Con Report: Toronto Fan Expo '08

The Toronto Fan Expo was held over the weekend. Current Legion artist Francis Manapul was one of the guests. Summaries of the various DC panels with Legion news:

DC Nation, via CBR:

However, there were some discussions during the hour-long event that provided some surprises on how Didio and his creative staff viewed their company, the practice of resurrecting characters and how the first does the second too much.

“I’m glad ‘Countdown’ is over. That was a long year of DC Nation for me,” Didio said after opening up the floor to fans for questions and feedback. Soon, the pendulum swung towards the Legion of Super-Heroes and the future of that franchise and how the decision to make changes and events a part of the line came out of the relaunch of another DC property.

“When I first started at DC, one of the franchises I really wanted to invigorate was ‘Teen Titans’...as the legend goes, Paul Levitz, my boss, didn’t believe ‘Teen Titans’ were going to work that well because we had done so many reboots before that, and they all seemed to trip over it,” Didio explained. “When ‘Titans’ came out [by Geoff Johns and Mike McKone] and was a big hit, Paul came into my office, threw a copy of ‘Teen Titans’ onto my desk and goes, ‘Too bad we can’t do the same thing with Legion.’

“We know there’s an audience out there, and we keep on trying to get it right,” he added, saying that the current “Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds” would be used as a barometer to figure out which interpretation fans liked the best and then move forward with “one, clear interpretation of the Legion by the time we’re through.”

When asked whether or not the room enjoyed a Legion with Superman/boy or as its own team, the crowd voted by a strong majority just for the Legion without including a “Super” lead.

A Guide to Your DC Universe, via CBR:

Staying with the theme of death, Didio said, “I don’t think I ever said Bart Allen was dead. I am serious.”

“We all wish it,” added Giffen to a chorus laughs.

“There were changes that were going to be made,” continued Didio. “There were stories that were going to be told and there were definite crossovers taking place at the moment of the death of Bart Allen. So there is a good chance there is going to be more resolutions to that character and what happened to him in the very near future or the very far future.”

Indeed, in Rich Johnson’s first post-Comic-Con edition of LYING IN THE GUTTERS, the CBR columnist shared news from the floor that Geoff Johns was overheard talking about Bart Allen with Manapul, who draws “Legion of Super-Heroes.”

...Following a question from the audience, Didio said the rumor that legendary writer Jim Shooter was off and then back on “Legion of Super-Heroes” deserved no validation. Van Sciver praised Manapul’s work on the series and said he would love to see a Saturn Girl solo series.