Things that make you go "huh?"

From the Home Office in Webster, Texas, here are the Top Ten Legion moments that make you go "Huh?"

10. Steve Ditko Archives: The Legion Years
9. The Omen & Prophet Saga
8. I Dream of Sneckie
7. Sure, Keith, go ahead and use those thick black markers, they're better than fine lined inking
6. A five-year gap? That could work...
5. Reboot? I guess so, that couldn't make things any more confusing
4. Reboot? Sure, why not, we've already had one, what's one more?
3. We don't need no stinking Superboy! We can write around that.
2. If we take Superboy & the Legion out of "Adventure Comics" and make them a backup strip in "Action Comics", they'll totally love Supergirl instead.
1. Despite having one of the universe's richest men as their benefactor, the Legion lets Superboy leave over a tax issue, because if Supergirl left then the Legion of Super-Pets would leave too.

Sorry, no good April Fools joke this year. But go back and read my earlier ones from when I was funny.

Bits of Legionnaire Business

Stuff.

Michael Deeley's Top 10 Most Wanted Trade Paperbacks include the Abnett/Lanning stories.

LSH v6 #4 reviews from Too Dangerous for a Girl, Major Spoilers, Dave van Domelen, The Miracle Machine, IGN, ComicVine, CBR, and A Comic Book Blog.

Superman/Batman #75 reviews from Stars and Garters, Every Day Is Like Wednesday, and IGN.

CBR's Comics Legends Revealed tells the story behind the creation of Shadow Lass.

The Major Spoilers "TwitterPitch" contest has two weeks remaining.

Comic Book The Blog explains the Subs for those who may have read the the recent Brave & Bold story where they meet the Inferior Five and not known who the Subs were.

Giant-Size Geek displays some of the Alan Davis covers from the 1990s without their logos, and presents the Neal Adams print from the 1976 DC Calendar and where else it appeared.

Eat Feats, the blog for competitive eating, finally noticed Tenzil Kem and Taryn Loy.

As part of its 75th anniversary, DC is putting out a CD with various TV and movie theme songs from the 1940s to today. Unfortunately, the Legion cartoon's theme is not one of them.

A Dispensable List of Comic Book Lists has the "Five Years Later" v4 Legion on a list of "11 Attempts to Reboot, Revamp or Re-Energize a Comic-Book Superhero Franchise That Could Have Gone a Little Bit Better".

Previously, in the Future looks at some teaser pages from the Booster Gold series to see which ones actually happened (like in the JSA book when we saw Dawnstar's arm). Some of them with Booster and Brainiac 5 were promised but never happened.

Weird Worm thinks that Pete Ross wasn't such a great super-hero sidekick (or an honorary Legionnaire).

Did you know that the Legion made an appearance in Tiny Titans #31?

Brave & Bold: The Lost Issues presents a cover for what a Batman/Super-Pets team-up might have looked like.

Action Figure Insider has the August Q&A with the Matty Collector people. Question #2 is about the upcoming Legion 12-pack statue poses.

What about the Legion of Super-Pets?

From Monday's 10 Questions with Dan DiDio:

1) ICleverMan wrote:
Yes, I am one of those freaks who adore the Legion of Super-Pets -- I own every appearance of each of them, including all Krypto stories.

Since Krypto's return has been such a success, what are the possibilities we can see reinterpretations of Streaky, Comet and even some variation of Beppo (totally discounting the Peter David attempt at Comet)?

DiDio: I never like to say never on anything, because there's always a writer who tends to surprise me. The funny part about Streaky is they showed Streaky in Wednesday Comics. Amanda Conner did a beautiful job with Streaky and Krypto in that book. And I think anybody would love the character except for the character's name, which always seems to get more giggles than anyone wanting to embrace the little kitty.

On Beppo, probably not. I think what happened is that, we start to get a little too deep. One or two of those characters is interesting to see, but I think once you get a little deeper into a list of characters, it starts to weaken the brands or weaken the franchise too much because it doesn't seem like you're taking yourself too seriously.

Because of Comet's origin and the way Comet was played, in the last incarnation of Supergirl, Peter David found an interesting way to make Comet work. But at this time, there's no particular plans to do that again.

Newsarama: Krypto seems to be mostly featured in Adventure Comics. Now that the Legion of Super-Heroes is taking over that title when Paul Levitz becomes the regular writer next year, what will happen to Krypto?

DiDio: There's a really good chance you'll be seeing more of Krypto in Superman. James Robinson is a huge supporter of the character. He's already used the dog a couple of times in the series. And I imagine he'll probably touch upon Krypto a little more, because James is a bit of a dog lover himself.

Everyone forgets about Proty II in the Super-Pets.

Bits of Legionnaire Business

It's too late for in-depth links to Legion of 3 Worlds or Adventure Comics #1, but here are some items I didn't get around to posting on my last Bits column that aren't too outdated already. It's a long one, chock full of good stuff all the way down to the bottom. Now I'm caught up through this weekend.

• Those of you on Facebook might be interested in groups for the Interlac language, LegionWorld.net, and the old Legion apa's (like the Outpost, Interlac, etc.).
  
  
• The Fortress of Baileytude has a series of podcasts covering Superman's history from Crisis (on Infinite Earths) to Crisis (the Final kind). Episode 10 covers August 1987, when the 4-issue storyline on Superman, Superboy, and the Pocket Universe appeared.
  
  
• Again with the Comics looks at Tenzil for the Defense.
  
  
• Remember how at the end of LSH v3 #5, five Legionnaires left through a stargate to make it back home (as seen in the recently reprinted "An Eye for an Eye" TPB)? Well, they had a detour in the 20th century with Superman and Brainiac, first.
  
  
• TroopNY shows off his custom-made reboot Cosmic Boy costume at the League of Heroes site.
  
  
• Newsarama interviews Tony Bedard on what's coming up in R.E.B.E.L.S.
  
  
• Did you know that the M'rissey character that showed up in Jim Shooter's recent run on the Legion was based on long-time fan Rich Morrissey? Rich helped create Legion fandom in the early 1970s and was one of the great comics historians. Here's a little bit of the character on scans_daily and the obituary that Mark Evanier wrote in 2001.
  
  
• Chris Mosby reveals why LSH v3 #312 is the most pivotal Legion issue EVER.
  
  
• The Legion Abstract's Matthew was a guest of the Legion of Substitute Podcasters following the end of Legion of 3 Worlds. Worlds will live, worlds will die in this crossover!
  
  
• Major Spoilers has an in-depth Hero History of the Legion of Super-Pets.
  
  
• It's too late to go into detail about the Adventure Comics #1 reviews, but here are links to them anyway. Legion Abstract, Read/Rant, CBR, Shotgun Reviews, IGN, ComiXtreme, Get-a-Life Boy, Comic Book Legacy, Newsarama's Legion Blogpost, Comix411, Examiner, Keith's Comics Revue, Comics And..., and Comic Nexus.
  
  
• The Origins and Powers of the Legionnaires, as posted by Diversions of the Groovy Kind. These are pages from the All-New Collector's Edition book that had the wedding of Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl, these pages with art by Jim Sherman and Jack Abel.
  
  
• Info on costume designs by Mike Grell and Dave Cockrum, from an issue of Back Issue magazine.
  
  
• If you're into Mighty Muggs, how about this custom Wildfire on ebay?
  
  
  
• Whatever happened to those goats that L3 Brainiac 5 had in the HQ?
  
  
• The Major Spoilers poll and podcast: the Legion vs the X-Men
  
  
• Mattel, on what their next plans are for Legion action figures: "We do have some great plans for the Legion of Superheroes, but when and how they will be released has yet to be announced!"
  
  
• Oh Noes! Clark needs to get to the 30th century right away, but he's cuddling with Lana. How will he get away?
  
  
• Ah, Laurel Kent. Post-Modern Barney calls Superboy sick and wrong for hitting on his multi-great granddaughter, while Armagideon Time lists her in one of his "Nobody's Favorite" histories.
  
  
• Gratuitous Legion references of the day: from the Sacramento Bee, talking about the University of Florida's "inevitable" march to the national championship game. "The Gators fit the bill. They've got the smarty-pants football coach. They've got the pretty-boy quarterback who works on making the world a better place in his spare time. They've got more speed than the Legion of Super-Heroes."
  
  Second, from the Wall Street Journal, on Disney's acquisition of Marvel: "Disney agreed Monday to buy Marvel Entertainment Inc., adding a legion of superheroes to a durable family of children's favorites."
  
  
• Wil Wheaton talks a bit about his role as Cosmic Boy on the Legion TV series in an interview about his role on a recent episode of "Leverage".
  
  
• It's time to play "Crazy Celebrity Baby Name or Member of the Legion!"
  
  
• Here's a fabulously retro look at the Legionnaires on the cover of Adventure 247, by ~Quimbus on deviantART.
  
  
• The Legion cartoon airs at 10:30am Sundays in Brisbane. In case you were wondering.
  
  
• Blake's 2-in-1 Podcast looks at Mon-El - who is he, and what's his story?
  
  
• Finally, my Google Alert subscription notifies me of these things from time to time, where somebody uses the phrase "Legion of Super-Heroes" but not actually referring to our team. This one is kind of cute, from the Willard Central Elementary School in Springfield, MO. The super-hero theme this year at the school "will focus on developing HEROES – Honorable, Empowered, Responsible, Organized, Exceptional Students." That's so cool! I hope DC/Warners doesn't bust them for trademark infringement or something.
  

"Don't you remember when we teamed up to tackle the Ghost Ship of Space?"

Back in the day, they got "defeated".

Today, adults would say "the Legion of Super-Heroes get their asses handed to them by the Legion of Super-Pets."

The L337 H4x0r kids would say "omfg d00d th3y PWN3D teh |_3g10|\| cuz they r0xx0rzz!!11!"

In any language, here's a moment the Legion probably wishes they could forget, or at least they'd hope we forgot. From Adventure Comics #364, the Legion gets pwn3d by the Super-Pets (as presented by scans_daily).

Not Ultra Boy's finest moment.

Previously: The Incredible Super-Blog's awesome take on the story.

Dial L for Legion

Dial L for Legion
Over at Robby Reed's Dial B for Blog, he just finished up today a 10-part series on Ira Schnapp. Ira's name might not be familiar to you (unless you're a fan of Silver Age comics), but you're very familiar with his work. Among the items he did while working for DC since the Golden Age were such minor things as the logos for "Superman", "Action Comics", "Adventure Comics", "Green Lantern", "Justice League", "Flash", and "Hawkman", not to mention hand-lettering practically every cool Silver-Age-looking ad up through around 1968. Those are his letters and logos on every cover of Adventure Comics through the late 1960s, including Adventure 247. It's a fascinating story. Check it out starting here and be prepared to be amazed at how may times you say "He did that, too?"

Speaking of Letters
As I mentioned yesterday, you need to have a copy of the Interlac font (or at least the translation table) if you're watching the Legion show, or just want to have something cool to show off. Here's an Interlac translation table at Wikipedia, with a link on the page to download freeware fonts.

And for another comic-related font, go to the HayFamZone to check out OdaBaloon, a freeware font based on the lettering of Ben Oda, who (among many other things) worked for DC in the 1970s and 1980s, including many Legion stories. The font appears to be designed by Ben's son (grandson?) Bill.

Speaking of the 1980s
Over at the Superman Through the Ages forum, the prolific Julian Perez takes a look at Roy Thomas's short run as Legion writer in 1981. Roy only wrote a few issues during the Superboy/Ultra Boy/Reflecto arc.

What is most interesting about these issues is how "Marvel-style" the book feels; a very strange thing for LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES. The story is driven by the the feelings and motivations of the characters, instead of having them be reactive out of a sense of duty to things going on around them. The story is driven by Grimbor the Chainsman's desire for revenge at the death of his wife and Phantom Girl's desire to learn about the fate of her beloved Ultra Boy. ...

Roy Thomas also returned Superboy to the Legion.

The problem is that Superboy is a much more significant character to the Legion than I think, Conway and others believe: Superboy is our "point of view" character; not just a cypher who asks "what's that," he's the point of identification with the audience, what John the Savage is to Huxley's BRAVE NEW WORLD, or what Fry is to FUTURAMA.

Superboy is also significant to Legion history and identity. Legion started off as a Superboy spin-off, after all; the book is very much in the Superman Family along with Supergirl and World of Krypton. Further, Superboy is also something of the "star" of the book: he gets top billing and attention in a way not comparable to anybody since, well, BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS, or perhaps the current popularity of Wolverine in the X-Men.

He's all these things rolled into ONE. So Superboy's contribution to the Legion can't be underestimated. And why Roy Thomas's decision to bring him back into the book was a wise one.

Speaking of the Superman Family
The one and only Chris Sims and his Invincible Super-Blog reviews Adventure Comics 364, the Revolt of the Super-Pets.

Before long, the Super-Pets have beaten the living crap out of the Legionnaires, a fight that ends with Comet kicking their space-ship so hard that it flies back to Earth, which may actually be the Legion's most humiliating defeat ever.
...
Comet, taking advantage of the fact that he turns into a human being whenver he's around a comet due to a curse by Circe from what's got to be the most complicated Non-Claremont origin in the history of comics, takes the identity of Biron the Bowman whose mastery of the longbow is matched only by the tininess of his shorts!
...
Invisible Kid even goes so far as to tell the Comet that they recognized him right off when he tried out as Biron the Bowman, but wanted to prove that they could re-earn the Super-Pets' trust. Heck, they even sent Supergirl off on another mission so she wouldn't find out about Comet's dual identity, which, uh, means that the Legion is totally cool with the fact that Supergirl occasionally dates a horse.