The Legionnaires: Karate Kid II and Visi-Lad

Let's clear up a couple of the lesser lights today. These are a couple of Legionnaires who belonged to the team during the Five Year Gap. One of them was a potentially intriguing character who never racked up too many appearances, and the other wasn't much more than a name on a list.

Karate Kid, aka Myg of Lythyl. Created by Paul Levitz and Steve Lightle.

Visi-Lad, aka Rhent Ustin of Earth. Created by Paul Levitz and Greg Larocque.



After Karate Kid I died on Orando, Timber Wolf journeyed to the harsh planet Lythyl to carry out his last request. He met a kid there named Myg who was a pretty good martial artist. Myg studied with the Sensei for a while, and later joined the Legion Academy. He was a Legionnaire during the Five Year Gap, but had to quit because of Earthgov persecution. It's implied that the Dominators caught him and put him in one of their tubes, and he got some kind of sonic powers from their experiments, but we didn't really see it. Myg hasn't appeared in the reboot or threeboot.

Visi-Lad was another Academy member, with assorted eye-based powers--heat vision, x-ray vision, that kind of thing. He was a Legionnaire briefly during the Five Year Gap, and the Legion Help File has a few details of his life after the Gap, but I don't recall them from the comics, and it's not important anyway. In the history of the Legion, if Myg was a day player, Visi-Lad was a walk-on. As can be surmised from his signature moment:



But Myg had potential.



The way the timing of different Legion eras worked out, he didn't have time to ascend to starring-character status, but something could have been done with him. I wonder if Geoff Johns is planning on using him at all... the issue in which Myg was introduced is right in that grey zone where it's not clear if Johns is including it in his continuity.




(Images from LSH v3 Annual #3; Levitz/Larocque/De Carlo)

Legion Creators

There's a new section on the sidebar, for the websites of Legion creators past and present. I did a kind of one-buttocked search around the internet to find the ones that are there, but I don't have any notion that I found them all. If anyone knows of any others, please direct me to them, either by e-mail or in the comments. Thanks!