Polar Boy: A few of my favorite heroes

Source: https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRKS-P1Y8_gdx6tiU59oxAizUqhqjusa9lH0jpl-u4Hw3vKUC_8tg

Today's post is devoted to another Legionnaire who had an instinctive attraction for me as a young reader:  Polar Boy.

Though he's gone through a variety of costume changes (most of them pretty sucky-looking in my opinion) over the years, the one up top represents Polar Boy as I first encountered him (and, therefore, obviously the zenith of his sartorial flair.😏

PB's original look
Source: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f2/de/49/f2de497fe22220b4d62c206edda2a8d7.jpg

in the (regrettably) short-lived Legion of Superheroes cartoon
Source: https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/losh/images/d/dd/Polar_Boy.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20131012161421

the most current (I think?) look for Polar Boy
Source: https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_small/0/3664/334393-170281-polar-boy.jpg

Why did I like Polar Boy?  On the surface, I've always liked ice-based heroes and villains (e.g., Captain Cold, Iceman, Blizzard, Mr. Freeze) but in the case of Brek Bannin, there are a few extras that helped warm up to the character. Pun, most certainly, intended.

His creative origin

I like that Polar Boy essentially began as a piece of fan fiction.  The concept for the character was originally suggested by a regular comic book reader--Buddy LaVigne of Northbrook, IL--in the letters page of Adventure Comics #304. (Polar Boy, Wikipedia)

His struggle

Though I doubt it was Buddy LaVigne's intention, when Polar Boy became a reality in Adventure Comics #306 (March 1963), he did so as a decided underdog.  In fact, he was rejected during his first try for membership in the Legion because he was deemed to have insufficient control of his powers.  Down, but not out, Polar Boy pulled together a handful of other rejected applicants to form the Legion of Substitute Heroes.

Sidenote 1:  I guess what the writers were doing here was plausible...but I have to admit  that I always had a hard time with the argument that Polar Boy wasn't Legion material, but Matter-Eater Lad and Bouncing Boy --BOTH of whom, had already been made Legionnaires by this point--were.  Surely, the Legion could've recognized, "You know, there's a lot of people with fire-type power around.  We might occasionally have to combat a giant lizard creature or something...it probably wouldn't hurt to have a cold-dude around. "  As far as the  insufficient control argument goes...wouldn't that kind of be the point of joining the team? 

Sidenote 2:  It seems like there's a bit of a plot hole in the story of Polar Boy and the other Tharrians.  In his initial tryout for the Legion, he explicitly says that the power to create intense cold has been developed by "a few people" on Tharr.

Yet in subsequent material (e.g., Who's Who in the Legion of Superheroes) we're told that "all natives" of the planet have "the ability to project intense cold."

His grit and determination

Despite these early struggles, Polar Boy eventually made it on the Legion line-up.  Indeed, after one year as a member, he was elected Leader. (Who's Who: Polar Boy, Legion of Super-Bloggers)  He went on to serve two terms at the Legion's helm--and these weren't exactly times of peace and tranquility.  

Now that Brek had triumphed over institutional obstacles and been accepted by those he idolized, he would now have to learn to accept himself, by overcoming feelings of excessive and/or misplaced guilt. He was tortured by his failure to save his friend Magnetic Kid during the Magic Wars.  Eventually, time and circumstance even forced him to preside over the dissolution of his beloved Legion.  (Who's Who: Polar Boy, Legion of Super-Bloggers).

Following a number of reboots, a storyline was introduced in which Polar Boy had to deal with pain of a more physical nature.  He lost an arm as a result of torture by Earth Man and his "Justice" League.  True to form, however, that didn't stop Brek.  He simply manifested a new arm made out of ice. 

Sidenote 3:  Though,  the ice arm occasionally looks cool (e.g., pics like this one featuring PB and Sun Boy in a sort of yin/yang theme)

 

It doesn't really make sense to me that the limb would be usable.  Sure he could form it...but wouldn't it just be more like an old -style prosthetic...sort of a 30th century version of the old pirate's peg leg?

Wrapping up

Brek Bannin really is the little-superhero-who-could.  His journey from reject, to member, to leader...from naively optimistic youngster, to sage old hand represents one of the best morality tales you can encounter in superhero comics, "...that being rejected by the people you want to like you doesn’t mean you can’t make a mark in your own way, and still be happy." (Dan Hagen, A Legion of Losers Takes a Bow in Adventure)