Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Paul Levitz to make NJ appearance Thursday

And now, a public service announcement...

PAUL LEVITZ CREATOR APPEARANCE
Writer of the new LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES series & the former President and Publishers of DC COMICS
DEWEY'S COMIC CITY, 13 Park Avenue, Madison, NJ 07940 (973 593 0042)
This Thursday, May 20th, 5:30pm until 7:30pm

We are pleased and excited to welcome PAUL LEVITZ, the writer of the new LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES and former President and Publisher of DC COMICS to Dewey’s Comic City.  Paul will be signing copies of LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #1 (arriving the day before Paul’s appearance, on Wednesday, May 19th) and we’ll have plenty of copies of that issue available for him to sign.

With the publication of the new Legion of Super-heroes series Levitz returns to writing comic books after serving DC COMICS for 35 years in various executive positions, the most recent being as President and Publisher of DC Comics from 2002 to 2009.   He has a long history as a writer on the LEGION having written the series from 1977 to 1978 and again from 1981 to 1989.

His appearance at Dewey’s Comic City is Mr. Levitz’s first area store appearance since resuming the role of writer. 

Paul Levitz was born in Brooklyn, NY, attended Stuyvesant High School and later enrolled in New York University.  During high school he published The Comic Reader, an early comic book fanzine for which he would gather comic book news items from various New York publishers.  While a freshman at NYU he was offered a position at DC COMICS and left before graduating.  He began at DC as a writer and assistant editor and later became editor of the Batman line of comics.  In 1980 Mr. Levitz became the DC’s manager of business affairs, created the marketing department, helped develop the earliest graphic novel format comic books, and eventually was appointed vice president and executive vice president before becoming President in 2002.

Everyone who attends the signing and has Paul sign a copy of the regular cover of LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #1 will be entered into a raffle to win one of three FREE copies of the Jim Lee variant cover that will be raffled off that evening.

Come meet a true legend in the comic book medium!  Paul Levitz, Thursday, May 20th at Dewey's Comic City, in Madison, NJ!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Trivia Answers #47

This week kicks off the beginning of new Legion series by Paul Levitz and Yildiray Cinar, so in that spirit I present this issue of Legion Trivia.

1. Who were the main villains in each of the other #1 issues of the "Legion of Super-Heroes" series?

I was amused at how many other issues you guys tried to fit in, from LSH v2 #259 to Legionnaires to The Legion to issue #0s. I was only interested in the #1 issues of "Legion of Super-Heroes" series.
2. With the Legion appearing in two series next month (Adventure Comics and Legion v6), how many times in the past has the Legion had two simultaneous ongoing series?
By my count, four times:
  • Adventure Comics [Digest] & LSH v2 (1982-83)
  • Tales of the LSH & LSH v3 (1984-1987)
  • LSH v4 & Legionnaires (1993-2000)
  • LSH v5 & LSH in 31st Century (2007-2008)

I counted Adventure because the Legion had a regular ongoing reprint series (even thought it only lasted 13 issues). The LSH v1 series, 4 reprint issues, wasn't an ongoing series, and the Legion only had an occasional backup in Superboy at the time. Guest appearances and miniseries don't count.
3. Between his first story in LSH v2 #284 and the end of LSH v3 (including Annuals but not including miniseries), how many people were given some sort of writing credit along with Paul Levitz? This includes credits for plotter, scripter, dialog, etc.
I had forgotten that Paul helped finish out the Reflecto storyline, starting in issue 281, before taking the book for himself (mostly).
  • Roy Thomas: plot LSH v2 281-282
  • Keith Giffen: co-plot and/or co-script LSH v2 293-313 plus Annuals 1-3; Tales of the LSH 313-317; LSH v3 1-5, 50-55, 57-58, 60-63
  • Mindy Newell: dialogue, script, and/or co-plot Tales 314-317, 320-325
  • Steve Lightle: co-plot LSH v3 23

4. Assuming that Adventure Comics had continued its numbering as a monthly title and had not been cancelled with issue #503, with the issues coming out (in whatever format) regularly since then as a typical DC comic. What issue number would have been dated May 2010?
Mike McKean got it right: "Since Adventure #503 was cover dated Sep 1983, if the series had been published monthly, the May 2010 issue (which would have come out in March) should have been numbered #823. I'm assuming Adventure would have published #0 and #1000000 in the same months as other DC titles, which balances out the two "extra" 1988 issues, Winter and Holiday." (I meant to ask which issue would Levitz be starting on, which Duke got: issue 826.)
5. Who wrote "An Open Note of Suicide", and why? For that matter, why does that question fit this quiz?
As Anon wrote:
Saturn Girl's new costume design was submitted by K. Haven (Kim) Metzger. This outfit, later colored fuscia, would be adopted by the Bronze Age Saturn Girl. When nearly all the Legionnaires were eventually given new costumes in the Bronze Age, Kim wrote his famous "An Open Note of Suicide" letter/essay in the fanzine Legion Outpost No. 10 (Spring 1981) , saying:

"... since those new uniforms were introduced, it just doesn't seem like the Legion I knew. And I live with the knowledge that I am responsible. Whatever it is about the Legion that seems different now, that something had its birth with my Saturn Girl uniform. I cannot bear to watch anymore ... I ask no forgiveness; I deserve none. Rather, I deserve perhaps pity, perhaps contempt from my fellow Legion fans ... Let those who sneer at a super-hero's costume with dreams of changing it - recall my success and remember the wretchedness it brought me."

This question was inspired by Jim Lee's alternate cover to LSH v6 #1. Nobody answered that part of the question.

6. Which Legionnaire was featured in Yildiray Cinar's Sketchbook, which was first sold recently at the C2E2 convention and also posted online?
This had just been mentioned on my Twitter feed the day before, and it was still on the Twitter sidebar when this was posted. The answer is Shadow Lass.

7. Who is the only Legionnaire whose birthday is in May?
From the 1976 DC Calendar (which has since been made canon), only Condo Arlik, aka Chemical King, was born in May.

Monday, May 03, 2010

Trivia Quiz #47

May kicks off the beginning of new Legion series by Paul Levitz and Yildiray Cinar, so in that spirit I present this issue of Legion Trivia.

1. Who were the main villains in each of the other #1 issues of the "Legion of Super-Heroes" series?

2. With the Legion appearing in two series next month (Adventure Comics and Legion v6), how many times in the past has the Legion had two simultaneous ongoing series?

3. Between his first story in LSH v2 #284 and the end of LSH v3 (including Annuals but not including miniseries), how many people were given some sort of writing credit along with Paul Levitz? This includes credits for plotter, scripter, dialog, etc.

4. Assuming that Adventure Comics had continued its numbering as a monthly title and had not been cancelled with issue #503, with the issues coming out (in whatever format) regularly since then as a typical DC comic. What issue number would have been dated May 2010?

5. Who wrote "An Open Note of Suicide", and why? For that matter, why does that question fit this quiz?

6. Which Legionnaire was featured in Yildiray Cinar's Sketchbook, which was first sold recently at the C2E2 convention and also posted online?

7. Who is the only Legionnaire whose birthday is in May?