Geoff Johns, part 2

Looks like Geoff Johns is making the rounds. My first stop was a look at his interview with IGN; here's his interview with Newsarama. Some of it's the same, some is different, so I'll only discuss the new-ish stuff here. See also discussion over at Millarworld.

NRAMA: You say the Legion is important to Superman. Can you explain why?

GJ: They're his first friends. Back when Clark Kent was a kid, nobody else could fly. And he met these kids from the Legion, and they could fly. And all of them were aliens like him, from different worlds. It was the first time in his life that he felt like he wasn't completely an outsider. He felt like part of the club.

The Legion is a team of aliens and humans with different powers from across the universe united to promote diversity, unity and tolerance. It grew completely out of the idea of Superman’s experience as an alien on Earth.

I always believed his interaction with the Legion was an important piece of Superman's history, and it would be nice to do a story that explored that – and kind of going with the “Whatever happened to the Legion of Super-Heroes?” approach. As if the original Legion has been continuing to have adventures while we (and Superman) have been away.

I also wanted to explore the idea – you know, you make good friends when you're young that help make you who you are, but what happens later in life when they need your help, when you've grown apart? How strong is that friendship?

NRAMA: We've seen in other stories that Superman has statues of his Legion friends in the Fortress of Solitude, and that he remembers much of what happened with them. When he goes to the future, does he remember it?

GJ: Oh, yeah. He remembers it. You’ll see it through his eyes. This story is designed for Legion fans and for people who might have heard of the Legion but don't really know them yet and don't really understand the importance of them. And that's the whole idea – to put the Legion in the context of the world of Superman again.

NRAMA: OK, so Superman goes into the future and then ...

GJ: ... and then, it's not the future he last remembered. Time has passed. The team is scattered.

NRAMA: Can you tell us anything about the changes that have occurred? You said Superman wants to “help.” What does he want to help with?

GJ: There are some major events that have happened – a couple to do with him directly – in the future that have forced the Legion to disband. And it's all about dealing with the ramifications of that.

NRAMA: Ramifications?

GJ: Yes. What does it mean to be an alien on Earth in the future now?

The villains of the story are the members of the 31st century Justice League, which we've seen on the Action #860 cover preview. They include rejects and former villains like Tusker, Radiation Roy, and Spider-Girl.

NRAMA: Can you tell readers what Legion team members they're going to see? Is it the team that was in Lightning Saga? Or will there be more, since Superman's going to be visiting the future?

GJ: When we're all said and done, they'll see pretty close to everybody that was an active Legionnaire at one point or another.

NRAMA: Everybody?

GJ: [laughs] Pretty close. Not everybody, 'cause the arc's not that big. And it's designed, again, to reintroduce the Legion into Superman's life. But just about. Even Night Girl, who is a bad ass teamed up with Shadow Lass.

NRAMA: ... As you outlined before, the Legion itself has been relaunched two times, including the current Legion of Super-Heroes series. Does this story arc explain why there are now three different versions of the Legion?

GJ: We've mentioned the story – “The Legion of Three Worlds” – and if there are 52 universes out there, there are 52 future universes now too.

NRAMA: The Legion of Three Worlds?

NRAMA: ...Just to clarify all these hints you're dropping, there are obviously more Legion stories coming in ’08, right?

GJ: Next year is a big Legion anniversary so – yes!