History ComicBook / Valor

''Valor'' starts on the heels of ''The Darkness Within'', which featured Lar prominently. The book ended during the ComicBook/ZeroHour tie-in crossover ''End of an Era'', crossing over with the other ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes books at the time.

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''Valor'' is a 1992 comic book series published by Creator/DCComics. It's a SpinOff of ''ComicBook/{{LEGION}}'' and the ''[[ComicBook/EclipsoTheDarknessWithin Eclipso: The Darkness Within]]'' crossover. It stars the titular superhero Lar Gand AKA Valor.

->''"Yeah, see, I'm still getting used to Earth's ways and customs and rules and all, so forgive me, '''but'''… for it to be treason, don't I have to be an American? Or at the very least from Earth."''
-->-- '''Lar Gand''', ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' Vol 1 696

Lar Gand, also known as Mon-El, M'Onel, Valor and Nomad, is a Creator/DCComics character created by Robert Bernstein and George Papp, he first appeared in the pages of ''ComicBook/{{Superboy}}'' in 1961. While his past is subject to change and inevitably tied to ComicBook/{{Superman}}'s he is consistently a hero from the planet Daxam, whose people are distantly related to Kryptonians and have a similar powerset, but a much easier to come by and more irreversibly fatal KryptoniteFactor; [[WeaksauceWeakness lead]].

Lar is a longtime Superman ally and has served on many teams, most prominently the ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes but also the legion's "modern" equivalent [[ComicBook/LEGIONDCComics L.E.G.I.O.N.]], the [[Franchise/GreenLantern Green Lantern Corps]] and the Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica. When he first arrived on earth he was suffering from amnesia so Superboy dubbed him Mon-El and treated him as an older brother. He freed many people from the Dominator's experiments and helped them colonize the planets that would later become the home worlds of several of his future Legion teammates including ComicBook/CosmicBoy. During this period Lar-Gand was exposed to lead and Clark interred him in the nightmarish Phantom Zone to keep him from dying of it while a cure was found. Said cure was developed by Brainiac 5 of the Legion of Super-Heroes a thousand years later.

In 1992 Lar received his own ongoing title ''Valor'' which ran for twenty-three issues.

For differences between iterations of him see Characters/LegionOfSuperHeroesSilverAge, for highlights on his relationship to the rest of the Superman family see Characters/SupermanSupportingCast.

!!Lar Gand Appears in:
[[AC:Notable Comic Books]]
* ''ComicBook/{{Superboy}}'' Vol 1 (1961 - 1976)
* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' Vol 1 (1962 - 2010) [-intermittent appearances-]
* ''Adventure Comics'' Vol 1 (1962 - 2011)
* ''ComicBook/ActionComics'' (1962 - 2010) [-intermittent appearances-]
* ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' Vol 1 (1973)
* ''Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes'' Vol 1 (1976 - 1979)
* ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' Vol 2 (1980 - 1986)
* ''Phantom Zone'' Vol 1 (1982)
* ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' Vol 3 (1984 - 1989)
* ''ComicBook/NewGods'' Vol 3 (1990)
* ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' Vol 4 (1990 - 2000)
* ''[[ComicBook/LEGIONDCComics L.E.G.I.O.N.]]'' Vol 1 (1990 - 1994)
* ''Valor'' Vol 1 (1992 - 1994)
* ''ComicBook/{{Superboy|1994}}'' Vol 4 (1995)
* ''Legionnaires'' Vol 1 (1995 - 2000)
* ''Legion'' Vol 1 (2001 - 2004)
* ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'' (2006)
* ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis: ComicBook/LegionOfThreeWorlds'' (2008 - 2009)
* ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' Vol 6 (2010 - 2011)
* ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' Vol 7 (2011 - 2013)
[[AC:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/Supergirl2015'' "Mon-El" (2016-) [-played by-] Creator/{{Chris Wood|Actor}}
* ''Series/Supergirl2015'' "Lar Gand" (2016-2017) [-played by-] Creator/KevinSorbo
[[AC:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueVSTheFatalFive'' (2019)
* ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperHeroes2023''

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!!Lar Gand/Mon-El/Valor provides examples of:
* AdaptationNameChange:
** In ''Series/Supergirl2015'' his name is changed to actually being "Mon-El" and his father, who is usually named Kel Gand is now named Lar Gand, his mother gets renamed Rhea from Marisa and his brother Del doesn't appear to exist.
** In ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes2020'', his name is also really Mon-El, but unlike ''Supergirl'', where the similarity to the House of El is a coincidence, this is because he's a 31st century descendant of Superman.
* AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul: In ''Series/Supergirl2015'' he's married to Imra Ardeen/Saturn Girl, with whom he has zero romantic subtext in the comics since she's generally busy being married to Lightning Lad, rather than his comic wife and teammate Tasmia Mallor/Shadow Lass. He previously had a WillTheyOrWontThey with Kara herself, which never happens in the comics.
* AdaptationSpeciesChange: In ''Comicbook/LegionOfSuperHeroes2020'', he's a Kryptonian rather than a Daxamite.
* ArtifactAlias: Mon-El's superhero identity was the Kryptonian name that ComicBook/{{Superboy}} gave him when he was suffering from amnesia. His actual name, as he recalled later, is Lar Gand, but he continues to be known as Mon-El.
* BattleCouple: With his wife and teammate Shadow Lass.
* ContinuityNod: The "New Krypton" storyline combined elements of his Preboot and Postboot character arcs.
* ContinuitySnarl: Like a lot of Superman characters, Mon-El was written out of existence with ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths''. He was reintroduced in an early-'90s CrisisCrossover without any connection to Superman. "New Krypton" (or more properly, the stories leading up to it) restored his first origin... but the '90s version still exists as an alternate-universe character somehow. And so does a ''third'' Mon-El from the Threeboot ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes. In short, his history is a mess.
* DependingOnTheArtist: Some artists draw his UnderwearOfPower more like blue pants with tight red chaps over them than red pants with blue trunks on top.
* TheEngineer: More so in the "present" than in the Legion's future, but Lar is a very good spaceship mechanic and can build advanced ships (for the time) by deconstructing and repurposing the parts of ships that are far less advanced, as he does with a ship built by Lex Corp in his series.
* {{Expy}}: Mon-El was {{Retcon}}ed to fill the same role as Superboy in the Legion after ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' retconned the latter out of existence.
* FamilyOfChoice: His parents both end up dying of lead poisoning while he's a teenager/young adult and he tellingly uses the Mon-El handle that ties him to Superman's family more than his own name.
* FlyingBrick: Like any Daxamite or Kryptonian who spends much time under a yellow sun, he has the power of flight.
* GodGuise: In the "Postboot" Legion continuity, he was worshipped as a god called Valor by many of the humanoid [[PlanetOfHats Planets of Hats]] he founded in the 20th century--which caused problems when word leaked that the Legion was freeing him from the Phantom Zone. Understandably, [[AGodIAmNot he was very uncomfortable with this,]] and he and the Legion worked to keep his actual identity a secret; here, "M'onel" (an alien word meaning "wanderer") was a new alias he invented to hide his identity.
* HumanAliens: Daxamites are visibly indistinguishable from humans, rather like Kryptonians who are part of their heritage.
* InterspeciesRomance: Lar Gand is a Daxamite while none of his love interests are and his most serious love interest whom he goes on to marry is Tasmia Mallor, a blue-skinned Talokite.
* KryptoniteFactor: As a Daxamite his major weakness is his vulnerability to lead, which does not exist on Daxam. While Green Kryptonite can eventually kill Kryptonians after prolonged exposure, once it is removed the pain eases and the Kryptonian's strength and powers eventually return to them. For Mon-El, any exposure to lead causes pain and weakness permanently, even after he is taken to safety. He also has no innate defense against magical or psychic powers, being weaker to such attacks than the average human.
* LongLostRelative: Subverted. In Pre-Crisis continuity, Lar arrived on Earth with amnesia. Since he had Kryptonian-style powers, Superboy supposed he might be a long-lost brother or some such whom Jor-El was also able to save, and dubbed him "Mon-El." His memory returned when he was stricken by exposure to lead, which of course would have been harmless to a Kryptonian. Superboy sent him to the Phantom Zone to save his life, and when Lar was released and cured in the far future and joined the Legion, he kept the "Mon-El" name as his superhero guise.
* MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch: Daxamites tend to be xenophobic jerks, Lar is decidedly not and almost everyone he cares for is from someplace other than Daxam.
* ThePowerOfTheSun: As a Daxamite, his cells function like a super battery, hyper metabolizing specific wavelengths of radiation as fuel to enable living functions and/or superhuman abilities. Different wavelengths of radiation have different effects on Lar Gand's physiology and well being, but his cells cannot absorb or utilize all types of radiation.
* SecretIdentity: In "New Krypton" he tries to blend in by posing as Science Police officer Jonathan Kent.
* SealedGoodInACan: Lar was stuck in the Phantom Zone awaiting a cure for his lead poisoning for a thousand years.
* StarSpangledSpandex: The black expanses of his Post-Zero Hour costume have a starfield effect.
* SuperpowerLottery: Lar has got the powers available to all Daxamites if they are exposed to a yellow sun long enough including EyeBeams, FlyingBrick, SuperBreath, SuperSpeed and SuperStrength.
* UnderwearOfPower: They're not a part of all of his costumes but traditionally he wore blue briefs over his red suit. They're sometimes part of a throwback to Daxam's past as a Kryptonian colony.

!!''Valor'' provides examples of:

* FlyingBrick: Like any Daxamite or Kryptonian who spends much time under a yellow sun.

** In ''Comicbook/LegionOfSuperHeroes2020'', his name is also really Mon-El, but unlike ''Supergirl'', where the similarity to the House of El is a coincidence, this is because he's a 31st century descendent of Superman.

** In ''Comicbook/LegionOfSuperheroes2020'', his name is also really Mon-El, but unlike ''Supergirl'', where the similarity to the House of El is a coincidence, this is because he's a 31st century descendent of Superman.

* AdaptationSpeciesChange: In ''Comicbook/LegionOfSuperheroes2020'', he's a Kryptonian rather than a Daxamite.

* AdaptationNameChange: In ''Series/Supergirl2015'' his name is changed to actually being "Mon-El" and his father, who is usually named Kel Gand is now named Lar Gand, his mother gets renamed Rhea from Marisa and his brother Del doesn't appear to exist.
* AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul: In ''Series/Supergirl2015'' he's married to Imra Ardeen/Saturn Girl, with whom he has zero romantic subtext in the comics since she's generally busy being married to Lightning Lad, rather than his comic wife and teammate Tasmia Mallor/Shadow Lass.

* PosthumousCharacter: Lar's father sacrificed his life to convince Daxam to turn on the ComicBook/{{Invasion}} force and aid earth prior to the start of the series.

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueVSTheFatalFive (2019)

* ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis: Legion of 3 Worlds'' (2008 - 2009)

Lar is a longtime Superman ally and has served on many teams, most prominently the ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}} but also the legion's "modern" equivalent [[ComicBook/LEGIONDCComics L.E.G.I.O.N.]], the [[Franchise/GreenLantern Green Lantern Corps]] and the Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica. When he first arrived on earth he was suffering from amnesia so Superboy dubbed him Mon-El and treated him as an older brother. He freed many people from the Dominator's experiments and helped them colonize the planets that would later become the home worlds of several of his future Legion teammates including ComicBook/CosmicBoy. During this period Lar-Gand was exposed to lead and Clark interred him in the nightmarish Phantom Zone to keep him from dying of it while a cure was found. Said cure was developed by Brainiac 5 of the Legion of Super-Heroes a thousand years later.

* ''ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}'' Vol 1 (1973)

* ''ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}'' Vol 2 (1980 - 1986)

* ''ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}'' Vol 3 (1984 - 1989)

* ''ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}'' Vol 4 (1990 - 2000)

* ''ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}'' Vol 6 (2010 - 2011)
* ''ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}'' Vol 7 (2011 - 2013)

* IndulgentFantasySegue: SelfDemonstrating/{{Lobo}} spends several pages while Lar is offering him a hand up and apologizing for starting a fight over Lobo insulting his ship imagining different ways to dismember Lar before discarding them as not feasible due to Lar's invulnerability. In the end he decides to trash the ship, so they get to fight properly because Lar isn't about to let him.

* ''Series/Supergirl2015'' "Mon-El" (2016-) [-played by-] Chris Wood

* TimeCrash: Everything after leaving earth is ultimately leading to ComicBook/ZeroHour, at which point time was borked it had to be rebooted, and reality starts falling apart in earnest in the last few issues. It doesn't help that both characters that could be described at the biggest villain of this series are intentionally messing around with time, causing massive damage to the integrity of the time stream.

* ''Series/Supergirl2015'' "Lar Gand" (2016-2017) [-played by-] Kevin Sorbo

->''Yeah, see, I'm still getting used to Earth's ways and customs and rules and all, so forgive me, '''but'''… for it to be treason, don't I have to be an American? Or at the very least from Earth.''
-->--Lar Gand, ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' Vol 1 696

Lar is a longtime Superman ally and has served on many teams, most prominently the ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}} but also the legion's "modern" equivalent [[ComicBook/LEGIONDCComics L.E.G.I.O.N.]], the [[Franchise/GreenLantern Green Lantern Corps]] and the Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica. When he first arrived on earth he was suffering from amnesia so Superboy dubbed him Mon-El and treated him as an older brother. He freed many people from the Dominator's experiments and helped them colonize some planets that would later become the home worlds of several of his future Legion teammates including ComicBook/CosmicBoy. During this period Lar-Gand was exposed to lead and Clark interred him in the nightmarish Phantom Zone to keep him from dying of it while a cure was found. Said cure was developed by Brainiac 5 of the Legion of Super-Heroes a thousand years later.

* InkblotTest: The series starts out with Lar Gand being given an inkblot test, during which he proceeds to lie about what the shapes remind him, claiming things like butterflies, when really they remind him of his time with Eclipso when the villain took over his body. When the therapist is about to give up on his obvious lies he somewhat accidentally answers that one reminds him of his father and gets the therapy session running again.

* Temporal Paradox: Too many of these build up, and Lar was too important too far too many people's lives for his timeline being drastically and repeatedly altered to go unnoticed so time starts falling apart.

* MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch: Daxamites tend to be xenophobic jerks, Val is decidedly not and almost everyone he cares for is from someplace other than Daxam.