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Favourite Stories Featuring.... Cosmic Boy! [Archive] - HCRealms

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rouge2
04/16/2004, 11:53
Continuing with a series of threads on some of your favourite Clix characters and the best comics they’ve appeared in.

Please feel free to post your favourite storyline, issue or one-shot about the featured character. Give a description too, if you’re up to it. Who knows, maybe someone who hadn’t given this character a chance might change their mind and check out your recommendation.


Up next:

Cosmic Boy

My favourite story:

Mettle

From Legion of Super-Heroes (v.2) #297
Writer: Paul Levitz
Artists: Keith Giffen

One of my favourite Cosmic Boy stories was “Mettle” set in the Levitz-Giffen era of the Legion, shortly after the Great Darkness Saga. The story opens with Cosmic Boy trashing a Science Police Transport carrying prisoners to Takron Galtos. Three of the Prisoners are the terrorists captured by the Legion in the previous issue after they had set off a contained nuclear explosion in a Metropolis neighborhood and tried to hold the rest of the city for ransom. One of the families living in the attack zone was Cosmic Boy’s.

Cosmic Boy tears into the cruiser looking for blood, out-muscling a number of SP Officers along the way, before Night Girl (his girlfriend from the Subs) knocks him out. She, and the rest of the Legion (who arrive shortly after she does) take Rokk to the hospital. When he comes to, he reminisces about his life before the Legion and we get his view of his early days with the group, before he gets word on the status of his family. His dad and brother are in serious condition. His mom doesn’t make it.

Rokk, sucker punches Night Girl and goes after the terrorists a second time. The Legion pursues, but Sun Boy instructs the team to hold back and observe. Rokk hauls the thugs out of the cruiser using the iron in their blood. He begins to manipulate it in a bid to boil their blood and kill all three of them very painfully. He stops at the last minute, imaginig their vital signs flatlining like his mother’s did. “I’d be no better than you,” He sobs and lets them go, back into police custody. Sun Boy says he knew Rokk would make the right decision, but had to do it on his own. Tired and grief-stricken, Cos flies away, still a true hero.

This was a great issue, focusing on a character I had felt little for previously, but walked away a big fan of. Not only did Levitz use these incidents to amp up Cosmic Boy’s power to Magneto-like levels (He tried several things with his magnetism he’d never done before – Iron in the blood, flying under his own power on Magnetic currents, manipulating computers, etc), but he really humanized a character who’d been in the background for some time (He had ceased being the perennial leader long before this issue, and it wasn’t for a few years yet that he’d return to that role).

Rokk’s personal tradgedy was very touching, and it was very uplifting to see him remain a hero and not stain his hands with blood by the end of the story.

Just another Legion gem from Paul Levitz.

Rokk_Krinn
04/16/2004, 19:16
Sorry. I've never heard of this character. :) Nontheless, a little birdy tells me that this - surprisingly enough - isn't the first time Rokk tried a few of the stunts which you mentioned. The biggie - controlling the iron in the blood - was actually used a few times during the 70's, such as when he flung Esper Lass around during the "Super-Rejects" story (Superboy/LSH #212). I'm not certain when Magneto started the "iron blood" stunt, but it's entirely possible Rokk did it first. Just an FYI. :)

4AD_Punk
04/19/2004, 08:55
My favorite Cosmic Boy story:

Foundations

The Legion #25 - #30

Okay, I’ve only read one complete Legion story. However, rouge2 is the man; he is obviously an avid lover of DC comics. With that said, I will faithfully contribute to his threads because people who are passionate about DC Comics are the best.

Like I mentioned, this was my first Legion story. My initial impression about Cosmic Boy is his leadership qualities; how he commanded actual battle formations that the Legion adhered to. In all honesty, I was excited to see Kid Quantum step-down and have Cosmic Boy assume the role of leadership for the Legion. However, this is mostly in part because this was my first Legion story: I wanted to see CB as the leader. Does this make sense? It’s like when people who never saw Michael Jordan play basketball were happy when he came-out of retirement to play for the Wizards; they wanted to experience and witness the legend they always heard so much about.

An observation as it applies to Heroclix: is it accurate to have Cosmic Boy with a range of nil? In the Foundations storyline there were skirmishes where it appears Rokk is making attacks that have range. On a sidenote, my favorite part of Foundations is when Cosmic Boy uses Ferro like a cannonball by TK’ing him into battle! It was great. Does Cosmic Boy do this frequently? I wouldn’t mind seeing it done over and over again; I think it’s neat.

Another comment about Cosmic Boy in regards to Foundations. I was disappointed Rokk was impatient with Superboy. However, his feelings are justified considering how Superboy was impulsive, un-cerebral, immature, and a liability to the Legion. More to the point, I understand how Rokk was just frustrated that Superboy was a disappointment by not demonstrating characteristics or qualities of Superman, the legend the Legion—and especially Rokk—look-up to.

So, for the time being, this is my favorite--and only read--Cosmic Boy story. However, I'm sure I'll have something new as I read more.

:)

Rokk_Krinn
04/19/2004, 11:26
Besides the great "Spotlight on Cosmic Boy" story that rouge2 lists above, I do have a few favourite storylines in which Cos played a prominent role.

*"End of an Era": Yeah, maybe it's fanboy'ish of me or maybe it's because I guessed it before it was revealed but I totally geeked out on the revelation that the Time Trapper was Rokk. Something about being the First and Last Legionnaire (kind-of) that really appealed to me.

*LSH v4 #1: Not only was it fascinating seeing a war vet Rokk without powers but it was great seeing that he was still considered to be key to the formation of a new LSH. The fact that Brande's heir didn't even consider going to Garth and Imra first says a lot about Rokk's importance as a foundation of the Legion. As the series continued we got to find out not only how Rokk lost his powers (great story, especially when it's revealed who was involved in it and what Rokk did while in shock) but we also got to see how he could still contribute while powerless. The issue where Rokk, Loomis (man, I miss him) and Kono take down BION (think Amazo with all the powers of the LSH) was especially great fun.

*The early Post-ZH Issues: In the early days we were just told that Cos had been a great and integral leader to the Legion. Being the early Silver Age you never really saw much of that at work, even in later "flashback" stories. Mark Waid got to demonstrate post-reboot (starting with the zero issues) just what we'd heard about all those years. Whether it was Triad's remark that had Rokk been around for the 20th Century he could've kept the Beatles together, the great talk he gave "appointed field commander" Leviathan about how each star in the sky is a step in the Legion's journey, the way he wouldn't give up when the team was suffocating on the surface of an asteroid or the way he smoothly coordinated the fall of the White Triangle (with that nail-clencher remark about how the fate of the UP rests in the hands of one man - he played that with a total poker face) we really got to see the impact Rokk had in forming the Legion.

*The President Chu Storyline: Okay, I admit it. I'd lost faith in the Legion writers. They were portraying Cos as an absolute jerk who couldn't keep the team together. He was playing government toadie and booting his best friend from the team. He magnetically shoved Saturn Girl away from him in a fit of rage. Heck, part of his team still hadn't learned a common language and others were blatantly disregarding orders. The team was about to mutiny against him. How on earth was this the same Cosmic Boy we'd seen just a year or so earlier? This certainly wasn't the legendary charisma and "soul of the Legion" which had been built up over the years. Oh me of little faith. :) LSH #80 it all payed off. Cos pulled off a plan that would impress even the likes of Batman or Vandal Savage: he had outmaneuvered everyone. I'm not even going to give the details here. Heck, I've already spoiled too much.

Glad you got to see "Jordan" come out of retirement 4AD and, yes, I do feel it's wrong of his clix to not have a ranged attack because, if anything, Cos does magnetically manipulate those metal discs on his outfits as a ranged weapon (he also uses his magnetic powers to attack people from a distance). I'm not sure it's so much as he's being overly intolerant of Superboy (though I wonder if that's how the writer intends it) as it is a case of Rokk trying to shape the Kon into his own legend. Cos knows Superman and so he knows where to seperate the fact and fiction; by the same token he knows how different Kon already is from Clark - maybe he's trying to help Superboy either be his own man or at least trying to help Superboy live up to the title. Tough love, so to speak.

Col. Orange
04/19/2004, 11:32
Does Legion run at the same time as the rest of the DC Universe then? I'd been told they were from the future of the DC U.

rouge2
04/19/2004, 13:06
The Legion is set in the Future, but there are semi-frequent journies through time. Currently Superboy from "our" time is stuck in the Legion's time and is a semi-member of the team (he was given honourary membership a few years ago when they met).