Linkdump, Sept. '06

My belated monthly column on some of the things I saved up to write about but never got to.

• Tim Callahan, on "10 Reasons why The Legion of Super-Heroes RULEZ! (WITH A CAPITAL "ULEZ"):"
  

  7) Interlac. It was like English at first. Then it was like English but with letters FROM THE FUTURE!
  
  6) Tiny little men implanted in the ankle for surveillance. If you read this issue, you will never forget it.
  
  1) Bizarro Computo! Created by Brainiac 5 to defeat Computo. It failed miserably. But how awesome was it while it lasted? As awesome as you can possibly imagine multiplied by infinity!

  
  
• Legion Lost: Devon at Seven Hells tries to understand from the rest of us just what it is about the Legion. Read the comments section, too, for the replies from Legion fandom.
  

  It's lost on me. The adoration. The numerous books, websites, fansites and blogs devoted to its existence.
  
  It all just seems so quaint to me how hopped up folks get about something that hasn't even happened.
  
  I just don't get The Legion of Super-Heroes.

  
  
• This wouldn't be a good Legion Linkdump without Chris' Invincible Super-Blog. Read his latest Profile in Courage: Evillo.
  

  Yes, while he was certainly the most deadly threat to menace the Legion in the pages of Adventure Comics #351, Evillo never quite caught on like, say, the Fatal Five, or even the Time-Trapper. And why?
  
  Because he is quite possibly the single most ineffective super-villain ever.
  
  Take, for instance, the fact that he runs a gang called The Devil's Dozen, which is a lot more impressive before you find out that there are only four members.

  
  
• I remember the future: Here's a really well-written essay by SubZero on what it was like growing up in Germany, reading the Legion books.
  

  When I was a little boy there was this comic magazine in Germany called MV Comics which introduced me for the first time to the 31st century, home of the Legion of Super - Heroes. MV Comics was an anthology, which was a very common concept in my youth but which has almost completely disappeared now. ... Seems that everybody has forgotten that long before Peter Parker came along there were some teenaged superheroes. In fact there were so many of them they called them the Legion. ...
  
  Even if there was some hokey or weird stuff in the earlier comics there is one thing that has not changed over the years : the idea and the spirit of the legion that there is strenght - not only in numbers - but also in diversity and that a society can grow through the differences of different races and different cultures. The general idea was that everyone can be special.

  
  
• Brian Cronin at Comics Should Be Good over at CBR has a list of the Top Five Characters With Magnetic Powers. Someone we know is in the top 5, and the top two generated a LOT of comments.
  

  Cosmic Boy once had a costume with a big old-fashioned spaceman helmet on it.
  
  He also had a costume that was practically flesh-colored, making him appear like he was running around naked.
  
  And yet, he STILL managed to be a kickass leader for the Legion of Superheroes.

  
  
• Famous writer (and new blogger) Jack Pendarvis has discovered an amazing scientific breakthrough.
  

  Based on statistical analysis I can state with total accuracy that the Legion of Superheroes is therefore the primary inspiration of our great modern fiction writers - a startling discovery!

  
  
• Ye Olde Comic Booke Blogge tries to make some sense of Unknown Boy, the Unknown Legionnaire Who is Unknown to the Legion. Of course, trying to make sense of early 60's Legion stories is difficult enough to begin with.
  

  The story is all a big flashback, triggered when the Legion lands on a planet called Protea, and find a statue erected to Unknown Boy, prompting Superboy to be taken "back in memory to the greatest mystery-adventure in the Legion's history!" Assuming that statement is true--while I didn't bother to look it up--I can only assume this was one of the first three Legion stories ever written and the other two really sucked.

  
  
• In looking into the 52 series, the Absorbascon has a couple of entries (of course!), both on the Dominators. In the first, Scipio recalls how the Dominators were introduced to the 20th century during the Invasion! miniseries.
  

  As a result of Invasion, an appearance by the Dominators is literary shorthand for "alien concern over Earthers developing superpowers". And given that Mark Waid is writing Legion at the same time as participating in 52, I'm sure it's not a throwaway but a real connection...
  
  but exactly what I can't yet imagine.

  
  In the second entry, he walks us through the introduction of the Dominators into Legion mythology in 1967.
  

  The Legionnaires do what any sensible person called upon to escort endangered ambassadors would do: take a short-cut through the Tenth Dimension. You know, the Tenth Dimension, which has never been mentioned before and will never be mentioned again. Try to keep up, will you?

  
  
• Steve Wacker, as I'm sure you heard, left DC for Marvel, and the internets broke in half. After things calmed down a bit, Wacker appeared over at Newsarama for a statement. No news yet as to who will take his editor's slot on the Legion book.
  

  The reality is there was absolutely no contention or animosity between DC and me when I gave my two weeks notice. Both Dan [Didio] and Paul [Levitz] were kind enough to talk to me about staying, but also shook my hand at the end and said they understood the decision and why I made it.