More of Rich's Rumblings
As Jonathan Miller pointed out the comments to my previous post, Rich Johnston trots out his "Shooter's leaving the Legion" rumors again. Let me say up front that while Rich does have a track record of being right, he's also got a track record for being just as wrong. And it's curious that of all the 120,000+ people who went to San Diego - him not being one of them - I haven't heard a single person who has has commented or blogged about the "Shooter situation". Until yesterday, that is, when Rich comes up with this:
CONTAINING MULTITUDES
[Green Light]
More San Diego creator talk tells me that the Jim Shooter’s "Legion Of Super Heroes" title ends with issue #50.
It will be replaced with a new Tony Bedard LSH project, and the Levitz/Giffen Legion project will also see publication.
I'm also told that the junior book "The Legion Of Super Heroes In The 31st Century," is also coming to an end with issue 20.
The future seems an uncertain place.
I had heard the LSH31C cancellation rumor already, so that wasn't news. Or unexpected, either, given that the TV show was cancelled. I guess the Justice League and Teen Titans just have bigger audiences to sustain their comics after their shows were cancelled. Such is life, it was fun while it lasted.
Update: the colorist on the book hadn't heard the news yet.
The Levitz/Giffen project? In his own panel that I attended, Giffen said that he'd like to do something but he's waiting for Levitz to give the OK.
Q: Rumors about a Giffen/Levitz reunion on the Legion in some way?In another panel he asked if the audience would like to see another Levitz/Giffen project and got an enthusiastic response, to which Giffen replied that he was just checking to see who's interested. Why tease like that when you've got the target audience literally in front of you - a room full of Giffen fans, a room full of Legion fans, a room full of DC fans - ready to blog about it and start the buzz? What are they going to do, wait for Mid-Ohio Con at Thanksgiving? (No disrespect intended to MOC.)
A: All Paul has to do is say "yes". The fact that he's not saying "no" means he's being coy about it.
Another Tony Bedard project....hmmm. Given that his last Legion project was the transition between Waid/Kitson and Shooter/Manapul, and that his DC work lately has been fill-ins or story arcs, that suggests to me that he could be another transition writer. The obvious guess as to the new writer after that would be Geoff Johns, who has stated publicly that he'd love to write a Legion book, but given his commitments to Green Lantern, Action Comics, JSA, and Flash already, that could be pushing it for someone who says it takes him a week to write a book. Still, what higher-profile writer does DC have? When I asked Johns at San Diego if we'd see a Legion: Rebirth along the lines of Green Lantern: Rebirth and Flash: Rebirth, this transpired:
Following Johns' Green Lantern:Rebirth and Flash:Rebirth, I asked if there was going to be a Legion Rebirth. Johns replied carefully that L3W was pretty much just that, with lots of surprises, but don't worry about a new series.Assuming for the moment that Rich is right on this, v5 would end with #50, then we'd have a 6-8 issue transition miniseries while L3W and Final Crisis wind up (a story long enough to fill a trade paperback), then we'd see v6 #1. I'm going to tentatively say that Johns would make it fit in his schedule if he were offered the Legion book.
On top of all that, Rich's article then has this on Bart Allen:
FLASH TALKING
[Yellow Light]
One San Diegoer tells me, "I was waiting at the Aspen booth at Comic-Con getting a sketch done by current Legion Artist Francis Manapul, when Geoff Johns came over and interrupted to talk to him for a second. Johns had a copy of the first trade from his first Teen Titans trade, and handed it to Manapul, which Manapul said, ‘I eventually did get my hands on a copy and read it last night.’ The two of them talked about Bart Allen for a couple of minutes, with Manapul being very complimentary of how he was written. Johns looked around, saw people were watching, and turned his back and the two of them continued to talk inaudibly for about 10 minutes about something before Johns left.
"Combine that with the vague question that Johns asked at one panel: ‘Does anyone miss Bart Allen?’ and there has to be something there."
I dunno. You can't spend ten minutes having a friendly chat without people reading something into it.
I thought it was obvious. Wally's back, Barry's back, and Brainiac 5 still has a lightning rod with some Flashy-looking energy in the future.
If we take Rich at his word, that suggests that Manapul will be staying on after Shooter, into Bedard's run, where we'll see the return of Bart Allen. Johns already mentioned that the lightning rod would play a part in the L3W series.
(Note that Bart would be mighty confused by the 31st century he's in, since he appeared prior to Zero Hour (thus originating in the Pre-ZH future of LSH v4) while his cousin Jenni originated in the Post-ZH future. While it's easy enough to retcon him to being from the Post-ZH reboot future, he'd be awakened in a whole 'nother timeline.)
Posts
9 comments:
Regarding Bart being retconned into being from the Post-ZH future, I thought that was always the case (implicitly). We even saw it in the Legion/Titans story where he went to see his Mom while leaving Jenni on the treadmill. It's not like he had a great deal of contact (if any) with 31st century society before he came to the 21st anyway, being in that VR the whole time.
Regarding Rich's accuracy, I've always thought the "errors" tended to be that plans changed after reporting (or because of it).
I have no problem with Rich reporting rumors. Sometimes rumors are true, sometimes they're not, that's just the nature of rumors.
But what I find strange is that this is the fifth rumor since May 12 that Rich has reported Shooter leaving (see also May 12, May 20, June 2, July 15), yet we've heard not a single other report. Rich states that the Bristol bar scene knows it, and the New York bar scene knows it. Does someone have it out for Shooter (well OK, there are people who do), or is everyone just that good at keeping secrets?
Although, there was this Levitz rumor I posted here last October. Could be the 12-page story in the Jim Lee book coming out this fall, but it could be something else.
I think it really frakking sucks that DC is going to cancel the junior Legion book. That cartoon and the accompanying book are what got me into the Legion in the first place.
I realize you guys are not the ones to complain to -- don't shoot the messenger and all that -- maybe I will write an angry letter to Johnny DC. We'll see if they publish it. :-)
By the way, I talked briefly with Jim Lee at an autograph signing last weekend, and he told me that his art book would be out some time next year. So I wouldn’t hold your breath for it for this fall.
Oh, good, another arc by Bedard, the man whose last LSH story got me to drop the title after I had been following it all the way from Waid's restart. Oy.
I really feel like the lightning rod contains XS. The way that she's singled out at the top of those L3W preview posters just makes me think there's something very special about her and that she's the one in the lightning rod. Though, I don't know her history all too well.
It's worth remembering that Bart comes from the 31st century before the Legion's time. His grandfather was the President of the UP prior to Jeannie Chu (maybe more than one before). We saw 31st century Central City in some of the late issues of his series. So he was retconned into being from the postboot future very early on.
The lightning rod almost certainly contains Bart's essence, because the Legion was in the 21st century specifically at the time of his death. They were pretty clear about that in the JLA/JSA crossover (although the publication date was after Bart's death in The Flash).
One last note... hopefully, someone would dare explain the Tornado Twins appearance in the future. Or Earth-247? Should more temporal anomalies be used to explain how time travel can send you across planets, even? We know the Thawnes (Meloni, the President) are from 247/Reboot, but add up the Twins' from Preboot (and before COIE)...
The future seems an uncertain place... if only we know where, or when it really is.
With the Thawnes, right now it's probably best to just think of them as pure reboot, although with the Twins as preboot as well. Then Bart becomes one of those universal anomalies they were complaining about in Countdown.
Post a Comment