DUO DAMSEL
Real Name: Luornu Durgo Taine
Class: Extraterrestrial (Cargg)
Occupation: Legionnaire
Group Affiliation: Legion of Super-Heroes
Known Relatives: Humre Durgo (father), Silvou Durgo (mother), Chuck Taine (Bouncing Boy, husband)
Aliases: Triplicate Girl
Base of Operations: Metropolis, Earth, formerly Cargg, 30th Century
First Appearance: Action Comics I #276 (May, 1961)
Powers: Like all natives of Cargg, Duo Damsel could split into three identical bodies. One of her bodies has been killed, so she can only split into two duplicate bodies. She was a skilled hand-to-hand combatant and wore a Legion flight ring.
History:
(Adventure Comics I #304) - The Legion were set to have their annual vote to elect a new leader, and Saturn Girl was the first to arrive at the Clubhouse. A crystal capsule sent from the Trylop Council of Mernl dropped from the sky warning that their computers predicted a Legionnaire would die using their powers during an upcoming invasion of Earth by Zaryan the Conqueror, and Saturn Girl resolved to sacrifice herself to protect her fellow Legionnaires. She used her thought control to nudge the Legion into electing her leader, then used a rainbow bar from their treasury to make medallions with her face printed on them, and demanded every Legionnaire wear one. She demanded the Legionnaires demonstrate effective use of their powers, and was able to temporarily duplicate each member of the Legion’s powers using the medallions they wore, and proceeded to forbid them for using their powers or going on missions during a probation period because she declared they were not using their powers properly. When Zaryan began his invasion of Earth she responded, and warned the other Legionnaires not to follow her because they were on probation. The Legion thought she’d gone mad with power, but Mon-El had observed her actions from the Phantom Zone, and knew her motivations. Sunspots interfered with him communicating with the Legion, but when they lifted he filled in Lightning Lad on the situation, and he flew into space, determined to keep Saturn Girl from sacrificing herself. He blew up Zaryan’s ship with his powers, but was fatally shot with a freeze-ray. The Legion honored him by placing him in a glass coffin with lightning generated over it by a perpetual motion device, and his funeral was attended by Superboy, Supergirl and Lori Lemaris. The Legion placed a statue of Lightning Lad in their Clubhouse as a tribute to the first Legionnaire killed in action.
(Adventure Comics I #308) - The Legion unveiled their official flag, made of an indestructible material and luminous enough to be seen for hundreds of miles. They draped a Legion flag over Lightning Lad’s coffin when his body began to twitch. Lightning Lad had seemingly been revived by the constantly firing electrical bolts above his coffin, , but claimed to be suffering from some memory loss. The Legion suspected that Lightning Lad’s powers might have worn off while he was dead, and agreed to secretly test his powers. Sun Boy was absolutely convinced Lightning Lad was powerless, but decided he’d cover for him, fearing his heart would be broken if he was taken off the Legion. Scientist Jon Arkol needed a massive amount of electricity to power his latest experiment, and the Legion had Lightning Lad fly to his lab’s hilltop condenser to charge it up. Sun Boy used his powers to heat the air, creating a lightning storm that powered the conductor. The commissioner of the Science Police learned that the rumored Thieves’ Planet where crooks from around the universe hid out was a reality, and although he didn’t know the exact location he knew which space sector it was in. The Legion flew to an asteroid in the sector, waiting for any criminal ships to pass by. When they spotted one Cosmic boy, still unsure of Lightning Lad’s powers, ordered the legionnaire to take it down with a lightning bolt. Sub Boy reflected a burst of heat and light off a cliff behind Lightning Lad, which struck the criminal ship, bringing it down. The criminals were from the Hydra World, and had stolen a group of rare animals from an intergalactic zoo. The Legion placed the animals safely onboard their own ship, but Chameleon Boy took a liking to Proty, a Protean that could shapeshift just like him, and decided to keep him as a pet. Thieves’ World was hidden from the world by an invisibility shield, but the Legion located it using the coordinates set in the Hydra World criminal’s spaceship. The Legion tried to pass themselves off as criminals, but the master of Thieves’ World was a telepathic sentient ball of electricity and soon found them out. He had his Atom Guard robots apprehend them and throw them in his jewel jail, but Chameleon Boy had his new pet transform into a gun, allowing the Legion to bluff their way out of prison when a guard came to feed them. The Legion tore through Thieves’ World, apprehending a number of criminals, and Lightning Lad used his powers to short-circuit the master. The Legion were all surprised to see Lightning Lad unequivocally demonstrate his powers, but sun Boy was especially shocked because he knew “Lightning Lad” was an imposter. He’d noticed that Lightning Lad was suntanned except on the back of his neck, indicating he’d had long hair until he recently clipped it, and Lightning Lad had no Adam's apple, which meant he was a woman. The imposter was Lightning Lad’s sister Ayla Ranzz, who wanted to carry on her brother’s heroic legacy, and the Legion let her join the team as Lightning Lass. They still hoped the day would come when they could revive Lightning Lad for real.
(Action Comics I #380) - A man snapped, climbed a high tower in Metropolis, and started shooting at air-cars. The police surrounded him with snipers, but Duo Damsel, seeing that he was mentally disturbed, pleaded with them to give her a chance to take him alive, and managed to disarm him. Mon-El told Duo Damsel he needed her to deliver important papers to Ikros, and when she grumbled that she’d just finished a mission he told her tough. Duo Damsel decided to split into two and sent her duplicate to Ikros so she could relax for a while. Bouncing Boy had planned on taking Duo Damsel to the movies, and was sad that her other self would not be present. He asked her who the real Duo damsel was, and she said it was difficult to explain, but even she couldn’t answer that because even when they were seperate both her bodies and minds were identical. Bouncing Boy dubbed her Luornu I, and her offworld duplicate Luornu II. A month later Luornu returned from Ikros, engaged to Nam’Lor, the hero of that world. Bouncing Boy was incredulous, and Luornu II said she’d explain later, but was tired and wanted to merge with Luornu I. Mon-El suspected something had changed about Luornu II, and also alerted Bouncing Boy that a number of robberies had been committed around Metropolis by a superpowered male and female. Duo Damsel slept, with Luornu II’s memories coming back to her, about how she’d fallen from a sky-saucer and been rescued by Nam’Lor, who she later fell for. Her mind was, for the first time in her life, torn between the wants and desires of her two selves. Duo Damsel woke up in a fright, and Luornu II separated from her and ran away. Bouncing Boy and Luornu I responded to an alert of the Almagonite Refinery being robbed. They confronted the masked male and female robbers and Luornu I grazed the woman with a nerve ray, but the criminals escaped. Back at the Legion Clubhouse Lournu I was met by Luornu II, and realized that II had an injury where I had hit the criminal. Luornu I confessed to Bouncing Boy, speculating that Nam’Lor had corrupted II, and they planned to take out Nam’Lor with a super-power neutralizer. II confronted them for plotting against her and Nam’Lor, and when Nam’Lor arrived he easily disarmed Bouncing Boy, but when II commanded him to kill bouncing Boy he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Nam’Lor confessed that the hyper-aura that gave him his powers had turned II evil, but because he loved her he humored her and even stole for her, but he realized he was in the wrong. He announced that he was leaving, and that within days the radiation from his aura would wear off and II would return to normal. He told her to forget about him, but he’d always remember what could have been between them.
(Superboy I #190) - Duo Damsel and the Legion prepared to vote on their new leader, with their revised bylaws allowing them to choose between re-electing Mon-El or placing Saturn Girl in charge. As the Legionnaires voted Mon-El confessed to Saturn Girl that he’d decline leadership if re-elected, he’d lost faith in his nerves and leadership qualities. Tharok used a teleport beam to spirit Mon-El and Saturn Girl to a remote planetoid. He planned to eliminate the Legion by having Validus kill their leaders. Mon-El was overmatched by Validus, so he pretended to go over to Tharok’s side and convinced him to take leadership of the Legion. Once Tharok accepted Validus continued his programming to destroy the Legion leader and friend Tharok’s computerized side with his mental lightning. Mon-El and Saturn Girl returned to Legion hq, with Mon-El once again feeling fully confident in himself.
(Legion of Super-Heroes III #4) - The Legion of Super-Villains invaded Orando and captured Queen Projecta and Karate Kid. On Earth Cosmic Boy agreed to keep watch on the planet while Element Lad assembled the rest of thew Legion to fly a ship to Orando. The Legion of Super-Villains warped Orando to a space between dimensions, inadvertently taking several Legionnaires with them. The LSV planned on finding other worlds where there was no Legion to foil them and conquering them. Dream Girl, acting as deputy leader with Element Lad on Orando, called Cosmic Boy to check in on Earth. Cosmic Boy now had the back-up of reservists Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel, the Legion of Substitute Heroes and the Legion Academy.
(Legion of Super-Heroes III #14) - The Legion interviewed applicants during their membership drive and had them demonstrate their powers. The Legion Academy all tried out, with Bouncing Boy on hand to cheer them on. Mentalla applied for membership, saying she’d be a valuable addition because her powers were similar to Saturn Girl, although her telepathy was used to control minds instead of reading them. Comet Queen, Magnetic Kid and Tellus all made it to the second round, and were given a trial by fire, joining the Legion on a mission to find out why the bridges and drainage systems of the California Coastal District were breaking down. Brainiac 5 led the mission, and had Mon-El team up with Magnetic Kid to use their powers to raise the newly sunken sections of California. Comet Queen rescued civilians in danger of drowning and Tellus picked up the thought-patterns of someone with sabotage on their mind. At Legion hq Energy Boy demonstrated he ability to create nuclo-globes when Polar Boy interrupted him by freezing his nuclo-globe and hands to show the Legion that he’d gotten much better at controlling his powers. He told the Legion he’d dissolved the Subs, and asked that they waive their old rule that new applicants had to be under 18 to consider him. Tellus led his teammates to the northern cost, where he sensed the thought-patterns coming from. The coast buckled and Mon-El went to investigate, finding Dev-Em on the scene. Dev-Em was now working for the U.P.’s Counter-Intelligence Corps and was also investigating the damage being done to California. Dev-Em made it very clear he was not impressed with the new would-be Legionnaires, and said the Legion would be better off if they offered him membership again. Dev-Em said the Corps had learned that the Dark Circle left behind a few stragglers on Earth to commit acts of sabotage, and Tellus tracked down the saboteur, an Ontiir clone. The clone sat in a weapon-chair and was set off another destructive device that caused a tidal wave. Mon-El used his heat vision to evaporate the tidal wave while his teammates tried to pierce the clone’s forcefield. Quislet, an adventurer from a microscopic dimension flying in a miniatures Trans-D Vessel, joined the fray in an attempt to impress the Legion. Quislet could animate inanimate matter, and took control of the clone’s weapon-chair, using it to defeat him. Quislet returned to his Vessel, and the weapon-chair crumbled to dust, as was usually the case for any matter Quislet possessed. The Legion inducted Magnetic Kid, Polar Boy, Quislet and Tellus as new members. Saturn Girl said she had a recruit with an excellent reason to join the team, Sensor Girl. She wouldn’t reveal anything about Sensor Girl, but asked the Legion to trust her, much like they trusted her telepathy when she recommended Element Lad as a member, and the Legion welcomed Sensor Girl to their ranks.
Comments: Created by Jerry Siegel & Jim Mooney.
Duo Damsel received profiles in Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #7 an Who's Who in the Legion of Super-Heroes #2. Luornu Durgo received a profile in Who’s Who in the DC Universe #9. Se received a profile in Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #13 under the Legion of Super-Heroes entry.
Duo Damsel's appearance in Adventure Comics I #304 was reprinted in Adventure Comics I #403, 499, Adventure Comics I #308 was reprinted in Adventure Comics I #403, 500, Legion of Super-Heroes III #4, 14 was reprinted in Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes #329, 339.
Triplicate Girl had a cameo in Adventure Comics I #309.
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