Or – “Living Proof That Some Questions DO NOT Need To Be Asked. Ever…”
One of the side-effects of writing a series in the future is having to fake it. Legion writers not only have to come up with a decent superhero plot; not only have to utilize 16 to 25 superheroes with varying levels of power; not only have to explain why Mon-El and Tom Welling don’t tear off the villains arms, cauterize the wounds with heat vision, and beat them insensate with their stumps; they have to create an entire culture out of whole cloth. Future fashion, architecture, technology, even hairstyles must be guessed at, and 0ver the 50 years of Legion the creators have done a pretty good job showing us a utopian future, and barring the occasional Phantom Girl bell-bottom pants, Dawnstar’s hippie headband or early 80′s Sun Boy Tom Selleck hair, they’ve done a credible job of it. Unfortunately, the prevailing wisdom (and I use the term loosely) of the 50′s and 60′s comic books made the appearance of black skin a no-no. When the time finally came to unveil the Legion’s first black member, somebody in DC’s offices felt the need to explain why we had never seen someone of that skin-tone in the (presumably) color-blind utopian future. Their response, while probably good-intentioned, was arguably more racist than the policies that kept dark skins out of the stories in the first place. My intent with our Hero Histories has always been to explain what makes each of the Legionnaires heroes, to dissect what makes them tick and give you a glimpse into what makes them awesome. Though I chose today’s entry because of his shorter tenure, I accidentally gave myself the biggest challenge of my Hero History career… But, fortune favors the bold (and also the ridiculously stupid) so it’s time to touch upon one of the Legion’s lesser-known members. This, then, is your Major Spoilers Hero History of Troy Stewart of Marzal Island… Tyroc!
