ran with gangs and got involved with criminals during his youth to augment his effectiveness as a Legionnaire. He was also considered to be one of the Legion's BIG THREE, along with Superboy and Mon-El, since his Ultra-powers rivalled theirs. Where SB and Mon had weaknesses like Kryptonite and Lead, Ultra Boy's lay in the use of his powers, which could only be activated one at a time, making for some hair-raising plots and story devices.

Jo was one of the most loyal and powerful legionnaires, but this loyalty never eclipsed his love for Phantom Girl, and after the Legion was rebooted for the first time, their relationship survived along with his die-hard personality. My favorite U-Boy moments come from the original Legion series, however. His takedown of Duplicate Boy (one of the most powerful beings in the galaxy) after DB attacked Colossal Boy, as well as Jo's defeat of Mordru and Glorith by pitting them against each other, are some standouts. 

Jo is still a member of many of the modern incarnations of the Legion, and here's hoping the character will one day get a much deserved Solo Series (or at least a miniseries). Failing that, I'll settle for some more time in the spotlight in the pages of a new Legion title. Given DC's track record with relaunching the LHS, I know that's not very likely. But until the Legion returns as a regular monthly title, there are always my back issues and collected editions, whenever I need to get an Ultra-fix.

Thanks for reading, weirdos. I'll wrap this up by saying: long live Ultra Boy. And long live the Legion!

Ultra Boy from the Legion of Super-Heroes animated series