Superman Analogue: Mon El
125Everybody would like to have an older brother, but Superboy actually got to have one: Mon-El!
Original Thread: https://twitter.com/CaseAiken/status/1076220146065305600
Original Text: Sorry that missed yesterday. Time got away from me. I'm sure Mon-El/Valor/Mone'l/Lar Gand understands.
Mon El (from here out) is a complicated character with many reboots and is himself a retelling of the golden age story of Halk Kar, "Superman's Big Brother". In short, he is a Superman connected character who through some means gets trapped out of time until the 30th century.
In just about every version, he joins up with the Legion of Superheroes and becomes their most powerful member. He is a "Daxamite" which is a related species to Kryptonians, though their weaknesses are flipped.
Lead (which blocks radiation) kills him but kryptonite is the cure.
He is one of the reasons for issues with the Legion of Superheroes in their various reboots. His origin had been so closely tied with Superboy that it was difficult to keep going without explaining away that relationship, hence the pocket dimension Superboy
It even resulted in a brief period where Daxamites retained their "pre-Crisis" power levels, rather than the nerfed levels that "post-crisis" Kryptonians had.
But onto the brass tax of the character: He's Superboy's big brother. In most versions, good to a fault. It was an accident that caused him to be exposed to lead and to save his life he was placed in the Phantom Zone
he stayed there for 1,000 years, able to see what happened in our reality, but unable to influence anything. For reference, this was a repurposing of a device that kryptonians use for their prisoners.
The Legion eventually found him and figured out a cure, and he resumed his life in the far future. His own sense of purpose in his heroism is what drove him initially, though later versions would tie on some revisions to increase his importance.
"Valor", his 90s version, was established as the person coup seeded (not gross) world after world, starting the colonies I would eventually form the civilization of the legions timeline. As a result he was seen as a progenitor for all civilization.
That version was arguably a more mythic hero to the rest of his team than Superman. Something of an interesting change in the dynamic that usually is seen as the impetus for the existence of legion.
But oh God, the costumes that he wore over that time...
I'm generally a fan of the classic suit.
But later he'd wear a VERY 90s version of the costume...
I actually really dug his early 2000s costume (but then I really liked the uniform stripe design of that era of the Legion)
He had a pretty famous appearance on the recent Supergirl show (though with a very different personality).
I think what I ultimately love about Mon-El is that he is a perfect example of the Legion of Superheroes on a Superman analogue: simple premise with a shockingly complicated and continuity reliant history.
There's a great write up on @LegionBlog: http://legionofsuperbloggers.blogspot.com/2015/04/superboy-meets-mon-el.html
Image 1 - Who's Who in the DC Universe #14, November, 1991, art by Adam Hughes
Image 2 – Superboy Vol 1 #89, Art by Curt Swan
Image 3 – Superman #80, Cover by Al Plastino
Image 4 – Superboy Vol 1 #89, art by George Papp
Image 5 – Valor Vol 1 #21, Cover by Stuart Immonen
Image 6 - Superboy #89, June, 1961, by George Papp
Image 7 – Adventure Comics #356, by George Papp
Image 8 - Legion of Super-Heroes Vol 4 #4, art by Keith Giffen and Al Gordon
Image 9 – Legion of Super-Heroes Vol 3 #38, art by Greg LaRocque
Image 10 – Superboy vs. Mon-El, art by Mike Grel
l
Image 11 - Superboy Vol 1 #89, art by George Papp
Image 12 – Superboy (Vol. 3) #19 (1995), Art by Tom Grummett
Image 13 - Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #23, Art by Barry Kitson
Image 13 – Scooby-Doo! Team-Up Vol 1 #33, art by Dario Brizuela
Image 14 - Evolution of Mon-El / M'onel (Lar Gand) by ~BoybluesDCU on deviantART
Image 15 - Valor #1, Art by MD Bright
Image 16 - M'Onel. Art by Jeff Moy and W.C. Carani.
Image 17 – Art by Francis Portela
Image 18 – Mon-El on the CW’s Supergirl
Image 19 - Mon-El in his costume honoring Superman. Art by Jamal Igle.
Image 20 – Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #23, Art by Steve Lightle
Image 21 - Who's Who #16 (June 1986); art by Steve Lightle.
Image 22 – Pin up by Ron Frenz
Image 23 – Mon-El, Man of Valor, Cover by CAFU
Music by Bret Eagleston - www.breteagleston.bandcamp.com
Certain Point Of View is a podcast network brining you all sorts of nerdy goodness! Learn more on our website: https://www.certainpov.com
Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/wcHHer4
PODCAST SHOWS:
▶ Men Of Steel - https://www.certainpov.com/men-of-steel
FOLLOW US:
▶ Twitter: @certainpovmedia
▶ Instagram: @certainpovmedia
▶ Website: https://www.certainpov.com
#CertainPOV #Podcast #Podcasts #valor #superboy #supermananalogue #monel #legionofsuperheroes