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Clarification of Membership Order
Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and Lightning Lad (then Lightning Boy) were the first Legion members ever shown (Adventure Comics No. 247). According to origin text features in Adventure Comics No. 352 and Adventure Comics No. 354, these three were the charter and founding members of the Club. According to the later Superboy No. 147's origin tale, 1) Cosmic Boy was the first to accept R. J. Brande's offer, followed by 2) Saturn Girl, and then 3) Lightning Boy (called Lightning Lad in the abbreviated story told by telepathic tape).
4) Triplicate Girl (later becoming Duo Damsel) followed by 5) Phantom Girl were the next Legionnaires to join according to Superboy No. 147's origin tale.
Based on the order we see them in Action Comics No. 267, 6) Chameleon Boy, 7) Colossal Boy, and 8) Invisible Kid were the next to join. We know from the text feature in Adventure Comics No. 350 that Chameleon Boy applied at the same time as Colossal Boy. We also know that Chameleon Boy joined before both Colossal Boy and Invisible Kid because the Legionnaires always supply figurines of new members to Superboy as they join. In Superboy No. 93, we can see figurines of Chameleon Boy, and then Colossal Boy, directly to the right of the three charter members.
Supergirl first applied for membership shortly after this time but was rejected due to red-k exposure that had made her older than the constitutional age-limit. 9) Star Boy was the next Legionnaire to be seen (in Adventure Comics No. 282) and so, logically, he had to have been the person chosen in her stead.
10) Supergirl and 11) Brainiac 5 were shown joining next in Action Comics No. 276. Supergirl is listed first because the Legionnaires gave her her plaque, and reason for acceptance, first during the induction ceremony.
Superboy joined AFTER Supergirl due to the flashback panel that appeared in Adventure Comics No. 323 showing Saturn Girl thinking back to the day Superboy was sworn into the Legion. Brainiac 5, who we know joined at the same time as Supergirl, was seen in the background of that thought panel.
When Michael E. Colby presented this paradox in a letter published in Adventure Comics No. 326, the editor explained the situation - "It's true that he [Brainiac 5] joined the Legion at the same time as Supergirl. But are you sure Superboy had actually been sworn in as a member by that time? This time travel business can be tricky! -Ed."
12) Superboy was made a member in Adventure Comic No. 247. In retrospect, we can assume that the unnamed members seen in the background during his testing were Colossal Boy, Invisible Kid, Chameleon Boy, and Triplicate Girl. A third Earth-type male standing in the far right of panel 3 of page 5 may be Brainiac 5 or another applicant. We have seen in subsequent stories that applicants are indeed invited into the clubhouse, sit at the briefing table, and are given their own nameplates (as seen with Bouncing Boy, Sun Boy, and Shrinking Violet in Action Comics No. 276).
In Superboy No. 86, Superboy indicates that the three Legion figurines he was given were "some members of the Legion of Super-Heroes," indicating that there were more than three members during his visit.
Sun Boy, Shrinking Violet, and Bouncing Boy were all first seen together as applicants in Action Comics No. 276, but lost out to Supergirl and Brainiac 5. 13) Sun Boy was later shown to have eventually joined in Adventure Comics No. 290, which came out in late September of 1961. The first time we see that Shrinking Violet and Bouncing Boy later made the grade, as well, is when the two were included in the membership listing of "The Origin and Powers of the Legion of Super-Heroes" feature in Superman Annual No. 4, which came out about a month later on November 9th, 1961. The reason we know that 14) Shrinking Violet joined before 15) Bouncing Boy is because she was seen standing alongside the other Legion members during Bouncing Boy's induction ceremony in the flashback scene of Adventure Comics No. 301. It is more likely that Shrinking Violet joined at the same time as Sun Boy because of the "one boy, one girl" rule, and that Bouncing Boy was allowed to join later due to special circumstances (as detailed in Adventure Comics No. 301.). His joining seemed to have dissolved the new member limit rule completely.
16) Ultra Boy joined next in Superboy No. 98. 17) Mon-El was made an honorary member in Adventure Comics No. 300 (Superboy No. 100 "Smallville Mailsack"), but after his release from the Phantom Zone became permanent, in Adventure Comics No. 305, he was a made an active member. 18) Matter-Eater Lad was seen joining in Adventure Comics No. 303, while 19) Element Lad joined in Adventure Comics No. 307, and 20) Lightning Lass (who later became Light Lass) in Adventure Comics No. 308.
21) Dream Girl joined in Adventure Comics No. 317 but resigned later that same issue. It is likely, however, that members who leave and then rejoin also maintain their "seniority standing" - as in the cases of Sun Boy, Lightning Lad, Lightning Lass, Bouncing Boy, and Star Boy - since a member's original induction date can never change, regardless of changes in status afterwards.
22) Princess Projectra, 23) Ferro Lad, and 24) Karate Kid joined next, that being the order in which they were seen being accepted in Adventure Comics No. 346.
25) Shadow Lass joined after this, in Adventure Comics No. 366. 26) Timber Wolf and 27) Chemical King graduated the Legion Academy together and were both made members at the end of Adventure Comics No. 372. Timber Wolf is listed first because of his long-standing offer to join the team.
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