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.

SQUEE-EEORRRRK! The Legion Album

Happy religious or non-religious holidays as needed to all my readers, without whom I'd be writing to nobody.

A while back, when I found the song by the group "Legion of Super-Heroes", I decided to see if I could make an album (or a "See Dee", as kids call it these days) of Legion-related music. Matthew at the Legion Abstract talked about a comic-song mix CD, and Scott at the Legion Clubhouse had a huge list of songs that could fit here, but I wanted my songs to be at least tangentially Legion related (so, for example, I leave out an obvious one, 1975's "Wildfire" by Michael Martin Murphey, a song about a horse).

So here's SQUEE-EEORRRRK!, an album's worth of songs by or about the Legion.

• Legion of Super-Heroes (1967) - The Great Name Dropper
  
  
• Scott Walker (1969) - 30th Century Man
  
  
• XTC (1986) - That's Really Super, Supergirl (Amazon download)
  
  
• Adrian Belew (1987) - Superboy
  
  
• Stormwitch (1987) - Emerald Eye (YouTube audio)
  
  
• Spin Doctors (1991) - Jimmy Olsen's Blues
  
  
• Misinformed Manzerick (1993) - Saturn Girl
  
  
• Guided by Voices (1994) - Matter Eater Lad (audio, free download, blog entry)
  
  
• Yoyodyne (1996) - The Wedding of Bouncing Boy (audio, free download)
  
  
• The Autumn Leaves (1998) - Phantom Girl Blues (Amazon download)
  
  
• Kristopher Carter (2006) - Legion of Super Heroes (season 2) theme song
  

Meanwhile, other 30th/31st century residents have taken up music in the 21st century:

• The Legion of Super-Villains is a punk/hardcore/thrash band in Greenville, NC
  
• Chameleon Chief is a rapper
  
• Chemical King is a Japanese pop group
  
• Dawnstar is a pop band in Budapest, Hungary
  
• Wildfire is a DJ in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
  
• Shrinking Violet is an Auckland, NZ band
  
• The Invisible Kid is an artist in New York
  

Teenagers from the Future, the Constitution, and More

Stuff.

Tim Callahan's new book is finally ready (too bad the kinks couldn't be worked out before San Diego, this would have been a perfect addition!). Teenagers from the Future is now available at Amazon.com.

Via RAB at Estoreal:

According to Tim, the book will also be available for order through the direct market in either the October or November Diamond Previews catalog. Tim isn't sure whether the book will still be available through Amazon after it appears in the Diamond catalog, so anyone who wants to be sure of getting a copy without actually going into a comics shop should probably order it now.

I can't believe I missed the various series Siskoid has had going lately. I missed Legion Tryout Week the last week in August, which featured Adventure Comics #247, Tales of the Legion #343 (reprinting Superboy 195 and 201), Tales #339 (reprinting LSH v3 #14), Legionnaires #2, and Secret Origins #46.

This week he's doing the Annotated Legion Constitution. So far he's got Articles 1 and 2 and Article 3, with representative panels demonstrating each of the clauses.

4th Letter has the story of "an audio book based on a book based on a graphic novel," the Books-on-CD version of the novelization of "Infinite Crisis". He's got some interesting sound clips.

When the multiple Earths are flying around space and we see into them, the Legion of Superheroes world gets a cool techno theme.

Hey, there’s a complaint right there. They give us stretched out scenes based on those panels of the Legion world, the Tangent world and the Fawcett world, but nothing with the cowboy world and the Bizarro Earth with all the inhabitants happily strangling each other in the chaos. I feel gypped.

Sadly, no sound clips of the Legion bits (yet).

Con Report: Toronto Fan Expo '08

The Toronto Fan Expo was held over the weekend. Current Legion artist Francis Manapul was one of the guests. Summaries of the various DC panels with Legion news:

DC Nation, via CBR:

However, there were some discussions during the hour-long event that provided some surprises on how Didio and his creative staff viewed their company, the practice of resurrecting characters and how the first does the second too much.

“I’m glad ‘Countdown’ is over. That was a long year of DC Nation for me,” Didio said after opening up the floor to fans for questions and feedback. Soon, the pendulum swung towards the Legion of Super-Heroes and the future of that franchise and how the decision to make changes and events a part of the line came out of the relaunch of another DC property.

“When I first started at DC, one of the franchises I really wanted to invigorate was ‘Teen Titans’...as the legend goes, Paul Levitz, my boss, didn’t believe ‘Teen Titans’ were going to work that well because we had done so many reboots before that, and they all seemed to trip over it,” Didio explained. “When ‘Titans’ came out [by Geoff Johns and Mike McKone] and was a big hit, Paul came into my office, threw a copy of ‘Teen Titans’ onto my desk and goes, ‘Too bad we can’t do the same thing with Legion.’

“We know there’s an audience out there, and we keep on trying to get it right,” he added, saying that the current “Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds” would be used as a barometer to figure out which interpretation fans liked the best and then move forward with “one, clear interpretation of the Legion by the time we’re through.”

When asked whether or not the room enjoyed a Legion with Superman/boy or as its own team, the crowd voted by a strong majority just for the Legion without including a “Super” lead.

A Guide to Your DC Universe, via CBR:

Staying with the theme of death, Didio said, “I don’t think I ever said Bart Allen was dead. I am serious.”

“We all wish it,” added Giffen to a chorus laughs.

“There were changes that were going to be made,” continued Didio. “There were stories that were going to be told and there were definite crossovers taking place at the moment of the death of Bart Allen. So there is a good chance there is going to be more resolutions to that character and what happened to him in the very near future or the very far future.”

Indeed, in Rich Johnson’s first post-Comic-Con edition of LYING IN THE GUTTERS, the CBR columnist shared news from the floor that Geoff Johns was overheard talking about Bart Allen with Manapul, who draws “Legion of Super-Heroes.”

...Following a question from the audience, Didio said the rumor that legendary writer Jim Shooter was off and then back on “Legion of Super-Heroes” deserved no validation. Van Sciver praised Manapul’s work on the series and said he would love to see a Saturn Girl solo series.

Brian Boitano and the Legion of Super-Heroes

Here's a verse from a song called "What Would Brian Boitano Do", from the South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut movie, which is one of my favorite movies. It was on the other night and I got hooked into watching it (again). It's a story pitch that just begs to be written into a miniseries.

When Brian Boitano travelled through time
To the year 3010,
He fought the evil robot king
And saved the human race again

Look at what powers he has: time travel, magical fire breath, and he doesn't take shit from anybody. He's a natural team-up with the Legion!


(Youtube video)

Hot Gossip, silver jumpsuits, and the Legion

Continuing our theme of bizarre costumes today, if you thought Dawnstar wearing Dior was odd, check this out. Bearzbub was right:

Hot Gossip + blondie tune + silver outfits from the future + legion of super-heroes comic book = my mind blown

Here's a Youtube video of an 80s group called Hot Gossip. Think of your worst early 80s comic book costumes and think how they'd look on real people (kind of like old Legion transsuits, actually). Then think of them dancing to a Blondie song in a subway. And amidst all that, Bob Geldof is holding a Legion comic.



Click on the picture to watch the video.

Three Emmy noms for LSH show

The Legion animated show picked up three Daytime Emmy nominations today, all for music and sound:

Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction And Composition
Bj's Teddy Bear Club * TBN
Bratz * Fox
Dive Olly Dive! * Animania
Lazy Town * Nickelodeon
Legion of Super Heroes * Kids WB!
     Michael Mccuistion, Composer
     Kristopher L. Carter, Composer
     Lolita Ritmanis, Composer
Postcards from Buster * PBS
Reading Rainbow * PBS
Sesame Street * PBS
Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! * Kids WB!

Carter, McCuistion, and Ritmanis are Dynamic Music Partners. Carter composed the show's theme song.

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing - Live Action and Animation
The Batman * Kids WB!
Legion of Super Heroes * Kids WB!
     Robert Hargreaves, Supervising Sound Editor
     Mark Keatts, Supervising Sound Editor
     Mark Keefer, Dialogue Editor
     Michael Garcia, Dialogue Editor
Loonatics Unleashed * Kids WB!
Sesame Street * PBS
Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! * Kids WB!
Xiaolin Showdown * Kids WB!

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing - Live Action and Animation
Legion Of Super Heroes * Kids WB!
     Edwin O. Collins, Production Mixer
     Robert Hargreaves, Re-Recording Mixer
     John K. Hegedes, Re-Recording Mixer
Reading Rainbow * PBS
Sesame Street * PBS
Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! * Kids WB!

Congratulations to the nominees. The Emmys will be given out on June 14-15, 2007.

December linkfest

Haven't done one of these in a while but there have been too many things to post about lately.

Characters

Over at the Comic Treadmill, H has been doing a thorough analysis of the Legionnaires. In part 4 he looks at Karate Kid, Light Lass, Chameleon Boy, and the Silver Age Weirdo Legionnaire. In part 5 he takes on Brainiac 5, Dream Girl, and Element Lad. I'm doing him a disservice by only mentioning them and not looking at them in detail, so check them out.

Matthew over at the Legion Abstract also does a bang-up job at analyzing the Legionnaires. Brainiac 6 at the Legion Clubhouse blog has been checking out the Fatal Five/Sun Eater story and recapping some of the Who's Who articles from her own unique perspective.

Meanwhile, Blockade Boy has been busy redesigning the Legion of Substitute Costumes for Fire Lad, Animal Lad, Polar Boy, Stone Boy, and The Mess.

Dave Cockrum

I wrote about Dave Cockrum and collected some remembrances here, here, and here. There were a lot of tributes, and these came out after I finished my set. Sleestak at Lady, That's My Skull has some good images. Querl Dox remembers Dave as "the common element in the two most significant revivals of the 1970s".

Jack C. Harris, who was the editor of the Legion title shortly after Cockrum left DC for Marvel, and tells the tale of how he personally gave Dave the two-page scene of the wedding spread when DC started giving artwork back.

Finally, Mark Evanier touched on some things that I had tried to (only with better results). Cockrum was the first of the new wave of young and rising stars in the 70s who started as the old guard was retiring.

But I always thought that the success of that strip — and of the willingness of Boltinoff to embrace the work of a "new kid" — marked a turning point in the history of seventies' comics.

Animated

Fist Full of Comics has two podcast interviews, one with Michael Cornacchia (Bouncing Boy) and one with Kari Wahlgren (Saturn Girl).

Christopher Bird addresses some misconceptions on where the Legion show came from in relation to the Justice League and Teen Titans shows.

Superman Homepage notes that the final season of Justice League Unlimited will be arriving on DVD in March. The Legion appeared in the "Far From Home" episode.

Vs. System CCG

The Vs-Blog noted that the crowds for the recent preview tournaments were smaller than expected based on previous tournaments. Wizard's Inquest magazine looks at some of the more interesting cards in the set.

Comics

Oh yeah, they still publish the comics, too. Rokk's Comic Book Revolution reviews the first issue of the new JSA series, and he's really excited.


The Stop Button recently read "The Great Darkness Saga" for the first time with essentially no previous knowledge of Legion history. Check out the review for a firsthand account of whether "I can't read the Legion, there's too much history!" is true or not. Similarly, Graphic Content picked up the two most recent Legion trades, "Death of a Dream" (vol. 2) and Supergirl's "Strange Visitor from Another Century" (vol. 3). These guys also had pretty much no knowledge of the Legion, and came away with an overall positive experience.

Of course, you can't discuss Legion history without arguing over the relative merits (or lack thereof) of the Giffen/Bierbaum version. This "Comics Should Be Good" column at CBR starts talking about the Doom Patrol but swerves to the Legion pretty quick. And H opens up the Comic Treadmill vaults to review the original version of Adventure Comics #247.

Funny Stuff

Finally, a couple of funny items. Scott at the Legion Clubhouse got a copy of a 90s song called "The Wedding of Bouncing Boy". You can listen and sing along with lyrics that start off "Matter-Eater Lad was finally glad after shedding that 13 pounds / and Duo Damsel was getting hard to handle making the banquet table rounds". And Ben at Good Book Readin' takes a second look at the "Origins and Powers of the Legion" from Adventure Comics 365 - panel 1, for example, shows Phantom Girl with the power to perform table dances. After looking at the drawing, it's hard to argue against it.

The Great Name Dropper

And now for something completely different - yet still on-topic.

As I've mentioned from time to time, I have a number of search feeds that get me the web sites I discuss here (bless you, RSS!). I get a lot of different things, from ebay auction items to blogs to newspaper articles, and I still have to cull through the posts about the American Legion, the Legion halls, the French Foreign Legion, the Legion of Doom, Imperial Legion, Legion Quest, "legion of fans", "we are legion", etc. Digging through those is where I find things like Shawn Harrison announcing he got the Timber Wolf part before the series was officially announced.

Something else I ran across a while back was a reference to a 1960's music group called "The Legion of Super-Heroes". That obviously couldn't have been a coincidental naming - at the time, the Legion was headlining in "Adventure Comics". All I could find is that they put out exactly one single on Amy Records, #971, in 1967. The name of the A-side song was called "The Great Name Dropper part 1", and the B-side was "part 2". It was only released as a single, and I haven't heard of anyone finding it on a compilation anywhere. Aside from the song lyrics, I wondered would the record sleeve itself have any comic-book Legion stuff on it? How much of a Legion (comics) collectible is this thing really?

Then a little while ago, a guy named John Peel died. I had never heard of him, but he was big in the music/radio business in the UK, and he had a famous box of his 142 favorite 45's, of which the Legion's was #103 (just ahead of the Mighty Avengers!). Lots of people started talking about that list and everyone wanted a copy of this single, myself included. Here's how one music discussion site described the song that he heard on Peel's radio show:

John Peel sometimes plays a very strange record from the early Sixties called "the Great Namedropper" by the Legion of Superheroes. The record has all the qualities of a normal go go record : a great beat, twangy guitars and female backing singers. However over the top of the music an announcer names lots of pop acts of the day (such as Boy Bennett and His Rockets, Rosie and the Originals and Butch and the Bells). People in the studio shout and clap whenever they hear a bandname that they like. It's a brilliant record. I don't know if it's available on any compilations though.

Today, I can't answer the last question about the record sleeve, but I finally found a site with a copy of the mp3 file - today's post on "Living Too Late", a blog from a girl in England who was born 15 years after the song came out. The top of the page has a link to the mp3 file on the YouSendIt site, so you have to jump through a couple of hoops to get there, but it's otherwise a free and painless download. The file contains both the A-side and B-side, separated by a few seconds of blank space.

The song reminds me a lot of those mid/late 60's "surf rock" garage bands, the ones that were "one-hit wonders" like The Rivieras, The Rivingtons, The Trashmen, The Kingsmen, etc. It sounds as if the band was just goofing off in the recording studio and the mic was left on.

I'll drop it onto my iPod.

Dynamic Music Partners press release

Got this in the email today from Dynamic Music Partners, the trio that is responsible for so much of the WB animated shows' music, and the group that scored the Legion show (and created the theme music for the Legion in their two previous animated appearances). Some info from their web site:

• 7/19/06 DMP score the main theme to "Legion of Super Heroes" at Paramount Scoring Stage "M"
  
• 8/2/06 Scoring officially begins on new WB "Legion of Super Heroes" series, to premiere on the CW network 9/23/06

For an earlier report on the show's music, see my talk with Kris Carter of DMP in July, right before the San Diego Comic Con.

---

The press release:

DYNAMIC MUSIC PARTNERS are pleased to announce the launch of Warner Bros. Animation's newest series, "Legion of Super Heroes." The underscore, composed by LOLITA RITMANIS, MICHAEL McCUISTION and KRISTOPHER CARTER airs Saturday mornings from 10:00 - 10:30 AM on the new CW Network. The main theme, composed by KRISTOPHER CARTER was recorded at Paramount Stage "M" by some of the top studio musicians in Los Angeles.

You can find out more about Dynamic Music Partners at www.dynamicmusicpartners.com.

Click to enlarge the picture

Animated LSH news 47: Music to my ears

Thursday at San Diego:

6:00-7:00 Scoring For Superheroes— Join award-winning composers Kristopher Carter, Michael McCuistion, and Lolita Ritmanis (Teen Titans, Justice League Unlimited) for a rare behind-the-scenes look at music scoring for animation. This panel, moderated by journalist Jon Burlingame (Variety), will feature video clips, audio clips, and insider info about their upcoming projects. They will be joined by special guest Glen Murakami (Teen Titans), who will discuss their music for the Teen Titans series and upcoming DVD Teen Titans: Trouble In Tokyo. Q&A following! Find out more at www.dynamicmusicpartners.com. Room 6A

One of the "upcoming projects" mentioned in above is, of course, scoring the Legion series, according to Kristopher Carter, part of the Dynamic Music Partners. Via email, he told me last week that

I can say that we have been in discussions about it, and a formal announcement is forthcoming, so please stay tuned!

He asked me to hold off announcing it until Thursday so they could break the news at San Diego.

Incidentally, Carter told me of the musical legacy between the two Timm-verse episodes, "New Kids in Town" (from Superman: The Animated Series) and "Far From Home" (from Justice League Unlimited) while discussing "New Kids":

I wrote the score to that episode, and it remains one of my favorite "Animated Superman" episodes I worked on. I was able to bring back my "Legion" theme from that show in the Justice League Unlimited's "Far From Home" episode!

So there you go. Bet you didn't know that the Legion had theme music already! No word yet if that theme from the "Timmverse" will be a part of the new show or not, but we should find out very soon.

Update
Here's a great interview the musical team did with ToonZone last year, where they discuss all of their shows and how they do the wonderful things they do.

And here's Titans Tower Monitor's reporting of the Dyanmic Music Partners' panel at San Diego.