Déjà Vu 18: Mon-El

On the left, Mon-El by Giffen and Gordon. On the right, Mon-El by Jim Lee and Scott Willaims (the variant cover to this week's LSH v6 #4).

 

RIP: KC Ryan (of Klordny APA)

Via James Ricklef, in the comments to a post from last week:

I hate to bring this celebration down, but I figured that most of the people coming here have some connection to the APA, Klordny.

I just want to let people know that KC Ryan, former Klordny CM, passed away recently. He had stage four cancer and died in his sleep at his parents' home, where he was in hospice.

Very sad news. KC was a great guy, and he contributed a lot to Legion fandom. He'll be missed.

KC had a blog at KC Ryan's Word Balloons, last updated in June. Here's his obituary, published in the San Jose paper.

Paul Levitz on Facebook

For those of you on Facebook, did you know that you can be Facebook Friends with Paul Levitz? He appears to be friending everyone who asks, and he engages the fans with comments, replies, small posts, big notes, hints about what he's writing at the moment, and teases for upcoming issues. Here's a sample, a note (which he gave permission to repost) which discusses this week's Adventure 517:

On adding to history

by Paul Levitz on Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 9:10pm

 

A couple of thoughts following up on the comments on ADVENTURE this month:

Any time you go back to tell an old story, the odds are something will change; it can be a nuance, or a revelation of an incident or fact that was untold but that isn't contradictory, or an outright revision of the tale.  I've done all three in the past. Some of each have stuck and become time-honored lore (Universo and Rond Vidar as Green Lanterns, GiGi and Colossal Boy as SP trainees, and on and on).  Some don't stick--they get revised by the original writer as he rethinks the tale, or by a subsequent storyteller.  It's part of the form.

In any case, my goal with the Saturn Girl-Cosmic Boy moment was what I call an "under-reveal"--something we haven't known before, but that doesn't contradict what we know of the character.  The current ADVENTURE arc is very much Saturn Girl's formative tale.  We know from tales going back to my childhood that she's not shy about using her powers on her colleagues when she thinks it's for the good of the team, and hasn't always been right about that...  We know she fell in love with Lightning Lad, but not when or how, or much about her emotional life before then.  Before the arc ends with events that include ADVENTURE #304, hopefully her journey to maturity will be more nuanced and realistic. The Legionnaires are not children--however old their calendar ages (and I'll leave that to indexers to debate)--if they're being allowed to place themselves in harm's way, and to be responsible for the lives of others, they're acting as adults and that extends across the wide spectrum of life.  Which doesn't mean they're all entirely ready for that, or will all make wise decisions.

There will be a direct contradiction or two in the story arc before it's done, but I think it's a logical application of the Legion lore that followed #304 back onto that earlier storyline.  We'll see how readers react as it rolls out...three more issues to go.

In any case, I appreciate the debate, and the passion Legion fans have for these characters as people.  Whether you agree with my treatment of them or not, the goal is to make them more complex and interesting...and a measure of controversy isn't surprising or disappointing.  Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Happy Klordny Week 2010!

Hey, we're in Klordny Week already! Since 1995, Klordny Week has been celebrated in the week or so that contains my birthday (August 13) and sometimes Elvis Appreciation Day (August 16). It first appeared in Superboy and the LSH 232 (10/77), written by Gerry Conway.

How do you celebrate? By dancing and partying!




Do me a favor, Lightning Lad, shut up and dance!

Why do you celebrate? I'm not telling you!





What's the Ritual Klordny Toast?





You can never have too much Frunt. Others celebrating (whether they know it or not) include Cold Frunt Productions, Frunt's flickr photos, Frunt's Myspace page, the Frunt Room, signs by Frunt, and a map of the town of Frunt, in Graubunden, Ostschweiz, Switzerland, and none other than Erwin Frunt!. Sadly, Yahoo Answers doesn't get it.

Trivia Quiz #50

I decided extend the deadline one more month for your trivia questions, you guys can take over Quiz #51. Email me your favorite trivia questions and I'll make the next quiz all yours.

So this trivia quiz is based on where I've been lately.

1. The Alex Ross booth in San Diego had a huge floor-to-ceiling banner of his giant Legion litho that he did for the Warner Bros. Stores. When/where else have we seen Alex Ross draw/paint the Legion as a group or individuals, not counting Superman or Supergirl

2. In LA, I went to Venice Beach. When the Legion played the New Teen Titans in volleyball (in a published DC comic!), who was on each team?

3. In San Diego they announced that a set of 12 action figures would be released next year. Of those 12, which ones have never had any kind of 3-dimensional figure commercially released before? Remember that the Legionnaires of one timeline/continuity are not the same as those of another.

4. Paul Levitz announced that we'll see a Legion election soon. Assuming for the moment that his stories more or less remain canon up through the end of the Magic Wars, which Legionnaire had been elected leader the most number of times to that point?

5. Vegas is all about money. Name five types of money from different worlds in the 30th/31st century.

6. In Canada, they talk funny (at least to me, they do!). Which Legionnaire(s) has/have a distinctive accent or speech pattern different from "standard" (meaning everyone else)?

7. In Las Vegas you have to be 21 to drink alcohol. Before the Legionnaires grew up to drink Silverale, they drank kono juice. Where did we first see kono juice?

Bits of Legionnaire Business

I still have my San Diego wrap-up to do - you guys learned more about what happened at the con than I did, and I was there - but here are some Bits of Legionnaire Business to hold you over in the meantime.

SMALLVILLE

Via TV Guide:

What can you tell me about the returns of Brainiac and Supergirl on Smallville? — Jeff
ADAM: James Marsters returns as Brainiac 5, who, despite being a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes in the comic books, executive producer Kelly Souders describes as "a slippery fish" with a questionable moral compass. As for Supergirl, expect her to have a more dramatic impact this time around: "She's going to shake up the world for our superheroes," Souders says.

Members of the Smallville message board on the CWTV site discuss which Legionnaires they want to see this season.

TOYS

Toyfare #158 apparently cover-features the Legion figures from Mattel.

The Fwoosh has a very long discussion thread on the Legion 12-pack, starting the day they were revealed in San Diego up through today.

Joe Acevedo has some new custom Legion figures, as does glwannabe at the DC Direct message board.
 
LSH v6

Photon Torpedoes looks at the Jim Lee alternate version covers so far. Over on Twitter, Jim briefly discussed who's going to be on which cover:

So I've been doing these variant covers for Paul Levitz and @ycinar great run on Legion. Need a quintessential 80s Legionnaire for that slot 11:40 AM Jul 29th via Echofon

Had Superboy for 50s cvr, Chameleon Boy for 60s, Saturn Girl for 70s. Just did Mon-el in his "5 years later" Giffen costume for 90s. 11:45 AM Jul 29th via Echofon

Already locked in for 00 choice (a current Legionnaire). 80s still up in the air...any Legion fans out there? 11:46 AM Jul 29th via Echofon 

Down to Tellus, Dawnstar, Sensor Girl and Timberwolf... 12:03 PM Jul 29th via Echofon 

Kello explains why he doesn't like the Legion, while Chris Sims explains why the Legion does work. Let's you and him fight!

The trade paperback for the first 6-issue arc of v6 is available for preorder on Amazon: "The Choice" will be available next April.

MISC

Here's a pinup by Francis Manapul showing Superboy and the Legion (in his Adventure Comics style).  



Doug Wolk explains why the v4 "Five Years Later" Legion should be reprinted.

Legion gathering at Dragon*Con

Just found this via a Google Alert - anyone going to Dragon*Con this year? That's a big con for costumers, and it turns out that there's going to be a big Legion presence. Over 20 people will be participating and dressing up as various Legionnaires on Sunday. See this post for more info.

If you're going, I hope you are able to get photos.

There is going to be a Legion of Super-Heroes photoshoot/meetup Sunday at Dragoncon (currently set for 6pm Sunday at the Hilton Steps).

Any and all Legionnaires, subs, or supporting members (or villains!) are welcome!  Multiple versions of characters are canon (*cough*Legion of Three Worlds*cough*) so duplicate character signups are embraced!  We've already got some cool new costumes debuting at Dragoncon, and it'd be great if we could make this a huge gathering of Legionnaires in costume!

Trivia Answers #49

Answers to July's Trivia Quiz #49. I was going to turn the column over to the readers for Quiz #50 but I haven't gotten enough questions yet, so please send them in. I'll save them for #51, I've already got a bunch for the next quiz.

1. Who were Jilly, Helen, Charlie, Sophie, Donna, and Jane?

Jilly Major, Helen Cage, Charlie Woodcock, Sophie Desjardins, Donna Ferri and Jane Washington-Carver were Inferno's mall-rat friends in her mini-series.

2. Name the 5 LSH members who held wands in an attempt to attract lightning and revive the dead Lightning Lad.

Superboy, Lightning Lass, Mon-El, Chameleon Boy, and Sun Boy. If you said Saturn Girl, you were wrong, because it was really Proty in disguise.

3. Fortress Lad was from Fwang, in the 30th century. When did we see residents of Fwang in the 20th/21st century?

Gerry Jones, who wrote the story introducing Fortress Lad in the Secret Origins of the LSH Clubhouse story, was also the writer of Green Lantern: Mosaic, starring John Stewart on a mosaic-planet composed of cities from many worlds. One such world was Fwang, as seen here in GL: Mosaic #10 (his first and only appearance).

4. Dave Cockrum redesigned a number of Legionnaires' costumes when he was artist. Here's an alphabetical list of those Legionnaires, put them in chronological order of when Cockrum changed their costumes. (Note: in several stories, multiple Legionnaires got new costumes; these 12 Legionnaires got new costumes in a total of 6 different stories.)

• Chameleon Boy
• Colossal Boy
• Duo Damsel
• Element Lad
• Light Lass
• Lightning Lad
• Phantom Girl
• Princess Projectra
• Shadow Lass
• Shrinking Violet
• Star Boy
• Timber Wolf

I guess this was too trivial! Although I should have said that these costumes were either redesigned by Cockrum or first brought into a story by him, I didn't get much luck at an answer. So here's the list:

• Duo Damsel, Chameleon Boy, Shrinking Violet, Karate Kid (SBOY 193)
• Phantom Girl, Colossal Boy, Princess Projectra (SBOY 195)
• Lightning Lad, Timber Wolf (SBOY 197)
• Element Lad (SBOY 198)
• Star Boy (SBOY 199)
• Light Lass, Shadow Lass (SBOY 200)

5. What do these five Legionnaires have in common, in this order, that no other Legionnaires have: Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy, Brainiac 5, and Dawnstar.

They were the Legionnaires who appeared on the "spotlight" covers on the "Legion of 3 Worlds" miniseries issues 1-5 (in that order).

6. How many Legionnaires (including honorary and reserve but not imaginary stories or Elseworlds) have had their own solo series, miniseries, or one-shot? That is, a book with their name in the title where they were the star, not someone who was in an anthology series or a backup strip.

You guys guessed Superman/Superboy, Supergirl, Superboy II, Mon-El/Valor, Cosmic Boy, Timber Wolf, Karate Kid, Inferno, Impulse, and Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen. But although you differentiated between Superboy Kal-El and Superboy Kon-El, no such distinction was made for pre-Crisis Supergirl and the current version of Supergirl. 

7. Which Legionnaire(s) did Wally Wood draw, and where did that appear?

Although the Wood-inked Superboy stories technically fit this criteria, it wasn't what I was looking for. The one I did have in mind was this one, from the 1966 Comic Book Foldees card set. Wood did the art for the whole series:

And when you folded the halves over, you could make "hilarious" pictures like these: