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No way. Magneto totally beats Cosmic Boy. Not only was Magneto a great character, his status as an icon is undeniable. I don't see any "Cosmic Boy was right" t-shirts.

Gotta agree, Magneto is #2.

Plus, I really hate Polaris. She's probably the only comic character I actively dislike. She's so utterly lacking in a distinct personality. Any story she appears in instantly becomes 34% less enjoyable.

Argh! I meant Magneto is #1 ! Stupid typo...

I've never heard of Cosmic Boy so I'm surprised that Magneto wasn't number 1.

It seems like Magnetic powers equates to insanity.
Either on the part of the character or the creator of said character.

It's as though megnetic polarities in the brain are affected.
And not in that "new age" place magnets under your pillow while you sleep and gain better cognitive awareness guff.
OR the wear magnets on your body to better affect your aura.

Yeaahhh... the only thing that magnets seem to affect is blood-flow to the brain (damn iron particles in the blood) making them all CaRazy!

Let's review:

Magenta.
Obviously, magnets under the pillow of Tony Isabella made him temporarlity dislexic, and unable to discern wheather an idea was good or not.
"Magneta? No...Magenta! BRILLIANT!"

Dr. Polaris
He's so crazy, magnetizing Green Lantern to a giant magnet wasn't crazy enough. He's gonna cock-punch Hal to death.
Magnetic-fist cock-punch!

Polaris
"I'm the daughter of Magneto!"
"uh...no I'm not."
"Yes! I am Magneto's daughter!"
"uh...I'm not?"
"House of M rules...I AM Magneto's Daughter!"

Yup. Nutty.
(Sadly, even if she wasn't already bat-shit crazy from the magnetism wreaking havok with her brainwaves, she could have inherited mental instability from Magneto... just like poor old Wanda and Pietro"

Which leads us to...
Magneto
C'mon. You're gonna debate this one!?
Dude's brain-pan is FULL-UP with poached eggs!

and lastly...
Cosmic Boy
So crazy powerful in his craziness that it affected both him AND his creator(s) in crazy ways!
PINK skin-tight costume?
No..wait..."Spaceman helmet". MUCH better!
Super-convoluted history? Crazy!
Thinking he'll EVER pick up alien chix with a name that ends in "BOY".
CRAZY!

And the REAL reason that magnets = crazy is that waaaay back when my best friend and I were wee lads, in the innocent early 1970's, we thought that if we would be able to obtain VERY POWERFUL magnets, and make them into grappling hooks and other weapons of the trade, we could patrol our neighborhood as crime fighters.

Yup.
So stupid were we that we ACTUALLY went to a magnet shoppe (believe it or not our town actually had a shoppe that sold NOTHING but magnets of varying strength and purpose) and asked the proprietor if he had any magnet(s), of industrial strength, that was strong enough, that IF WE THREW IT AT AN OBJECT (a LAMPPOST - but we didn't tell HIM that, for it would have been a leak into our SECRET IDENTITIES)... and MISSED that object, by mere inches, it would be POWERFUL ENOUGH to CLAMP ON ANYWAY by it's magnetic force!

Dude looked at us with the obvious look in his head of "What are these two kids thinkin'", shook his head and told us, "No. Nothing like that. At least not PORTABLE."

Dejected, we left. Never becoming the dread protectors of the night we so insanely sought to be.

We shouldn't have believed him though.
Obviously, years spent with all those magnets around him must have made him... MAD!

Turns out, HE must have been our FIRST (and ARCH) villain. For he succesfully stopped us from standing in HIS OWN PATH of WORLD DOMINATION!

It's like a bad "WHAT IF?" story.
Isn't it?

~P~
P-TOR

ugh... Noticed quite a few typo's in that last post.

Damn fast typing.

Sorry.

'twould seem that the magnets affect me still.

~P~
P-TOR

Personally...Magneto would have to be #1. Like someone else already said...I've never even heard of Cosmic Boy. Magneto is an icon who almost everyone in comics knows and either loves or hates.

Before I clicked on this I thought, "Cosmic Boy had better be number one." Thank you.

Cosmic Boy is Jack Krak with less swearing.

what magneto is a way cooler character than Marvel Boy that is crazy hoe Magneto the greatest villan of the X-Men who finally took over the world thanks to his kids whatr has Marvel Boy done

I'm a huge, huge Legion fan and I have to say I'm surprised that you put Cosmic Boy ahead of Magneto.

(SanctumSanctorumComix: Cosmic Boy's actually pretty good with the alien chix: original recipe Cosmic Boy married Night Girl (from planet Kathoon), who was gorgeous once she got a decent haircut; reboot Cosmic Boy almost married Saturn Girl (from Titan) and ended up with Kid Quantum (from Xanthu, I think); threeboot Cosmic Boy seems to have set his sights on Supergirl (from, of course, Krypton).

Other magnetic characters: Golden Age hero Magno, Legionnaires Magno and Magnetic Kid, Golden Age villain Nuclear the Magnetic Marauder.

And there's no way Magenta should have been #5 ahead of Yankee Poodle.

I'm not sure if Yankee Poodle's "animal magnetism" is a magnetic power in the same sense that, say, Cosmic Boy's is, since it doesn't specifically affect metal. It affects, well, whatever she wants it to.

It should definitely make a Top 5 list for, like, Most Awesome Looking Powers, though. It seemed super-useful, too, it's almost a shame there's no one else in comics with a similar power.

(Is there?)

magneto is #1. worst. list. ever.[/csg-voice]

Let me add my voice to the chorus of those who say Magneto belonged at #1: he's certainly the most fleshed-out of the characters, and is an iconic not-quite-villian.

Is this list a joke? Legion of Superheroes characters are for the geeks among the geeks. No one but the most diehard fan likes those guys. Magneto gets mentioned in rap songs even!! So badass. I don't even know who Cosmic Boy is, but if he's from Legion of Superheroes I know he's lame. Being the best member of Legion of Superheroes is like being the biggest star in the Village People, you're still an overall loser in the big picture.

Magneto suck! Cosmic Boy rules! Go Brian!

Though I was disappointed that Victor Mancha from Runaways wasn't on the list.

Magneto is hands down the winner here. And I'd also suggest replacing Magenta with the old Darkhawk villain Lodestone, if only because she can even beat Dr. Polaris in the "Who has the ugliest helmet" competition. Check her out: http://www.marvel.com/universe/Lodestone_(Andrea)

I have to agree on the #1 & #2 positions. This Top 5 is not for "Most Popular Character with magnetic powers" anyway.

Regarding the relative merits of Cosmic Boy vs Magneto, one pops immediately to mind- In the 48 years since the character was created, Cosmic Boy has been depicted in a remarkably consistent manner. He has ALWAYS been the level-headed one, the natural leader. Even across the various reboots the Legion has endured. Magneto on the other hand has been depicted as Capital-E Evil in the 60s & 70s, sympathetic in the 80s, Evil again (without the moustache-twirling) in the 90s, and some combination of the two currently. It seems no two writers or fans can agree on who this character is or what drives him, so his motivations are all over the road.

Nope, no Legion bias here.

Greg

In the mid-70's, Cosmic Boy wore a costume designed by Mike Grell that was not flesh-colored, it was flesh. Errr, that is, there was no costume there. He wore what pretty much looked like a bustier and a speedo. Check this out, here's Cos as drawn by Grell in a commission.

He's from the future. Maybe that's fashionable then. You can't prove it isn't.

T shall be hearing from my second. We will meet on Calais sands.

T.
That's funny. A comic geek calling other comic geeks bigger geeks. Ironing, sweet ironing (or somehting equally Homer Simpsonish). So, who are these inner cadre of geeks who can appreciate the geekiness that is the Legion?

Not only does Cosmic Boy deserve the top slot, but his brother, Magnetic Kid, should have made the top 5. Because, you know, volunteering to get yourself killed to earn the team a Plot Coupon certainly counts as Magnetically Crazzzzzy to me.

R. - Not denying I'm a geek. Just saying there are limits to even my geekdom, and that's Legion and D&D.

Legion gets rebooted once a year. Even their reboots get rebooted! Not a new direction, I'm talking constantly scrapped and started over. Every time I tried a Legion comic as a kid there was a brand new status quo. And some of those Grell and Cockrum costumes were just horrendous. And they're always one extreme or the other, either horribly vanilla or some writer tries to go the opposite extreme and make them relevant and edgy, which just makes it weirder.

Magneto #1!

T.'s comments hurt because they're so right.

"No way. Magneto totally beats Cosmic Boy. Not only was Magneto a great character, his status as an icon is undeniable. I don’t see any “Cosmic Boy was right” t-shirts."

That's because the Cosmic Boy shirts are sold out.

Cos 4 life.

Inoa:

Well, Marvel Boy fought the FF and exploded. Unless you're thinking of the other one who joined the Avengers. Unless you're thinking of the other one Grant Morrisson wrote while on steep drugs.

Unless you're thinking of Cosmic Boy. Who has done a lot, and against the biggest baddies the future (and present DCU if you count cats like Ra's and Darkseid) has to offer.

I haven't read enough of LOSH to say I can agree, because I probably wouldn't have picked him for #1 myself (Though I would have included him, before the LOSH fans get snippy with me...). But all the outright dismissal of the character I'm seeing, just because he's not on t-shirts or in rap songs or popular...is that right? You might be more familiar with Edwin Jarvis or Alfred Pennyworth than you are with Wodehouse's Jeeves or Collins' Gabriel Betteridge but does that mean Alfred is literature's greatest butler? Automatically?

I had an old speech teacher who had never even heard of On The Waterfront, is that any reason to discount it altogether? Lee J. Cobb, Eva Marie Saint, Karl Malden, Brando? Disagreeing with 50 years of Cos as I see others doing is fine, but dismissing them outright because you haven't read them, making that your argument...that's not acceptable in other serious criticism, why should we accept that in comics?

JeffR. I think you'll agree that Grell's costumes for the female legionaires were, how shall we put it, very nice.

that's the gayest little costume ever!

Grell loved him som disco suits, that's for sure...

I did a Googe Image search to learn more about the guy and found this:

Click here for the worst. Costume. Ever.

Anyone man with the costume of a female Hellfire Club member? Lame.

One comparison I like to make between comic book characters is when they made their debut. Doesn't prove any points but I like to have the context.

Cosmic Boy: 1958
Magneto: 1963

As for T, well, I and most people here would have put Magneto #1 ourselves, but we don't feel the need to troll about it.

is it just me or is that cosmic boy cover riffing on the end of evil dead 2 (the whizzy vortex to another time bit)? When is that comic from? I can't make out the date properly.

Maybe it's cause Cronin is the moderator for the X-men board here at CBR.

And X-men fans are FUCKING TERRIFYING. There's a decent minority of them who are just not rational human beings.

Really, you can only read so many posts by people who HONESTLY think Magneto was right, and they completely empathize with him SO much and if they feel that Magneto is disrespected in the comics they go on a crying jag and curl up in a fetal ball don't leave their room for four days And those are the ones who DON'T feel the need to threaten the offending creators (and their families) with physical harm...

and you'd start thinkin' there's something just a little bit... wrong with the idea of Magneto, too.

Legion fans are weirdly insular, but at least the vast majority of them can, in my experience, RECOGNIZE and RESPOND to earth logic.

Matthew E - I thought we were all just having fun, personally. Relax.

It's an immutable universal constant:

You can't be Number One at anything if you're a guy wearing pink.

It's just not allowed.

Legion fans are weirdly insular

We* don't mean to be. It's just that it's so easy for people to be comic book fans, or even DC fans, and still not pay any attention to the Legion, because it's separated off by the future setting. (How else could there be people on this thread, on a site frequented, I assume, by people whose comic book science is pretty tight, who don't recognize the name of a character who's been appearing regularly in DC comics for almost 50 years?) So those of us who do are sort of off to the side a bit.

*I am actually legally authorized to speak for all Legion fans. I have a power of attorney right here.

Matthew E - I thought we were all just having fun, personally. Relax.

Relaxing, and sorry if I overreacted. But, you know, if I posted the stuff you did in this thread, I'd fully expect to get warned by a moderator, at least by the standards of several boards I know.

What about Toad from Earth X?

Oh right, I'm the only person who likes that story

I wasn't originally going to click into the topic because I had thought "eh, Magneto will probably get the top spot" but to my surprise, he didn't... sweet! Go Cos!

And I wouldn't worry too much about Magneto's placing. I'm sure he'll make up for it in the "top five guys who get their heads lobbed off every three months" list.

Oh, and Paperghost: That's the cover from his limited series run in the mid-eighties, 1986, I believe.

Oh right, I’m the only person who likes that story

I'll admit to totally digging Earth X. In fact, my initial thought after finishing Earth X proper - with the Galactus vs. Celestials fight and the heartbreaking "Reed says goodbye to Franklin-Galactus" scene - was to think, "Holy crap, THIS is the awesome slice of future-geekery I wanted Kingdom Come to be!" But I'll also admit to being in a tiny minority there.

Now, Universe X and Paradise X? Completely lame. But Earth X was pretty awesome.

Hey, Cronin! Top Five Comic Book Butlers!

Universe and Paradise had some good scenes but suffered from Shang Chi syndrome...you can have rich, layered characters and an interesting story but if your entire story is about Doing This and then This happens and the story goes on for another 3 books...If you put the climax in the middle of the saga...then the rest just seems filler.

Once Ulysses makes it home (and Captain America regains his faith in the Dream) reading another seventeen folios of Ulysses sending out belated birthday cards and renewing his ox cart license down at the DMV (Department of Mooing Vehicles) just does not live up.

Honestly, I think Magneto's just a more interesting character. And whoever was talking about Cosmic Boy having been the same all this time and Magneto going through changes really makes my point for me. There's more to the character and I find his motivations more compelling.

And while you're totally right, MarkAndrew, about the insanity of some X-Fans, that's really just proof that the character has a more dynamic influence on it's fans, doesn't it?

LOVED Earth X!

LIKED Universe X some! (Doctor Strange works some serious mojo therein)

Paradise X... oh...man. Doc was in it.
That's the only praise I can muster.

~P~
P-TOR

While the X-Men may sell better, the Legion during the Levitz/Giffen era was infinitly better.
Cosmic Boy is so manly he can wear pink, ok? (Although it seems like more recently they have put him in purple).

In a head to head, Cosmic Boy would win because he would take advantage of the fact that Magneto can't do anything without giving a long speech and just kick his ass while Magneto was talking.

Hey by the way Cos did end up going nuts.

A little bit of history, During the "Five Year Gap" Cos lost his powers when his homeworld, Braal, went to war with the Imskians, home world of the Legionnaire Shrinking Violet. When the Legion was reformed, circa V4, the powerless Rokk was chosen to be leader. Much later in the series Rokk regained his powers and went a little batty and tried to rebuild the Earth, which had been destroyed due to the Dominators.
He quickly regained his senses, just in time for the "End of an Era" storyline which ended the original Legion continuity.

Oh yeah, got my geek on.....

Magneto has a MUCH cooler helmet than Doctor Polaris.

It's true. Just ask Paty Cockrum.

Is Earth X the first appearance of the "Storm marries Black Panther" snowball idea? Because that's the first place I remember seeing it, and I remember even then thinking, "Wait a minute, the only real connection between Storm and Black Panther is... they're both black."

Heh, Top 5 Earth X Ideas That Got Out Of Hand

Let's all cast a vote for "Multiplendigo!"

I liked Multiple Man-Wendigo.

Cool list, except for Magenta and Polaris. Ugh. Even though I'm much more a DC and Legion fan than a Marvel/X-Men fan, I have to agree that Magneto should really be in first place.

Cosmic Boy had magnetic vision in his first appearance, where magnetic lightning bolts shot out of his eyes or, uh, something. Also, his first outfit said "COSMIC BOY" right on the front of it (in 20th Century English) so no one would confuse him with, say, FALSE PRETENSES LAD or COLOR KID*.

But Magneto was portrayed by Sir!!! Ian!!! McKellen!!!, fantastically so, in at least two great superhero movies. I gather he also appeared in another this summer, but that one I can wait to catch on TBS or whatever. Cosmic Boy is soon to be voice-acted by Wil Wheaton and as nerdily cool as that is, I think Sir Ian wins that round.

*actual Legion characters

If you had to pick a magnetic legionnaire, couldn't it have just been Compass Lad. T. is right in that LSH is for the geek of comic geeks and should well be lumped in with D&D. I'm a recovering Legion reader and my life is much closer to normal since I quit reading it.

Mark Andrew is also correct in that a healthy minority of X-fans are just unhinged. They've lost all of their aesthetic judgment and are in good touch with what most experience as consensual reality. I have met multiple X-fans who feel that they will never find a special woman who will understand them the way Jean Grey did.(Sadly, I've seen a little to many references from Legion fans to Saturn Girl and Dream Girl in carnal contexts). Other X-crazies refer to X-men stories as current events or actual history, yet refer to Darkhawk issues as "just comic books". You've never been chilled to the spine until you've met one of these nuts in your local comic shop.

Take your pick between comic book mama's boys and actual lunatics. Magneto is still cooler at least until Conan gets a magnetic antagonist.

"Magneto is still cooler at least until Conan gets a magnetic antagonist."

What about Magnor, Lord and Master of the Bronze Golems?

Yeah I made him up. But it'd be awesome if Tim Truman read this and swipe my name and concept for his Conan run.

Is Earth X the first appearance of the “Storm marries Black Panther” snowball idea? Because that’s the first place I remember seeing it, and I remember even then thinking, “Wait a minute, the only real connection between Storm and Black Panther is… they’re both black.”

It's the first appearance of them being MARRIED, but it was Claremont who first came up with the concept of them being close, as he introduced the retcon of the two of them being childhood compatriots in an old Marvel Team-Up.

Krueger and Ross are just riffing off that idea.

It’s the first appearance of them being MARRIED, but it was Claremont who first came up with the concept of them being close, as he introduced the retcon of the two of them being childhood compatriots in an old Marvel Team-Up.

I know about the Marvel Team-Up, but my impression was that it'd been an overlooked curiosity since Claremont wrote it. Until I'd read Earth X, if you'd asked me who Storm was most likely to end up marrying, I'd've said Forge (if she married anyone), because she had that on-again off-again thing with him for years. Black Panther? That seemed to come out of nowhere.

Ah... innocent childhood romances.

Like where an elemental 'goddess' mutant can fall in love a prince... of the single greatest, most technologically and socially advanced (yet hidden) nation on Earth.

Isn't it sweet?

Actually, I remember reading that Team-Up many years ago (did I buy it when it first came out? Maybe. I no longer recall) and always wondered WHY it had never been touched upon again.

So, I'll have to side with the "yeah. Not a great idea, but not out of left field" camp.

Of course, if they were ever SHOWN (even in flashback) to have SEEN each other now and again, it might help the 'believability'.

However, playing 'devil's advocate', many nations 'like Wakanda' may have antiquated marriage "arrangements" where a bride and groom were chosen from even BEFORE BIRTH and then may NEVER have seen each other again, UNTIL their wedding day.

SO, not too far out of the realm of possibility.

~P~
P-TOR

Hey!

Just a thought.

ANY comic characters (even spoof ones) where they shoot lightning outta their ass?

Kinda like a comic-spoof version of Braveheart?

If there IS such a thing, he wins!
Pants...er..HANDS down!

~P~
P-TOR

Other X-crazies refer to X-men stories as current events or actual history, yet refer to Darkhawk issues as “just comic books”.

Hahaha, that is hilarious. I pictured one guy asking another guy "Where were YOU when Inferno hit?" like reminescing on Pearl Harbor or 9/11.

But...MAGNETIC LIGHTNING!

Like Cosmic Boy!

~P~
P-TOR

Other X-crazies refer to X-men stories as current events or actual history, yet refer to Darkhawk issues as “just comic books”.

Hahaha, that is hilarious. I pictured one guy asking another guy “Where were YOU when Inferno hit?” like reminescing on Pearl Harbor or 9/11.

Sadly, it's a fairly common occurrance.
But it's NOT just relegated to X-fans.

I have experience with that sort of thing from two fronts.

1st: I used to be a comic writer/artist (late 80's / early 90's) for a small indie company, churning out crap (due to no budgets and insanely tight deadlines), and as such I used to have a table in many "artist alleys" at cons, doing sketches for fans.

You wouldn't BELIEVE the people who would approach me (kids I can excuse...but the ADULTS?!) who used to ask me 'If Spider-Man was nice.' 'Why Cyclops or Wolverine wasn't the "right guy" for Jean Grey, but THEY WERE.' And 'How it IS POSSIBLE for Wolverine's skeleton to be adamantium laced.'

I even had a guy pull out blue-prints for HOW a Star Trek teleporter ACTUALLY WORKS.

2nd: I worked for a few years in an antiquarian bookshoppe / comic shoppe.

The kids (and sad adults) who used to come in there were frightening.

The best was when two yout's (eh..what a yout'?) got into a heated exchange and one guy ACTUALLY threatened the other with bodily harm from... A MAGIC CARD spell.
"I'll Chaos Orb you! Right here and Now! You'll be DEAD!"
or something along those lines.
He was positively WILD EYED!

Reminded me of that old AVENGERS (british TV) episode where the creator of a comic character "The Winged Avenger" goes off his nut, thinks he's the real deal and starts killing people... IN COSTUME.

I know I get pretty crazed about how some comics (Dr. Strange mostly) are mishandled, and nitpick over continuity errors and the like, but I KNOW it's fiction.

SOME of these fans...eh... not so much.

~P~
P-TOR

OK, the Chaos Orber is just kinda sad, but I wanna meet the guy with the Star Trek teleporter. Even if it doesn't work it's still kind of an interesting curiosity. And if does... Mmmm Boy!

Cronin

" It’s the first appearance of them being MARRIED, but it was Claremont who first came up with the concept of them being close, as he introduced the retcon of the two of them being childhood compatriots in an old Marvel Team-Up."

You sure? I've read every issue of Team-up in one format or another and I don't remember that. Storm? And Black Panther? Storm only had one major appearance in the first annual.

who decided that the pink-purple specturm = magnetic powers? Polaris is the only one who apparently missed that memo, and look what happened to her...

"Even if it doesn't work..."

Class.

BTW there was a reference to Storm/Black Panther having had a past liaison in X-Men 60 or thereabouts, iirc.

You sure? I’ve read every issue of Team-up in one format or another and I don’t remember that. Storm? And Black Panther?

It was a back-up in, I believe, issue #100.

MacQuarrie's daughter has a story about a time that she was in a computer lab, and heard a guy say, out loud, "You're lucky I don't have a fireball right now!"

That still cracks me up.

We forgot another magnetically-powered character: Goldstar!

"The best was when two yout’s (eh..what a yout’?) got into a heated exchange and one guy ACTUALLY threatened the other with bodily harm from… A MAGIC CARD spell.
“I’ll Chaos Orb you! Right here and Now! You’ll be DEAD!” or something along those lines. He was positively WILD EYED!"

ah, memories of high school!

yeah, i've seen the chaos orber types (and still see them periodically in comic book shops and card tournaments), and yeah, it's okay if you're, say, in your midteens. but when you're thirty, i mean, shit! and the sadder thing is, they think it's cool.

and it doesn't help that when they do recite incantations (and whatnot), they do them in these bellowy bassy obnoxious upper-class high school voices that i find fairly disturbing...

I'm an unabashed Legion geek, but I'm also a dirty Magneto lover. However, it was worth it to see Rokk Krinn as #1 for the 'netrage.

Magneto not at number 1???

Blasphemy!!!!

I am now going to stop reading all of your top five because you don't know what your doing. Magneto is number one. Cosmic boy takes turns leading. and his power is weak.