Wednesday, August 05, 2009

I stumped Waid, Busiek, and Levitz

Kurt Busiek posted a San Diego story the other day.
There was no Pro/Fan Trivia Challenge at the San Diego Comicon this year. There was, however, one question from last year's challenge, which neither Mark Waid nor I attended, that was offered up this year, and once asked, seemed to travel around by osmosis. There's nothing quite like walking into the DC booth and having DC President and Publisher Paul Levitz say to you, without preamble, "I only got four, but I agree that [those other three] don't count." And knowing what he was talking about.

So: How many Legionnaires can you name who had letters on their costume?

Naturally, the 'L' on the flight ring doesn't count.

I got five—or eight, depending on how technical you want to get.

Mark Waid got the same five, but agreed that those other three shouldn't count.

Paul Levitz got four, with the same caveat.

James Robinson got five.

Tom Galloway came up with a sixth, but then, as I understand it, he was at the Challenge last year, so he's had much more time to think about it. And I spurn his sixth name as a technicality anyway, while Mark grumbled that yeah, it's a technicality but he should have gotten it anyway.

How many can you name?

If this sounds familiar, you might recall it from one of my trivia quizzes a couple years ago. I'm not sure yet who of the above got which answers. Some people took a shot on Kurt's Facebook page.

Let's not include the flight rings, the SW6 belt buckles, or the v4 jackets, all of which had the "L" on it; or any other jewelry, rings, belts, bracelets, or stuff like that, just the costume itself.

My regular trivia quiz coming in a day or two (and yes, I know it was supposed to be this past Monday).

15 comments:

  1. Other than Element Lad's "E" I'm drawing a blank for now.

    Did anyone mention the doodlidoo's on Shrinking Violet's Cockrum costume are supposed to be an "S" and a "V" all mashed together? I'm sure that I remember Mike Grell mentioning that little tidbit at the Legion's 50th panel at San Diego.

    Murray

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  2. Oh duh! Superboy and Supergirl, of course!

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  3. Element Lad, Superboy, Supergirl, Phantom Girl and Ferro Lad.

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  4. Those are the core 5. As a hint, Kurt's three and my one technicals were both one shots.

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  5. As for the other three that may or may not count, I'm going with Lightning Lad (Boy), Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy, from Adventure 247.

    I also had Shrinking Viloet in mind - plus, did Shady ever have "SL" integrated into the emblem (no belt there!) she wore?

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  6. If you want technical, the end of the adult Legion story from Adventure showed the induction of two new members, one with a L and the other with a M on their chests. These are of course Luthor's and Mxyzpltk's 30th Century relatives. Do they count as one-shot Legionnaires?

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  7. Valor/M'onel had a giant M containing his costume's starfield.

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  8. Honorary, but didn't Elastic Lad have his name across his chest early on?

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  9. I see I commented on that post from two years ago...but only much later thought of Elastic Lad as well.

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  10. Shadow Lass had "S"'s on her wrists with her bikini costume and and "S" broach on her Steve Lightle costume in V3.

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  11. Shadow Lass had "S"'s on her wrists with her bikini costume and and "S" broach on her Steve Lightle costume in V3.

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  12. I can come up with 11 and a maybe:

    Shadow Lass (70s & postboot)
    M'Onel
    Lightning Boy (A247)
    Saturn Girl (A247)
    Cosmic Boy (A247)
    Superboy
    Supergirl
    Element Lad (also in Interlac)
    Ferro Lad
    Invisible Kid
    possibly Quislet (his name was on his ship)
    Phantom Girl (ADV & threeboot)

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  13. Comet Queen
    XS (Does that stylized S count?)
    Sensor Girl

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  14. I wouldn't count the "S" trail on XS since it's not (apparently) intended as a letter, even if it can be interpretted as one.

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