SQUEE-EEORRRRK! The Legion Album

Happy religious or non-religious holidays as needed to all my readers, without whom I'd be writing to nobody.

A while back, when I found the song by the group "Legion of Super-Heroes", I decided to see if I could make an album (or a "See Dee", as kids call it these days) of Legion-related music. Matthew at the Legion Abstract talked about a comic-song mix CD, and Scott at the Legion Clubhouse had a huge list of songs that could fit here, but I wanted my songs to be at least tangentially Legion related (so, for example, I leave out an obvious one, 1975's "Wildfire" by Michael Martin Murphey, a song about a horse).

So here's SQUEE-EEORRRRK!, an album's worth of songs by or about the Legion.

• Legion of Super-Heroes (1967) - The Great Name Dropper
  
  
• Scott Walker (1969) - 30th Century Man
  
  
• XTC (1986) - That's Really Super, Supergirl (Amazon download)
  
  
• Adrian Belew (1987) - Superboy
  
  
• Stormwitch (1987) - Emerald Eye (YouTube audio)
  
  
• Spin Doctors (1991) - Jimmy Olsen's Blues
  
  
• Misinformed Manzerick (1993) - Saturn Girl
  
  
• Guided by Voices (1994) - Matter Eater Lad (audio, free download, blog entry)
  
  
• Yoyodyne (1996) - The Wedding of Bouncing Boy (audio, free download)
  
  
• The Autumn Leaves (1998) - Phantom Girl Blues (Amazon download)
  
  
• Kristopher Carter (2006) - Legion of Super Heroes (season 2) theme song
  

Meanwhile, other 30th/31st century residents have taken up music in the 21st century:

• The Legion of Super-Villains is a punk/hardcore/thrash band in Greenville, NC
  
• Chameleon Chief is a rapper
  
• Chemical King is a Japanese pop group
  
• Dawnstar is a pop band in Budapest, Hungary
  
• Wildfire is a DJ in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
  
• Shrinking Violet is an Auckland, NZ band
  
• The Invisible Kid is an artist in New York
  

New Smallville goodies

I hate having two good posts this close together (if you haven't seen it, I've got my Festivus 2008 post right below this), but here are some new goodies about Smallville.

Kryptonsite has a gallery of new photos from the episode, including one of episode writer Geoff Johns with the Legionnaires and one of the Persuader:

Here's the episode description, also from Kryptonsite:

The CW's Official Description (Added 12/20/08): DC COMICS’ LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES ARRIVE IN SMALLVILLE FROM THE FUTURE TO HELP CLARK STOP BRAINIAC AND THE PERSUADER — The aftermath of Doomsday’s (Sam Witwer) attack on Chloe (Allison Mack) and Jimmy’s (Aaron Ashmore) wedding leaves Clark (Tom Welling) in shock, but before he can search for the kidnapped Chloe, The Persuader (guest star Fraser Aitcheson) appears and attacks him. Rokk (guest star Ryan Kennedy), Imra (guest star Alexz Johnson) and Garth (guest star Calum Worthy), also known as The Legion, step in from the future to help vanquish the Persuader and the group realizes Brainiac has taken over Chloe once again. Meanwhile, up at the Fortress, Chloe, as Brainiac, informs Davis he is Doomsday and was created to kill “the other Kryptonian” and destroy the world. Glen Winter directed the episode written by Geoff Johns (#3T7461).

(also: Kryptonsite's message board thread about the episode.)

Note that the Persuader actor's name was misspelled in the original description but fixed and linked here.

And here's the new trailer:

Festivus 2008

Today is December 23, and you know what that means... it's Festivus time!

Festivus, which originated on an episode of "Seinfeld" in 1997, is a non-denominational holiday celebrated on Dec. 23 (or sometimes earlier, to avoid the Christmas rush). Instead of a tree, a simple unadorned aluminum pole is displayed, in opposition to the highly decorated Christmas trees. Two of the main elements of the holiday that involve people are the annual Airing of Grievances and the Feats of Strength. There are Festivus Miracles too, but they're not officially required.

So to celebrate, here are my list of Legion grievances. Please add your own in the comments, but remember they only can cover calendar year 2008 (so no whining about anything that happened last year). In no particular order:

1. The Superman & the Legion story totally undercut the v5 storyline and got people thinking that Legion continuity was even more convoluted (and the reboots make it more convoluteder), leading to Shooter leaving
   
   
2. The Legion cartoon got cancelled despite high ratings
   
   
3. LSH v5 sales kept dropping even after Shooter joined (maybe partially related to #1)
   
   
4. Although it was one of the themes of this year's San Diego Comic Con, and got the cover spot on the con program, DC paid no attention to the Legion at their booth - no pins, no posters - while heavily promoting other stuff
   
   
5. The Superboy lawsuit is STILL not settled.
   
   
6. Whatever happened to that Jim Lee/Paul Levitz Legion story that was supposed to come out months ago? Delayed until sometime in 2009, so I've heard, but nothing specific.
   
   
7. Delays in the publishing schedule of "Legion of Three Worlds": #1 in August, #2 in October, #3 in December or January, #4 in February (allegedly), and #5 who knows. I know they're having problems with "Final Crisis" itself, but is it a monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly?
   
   
8. Karate Kid and Una in Countdown. WTF? Can anyone explain this? The only good thing I can recall out of this is when Supergirl met them and recalled "her" (v5) Legion.
   
   
9. The cancellation of the animated Legion comic, "Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century"

Now to temper the List of Grievances, we also have some Festivus Miracles:

1. It's the 50th anniversary of the Legion. I think it's a miracle they're still around!
   
   
2. Heavy buzz factor on multiple fronts: Superman & the Legion, L3W as Final Crisis tie-in, Jim Shooter; various titles and storylines made end-of-year top 10 lists
   
   
3. Despite the schizophrenic promotion in San Diego this year, the Legion's 50th was one of the themes, and it made the cover. Plus there was a great (but too-short) Legion panel.
   
   
4. George Perez got to fulfill a lifetime dream of working on the Legion, in "Legion of Three Worlds".
   
   
5. Dawnstar appeared in Vogue magazine
   
   
6. Geoff Johns apparently wrote my Multiversal Retconitis essay (Batman has met three different versions of the Legion but never mentioned it before) into Action 864
   
   
7. Teenagers from the Future. A scholarly book! About the Legion!
   
   
8. Legion of Three Worlds: restoring Superboy to the Legion and the return of the Pre-Crisis and Post-Zero Hour Legions. Plus, George Perez and Geoff Johns!
   
   
9. The Legion on Smallville. We'll be able to cover this one next year too.

The last of the Festivus traditions is the Feats of Strength, in which the guests wrestle with and try to pin the host to the floor. I think I've been doing that all year long with my trivia (see past quizzes here), but here are three bonus questions for you to wrestle with.

1. In a dusty file room in a sub-basement somewhere in Legion HQ stand some file cabinets. Next to the one marked "Substitute Heroes" (no, really, there was a filing cabinet) is a cabinet labeled "Secret Weapons". What did we ever see that was in that cabinet?
   
   
2. Where would you find Mog Vagor, Nimbok of Vaalor, and Duke Harrington of Maine?
   
   
3. In the suit he wore to his first tryout, which Legionnaires' powers did ERG-1 demonstrate?
   

Also happening...

Also happening...

• Via Comics Reporter, NPR has "Superman and the Legion" as one of the Best Superhero Graphic Novels Of 2008.
  
• Martín "MaGnUs" Pérez at the Independent Comics Site has an update and excerpt from his essay on Legion costumes that appears in "Teenagers from the Future".
  
• Michael Ausiello shows the new Smallville clip at Entertainment Weekly, with lots of spirited discussion in the comments.
  
• Geoff Johns threw us another curve last week in Action Comics 872. In the city of Kandor, currently in the Arctic, the Kandorians are in Brainiac's ship, which has countless other bottle cities from thousands of worlds. Among the planets whose cities are said to be in bottles are Braal, Winath, and Tharr (home planets of Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad/Light Lass, and Polar Boy, respectively). In the Glorithverse, these were among the worlds seeded by Valor. Also, Tellus (last seen in the Adventure Comics special with the Guardian) has a one-panel appearance with Agent Liberty.
  
• The new "Superman: Past and Future" TPB contains a reprint of "Superman" (V1) #295, the story that showed how the future with the Legion was different from the future with Kamandi, guest starring Xenofobe the GL. (See this post for more info on that issue, which was originally supposed to be in a now-cancelled Great Disaster Showcase volume.)
  

"We are the Legion. We've come from the 31st century."

Maybe it's because I'm actually seeking it out, but I'm seeing a lot of sites show up on my search RSS feeds that have articles on the Legion episode of Smallville that I don't ordinarily see. And everyone seems to be excited about it. Buzz? About the Legion? Things are looking up.

I like the headline for this Newsarama article: "We Are the Legion, or, Someone Made Smallville Cool Again"

When it returns, Smallville returns with a bang, featuring an episode written by Geoff Johns and starring the Legion of Superheroes. The newest trailer features good shots of each of the core three (though no power usage yet, we DO get the Legion fist raise), along with teases for developments with the other characters like Chloe, Doomsday, and Mercy. The second half of the season is shaping up to be some of the best Smallville yet, and I can’t wait for January 15th.

TV Squad also has an article.

And here's the latest trailer, which some of you have already pointed out to me:

Bits of Legionnaire Business

Random bits:

• The Legion of Substitute Podcasters talks about ADV 300.
  
• The Comic Treadmill has their penultimate look at the Legion in Adventure Comics, issues 376-378.
  
• The Legion Abstract looks at the history of the Legionnaire Computo.
  
• Wizard Universe published an article online reprinting their print story on the Legion's cancellation.
  
• Via The Comics Reporter, the Washington Post lists the "Superman and the Legion" hardcover as one of the top six comics of the year.
  
• Meanwhile, Wizard has Action Comics (including the Legion arc) as the best book of 2008.
  
• Chronic Cerebral Evacuations is this month's web page spotlighting the relative lameness of Arm-Fall-Off Boy and Matter-Eater Lad. Like we haven't heard the arguments before.
  
• The new crew at Blog@Newsarama has got a new feature on Mondays, called Legion Blogpost. After a kickoff/intro post, episode 2 takes a nostalgic look back at the v4-era Legion. Welcome to the Legionblogosphere, guys!
  
• Paul and John Review (that is, make fun of) Adventure 371.
  

Waid, DiDio chat on Legion stuff

In separate interviews, Mark Waid and Dan DiDio have commented recently on the past, present, and future of the Legion. Thanks to roving reporter Murray for bringing both of these to my attention.

DiDio, via his 20 Questions column on Newsarama:

4. Do thresholds change in terms of the performance of a book? Do they change in tighter times? After all, we’ve seen a number of DC books cancelled recently...

DD: Some of the books were cancelled for story reasons; some were cancelled because of sales reasons. We don’t have a consistent answer for how these books are being handled – especially when you saw some of these things being done. But that said, people are going to realize very quickly that the cancellations of Robin, Nightwing, Birds of Prey and Legion of Super-Heroes are occurring for a very specific reason...

18: Any more information available on Adventure Comics? Can you confirm or deny that it will be the vehicle for the Legion of Super-Heroes?

DD: I can confirm and deny – that’s even better. I will tell you only one thing about it - Adventure Comics #0, even though it is reprinting the first appearance of Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, it will also have a six page “Omens and Origins” that will get everybody talking and address multiple questions that are out there right now.

Oh, and it’s $1.00.

Waid, via chat on CBR's Comics Should Be Good. Here's the whole Legion part (minus a silly question about Sun Boy), but I've bolded the highlights and money quotes since I can't really pull sections out on their own, and added some line breaks to make it more readable here. Go read the whole interview, it's pretty interesting.

Brian Cronin: “With a little bit of time and perspective, what’s your take on your Legion reboot? What worked, what didn’t and what would you have done differently?”

Mark Waid: Legion reboot. Hrrm.
Mark Waid: I think what worked was a level of energy and enthusiasm Barry Kitson and I brought to the project. And I think the first bunch of issues is still really strong. But–my own failings as a writer aside (and you can look them up on the internet)–what didn’t work was the 30-page structure. It sounded great in theory–but we didn’t get started soon enough, and no way could Barry pencil 30 pages a month at the level he was working.
Mark Waid: So that meant fill-ins. But as the writer, you want the “choice” moments in your story to be told with your regular artist. BUT you don’t want to make a fill-in issue NOT important to the building story. It’s a dilemma. One I didn’t handle well, and one that made our first 12 issues feel like ten issues crammed into 12. There’s some legitimacy to the theory that the story moved too slowly.
Mark Waid: What DID work, I think, is that we DID get a BUNCH of new readers fresh to the Legion, and for every letter I got cursing me, I got one praising us for delivering an incredibly accessible book for new readers.
Mark Waid: Remember, too, at the time we relaunched, “rebooting” to the Adventure Comics days was Not An Option Available To Us. Had we simply done that, I think we’d have been revered. By 30,000 people. Big whoop.

Brian Cronin: Ha

Mark Waid: This is what I mean about swinging for the fences. I wasn’t trying in any way to be dismissive of existing Legion fans–I’m one of the STAUNCHEST Legion fans EVER, second only to Paul Levitz himself–but Legion fans alone were not enough in number to keep that franchise alive. So Barry and I tried to write for people who had never read the Legion. Like it or hate it, our run was at least eminently accessible to new readers.
Mark Waid: But something was off. We didn’t connect. I’m sure Tim Callahan will lecture me at condescending length about why that’s so, were I to ask him.

Brian Cronin: Would you have gone that route [back to the Levitz era] had it been available?

Mark Waid: I don’t think I would have gone that route, no. The Prime Directive was to make it super-abundantly clear that if you’d never read a Legion comic before, you could still pick up our book and BAM! Be in on the ground floor.
Mark Waid: Relaunching instead with a take that dated back to 1988 would never have sent that message.
Mark Waid: It’s working now, for Geoff, but the landscape’s much different than it was in 2004.
Mark Waid: Also, Geoff has DC editorial behind him. We did not. We had to get sandbagged by the goddamned “Lightning Saga” in JLA that, no fault of writer Brad Meltzer’s, was a total surprise to us and made us look like idiots.

Brian Cronin: Could you have not done a take on the Abnett and Lanning Legion that would have been accessible to new readers?
Brian Cronin: Or did the Abnett and Lanning Legion have too much of its own continuity to worry about?

Mark Waid: It’s not even that it had extensive continuity. It’s that all new potential readers BELIEVED Legion was a continuity nightmare, whether or not that was true.
Mark Waid: (Which it kinda was.)
Mark Waid: But even if it weren’t, we weren’t dealing with reality. We were dealing with perception. This is a fact: The perception was that Legion was totally new-reader-unfriendly.

Brian Cronin: But wouldn’t a third version of the Legion help bolster that?
Brian Cronin: If we’re talking perceptions, “Oh, the Legion, it’s so convoluted, they’re on their third reboot!”

Mark Waid: As opposed to what?
Mark Waid: Seriously. You’ve just advanced a total lose/lose scenario. Discuss.

Brian Cronin: But that’s what I mean – why go with what seemed to be a lose-lose scenario?

Mark Waid: Look, I agree, with 20/20 hindsight (again), the smart thing would have been to roll everything back to Levitz days. But Geoff and Gary Frank have an arrow in their quiver that we did not: Superboy.
Mark Waid: So had we done exactly what Geoff and Gary did recently–well, (a) we couldn’t have, because then-Superman editorial would have nixed it, and (b) IF we had, we’d have had to scrap everything the moment Superboy entered Legal Limbo for two years.
Mark Waid: So we would have had to retcon OURSELVES six issues in.
Mark Waid: What a quagmire.

Brian Cronin: Like the 5 years later Legion.
Brian Cronin: What was that - three issues into the new series that the reboot hit?

Mark Waid: Five issues in.
Mark Waid: What a nightmare.
Mark Waid: Look, it’s all timing. And my career is, creatively speaking, a virtual ode to lousy timing.
Mark Waid: Let’s move off Legion. You’re driving me to drink.

Brian Cronin: Hah
Brian Cronin: Sure

Johns to leave JSA, follow up with Legion?

So Geoff Johns is leaving the "JSA" book with #26 (Comicbloc, Newsarama, CBR). He is also leaving "Action Comics" for the Superman origin miniseries.

I have more stories to tell, and the characters are endless, but that’s also true for the DC Universe. I’m ready to move on to some other challenges like returning to THE FLASH and SUPERMAN: SECRET ORIGIN. And I am also obsessed with making sure that GREEN LANTERN, BLACKEST NIGHT and everything around it is the absolute best it can possibly be. ...and that’s only part of 2009. There are some new projects on the horizon.

That conveeeeeniently leaves an opening in his schedule to write the new Legion book in "Adventure Comics". But I think this is secret code. He's trying to tell us something. Let's look at it again with our 12th-level intelligence filter:

I have more stories to tell, and the characters are endless, but that’s also true for the DC Universe. I’m ready to move on to some other challenges like returning to THE FLASH and SUPERMAN: SECRET ORIGIN. And I am also obsessed with making sure that GREEN LANTERN, BLACKEST NIGHT and everything around it is the absolute best it can possibly be. ...and that’s only part of 2009. There are some new projects on the horizon.

I'm just saying, that's all.

TV Guide sneak peek at Smallville

The print version of this week's TV Guide has a new photo and short story (speaking to writer Geoff Johns) on the upcoming Legion episode of Smallville. Kryptonsite has a scan on their site.

Before the Legion can help Clark, they have to get over being starstruck about meeting their idol. "They know Clark from the equivalent of history books," Johns says. "They're all alien immigrants like him and they look at how he pioneered the way for aliens to come to Earth as a haven."

Trivia Answers #30

Well, Gopher got all the ones that nobody else got, so I guess it's time to post my answers. I had fun with that last one.

1. Which movie was reviewed on "Nik's Piks"?

The movie was called "Cadets", as seen in the intro story to "Who's Who in the LSH" #7. It was a drama about life in the Legion Academy.

2. What happened to the original training complex used for the Legion Academy when they moved the Academy out to Montauk Point, Long Island?

Speaking of which, that same story issue mentioned that the old Academy building was sold to a health and fitness club.

3. What is the most-reprinted panel in Legion publishing history?

The scene of the Legion council, from ADV 316 page 6, was used as the image for the Legion Outpost letters column for many years (as seen here at the Sannings' Legion Clubhouse).

4. Twice in early Legion stories, a male Legionnaire commented that a mission was too dangerous for Saturn Girl because she's a girl. Which male Legionnaires said that?

Both times it was Brainiac 5, in ADV 309 and 319.

5. What was Mordru's original name, and who was his father?

A relatively easy one. Mordru was born Wrynn of Gemworld, son of Topaz.

6. Besides Impulse (Bart Allen) and the Tornado Twins, which Legion character(s) have a direct link to the Flash family?

The one I was looking for was Devlin O'Ryan, who was the protégé of Iris West Allen. (As an aside, I hope they'll address which Legion timeline Barry went to, how Iris got back to the 21st century when she was previously seen in the now-defunct v4 timeline, and which future Bart comes from.)

7. This could be the most obscure question I've ever asked. Which three of the following people do not belong in the list with the others, and why? In alphabetical order: Affirmative Action, Asteroid Girl, Brainiac 5, Cosmos Lad, Disgusting Boy, Elektro Boy, Kwikster, Lightning Boy, Lightning Lord, Silent Girl, Spark, and Telepathy Lad.

This one requires you to know (somehow) that I'm talking about the parody and tribute covers to Adventure 247. All of the above except for Asteroid Girl, Cosmos Lad, and Silent Girl were all in the center seat; those three were on an end. See the Legion Wiki for all of the ADV 247 inspired covers so far. Jake did come up with some alternate answers (just not the ones I was thinking of).

Special bonus holiday question: Name three stories in which we saw the Legionnaires celebrating Christmas or another holiday celebration.

The three that I had thought of were the "Christmas Star" story (which also, if I'm not mistaken, was where we saw Colossal Boy celebrating Chanukkah), the Adult Legion story where Supergirl tries to hook up Superman with Saturn Woman, and the Klordny story. Gopher found a Halloween story which has apparently totally escaped my memory.

Trivia Quiz #30

No theme this week. And as it's just shy of midnight, technically I got in under the wire of posting this on the first Monday of the month.

1. Which movie was reviewed on "Nik's Piks"?

2. What happened to the original training complex used for the Legion Academy when they moved the Academy out to Montauk Point, Long Island?

3. What is the most-reprinted panel in Legion publishing history?

4. Twice in early Legion stories, a male Legionnaire commented that a mission was too dangerous for Saturn Girl because she's a girl. Which male Legionnaires said that?

5. What was Mordru's original name, and who was his father?

6. Besides XS, Impulse (Bart Allen) and the Tornado Twins, which other Legion character(s) have a direct link to the Flash family?

7. This could be the most obscure question I've ever asked. Of the following 12 people, which three do not belong in the list with the others, and why? In alphabetical order: Affirmative Action, Asteroid Girl, Brainiac 5, Cosmos Lad, Disgusting Boy, Elektro Boy, Kwikster, Lightning Boy, Lightning Lord, Silent Girl, Spark, and Telepathy Lad.

Special bonus holiday question: Name at least three stories in which we saw the Legionnaires celebrating Christmas or another holiday celebration (excluding Superboy or Supergirl 20th century stories).