ANYWAY, all the other Legionnaires had pretty hyperspecific powers. Lightening Lad could throw bolts of you-know-what; Brainiac 5 was the super smarty-pants; Matter-Eater Lad could literally eat anything. But it was the gal Legionnaires who had the really silly powers. Princess Projecta’s power was her ability to cast realistic illusions and get the bad guys all disoriented (which could possibly work exactly once). Shrinking Violet (good name) could make herself small. Phantom Girl could walk through stuff. Dream Girl could see the future in her dreams (the logistical issues involved in hauling around a colleague whose skills only pay the bills when she’s slumbering are only outmatched by the storytelling issues raised by a character who can tell you how everything is going to end). Dawnstar could find things. Saturn Girl could read minds. All these gals had the sexiest, the most ridiculous, the least physically possible uniforms that socially inept, horny comic book artists could slobberingly devise; it’s as if they tried to outdo each other in cantilevering the most breast tissue in the least amount of fabric on top of the narrowest waist. But the impracticality of wearing 5-inch heels and a thong while fighting crime in outer space were ameliorated by the fact that few superhero situations actually call for realistic illusions or superior navigation abilities. So while the Legionnaire gals would sometimes be called upon to do dumb little housekeeping things — like maybe Violet would need to go inside a keyhole and open a lock — mostly, the gals just flew around looking super-sexy and stating the obvious while the boys brought down whatever intergalactic menace was threatening Planet Xardox in that particular issue.. But that was (gulp) forty years ago. I wonder if Misses Phantom, Saturn, Dream, et al. have broken through the comic book kryptonite ceiling or if they’re still just glorified flying strippers.