Legion collected editions on Amazon

Merry Christmas y'all! Who's waking up with some shiny new Amazon gift cards under the tree? May I suggest a trade paperback or two? Maybe a DVD, some video on demand, or even some toys?

(full disclosure: I get a small kickback if you order something after clicking one of these links).

Note: a few of these (marked with an asterisk) are currently for pre-order only. Let me know if I'm missing any reprint volumes, as I'm going to try to keep this updated on my sidebar to the left (below all the other stuff).

Video on Demand

• Superman: The Animated Series 03x03 ("New Kids in Town")
  
• Justice League Unlimited 02x10 (HD) ("Far From Home")
  
• Animated Season 1 (full season)
  
• Smallville episode 08x11 (HD) "Legion"
  
• Smallville episode 08x11 (SD) "Legion"
  

L1 Legion

• Showcase Presents: The Legion (vol. 1)
  
• Showcase Presents: The Legion (vol. 2)
  
• Showcase Presents: The Legion (vol. 3)
  
• Showcase Presents: The Legion (vol. 4)
  
• Legion Archives vol. 1
  
• Legion Archives vol. 2
  
• Legion Archives vol. 3
  
• Legion Archives vol. 4
  
• Legion Archives vol. 5
  
• Legion Archives vol. 6
  
• Legion Archives vol. 7
  
• Legion Archives vol. 8
  
• Legion Archives vol. 9
  
• Legion Archives vol. 10
  
• Legion Archives vol. 11
  
• Legion Archives vol. 12
  
• The Life & Death of Ferro Lad
  
• The Great Darkness Saga (Original, HC), (Original, TPB)
  
• The Great Darkness Saga (Deluxe)
  
• V3 vol. 1: An Eye for an Eye
  
• V3 vol. 2: The More Things Change
  

L2 Legion [Post-Zero Hour]

• Vol 1: The Beginning of Tomorrow
  
• Vol 2: Foundations
  
• Legion Lost *
  

L3 Legion

• V5 Vol 1: Teenage Revolution
  
• V5 Vol 2: Death of a Dream
  
• V5 Vol 3: Strange Visitor
  
• V5 Vol 4: Adult Education
  
• V5 Vol 5: The Dominator War
  
• V5 Vol 6: The Quest for Cosmic Boy
  
• V5 Vol 7: Enemy Rising
  
• V5 Vol 8: Enemy Manifest (HC)
  
• V5 Vol 8: Enemy Manifest (TPB)
  

Retroboot

• JLA/JSA: The Lightning Saga
  
• Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes (HC), (TPB)
  
• Legion of Three Worlds (HC), (TPB)
  
• Superman: Mon-El (vol. 1) (HC), (TPB)
  
• Superman: Mon-El – Man of Valor (vol. 2) (HC)
  
• The Early Years *
  
• V6 Vol. 1: The Choice (HC) *
  
• V6 Vol. 2: The Curse (HC) *
  

Other TPBs

• Legion: 1050 Years of the Future
  
• Superman/Batman Vol. 3: Absolute Power
  
• Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century: Tomorrow's Heroes - Vol 1
  

Animated Series on DVD

• Season 1 DVD 1
  
• Season 1 DVD 2
  
• Season 1 DVD 3
  
• Season 1 box set
  

Toys

• Justice League Unlimited (set of 4)
  
• Legion Heroclix Starter Set (set of 7)
  
• DC Direct Legion Clubhouse PVC Set (set of 7)
  
• VS System Trading Card Game Legion booster box
  

DC Heroes RPG (Mayfair)

• Legion Sourcebook vol. I (#213)
  
• Legon Sourcebook vol. II: The Worlds (#216)
  
• Pawns of Time (#223)
  
• Knight to Planet 3 (#224)
  
• Mad Rook's Gambit (#225)
  
• King for All Time (#226)
  
• Hardware Handbook (#232)
  
• Atlas of the DC Universe (#247)
  
• Legion 2995 Sourcebook (#263)
  

Miscellaneous

• The Legion Companion
  
• Best of the Legion Outpost
  
• Teenagers from the Future: Essays on the Legion of Super-Heroes
  

Festivus 2010

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 2010 (so no whining about anything that happened last year). In no particular order:

Airing of Grievances

1. The Superboy lawsuit is STILL not settled (and with the judge's recent retirement, there doesn't seem to be much hope on the horizon). Unless they come to some conclusion that can provide a precedent on the Jerry Siegel side of things, there are going to be more problems in just a couple years when the Joe Shuster rights revert to his heirs.
2. A lack of support for a flight ring giveaway like they did for Green Lantern and the revival of The Flash. A missed opportunity after seeing what the promotion did for sales of Blackest Night tie-ins, and a Legion flight ring was a natural since (a) it's the start of a new series and (b) the flight ring has been around as long as the Flash and Green Lantern rings (give or take).
3. The CD put out by DC covering 75 years of TV theme songs doesn't include the Legion cartoon's theme.
4. Still no season 2 DVD of the cartoon, nor are there any plans to release it or a multi-season box set.
5. Sales of the Legion books are not what they should be.

Festivus Miracles

1. A new Legion book, written by Paul Levitz.
2. A second Legion book, also written by Levitz, taking over the revival of "Adventure Comics" and renumbering to continue the 500+ issue history.
3. Sad to have lost Francis Manapul as the regular penciller of the main book, but what a job Yildiray Cinar has done!
4. The Jim Lee/Paul Levitz Legion story in the "ICONS" book finally shipped, though two years late. 
5. Legion elections return
6. The announcement of Phil Jimenez as co-creator on the Legion Academy series.
7. The announcement of Keith Giffen as co-creator on the Legion Annual with the new Emerald Empress. Without a strong writer or editor to reign him in, Giffen can be creatively out there, but under Karen Berger (editor) and Paul Levitz (plotter, scripter) their work was so good that the title became DC's #2 book in sales (behind Wolfman/Perez on New Teen Titans).
8. (Relatively) high profile co-starring roles for the Legion and Mon-El in the 21st century Superman and JLA books
9. The Great Darkness Saga deluxe re-release with extra story and extra extras.
10. Action figures - a new Tyr (out this month) and Validus as a build-a-figure (out last month), and the announcement of a huge 12-figure box set, all from Mattel, and a new-costume Mon-El from DC Direct.
11. Jim Lee variant covers for the new series
12. The Dragon*Con cosplayer gathering
13. Tyroc! Written by Levitz! Never thought I'd live to see the day.

Feats of Strength

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. Usually I cap this off with a few extra trivia questions, but this time the Feat of Strength is the fact that last month I hit the five-year blogiversary mark. My first post was in November 2005 and although I haven't posted as much this year as previous years, at 1,187 posts I'm still going and I plan on being here for a while.

(And for bonus Omnicom coverage that doesn't always make it here, don't forget to follow me on Twitter and Facebook.)

Legion Annual #1 delayed til January - here's why

Over at the DC Message Boards, in a discussion about why the Legion Annual has been pushed back to January 19th, Keith Giffen posted this:

Re: Legion of Superheroes Annual # 1 Posted: Dec 17, 2010 4:00 PM

Okay... My bad here gang... kinda. My retina decided to detach midway through the job and what with going blind in one eye and optic surgery and what-all... well, do the math. Just wanted to get it out there because I don't want anyone thinking anyone involved in the book's not pulling for all they're worth. I guess filing it under s**t happens might seem a bit cavalier but... s**t does indeed happen. I've been waiting for more than twenty years for the opportunity to return to the 30th century with Paul and I think it's to DC's credit that they were willing to wait a few weeks so I could get it done up right. Oh, and yes,the 30th century's still just as much fun as I thought it would be. K-

Coming Distractions for March - Return of the LSV!

Holy crap, there's THREE Legion books coming in March!

ADVENTURE COMICS #524
Written by PAUL LEVITZ
Art by PHIL JIMENEZ & ANDY LANNING
Cover by PHIL JIMENEZ
Paul Levitz (LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES) and Phil Jimenez (INFINITE CRISIS) continue their “Legion Academy” arc starring Legionnaires in training! And the Taurus Gang resurfaces with dark ties to the Academy!
On sale MARCH 2 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

LEGION OF SUPER-VILLAINS #1
Written by PAUL LEVITZ
Art and cover by FRANCIS PORTELA
This 31st century team of psychopaths returns! Now led by Saturn Queen, they break out of the prison world Takron-Galtos to wreak havoc on the United Planets. DCU fans won’t want to miss this one-shot, which sets up a major 2011 storyline that’ll shake the universe!
ONE-SHOT • On sale MARCH 9 • 48 pg, FC, $4.99 US




OK, so who are those others besides Saturn Queen and Lightning Lord?


LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #11
Written by PAUL LEVITZ
Art and cover by YILDIRAY CINAR & WAYNE FAUCHER
A jam-packed extravaganza! Star Boy returns from the 21st century! Sensor Girl searches for Karate Kid! The team trails the escaped Legion of Super-Villains! And Saturn Girl seeks Harmonia Li’s blood—and the reason why will shock you!
On sale MARCH 23 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US




Wait, Sensor Girl searches for Karate Kid AGAIN?

Paul Levitz, New York Times Best-Selling Author

The Levitz/Giffen "Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga (Deluxe Edition)" is #5 on the New York Times "Bestselling Hardcover Graphic Books" list this week.

Levitz says he's "blushing".

[note: Amazon.com link]

Mike Grell in Atlanta this weekend

Anyone going to Wizard World Atlanta this weekend? Mike Grell will be there (here's his bio) as a guest and on a panel from 2-3pm on Sunday.

WIZARD ART SCHOOL W/ MIKE GRELL
The legendary comics icon behind classic Legion of Super-Heroes tales and Warlord joins fans to discuss his unique art style as well as his take on the industry, from breaking in to breaking down a page."

Cully Hamner is going to be there too. You can ask him for a sketch of Fortress Lad, as he drew Fwangians in an issue of "Green Lantern: Mosaic".

Paul Levitz on "The Craft of Comics Writing"

For those of you in New York on Dec. 6th, Paul Levitz will be teaching a class at MoCCA, the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art.

THE CRAFT OF COMICS WRITING:
THE LONG AND SHORT OF PLOTTING
Instructor: PAUL LEVITZ
One session, MONDAY December 6
6:30 pm-8:30 pm
Admission $40 | $35 for MoCCA Members

From one of comics’ undisputed master plotters, PAUL LEVITZ, a discussion of how to construct plots to suit story structures long and short, building ideas from character, and tools for analyzing the form to develop your goals. Everything you ever wanted to know about plotting comics but were afraid to ask!

Go to this page and scroll down until you see a familiar cover.

Saturn Girl's new TV ad

Not sure quite why Saturn Girl dyed her hair brown or why she's advertising for T-Mobile, but there she is.

Computo, the iPad

If you follow Mark Waid on Twitter, you might have heard that yesterday he left his iPad on a plane and it was stolen. The interesting thing (and the relevant part, here) was that he posted a screen shot of the location where the MobilMe service said it was, and that's when I found out Waid named his iPad "Computo". I later asked him if he had any other geek tech with comic book names, and he said that his iPhone is named "Omnicom" (after the device, not this site, I'm sure).

I asked my readers a few years ago what Legion-related names they have for their tech stuff. Here's my current listing:

• my desktop computer is "LSH-HQ"
• my laptop is "Computo"
• my network is "Sleepnet"
• my wireless router is "LegionOutpost"
• my iPhone is "Omnicom"
• my flash drive in my briefcase is "Brainiac5"

What do you guys have?

Unofficial election results: Mon-El projected as new leader

First things first... The Legion Omnicom is projecting Mon-El as the new Legion Leader for election 2010.

The Legion Election is over. According to my unofficial election poll, Mon-El is the new leader with Phantom Girl as the new Deputy. Here are my final results, with over 760 voters (which is a good 2% of the actual readers). Using the Associated Press method of calculating margin of error, the numbers here are likely to be correct to within plus or minus 5 percentage points.

Although Mon-El leads Phantom Girl by only 2.5 points, which is within the margin of error, trends over the course of the polling leads The Omnicom Network to call Mon-El the winner of Legion Election 2010, with Phantom Girl as the runner-up and thus the Deputy Leader.

Official results are still being tallied, and the actual winner will be announced in-story in the issue coming out in December 2010.

	Percentage	Votes
Mon-El	16.28%	126
Phantom Girl	13.70%	106
Gates	7.49%	58
Brainiac 5	6.33%	49
Tyroc	5.81%	45
Shadow Lass	5.04%	39
Sensor Girl	4.13%	32
Lightning Lass	3.62%	28
Quislet	3.62%	28
Shrinking Violet	3.49%	27
Polar Boy	3.10%	24
Dream Girl	2.97%	23
Dawnstar	2.58%	20
Element Lad	2.58%	20
Chameleon Boy	2.45%	19
Cosmic Boy	2.20%	17
Timber Wolf	2.20%	17
Ultra Boy	2.07%	16
Earth Man	1.94%	15
Colossal Boy	1.55%	12
Invisible Kid	1.55%	12
Sun Boy	1.55%	12
Tellus	1.42%	11
Wildfire	1.42%	11
Chameleon Girl	0.90%	7

I have to assume that this is a legitimate tally with no shenanigans (though I have heard anecdotal evidence of people voting more than once).

Some observations:

• Interestingly, Phantom Girl led from day 1 up through about a week before the election closed, when Mon-El surged ahead. I'm not sure what got people voting for him - was there some online effort in a forum that urged voters to choose him or something? Or is it just that more people are familiar with him because of his 21st century "Superman" appearances?
• Gates' showing here was, I believe, a way of throwing Paul Levitz a curveball - "Let's see what he can do with THIS!" type thing. I voted for Gates for that reason.
• Tyroc too. When has he been popular enough to have people vote for him? I think this was a vote for "Let's pick the character that Levitz has said that he dislikes the most."
• Towards the low end of the voting, we have many characters who are actually in the spotlight, like Sun Boy, Earth Man, Ultra Boy, and Polar Boy. That's puzzling, unless these are characters that the readers think are being OVER-used. Yet Brainiac 5, also in the spotlight, is near the top of the votes.
• Wildfire, second from last? He has always been one of the MOST popular Legionnaires.

Now, on the other hand, not sure how Mon-El and Phantom Girl fit when Paul Levitz wrote that he "is busy tearing up his Legion plot charts and figuring out how to accommodate the will of the masses!".

Jim Lee, ICONS, & the Legion

Via MTV Splashpage, here's part of an interview with Jim Lee on his long-awaited book Icons: The DC Comics and Wildstorm Art of Jim Lee (Amazon link), which goes on sale next week:

MTV: When you went through the book, remembering some of these characters and your work with them, were there any that made you think, "Hey, I want to work with that character again."

LEE: Sure, there’s a whole section where I did Legion of Superheroes. I loved the fact that when Dave Cockrum worked on those books — and actually on X-Men as well — he just sat down and created costumes, and wouldn’t even necessarily know who those characters were. He just kind of created these looks. I’ve always been inspired by that kind of notion, so I just kind of sat down and just started sketching costumes and seeing what worked and what didn’t work, and it was all very rough draft stuff. None of that stuff was thought out — it was just kind of spur-of-the-moment, you know? Going with the moment?

And I liked how a lot of them turned out, so it just got me excited by the idea of actually working on these costumes. The Legion has gone through all these eras where they all had major fashion changes in the styles of costumes that they’ve had, and that’s always been part of their lore, I guess. So the idea of working on that and redefining them for the 30th Century was something that was very appealing to me.

Via Publisher's Weekly:

PWCW: You've also got brand new art, both on the dust jacket, and in an all-new Legion of Super-Heroes story, written by Paul Levitz. What can we expect from the story and does it fit into current Legion canon?

JL: It can if you want it to. We expressly made a story where it’s more fantastical in nature. It’s the Miracle Machine and so it kind of takes the thoughts of whatever’s near it and makes it reality in their mind. That story came about with me and Paul just kind of talking about our favorite Legion stories and our favorite Legionnaires and we crafted that short story together and then he wrote it out after that. It’s really the chance to get to work with Paul, really the quintessential Legion writer. I was having a lot of fun drawing the characters but once Paul put the dialogue in, because we didn’t work full script on this issue, the characters really came to life.

Thursday election polls

I'm not going to make this a daily thing (yet), but here are day 2's exit polling. The Legion leader election website has been open for 2 days now, so let's check out unofficial trends. If you've already voted and have not anonymously recorded your vote with me, please go to the exit poll here and let me know who you voted for - and if you frequent a message board where they're discussing the election, please post the exit poll link, I'd like to hear from as many voters as possible.

A reminder: this is a highly unscientific survey of those people who went to the website and said they voted, so I have to take everyone at their word that who they voted for here is who they voted for in the election, and that there's been no ballot box stuffing.

After 312 votes (as of 11:45 pm CDT on 10/21/10) cast, here are the leading candidates with more than 5% of the total votes cast:

• Phantom Girl - 15.48% (48 votes)
• Gates - 9.68% (30 votes)
• Mon-El - 8.33% (26 votes) 
• Brainiac 5 - 7.10% (22 votes) 
• Tyroc - 7.10% (22 votes)
• Quislet - 5.16% (16 votes) 

 Compare this to Wednesday's votes:

• Phantom Girl - 12.50% (23 votes) 
• Gates - 9.78% (18 votes)
• Brainiac 5 - 7.61% (14 votes)
• Tyroc - 7.07% (13 votes) 
• Mon-El - 5.98% (11 votes)
• Quislet - 5.98% (11 votes)
• Sensor Girl - 5.98% (11 votes)

Phantom Girl increases her lead by 3 percentage points and Mon-El picks up 2. Everyone else is basically flat lined. Still too early to call, with only 2 days of voting tallies in a 3-week election. There won't be any "October Surprise" to change the public's mind about the candidates, though a previously untold flashback in the next issue of Adventure Comics might sway some undecided voters who haven't cast their ballot yet.

Incidentally, the 312 votes cast here represents approximately 0.85% of the 36,360 copies of LSH v6 #3 that were sold (the latest sales figures available).

Election trends: who's leading in the exit polls?

Via holo-vid reporter Marella Tao of "Metropolis Tonite",

Although the Legion leader election website has only been open for about 24 hours, there are some unofficial trends on the exit polls. (If you've already voted, please go to the exit poll here and let me know who you voted for.)

A reminder: this is a highly unscientific survey of those people who went to the website and said they voted, so I have to take everyone at their word that who they voted for here is who they voted for in the election. After 184 votes (as of 9pm CDT on 10/20/10) cast, here are the leading candidates with more than 5% of the total votes cast:

• Phantom Girl 12.50% (23 votes) 
• Gates 9.78% (18 votes)
• Brainiac 5 7.61% (14 votes)
• Tyroc 7.07% (13 votes) 
• Mon-El 5.98% (11 votes)
• Quislet 5.98% (11 votes)
• Sensor Girl 5.98% (11 votes)

Reporter's commentary: I believe that the Gates, Tyroc, and Quislet votes are there to throw Paul Levitz a curveball. But I could live with Tinya as leader; she's the longest-serving member who's never been elected before (without knowing what went on prior to the "Superman & the Legion" story arc).
We've got til November 10 to vote.

Trivia Quiz #52

Special Legion election edition! Reader elections are open today through Nov. 10th. Vote early but you can't vote often as it's one vote per IP address.


1. Chronologically from the founding of the L1 Legion to the Magic Wars, three leaders were not elected leader by the rest of the members. Which ones, and what were the circumstances?

2. Who won the first Legion leader election that was based on a reader vote?

3. Which Legion leader was disqualified after the readers voted, and why? Who became the leader instead?

4. Considering what we know of the all of the various "regular" Legions - the L1 Legion (founding through Magic Wars), the v4-era Legion (post-Magic Wars til Zero Hour) and the SW6 Legion, the L2 Legion post-Zero Hour reboot, the L3 Legion Waid/Kitson reboot, the current retroboot, the DC Animated Universe (including Justice League Unlimited and Superman The Animated Series), and the Legion animated series - which Legionnaire has been the leader the most number of times? For this question, for counting purposes we'll consider different versions of the same character (Lightning Lad and Livewire, for example) to be the same.

5. In his two previous writing stints on the Legion, how many elections has Paul Levitz overseen and which leaders were chosen?

6. What happens if the Leader resigns, is expelled, dies, becomes incapacitated, or otherwise can't fulfill his/her duties as leader? What about the Deputy? What if they both are?

7. In this election, which eligible Legionnaires have NOT been leader before (that we know of)?

Who did you vote for Legion leader in 2010?

Who did you vote for as the new Legion Leader? I've set up a poll to see how the votes here match the final vote. Please only vote once, and only vote for the person you voted for on DC's site.

Who did you vote for in the Legion election of 2010?

• Brainiac 5
• Chameleon Boy
• Chameleon Girl
• Colossal Boy
• Cosmic Boy
• Dawnstar
• Dream Girl
• Earth Man
• Element Lad
• Gates
• Invisible Kid
• Lightning Lass
• Mon-El
• Phantom Girl
• Polar Boy
• Quislet
• Sensor Girl
• Shadow Lass
• Shrinking Violet
• Sun Boy
• Tellus
• Timber Wolf
• Tyroc
• Ultra Boy
• Wildfire

View Results
Create a Blog Poll

Legion election voting is now open!

The Legion election has its own page at the DC site, open now through Nov. 10th. You have 25 candidates to choose from (including Chameleon Girl, Earth-Man, and Gates, but not including Matter-Eater Lad), with no write-ins. Apparently you're limited to one vote per IP address.

Greetings, Legionnaires!
By the order of the LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES CONSTITUTION, a Legion leader will be chosen in a manner determined by its membership. Please review the following list of active members for the Legionnaire that you feel embodies the traits and skills of a strong leader. Remember Legion Constitutional Amendment to Section 8.0: Anyone attempting to use their superpowers to influence the election may be exiled to Shanghalla and their votes discarded!

Computo will tally the votes between the polling period of OCTOBER 20 and NOVEMBER 10.

I voted for Gates, just to see what Paul Levitz would do with him.

And incidentally, section 8.0 of the Legion Constitution really does cover voting. The new leader is the one with a plurality of the votes, with the deputy leader the one with the next highest number of votes.

Mordru on "Legends of the Super-Heroes" DVD cover

Via TV Shows on DVD, here's the cover art for the "Legends of the Super-Heroes" DVD which is available starting tomorrow (10/19) on the WB Shop page for the amazing low low low price of $19.95 and better quality than any bootleg VHS video you may illegally own (plus it's got outtakes that you've never seen).

Includes the most famous jet-ski chase scene in filmed history.

NYCC10: Changes coming to Adventure Comics

The Legion Academy will be taking over Adventure Comics, XS notes, and Green Lantern hints for the 31st century.

Via Newsarama's live blog of the DC Universe panel today:

Levitz says we will pick the new leader. In issue #6 there will be a backdoor pilot to a new Legion story in Adventure comics. It will eventually turn into the Legion Academy series.

Via CBR's article writeup after the panel:

Levitz said that "Legion of Super-Heroes" #6 will introduce Legion Academy in a backup feature illustrated by Phil Jimenez. This group will then move over into "Adventure," and later get its own series. "Legion" #6 will also include a URL for fans to vote for Legion leader. "Then I get to write myself out of whatever ridiculous situation you put us in," he joked. "I think we'll be able to have results integrated very quickly into the book with how it's set up."

Asked about speedsters in the future, Levitz said, "XS is running around, but we're trying to keep Legion down to four billion characters, so we're giving her a little time before she shows up."

"Legion Academy" will feature ties to 21st-century DC, but at present there are no plans for Superman and Batman's descendants to appear, Levitz said when asked.

The new Green Lantern for the Earth sector in "Legion" will debut soon, "someone who will stick around, unlike Earthman, who had the attention span of about two minutes." Who this character is will "hopefully surprise you," Levitz said. Bedard added that Sodam Yat will be appearing in "Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors."

Coming soon to your TV

Two items of note today regarding Legion(ish) stuff on TV:

1. At the NYCC, Warners announced that the 1979 2-part miniseries "Legends of the Super-Heroes" will be released on DVD later this month. This is the infamous show where part 1 has "The Challenge" and part 2 has "The Roast". Both feature Mordru, who appears in part 1 on a jet-ski.

No, really.

2. James Marsters, last seen on Smallville as Brainiac being taken to the 31st century by the Legion, returns next Friday 10/15 in the series 200th episode as Brainiac 5 (but not a green version). TV Guide has a preview video with its article.

New York Comic Con '10 preview

So who's going to the NYCC '10 this weekend? Here's a list of panels you might want to attend. Did I miss any?

Spotlight on Geoff Johns
Geoff Johns’ storytelling and creativity fueled event blockbusters Blackest Night, the new Brightest Day and the character rebirths of Green Lantern and The Flash.  As the Chief Creative Officer of DC Entertainment, you can expect Geoff to deliver even more thrills and excitement as his focus shifts to bringing the DCU to life outside of the comics starting with the Green Lantern film and many other surprises!  Don’t miss this panel hosted by Eddie Berganza, Group Editor, interviewing one of the most exciting talents in comics.
10/8/10 2:15 PM
Room 1A08

DC Nation
The DC NATION is back at the home front – New York City! We’re always looking for new recruits, so be sure to come on by as Co-Publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee and some of the industry’s top talent lead the way to give you the inside scoop to all current and future NATION members!
10/8/10 6:00 PM
Room 1A08

James Marsters Spotlight
James Marsters may best be known for the role of Spike, the cult favorite punk-goth vampire that he played for six seasons on the series Buffy the Vampire, but he’s done a whole lot more! Don’t faint in this spotlight panel!
10/8/10 8:45 PM
Room 1A08

• [Marsters is playing Brainiac 5 on this season of Smallville, maybe he'll reveal something about whether we'll see the Legion vs Darkseid]

DC Universe
Ian Sattler, Senior Story Editor, and your favorite writers and artists are here for the main event: The DC Universe! What lies ahead for your favorite heroes and series? Got a question for your favorite DCU creator? Come on by! There’s no greater gathering of top-tier creative talent!
10/9/10 12:15 PM
Room 1A08

Levitz & Giffen, together again for Legion Annual #1

The DC Blog reported today that Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen will reunite for the Legion Annual #1, coming this December, starring the new Emerald Empress.

Newsarama has an interview with the two.

Paul Levitz: As soon as Keith heard I was doing some Legion work again, he was an immediate and energetic volunteer. And knowing his fondness for the Emerald Empress, I said, "I'll put her aside for you, and when I'm ready to get to that story, I'll give you a yell."

Newsarama will have part 2 with Levitz tomorrow where they talk about the current series and upcoming changes with Adventure Comics.

Trivia Quiz #51

Here's a quiz to start off the second half-century of monthly trivia quizzes. These questions were submitted by Omnicom readers.

1. From Tom Galloway:
Many Legionnaires come from planets where everyone shares a particular ability, and people from those planets have also fought the Legion. Name the planets/races/Legionnaires for whom the Legion has never fought someone from that common-powered world. (To simplify, we'll look at the pre-Zero Hour/current retroboot Legion only)

2. From Michael X. MacArthur:
In Adventure 373, the creators inserted a clue in the center of the book to the identity of the Tornado Twins. What was the clue?

3. From Don Sakers:
Legionnaires have had code names that start with almost every letter of the alphabet, but which five letters have started no Legionnaire code names?

4. Another from Don Sakers:
Which Legionnaire’s parents were the very first ones we saw, and when? For extra credit, what were their names? (update: not including Superboy or Supergirl)

5. From Darrell Lawrence:
When was "Lar Gand" revealed as Mon-El's real name?

6. From Matthew at the Legion Abstract:
Name all the superhero names Ayla Ranzz has gone by, in all three-and-a-half Legion continuities (that's L1, L2, L3, and v4).

7. Another from Matthew:
Name both parties in each marriage involving Legionnaires. (Not including dreams, hoaxes, imaginary stories, or alternate futures outside of the 3.5 main continuities)

Talk Like a Pirate Day 2010: Roxxas

Ahoy, mateys! Sept. 19th is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Yo ho ho and a bottle of Silverale!

For this year's pirate spotlight, we go to the dread pirate Roxxas, the scourge of Trom. Here's his pre-V4 bio from "Who's Who in the Legion" #5. That series embellished a lot from what had been seen in the comics, but for the most part it has been accepted as canon, so you might find out a little that you didn't know. Roxxas... you don't have to put on the red light....


KIVUN ROXXAS of MURGADOR

Roxxas, a surly but intelligent young man, was accepted into the naval academy on Amadus only to desert after killing his commanding officer and raiding the compu-vault for credits. As a fugitive, he spent many years fighting and running before he joined a group of techno-pirates. Roxxas pushed the men toward more and more illegal acts until he had become by authority and combat, the leader of a band of space-pirates. Roxxas led them on raids to many worlds. When he heard rumors of a valley of transmuters on Trom, he sent spies to visit the world and report back to him. They told tales of wonder, children turning their toys to gold, young men clearing new ground by evaporating boulders, all in a largely pacifistic civlilation. Roxxas immediately ordered the kidnapping of several Tromians to hold hostrage for their cooperation of the rest of the world. When Roxxas' men tried to take hostages, some were accidentally killed in self defense by the peaceful Tromians, at which point the pirates began slaughtering the Tromians in cold blood. One young boy, Jan Arrah, escaped in a small ship and was subsequently picked up by investigating Science Police. Roxxas, furious that his men had lost control and maddened by the failure of his plan, led his men in search of the one remaining transmuter, who had fled to Earth and joined the Legion of Super-Heroes. When they met again, Jan was willing to sacrifice himself to stop Roxxas, but he was saved by Invisible Kid. [Adventure 307]





Roxxas was captured and taken to Takron-Galtos. Escaping years later, he ran to Trom, assuming no one would think to look for him there. Alone, he gradually became insane. Later, when the Legionnaires raided a prisoner refuge world called Haven, they got a lead on Roxxas, and Element Lad tracked him to Trom. Element Lad, in a vengeful rage, tried to kill Roxxas but was stopped b other arriving Legionnaires. Roxxas, who believed himself to be haunted b the "ghosts" of the Tromians, surrendered and begged to die. Element Lad decided the best revenge was to let Roxxas live. He is currently undergoing intensive psychotherapy on Labyrinth. [Superboy 211]



Roxxas was the primary villain in the initial story arc of the v4 Legion. Sprung from prison by the Earth Government (secretly run by the Dominators) and given advanced weaponry, he was assigned with preventing the reformation of the Legion of Super-Heroes, preferably by killing them. They ignored his irrational behavior, which included hearing voices in his head of his former victims. He set out by murdering ex-Legionnaire Blok. He expected this would cause the remaining Legion members to gather on Shanghalla for the funeral, where he could take them out with one bomb. They instead gathered on Winath, so he attacked them there, critically wounding Chameleon Boy, and injuring several others before being forced to flee. He was eventually tracked down by a team lead by Element Lad and returned to prison. He then provided key evidence that Earthgov was run by the Dominators, which started the next story arc of freeing Earth from their control. In many ways his actions brought about the very thing he was hired to prevent, as the Legion reformed. [via Wikipedia]



Previously:
2009: Captain Frake
2008: Dynamo Boy