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The Heroes of Lallor: brief thoughts on some square peg superheroes

The Heroes of Lallor

In previous posts, I've discussed my appreciation for members of the Legion of Superheroes (specifically Chemical King and Polar Boy).  Today, I want to return to DC's 31st century, but not to focus on the LSH.  Instead, I'm interested in another super-group:  The Heroes of Lallor.

One of the main things I liked about the Heroes was the contrast they presented to the Legion.  It always struck me as odd--given the plethora of teams and independent heroes in the contemporary DC timeline--that by the 31st century superheroes had largely been consolidated into one massive uber-team.  With an even bigger universe, it seemed natural to assume, there should've been at least as many independent heroes in the 31st as there had been in the 20th. 

Gas Girl
The five powered teens (Beast Boy, Gas Girl, Evolvo Lad, Duplicate Boy, &  Life Lass) who composed the Heroes, were all born on Lallor, a planet ruled by a single dictator.  They were mutants whose powers were the result of exposure (in utero, apparently) to fallout from an accidental atomic explosion.  The kids' powers manifested when they were quite young--a fact the planetary authorities seem to have known. Eventually, however, "Prime Minister" Vorr experienced one of those sudden, inexplicable opinion changes that are all the rage with  dictators, and banished the teens.

The actual reason for the banishment isn't exactly clear to me.  Wikipedia  says it was for, "opposing the dictatorship," while the DC Database wiki simply claims that, "the leader of Lallor, fearing what the young people could do [had] them exiled..." Whatever the specifics, one thing is clear:  the Heroes were outsiders.  They were the super-powered square pegs in the 30th century...and that's one of the main reasons I like 'em.

Evolvo Lad
This theme of nonconformity appeared again in Adventure Comics # 339 (Dec 1965) where Beast Boy--who, for some reason was shunned from polite Lallorian society--retreated to the jungle planet Vorn where he led an animal revolt against the planet's human population.  As it turned out, this story concluded with Beast Boy's death and his burial on the memorial planet Shanghalla.

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4 comments:

  1. marvelboy74September 11, 2018 at 7:37 PM

    I think the Heroes are highly underrated. I recently did a blog post on them too. If there was one thing Levitz should have reintroduced to the Retroboot, it was these guys.

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    1. JustinSeptember 12, 2018 at 8:24 PM

      Agreed...but I'll up the ante. What I'd really like to see would be a revived LSH and at least a mini-series focused strictly on the Heroes and on demonstrating the differences between them and the Legion. There could be a fun contrast of localism vs. universalism, the functioning of bureaucracies vs. much smaller informal structures, etc. If the cards were played right, the Heroes could end up as DC's 31st century Fantastic Four!

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    2. AnonymousJuly 23, 2019 at 12:14 AM

      Why couldn't the Heroes of Lallor have picked up a replacement for Beast Boy ? Not necessarily somebody who was exposed to the fallout from the accidental atomic explosion, but somebody who had a power worthy of joining the team ?

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  2. JustinJuly 23, 2019 at 1:17 PM

    That's a good question. For me, I just don't think an add-in (unless they were another Lallorian) would "feel right." I see the Heroes as the LSH universe version of the Fantastic Four. They were the small family of superheroes. I think plugging someone else into that would work about as well as any of the various attempts to have fill-in FF members over the years. (Yeah, I know you can find defenders of Medusa, She-Hulk, Crystal, etc. but in the end everyone one of those subs got replaced by the original.)

    For me, the Heroes just aren't the "kind" of team that can take in a replacement member. ...but your mileage may vary.

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