8 March 2022
Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations is a Trekkie credo.
We use it poetically, of course. As an engineer and a scientist, I know that human beings cannot exhibit infinite diversity, because there are only a finite number of us. And frankly, some combinations just can’t work. But as an artist, and more importantly, as a fanboy, I understand that “infinite” means “beyond my immediate comprehension” or “vast, unlimited, or unrestrained.”
It’s partly why we dig science fiction, and one of the main reasons I love Star Trek® and The Legion of Super-Heroes® both. In addition to their generally optimistic view of the future and of civilization, they were early in putting women into positions of authority. Captain Pike’s First Officer, Number One, and The Legion’s second Leader, Saturn Girl, were both unmistakably female. Years before “Women’s Lib” entered common cultural parlance.
And a year before the Virginia v Loving decision striking down anti-miscegenation laws, and two years before “Plato’s Stepchildren” wherein Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura engage in some (unfortunately involuntary) on-screen lip wrasslin’ the Legion managed to stealthily showcase inter-racial romance (albeit between a Coluan and a Kryptonian), while such real-world trysts were still outlawed in some States by lingering Jim-Crow-mocratic legislation.
Long Live the Legion’s Star Trekkian philosophy of IDIC! Probably why I did, and still, love both continuities.
correspondents JT, PK, & SK point to the Legion’s other cultural firsts in mainstream comics, notably Element Lad, the first gay super-hero (introduced in 1963), Lightning Lass and Shrinking Violet as the first gay couple (circa mid ’80s), and of course, yet another inter-racial couple, Mon-El of Daxam and Shadow Lass of Talok VIII. Also not mentioned were Colossal Boy (Earthman native to Mars) and Chameleon Girl of Durla. While Light Lass’ and Shrinking Violet’s romance was deftly and subtly, yet unmistakably (The Levitz Himself IS that good!) introduced in a Code Approved book, Element Lad’s alleged first is arguable, insofar as his present sexuality was not asserted until 1992. But there’s no necessary contradiction in continuo. He may well be bisexual for all we know. Or he may have been confused or frightened. He did squire many a young lady, but he never seemed to have a steady. Nevertheless, the Legion’s many fans can take enormous pride in our team’s relentless pressure on the frontier of cultural evolution. As well we should, it’s taken the rest of you decades to catch up.
Supergirl® and Brainiac 5® are the creations of Otto Binder,
Al Plastino, Jerry Siegel, & Jim Mooney,
and are held de jure by DC Comics & WarnerCom.
Used without permission.
(Thanks to correspondent Golpoyez Jpexynt for push-starting this essay.)