The Legion of Super-Heroes' biggest birthday boy is in the spotlight today...Gim Allon, Colossal Boy. Superman co-creator, Jerry Siegel, was joined by Jim Mooney on Action Comics #267 (Aug, 1960). This issue gave us our first tiny glimpse at the team's gentle giant. Gim, a former Science Police cadet, was at the SP academy on Mars when he was exposed to a strange meteor. From that day forward, Allon could grow to tremendous heights (with titanic strength to match). He left the force to join the LSH, and served as the teams steady, reliable enforcer.
Despite being "colossal", Gim was often overshadowed in the series. That said, there are a few facts that make him stand apart. His mother, Marte, was one of the few Legion parents to be a major supporting character (in her role as President of Earth). Gim was tricked into a wedding with his longtime crush Shrinking Violet, only to discover she was secretly a Durlan shape shifter named Yera. Forgiving her deception, the two share a happy marriage. Most importantly, he was one of the first comic characters to be established as Jewish.
Like nearly every Legionnaire, he was rebooted several times. In the post Zero Hour incarnation, Gim was codenamed Leviathan. This version was slain by the Emerald Eye. More recently, in the Mark Waid scripted Threeboot (third reboot), Allon came from a race of giants (created by a Bizzaro Brainiac). His power, was the ability to shrink to normal human size. As such, he dubbed himself Micro Lad. Since then, DC has returned to (more or less) the original Legion, and Colossal Boy is still growing strong.
Tomorrow, the one true KING OF THE SEA (haters better recognize)...
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