That curly hair, man. The first Aqualad has the same fandom.
ELEMENT LAD (Jan Arrah, aka Alchemist, Progenitor)
Created By: Edmond Hamilton & John Forte
First Appearance: Adventure Comics #307 (April 1963)
Home Planet: Trom
Origin of Powers: Racial Abilities
Eras: All Three
Relationships: Shvaughn Erin, Triplicate Girl (Threeboot)
Role: Team Leader, Pretty Boy, Uber-Powerful Guy
PL 12 (294)
STRENGTH 2
STAMINA 4
AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 7
DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 3
AWARENESS 4
PRESENCE 4
Skills:
Athletics 3 (+5)
Deception 2 (+6)
Expertise (Space Hero) 5 (+8)
Expertise (Science) 5 (+8)
Insight 2 (+6)
Intimidation 2 (+6)
Investigation 2 (+6)
Perception 2 (+6)
Persuasion 3 (+7)
Technology 3 (+6)
Vehicles 1 (+5)
Advantages:
Equipment 10 (Legion Gear), Leadership, Ranged Attack 2, Set-Up, Teamwork
Powers:
"Trommite Physiology"
Transform 18 (100 tons- Anything to Anything) (Extras: Perception Range +2, Continuous) [144]
"Detect Chemical Make-Up" Senses 3 (Detect Chemicals- Analytical) [3]
"Air to Solid Elements" Create 12 (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Continuous) (37) -- [41]
- AE: "Costume/Air to Solids" Snare 8 (Extras: Perception Range) (32)
- AE: "Robots to Semi-Solid Blobs" Weaken Toughness 12 (Extras: Perception Range +2) (36)
- AE: "Make Space Into Air" Immunity 2 (Suffocation 2) (Extras: Affects Others, Area) (6)
- AE: "Air into Helium" Affliction 10 (Fort; Dazed/Fatigued/Asleep) (Extras: Ranged, Area- 30ft. Burst) (30)
Equipment:
"Legion Gear"
"Telepathic Ear Plug" Comprehend 3 (Languages) (6)
"Legion Flight Ring"
Flight 7 (250 mph) (14)
Immunity 7 (Hot, Cold, Vacuum, Pressure, Radiation, Suffocation 2) (7)
Movement 1 (Space Travel 1) (2)
Communication 5 (Flaws: Fifth Rank is only towards Legionnaires) (18)
Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Snare -- (+8 Affliction, DC 18)
Melt Stuff -- (+12 Weaken, DC 22)
Initiative +4
Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +9 (DC 19), Toughness +4, Fortitude +5, Will +7
Complications:
Relationship (Shvaughn Erin)- The Science Police Liaison to the Legion is quite close with Jan. And by "close" I mean they are totally doing it.
Responsibility (The Last Trommite Alive)- Jan's entire race was wiped out by Roxxas the Butcher (Daxamites in the Reboot continuity).
Total: Abilities: 64 / Skills: 30--15 / Advantages: 15 / Powers: 188 / Defenses: 12 (294)
Silver Age Element Lad:
-Element Lad has been a recurring Legion character since the early days, usually with some form of "E" on his chest, along with a variety of pink. With the ability to change ANYTHING into ANYTHING, he basically got focus every time the writers needed to have one guy just walk in and save the entire day by himself (though he often went under-used for a long time, until Paul Levitz or somebody realized how effective his power could be). Probably the cast of writers either not recognizing how powerful he really was until it was too late, or other writers just going NUTS with the insane capabilities of a guy who could do almost anything- though he never really did it to living beings. He was powerful enough that his entire race was written out in all three versions of continuity, and I get the impression that a lot of writers were a combination of annoyed at having to deal with him, or happy to have him around to just change the elemental composition of Daxam to include more lead once in a while.
-His best stuff aside from his Team Leader days in the mid-80s was whenever he encountered the guy who murdered HIS ENTIRE RACE. Yes, there was once an entire PLANET of people with massive Transmutation abilities. Element Lad nearly killed him once, but realized the error of his ways (when Chemical King made it LOOK like Element Lad had offed the bastard), so the guy kept showing up in various states of misery as a result of his crimes, being tortured by the ghosts of the people he'd slain.
-Jan is a beloved Legionnaire, and becomes Deputy Leader for several Levitz-era stories, eventually getting a costume that lacks the "E", but features an arrow pointing from his junk to his face. He engaged in a serious relationship with the Science Police liaison to the Legion, Shvaughn Erin, for a number of years, and was one of the more stoic, serious Legionnaires. He becomes Legion leader once, but quits and goes away to re-center himself. When Shvaughn turns out to be "Sean", Jan says "what we shared physically was in SPITE of the Profem (sex-changing drugs), not BECAUSE of it", confirming to many the long-held belief that the pink-clad, curly-coiffed Jan Arrah was a homosexual all along. It reads to me like he was MOSTLY gay, but loved Shvaughn as an "If it's you, it's okay" deal, but then was like "oh yay!". Or he was always asexual, and loved Shvaughn anyways, and didn't care WHICH sex she was.
-This verison of Jan eventually faded out with the others- he'd met his "SW6" clone by this point, but was largely away from the rest of the Legion during the "Five Years Later" era. The clone took the name "Alchemist".
Later Element Lads:
-His post-
Zero Hour "Reboot" days again made him the sole survivor of Trom- here, they had been killed by the Daxamite "White Triangle" terrorists. Traumatized, Jan had become the villainous "Starfinger" (... really?), but eventually joined the Legion. A battle against Mordru sees Jan gain further power, transforming his OWN chemical composition as well as that of other elements. However, the character ends up going "Dark Phoenix"- he's lost in space for billions of years, going insane and becoming "The Projenitor". Much like Hank Hall & Hal Jordan did around the same time... DC was kind of in a rut there, Dark Phoenixing all their heroes out. Jan is eventually killed by Live Wire, who also dies in the process- he later reappears using Element Lad's biological body as a place for his spirit. Before this plot could be resolved, continuity was again rebooted in 2004.
-The "Threeboot" era Element Lad has to touch objects in order to transmute them, and is againt the sole survivor of his lost homeworld. This version finds physical fights "Barbaric" and crushes on Triplicate Girl, but is killed by Superboy-Prime in
Legion of Three Worlds, getting a Kryptonite rock (which he'd formed around the villain) thrown through his body. He was last seen being sent to save the 21st Century by R.J. Brande.
Element Lad's Remarkable Powers:
-Another pricey Legionnaire, but that'll happen when you're written halfway competent AND you possess one of the most powerful abilities in the game- he can Trasmute a TON of stuff from Perception Range, ensnare people (he turned a dude's clothes to a big rubbery trap once), help others breathe in space, Create Objects (just turning the air into diamond or some junk), and melt Robots basically by looking at them (Perception-Range Weaken). He's theoretically unbeatable at full-power, but is noticeably suffering from "Glass Cannon" syndrome, and can be taken out by just some dude with a brick in his hand. Though note that he's one of the very few Legionnaires who could f-up Superboy in a straight-up fight: he can turn stuff into KRYPTONITE at-will. Not to mention what he did to three billion Daxamites- turning their entire atmosphere to a few parts lead per million owned pretty much ALL OF THEM- it's a lot of mass, but he can spend a Hero Point and over-do it if necessary.
-Post-Zero Hour Jan had the ability to transmute HIMSELF (basically gaining Shapeshift- Limited to Singular Elements), and also well full-bore crazy, and the Threeboot version was de-powered into changing stuff only temporarily, and by touch only, but all the later versions lack Original Continuity Jan's charisma and leadership abilities.