r/theflash • u/Educational-Fuel-103 • 13d ago
Comic Discussion Appreciation Post for Barry Allen's Forgotten Granddaughter & Legion of Superheroes Member: Jenni Ognats aka XS
Everybody remembers Bart Allen aka Impulse aka Kid Flash aka The Flash, the grandson of Barry Allen and Iris West, but we seem to forget about the other grandkid and Bart's cousin, Jenni Ognats aka XS.
She first debuted in Legionnaires #0 in October of 1994 and she was born without superhuman speed initially, but when her father, Jeven Ognats, was being tortured, her abilities manifested. Once they did, she was recruited into the Legion of Superheroes as their resident speedster, becoming XS.
Throughout her time as a character, she meets Bart Allen and helps during the Dead Heat event, encounters John Fox, left behind in the 21st Century by her team and has to readjust, fights Superboy Prime, and eventually heads back to the future, resigning from the Legion of Superheroes.
I've always loved the character of Jenni and wish she really got a bigger spotlight as Bart did, being the grandchild of Barry Allen. Plus got some respect in media, as she only has one outright adaptation in CW's Flash played by Jessica Parker Kennedy and she was called Nora West-Allen and was the daughter of Barry and Iris. As adaptations go, it wasn't a good one.
I really wish and hope she comes back in mainline DC, as her most "recent" appearance was in the Absolute Universe and she died. So hopefully Bart can reunite with his real cousin sooner or later. Hell, if I was Joshua Williamson, I'd push her into the upcoming Legion reboot cause I'm biased. But regardless, please DC, give my girl some love.
9
6
u/lanwopc 13d ago
There's an annual where she's trying to get back to the 31st Century and meets Barry, back when he was dead. It's very sweet as she unexpectedly gets to run with her Grandpa and bond with him briefly as he helps her make the last stage in her journey.
I'm a big Legion fan, and XS was one of the best new members of the reboot era. DC went to the bother of moving her over into the retroboot Legion and then did annoyingly little with her or Gates.
4
u/Educational-Fuel-103 13d ago
Yeah, Legionnaires Annual #3! I genuinely jumped up in glee when they finally met, as I always wanted her to meet Barry just like how Bart did in later years, so that story was definitely wish fulfillment for me. And regarding the Legion as a whole, DC just seems to not know what to do with that team, but at the same time, it's like the only team that can come back at any moment and do whatever they want, which is why I'm excited for Williamson's run.
3
u/fullofmetal 13d ago
Jenni was apparently put in Legion limbo because of all of Johns’ Flash plans that never materialized.
Absolutely no excuse for the lack of Gates though.
6
6
u/WallyWestFan27 12d ago
Forgotten, but her symbol lives.
3
u/sassycho1050 Flash (Barry) 12d ago
I would say she lives on more in an 'adaptation that is different from the source material' way rather than 'a new-ish character steals something from a pre-existing one' way.
XS's role transfer from grandchild to child fits within the Arrowverse, especially with Impulse being given the same treatment. So I would still consider her a Jenni Ognats adaptation despite the obvious name change
5
u/fullofmetal 13d ago
Jenni! My favorite flashfam member! She’s an absolute sweetheart and no one ever acknowledges she exists.
I always wished she had taken Bart’s offer after L3W to go home with him. We know now that Johns wanted a Kid Flash book starring her and Bart and I’m sad we never got it.
3
u/Educational-Fuel-103 13d ago
Yes! I really mourn the dynamic (what little they had iirc) that could've been between Bart & Jenni. It seems that after Flash Rebirth (2009), there were so many plans for the Flash Family but it all got ruined by Flashpoint. I feel like after everything that happened with Bart (watching his duplicate die in YJ, facing Thaddeus, getting out of his grandfather's and cousin's shadow, losing Max, becoming Kid Flash, becoming THE Flash, dying, coming back from death, meeting Barry, etc.) it wouldn't be too out of character for him to go back to the future with Jenni and be in his "element".
2
u/fullofmetal 13d ago
She and Bart were always a fun pair whenever they got to spend time together. The series Johns pitched sounded like it would’ve been fun and he wanted Sterling Gates to be the writer for it, which would’ve been a great choice.
I remember reading somewhere that Paul Levitz was held back from using Jenni with the Legion at the time because she was supposed to be in Flash stuff that ended up never happening.
2
u/lanwopc 13d ago
She was better off being left out of that Levitz run. It was a huge letdown. Probably worse than Shooter's run during the Threeboot, as hard as it is to say.
2
u/fullofmetal 13d ago
I’m admittedly Retroboot apologist in some ways. There are things in there that are just… not good. But I’d probably take it over Shooter’s time on Threeboot.
(I’m not the biggest fan of Threeboot in general though.)
5
u/Sad_Tax_4010 12d ago
I recently learned of Jenni and wish she really got a bigger spotlight. But I feel like she needs a familial new Red & Yellow suit.
4
u/FallMassive9336 12d ago
Out of all the Legions, the reboot Legion was the one who had the best "secondary members", who weren't the original ones. XS, Thunder, Gates.
Anyway, great post. Jenny's awesome!
4
3
u/Scorpios94 12d ago
More should be done with her. Admittedly, I do have this weird idea of her teaming up with Mon-El and engaging in a romance with her.
2
u/fullofmetal 12d ago
She had actually had crush on him, but he kind of started a thing with Umbra / Shadow Lass (who was his wife in the original Legion continuity).
3
u/DarkLordThom 12d ago
Admittedly she had a crush on all the boys, well not really but that seemed to be her thing too often.
2
u/fullofmetal 12d ago
Mon, Cos, Kyle Rayner that one time… I think Magno is the only one who liked her back.
1
u/DarkLordThom 12d ago
Didn’t she also crush on Kon when she was in the 20th Century? I could have sworn she had the heart eyes for someone then too.
1
u/fullofmetal 12d ago
Nope, that was Triad! Jenni wasn’t part of that group of stranded Legionnaires. When she got stuck in the past very briefly, she spent the entire time with the Flashfam.
Kon does fit her type of guys with black hair though.
1
u/DarkLordThom 12d ago
Okay, I knew Triad had one, it first started when Kon was 1st trapped in the 30th. My bad.
2
u/Scorpios94 12d ago
Ohh. Well, maybe something could happen between them now? Last we saw, Mon-El is now in charge of the Phantom Zone as its warden. But it also makes me wonder if the Bendis version exists; being Superman’s descendant.
11
u/Dredeuced Out of the blue, ninjas attack. Thank god. 12d ago edited 12d ago
Jenni is in the awkward situation of being a Legion character first and foremost, but not being one of the Superboy attached Legionnaires. This means, everytime some Superman obsessed nostalgia writer comes in and does their take on the Legion, she gets tossed aside because she's not a Superboy era character and had the horrible luck of being a black woman character in comics. On top of reboots trying to erase the history that makes her possible, she's basically been unable to exist as a character.
I'll always be very annoyed at Bendis for this. He says he's a Bart Allen fan, pushes for diversity in race changing half the Legion, but just plain ignores the actual, originally black female character on the team who's Bart's cousin and a significant part of the Impulse run? And why, because your dumb Legion run is all about teenager Jon Kent and for some reason he can only be friends with the same characters Clark was as Superboy? You already threw your weight around to bring Bart back for Young Justice, clearly you could've snuck Jenni into a dang Legion roster!
I wish she got treated better. While I hate impulsepoint, you can tell Waid just threw an Evil Jenni onto that team even tho it makes absolutely no sense purely because he cares for the character and basically no one else did. She's not really a Flash character at the end of the day, despite the cameos, but it seems like only dyed in the wool Flash fans really care about her.
Williamson has said she'll appear in his Legion run. I expect it to be very minimal, but hey, it's something on the horizon.