RIP: Steve Lightle

By now it's probably not news to anyone that former Legion artist Steve Lightle passed away recently due to complications from COVID-19. NBC News has a nice obituary. 

His big break came from DC when he was chosen after doing artwork on a few stories in New Talent Showcase, he jumped right into the Legion just after their move to the v3 "Baxter" series taking over pencil duties from Keith Giffen. It was a dream job for him but I've read that he found it difficult to do 22 pages per month plus a cover on a regular series, so for most of the rest of his career, he contributed covers to not only the Legion in several long runs but also Flash, and Classic X-Men and Marvel Comics Presents over at Marvel.

Here's an alphabetical checklist of Steve's Legion work (non-reprints):

• Action Comics (2008)
• Cover only
• #860 (variant)
• Cosmic Boy (1986-87)
• Cover only
• #1, 2, 3, 4
• Flash 80-Page Giant (1999)
• Story
• #2 (XS)
• History of the DC Universe portfolio (1988)
• Pinup
• Legends of the Legion (1998)
• Cover only
• #1, 2, 3, 4
• The Legion (2003-04)
• Story and cover
• #24, 34
• Legion of Super-Heroes v3 (1984-89)
• Story only
• #3, 4, 5
• Cover only
• #6, 11, 15, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 51, 52, 53, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, Annual 2
• Story and cover
• #7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 23
• Legion of Super-Heroes v7 (2012-13)
• Story and cover
• #8
• Cover only
• #9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
• Pinup and cover
• #0
• Secret Origins (1986)
• Cover only
• #8
• Showcase '96 (1996-97)
• Cover only
• #11, 12
• Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes (1985-86)
• Cover only
• #329, 330, 331, 332, 333, 334, 335, 337, 338, 339, 340, 341, 342, Annual 4
• The Wanderers (1988-89)
• Cover only
• #9, 10, 11, 12, 13
• Who's Who in the Legion of Super-Heroes (1988)
• Story and cover
• #1, 2
• Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe (1985-87)
• Pinup
• #3 (Blok), 5 (Colossal Boy), 8 (Fatal Five), 12 (Karate Kid), 13 (Legion of Super-Villains), 16 (Mon-El), 18 (Polar Boy), 20 (Sensor Girl, Shadow Lass), 23 (Tellus, Timber Wolf)
• Who's Who Update '87 (1987)
• Pinup
• #4 (Mentalla)
• Who's Who in the DC Universe (1991)
• Pinup
• #6 (Ayla Ranzz)

These stories, covers, and/or pinups were reprinted in the following issues or collections (RC = reprint collection; year of reprint publication): 

• Crisis on Infinite Earths Companion Deluxe Edition (2019) (RC)
• vol 3
• The DC Universe by John Byrne (2018) (RC)
• History of the DC Universe (1988)
• Legion of Super-Heroes v3 (2008-09) (RC)
• An Eye for an Eye
• The More Things Change 
• Legion of Super-Heroes v7 (2013-14) (RC)
• vol 2: The Dominators
• vol 3: The Fatal Five
• Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes (2008) (RC)
• Superman: The Man of Steel (2005) (RC)
• vol 4
• Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes (1985-87)
• Story
• #328, 329, 330, 332, 333, 334, 335, 337, 338, 339, 341, 348

Over the years, I have saved various bits and pieces of peoples' artwork. Here are some little-seen or lesser known images he drew.

An amazing and fun group shot from 2000:

A few individual shots:

  

Steve also drew in a cartoony style, the caption on the group shot says it was for a pitch for an animated show in 2001.

 

In the late 90s, a story on the Toy Otter web page (gone, but archived here) detailed what was rumored to have been the 4th wave of Super Powers figures, which never came out. The page drops this tantalizing tidbit:

Another hint at what may have been considered comes from Steve Lightle, longtime comic artist. This came from an interview on RTM: Steve's first experience with the toy world came back when he was the regular artist on DC's Legion of Super-Heroes. He was contacted by the design team for Kenner's DC Super Powers Collection. Unfortunately, Steve's work never made it to the shelves. "I was asked to come up with a trademark symbol for ...can you believe it...Dream Girl! I gave them the design, but the toy was never made. Another one that they told me about that never came out was Dawnstar. Wouldn't that have been a fantastic figure?"

Here's the trademark symbol he came up with for Dream Girl:

Some random group shots I found:

 

The original design sketches and back story for Tellus:

 

And the original pencil art from LSH v3 #37, part 1 of the death of Superboy