Able to shapeshift into all manner of creature and device. A brilliant detective. Sole survivor of his siblings from a grueling rite. Grand hero of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Chameleon Boy! But who is the person with attenae? Let’s find out!
Reep Daggle of the planet Durla was a twin born to Zhay and Ren Daggle and the sibling to Liggt. His mother would die soon after birthing the twins while their father would mysteriously vanish. His Aunt Ji would raise the twins until the time of the Durlan Rite of Survival, where the children were forced to fight to the death since only one child may be from any pairing in Durlan culture. Killing his own twin, Reep would grow into his teens and decide to leave Durla, I wonder why.
Away from home, Reep would learn that due to their shapeshifting abilities, Durlans were considered untrustworthy and that humans treated them poorly. Dedicated to prove his people were nothing like the stereotype, he decided to apply for the Legion of Super-Heroes. Here, he would develop his detective skills and eventually head the Espionage Squad of the Legion.
Due to having his paperwork change his name when he registered with the Earthgov, it was some time until R.J. Brande, financier of the Legion, met Reep and introduced himself as his father, Ren. It seems that there is a disease Durlans can get that trap them in a single form and Ren contracted it while in human form and worried he’d spread it to his young children, trapping them with no way to adapt to the harsh environment of Durla.
Joining his father, the two would travel back to Durla until they found a temple that granted his father the power to transform again. His father would step down from Brande Industries and give it to Reep who would run things after the Legion dissolved for a time. When he got bored with running the company, he would help reassemble the Legion and also fight in the Magic Wars. A war in which the return of magic was wiping out science and technology.
Five years after the war, Earth has been covertly taken over by a group called the Dominator and used their power to withdraw Earth from the United Planets. As this happened the Dominator began a plan to take over other planets and the Legion fought back. During thsee battles Reep would die. This would not be the end for Reep Daggle though.
The Zero Hour event would reboot time and space so that a new Durla and Reep existed. Now, Reep was the son of the spiritual leader of Durla and was next in line for the role but he joined the Legion instead. While with the Legion, a Durlan called the Composite Man who was able to take on the superpowers as well as the form of others, killed Reep father and the high priests who were with him. The Durlan people would beg Reep to return and lead them but he refused. This Reep did not know Interlac (the standard language of the known universe) and had to rely on his friend and teammate, Invisible Kid. Invisible Kid would lead the Espionage Squad in this new existence and Reep would learn Interlac and used the perceptions had of his ignorance of the language to help him on missions.
Another reboot would occur and this time Reep was no longer Chameleon Boy but just Chameleon due to Durlans being androgynous humanoids. Reep would still be a great detective and fluent in many languages now to further help them in mimcry. They were even able to heal thanks to shapeshifting their mass into their old, predamaged form.
There you have it folks! Chameleon Boy, Changeling, Chameleon. All names the Durlan hero has gone by and many shapes through out the years. There’s something about a character from a race that others find untrustworthy who shows that the bigotry is just a bunch of falsehoods and proves to be greater than many who look down on them. See you next time!
Suggested Reading
Action Comics #267
Legion of Super-Heroes
Dr. Bustos
drbustos@comicattack.net
