LSH animated series: Live, from the DC Fandome, it's Saturday Afternoon!

 On Saturday Sept 12, the DC Fandome event (part 2) finally showed (recorded, streaming on demand) a 30-minute discussion with the producer, director, and voice actors from the 2006-08 Legion animated show. (It was originally to have been at the one back in August, before that was split into two, mostly movies in part 1 and mostly TV in part 2.)

• Top row: moderator Damian Holbrook (TV Guide), director Brandon Vietti, producer James Tucker
• Middle row: Andy Milder (voice of Lightning Lad), Shawn Harrison (voice of Timber Wolf, Ronn Karr), Adam Wylie (voice of Brainiac 5, Computo, Colossal Boy)
• Bottom row: Kari Wahlgren (voice of Saturn Girl, Triplicate Girl, Shrinking Violet, White Witch, Ayla Ranzz), Yuri Lowenthal (voice of Superman)

After the introductions, here's the transcript. 

RIP Wizard Magazine

Updated 1/25 with link in last paragraph
-------------------------
So after nearly 20 years, Wizard Magazine (and sister magazine Toyfare) have ceased publication, basically falling victim to the internet. Though Wizard never - as far as I can remember - cover-featured the Legion, they have been featured from time to time. My Wizard collection is sadly lacking, so I don't even own any of the issues on my checklist (which is also incomplete - damn this procrastination!). I've got issues 19, 59, 67, and 208 on the list. What else am I missing?


In 1993, when the "Legionnaires" title was starting up, there was a trading card promotion with it for the new Cosmic Teams set. The #00 Catspaw was bagged with the March/April issue of Comics Buyers' Guide Price Guide, while the #000 card, Dragonmage, was bagged with Wizard #19. The Computo card, promo #0000, was bagged with "Legionnaires" #1. A fourth card, P1 with Apparition, was given out at conventions that year. No, there doesn't seem to have been a #0 card, go figure.

My old checklist shows that there was some sort of appearances in issue 59, but I have no idea what was in there (and I haven't been able to find a copy for download).

Issue 67 had a Reboot Legion casting call. Some of the young TV and movie actors from this 1993 casting call turned out to have pretty good careers, such as Leonardo di Caprio (their choice for Livewire), Claire Danes (Spark), and Natalie Portman (Shrinking Violet). Even Wil Wheaton got a nomination, as Chameleon.

A couple years ago, in preparation for the Legion episode of "Smallville", Wizard interviewed Geoff Johns (who wrote the episode).

 

A former Wizard writer recounted an interview (mentioned in the comments below) with Paul Levitz and the resulting 6-page article, but I'm not 100% sure which issue it appeared in:

Maybe you never noticed the change in tone, but others did – after not doing any form of interview with the magazine in 224 issues and countless specials, Paul Levitz sat down with me for almost an hour to talk about the Legion of Super-Heroes, and the magazine ended up running a six-page spread on the Levitz Era of Legion, something that would have never happened in the past, both in regards to the subjects the magazine covered as well as the subject interviewed.

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.
  

Animated stuff

Not a whole lot going on with regards to the animated show, so here are a few bits 'n' pieces:

• Comics Continuum reports that The Batman and Legion of Super Heroes will have a combined 90-minute panel at San Diego next month. More on that in a couple weeks when San Diego announces their full schedule.
  
  
• I found the press release from McDonald's that came out last month, about their Happy Meal promotions for the summer. We know that the Legion will be appearing in August. Here's how it was described:
  

  Accompanying Polly [Pocket]™ for the last "Summer of Happy Meal Fun" event is a BIG mystery toy collection. But, like every good surprise celebration, this Happy Meal event remains a secret for now!

  
  I think that's corporate speak for "We're not sure who we're going to get yet". The press release says that the promotion will be from August 4-31.
  
  
• Apparently I also forgot to note that Comics Continuum has an image of the DVD back cover, to go along with the front cover. The DVD goes on sale August 28th.
  
  
  
• Wil Wheaton has had a couple of non-spoilery things to say about the Legion over the last couple months: "That is so cool!" and "We are the Legion!". It sounds as if he'll be in at least 3-4 episodes this season, including one that's Cos-centric.
  
  
• I'm sure there are other places as well, but besides the US and Great Britain, the show is also aired on RPN in the Philippines.
  
  
• The Animation Guild blog notes that season 2 will be 13 episodes just like last season.
  

Animated Stuff

Now that we've got 11 of the 13 episodes shown, I'm belatedly seeing a pattern in the directing. The three directors (Ben Jones, Lauren Montgomery, and Tim Maltby) simply rotate every three episodes, going by production number. So Ben did episodes 1, 4, 7, and 10 ("Man of Tomorrow", "Fear Factory", "Child's Play", and "The Substitutes"), Lauren did episodes 2, 5, 8, and 11 ("Timber Wolf", "Champions", "Lightning Storm", and "Chain of Command"), while Tim did episodes 3, 6, and 9 ("Legacy", "Phantoms", and "Brain Drain"). Thus, Tim and Ben should do the last two of the season, assuming this pattern holds up. It must have been because they were aired out of order that prevented me from seeing this.

Anyway, here are a number of items that might warrant some attention, related to the TV show:

• Among the Emmy nominees was Mark Keefer, who you may recall me bringing up here from last summer. He was one of the nominees for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing - Live Action and Animation. On his own site, he reacts to his nomination.
  
  
• Wil "Cosmic Boy" Wheaton was in the studio recording again on Friday and conjured up the spirit of Admiral Ackbar. Later, he recapped the session (as much as he could) with kudos to the rest of the guest cast and wishing he could reveal the episode title (which itself is a spoiler). This is at least his second episode.
  
  
• DCAUYojimbo reviews the series to date, episodes 1-11.
  
  
• Furdell thinks he/she may have underestimated the show, based on seeing the most recent episode "Chain of Command". On the other hand, Andy at the Beetle's Nest thinks that based on that episode, Lightning Lad was being a dick. Quote of the day: "I think this really would be a better show if it were called Brainiac 5 and the Legion of Idiots He Courageously Deals With".
  
  
• I went to Cartoon Palace, who produces the torrents for download, to ask why we never saw the hi-def version of the torrent for "Substitutes". One of the guys there said "oops, we had it here all the time and forgot to put it out for everyone." So now it's available, and you can complete your collection.
  
  
• It's been several days and still nobody has the torrents of the season finale online yet, from the UK airing. Come on, internet, what's your problem?
  

The Wil Wheaton Effect

On Monday March 5, one of my search feeds caught a reference that Wil Wheaton had made on his blog, discussing his episode "Chain of Command". This was about 9 pm or so. He linked back to me for the torrent files, so I quickly put up a welcome page for the people I knew were going to check this out for the first time.

Although not one of the approximately 1300 or so new visitors left a comment, they tripped my blog stats. Here's how Google Analytics measured the Wil Wheaton effect here until things settled back to normal:



Tuesday's hit count was almost three times as high as my previous highest, but I'm not sure if anyone stayed. Well it was fun being a link in a celebrity's blog for a few days, anyway.

Legions and Torrents and Blogs, oh my!

Greetings, whoever you are that came here from WWdN to check out Wil Wheaton's Legion episode here. Hopefully you're a Legion fan (in any media) so stay a while and check things out. I cover the Legion in print (the Waid/Kitson run plus all the old stuff), on TV (the animated show), on TV in print (the upcoming comic based on the animated show), action figures and toys, Heroclix, Vs. System cards, trivia, sales figures - plus anything else that comes to mind.

Here are the links to torrents of Wil's episode, "Chain of Command", where he does a kick-ass Cosmic Boy. They come in regular and high-def flavors. (For any of the other episodes, here are all my posts tagged "torrent".)

In case you're interested, here's a handy little link to all of the Wil-related stuff here.

For those of you who are regulars here, hey, I got name-checked! By a Legionnaire!

As I mentioned here yesterday, based on last year's schedule of when they started doing voice recordings, they should be doing some more for Season 2. Sure enough, they are recording already. Wil "Cosmic Boy" Wheaton has a funny story (though I'm sure it didn't seem like it to him at the time) about making his recording session this afternoon with Yuri "Superman" Lowenthal and Heather "Phantom Girl" Hogan.

At 2pm, I looked at my Legion appointment sheet, to make sure we were only doing one episode today when we started at 3pm.

It said that we started at 2pm.

"Oh sweet Jesusmotherofshit!" I said, as I exploded into action, flew out of my house at warp 3, and safely drove at or beneath the speed limit, respecting all the laws which govern the operation of a motor vehicle on the interstate as well as surface streets.
...
Sadly, I can't say anything specific about the episode. Warner Brothers is incredibly serious about protecting the content of the shows, and I'd really like to keep working on them, so I'll just say, once again, that the level of talent, commitment, professionalism, and ultra-nerdy love for this show at all levels -- writers, producers, directors and actors -- is unlike anything I've ever experienced. [Actor's name redacted] just blew me away today.

Hey, "ultra-nerdy love" is just another way of saying "Legion fandom"... Thanks, Wil!

Wil Wheaton: Comic Boy

I was just checking over at Wil Wheaton's place to see if he commented on his appearance as Cosmic Boy on the Legion show yesterday (he hasn't yet). One of the commenters noted that in the credits he's listed as "Comic Boy" (which I just confirmed). Ha!

Assuming they record the voices in more or less the production order, it's interesting to note that voice recording started in February 2006 (per Shawn "Timber Wolf" Harrison), and Wil recorded Cosmic Boy's lines in April.

Shawn auditioned for the role of Timber Wolf in January 2006, got the job, had the first cast meeting in early February (more here, including a picture), and had the first recording session on Feb. 10th.

Wil first mentioned going in to record on Monday April 24, and on Wednesday the 26th he wrote his famous ZOMG! post about reading the script (for what turns out to have been the "Chain of Command" episode). On May 2nd, after his first recording, he wrote about what the experience was like.

In one of those posts, Shawn was told that it takes six months from voice recording to episode completion and airing. On that timeline, February to September is 7 months, about on target. That means that if they want Season 2 in September, they should be complete with the first few scripts already and should be into voice recording. Keep your eyes and ears open for anything new....

Big name voices?

According to an article in the Los Angeles Daily News, some big names are doing guest voices on some Kids WB shows.

IF THE VOICE SOUNDS FAMILIAR: What do Jerry O'Connell, Serena Williams, Brandon Routh, Brooke Shields and Louis Gossett Jr. have in common besides being famous and successful? They're doing guest voices this fall on Kids' WB shows. ... And we're told "Legion of Super Heroes" and "Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue" will be featuring some big names ahead as well.

We already know (here and here) that Wil Wheaton will be the voice of Cosmic Boy for the last three episodes. Wonder if he's who they're talking about, or if there will be more?

Animated LSH news 35: Rokk, Mekt, and a SDCC preview

Even though we reported it here about 6 weeks ago, Comics Continuum has finally gotten around to confirming that Wil Wheaton is going to be the voice of Cosmic Boy - and got some more info on Rokk.

In the series, Cosmic Boy was a founder and the first leader of the Legion who now spends more time as an Earth-bound diplomat. He is not one of the seven core members featured in the cast.

"I'm in a few episodes," Wheaton told The Continuum.

He's mentioned that he's in at least three.

In other Legion news, according to the Continuum:

* Mekt Ranzz, Lightning Lad's brother, will appear in an episode.

* Director Ben Jones told The Continuum that the series will have "a mix of old Legion villains and new characters."

* Look for a preview of the series at Comic-Con International in San Diego next month.

OK, we're going to need lots of people in San Diego to volunteer to be reporters here...

This and That

Random stuff about the Legion:

• Wil Wheaton says he's recorded his third episode as Cosmic Boy.
  

  I've done two episodes of Legion so far, and I go back for another one tomorrow. I really can't say anything about it, because the Warner Animation Goonsquad will totally come after me and take away my super powers . . . but it's just amazing, and I think people are really, really going to like it.

  
  He promises more later.
  
  
• The HeroClix "Giants" subset is out. This features Colossal Boy and Validus along with other DC Giants (Elasti-Girl, Chemo, Alloy [The Metal Men from Kingdom Come], Atom Smasher, and Giganta). Here's one fan's review of the set. Note that this is the current Legion's Micro Lad, not any of the traditional Colossal Boys.
  
  In the Heroclix lineup, we have characters from all three versions of the Legion:
  
  • Pre-Crisis: Supergirl, Shvaughn Erin, Mordru and Emerald Empress
    
  • Post-Zero Hour Reboot: Brainiac 5, Chameleon, Cosmic Boy, Kid Quantum, Live Wire, Saturn Girl, Shadow Lass/Umbra, Wildfire, Persuader and Validus
    
  • Post-Infinite Crisis Reboot: Colossal Boy/Micro Lad
    
  
  Just need Mano and Tharok for the whole Fatal Five. See the Legion Action Figure page for more.
  
  
• Ain't It Cool News finally got the update with the new series picture. Here's the forum with that site's fan reactions.
  

  What, no Arm-Fall-Off-Boy? WHat is DC's fucking problem, anyway? You can't have a Legion Of Super-heroes without good ol' Arm-Fall-Off Boy!!!

  
  
• The Invincible Super-Blog comments on the Super-Moby Dick of Space. "Because in space, regular Moby Dicks just don't cut it."
  
  
• Science Fiction author Chris Roberson is one of the fans excited about the Legion animated series. In discussing the series, he mentions that he snuck them into one of his novels:
  

  I love me some Legion of Super-Heroes, and even managed to include them in Here, There & Everywhere (I thought they were thinly disguised, but since no one seems to have identified them, they may be better hidden than I imagined).

  
  Has anyone read the book? I'll have to search it out.
  

Animated LSH news 32: Cosmic Boy

Wil Wheaton wrote today that he got the role of Cosmic Boy, a recurring (not regular) character on the Legion series.

I got an okay from a highly-placed source to at least reveal that I am playing the part of Cosmic Boy, one of the founders of the Legion.

Finding Cosmic Boy's voice was fun: my instinct said that I should stand for him (he's sort of an arms-across-the-chest kind of guy) but with my damn hip hurting, I ended up sitting . . . big mistake. I struggled for the first act, until I could get the engineer to reset my mic so I could stand up. It's amazing what a huge difference a little thing like sitting vs. standing makes; it's the difference between playing outfield with or without a glove, or running with shoes that don't quite fit.

Standing up and settling into him let me bring Cosmic Boy to life, and really find his point of view about himself and his relationship with the other Legionaries. Once I knew who he was, and once he lived in me, I was able to do some really cool stuff.
[snip]

I wish I could show or discuss the character models I saw while I was there, but I think that's a one-way ticket to unemployment . . . but they are really, really cool. I'm back again on Friday, and if Warner Brothers doesn't give me the cockpunch for what I've written here today, maybe I can get some permission to release a few more details.

Animated Legion news 30: "ZOMG!" says Wheaton

Wil Wheaton was apparently asked to do a role for the Legion show a couple days ago, not audition for it as I misunderstood. So today he read the script and will record it on Friday.

It's really cool, and I totally can't say anything about it until I get a thumbs up from Warner Brothers, but I believe the phrase that the damn kids today use to describe my feeling upon reading the script is "ZOMG!" When the script says, "ENERGY CORUSCATES around him until the power is too strong . . ." you know you're working on something hawesome.

Hmmmm. Wildfire maybe?

Animated Legion news 27: Wil Wheaton audition

Wil Wheaton reports that he's got a Legion audition on Friday.

This weekend started out on an exceptionally high note: on my way to Dodger Stadium to meet my parents for the Arizona game, I got a call from my manager: one of the producers from Teen Titans is now working on Legion of Superheroes, and wanted to cast me for a part on the new show. I don't know any details, yet, like if it's a one-time voice, or a recurring character or what, but I'm working on Friday! Go me!

As I mentioned in the comments, since the first recording session was back in February, it's more likely than not that this is for a recurring character and not a regular. The regular role of Bouncing Boy is still unknown to us (and has probably already been cast), but the recurring role of Cosmic Boy is still open as far as we know. So are Tharok, Mano, Persuader, and Mordru (they haven't announced him, but you know he's going to be in there).

Oh, and as an Astros fan and Houston resident, I'm tickled by the fact that his stepsons are named Nolan and Ryan.