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    DC

    Hero History: Gear

    Matthew PetersonBy Matthew PetersonAugust 10, 2008Updated:February 13, 20117 Comments11 Mins Read

    Or – “Robot ROLL CALL!“

    The concept of “the bright and shiny future” is the key behind the popularity of the Legion over the years, but what that future entails has changed with each decade.  What started as a bunch of squeaky-clean teens in an upturned rocket ship had to evolve with the changing times, as the kids of the Legion and the readership aged.  When the Legion was rebooted in the 1990’s, the strange future where everybody was clean-cut and had a nice stable family upbringing had finally been thrown aside, and we got to see the Legionnaires recast in roles that were more like the other heroes of the age.  In that vein came today’s entrant, a hero whose powers were oh-so-90’s, the mecha-empath, a technokinetic hero who served as a sort of Swiss army superhero for the Legion’s slicing-dicing-and-even-cutting-tin-cans-with-it hours of need.  Though his time with the team was short, he nonetheless was a change of pace for the Legion, and at least his powers (thank Rao) didn’t come from freakin’ nanites.  (Bloodshot!  I’m lookin’ at you, pally!)  This, then, is your Major Spoilers Hero History of I.Z.O.R. of Linsnar…  Gear!

    Ge1.jpg

    The story of Gear begins in a rather ugly place, the Blackstar Juvenile Correction Facility, an internment camp for young superhumans who use their powers in ways that Number Two would describe as “unmutual.”  Himself having been captured, Gear has acquiesed to acting as official comptroller and central processing unit for the prison and it’s more than just a little bit unscrupulous middle-managment suckups.  The day that would change Gear’s life came when serpentine Legionnaire Sensor (known pre-Crisis as Princess Projectra) was brought to Blackstar for trumped-up crimes…

    Ge2.jpg

    To say that Gear controls the security systems to capture Projectra would be less than honest.  He IS the security systems that capture her, without regard to whether or not she actually belongs there, or indeed has actually DONE anything.  When Projectra insists that he explain himself, Gear has the simplest reasoning of all…

    Ge3.jpg

    Well, that certain is the remark that I would expect from a tool…  (Also, the Linsnerians have an interesting series of deities, including their all-mother, the goddess of emo, face paint, and vinyl fetish clothing.)  In any case, Gear’s “chust follvink orders” routines has very little to do with reality, as Gear had long been troubled by the cruelty at Blackstar, and had set up a rather complex (and smartly subtle) plan to free the inmates from the whiphands of dictatorial bureaucrats.  Once we figures out how useful Sensor’s powers will be, he spills the beans to her…

    Ge4.jpg

    The Warden doesn’t realize the economy-sized can of whupass that he’s opened until the fully trained Legionnaire with the fangs and the creature that he, himself, has trusted with all the operating functions of the station lead the prisoners in an uprising that would make Patrick McGoohan proud.  Gear’s machinations (no pun intended) were such that he himself had to be damaged beyond a certain point before his escape plans could be set into motion, leaving him as a martyr…

    Ge5.jpg

    …or rather, WOULD have left him a martyr, if Sensor wasn’t close personal buddies with the latest, greatest mind of the planet Colu, known for it’s mastery of cybernetics and artificial life forms.  Brainiac 5 manages to fix Gear with ease, and even whips up a little jogging suit to show off his chiseled (literally) abs and point at his belly button from both directions.  Introduced to the Legion, Gear can’t help but try to get involved, as Ultra Boy claims that his gaming console has been tampered with…

    Ge6.jpg

    Gear finds that something strange IS afoot with the Playstation 1,210, but before he can do anything, he is rushed off by Brainiac 5 with his usual tactfulness.  Gear may be artificial, but he’s not at all interested in being Brainy’s personal cyber-guinea-pig.

    Ge7.jpg

    Almost immediately afterward, the Legion was attacked by The Blight, and several of their members lost far outside the boundaries of the universe as we know it, a Legion lost for some time.  While the team was gone (even the members left in the United Planets couldn’t get around due to the collapse of the stargate systems) R.J. Brande set about making sure that the Legion wasn’t gone for good.  And who did he grab for his first recruit?

    Ge8.jpg

    It should be pretty obvious the honor that was bestowed on Gear here, but for those of you in the cheap seats, I shall elaborate.  The father.  Of the frickin’ Legion.  Chose him to be the first member of a new version thereof.  Gear’s abilities are impressive enough, but when it comes to R.J.’s next big plan, he’s flat-out awe-inspring: the creation of homeworld habitats for all the LSHers.

    Ge9.jpg

    We don’t see the new outpost that Gear and Brande have created, except from the inside, and the Legion is quickly thrown into action against Ra’s Al Ghul’s plot to kickstart human evolution using his “Terrorforms.”  During that mission, Earth’s moon is nearly wrested from it’s orbit, and Gear has to take immediate action, breaking through the illusions of Sensor and debuting his creation… LEGION WORLD!

    Ge10.jpg

    Al Ghul counterattacks, and for a moment it seems like the Legion World is destroyed, but Gear’s handiwork is a little too sturdy to be taken down that easily.

    Ge11.jpg

    It’s nice to see somebody getting one over on Brainiac (even if it did take too of them to do it.  Gear streamlines quickly into the Legion, quickly becoming the go-to guy for technical issues, allowing Brainiac 5 to spend his time on the big thinking that he does so well.  Gear even manages to show off a somewhat dry sense of humor…

    Ge12.jpg

    The Legion manages (barely) to overcome the threat of the Terrorforms, only to immediately be faced with the hordes of Robotica.  On what they think is a routine fact finding mission, the Legion ends up facing down hard-light holograms of the Justice League of America, with fully accurate powers and personalities.  We already saw Shikari take down the goddamn Batman, but Gear finds himself even more mismatched, as he crosses emerald swords with Kyle Rayner, the goddamn Green Lantern.

    Ge13.jpg

    Gear surmises that, if the computer core of Robotica has the ability to create replicas of the JLA, that perhaps it will go the distance, and make sure that the heroes act heroic, and true to form, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman will not attack a downed foe.  While the rest of the team fights with their fists, Gear manages to tap into the computer and fight with his impressive neural net…

    Ge14.jpg

    The Legionnaires take full advantage of the ability to speak with the mind of Warworld, finding out the basics of the attack, and looking for the upper hand…

    Ge15.jpg

    The team overcomes Robotica (which turns out to be Brainiac’s old creation Computo in a new guise) and tries to settle down to a normal life.  Normal, of course, being a subjective term, as they are immediately hit by menace after menace, even facing the last scion of the Fourth World himself.  When the Legion needs intel on Darkseid, Gear manages to crack the JLA’s ancient files, the information in which has been hidden for thousands of years, and do it in record time.

    Ge16.jpg

    The Legionnaires manage to defeat Darkseid, thanks to the interaction of TWO different sons of Krypton (Kal El and Kon El) and Kon joins their team soon after.  After another mission for the away team, Gear teams up with the artist known in another universe as Bouncing Boy to take care of the most dangerous mission of all: cleanup.

    Ge18.jpg

    In the hopes of shortening their torture (and I’ve cleaned the restrooms in a comic book store, I totally feel Chuck’s pain) Gear and Mr. Taine release a strange biological organism from Brainiac 5’s lab, only to find that the creature is quicker than they thought.  Chuck panicks, just a bit, at the thought of having endangered civilization to speed up his mopping time, and the duo sets out to find the blob again.

    Ge20.jpg

    Gear finds himself in a new role, as the perfect straight man to Bouncing Boy’s Lou Costello.  “I heard your cousin runs a Moopsball team…”  Heh.  The terrible twosome head to Kon-El’s room, and convince the erstwhile Kryptonian that this creature is, in fact, HIS fault, and that he needs to use his tactile telekinesis to pull everyone’s tasty organic fat out of the proverbial fire.

    Ge21.jpg

    I love how Gear completely misses the point of “subtle,”here.  The Linsnerian Legionnaire, along with the kid who drinks scientific experiments out of negligence and the kid who was cloned from the world’s most popular slash fiction subjects, finally catch up to the nanocreature, and (thanks to Kon’s 20th century microbial load) kill it in the shell…

    Ge23.jpg

    The Legion tries, once again, to return to normal, only to find that Singularity (a creature from the Second Galaxy who beat the Lost Legionnaires around the firmament months ago) has returned, in command of an interstellar ethnic cleansing squad called the Credo.  ALL the Legionnaires leap into action to take down the Credo, and Gear uses his techno-ogranic powers to destroy their fighter drones.

    Ge24.jpg

    More and more throughout his tenure, Gear finds himself on monitor duty, the central command post for the Legionnaires in the field, coordinating their battles and providing the intelligence they need, like a post-modern Oracle with a fauxhawk…

    Ge25.jpg

    Gear and his Legion eventually found themselves dealing with an interdimensional crisis of epic proportions, when the Fatal Five finally managed to crack the barriers between dimensions (the Persuader just cut through them with his axe) and teamed up with… um… themselves to become the Fatal Five HUNDRED.  Thanks to the involvement of the 20th Century Teen Titans, the team was able to battle them off, but they were still massively outnumbered, forcing most of the team to fight while Brainiac 5, Invisible Kid and Gear serached for a way to reverse the universe-shattering effects.

    Ge26.jpg

    Gear’s fears turn out to be correct, but he still goes along with the team in their desperate plan.  They manage to find a way to reverse the effects, but only ONE of the teams is going to be able to get home to their own reality…  Kon-El makes the decision to send his Titan pals home, and the Legionnaires do what Legionnaires do: fight on when all hope is lost.

    Ge27.jpg

    Gear pushes the button, and the Fatal Five Hundred (or, honestly, 495 of ’em) start disappearing from our space-time continuum.  Unfortunately, after the Titans get sent home (or at least within a dozen or so years of home) the LSH, including Gear, are stuck in the timestream.  Shikari is separated from her friends, but the rest of the Legion simply grabs each other and holds on tight.  Gear and his entire team disappear from Shikari’s vision, as Mon-El reminds her of the truth of being a Legionnaire…

    Ge28.jpg

    Gear and his team DID eventually make it home, or someplace like it (Earth 247, if memory serves) but that story remains mostly untold.  Suffice to say that in his short tenure, Gear made an impression as a fun-loving hero, someone who could joke with his friends and partners, but when the chips fell, was all business.  His powers made him instrumental in bringing the Legion back from the edge of disaster more than once, and the courage that he showed throughout his career made him more than worthy of the title of Legionnaire.  Initially claiming that he was nothing but a tool, not reponsible for his actions, Gear made the step to thinking being, and made the right choices, using his abilities to help others and to support the Legion every way he could, even though it often meant working in a support role, with no chance for personal glory or credit…  And that is the act of a true hero.

    1HH_1.jpg

    **If you’ve enjoyed this Hero History, you might want to ‘Read All About It’ at your Local Major Spoilers! Our previous Major Spoilers Hero Histories include:

    Andromeda
    Blok
    Bouncing Boy
    Brainiac 5
    Chameleon Boy
    Chemical King
    Colossal Boy
    Dawnstar
    Dream Girl
    Duo Damsel
    Element Lad
    Ferro Lad
    Gates
    Invisible Kid
    Invisible Kid II
    Karate Kid
    Kid Quantum
    Kinetix
    Kent Shakespeare
    Lightning Lass
    Magnetic Kid
    Magno
    Matter-Eater Lad
    Mon-El
    Monstress
    Phantom Girl
    Princess Projectra
    Quislet
    Sensor Girl
    Shadow Lass
    Shikari
    Shrinking Violet
    Star Boy
    Supergirl
    Sun Boy
    Tellus
    Thunder
    Timber Wolf
    Triplicate Girl
    Tyroc
    Ultra Boy
    The White Witch
    Wildfire
    XS

    Or you can just click “Hero History” in the “What We Are Writing About” section on the main page… Collect ’em all!  In our next outing, it’s back to the Five Year Gap, for some emerald pyrotechnics from the kid name Xao…  Join us for the brief Legion career of Dragonmage!

    Array Central Processing Unit Chameleon Chameleon Boy Change Of Pace Comptroller Correction Facility Damsel Dream Girl Family Upbringing HERO ins Internment Camp Invisible Kid Juvenile Correction Karate Kid Kent Shakespeare Kid Quantum Kinetix Lad Mecha Phantom Girl Princess Projectra Quantum Lightning Readership Recast rocket ship Roll Call Security Systems Shrinking Violet Stable Family Star Boy Supergirl superhero Superhumans Swiss Army Timber Wolf Tin Cans Triplicate Girl Ugly Place White Witch
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    Matthew Peterson
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    Once upon a time, there was a young nerd from the Midwest, who loved Matter-Eater Lad and the McKenzie Brothers... If pop culture were a maze, Matthew would be the Minotaur at its center. Were it a mall, he'd be the Food Court. Were it a parking lot, he’d be the distant Cart Corral where the weird kids gather to smoke, but that’s not important right now... Matthew enjoys body surfing (so long as the bodies are fresh), writing in the third person, and dark-eyed women. Amongst his weaponry are such diverse elements as: Fear! Surprise! Ruthless efficiency! An almost fanatical devotion to pop culture! And a nice red uniform.

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    7 Comments

    1. Baal on August 11, 2008 11:22 am

      That’s a lot of histories in a short period of time. Is someone remembering to move from the computer chair every omce in a while to avoid sores?

      Reply
    2. Rodrigo on August 11, 2008 2:56 pm

      THERE WAS A GIANT SNAKE LEGIONARE!?

      WHY WASN’T I INFORMED OF THIS!?

      Reply
    3. Matthew Peterson on August 11, 2008 3:04 pm

      If you read your Hero Histories, you’d already KNOW it!!!!

      Looks like she’s a cobra, too.

      Reply
    4. Matthew Peterson on August 11, 2008 3:06 pm

      That’s a lot of histories in a short period of time. Is someone remembering to move from the computer chair every omce in a while to avoid sores?

      I actually usually do my writing from a comfy loveseat, or slung across the bed, actually.

      Which, now that I mention it, puts my tendonitis problems in a whole new light…

      Reply
    5. Bob S. on August 11, 2008 6:02 pm

      I am trying to think, did the Legion version 2.0, did any of them every use what was in their belt pouches besides Brainy?

      Reply
    6. Matthew Peterson on August 11, 2008 7:10 pm

      I recall Chameleon pulling an inflatable raft out of his at one point…

      Reply
    7. UltraMatt on August 12, 2008 12:55 am

      these hero histories actually are my first real exposure to the Legion (which makes me feel bad I never read more comic books). I’m amazed by the amount of research you must do!

      Reply

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