DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superhero Celebration

 DC has a new book out this week (May 11, 2021), "DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superhero Celebration" #1 (with 3 covers, one each by Jim Lee, Stanley "Artgerm" Chau, and Bernard Chang, though none of them have Legionnaires). No Legion story, but three Legionnaires are featured in the pinup & bio section. The book is 100 pages for $9.99.

From Philip Tan with Sebastian Cheng, here's a pinup of Dragonmage and Karate Kid. Interesting to note that the SW6 Legionnaires are behind Dragonmage while the v3-era Legionnaires are behind Karate Kid.

And then using previously published art by Ryan Sook, here's Gold Lantern from the bio section, with a name and heritage that had been previously unrevealed:

And curiously, this cosplayer appears a story written by Amy Chu and drawn by Marcio Takara:

Not included: 

• Threeboot (v5) Karate Kid
• Retroboot (v6) Harmonia Li and Dragonwing
• Rebirth (v8) Cosmic Boy and Karate Kid

Here's a good Newsarama interview on the book itself. 

From Beyond the Unknown Giant!

As mentioned here and elsewhere, there's a new Legion story out today in "From Beyond the Unknown Giant" #1, available at your finer Walmarts everywhere (that's what the indicia says on the inside back cover). The issue will also be sold at your local comic shop on March 25, with a new cover. In any case, the Walmart version has "Mass Market Edition" in the indicia, we'll see what the LCS version has next month.

“From Beyond the Unknown” 100 Page Giant, complete with a sneaky new Legion story from ⁦@DCComics⁩. pic.twitter.com/HbRCN3NuCD

— Dan Jurgens (@thedanjurgens) January 29, 2020

The original From Beyond the Unknown, by the way, was a 1969-73 science fiction series from DC that reprinted stories from Silver Age titles like Mystery in Space and Strange Adventures, they're just reusing the title. And it's a 100-Page Giant, thus the name - it's the Giant version of "Beyond the Unknown", it has nothing to do with being beyond an Unknown Giant (I suppose if the Unknown Soldier gets Colossal Boy's powers, though....). The issue has a new Green Lantern story and a new Kamandi story, and reprints of Superman/Adam Strange from DC Comics Presents #3 and Batman/Metal Men from Brave and Bold #113, plus Alan Moore's F-Sharp Bell story from Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Annual #3.

Here's what the two covers will look like. The Direct Sales cover was revealed on Feb 20, 2020.

From Beyond the Unknown Giant #1 Walmart cover Art by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (reprinted from DC Comics Presents #2)	From Beyond the Unknown Giant #1 Direct Sales cover Art by Kenneth Rocafort (new art)

I didn't know why Dan Jurgens got to write a story about the Legion from the 1980s, so I asked him about it:

DC asked me if I had time to fit a short LSH story into my schedule and I wasn’t about to say no. We talked about different eras/costumes and settled on this. Your placement in issue numbers is generally on point.

— Dan Jurgens (@thedanjurgens) February 15, 2020

I wanted to try and figure out where it fits in continuity, because as I told Dan, I am a huge nerd at stuff like that. I thought I had narrowed it down to sometime between LSH v2 #295 (January, the Green Lantern story following the Great Darkness Saga) and LSH v2 #301 (July, new costumes for the Legionnaires), because:

• Jacques first appears in LSH Annual #1 and joins at the end of the issue, which takes place in between issue #289 and #290. He doesn't get the white stripe in his hair until the end of issue #291 in the Great Darkness Saga, right after he saw Darkseid, and this story does not take place during the GDS.
• Shrinking Violet, Chameleon Boy, and Colossal Boy all appear in their traditional Bronze Age costumes in this story (Violet in green, Cham in red and purple, and Colossal Boy with ornaments on his costume), and all had new costumes in issue 301 (Violet in purple, Cham in purple and yellow, and Colossal Boy without the eagle medallion). Each had their old costume at the end of #300 in the group shot.

However, while recording the podcast, Darren reminded me that Cham was either in custody or without his powers during that whole time frame. D'oh! I'll demote myself in rank from Captain Continuity to Corporal. So now where does it fit? Well, short answer, it doesn't fit between 295-300 after all:

• Cham gets arrested early in issue 291, he arrives on Takron-Galtos in issue #292, and it's revealed in #296 that when he's pardoned, his powers have gone. He leaves with Brande to go to Durla in 300, and gets them back in 301.

So we're left with one of the following:

1. Jacques is incorrectly shown with the white stripe in his hair, meaning this story takes place between LSH Annual 1 and LSH 290 (though he's more confident in this story than he was on his first mission in 290).
2. Cham, Violet, and Colossal Boy are incorrectly shown with the wrong costumes in this story, which takes place after LSH 301.

The easiest answer is that there is one thing wrong rather than three, so let's go with Jacques's hair drawn incorrectly and say it's in between the Computo Annual and the start of the Great Darkness Saga. 

That said, there are some other anachronisms which I'll just chalk up to artistic license:

• The Legion Cruiser in this new story is clearly the Cockrum version, which is distinguished by the teardrop shaped bubble on top of the saucer section, offset to the front (below, top). The Grell version has a round bubble that covers almost the entire saucer (below, left). Collectively, they were known as the Mark 10 Cruiser. But by 1983, they were using the Mark 494 version of the Cruiser anyway (below, right, from LSH 291).
  
• Wildfire's costume is also the Cockrum version. Cockrum was the only one who drew Wildfire with the black visor wrapping under his chin, while Grell and everyone else who followed had the faceplate stopping around the lower lip area, allowing Wildfire to have a chin. His chest symbol in this story is also closer to the Cockrum version, with a winged star beneath the helmet on the center of his chest; by 1983, the winged star had grown and stretched down to his waist, merging with the red piece at his stomach that was separate from the star in his earlier appearances. Below, a Cockrum model sheet on the left, and Giffen/Mahlstedt from the cover of issue 298.
   

Not to get all fanfic-y about it, but to make up an in-universe explanation, they had to grab an old Cruiser because there were no Mark 494s available, and Wildfire's costume was malfunctioning so he grabbed an old one just like he did in LSH v3 #15 (below), after his regular one had been destroyed in the previous issue.

Phantom Girl is displayed with an interesting use of her power - she is shown phasing out of Dawnstar's body, having been inhabiting it. We've only seen that a handful of times. Val Beasley reminded me that Tinya hides inside Lightning Lad to survive a tornado in Superboy #201 (1974), I recalled one when Tinya's brother Gmya phased into Sun Boy's body (accidentally "eclipsing" him) while an assassin phased into another Legionnaire's body in Superboy #215 (1976), and Val also remembered at least once during the Reboot when Tinya hid out in Ultra Boy's body after everyone thought she was dead (LSH v4 #82 maybe?).

Given that this issue is marketed to the general Walmart shopper and not the hardcore DC fans, it's safe to say that this story was not written to the level of fandom as the 5YL version. We meet some never-before-seen aliens on a never-before-seen planet. It's relatively low stakes, nobody gets hurt, lessons are learned, and everyone lives happily ever after.

For what it is, it's an effective story. In 8 pages, we learn who the Legionnaires are, their names and powers, and wrap up an adventure. It's not trying to be the Bendis-written ongoing series. This could have worked as a fill-in backup story anywhere in the 80s, and I bet that was the intention.

But given the finale of Doomsday Clock #12, the pre-Crisis Earth-1 is now known as Earth-1985, and the presence of a living Supergirl and Flash in panel 6 suggest that the cutoff point is prior to Crisis #1 where characters start dying. So this seems to be the first appearance of Earth-1985.

Dragon*Con 2010 part 2

Thanks to Brainy for pointing out a whole new trove of photos (all of these are from Shieldwolf52165's Photobucket album). If you're not already a fan on the Omnicom on Facebook, I've got a bunch more pictures there from other Facebook albums so come on over. In addition to the Legionnaires from yesterday's pictures, we also have Insect Queen and Dawnstar.

These appear to be from the group shoot on Sunday afternoon.

Dragon*Con 2010

I'm not sure what else they do at Dragon*Con in Atlanta besides show off their amazing costumes - as I read on someone's Twitter status, "[San Diego] Comic Con is for amateurs" - but thanks to Brainiac 5 there was a gathering of Legionnaires (and a villain or two) at this year's convention. Pictures are slow to come online but I found a few.


@ThatDJSpider showed off her Sensor Girl costume before the con (original source; more of her shortly):

Here's a link to another photo at a DC character gathering. Lightning Lad is on the far left. This one has Brainiac 5 (the one who organized the Legion shoot) and Kid Quantum. (Note that neither of these allows pictures to be hotlinked like the one above).

Here are Brainiac 5 and his wife Supergirl.More photos on the Superhero Costuming Forum (which has its own discussion area just for Legion costumes).

So here's Sensor Girl (not hotlink-able) - and you know, I think that's what Sensor Girl would really look like.

And here are the 15 costumed Legionnaires and villains from this year's photo shoot, via @Gary_TheGreat (original source):

That's the Time Trapper at the top of the middle column, and it looks like Colossal Boy is holding Shrinking Violet.

Gary posted one other picture, taken after Keith Giffen left the area (original source):

Still waiting on others to be posted.

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!

OMG! It's Gates!

Thanks to Val Beasley for the link. Check out this creature recently discovered in Australia:

More here.

More Bits of Legionnaire Business

More stuff...

• The Super-Hero Costuming Forum is a message board dedicated to fan costumes. They've got a sub-board for the Legion and Legion-related convention costumes. If you've ever seen Leman Yuen's costumes at a convention, they are tremendously impressive.
• Speaking of flight rings, BrainiacFive in the Replica Prop Forum shows off a number of Legion flight rings, some official and some not.
• Again With the Comics remembers when Tenzil Kem went to Hell, and the Legend of Hate Face.
• Did you get the variant cover of Adventure Comics #8?
• The Gay League remembers the Fantastic Spy in Adventure 303.
• Steve Downer starts a new 26-part series, an alphabet series starring the Legion. First up: A is for Arm-Fall-Off Boy.
• Cosmic Teams has the most insane Legion history/timeline ever, featuring all Legions. The up-to-date site has recently moved to its own domain - cosmicteams.com.
• Over at scans_daily, someone posted a couple of sketches by Steve Lightle from 2001 from when he was working on a treatment for a proposed Legion animated series. I remember these from when Steve posted them to one of the Legion picture mailing lists years ago.
• Some reviews of Adventure Comics #8, in no particular order: IGN, Tim Callahan at CBR, annotations by Don Sakers at Get-A-Life Boy's Blog, Four Color Comics, Martin Gray at Too Dangerous for a Girl, Jim at Comics And..., Mondo Comics, Supergirl Comic Box Commentary, Comics Bulletin, and Bottle City of Kanga.
• Fanboy Wife snarks on Dawnstar and Adventure Comics #4. Good thing that Fanboy Husband likes the Legion - and has a wife who supports his habit.
• Newsarama and DC's The Source have previews of Last Stand of New Krypton #1.
• The Miracle Machine remembers Adventure Comics #308, which gets a 5 on the Legion jerk scale.
• Diversions of the Groovy Kind look back at the Mike Grell covers and discovers a lot of giants.
• The Legion Abstract remembers Firefist and Blood Claw, the v4 Khund Legionnaires.

I think I'm about caught up now.

One (Flight) Ring to Rule Them All

I'm late to the bandwagon here, but in case you hadn't heard, there's an effort going on to get DC to issue Legion Flight Rings, just like the 9 multi-flavored Lantern rings and the Flash ring that have come out or are coming out soon. A new Legion title is a great reason (not that we need any) to promote with a ring.

Svengali Lad (Sven Staatveit) started the ball rolling with this post:

Recently, DC mounted a postcard drive to see if readers were interested in renumbering the WONDER WOMAN book to #600. DC received over 800 postcards (as of their last post regarding this) and the change in numbering will happen this year. What worked for Diana’s fans can work for us, Legionnaires.

To put in simply, just mail a postcard filled out like this to DC:

LSH FLIGHT RING
c/o Dan DiDio
1700 Broadway
New York, NY
10019

WONDER WOMAN fans only needed 600 postcards to make their change happen, we can do this, Legionnaires.

I would also like to remind DC that a plastic LSH FLIGHT RING has already been tooled, so there is no cost to them to design or sculpt a new one. This plastic LSH FLIGHT RING I’m referring to is the one that came with the DC DIRECT action figures of COSMIC BOY, LIGHTNING LAD and SATURN GIRL.

The Flight Ring Saga has been picked up by CBR's Robot 6, Progressive Ruin, Comics Alliance, the Miracle Machine, Major Spoilers, the Legion Abstract, the Comic Book Closet, and even a Facebook group.

The Emerald City Comic Con is in Seattle this weekend, anyone going to it who can ask about this?

Even more Bits of Legionnaire Business

I think this finishes my getting caught up.

• Mike the Bold offers some advice on where to start reading the Legion, the top 5 technical trappings of the Legion (in a post where he mistakes early November as the Klordny season, instead of mid-August), a spotlight on Tenzil Kem, the top 7 smooch-buddies in the Legion, and the top 5 Legion deaths.
  
  
• The Fanboy Wife doesn't like the Legion or their skanky costumes. She's not up on Lightning Lad, has words about the Subs, and thinks Saturn Girl is a skank.
  
  
• MightyGodKing thinks Quislet is 92% Awesome and offers 20 reasons why.
  
  
• Kandou Erik discusses who the Legionnaires are in the 21st century in the current Superman arc. Hey, another one appears this week!
  
  
• Writer J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5, Ninja Assassin) wants to write a "Brave & Bold" story featuring the Legion and the Doom Patrol.
  
  
• Captain Toy reviews the DC Universe Classics Series 10 action figures, which include Imperiex as the "Build-a-Figure", meaning you have to buy the individual figures (Power Girl, Forager, Man-Bat, Robotman, and Beast Boy) to get the five parts of the large figure. Imperiex was the villain in the second season of the animated Legion show, but this version is from the regular DC Universe, from the "Our Worlds at War" story. I don't consider this to be a Legion villain figure, but your mileage may vary.
  
  
• Legion Abstract, Get-a-Life Boy, Major Spoilers, and Comic Per Day review Adventure Comics #4.
  
  
• Toon Zone notes in their review of the "Complete Superman: The Animated Series" DVD that "the booklet that lists the episodes sports images from The Legion of Superheroes" (animated series). Anyone got a copy to scan?
  
  
• Collected Editions reviews the Legion of 3 Worlds hardcover, which apparently includes not only all of the regular and variant covers, but "unused" covers as well. The only one I know of is the one that's on the cover of this HC (zoomed in), which shows Superman with all three Legions. I think that was a promo that early on was supposed to be a cover. Anyone got this that can explain?
  
  
• TradeKey has a great look back at some awesomely bad Legion costumes. I may revisit this one next time Fashion Week rolls around.
  
  
• Comic Reviews by Walt echoes what many have been saying. With the recent success of the Green Lantern emotional spectrum rings, why not issue a Legion flight ring?
  
  
• The Legion 4-pack of action figures from the Justice League line are on sale for 15-25% off (depending on how many items you order) from mattycollector.com through Dec. 7th.
  

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.
  

The Mystery Legionnaires

The release of Adventure Comics v2 #0 - reprinting the Legion story in Adventure Comics v1 #247 for the 10th time - gives me the opportunity to repost something here that I originally wrote up several years ago on my other site.

When Adventure 247 was released, Superboy went into the future where he met and joined the Legion. A "Legion" implies many members; in fact, several of them were shown in that first issue. But the only ones named were Saturn Girl, Lightning Boy (Lad), and Cosmic Boy, all with different costumes than what's known today.

But who were those other Legionnaires in those panels? Let's look at the historical record....

Adventure 247 (April 1958)
page 5 panel 3	page 10 panel 4
page 11 panel 6

Adventure 247 was first reprinted in Superman Annual 6, minus the last page showing Superboy winning the "Super-Hero Number One" medal. Notice that they recolored one guy in the last panel to be Colossal Boy, and recolored the founders' costumes to be the color scheme of their traditional Silver Age costume, not the weirdo colors from the original. They even "corrected" Garth's name as Lightning Lad instead of Boy.

Superman Annual 6 (Winter 1962-63)
page 5 panel 3	page 10 panel 4
page 11 panel 6

The next appearance of the reprint was in "DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest" 1 (March/April 1980), followed by "Adventure Comics" 491 (September 1982). The coloring was identical to the original, although some panels were trimmed or extended to accommodate the digest size's different height/width ratio.

The story didn't get reprinted again until the first Archives volume, which had much whiter paper. This is the first retroactive appearance of Brainiac 5 in the story.

Legion of Super-Heroes Archives (1991)
page 5 panel 3	page 10 panel 4
page 11 panel 6

In this set of panels (from the DC Silver Age Classic reprint), the various mystery Legionnaires have been recolored (supposedly against colorist Tom McCraw's wishes) to show Brainiac 5. This color guide has been used ever since, including Adventure v2 #0.

Silver Age Classics Adventure 247 (1992)
page 5 panel 3	page 10 panel 4
page 11 panel 6

Mark Waid's "LSH Index" speculates that since we never saw them again, they were unsuccessful applicants. Other clues in later issues put the following Legionnaires behind the scenes, in terms of order of joining: Triplicate Girl, Phantom Girl, Chameleon Boy, Invisible Kid, Colossal Boy, Brainiac 5, and Shrinking Violet.

There's one other panel with a mystery Legionnaire: on page 7 panel 4, the person in the lower right corner is caucasian with blue-black hair, but he appears the same way in each reprint. Since none of the members at the time had black hair except for Cosmic Boy (who is in that panel in costume), this must be a rejected applicant.

Here's what Waid said in the LSH Index #1 under the entry for ADV 247 regarding the mystery Legionnaires:

Although Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and Lightning Lad (Boy) are the only Legionnaires shown clearly in the story, several other unnamed members are in evidence. Since no members resembling some of those characters have ever appeared in subsequent stories, some must merely be unsuccessful applicants. As shown in issue #323 in a flashback to Superboy's induction at the end of this story, Triplicate Girl, Chameleon Boy, Invisible Kid, Colossal Boy, and Brainiac 5 are among those present behind the scenes. The presence of Brainiac 5, who joined the Legion at the same time as Supergirl, indicates that the story takes place some time after the Supergirl story in Action #276, in which Supergirl and Brainiac 5 are inducted. Since one panel in this story shows three female members (presumably not unknown applicants) other than Saturn Girl, and since Superboy does not react as he would to the appearance of Supergirl, Phantom Girl and Shrinking Violet must be the other two females present.

Smallville wrapup and other bits

Wrapping up last week's episode of "Smallville" (I was out of town on business and dind't have time to work on this), there was mostly praise for the story. Here are the other reviews and articles, in no particular order:

• Television Without Pity
  
• Billie Doux
  
• The Blogged Toilette
  
• SF Universe
  
• Winged Lion's Quiver
  
• Legion Abstract
  
• Operation Save Clark Kent
  
• CliqueClack
  
• Sean McDevitt
  
• SyFy Portal
  
• PopSyndicate
  
• The A-Train
  

And more random bits of Legionnaire business:

• Here's the iTunes link if you want to download the Smallville episode legally.
  
  
• Artist Ovi Nedelcu reposted his Legionnaire character studies originally done for the Legion TV show, but of course they went with James Tucker's designs. (see the original report from 2006 here.)
  
  
• Vinnie Bartilucci talks about Superboy and the Legend of Super-Heroes.
  
  
• Amber's Fashion Tips looks at the Legionnaires' costumes on Smallville.
  
  
• Geekshow Entertainment looks back at the Legion animated series.
  
  
• Legion Abstract has a hero history of Saturn Girl.
  
  
• Finally, White Party Palm Springs is having their 20th Anniversary Celebration: Legion of Superheroes Easter Weekend – April 10-13, 2009. It's certainly not the kind of party I had expected to read about.
  

Newsarama has an interview with Francis Manapul.

NRAMA: How did you end up on Superman/Batman?

FM: I've been talking to Dan Didio throughout the summer cons on what I could work on after Legion. I expressed to him my desire to draw anyof my 3 favourite characters at DC. I was lucky enough to get two of them! Well technically 3 of them. [laughs]

...NRAMA: Probably your most high profile work to date has been on DC's Legion of Super-Heroes with Jim Shooter. Although DC ultimately ended the series, it got your name out to more people than ever before. What did you think of the experience?

FM:This was my first work for DC. In fact it was my first work ever for either of the big two so it was a very big deal to me. I'm sad to see the series go but we did our best to try and revitalize the property. The people I worked with was fantastic I had the full support of my editor Mike Marts, and great collaborators with Livesay and J.D Smith, and of course it was a real honour to have worked with a legend like Jim Shooter. I learned a LOT from this experience and was glad to had been a part of it. Jim was very tough on me but in that hard ass coach kinda of way. He really pushed to try and make me better and pulled no punches. I learned quite a bit from him but I think in the end we had different styles in our approach to telling a story. But I wouldn't have traded the experience for any other.

Also happening...

Also happening...

• Via Comics Reporter, NPR has "Superman and the Legion" as one of the Best Superhero Graphic Novels Of 2008.
  
• Martín "MaGnUs" Pérez at the Independent Comics Site has an update and excerpt from his essay on Legion costumes that appears in "Teenagers from the Future".
  
• Michael Ausiello shows the new Smallville clip at Entertainment Weekly, with lots of spirited discussion in the comments.
  
• Geoff Johns threw us another curve last week in Action Comics 872. In the city of Kandor, currently in the Arctic, the Kandorians are in Brainiac's ship, which has countless other bottle cities from thousands of worlds. Among the planets whose cities are said to be in bottles are Braal, Winath, and Tharr (home planets of Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad/Light Lass, and Polar Boy, respectively). In the Glorithverse, these were among the worlds seeded by Valor. Also, Tellus (last seen in the Adventure Comics special with the Guardian) has a one-panel appearance with Agent Liberty.
  
• The new "Superman: Past and Future" TPB contains a reprint of "Superman" (V1) #295, the story that showed how the future with the Legion was different from the future with Kamandi, guest starring Xenofobe the GL. (See this post for more info on that issue, which was originally supposed to be in a now-cancelled Great Disaster Showcase volume.)
  

Bits of Legionnaire Business

Haven't done one of these in a little while, so here's a linkdump of Legion-related stuff from the past week or so. "Smallville" news at the bottom.

• First of all, anyone who thinks that DC is really going to "let the characters rest for a little bit and see where we go from there" following the cancellation of LSH v5, and who thinks that DC doesn't know what to do with the characters, should read this summary over at io9.com. They know exactly what they're doing, and "Legion of Three Worlds" will end with a new status quo for the team(s), and all signs point to Geoff Johns being involved.
  
  
• Tim Callahan had a long interview with Barry Lyga at CBR.
  

  One of the biggest Legion fans I know is author Barry Lyga, of "The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl" fame. His new novel, "Hero Type," landed in bookstores a few weeks ago, and I wanted to talk to him about how the Legion shaped his notion of storytelling and what we both thought about the past, present, and future of the 31st century's greatest super-team...

  
  
• Foremer Legion editor KC Carlson reviews the DC Vault (Amazon link), a book with lots of fanboy collectibles (or reproductions) tucked inside. Among them is a reprinted version "of the poster that was included in Graphitti Design’s deluxe version of the History of the DC Universe — a mind-blowing group shot of over 50 DC characters as drawn (and signed) by over 50 legendary artists." That poster, which was never released commercially and is difficult to find on the secondary market, contains the White Witch as one of the characters in the jam poster (drawn by P. Craig Russell). Click to enlarge the picture. (Full disclosure: this is one book that I'm going to order with the 6% I get back from Amazon when you click on one of my links and buy something!)
  
  
  
• Revealing a "secret" which was all but apparent during the Post-Zero Hour Legion run, that very same KC Carlson commented on Tim Callahan's review of L3W #2 that R.J. Brande was indeed supposed to be the long-lived Martian Manhunter. (original comment here, more discussion here.)
  
  
• Matthew at the Legion Abstract shows off his son's costume. He might be eligible for the Legion in a few years.
  
  
• The Legion of Substitute Podcasters produced episode 2, featuring ADV 267 and ACT 267 plus some recent stuff, and episode 3, featuring SBOY 86 and ACT 276.
  
  
• Francis Manapul offers the original pencils to the wraparound cover to LSH v5 #50 on his home site, and answers some reader questions.
  
  
• The "Supergirl on a comet" cover by Adam Hughes is offered as a computer background screen.
  
  
• The Fortress Keeper at the Fortress of Fortitude has a unique, um, "prediction" for a spinoff of "Smallville" starring Supergirl and the Legion. Don't hold your breath for this one, but then again, given The CW, who knows.
  
  
• Superman Homepage notes that the current issue of Smallville Magazine, issue #29, has an article "which explores Superman's relationship with the Legion of Super Heroes" in for those readers who don't know much about the Legion.
  
  
• KryptonSite has the latest Smallville SPOILERS, so read at your own risk.
  

  UPDATED 10/29/08: Don't expect the Legion to be wearing full-on costumes. However, they will be wearing clothing that is evocative of their comic book counterparts, much like Clark has his blue shirt and red jacket.
  
  UPDATED 10/28/08: Alexz Johnson [IMDB, Myspace, fan site, fan site] who starred in The N's Instant Star, is said to be filming a role on Smallville this week. Could that role be that of Imra Ardeen, a.k.a. Saturn Girl of the Legion? Visit Rumorville for more details...
  - The villain Geoff Johns mentioned using is not Darkseid, Mordru, or the Time Trapper; however, there is an additional threat - it's not just Brainiac .
  
  UPDATED 10/14/08: Three Legionnaires from the future will appear - and if you're guessing it's the same roster that appeared in their first appearance way back when, you guessed correctly... the three Legionnaires will be Garth, Imra, and Rokk, who have powers of electricity, telepathy, and magnetism, respectively.

  
  

SDCC08: final thoughts

Final thoughts on this year's Comic Con.

• This guy wore a pedometer to count the number of steps he walked at the convention. He recorded over 36 miles of walking from Preview Night on Wednesday to the close of the con on Sunday. I can totally believe it. (via Comics Reporter)
  
  
• Triumph the Insult Comedy Dog made an appearance (at the NBC panel, maybe?). Here's the clip from the Conan O'Brien show. (via Mark Evanier)
  
  
• I whipped up a business card for the site on Powerpoint, had a sheet of them printed out on cardstock at my local Kinko's, then cut the sheets by hand into card-size chunks. Between what I handed out and what people took from the Legion World table, I probably gave out over 100 cards. Welcome, new readers, and if you're new, please leave a comment!
  
  
  
• I was pleasantly surprised by people who recognized me from my name, picture (the Simpson-ized one at the upper left), or the Omnicom logo I created for my badge holder. Many people said they read this site regularly, so thanks to all of you who said hi.
  
  
  
• I talked to Paul Levitz at the DC booth early in the con. I told him that when I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up (I almost made it). When astronauts go into space, they get what's called a "personal preference kit" in which they can bring up souvenirs and stuff. I told Paul that if I ever made it into space, I'd bring my Legion flight ring, and have one of my fellow astronauts take a picture of me wearing it. That would disprove the label on the original box that said "warning, ring does not enable wearer to fly".
  
  
• When I gave him my card, Paul said he recognized the name and that he pops in here from time to time. Score!
  
  
• One of the nice things about conventions is the opportunity to get free sketches from artists, something quick as opposed to a detailed commission. Keith Giffen was drawing Ambush Bug but said he'd draw anyone they wanted. I asked him to draw Karate Kid, and he looked at me seriously and said "no", but then asked if he could do it however he wanted, even if that meant Karate Kid's hand reaching from the grave. I said however he wanted to do it. So he gave me Ambush Bug in Karate Kid's outfit. Robert Loren Fleming did the dialog.
  
  
  
• At his panel, Geoff Johns said that if DC ever put out a new "Who's Who in the Legion" that he wanted to draw Sun Boy. So when he was at a signing at the DC booth, I asked him to draw Sun Boy. I think he should keep his day job.
  
  
  
• I've been to 8 cons since my first one in 1995. What makes it fun is hanging out with all of my online buddies (first Compuserve, then Usenet's rec.arts.comics.*, now message boards and blogs) and meeting them for the first time.
  
  
• I even got to meet Bully, who gave me a couple pins for recognizing him (how could you not recognize a stuffed bull in a Batman costume?).
  
  
• Hat's off to the Legion World guys and gals for their showing this year, they bought a booth in the fan area. Hope everyone got to see them.
  
  
• I signed up for a Twitter account shortly before the con, thinking I might be able to tweet from the panels, seeing as how we had free wi-fi. But I took notes and text-messaged posts here, so I'm not sure how much use you at home found it. Still, I picked up 18 followers. I'll probably keep it going, if only to use it to announce new posts here.
  
  
• As you probably know, the cover to this year's con program was a reprint of Alex Ross's Legion litho from a few years ago. I took the opportunity to have as many of the Legion creators who were there as I could find to sign the book. I got Keith Giffen, Jeff Moy, Chris Batista, Neal Adams, Jim Starlin, Adam Hughes, Tom & Mary Bierbaum, Mike Grell, Colleen Doran, Paul Levitz and Geoff Johns to sign it. I missed out on Joe Staton, Mark Waid, and Karen Berger.
  
  
  
• Also pleasantly surprised that Geoff Johns, Mark Waid, and Mike Grell recognized me by name or sight.
  
  
• Big disappointment - there was no LSH stuff being given away at the DC booth, not even the pins that they've handed out in years past, or some sort of promotional poster. It would have been nice, seeing as how the Legion was on the cover of the convention book and it was one of the themes of the con.
  
  
• A lot of people stopped me and asked where I got my Legion pin and my Watchmen pin. I told them that the Legion pin was an old one, but the Watchmen pin was just a generic smiley face button with a red Sharpie marking it up. DC had no Watchmen promotional material either, missing an opportunity since by this time next year the movie will have already come out 4 months earlier and they'll be talking about the DVD for Thanksgiving.
  
  
• Lots of viral marketing stunts. HBO's "True Blood" went all out, sponsoring banners inside the convention center and stuff outside as well, including happy hours at some of the bars in the Gaslamp District, giving out a free pint of beer with a logo glass, free t-shirts and comics, and branded coasters and napkins. "Fringe" had some stuff going on too, including a "follow the clues" thing that ended up in a preview of the pilot episode (and for some reason, one of the clues was a parking lot full of cows. No, really.). The remake of the "Prisoner" show also had a booth, website, and skywriting.
  
  
• Too bad that some panels that I wanted to see were too crowded, especially the media ones. But I did get shut out of the first DC Nation one, too. Lots of people are talking about what to do but when you've got 140,000 people and you've maxed out your space, there's not much that can be done. You either wait in line for an hour or more, missing some other stuff, or you miss the panel you wanted to see live and wait to read the recap or watch the video on YouTube later.
  
  
• I talked with Chris Batista in Artist's Alley. I had no idea he was such a big fan of the Legion, both before and after his run on the book. We made tentative plans to set up an interview so hopefully you'll read something here in a little while. I bought a really cool page from him from the Foundations storyline. He also told me that he's working on an Animal Man miniseries with Gerry Conway, who's been off doing TV stuff for a while.
  
  
• If you can't make a stop at Ralph's Supermarket on the way, I highly recommend the Cine Cafe in the Gaslamp. It's only about 2 blocks away from the convention center. Prices are a little higher than you'd seen a supermarket (typical convenience store markup) but they make fresh sandwiches. Each morning before I entered the con I stopped there for a sandwich and chips to take with me. Much better than convention center food and much cheaper.
  
  
• Very impressed with the costumes this year, though I did not see a single Slave Leia. Here are all my photos.
  
  
• Huge thanks to Angus MacLennan at the WizKids booth, who brought me a bunch of Legionnaire Heroclix figures.
  
  
• I didn't hear anything about Jim Shooter allegedly leaving the Legion book, though everyone was coy about what was coming after L3W. Didn't hear anyone talking about the Superboy/Superman lawsuit, either.
  
  
• At the Pro/Fan Trivia contest (podcast here), I was disappointed that Mark Waid and Kurt Busiek were not able to make it, I really wanted to see them go head to head with Tom Galloway on Legion trivia. What made up for it was that Tom wasn't able to correctly answer some of the questions that I submitted (all of which came from my previous trivia quizzes here).
  
  
• I'll believe Mattel's Legion figures are real when I see them in person.
  
  
• Finally, Ali Kokmen (whose name I remember from Usenet years ago) wraps up the con with a speech that only Shakespeare could have written. "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers..."
  

SDCC08: Saturday in pictures

A sample of Legion-related photos from Saturday:

See, a female can actually wear the Supergirl costume. Granted, she has to be in incredible shape, but if is possible.



The line to get into the Legion panel goes all the way down to the doors (where the big red dot is), then back up against the windows, then back down to the doors again and back up to where the guy in the red shirt is. At the far left is my group, including Murray Fox (purple tank, facing away), Tom Bierbaum (white shirt), Denise Sudell (who was on the Gays in the Legion Fandom panel, in the black shirt), Joe Morano (in orange), Terence Chua (in green), and Angus MacLennan (laughing).


The Legion panelists, part 1: Paul Levitz, Mike Grell, and Keith Giffen


The Legion panelists, part 2: Colleen Doran, Geoff Johns, Tom Bierbaum, Mary Bierbaum