Talok VIII's Mallor family had enjoyed a long history of heroism when both Tasmia and her cousin Grev inherited the family tendancy toward heroic leadership in times of trouble. When they were both young, they traveled to a cave deemed sacred to their family. There they were exposed to a catalytic gas which awakened their latent Mallor shadow powers, and Tasmia, as the elder of the two, became Talok VIII's heroine. However Grev was somewhat ignored by his people.

Tasmia spent the next few years guarding the bleak, sandswept Talok VIII. During one period when she was off-planet, the Fatal Five took over her world, throwing it into a state of chaos, but with the Legion's help, Tasmia drove the Fatal Five from Talok VIII.

Tasmia then traveled to Earth to help the Legion prevent the Fatal Five from conquering the United Planets, shortly after which she choose to stay off-world and join the Legion as Shadow Lass, leaving Grev to become Talok VIII's protector.

Secretly, her growing personal interest in Brainiac 5 is what dictated her decision, but when Brainy proved romantically cold, Tasmia chose instead to link herself with one of the most physically powerful Legionnaire, Mon-El. She also seemed to have an attraction to the Legion's 20th century member and inspiration, Superboy. Tasmia and Mon-El remained a steady couple right to the end and frequently spent time with another Legion couple, Ultra Boy, one of Mon-El's best friends and Phantom Girl, Shadow Lass' closest friend.

POWERS AND SKILLS

Shadow Lass became a skilled hand-to-hand fighter even before she gained her shadow powers which consist of a negative energy field which absorbs all visible light frequencies and surrounding parts of the spectrum such as infared and ultraviolet light. The field also partially absorbs sound waves, making it an effective cloak. She has worked since gaining this power to establish fine control over her shadows and is now able to cast very precise forms.

UMBRA