Salu Digby
| Shrinking Violet | |
|---|---|
| File:Violet (comics) 1.jpg Violet by Phil Moy, with her post-Eye costume and hair | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Action Comics # 276 (May 1961) |
| Created by | Jerry Siegel Jim Mooney |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Salu Digby |
| Place of origin | Imsk |
| Team affiliations | Legion of Super-Heroes |
| Notable aliases | Atom Girl, Virus, LeViathan |
| Abilities | Shrinking from normal size to atomic size, and any size in between |
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Shrinking Violet is a fictional character in the DC Universe, a member of the far-future Legion of Super-Heroes. Her real name is Salu Digby and she comes from the planet Imsk. She was created by writer Jerry Siegel, the co-creator of Superman, and artist Jim Mooney. She has the power to shrink to tiny size, as do all Imsk natives.
Pre-Zero Hour
In the original pre-Zero Hour continuity she was the thirteenth person to join the Legion of Super-Heroes. She first appeared in Action Comics #276 (1961). She tried out for membership at the same time as Sun Boy and Bouncing Boy. At that same try-out, Supergirl and Brainiac 5 joined the Legion. Shrinking Violet joined the Legion later, as did her fellow applicants Sun Boy and Bouncing Boy. Despite her shyness, Shrinking Violet, known as Vi to her teammates, served as an exemplary Legionnaire. She became romantically involved with Duplicate Boy of the Heroes of Lallor.
Years later, she was kidnapped by Imsk-native radicals. She was replaced in the Legion by Yera, a Durlan actress who used her native shapeshifting abilities to assume Violet's identity (the radicals had told her that Violet wished to go on a secret vacation). Some other Legionnaires became suspicious of the fake Violet when Yera, wearing Violet's form, suddenly fell in love with Colossal Boy, who had had an unrequited crush on the real Violet for years. Yera's charade was exposed and the real Violet was rescued. After her recovery from the trauma of her abduction, Violet resumed her Legion career; she also broke up with Duplicate Boy when she learned that, although he had discovered Yera's secret some months earlier, he had neither told anyone nor tried to rescue her.
After returning to active duty, Violet had a short-term romantic relationship with fellow Legionnaire Sun Boy. Some time afterwards, it was implied (but never fully stated aloud) that she entered into a longer, more serious romance with another teammate, Lightning Lass.[1]
After the Legion's disintegration in the aftermath of the Levitz-written era, Violet returned to Imsk and was drafted to fight in a war against Braal, the home planet of her fellow Legionnaire Cosmic Boy. This ended with the "Battle of Venado Bay", during which she found herself saving a grievously-injured Cosmic Boy from her own comrades; he, delirious with pain, did not recognize her, and attacked her face, destroying her right eye and leaving her with a long scar along her face. The two later reconciled, and although she had her eye repaired, she chose to keep her scar as a reminder.
Before the Legion reboot, one of Violet's legs was disintegrated and subsequently replaced with an artificial one.
In the "Legion on the Run" storyline, she operated under the alias Virus, as Legion Leader.
Post-Zero Hour
Violet originally joined the Legion (as Shrinking Violet). In the final competition to become Imsk's representative, one of the other contestants, Micro, murdered the third finalist, Ion. After she apprehended Micro, Vi was gratefully accepted into the Legion, and despite her chronic shyness, quickly became close friends with the outgoing Kinetix who joined at the same time and who pushed her to become more outgoing. It was shortly after the depowered Kinetix had left on a search for new power artifacts that Violet came across the Emerald Eye of Ekron. Seducing her, it gradually allowed Vi to become more outgoing the way she wished to be to the point where she was elected Legion leader.
Keeping the Eye a secret after the mystically-repowered Kinetix returned(having been sent to search for the Eye) proved deadly. Innocently, she wished that all the Legionnaires would be granted their heart's desires. Unfortunately for Leviathan, his wish was for a heroic death which the Eye promptly arranged. Having had a longstanding crush on him, she was heartbroken by his death, and openly revealed the Eye's power in an attempt to revive him by forcing the Legionnaires to go on a galaxy-wide search for a means of resurrection.
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It was only after she had remade the Legion, and indeed the Earth, in the Eye's image when several accidentally freed Legionnaires tried to stop her that she realised it had all gone too far, and commanded the Eye to "turn back time". Maliciously, the Eye took the opportunity to send half the Legion a thousand years into the past, while taking Violet herself into deep space to attempt to continue its brainwashing of its host, where it sensed its prior master, Mordru (one of the few beings capable of using it against its will) had been reawakened.
After she was freed from the Eye, and Mordru defeated, Violet suddenly found herself with Leviathan's powers in addition to her own. Since then, she has alternated between using the codename LeViathan in tribute to him, and simply being known as Violet.
Powers
Violet has the superhuman ability to vary her size. Originally, she could only shrink (down to subatomic sizes, if necessary), but after Leviathan's death, the Emerald Eye bestowed her with his power to grow to giant sizes as well.
Current Continuity (2005-)
In current continuity, Shrinking Violet is also known as Atom Girl, a myth to all but the founding Legion members. She was considered a joke by the second wave of Legionnaires, until Brainiac 5 revealed her in the battle against Elysion of Terror Firma. She says she was exploring Brainiac 5's microverse and simply lost track of time. Invisible Kid used her name as a cover up to veil his tracks while spying on Brainiac 5. Subsequently, she assaulted Invisible Kid and after suspending him over the city, forgave him. She seems to quite like the image this gives her of being slightly crazy. She is fiercely loyal to Brainiac 5. Atom Girl overreacts to comments about her size and appears to feel hurt about appearing small in the eyes of the other Legionnaires.
Elseworlds and other versions of Shrinking Violet
Shrinking Violet appeared in the Amalgam Comics title Spider-Boy Team-Up. She was merged with Marvel mainstay the Wasp to form the character Lady Bug. She was a member of the Legion Of Galactic Guardians 2099.
Shrinking Violet has appeared in the Legion of Super Heroes animated series. She was mentioned in "Man of Tomorrow", and had cameos in "Timber Wolf", and "Chain of Command", but her first real appearances wasn't until "Sundown - Part 2", and in "Chained Lightning" where she was voiced by Kari Wahlgren. Shrinking Violet and Brainiac 5 seemed to have grown close in the episode "Chained Lightining" wether this is a romantic conection (whitch is moast probable), or just a friendship is yet to be seen.
Shrinking Violet was seen in Futurama Comics #33 along with Ray Palmer and Ant Man.