Legion of Substitute Heroes

Here is the updated Legion of Substitute Heroes group shot!
A group of 30th-century heroes who were denied membership into the Legion of Super-Heroes, due to their powers being deemed limited or inadequate. So they banded together to prove the Legion wrong. 

To my knowledge this is a complete group shot of the substitutes. I apologize "if" I left some character out due to my unawareness. 
For an all Legionnaires group shot you may have to wait for a while, but I'll get there eventually. You are probably asking yourself why are they wearing all legion rings? I know it's a cheat but it's looks more dynamic if some members could fly on the shot. The BG is called "Parking Structure" and was painted by Kurt Richards. I've only changed it a bit.
I'm planning to contact DC comics to see if they are interested in making a poster of this.

Feel free to comment on any of my posts, hope you all dig it.

Cheers

Urk

Urk is a former member of the Legion of Substitute Heroes and a current member of the Legion Academy. Very little is known about Urk even though he has been appearing in various Legion of Superheroes comics for almost thirty years, except this mischievous alien loves to chew on wires. The only readable word Urk has ever said is "Urk." He has also spoken an unreadable alien language, though. The BG, Sci-Fi Interior by Mark Yang was the perfect choice for a wire chewing alien. Special thanks to CA for the info on Urk, much appreciated. I believe now that I've done most of Substitute Heroes an upgraded group shot it's in order... I'm sure by now someone noticed I've been drawing nothing by ugly and obscure characters. Well, that's what happens when you get the cool and sexy ones done first. I'm still having a blast finding new challenging ways to make ugly characters look cool the best that I can. Staying "somewhat" faithful to the original comic book design it's a must for my personal taste. No worries I'll keep em' coming until I'm done with ALL of them.
Long live the Legion.

Double Header

Bam! Double whammy, double post!
Frenk and Dyvud Retzun were from Janus, a world where a species starts as conjoined twins and eventually split into two identical beings.

Double-Header has the power of having two heads with two distinct personalities. He was rejected after his tryout for the Legion of Super-Heroes and instead joined the Legion of Substitute Heroes. 

He was killed in Earth-Man's assault on the Subs, but this was never shown on-panel.

The BG, Landfall Terminal by Michael Pedro. I was influenced by Stuart Immonen's art on Double Header's expressions. 

Fortress Lad

Fortress Lad is an alien from the planet Fwang.  Because that planet is constantly besieged by meteor storms, all Fwangian boys, at puberty, gain the ability to transform themselves into metallic fortresses for the protection of others.  

He once saved the founding members of the Legion of Superheroes by transforming himself into what

would become their headquarters.

Years later this clubhouse became the Legion of Substitute Heroes headquarters. 

The BG it's from Stephan Martiniere, here is his website  http://www.martiniere.com/

Insect Queen

And to continue with the red haired Metropolitans friends of Superman, Lana Lang is the Insect Queen.

Insect Queen is a name used by several characters in the DC Universe. Originally it was used by Lana Lang, a friend to Superboy and honorary member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Her powers come from a ring that gives her the physical abilities of various insects and arachnids. In the modern era an extra-terrestrial super-villain has used the name Insect Queen. Lonna Leing of Xanthu in the 30th Century is a member of the Uncanny Amazers, existing in Reboot Legion continuity. Insect Queen was created by Otto Binder and George Papp, first appearing in Superboy #124 in 1965. 

I got the BG from www.socwall.com as a wallpaper. If I knew the name of the artist it would be here...

I added some signs to resemble Metropolis. For this piece I was inspired by my animation colleague's art Lauren Montgomery. Check out her art Blog at http://laurenmontgomery.blogspot.com/

Elastic Lad

Yup, Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen. Elastic Lad is a super-hero alter-ego used by cub reporter Jimmy Olsen. In this identity, he has the ability to stretch his body parts to incredible lengths. The transformation is caused by Elasti-Formula. He is an honorary member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. The Elastic Lad alias was created by Otto Binder and Curt Swan, first appearing in Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #31 in 1958. 

I got the BG from wall.alphacoders.com a Sci Fi wall paper site. Again, I wish I knew the name of the BG artist for the credit.

Since I've just did a Jimmy Olsen related post I thought it would be perfect to follow up with Elastic Lad. Lana Lang's next...

Jimmy Olsen vs. Matter Eater Lad

Married to the Blob is the five hundred and fortieth episode of The Simpsons and tenth episode of the twenty-fifth season. The episode was aired on January 12, 2014. Comic Book Guy realizes his comics are nothing if he can’t share them with anyone. Then he meets Kumiko, a Japanese woman writing an autobiographical manga, and he seeks out Homer’s advice on how to date her, ending happily for everyone. I was asked by Fox thru The Simpsons to design a comic book cover featuring Jimmy Olsen vs. Matter Eater Lad for this episode. Of course since I'm on a mission with the Legionnaires it was my pleasure. 

Although it appears a lot of the comic book characters' colors were intentionally wrong. It seems nowadays avoiding legal entanglements it a priority. I totally understand, but at the same time if you are gonna change what you are joking about to the point that becomes something else, it kind of defeats the purpose of parody after 20 successful years and then some.  If it was up to me, I would have colored it like the upper image, with the original characters' color. Comic book fans are the first to notice things like that, and most fans hate that sort of thing. You want them to like it, they are the majority of the audience.
I'm sure comic book fans would've appreciated it more if it wasn't so deviated from the original.

The bottom image is a screen grab of what was aired.

Is art up to the artists?

Antenna Lad

Khfeurb Chee Bez, born on the planet Grxyor, was "blessed" from birth with his unnaturally shaped ears. Antenna Lad was one of the many applicants who were on hand to try to fill the empty slot in the Legion left by the "death" of founding Legionnaire Lightning Lad. He was rejected because his power, the ability to pick up radio waves transmitted from anywhere on the plant, from the present or past was imperfect, often resulting in deafening feedback squeals. This same ability, however, brought him to the attention of the researchers at the Metropolis Time Institute, who used his power to collect ancient recordings to add to their body of historical knowledge. Later Khfeurb applied to the Legion of Substitute Heroes, and was accepted as an auxiliary member (the Subs could find little use for his abilities either, yet did not want to reject any applicant). Antenna Lad was only briefly seen in cameos after that, including an appearance at the wedding of Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel. During the "Five Years Later" storyarc, Khfeurb is shown multiple times as a newscaster with the United Planets Broadcasting Service. 

I wish I knew the name of the artist for this beautiful BG for the deserved credit. I got it from www.fantasy-writers.org 

After spending so much time with Porcupine Pete I decided to go for a more simple design here. Still got so many Legionnaires to draw...

Neon

Celeste McCauley of the 30th century is the niece of one of the galaxy's richest industrialists. She is the living embodiment of the last remnants of Green Lantern energy. She was brought back from the brink of death when that collective energy invaded her body and healed its inoperable injuries. She is also known by other aliases as Neon, Darkstar or Celeste Rockfish. One of her outfits looked like a Star Trek the Next Generation's uniform to me so I went for the emerald energy form before Darkstar on Zero Hour.  Celeste has not appeared in any other Legion timelines, but did make a brief appearance in the Legion of Three Worlds story arc, helping the Legionnaires against the Time Trapper. 

Speaking of which, the Time Trapper along Karate Kid and Dawnstar appear on a new JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time. It's a Target exclusive and it wasn't very much advertised unlike Justice League War. Of course I own it and watched it yesterday. Despite on the Karate Kid's design (not so much), the black wings? on Dawnstar  and the ginormous jaw on Sups,  I liked it, it was allright! Besides, some of my friends worked on it so good job guys!
The BG is the Nebula RCW 49 located 13,700 light years away. It is a dusty stellar nursery that contains more than 2,200 stars and is about 350 light years across. I went over it and made it green.

Porcupine Pete

Born with rough patches that eventually grew into long quills, Peter Dursin never let his appearance get him down. Loved by his caring parents and accepted warmly by his classmates, Pete tried out for the Legion with a wide smile and an ability to project his quills from his body. However, his aim was less than ideal and he was rejected. The Legion of Substitute-Heroes, however, welcomed the young man warmly into their ranks.

The BG was made by the talented Young Joons, the pose was based on a stock photo at http://daestock.deviantart.com/  they have a great array of reference poses there. It toke me a little longer than usual on this one, I was debating between simplification or detail. Clearly I went for detail since this won't be used for any animation shows...that I know of. The quills where a bit time consuming. I was trying to add elements from a real porcupine. Eventually I'll add it to the group shot I've posted previously. More legionnaires coming soon, stay tuned.

Fire Lad

Staq Malvern came to Earth in the latter part of the 30th Century from his native planet Shwar, to apply for membership in the Legion of Super Heroes. His power to breathe fire, acquired after inhaling the fumes of a weird meteor was considered too dangerous and he was rejected. Calling himself Fire Lad, he became one of the 5 Legion rejects to form the Legion of Substitute Heroes. I got the BG from www.e-cigarette-forum.com and I've painted over it just a bit.
Maybe this design is an amalgam of the original with some elements of the latest one. I gave him a ring so he can fly, besides it would look great on my next Legion of Substitute Heroes group shot, oops spoiler alert!

Chlorophyll Kid

Ral Benem came to Earth in the latter half of the 30th Century from his native world of Mardru to apply for membership in the Legion of Super Heroes. His power to stimulate plant growth, acquired when he accidentally fell into a tank of hydroponic serum as a child, was pronounced inadequate and he was rejected. He also claims that he has the ability to communicate with plants, which he cannot. He is a founding member of the Legion of Substitute-Heroes. For the background I went over a photograph named Spirit Garden by Marc Adamus. Notice I've changed the regular tree on his chest for the Celtic Tree of Life. I thought it would be more meaningful and look much nicer than what I've seen. Now, for an animated show it would have to be simplified unless it's CG, no problem with details there.  For reference and inspiration on this character I looked at the original version and many artists like Ryan Ottley, Humberto Ramos and Dusty Able.

Laurel Kent

Laurel Kent was created in 1976 by writer Jim Shooter and artist Mike Grell for a Legion story called "Future Shock for Superboy." She was the first direct descendant of Superman to appear in DC's 30th century universe. Laurel Kent of Earth was a young woman who happened to be the 30th century direct descendant of Superman. She first introduced herself to a teenage Superboy, then a prominent member of the Legion of Super-Heroes, as 'Elna' (an anagram of "Lane," the surname of Superman's wife Lois Lane). Superboy was initially quite attracted to her, until he discovered to his embarrassment that they were related.  The only super-power Laurel had inherited from her Kryptonian 20th-century ancestor was that of invulnerability, which she demonstrated by absorbing a full-strength energy blast from the Legionnaire Wildfire without suffering even the slightest injury. Because of her invulnerability, she had little need for clothing and favored skimpy outfits (essentially black bikinis, sometimes accessorized with a Superman-like red cape) that reflected this fact. Her only vulnerability was to Kryptonite, due to her Kryptonian heritage. Laurel was given extensive combat training by the Legion Academy, where she learned to take full advantage of her invulnerability as a fighter. Because her body was indestructible, Laurel could hit much harder than a normal human despite lacking her ancestor's super-strength. She could also operate in extreme combat conditions and dangerous environments that few others could enter. 

The BG Cloud City 2 is by Valdek Laur. I've only painted a little over it and made it less realistic.

Chemical Kid

Chemical Kid is presently starring in the ongoing Legion of Superheroes series since the rebooted DC universe in the new 52. Hardu Jamik's father, a wealthy businessman on his homeworld of Phlon, synthesized the abilities of the deceased Legionnaire known as Chemical King. Mr Jamik used his own son as a guinea pig with successful result in order to allow his son to play super-hero and become famous. Chemical Kid enrolled at the Legion Academy with the goal to become a famous Legionnaire. He quickly garnered a reputation amongst the staff for being spoiled and a troublemaker for constantly disobeying orders to go out and spend his father's money. Like previous Legionnaire Chemical King, Chemical Kid has the unique ability among his people to accelerate, slow down, or manipulate natural chemical reactions in both objects and living beings. When accelerating his own metabolism with his powers, Hadru is able to move with super-human speed and reflexes.This post is a lot more than just another legionnaire pretty picture. For the BG I thought it would be appropriate to use chemtrails. By touching this topic I don't mean to start a debate and will not tolerate to be insulted or ridiculed, so to those possible folks I say this: if you post anything in a negative connotation in regards to this serious issue your post will be deleted. There is still controversy about chemtrails believe it or not. Those who believe chemtrails are part of a global geoengineering program are immediately and wrongly called conspiracy theorists. There's still people that don't have a clue what a chemtrail is and there are those who will argue chemtrails are the same as contrails. Some good hearted folks may ask the classic why would the government do that or lie to us? But the reality is chemtrails are very real and you can see them in the sky with your own eyes. My "personal" opinion based on my own research is, chemtrails are a co-military operation with the purpose of modifying weather and other hidden agendas. From many different independent sources chemtrails are composed by barium, nano aluminum-coated fiberglass, radioactive thorium, cadmium, chromium, nickel, desiccated blood, mold spores, yellow fungal mycotoxins, ethylene dibromide, and polymer fibers. Now for those who believe this serious issue is a hoax, either they have been greatly blinded and conditioned  with disinformation or they have been planted strategically to spread disinformation with the goal of keeping people confused and to look the other way. 
Here are some links that may be helpful to educate yourself about this topic:
www.geoengineeringwatch.org

www.collective-evolution.com

http://rense.com/general79/chem.htm

http://www.rense.com/general11/chemtrailproveit.htm

http://www.stopsprayingcalifornia.com/

http://www.thrivemovement.com/chemtrails

http://www.infowars.com/chemtrails

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf0khstYDLA

http://www.whyintheworldaretheyspraying.com/

http://beforeitsnews.com/chemtrails/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSGD9mkt0Ss

http://www.geoengineeringwatch.org/chemtrailproof

http://www.fromthetrenchesworldreport.com/hard-proof-chemtrails

http://www.whale.to/b/chemtrails66.html

Flederweb

A Khundish boy born on the planet Aetia, the unnamed Flederweb was one of many experimental test subjects for the Khund army. He was given enhancements that changed his physiology, giving him bat-like wings and the ability to cling to walls. Dubbed Flederweb, he was forced into service in the Khund army against his will. To ensure the bitter Khund boy wouldn't rebel, he was fitted with a mind-controlling device that telepathically forced him to obey his orders by the military. He went on to become a fine bounty hunter for them with his acrobatic and aerial skills. Flederweb was chosen as one of the four Khund warriors to join the Legion of Super-Heroes in an assault to defeat the sorcerer Mordru and his undead minions. I based this pose after some Arthur Adams art, one of my many comic book heroes and source of inspiration. The BG it's from wall.alphacoders.com.

I've enjoyed working on this character, he looks so cool. It almost has that Guillermo del Toro quality to it.

Calamity King

Calamity King aka E. Davis Ester was born on Touston and eventually realized that he was the source of everyone's bad luck. He was a walking jinx and decided to try to put his powers to good use. During the Imperiex campaign, he applied for membership to the Legion of Superheroes as Calamity King. He was rejected because his powers created an equal amount of danger for his allies and enemies, alike. Powers: Bad Luck. Calamity King has the power to cause bad luck both physically or mentally to those around him. His bad luck effects both the animate and inanimate objects. It appears he has no control over this effect. The BG Sci Fi City 02 was made by Nkabuto, found it at his Deviant Art page. I went over it since it was a little more rough than what I usually use for backgrounds, nevertheless I still like the rough state and somehow feels right for Calamity King.

Try not to look at this image for too long just in case, it may bring you bad luck, who knows...

Animal Lad

Real name Ennis Jahnson from Metropolis. He had one appearance which lasted about 2 pages so his stats are obviously speculative. I’ve refrained from giving him the default “all 2s across the board”, choosing instead to treat him as if he were a beginning PC who could’ve been a Legionnaire, if things had been different.
I’ve assumed, given the Legion’s setting, that his Transform Power (from Blood of Heroes : Special Edition) can turn people into non-Terran animals, a slightly more limited form of the “can be imaginary animals” — he can turn people into alien animals, but not mythical ones. 
The BG is from a Mexican architects group name Buba Arquitectos. I went over it and added some FX.

Sensor

A serpentine member of the Legion of Super-Heroes who appeared during the first reboot of DC's 30th-century universe, now known as Earth-247. She has the power to project intensely realistic illusions and is an alternate version of Projectra (Sensor Girl) from main Legion continuity.

Jeka Wynzorr was the princess of the planet Orando, a world populated by a ruling class of large intelligent snakes and an underclass of small, raccoon-like mammals. However, she renounced her heritage to travel the galaxy, using her illusion-casting powers to disguise herself as a humanoid to avoid attention.
The BG is from www.opserver.de and I wish I knew the name of the author for the deserved credit.
I thought it was a good match for Sensor's color palette. 

Kid Quantum II

I've originally pencilled this piece months ago and forgot to finish it.

The original Kid Quantum, James Cullen of Xanthu, joined the Legion of Super-Heroes during its first week. His ability to generate stasis fields received an artificial boost from his stasis belt. During the Legion's first mission, he died battling the alien entity Tangleweb, his malfunctioning belt partly to blame. This tragedy prompted the Legion to deny membership to those whose powers relied on external devices. Before long Jazmin Cullen, Jamie's sister, joined the Legion. As Kid Quantum II, she wielded the same powers as her brother, but underwent experimental surgery to augment her powers instead of relying on stasis belt. The radical surgery boosted her natural abilities to project time and reality-altering status fields.

I found this background at www.hqwally.blogspot.com, the colors kind of match her outfit.

Atmos

Marak Russen is from the plant Xanthu . When the ruling Tribune of Xanthu determined that Star Boy's departure from that planet left them at a loss, the planet's top geneticists were ordered to develop a new resident super-hero. They chose a former child actor and amateur athelte, Mark Russen, as the most likely candidate, one already known and popular who would be likely to survive the procedure. The Xanthian scientists hoped to recreate Star Boy's temporary super-powers by replicating the comet radiation that had once accidently given him abilities on the level of Superboy or Mon-El. The experiment proved unstable and gave Marak super-powers but not the super-powers he expected. Marak Russen renamed himself Atmos and was housed in high style and given the best promotion the Xanthian media could provide. His public appearance program and holovised battles so endeared him to the Xanthian people.Atmos then went on to join the Uncanny Amazers, a superhero group that protected the planet Xanthu, in the 30th century. Aside from the physical advantages he has from his inherent alien physiology he is a peak athlete. After the experimentation he was basically a human nuclear reactor. Atmos has a number of nuclear powers including super-human strength, flight and a special inhibitor field which gives him partial invulnerability to both physical and energy attacks  and the ability to survive exposure to interplanetary space without a transsuit. Atmos' suit also provides him with the ability to project nuclear bolts from his hands. These bolts can melt metals as well as metalliccompounds and generate an electro-magnetic field capable of disrupting electrical machines and what not.Atmos does not have any real training in hand-to-hand combat but does have a vast array of athletic training as well as an athletic physique.The BG was made by Ali Ries in 2009. The pose was borrowed and modified after Art Adams awesomeness.

Lori Morning Aliases

And one for the Legion homies. Lori Morning, yes the little girl in the middle, transforms into many different superheroes by using the Dial-H disc. She helped the Legion of Super Heroes many times by using the dial. Click on the link below to educate yourself about the character if you are interested:

 http://www.comicvine.com/lori-morning/4005-12849/ 

The Dial H for Hero is about a mysterious dial that enables an ordinary person to become a superhero for a short time, by selecting the letters H-E-R-O in order. Each time it is used, the dial causes its possessor to become a superhero with a different name, costume, and powers. These superheroes are usually new, but on one occasion the dial caused its user to become a duplicate of an existing superhero, Plastic Man. Some versions of the dial contain additional letters, allowing other kinds of transformations. Lori Morning is the Legion of Super Heroes version of the Dial-H. The original series debuted in House of Mystery #156 January 1966. The art was by Jim Mooney with scripts by Dave Wood.

I thought it would be a good idea to place all the characters together for a group shot after all that hard work. The BG it's from Halo 4 titled Hologram Room by the amazing artist Paul Pepera. I modified it enough so it fits my characters better.

Hope you like it, cheers.

Blobetta

And finally Blobetta, my last Lori Morning alias from the Dial-H device.
It was the most challenging character to design so far, specially since all I could find for reference was only one comic panel. It's so awkward and ugly. I did my best to make it look somewhat decent.
Since Lori had a thing for Rond Vidar, notice his picture on the wall. This BG I found on www.myunva.com and I changed some elements and color to pop out her silhouette.
It feels good to finish all her aliases, that's a good way to start 2014.
Before I decided to begin drawing every Legionnaire that ever was, I had no idea there where so many.
I thought maybe 50 characters the most. I couldn't be more wrong, there is at least over 150 including all Lori Morning aliases. Reboot, threeboot etc etc, might seem difficult to accomplish but not impossible. I have a good feeling something good may come out of this Legion of Super Heroes marathon, hopefully before the 30th Century.
Geting to express my creativity freely without any producer telling what to do it's the best feeling in the world as an artist. Also a good reminder to the world I don't only draw The Simpsons for a living. I'm very versatile style wise. Enough said, more real Legionnaires on the way...
Btw, a very heartfelt thanks for those few that actually read my posts.