SDCC09: It's a bird, it's a plane....

... it's Super-Mon!



Sorry.

SDCC09: DCU Editorial

Saturday's panels included DC Universe, a spotlight on Francis Manapul, and the Siegel/Shuster/Superman lawsuit. I can't find anything yet on the last two, so here's the DC stuff.

DC Universe, via Newsarama:

Mon-El's new costume when he joins the Justice League:


The team will have: Mon-El (in a new costume with a Superman "S" on it), Dick Grayson Batman, Donna Troy and Hal Jordan. The other characters are a "mystery," says Robinson. One of them "mystery" members is Congorilla, Robinson pointed out.

Johns said the Legion are going to be in Adventure Comics and Superman, and play a big role the rest of this year and next.

DC Universe, via CBR:

...the new [JLA] team will feature Mon-El in a new Superman-inspired costume, Dick Grayson as Batman and Donna Troy who "I'm going to make her kick ass in this book."

SDCC09: DC Nation

Friday's panels at San Diego included DC Nation and Mattel/DC. The action figure guys tell me that there was no Legion stuff at the Mattel panel.

DC Nation, via Newsarama:

Robinson announced the five-part "Mon-El, Man of Valor" story, which will feature a "new look and a new outlook" for the character.

Fan thanked the panel for bringing Superboy back. DiDio said they always had "the plan in place" to bring Superboy and Kid Flash back, then joked a bit about the Legion of Three Worlds delays.

The joke, as tweeted by @SpeedForceOrg:

DD: What did you like abt LO3W5? Fan: it finally came out. #sdcc

DC Nation, via CBR:

Next was applause for the Superman books. Fans said they liked the realistic characterization and ties to the Legion. Robinson spoke about the August-beginning arc, "Mon-el, Man of Valor," which will see major changes for the character, including a new look.

SDCC09: Superman & Geoff Johns

It was kinda fun following the Twitterers Thursday afternoon (you can follow me at @LegionOmnicom) and the live-updates of the panels. Thursday we had the Superman: Two Worlds and the Geoff Johns Spotlight panels. Newsarama had their coverage as a live chat, while Newsarama posted live material.

Highlights from the Superman: Two Worlds panel

Via Newsarama

Before moving to audience Q&A, Robinson piped in that he hadn't talked about Superman yet (an odd thing to leave out in a Superman panel). "I hope everyone is following the adventures of Mon-El," Robinson said. He discussed all the "fragmented pieces" in the book, and an upcoming story called "Mon-El, Man of Valor," that will include, among other things, a new costume for the Daxamite.

"What Legion or Legions is Connor going to be interacting with in Adventure Comics?" "You'll see every Legion in Adventure Comics, eventually," Johns answered.

Via CBR:

The [Adventure Comics] co-feature will have JSA's Starman, Lightining Lad, Polar Boy and Sun Boy in the first few issues, Johns said.

...Rucka noted that the Thanagarians arrive as the Kryptonians are moving one of Jupiter's moons to New Krypton. A Joe Kubert cover will see the Hawk characters fighting Commander Kal-El and Robinson added that he wants to turn Mon-el from a "weak J'onn J'onzz" to "the alien Namor."

Note: someone who was at the panel said that this was a reference to Jemm, Son of Saturn, not Mon-El.

"Coming out of 'Codename Patriot,' we're going to finish the finish the book up to #700, with 'Mon-el, Man of Valor,' which will see him return darker, with a new purpose, and a new costume."

The Superman Annual will be about the history of Daxam with art by Javi Pina.

What Legion/Legions in "Adventure?" "You'll see every Legion in 'Adventure Comics' eventually," Johns said.

Superboy Prime will appear in "Adventure Comics" #4-5, Johns said.

Highlights from the Geoff Johns spotlight panel

Via Newsarama

Nothing.

Via CBR

Briefly touching on his work on “Smallville,” Johns revealed that he and the show’s producers had discussed depicting the 31st century on the CW series, but that budget restraints made it impossible. For example, if such a direction had been pursued, Lightning Lad would not have been able to demonstrate any of his electricity powers, making the whole thing rather pointless.

Johns confirmed that Starman’s “new quest” has nothing to do with “Blackest Night,” and will be depicted as a co-feature in “Adventure Comics.”

Well duh! Of course it has nothing to do with Blackest Night. Starman is carrying a document that reads "Last Will and Testament of R. J. Brande" on it. Seems pretty clear to me that it has nothing to do with BN.

But very surprisingly, Legion of 3 Worlds concluded the day before this panel and not one question came up about the series.

Up tomorrow: the DC/Mattel panel and the DC Nation panel.

Annotated "Legion of Three Worlds" #5

Almost a year ago - August 19, 2008 - I posted these words:

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more,
Or close the wall up with rebooted dead!
... I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game's afoot!
Follow your spirit; and upon this charge
Cry 'Long Live the Legion! Annotate on!'

So, 11 months later we finally have issue 5 of "Legion of 3 Worlds".

Doing these annotations has been fun for me, trying to see what I can remember with my aging feeble mind, but I have had to look a lot of stuff up. It would have been next to impossible without the internet. And of course, you guys, who help me with what I didn't get. So thanks for playing along, we'll do one more shot at this.

Page 1

• Superman, L1 Lightning Lad, L1 Saturn Girl and L1 Cosmic Boy at Vanishing Point at the end of time as scenes from the Legion's past appear (as seen via cover shots). Clockwise from upper left: the war between Krypton and Earth (ADV 333); Triplicate Girl's death at the tentacles of Computo (ADV 340); Polar Boy leads the new Legionnaires (which issue is this?); the rebooted L2 Legion (LSH v4 0); Darkseid (Great Darkness Saga TPB); Superboy joins the Legion (ADV 247); Rokk restarts the Legion (LSH v4 1); the SW6 Legionnaires appear (LGS 1); the Legion vs the Sun-Eater (ADV 352); Superboy right before his death (LSH v3 37); the L.E.G.I.O.N. (L.E.G.I.O.N. '89 1).
  

Page 2

• Superboy/Conner fights Superboy-Prime with L2 and L3 Ultra Boys.
  

Page 3

• L2 Andromeda, Superboy, L1 Polar Boy, L2 Wildfire, and XS along with Sodam Yat and the whole brand new freakin' Green Lantern Corps (or are those just constructs?). Bart and Conner were members of the Teen Titans prior to Final Crisis; Conner was a Titan when he traveled to the future and became a Legionnaire.
  

Page 4

• Panel 1: L1 Mon-El vs Superboy-Prime in the 31st century, Superman and L1 Lightning Lad vs Time Trapper at the end of time.
  
• Panel 3: A Dominator appears through a rift in reality. This is the panel that makes the rest of the story possible - a way to access every parallel universe and every Legion that's ever existed. Right at this panel I knew my annotating skills were going to be put to the test later.
  
• Panel 4: L1 Cosmic Boy and L1 Saturn Girl contact all three Brainiac 5's, Gates, and L3 Light Lass.
  

Page 5

• Panel 1: L2 Andromeda, L2 Valor, L1 Sun Boy, and L1 Polar Boy vs Superboy-Prime.
  
• Panel 5: L1 Wildfire - "Stay away from my girl." Nice!
  
• Panel 6: "Wildfart", heh. Nice sound effect, "NRG".
  
• Panel 7: I don't know why she's that concerned, his suit has been blown up before lots of times.
  

Page 6

• Panel 2: In a new development, we hear that Kinetix had all of the remaining magicks from Universe-247. And Mordru ate her. Oops.
  
• Panel 3: L1 White Witch and Blok, vs Terrus (who apparently is made of flying insects).
  
• Panel 4: Not sure whose boots are in the upper left corner, but that's L3 Chameleon Boy, L3 Colossal Boy, L2 Kid Quantum, L3 Saturn Girl, L3 Star Boy, L1 Chameleon Girl, L1 Invisible Kid, L2 Ferro, L2 Sensor, and L2 Timber Wolf getting blasted by Mordru.
  
• Panel 5: Dr. Regulus, Silver Slasher, L1 Lightning Lord, Mist Master, and Mano
  
• Panel 6: L2 Violet vs Titania with L1 White Witch looking on, not sure who's getting blasted
  

Page 7

• Panel 4: L2 Wildfire has helped out L1 Wildfire.
  
• Panel 9: In Final Crisis, Superboy (Conner) died in the arms of his girlfriend Wonder Girl.
  

Page 8

• Panel 4: Now it gets interesting. What they do to Superboy-Prime in the 31st century affects him at Vanishing Point, although the synchronization of things in two different time periods always makes my brain hurt.
  
• Panel 9: The Time Trapper's story is retconned, but in the sense of "what you saw before was true but there's more to it". L1 Brainy theorizes that the Trapper is a "sentient alternate timeline rebelling against ours. His own history changes, I'd guess even his identity could alter, as the true timeline marches on."
  
• Panel 11: L1 Cosmic Boy is about to give me a headache in a few pages...
  

Page 9

• the L1 Legion founders link their powers to send a multi-universal distress signal. Interestingly, in panel 8, the years in which Saturn Girl sends out her signals are going forward, from 3058 to 3104 A.D., instead of backwards to 3009 (or so).
  

Page 10-11

I think I actually yelled "Yeah!" when I saw this. Then I said "oh shit I'm going to have to identify all of them for the annotations." We've got multiple versions of the same Legionnaires - I think Perez just wanted to draw every costume variation ever. And they did say we'd see everyone who was ever a Legionnaire (though this also includes some from the L.E.G.I.O.N, the Legion Academy, and other associates too). Let's see how well I do. Roughly top to bottom in columns, then left to right:


• Unknown (blue pants), Tiger Girl (name never officially given, applicant), unknown (fire guy), L1 Sensor Girl (v3 costume); L3 Dream Girl, L1 Laurel Gand (from the v4 retcon of Supergirl), Thunder, L1 Duo Damsel (1970s), L1 Duo Damsel (1980s), L1 Polar Boy (v3 costume), L1 Karate Kid II, L1 Laurel Gand (v4), unknown silver hand, Crystal Kid, L1 Shrinking Violet (1970s), L2 Leviathan, Devlin O'Ryan
  
• Unknown green suit and boots, Power Boy, Celeste Rockfish as Green Lantern, L1 Lightning Lass (v3), L2 Dragonmage (new costume?), L1 Mon-El, unknown gold container, L1 Stone Boy, Kono, Kid Psycho, L1 Ultra Boy (original costume), Kent Shakespeare, L1 Violet (v4)
  
• L1 Supergirl (Crisis-era), L3 Triplicate Girl, L1 Triplicate Girl (1960s), L2 Triad, L1 Porcupine Pete, L1 Saturn Girl (ADV 247 costume), L1 Cosmic Boy (ADV 247 costume), L1 Lightning Lad (ADV 247 costume), Computo, L1 Bouncing Boy, L1 Cosmic Kid, L1 Color Kid, L2 Ferro, Strata
  
• L2 Karate Kid, L1 Wildfire (boots), L1 Lightning Lad, Laurel Kent, Visi-Lad, L1 Invisible Kid I, L2 Inferno, Proty II, Veilmist
  
• Atmos, L1 Cosmic Boy, L1 Cosmic Boy (1970s), L2 Sensor (snake version), L3 Colossal Boy (?), Streaky, Chemical King, L1 Timber Wolf (1970s), L1 Insect Queen, L2 Umbra
  
• L1 Infectious Lass, Dawnstar (1970s, behind the caption), Stealth, Tellus, L1 Saturn Girl, Computo (as majordomo), Lightning Lad (1970s), Catspaw, Kinetix (original costume), Quislet, Colossal Boy (1960s), Lady Quark, Calamity King, Saturn Girl (1970s), Chameleon Boy (1960s)
  
• Bloodclaw's boots, unnamed Academy member, Night Girl, L1 Invisible Kid II, L2 Matter-Eater Lad, L1 Element Lad (1970s), Krypto, L3 Cosmic Boy, Elastic Lad, Beppo, Princess Projectra (1970s), Tyroc, Firefist
  
• L1 Phantom Girl (1970s), L2 Element Lad, Reflecto, L1 Spider-Girl (hair only), Flederweb's arm, Plant Lad, Echo, Monstress, Furball.
  
  That's 100 characters. Scott Koblish said there were 101. Who did I miss?
  

Page 12:

• Panel 1: Shikari tied up by Spider-Girl, Mist Master, Magno Lad, Micro Lad, Dr. Regulus (?), Grimbor, Gear, Lazon, and who's that in the red and black getting hit?
  
• Panel 3: Saturn Queen watches as Mordru blasts Blok
  

Page 13:

• Saturn Queen, Cosmic King, Chameleon Chief, Radiation Roy, Spider-Girl, Tharok, and Echo(?) watch as Mysa absorbs Mordru's magicks (and by extension, those of Kinetix from Universe-247). She wins, but at the cost of turning her from White magic to Black.
  

Page 14:

• Panel 1: L3 Lightning Lad vs Validus. If that's L3 Saturn Girl, shouldn't she be thinking instead of saying that?
  
• Panel 2: L2 Saturn Girl, Kid Quantum, and Tyr
  
• Panel 3: L1 Lightning Lord, Mano, Chameleon Chief, Earth-Man, Black Mace, Tusker, unknown glowing girl
  
• Panel 4: L1 Bouncing Boy's back!
  
• Panel 5: L1 Lightning Lass
  
• Panel 6: L1 Duplicate Damsel! That's new, although Geoff Johns mentioned this at the Legion panel at the 2008 San Diego con.
  

  Q: Will we see more of the Legion Subs?
  A: Johns kind of sidestepped that one, but said that (he paused at this point, and said "what the hell, I'll spoil it here") he had big plans for Luornu (who he suggested be called "Una Damsel"): "I don't know how I got anything done with just three of me". She will be called Duplicate Damsel and can multiply into many, not just three.

  
  

Page 15:

• Panel 2: That's Phase and Garv from the L.E.G.I.O.N.
  
• Panel 3: This must be the 1960s-era Supergirl. She has the big "S" logo, so it's not the Crisis-era or 1970s hot-pants era, and it's not the crop-top Supergirl who was with the L3 Legion.
  
• Panel 4: Ultra Boy as v4-era Green Dragon
  
• Panel 5: L2, L1 (1970s), and L3 Colossal Boys, with L2 Cosmic Boy, Blok (v3 chains), and unknown
  
• Panel 6: L1 Lightning Lad (1960s with robot arm), L2 Inferno, L1 Wildfire (1970s), unknown woman, L3 Lightning Lad, SW6 Inferno
  

Page 16:

• Panel 1: In the background, that's L1 Star Boy (1960s), Kinetix, L1 Dream Girl (1960s), Quislet, Sensor, Monstress (orange), L1 Cosmic Boy, L1 Phantom Girl, Blok, Superman, L1 Saturn Girl, L1 Lightning Lad, L2 Cosmic Boy
  
• Panel 6: Evolvo Lad, L1 Shrinking Violet, L2 Spider-Girl, L1 Brainiac 5 (1960s), L2 Dreamer, Comet, and the ADV 247 Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and Lightning Lad
  
  And that's it for the alternate versions. Back to regular L1, L2, and L3 now.
  

Page 17:

• Back in the L1 31st century. Superboy-Prime is an idiot.
  

Page 18:

• Oh, Brainy says the same thing. Good-bye to Time Trapper and Superboy-Prime, for now.
  
  Huh. We're 18 pages into a 32-page story and the big fight is over already. Now comes 14 pages of wrap-up and set-up.
  

Page 19:

• "The future is always open, nothing is ever set in stone." Pretty much sums it up for the Legion's history, doesn't it?
  

Page 20:

• I called it after Dan Didio's 20 questions the other day. Superboy-Prime is back home on Earth-Prime. I wonder if his family had to wait so long for the conclusion of this mini-series? So much for trying to redeem him.
  

Page 21:

• Panel 8: Statues of the formerly fallen (L1 Ferro Lad, Triplicate Girl, Invisible Kid I, and Proty; and L2 Monstress and Leviathan) and newly fallen (L1 Karate Kid II, L3 Element Lad, Kinetix, L3 Sun Boy, and L1 Rond Vidar).
  
• Panel 9: It's always been "Myg of Lythyl", not "Mygg".
  
• Panel 11: First appearance of the guy who will be Karate Kid III.
  

Page 22:

• Panel 3: If Sodam Yat is sending out his rings to reconstruct the Green Lantern Corps, who were those guys back on page 3, just constructs?
  
• Panels 7-8: this suggests that the ring for sector 2814 has found a worthy bearer. Anyone we might know?
  

Page 23:

• Panel 5: On Sorcerer's World. Is that Green Lantern Alan Scott and Raven of the Teen Titans? Not sure who the guy is on top. Mysa says that she's not there to save them.
  
• Panel 10: "Evil beware the Black Witch". Doesn't quite sound like she's squeaky-clean Legionnaire material anymore, though she is wearing her Legion ring.
  

Page 24:

• Panel 1: OK, who expected Chameleon Boy and Dream Girl to show up in this issue and save the day? I was pleasantly surprised that they did NOT, that would have been too expected. But where are they?
  
• Panels 3-6: Starman at McDonald's. "Warrior needs food badly!" Ha! The document in panel 6 says "Last Will and Testament of R. J. Brande".
  
• Panel 9: So Earth-Prime is one of the 52 Earths that were reborn after Final Crisis and 52.
  

Page 25:

• Panel 1: That settles that. The L3 Legion is the future of Earth-Prime. A few years ago, I noted that we had seen a backup story in which old DC comics were seen and were a part of the plot. At the time, I tried to explain it as the future of a new Earth-2, but that's because we didn't know about the newly revived Earth-Prime yet. So I should get partial credit for catching that.
  
• Panel 5: Didn't Livewire get his original arm back?
  
• Panel 6: The L2 Legion, who no longer have a universe to go back to, are going out into the multiverse. Kid Quantum misspeaks the name "Shikari".
  

Page 26

• Panels 4-5: Arguably the two most favorite L2 Legionnaires are staying with the L1 Legion, XS and Gates.
  
• Panels 6-8: It's comedy gold when three Brainiac 5's argue.
  

Page 27

• Panel 1: Long Live the Legion!
  
• Sometime in here, I'm not exactly sure when, L1 Brainiac 5 shows Superman the Miracle Machine so he can use it when he gets back to the 21st century to help out at the end of Final Crisis (that happened in issue 6 back in January; that issue was supposed to come out after this issue of L3W.)
  

Page 28

• Superboy and Kid Flash return to the present and meet their fellow Titans.
  

Page 29-30

• The meta-commentary here is that the former Superboy-Prime is now just a guy living in his parents basement, surrounded by comics and trolling message boards. The "Can Superboy Prime be redeemed?" thread on the DC Message Board is a real one (and now has someone posting as Superboy Prime). It was pointed out there that the Earth-Prime version of this issue has page 29 on the left side of the page (as shown on page 30), while our version has page 29 on the right.
  

THE END... for now.

So, some plot points that are ready for a new Legion series:
1. The Black Witch and Sorcerer's World
2. What happened to Luornu that she's now Duplicate Damsel?
3. Karate Kid III and Lythyl
4. Earth's new Green Lantern
5. Where are Chameleon Boy, Dream Girl, Element Lad, Matter-Eater Lad, Quislet, Sensor Girl, Tellus, and Tyroc?
6. What is Brande's top secret mission for Starman in the 21st century?
7. The L2 Legion is going wandering into the multiverse in search of other survivors from the long-dead parallel Earths.

Koblish @ SDCC09, plus L3W out today

Here's some more from L3W inker Scott Koblish. Sorry I won't be there to meet you this year, Scott!

July 12:

San diego Comic-Con is coming up and i just want to let folks know that I'll be doing sketches of any Legionnaire, for the price of a donation to the Hero Initiative! I'll be at the Hero Initiative Booth [#907] from 6:30 through 9pm on Wednesday night at the San Diego Comic-Con. Come one, come all, it's for a good cause.

Special note - you can throw me all the curves you like - the Legion has many very distinct and insane design histories, but if it's super-crazy, bring a little reference for me, so I can do the character justice!

Come on, let's see some super-crazy for Scott!

July 21:

In addition to drawing sketches of whatever Legionnaires the crowd wants in return for a reasonable charitable donation (I'm going to leave it up to the charity to figure out what the cost should be, although I'm sure it will be reasonable), I'll also have these little sketch cards I did up today. I drew about 20 of them, all in their Lo3W's costumes, 16 are here...

And finally, also from July 21, a sneak at some panels shows two long-absent Legionnaires, whose initials are KS and Q! Are they part of a dream, a hoax, or an imaginary story? We'll find out later today!

The final fate of Superboy-Prime?

In the latest 20 Questions with Dan Didio, he answers this question in video format (at the 2:07 mark): Will we be seeing Superboy-Prime any more after the end of Legion of 3 Worlds?

The answer:

Well, if you read the end of Legion of 3 Worlds which came out on Wednesday the 22nd, you know exactly where Superboy-Prime is right now, you know exactly where he's interacting, and you could be chatting with him right now.

Totally uninformed speculation: Maybe Superboy-Prime goes back to Earth-Prime (home of DC Comics).

This was obviously taped ahead of time, with the expectation that it would be seen after L3W #5 comes out (tomorrow).

Trivia #37

I've been such a slacker this month that I've missed the window for a trivia quiz which would give everyone enough time to answer, as it's already halfway through the month and San Diego is next week. So instead, here are some San Diego-related trivia stories just for the hell of it.

1. The Omnicom you're reading now is the second one online. The first was a mailing list back in the olden days, started by Vernon Harmon. That was the dawn of the web, the mid-90s. The welcome page is still up, as well as the main navigation page, but none of the links work any more. I spoke to Vernon not too long ago and he said that the archives are lost, and even the Internet Archive doesn't have a cached version. I met Vernon at the 1995 San Diego Comic Con where he had dressed up as Wildfire.

2. The 1995 San Diego con was my first year going (here's my trip report). I got online in 1994 during Zero Hour, and by the next year I had met enough people on Compuserve and the Legion mailing list that we all decided to meet up for dinner one night. I think, but am not sure, that was the first of the "Legion Dinner" meetings that took place at San Diego and Chicago into the early 2000s. One night it was a bunch of fans with Phil and Jeff Moy, Cori Carani, and KC Carlson. Another night I was with a group of internet-based fans who met with the Interlac APA group (which included Tom & Mary Bierbaum), and everyone decided that was the first significant meeting of online and offline Legion fandom.

3. Many of the Legion fans went to both Chicago (pre-Wizard) and San Diego, and the Legion Dinner tradition was carried on there as well. I was not there, but the 1997 dinner was extra-special due to some guests. Mike Chary has the whole story.

4. At the 1995 San Diego and Chicago cons, "Legionnaires" artists Jeff Moy and Cory Carani were taking pictures of some of the fans. We didn't know until Legionnaires #43 came out (cover-dated 11/96) that a number of fans from the conventions were drawn into a crowd scene during the Legion tryouts. My collection isn't organized enough for me to find my copy, and I can't find the page online, but if anyone has theirs handy to scan, I can put the page (or panel) here.

5. At that 1995 San Diego con, I picked up a copy of Adventure 247 on the last day. It was way over my budget - it was $150, marked down because the dealer had just purchased a collection before the con and didn't want to take the time to price everything. Turned out that when I got home, I noticed that the centerfold was missing, and when I brought it to the dealer the next year, he gave me a discount that I could apply to other books I got from him (so I bought Adventure 267 and Action 267, the 2nd and 3rd appearances of the Legion). That was Mike Carbonaro out of New York. Years later I picked up a coverless copy of #247 that was also missing the outer wrap for cheap on eBay, so I cannibalized the centerfold from that one.

6. One year in San Diego I ran into Kevin Gould, who has been active in Legion fandom since the 1970s. He happened to be carrying a piece of artwork from Superman #247, which featured the Guardians of the Universe. (I didn't know it at the time, but it was Elliot S! Maggin's first story.) In an amazing coincidence, I recognized that page from one of the first conventions I had gone to, in New Jersey in the late 1970s. There was a table with artwork just piled on it, and I saw one page I liked but it was too expensive (probably like $20). At that con, I happened to buy the issue that page came from, which is why I remembered the page. Kevin told me that he bought that page at a convention in Houston (my hometown). He still has it, and Maggin has also inquired about it.

7. Most people who have a copy of All New Collector's Edition C-55 with the wedding of Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl know how hard it has been to find a copy in decent condition. Hence, the (polite) nickname for it - "That Damned Tabloid", or TDT for short. For a while in the 1990s, it seemed like every Legion fan I saw had a copy of it, and they call brought them in to be autographed by Mike Grell and Paul Levitz. It was almost a rite of passage to be able to see the two men and get them to sign the cover.

8. Last year, I stopped at the DC booth to chat with Paul Levitz for a minute. I told him how I had wanted to be an astronaut, and if I ever do get to fly I'd take my Legion flight ring with me. If you remember, the box for the ring says "Warning: does not enable the wearer to fly". I wanted to have my picture taken in space wearing my flight ring, flying, to prove him wrong. He thought that was a pretty neat story.

So in lieu of guessing trivia questions this month, how about some convention-related Legion stories of your own?

Legion of Three Worlds #5 out this week

OK, so it's 7 months late (originally should have shipped last December for a monthly book that started last August). We already know part of how it ends from other books that came out months ago - [redacted until the issue comes out since I figured it was common knowledge]

Back in April, when we were told that issue 5 should be coming out in June, I ran a poll asking you when you thought it would come out.

June - 13%
July - 37%
August - 51%
(doesn't add to 100% due to rounding)

Of the 138 people who voted, just 4% correctly picked this week (6 people).

With the last issue coming out the day that the San Diego Comic Con starts, should make for some interesting discussion. All of the other Final Crisis blogger have long since finished their annotations, so looks like I'm the last one standing. Look for my annotations late Wednesday night.

The Legionnaire's Guide to SDCC09 (preview #3)

Update: Added link to Francis Manapul's web site, changed his Artists Alley location

In Preview #2 I listed what I thought were the panels most likely to have Legion stuff in it. Here now are those people signed up for Artists Alley who are considered significant Legion artists; you might score a nice page from them if you hit them up early in the con.

Chris Batista (GG-05)
Dennis Calero (FF-03)
Eric Canete (II-17) (animated show artist, designer)
Seth Estrada for Ric Estrada (FF-14)
Ben Jones (JJ-09) (animated show writer, director)
Francis Manapul (DD-09) (LL-10)
Jeffrey Moy (EE-07)
Philip Moy (EE-08)
Joe Phillips (FF-10)
Adrienne Roy (FF-12) (colorist)
Anthony Tollin (FF-11) (colorist)

Also, not listed in Artists Alley but appearing elsewhere: Scott Koblish, inker on Legion of 3 Worlds. In Preview #2 he left this comment:

I'll be doing sketches of any Legionnaire, for the price of a donation to the Hero Initiative! I'll be at the Hero Initiative Booth from 6:30 through 9pm on Wednesday night at the San Diego Comic-Con. Come one, come all, it's for a good cause...

Update: Francis Manapul has his schedule up on his site, with times and locations for his signings.

Trivia Answers #36

Last month I asked (but never answered) this: Not counting Superboy or Supergirl non-Legion stories, when has the Legion (or individual Legionnaires) met and/or fought...

1. Giant robots?
2. Zombies?
3. Ninjas?
4. Dinosaurs?
5. Space pirates?
6. Cyborgs?
7. Vampires?

This is mostly a compilation of your answers. Sometimes I come up with a question and crowd-source the answers, and once in a while I will have thought of something you didn't (but it's mostly you coming up with ones I hadn't thought of).

Giant robots

• Computo
  
• The Supergirl/Legion robot revolution storyline
  
• Adventure #319 on Throon Gim got clobbered.
  
• In Action 389, "The Mystery Legionnaire"
  
  My answers:
  
• Wildfire got eaten by the giant agriculture robot on Manna-5
  

Zombies

• During the Mordru/Glorith storyline in v4 #47 when he raised the dead
  
• I hadn't thought of it, but Soljer was basically a zombie
  
  My answers:
  
• I consider Darkseid's Servants of Darkness to be evil clones rather than zombies.
  

Ninjas

• Karate Kid was never explicitly stated to be a ninja, but he did appear to have all the skills required.
  
• Similarly, Karate Kid's Sensei and the Black Dragons could be considered ninjas.
  
  My answers:
  
• What about some of the guys from Lythyl?
  

Dinosaurs

• The War Between Krypton and Earth
  
• Crisis on Infinite Earths
  
• Adventure 380, Superboy is apparently eaten by a giant robot dinosaur with Kryptonite teeth (yes, bonus points for a Giant Robot Dinosaur)
  
• During the first fight with the Infinite Man
  
• Adventure 360, a flashback to the Legion of Super-Pets vs Ghost Space Pirates (which should also get bonus points for combining genres)
  
  My answers:
  
• On the cover of Amazing World of DC Comics #9 (art by Dave Cockrum)
  

Space pirates

• Captain Frake, during the Ultra Boy/Reflecto story
  
• Sklarian Raiders
  
• Starburst Bandits
  
• Resources Raiders
  
  My answers:
  
• Command Kid was from the pirate world of New Tortuga
  

Cyborgs

• Tharok
  
• Khunds (including Kharlak, Bloodclaw, and Firemist)
  
• Tyr
  
• Vic "Cyborg" Stone of the Teen Titans
  
• Lightning Lad with his robot arm
  
• Shrinking Violet with her robot leg
  
  My answers:
  
• Validus, from the animated Justice League episode "Far from Home" (I don't remember if he's been shown to have robotic parts elsewhere)
  
• I don't consider Wildfire or Quislet to be cyborgs since neither was an amalgam of human and robot parts. Wildfire was energy in a suit, Quislet was energy in a space ship.
  

Vampires:

• Vrykos, Mordru's henchman in v4. He was supposed to have been a real vampire but I don't think we really saw much of him.
  
  My answers:
  
• Haven't we seen "energy-vampires" before?
  

The Legionnaire's Guide to SDCC09 (preview #2)

Here's the updated Legionnaire's Guide to San Diego. The previous version only had the DC schedule. Added Friday's Mattel/DC panel; Saturday's DC Editorial panel and the Siegel/Shuster/Superboy lawsuit panel; and Sunday's Smallville panel.

Thursday July 23

11:45-12:45 Superman: Two Worlds
Torn between New Krypton and Earth, The Man of Steel has only just begun his latest adventure. You've seen the stories. A new planet of Kryptonians. Scores of super-powered beings. The people behind Superman's future are here to face the most trying times in his life. Meet the talented folks behind Superman as they give you a glimpse of what is in store for our favorite Super-family. Featuring Superman Group Editor Matt Idelson, Geoff Johns (Adventure Comics, Superman: Secret Origins), Greg Rucka (Action Comics), James Robinson (Superman), Sterling Gates (Supergirl), Renato Guedes (Superman), and more! Room 6DE

2:15-3:15 Spotlight on Geoff Johns
He is the mastermind behind the smash-hit, critically acclaimed Flash: Rebirth and DC's most anticipated book of the year, Green Lantern: Blackest Night. Wondering what makes Geoff Johns tick? Don't miss this panel hosted by Eddie Berganza, Group Editor—DCU, interviewing one of the most exciting talents in the DCU. Room 6DE

Friday July 24

11:00-12:00 Mattel and DC Comics: A Heroic Partnership
You've been a fan of Mattel's popular DC toy lines, now find out the latest news, sneak peeks and behind-the-scenes scoop on your favorite Mattel/DC action figures, including DC Universe Classics, Justice League Unlimited, Infinite Heroes, and exciting new lines like Batman: The Brave and the Bold, as well as the world premiere of new action figure lines announced here first! Join Mattel Toy designer Bill Benecke, Mattel marketing brand manager Scott Neitlich (AKA "Toy Guru"), The Four Horsemen, and representatives from DC Comics and Warner Brothers for an insightful Q&A. Room 2

3:00-4:00 DC NATION
Calling all NATION recruits! Bring your friends and hear top talent discuss where the DC NATION is heading from 2009 and beyond. Sr. VP - Executive Editor Dan DiDio hosts this exciting discussion with Ian Sattler, James Robinson, Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka, and more! Join them for a VIP look into the most talked about stories and events of the summer! Room 6DE

Saturday July 25

11:30-12:30 Spotlight on Francis Manapul
The hot up-and-coming artist Francis Manapul takes the stage to discuss his kinetic art on one of the most anticipated projects of the year: Adventure Comics with Geoff Johns! Hosted by Group Editor Matt Idelson see what's it like illustrating the return of Superboy. Come find out from one of the freshest artists in the biz! Room 4

12:45-2:00 DCU Editorial Presentation
Senior VP/executive editor DCU Dan DiDio, senior story editor—DCU Ian Sattler, and countless DCU talent are gathering for a discussion that's not to be missed. Now that Blackest Night is upon us, what lies ahead for your favorite heroes? Got a question for your favorite DCU creator? Come on by! There's no greater gathering of top-tier creative talent! Room 6A

1:00-2:00 Comics Arts Conference Session #11: The (Strange) State of Siegel and Shuster Scholarship
Brad Ricca (Case Western Reserve University), director of Last Son, a scholarly documentary on Siegel and Shuster, moderates this conversational panel featuring Craig Yoe (Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman Co-Creator Joe Shuster) and Lauren Agostino, an independent scholar, who will share letters connected to the 1947 lawsuit and portions of the original Superboy script that completely upset a lot of myths about who created Superboy. Room 30AB

Sunday July 26

10:30-11:30 Smallville Screening and Q&A
Comic-Con favorite Smallville returns, as showrunners Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson join cast members Allison Mack (The Ant Bully), Erica Durance (House of the Dead), Cassidy Freeman (Finishing the Game: The Search for a New Bruce Lee), Justin Hartley (Gemini Division) and new series star Callum Blue (The Tudors), who will be playing the villainous Zod, to talk about the year ahead, answer fan questions and give an exclusive sneak peek at clips from season nine. Award-winning comic book writer, Emmy-nominated film and television writer/producer, and Smallville alum Jeph Loeb (Heroes) will moderate the session. From Tollin/Robbins Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, Smallville will air Fridays at 8:00 PM this fall on The CW, premiering September 25. Smallville: The Complete Eighth Season will be released on DVD and Blu-ray Hi Def August 25. Room 6BCF

Who knows which other panels we may find something out? Remember, last year, who expected to hear about the Legion from the "Smallville" panel?

Superman lawsuit update

Update: news from CBR and Newsarama (here and here), both written by lawyers who know how to interpret all this legalese.

I haven't posted an update to the Superboy/Superman lawsuit lately, but something new came out on Wednesday.

The BEAT wrote

The Siegel family — including Joanne Siegel and Laura Sigel Larson — were granted half the copyright to Superman in 1999, and the present case involved their share of the revenue from such Superman appearances as SMALLVILLE. The Siegels argued that a “sweetheart deal” from Warner Bros. led to lower than market value licensing fees for the use of Superman.

Jeff Trexler at Newsarama posted that:

Last year a federal court awarded the Siegel heirs half of the copyright in the Superman material in Action Comics #1. Remaining to be decided, however, was how much that copyright interest was worth.

Today the court released its ruling on the first issue related to this question: namely

“whether the license fees paid” by Warner Bros Entertainment Inc. (“Warner Bros”) to its corporate sibling, DC Comics, for the audiovisual rights to the Superman copyright pursuant to various licensing agreements entered into during the 1999 to 2002 period “represents the fair market value therefor, or whether the license for the works between the related entities was a ‘sweetheart deal.’”

These licensing agreements included the TV series "Smallville", the movie "Superman Returns", and animated shows such as "Justice League" and "Legion of Super Heroes".

CBR has more here, and The BEAT has more as well.

There's still a big part of the Superman lawsuit still remaining (but hopefully in the near future), and the Superboy copyright lawsuit is supposed to follow that one.

SDCC09 preview

DC Comics released their schedule for this year's San Diego Comic Con, so for those of you who are going (which does not include me this year), here's what you can look forward to:

Thursday July 23

11:45-12:45 Superman: Two Worlds
Torn between New Krypton and Earth, The Man of Steel has only just begun his latest adventure. You've seen the stories. A new planet of Kryptonians. Scores of super-powered beings. The people behind Superman's future are here to face the most trying times in his life. Meet the talented folks behind Superman as they give you a glimpse of what is in store for our favorite Super-family. Featuring Superman Group Editor Matt Idelson, Geoff Johns (Adventure Comics, Superman: Secret Origins), Greg Rucka (Action Comics), James Robinson (Superman), Sterling Gates (Supergirl), Renato Guedes (Superman), and more! Room 6DE

2:15-3:15 Spotlight on Geoff Johns
He is the mastermind behind the smash-hit, critically acclaimed Flash: Rebirth and DC's most anticipated book of the year, Green Lantern: Blackest Night. Wondering what makes Geoff Johns tick? Don't miss this panel hosted by Eddie Berganza, Group Editor—DCU, interviewing one of the most exciting talents in the DCU. Room 6DE

Friday July 24

3:00-4:00 DC NATION
Calling all NATION recruits! Bring your friends and hear top talent discuss where the DC NATION is heading from 2009 and beyond. Sr. VP - Executive Editor Dan DiDio hosts this exciting discussion with Ian Sattler, James Robinson, Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka, and more! Join them for a VIP look into the most talked about stories and events of the summer! Room 6DE

Saturday July 25

11:30-12:30 Spotlight on Francis Manapul
The hot up-and-coming artist Francis Manapul takes the stage to discuss his kinetic art on one of the most anticipated projects of the year: Adventure Comics with Geoff Johns! Hosted by Group Editor Matt Idelson see what's it like illustrating the return of Superboy. Come find out from one of the freshest artists in the biz! Room 4

There are also a number of other panels that might yield some Legion info; last year, who expected to hear about the Legion from the "Smallville" panel?

More answers with Dan DiDio

Couple of items in today's "20 Answers" with Dan DiDio:

10. ...We had a question about the heroes who have come into the books where the title characters have stepped out. What happens if you find out what readers really like Batwoman in Detective, Mon-el in Superman and Flamebird and Nightwing in Action when it’s time for Bruce and Superman to come back home? Is your plan flexible enough to allow for more time, or spinoffs?

DD: That would be the best of both worlds – if we’re able to support the Batman titles or the Superman titles without Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent, then that shows the strength of the DC Universe and more importantly, the strength of the characters that are inhabiting those books. So my standpoint is that there is room for all of them, and as their stories progress, we’re going to let them flow according to their natural course, and whether or not Superman reutns sooner or later or how the changes in the Batman books play out – it all gives us hope that we have a lot of untapped potential for stories in the future with the characters that are now in them.

So, we have a long-term plan as for how this goes, but that doesn’t mean that we’re not going to be flexible as to how we play it.

NRAMA: So the return of Bruce Wayne or Superman are set in stone for a specific month or a specific issue?

DD: We have a very strong structure as to how these stories unfold, and that’s probably something that’s not too flexible, but there are a lot of aspects as to how things can progress.

...

18. With Superman: Secret Origin coming up, a reader asked how often do you feel a character’s origin needs to be re-told or tweaked, and what drives that decision? Secret Origin is the third retelling in 20 years, Batman’s has been retold a handful of times to include and remove and include Joe Chill...

DD: In this particular case, there was a real sense of some of the status quo changing following Infinite Crisis and a feeling of some things changing when Geoff and Richard Donner stepped on board – you got the sense that there were slight changes in the past of Superman’s world. The re-introduction of the Legion of Super-Heroes that we’re still seeing in Legion of 3 Worlds is another tweak. So in that case we felt that it was time to revisit that and to embrace the sensibilities of that, not only because there were slight changes and I felt that they made for great story, but it also re-introduces Superman back into the Legion of Super-Heroes lore, which I think will make everybody very excited, but it was also setting up a lot of the parameters of the world of Krypton and who Superman is, and will play out in the Superman story in the coming year or so.

The interesting part of this story for me is that when we came up with the changes after Infinite Crisis and launched Geoff’s run on Superman, there were a lot of people asking for Superman’s origin, and one of the reasons why we pushed this through was that people asked for it early on.

Adventure Comics #1 preview

The DCU Blog has a 5-page preview of Adventure Comics #1, due to August 12th. What did Superman do? He joined a team of super-heroes, among other things.

The Francis Manapul art is pretty damn good, much different than his Legion stuff, yet still similar.