My heart's...a-far...for El-var

The final entry in our series on the Wanderers looks at the clone resurrection version of Elvo.

Elvar's Look and Powers
Where his original look wasn't bad, I have always thought the clone version--notwithstanding the thigh high boots--was an improvement. For one, the original yellow and purple color scheme was pretty garish.  It's difficult to pull that off.  Green and black are much a better combo.

Second--and I realize mileage will vary here--I liked the more elf-like look given Elvar.  I've got to believe that the morphological affinity of "Elvo" with "elf" was part of the inspiration. Elvar combines the tropes of both the snarky elf and the agile sword wielding elf in one character. The former trope is illustrated by other examples like Marvel's villainous Elf with a Gun (introduced in July 1975).

The agility and swordsmanship combo was, of course, well established in fantasy literature.  Interestingly, Elvar's uniting of the elvan swordsman with superhero tropes was aped by Marvel's Excalibur version of Nightcrawler who, seemed to be wielding a saber every time you turned around.  I don't recall that being a part of Nightcrawler's basic depiction prior to Excalibur.  The basic chronology here makes me suspect that Elvar may have inspired the changes in Kurt Wagner. (However, as an admittedly arm's-length reader of both the X-Men and the Excalibur, I realize I may just be ignorant of "the elf's" backstory.  Perhaps some well-versed X-fan can clarify the situation for us?)

Does he look like a refugee from the Dark Crystal?  Sure, but I submit that's still better than looking like a guy with a yellow beach bucket on his head.

The power upgrade made Elvar a bigger asset to the team and just a more interesting character generally.  First, he got enhanced agility. Second there seem to have been some changes in regards to the energy properties of his sword.  As noted in the post on Elvo, however, there's inconsistent information about the precise parameters of those changes.

Dartalon: wearing weapons (and emotions) on his sleeve

In a previous post, we looked at who I consider the most-underwhelming of the original Wanderers, Dartalg, Master of the Blowgun! (See...don't you feel a little stupider just saying that?)
Anyway, our ole buddy Dartalg is one of the characters who most-benefitted from his clone resurrection.  Today, dear reader, we consider the most "prickly" of 31st century heroes:  Dartalon!

As mentioned above, it seemed to me that Dartalon got the best upgrade of any of the Wanderers.  He went from being a near-useless dude with a blow gun, to a guy whose body could generate its own weaponry.  His darts could either be fired as projectiles, or used as Wolverine-like claws. In addition to all this, he also maintained his earlier practice of treating certain darts with explosives, sedatives, etc.

His orange/khaki look was (IMO) a major improvement over the old frumpy green outfit he originally had. Given all of that, I'd have expected him to be generally pleased with his new self.  However, Dartalon wound up being the one who complained the most about how Clonus had turned him into a "monster."  I'm sure that spiky form set him off some...but c'mon.  He inhabits a world with characters like Blok, Tellus, and Wildfire. Dude...no one wants to hear you whining about how your really sharp body stubble is off-putting.

 

Wildfire

The "Queenly" Psyche

Once there was an unnamed couple on an unnamed planet who both had "the ability of enhanced empathy" (Comic Vine).  To this enigmatic union was born an unnamed daughter who wound up being even more powerful than her parents, because she could, "control the emotions of others, bending them to her will" (Comic Vine).

Feared by their neighbors, this unnamed family lived in a remote stronghold away from the most populous areas of their unnamed planet.  Until the day when, for some unexplained reason, the recluse young girl's powers came to the attention of the space-faring Wanderers, who recruited said unnamed girl into their ranks with no more rationale given to her parents than, "Look, I just have to...okay?"

And that, dear reader, is the complex and intricately woven backstory to the heroine Psyche,  today's Wanderer of the Week.

While all the resurrected Wanderers received new looks, an interesting thing occurred with Psyche.  Whereas Quantum Queen when from a pretty modest costume to a "feelin'-cute-maybe-I'll-give-up-heroing-and-become-an-exotic-dancer" look:

Original Quantum Queen

Quantum Queen Redivivus

Psyche went from a 60's mini-skirt number to a far more formal-looking outfit.  

Original Psyche

Psyche Redivivus

 I just find it quite ironic that the "queen" wound up looking like a rebellious teenage daughter who thought it'd be cool to strip at the local "gentleman's club," while the gal whose whole power-set is based on emotions and emotionalism wound up looking like the more mature character.

Anywho, let's look briefly at the first issue of the Wanderers.

The Wanderers #1 (JUN 1988)
The beginnings of the Wanderers Redivivus occurred--appropriately enough--in their series.  In this series, it's revealed that the original Wanderers had all been killed and were "resurrected" via the technologies of Clonus, an apparently renegade member of the powerful race known as Controllers.

Recognizing that simply bringing them back in the same form they were originally defeated in, Clonus used his advanced technology to enhance the powers of most of the Wanderers. 

Curiously, however, not all of the Wanderers were returned. This first issue explained that Celebrand's DNA was too degraded for him to be brought back -- though the writers seemed to be trying to leave the door open for a return by explaining even in this first appearance that, "a small fragment" of his DNA was implanted into Immorto/Re-Animage.  

Elvo: premiere swordsman of the 30th century

Source: https://loshreference.tumblr.com/post/129435225595/elvo-aka-elvar-comic-vine-entry

This week's OW (Original Wanderer) is the master swordsman Elvo.  Despite having a less-than inspiring name and head gear, I still thought Elvo was a decent character.

According to a Legionworld discussion board post from 2003:

The yellow-and-purple clad Elvo carried a super-charged sword. Whether its powers came from science or from magic was never revealed, but either way, the master swordsman could con[s]truct force-shields and discharge energy blasts at his command, making him a formidable opponent. 

And, honestly...that's pretty much it.  There's just not much you can find online about the original Elvo...and what there is is in conflict.  For example, the above-quote indicates that Elvo's blade always had some sort of energy-discharge capabilities.  Comicvine's entry on Elvar, however, indicates that the energy element of the blade was a post-resurrection feature:

When he died and was brought back as a clone he took on the new name Elvar...He also gained the ability to energize his power sword to enable it to cut through almost anything. 

While I haven't been able to determine with certainty when Elvo/Elvar first manifested energy capabilities, I feel like I remember running across a panel depicting him creating an energy shield during the Wanderers' first fight with the Legionnaires.  Oh well, in any case, this week we feature the next chronological appearance of the Wanderers.  This took place in pages of:


Legion of Superheroes #294 (DEC 1982)
This was the wrap up to what I would argue is most-epic Legion story ever--"The Great Darkness Saga."  The Legion faces the galactic threat of a resurrected Darkseid, who had managed to mentally enslave the population of Daxam.  (If you're not up on LSH universe, let me briefly explain why that's a big deal:  the Daxamites were essentially genetic cousins to the Kryptonians.  In other words, Darkseid has more or less got an army of Supermen enslaved to his will!)

Meeting the threat requires--as Dream Girl notes--"every warm superpowered body."  Our old friends the Heroes of Lallor, the Legion of Substitute Heroes, and of course the Wanderers respond, ready to give the last full measure of devotion.

Note our hero in the upper right background.  (Doesn't that sword look "energized" to you?)

Ornitho, Celebrand, (and
is that verdant-garbed Psyche?)

Note Ornitho in the upper left...and is that
Dartalg behind him?

Best of Others' Work: A brief overview of DC's Super Powers mini-series

Due to some craziness in my personal life, I had to skip last Friday's post and I've still not finished up my review of Midnight and the Riddle of the Cave Man Menace. 

So, I'm going to once again recommend another post I found interesting.  Over at DC in the 80s I found an interesting little post on a five-issue miniseries DC put together to showcase their SuperPowers toyline. 

While I only ever got one of these figures (Hawkman, by the way...and yes, I do still have him), I was still pretty excited to learn about this miniseries.  I'll have to add it to my wishlist.