WonderCon '06: Day 2

There were two panels with Legion-related content, one for the DCU and a spotlight on LSH writer Mark Waid.

Day 2's "DCU 2006: The Best is Yet to Come" panel

From Newsarama:

Waid said of Supergirl showing up in Supergirl and the Legion of Superheroes, that part of the team thinks of her as a weird myth like King Arthur, others thinks she's a comic book character, others think she's a lunatic.

When the Legion finally asks Supergirl where she came from, the answer shocked his editor, Waid said.

Speaking of Supergirl, asked about the cover Newsarama featured this week showing Kara ripping off a costume to reveal a Supergirl costume underneath, new series writer Rucka said it could be indicative of identity issues, or it could be "just a cheesecake attempt to sell books".

And:

Didio asked Rucka and Waid if they resolved issues involving Supergirl being in two places/times at once at dinner on Friday night, Waid said, "I don’t care what the waiter said, those tables were overturned when we got there."

Rucka said they discovered who is to blame for the whole two Supergirls dilemma and jokingly looked in DiDio’s direction, saying, "You should start running".

Day 2's "Spotlight on Mark Waid" panel

From Newsarama:

Fans expressed delight with the Legion letter columns from recent issues of that series, and one fan even expressed a desire for an all-letter column issue. Waid said he’d be up for it if the fan could get it approved. He urged fans to keep sending letters, because they’ll keep printing them.

To write LOSH, Waid explained he has character depictions drawn by Kitson he moves around “like chess pieces”, in order to write each issue.

Describing the process, Waid might realize, “Oh, we haven’t seen Star Boy use his powers in awhile”, and then Star Boy will use his powers.

He also mentioned he tends to gravitate towards characters from his childhood and to characters with a sense of humor. He’s enjoying writing Chameleon Boy in Legion in part for this reason, and he will be featured more prominently soon.

On that front, many questions were asked about characters who will appear in Legion. Wildfire will be appearing in issue #15, as well as the three characters on the cover, and a new character will appear in issue #18. There has been much talk of Shikari from the last incarnation of the Legion appearing. Kitson seems to be against Bouncing Boy at this time, although Waid loves him and Matter-Eater Lad.

In coming issues we’ll be getting into why Braniac 5 seems to have so much anger. The rest of the Legion doesn’t know he has the body of Dream Girl, but he has an amazing plan and the plotline will get to the core of his rage. This will be a big part of year two in the book, in issues #16-18 readers will be getting a sense of this.

Waid is less comfortable with the magic side of the Legion, even though Mordru is one of his two favorite villains (along with Composite Superman). When asked if he’ll be touching on some of those elements, he said he would have to speak to Kitson. Waid made it sound as though his avoidance of it has been almost subconscious, but Wacker pointed out the set-up of Princess Projectra as being an exception.

Waid commented his first time writing Legion did not go so well because they were too beholden to the old stories. One post-reboot thing he particularly disliked was that they used a silly villain with a retarded name (Starfinger) just because they felt like they had to because the old Legion fought him around then.

Wacker said he loves that just because Waid loves and know all the old stories, he does not hold them precious. He doesn’t worry about change as some older creators do.