The future of Adventure Comics

Pun intended in the title, of course.

Question 1 in this week's Q&A with Dan DiDio at Newsarama involves Adventure Comics, the Legion, Paul Levitz, and Superboy (as if you couldn't guess). Another question was about Legion of 3 Worlds.

1) Lost_Daughter wrote:
The Adventure Comics changeover. How did that happen? Was it planned? Will Legion be the stars? Will Levitz continue with Geoff's plans?

Dan DiDio: The change was in the works already before Paul stepped into the mix. And the change started at the moment we decided Francis was going to be the artist on The Flash.

What we're planning to do with The Flash ongoing series, we needed to get Francis and Geoff off the Adventure Comics series so they could concentrate on The Flash ongoing.

So we knew we had a change there. We just weren't sure exactly where and when. And we were going back and forth on which issue it was because Geoff had a really wonderful Superboy story that he wanted to tell that, unfortunately, will have to be pushed to a later date.

But my goal now is to get those guys going on Flash as soon as possible. And then when all the changes started to occur, Paul was our only choice for the series. And to be quite frank with you, before even knowing everything that was taking place, Paul was the person we were thinking about approaching for the series as well, given his association with the Legion, given his association with Adventure Comics, and his love for the title, and his love for those characters. It only made sense for him to be the one to take this and move it to its next incarnation.

Newsarama: There's no doubt that when you think of Paul, you think of Legion of Super-Heroes. But there are Conner Kent fans out there that are wondering - what's going to happen to the Superboy piece of this comic?

DiDio: We're going to see Conner's, probably, gradual leave from that book. But that's not to say Conner won't be joining a team book soon, or appearing in another series of his own at some point.

Nrama: Then as a follow-up to that question, ds69 wrote:
Dan, you now have the GREATEST LSH writer back on the title, you must use an A-list artist. Who will it be?

DiDio: I don't have the artist chosen yet. We have several people in mind. What I really want to do is sit down with Paul to see what his direction, tone and feel is. And to work with him on selecting the proper artist. We want to make sure he's a part of the process as well, in choosing the artist for the book.

But because there are so many things going on now, that's a little on hold for the second. What Paul's been doing is actually getting up to speed on the Legion of Super-Heroes. He's just been going through all the work Geoff has done on the characters lately, as well as James Robinson. And he's looking to build on the foundation we have going right now.


11) Kooster wrote: Legion of 3 Worlds #5 -- Is there a near-future story about how Alan Scott got trapped in Sorcerers World? And can you comment on what George Perez is working on next?

DiDio: There is presently no Alan Scott story that I know about, at least for the moment.

The internet breaks in half - Levitz to return to LSH!

In case one or two of you haven't heard by now, there's been a shakeup at DC that promises big things for us in the 31st century. In a nutshell, DC's corporate bosses are realigning things such that DC Comics, now renamed DC Entertainment (DCE), is more closely under the auspices of the movie division. And that means a change in leadership at the top - Paul Levitz will be leaving as President and Publisher. However, he will stay on as consultant, editor, and writer. The big news here? He will be coming back to write the Legion.

The story actually started yesterday, when it was announced that Geoff Johns and Francis Manapul would be leaving "Adventure Comics" for a new Flash comic. Jerry Ordway will be drawing issues 5 and 6, which tie in with Blackest Night, and then Levitz will pick up with issue 7 with an artist to be named. It's unclear whether Superboy will star, as the title has been referred to today as "Adventure Comics featuring the Legion of Super-Heroes".

This morning, Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood Daily broke the news. Read DHD for all the corporate details. This plan is not a reaction to last week's purchase of Marvel by Disney, but has been in the works for a couple of years. It makes sense to me, that Time Warner should be exploiting (in the business sense) their assets, of which DC Comics is one, and it's always bugged me why DC has never been too close to the rest of the company.

But DC Comics insiders are now telling me that Levitz told senior staff this morning he will "transition out" after a new publisher is sought and found. He chose to leave after 35 years at the comic book company. Warner Bros gave him an option to stay but in a different capacity. "He was a constructive, positive partner in the restructure," a source advises me. But his reporting structure was going to change. (Previously, he'd reported to Alan Horn. One insider told me Levitz's conversation with senior staff this morning went like this, "Don't worry. No one should sweat right now. It's all going to be fine.")

According to a press release:

Paul Levitz, who has served as President & Publisher of DC Comics since 2002, will segue from that role to return to his roots as a writer for DC and become a contributing editor and overall consultant to DCE.

Diane Nelson, the new head of DCE, explained what DCE is going to be:

DC Entertainment’s mission is to deeply integrate the DC brand and characters into all of Warner Bros.’ creative production and distribution businesses, while maintaining the integrity of the properties and DC’s longstanding commitment to and respect for writers, creators and artists. The founding of DC Entertainment is about Warner Bros. taking DC to the next level and giving DC an even greater degree of focus and prioritization in all the businesses in which we operate—films, television, home entertainment, digital, consumer products and videogames.

Levitz wrote a letter of resignation to the public, which included this:

It will come as no surprise to anyone who’s heard me answer a comic convention request, “When are you going to do more Legion stories?” that I’m going to step away from my executive desk in coming months to resume my writing career, in comics and hopefully other forms as well. One of the lessons I learned from my many great teachers, from Frank McCourt through Joe Orlando and Jenette Kahn, is that creative work is more enduring than executive acts, and I look forward to adding to the stories I’ve told. Expect to see my byline at DC, as it has appeared for almost 37 years, adding what I can to a mythology and company that has my enduring affection, and expect to see me around the world of comics, which I hope never to leave. I already hear Karen and Dan sharpening their blue pencils with glee, waiting for my first pages.

... And now, if you forgive me, the future is calling.

Then came this at the DCU Blog:

You may have heard that Paul Levitz will be once again adding his considerable talent, drive and creativity to our ever expanding universe as a regular DC Comics writer.

So, what’s his first writing assignment?

Paul is returning to the title he made great as both a writer and editor, ADVENTURE COMICS, and with his eyes set to the future, he brings several of his favorite characters with him. ADVENTURE is the first in a number of projects, both ongoing and mini-series that Paul will be taking on as he joins of our list of top notch creators here at DC.

As Executive Editor, and as a fan, I can’t wait for him to get started.

-Dan DiDio

Some reactions:

• Occasional Superheroine: Brains 'Sploded!
  
• Mark Waid: I'm gobsmacked!
  
• Kurt Busiek: "I'm thrilled I'll get to read new Levitz 'Legion' stories. Beyond that, I'm still stunned."
  
• Ron Marz: "Paul Levitz is going back to the Legion. How cool is that?"
  
• Keith Giffen: [When it comes to us collaborating on the Legion again] all Paul has to do is pick up the phone and tell me when. And if comic book fandom knows a good thing when they see it, they should be popping champagne corks at the fact that Paul Levitz is returning to the 30th Century. Knowing Paul, it's not like he ever 100% left."
  
• Marv Wolfman: When 'New Teen Titans' was the #1-selling book at DC, the #2-selling book was Paul's 'Legion,' and we were far ahead of other books at DC at the time. He may not always talk about his writing, but I always look at it as the fact that the fans made the decision very clear when they chose Paul's as one of the two top books: it was that good.
  

In a Newsarama interview with Levitz and Nelson on what DCE means, Levitz said:

While Nelson will head the division, Levitz will become a contributing editor and consultant, as well as taking over as writer of the monthly "Adventure Comics" title featuring Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes.

"On the 'Legion', I have a lot of homework to do before I'm ready to hit the keyboard the first time," Levitz said, adding that he's going to have to do a lot of research.

...Yet Levitz is also looking forward to transitioning toward his new job as a writer of "Adventure Comics."

"I'm looking forward to seeing my old friends again and playing with them," said Levitz, who had a legendary run on "Legion of Super-Heroes" in the '80s. "I'm even more looking forward to seeing what I've got in me. I've been talking with writers about things about the changing world of the graphic novel and what the creative possibilities are."

CBR also has an interview with Levitz and Nelson.

Blog@Newsarama has a nice writeup of Levitz's history with DC, and Mark Evanier talks about his impact on the comics industry over the last couple of decades.

Andrew Foley weighs in on the new Legion writer:

As one of his final acts as DC publisher, Paul Levitz screws Christopher Bird ("Why I Should Write the Legion") by returning to write the Legion of Superheroes. I’d find that really exciting if I was still fourteen; as it is, I just hope he’s happy. Levitz, that is. Bird’s funnier when he’s pissed off. Sorry Boss, but it’s true.

Finally, BeaucoupKevin has a definitive explanation of what the DC Comics restructuring means to you, the fan.

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.
  

Toronto Fan Expo 2009 (Dan DiDio doesn't "get" the LSH)

Forgot about this one last week. Here's an interesting report from Newsarama on the DC Nation panel there:

When the floor opened up to other topics, someone inquired whether there were plans to expand on the Legion of Superheroes?

“The problem with Legion of Superheroes is the big cast and my biggest personal problem was the lack of Superboy and the inspiration for the team,” offers DiDio. “That was so key to the origin and so key to so much going on there that without that, without Superboy to inspire the team, it lost its own purpose and just became a team. It was something set in the future, but it didn’t have a real tether to what was going on in the DC Universe currently. What we are trying to do is rebuild that time, rebuild that sensibility, and hopefully rebuild a Legion that is a strong powerful set of characters in the DC U again.”

Well gee, it might have been nice to allow Mark Waid to use Superboy then when he was rebooting the Legion, wouldn't it?

Snell at Monstrobot has an in-depth rebuttal on how Dan DiDio apparently just doesn't "get" the Legion.

Trivia Quiz #39

Some new questions for you, back on track (for the time being) on the first Monday of the month....

1. BION had the powers of all Legionnaires except for who?

2. Which active Legionnaire did not take part in Earthwar?

3. In Blackest Night, the dead are rising to become Black Lanterns. Which 20th century heroes arose when Mordru raised the dead in v4 #43-48?

4. Which Legionnaires named themselves after an animal?

5. Cosmic Boy, in his civilian identity, was once shown going to a movie date with someone other than Lydda "Night Girl" Jath. Which 20th century movie star was shown on the movie screen (updated to the 30th century)?

6. Who else besides XS, Iris Allen, and Iris's family is related to Bart Allen and comes from the 31st century?

7. The Magic Castle is a real-life magic-themed nightclub in Hollywood. What Legion connection does it have?

Trivia Answers #38

This month's trivia quiz was based (loosely) on the LSG trip to Las Vegas.

1. Ventura is the Gamblers' Planet in the 30th/31st centuries. Where have we seen it in the 20th/21st centuries?

The obvious one, which I knew everyone would get, was in the first story arc of the latest Brave & Bold series, with Green Lantern, Batman, Blue Beetle, Supergirl, Lobo, and the Book of Fate. The obscure one, which I wasn't sure anyone would get (but Jeffrey did), was when orange-skinned alien gamblers from Ventura named Sorban and Rokk (no relation) encountered Superman in "Superman" 171 (8/64), then reappeared in "Flash" 175 (the second Superman vs Flash race, 12/67) and "World's Finest" 150 (6/75).

2. The LSG freed some money from the clutches of the evil casinos. Name three people or groups to have freed Mordru from imprisonment.

Shadow Lass (ADV 368), The Dark Circle (Earthwar), Darkseid (Great Darkness), the Sorcerors of Sorceror's World, and (I think) the JLA in the JLA/JSA crossover but I don't recall the details.

3. There's always paperwork when there's money involved. What was the name of United Planets' statute-in-council #2958-07Q? [Either answer is acceptable.]

Pre-Zero Hour, it was The Legion of Super-Heroes Enabling Act; post-Zero Hour, it was The Legion of Super-Heroes Revenue Act.

4. Who stayed behind to watch the HQ during the wedding of Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel (and didn't get to party at Casino Nix Olympica)?

Mon-El and Shadow Lass. As the only two left in the whole HQ, you know they must have tried to do it in the conference room, the tryouts room, the weapons room, the reception area...

5. The volcano at the Mirage Casino erupts every 15 minutes from sunset until midnight, but Krypton only exploded once. Which Legionnaires were present on Krypton shortly before its destruction?

The one I was thinking about was Shrinking Violet, Cosmic Boy, Shadow Lass and Wildfire, from Superboy & the LSH 255. Of course, Kal-El and Mon-El were there separately, as were future Super-Pets Krypto and Beppo, but I was looking for Legionnaires as a group.

6. The LSG is always up for new members, and the initiation test is that you have to gamble at the same table with other members at least once. But twice, Saturn Girl asked the Legion to induct a new member based only on her say-so. Who were these Legionnaires?

Element Lad and Sensor Girl. I forget, did she recommend Sir Prize and Miss Terious the same way?

7. Sometimes a LSGer will only appear at one or two gatherings and then mysteriously stops. When was Insect Queen's last appearance with the Legion?

I should have said "last regular contemporaneous pre-Zero Hour appearance", which would have been during the Reflecto story. I forgot that they pulled her out of some random time for a cameo in the recent Legion of 3 Worlds story in issue 5. And was she in the group shot in LSH v2 #300, or am I misremembering?

Super Powers Collection 25th Anniversary - Blog Crossover

Turns out that this week is the 25th anniversary of the Super Powers action figure line, and 14 comic/toy-related blogs have banded together to celebrate as they saw fit. I didn't find out about it until this morning. D'oh! Of course, the lone Legion-related figure in the line was Tyr.

In 1986, as part of the 3rd wave of the then-popular Super Powers action figures, someone decided that a kewl-looking villain should be added to the cast. Why they went all the way to the 30th century to get Tyr is beyond me, but he gets the distinction of being the first honest-to-goodness Legion-related action figure. Toyotter has a great writeup on all the characters, including Tyr.





The Super Powers line featured "action" figures - you moved it in a certain way and they did something. Tyr's gimmick was that his arm blaster fired when you squeezed his feet. The front and back of the card tell of his "Power Action Rocket Launch" and a card you were supposed to cut out that described his powers and weaknesses. I bought mine a decade ago for $65 (original price: somewhere around $1.50), but ebay prices are all over the place today. The third wave of Super Powers figures was made in smaller quantities than the earlier waves, which explains why he's hard to find these days.

The 4th wave of Super Powers figures for 1987 never got off the ground. However, in an interview several years ago, Steve Lightle discussed being asked by the Kenner team to design at least two Legion figures: Dream Girl and Dawnstar. They never made it past the drawing stage, though Steve's suggestion for Dream Girl's insignia can be found on this page that has an excerpt from the interview (the original of which has apparently vanished into cyberspace). I can see Dawnstar's "action" power (squeeze her legs and her wings flap, just like the Hawkman figure), but I have no idea what they were going to do for Dream Girl's.

The Kenner's Super Powers page has some closeups of the loose figure and the disassembled pieces of the prototype.

The third wave of Super Powers figures had its own non-canonical tie-in comic miniseries.

Here are the other blogs participating in the Super Powers anniversary:

• The Aquaman Shrine: Scans of every mini-comic appearance by the Sea King, plus a line overview, creator credits, and various other merchandise.
  
• Batblog: All the Batman-related characters
  
• Being Carter Hall: Hawkman mini-comic appearances reviewed.
  
• Crimson Lightning: Extensive commentary on the Flash mini-comic.
  
• Dispatches from the Arrow Cave: Complete scans and commentary on the Green Arrow mini-comic.
  
• Doom Patrol: Red Tornado mini-comic scans and commentary.
  
• Firestorm Fan: The Nuclear Man in comics and figures.
  
• Fortress of Baileytude: the Superman family of characters
  
• The Idol-Head of Diabolu: The Martian Manhunte
  
• Justice League Detroit: Colección Super Amigos: Liga de la Justicia de Detroit Bootleg Action Figures
  
• Love Dat Joker: Extensive commentary on the Clown Prince of Crime's role in the set, including figure photos and complete scans of his appearances from the Batman, Green Lantern, and his eponymous mini-comics.
  
• ...nurgh...: Critical reviews of every mini-comic, starting with #1-8, then #9-16.
  
• Once Upon a Geek: Dr. Fate and Blue Devil mini-comics and toys.
  
• Speed Force: A look at the Flash figure itself
  

Upcoming Blackest Night/REBELS crossover

If you don't want to read any spoilers about the upcoming Blackest Night/R.E.B.E.L.S. crossover stop reading now.

Via Newsarama's article on Orlando's Mini-Megacon this weekend:

Finishing out the floor buzz today was Tony Bedard, who is still hard at work with R.E.B.E.L.S. for DC. Issue 7 just hit the stores, and right now, he is working on the Blackest Night crossover issues, 10 and 11, which should be out in November and December. He’s really excited about the crossover, as not only will a bunch of new people be exposed to the book, but it has been a lot of fun. Bedard said they are throwing everything into it – two Black Lanterns, the Sinestro Corps, Starro and his Good-Time Gang, Vril Dox and his crew. This obviously raised the question – who will the Black Lanterns be? Bedard revealed that one will be Harbinger (from Crisis on Infinite Earths fame) and the other will be Stealth, who was a member of L.E.G.I.O.N. In addition to that crossover, he said he was thrilled to have worked with his old Route 666 partner, Karl Moline, who drew one off the chapters in the upcoming R.E.B.E.L.S. Annual, which has other chapters by Kalman Andrasofszky, Derec Donovan, and Joe Prado. Beyond that, Bedard hinted that early next year, R.E.B.E.L.S. will be crossing over with one of DC’s flagship books, but he couldn’t specify which, since the details are still being hammered out. Then, after that, he said he is really excited about next year’s big event, which should have fans excited with Geoff Johns and James Robinson at the helm of it. Bedard said he feels very confident about the direction they will give it. He added that both Johns and Robinson have told him how much they are enjoying R.E.B.E.L.S., “which is the nicest thing to hear,” he said with a smile.

Trivia Quiz #38

Yay, I'm back! The Legion of Super-Gamblers made out OK in Las Vegas (some of us did) - at least we all had enough for a cab ride to the airport. So, this month's trivia, a couple weeks late, based (loosely) on the LSG trip:

1. Ventura is the Gamblers' Planet in the 30th/31st centuries. Where have we seen it in the 20th/21st centuries?

2. The LSG freed some money from the clutches of the evil casinos. Name three people or groups to have freed Mordru from imprisonment.

3. There's always paperwork when there's money involved. What was the name of United Planets' statute-in-council #2958-07Q? [Either answer is acceptable.]

4. Who stayed behind to watch the HQ during the wedding of Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel (and didn't get to party at Casino Nix Olympica)?

5. The volcano at the Mirage Casino erupts every 15 minutes from sunset until midnight, but Krypton only exploded once. Which Legionnaires were present on Krypton shortly before its destruction?

6. The LSG is always up for new members, and the initiation test is that you have to gamble at the same table with other members at least once. But twice, Saturn Girl asked the Legion to induct a new member based only on her say-so. Who were these Legionnaires?

7. Sometimes a LSGer will only appear at one or two gatherings and then mysteriously stops. When was Insect Queen's last appearance with the Legion?

Happy Klordny Week 2009!

Hey, we're in Klordny Week already! Since 1995, Klordny Week has been celebrated in the week or so that contains both my birthday (August 13, today) and Elvis Appreciation Day (August 16). It first appeared in Superboy and the LSH 232 (10/77).

How do you celebrate? By dancing and partying!

Do me a favor, Lightning Lad, shut up and dance!

Why do you celebrate? I'm not telling you!


What's the Ritual Klordny Toast?


You can never have too much Frunt. Others celebrating (whether they know it or not) include Cold Frunt Productions, Frunt's flickr photos, Frunt's blog on Vox, frunt.net, Hilde Frunt, Frunt's Myspace page, and a map of the town of Frunt, in Graubunden, Ostschweiz, Switzerland, and none other than Erwin Frunt!.

Chicago 09: DC Nation

Some hopeful news for a new series out of Chicago's DC Nation panel.

Via Newsarama:

Going on to Adventure Comics, Manupal talked about his modified style. He told Johns that maybe they should go for an “Americana” style of presentation; Sattler commented that it was “stunning to look at” with “the best Krypto ever.”

... The next question was about the split of Adventure, which will be the Superboy lead with the Legion co-feature. There will also be Legion bits in the main Superboy story. Sattler said that there will be more Legion story before getting to a dedicated Legion book.

The same panel, via CBR:

Manapul confessed that he wasn't sure "Adventure Comics" would be a good fit for him, but said that he suggested to writer Geoff Johns that they approach the series with an Americana feel.

...Manapul confirmed that "Adventure Comics" will feature the Legion in Superboy's main story, in addition to their backup stories. Regarding the various Legions, Manapul said that "all three" would appear, and Sattler added that DC needed to establish who the Legion are before they get a dedicated book.

Coverage from Wizard? I give up. You'd think that the magazine that owns the convention would bother to put coverage up on its web site Wizard Universe (where the only discussion of the DC Nation panel is a press release from weeks ago announcing that there will be a DC Nation panel), or even, I don't know, the site which represents all of its conventions, Wizard World.

Chicago 09: It's Here!

Ah, con season. Everyone's still recovering from the behemoth that is San Diego, and now it's Chicago Comic Con weekend (formerly known as Wizard World Chicago, formerly known as the Chicago Comic Con before that). Here's what's on tap this weekend:

Saturday
4-5 p.m.
DC Nation Panel
Michael Turner Room: A
Join DC Comics’ Ian Sattler for a peak at what the powerhouse publisher has coming up in the biggest titles from Geoff Johns’ Blackest Night event to Grant Morrison’s Batman & Robin.

Sunday
1-2 p.m.
Silver Age Trivia Experts Take On The Fans!
Mike Werringo Room: E
Come pit your knowledge of Silver Age super-heroes against a panel of trivia geeks! Fans will get a chance to compete against the experts to be crowned the champion! Moderated by Craig Shutt, writer of the “Ask Mr. Silver Age” column for the Comics Buyer’s Guide.

Additionally, George Perez will be doing several appearances at the Hero Initiative booth, where maybe you can talk to him about L3W. See the Wizard page with more info.

I stumped Waid, Busiek, and Levitz

Kurt Busiek posted a San Diego story the other day.

There was no Pro/Fan Trivia Challenge at the San Diego Comicon this year. There was, however, one question from last year's challenge, which neither Mark Waid nor I attended, that was offered up this year, and once asked, seemed to travel around by osmosis. There's nothing quite like walking into the DC booth and having DC President and Publisher Paul Levitz say to you, without preamble, "I only got four, but I agree that [those other three] don't count." And knowing what he was talking about.

So: How many Legionnaires can you name who had letters on their costume?

Naturally, the 'L' on the flight ring doesn't count.

I got five—or eight, depending on how technical you want to get.

Mark Waid got the same five, but agreed that those other three shouldn't count.

Paul Levitz got four, with the same caveat.

James Robinson got five.

Tom Galloway came up with a sixth, but then, as I understand it, he was at the Challenge last year, so he's had much more time to think about it. And I spurn his sixth name as a technicality anyway, while Mark grumbled that yeah, it's a technicality but he should have gotten it anyway.

How many can you name?

If this sounds familiar, you might recall it from one of my trivia quizzes a couple years ago. I'm not sure yet who of the above got which answers. Some people took a shot on Kurt's Facebook page.

Let's not include the flight rings, the SW6 belt buckles, or the v4 jackets, all of which had the "L" on it; or any other jewelry, rings, belts, bracelets, or stuff like that, just the costume itself.

My regular trivia quiz coming in a day or two (and yes, I know it was supposed to be this past Monday).

Bits of Legionnaire Business

I've let this go so long I'm going to have to spread this over 2 posts:

• CBR's Comic Book Legends Revealed reveals this:
  

  COMIC LEGEND: Mike Grell tried to introduce a black character into the pages of Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes, but saw his efforts literally whitewashed away. STATUS: True

  
  It's really the story of Dvron, which you might not have heard before. The next week we heard about
  

  COMIC LEGEND: Keith Giffen and Tom and Mary Bierbaum had a character switch genders in the Legion of Super-Heroes to have a character they felt was gay be with a man. STATUS: True

  
  Of course, it's the story of Element Lad and Shvaughn/Sean Erin (with over 180 comments afterwards).
  
  
• Action Figure Blues and Superhero Times review the four Legion figures that recently came out in the Justice League Unlimited series.
  
  
• Caperaway lists their top 10 Legion stories. This is a good topic for another day here.
  
  
• Scans Daily: LSH v3 #38 (Death of Superboy), Computo and the death of Triplicate Girl ("So much wrong, so little I can post. But I'll do my best. So, today my thesis is the Legion are fucking idiots. Here is evidence. Finally looking at the famous first Computo story, I have to say: I never realized just how stupid the Legion were. And how heartless. And how flip they were with the issue of death and mutilation."), and the 80s look at how Luornu has dealt with that trauma from the Legion Annual.
  
  
• Don noticed something interesting in a recent issue of JLA about the Sun-Eater.
  
  
• It didn't cross my mind at the time, but this tribute at the time of Ed McMahon's death concentrates on the infamous "Challenge of the Super-Heroes" and "Roast of the Super-Heroes" shows from the late 1970s. Ed was host of the Roast. Mordru was in both shows.
  
  
• Comic Book Noise continues its look at Robinson's Starman series. In this podcast episode, they discuss the 30th century's Starman.
  
  
• Photon Torpedos looks back at some Alan Davis covers from the mid 1990s.
  
  
• Speaking of podcasts, the Legion of Substitute Podcasters #39 discusses the last part of the "An Eye for an Eye" TPB.
  
  
• The Howling Curmudgeous determine who the worst pre-Crisis Legionnaire was.
  
  
• The Tearoom of Despair has a long essay on the ups and downs of being a Legion reader.
  
  
• Major Spoilers shows us a number of drawings by Gene Gonzales of Legionnaires.
  
  
• They're remaking the movie "The Karate Kid", but because of naming rights that DC holds, the new title will be "The Kung Fu Kid".
  

Now it can be told!

Back in April, I mentioned that as a result of my posting here, I was consulted for a non-spoilery plot point by Geoff Johns for "Legion of 3 Worlds". I had promised to tell you what that was once the series was over. It's not really anything major, though.

In January 2008 I got an email from Johns asking for a list of the members of the United Planets up to the original Crisis. In retrospect, he was apparently doing research on the UP scenes in L3W. Here's what I wrote back to him:

Of course you'd have to start with a question I'm not fully prepared to answer, but I'll have to be Clintonian in my explanation.

To the best of my (limited) knowledge, such a list has never been made public and put on the internet. If such a list had been compiled, someone from the fanzines Interlac, Klordny, or the Legion Outpost probably did it sometime in the last 30 years, but since those issues are all on paper, there's no telling unless someone has a complete collection.

That being said, there are some sources. In case you didn't know, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Mayfair put out a bunch of DC role playing games, complete with various sourcebooks. The first two Legion books, 1986's "The Legion Sourcebook" and 1987's "The Legion Sourcebook vol. II: The World Book" contain RPG stats for pretty much anything Legion-related up to that time, which appears to be the time frame you're looking for. The World Book is most likely what you need, but of course it's one of the things that I don't have in my collection yet.

In 1990, Mayfair published the "Atlas of the DC Universe", which infamously places Metropolis in Delaware and Gotham City in southern NJ. The Atlas has a chapter that reprints some of the info from the World Book and says that most of the info predates the Great Collapse of 2989 (which was when Levitz left). The Atlas has info on 57 worlds, but that includes both UP worlds and others (the Dominion, Khundia, etc.). I can cull out the UP worlds from this list if you like.

For all their faults *cough*fanfic*cough*, the Bierbaums were great with detail. A planet mentioned in passing in an issue of Adventure Comics would become something important in their storyline, and their data was compiled in Mayfair's "2995: The Legion Sourcebook" from 1992. Helpfully, they even provided a map showing where the various planets were in relation to the Khundish Empire, the UP, the Dominion, the Dark Circle, and "hostile & unexplored". They list a total of 72 worlds, and elsewhere give the status of 76 worlds (some overlapping) and where they stood about a year into the v4 storyline. In giving the history of the UP, the book mentions that there were about 1000 worlds prior to the Collapse.

Now, if you don't already have these books, I can sift through them to get the UP worlds out. I also have an ebay bid on the World Book and the four game modules which is over tomorrow evening, so if I win that I can go through that book too.

Let me know what you'd like and I'll do what I can.

So it took me a little while to dig through those books. Here was my next note to him in Feb. 2008:

Finally got my Mayfair "World Book" in the mail today. Between that, the Atlas of the DC Universe, "Who's Who in the LSH", and Mark Waid's "Legion Index", I've come up with 182 named worlds.

I made some assumptions: basically unless we were told that it was not a UP world, that the UP couldn't interfere, or it was something like a planet inhabited only by criminals, I took it as a UP world. When Chameleon Boy turns into a Nitwonian Nibbybug, I assume that Nitwon is a UP world.

This list roughly coincides with the original Crisis or very shortly thereafter. The Index and the World Book came out in 1987, "Who's Who" in 1988, and the Atlas in 1990 (though it says that the data is pre-Collapse, which means it's good up through the end of the Levitz run).

The list does not include non-UP worlds, non-worlds (such as asteroids or space stations), or those worlds that lie within the UP space but are either destroyed or uninhabited.

Maybe for my next trivia quiz I should post the list of all 182 worlds I found and have you identify each one by issue and context.

Crowd scene

A couple weeks ago, I wrote this:

At the 1995 San Diego and Chicago cons, "Legionnaires" artists Jeff Moy and Cory Carani were taking pictures of some of the fans. We didn't know until Legionnaires #43 came out (cover-dated 11/96) that a number of fans from the conventions were drawn into a crowd scene during the Legion tryouts.

Turns out I have misremembered for years, it was actually issue 38, page 13, panel 3. I knew it was a crowd scene, but I forgot which crowd.:



The faces are (clockwise from Top) Mike Chary, Johanna Draper [now Carlson], Erik Hancock, Sidne Ward (who was the namesake inspiration for Imra's mom Sydne), Bob Dobiesz (namesake for Imra's dad Bertor), and me. I should make that my new blog avatar.

Here's what I wrote on the old LSH-L mailing list on May 19, 1996:

On the last day of the San Diego con last year, we ran into Jeff Moy and Cory Carani at the DC booth near the end of the day. Cory had his camera out and was taking pictures, so I told him that he had to take a picture of me and Vernon Harmon (who was with me at the time, dressed as Wildfire) so he could put us in a crowd scene somewhere. I guess Vernon's being saved for a later time. Just like Wildfire...

I think we all ought to photocopy the page, cut out our faces, and wear them on our badges at the various conventions we go to this summer, with a caption that says "I [heart] Titanian Magnoball".

At the 1996 San Diego and Chicago cons, a couple of people had each of us autograph the page. To the best of my recollection, that's the only time someone has ever asked me to sign a comic.

SDCC09: It's a bird, it's a plane....

... it's Super-Mon!



Sorry.

SDCC09: DCU Editorial

Saturday's panels included DC Universe, a spotlight on Francis Manapul, and the Siegel/Shuster/Superman lawsuit. I can't find anything yet on the last two, so here's the DC stuff.

DC Universe, via Newsarama:

Mon-El's new costume when he joins the Justice League:


The team will have: Mon-El (in a new costume with a Superman "S" on it), Dick Grayson Batman, Donna Troy and Hal Jordan. The other characters are a "mystery," says Robinson. One of them "mystery" members is Congorilla, Robinson pointed out.

Johns said the Legion are going to be in Adventure Comics and Superman, and play a big role the rest of this year and next.

DC Universe, via CBR:

...the new [JLA] team will feature Mon-El in a new Superman-inspired costume, Dick Grayson as Batman and Donna Troy who "I'm going to make her kick ass in this book."

SDCC09: DC Nation

Friday's panels at San Diego included DC Nation and Mattel/DC. The action figure guys tell me that there was no Legion stuff at the Mattel panel.

DC Nation, via Newsarama:

Robinson announced the five-part "Mon-El, Man of Valor" story, which will feature a "new look and a new outlook" for the character.

Fan thanked the panel for bringing Superboy back. DiDio said they always had "the plan in place" to bring Superboy and Kid Flash back, then joked a bit about the Legion of Three Worlds delays.

The joke, as tweeted by @SpeedForceOrg:

DD: What did you like abt LO3W5? Fan: it finally came out. #sdcc

DC Nation, via CBR:

Next was applause for the Superman books. Fans said they liked the realistic characterization and ties to the Legion. Robinson spoke about the August-beginning arc, "Mon-el, Man of Valor," which will see major changes for the character, including a new look.

SDCC09: Superman & Geoff Johns

It was kinda fun following the Twitterers Thursday afternoon (you can follow me at @LegionOmnicom) and the live-updates of the panels. Thursday we had the Superman: Two Worlds and the Geoff Johns Spotlight panels. Newsarama had their coverage as a live chat, while Newsarama posted live material.

Highlights from the Superman: Two Worlds panel

Via Newsarama

Before moving to audience Q&A, Robinson piped in that he hadn't talked about Superman yet (an odd thing to leave out in a Superman panel). "I hope everyone is following the adventures of Mon-El," Robinson said. He discussed all the "fragmented pieces" in the book, and an upcoming story called "Mon-El, Man of Valor," that will include, among other things, a new costume for the Daxamite.

"What Legion or Legions is Connor going to be interacting with in Adventure Comics?" "You'll see every Legion in Adventure Comics, eventually," Johns answered.

Via CBR:

The [Adventure Comics] co-feature will have JSA's Starman, Lightining Lad, Polar Boy and Sun Boy in the first few issues, Johns said.

...Rucka noted that the Thanagarians arrive as the Kryptonians are moving one of Jupiter's moons to New Krypton. A Joe Kubert cover will see the Hawk characters fighting Commander Kal-El and Robinson added that he wants to turn Mon-el from a "weak J'onn J'onzz" to "the alien Namor."

Note: someone who was at the panel said that this was a reference to Jemm, Son of Saturn, not Mon-El.

"Coming out of 'Codename Patriot,' we're going to finish the finish the book up to #700, with 'Mon-el, Man of Valor,' which will see him return darker, with a new purpose, and a new costume."

The Superman Annual will be about the history of Daxam with art by Javi Pina.

What Legion/Legions in "Adventure?" "You'll see every Legion in 'Adventure Comics' eventually," Johns said.

Superboy Prime will appear in "Adventure Comics" #4-5, Johns said.

Highlights from the Geoff Johns spotlight panel

Via Newsarama

Nothing.

Via CBR

Briefly touching on his work on “Smallville,” Johns revealed that he and the show’s producers had discussed depicting the 31st century on the CW series, but that budget restraints made it impossible. For example, if such a direction had been pursued, Lightning Lad would not have been able to demonstrate any of his electricity powers, making the whole thing rather pointless.

Johns confirmed that Starman’s “new quest” has nothing to do with “Blackest Night,” and will be depicted as a co-feature in “Adventure Comics.”

Well duh! Of course it has nothing to do with Blackest Night. Starman is carrying a document that reads "Last Will and Testament of R. J. Brande" on it. Seems pretty clear to me that it has nothing to do with BN.

But very surprisingly, Legion of 3 Worlds concluded the day before this panel and not one question came up about the series.

Up tomorrow: the DC/Mattel panel and the DC Nation panel.

Annotated "Legion of Three Worlds" #5

Almost a year ago - August 19, 2008 - I posted these words:

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more,
Or close the wall up with rebooted dead!
... I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game's afoot!
Follow your spirit; and upon this charge
Cry 'Long Live the Legion! Annotate on!'

So, 11 months later we finally have issue 5 of "Legion of 3 Worlds".

Doing these annotations has been fun for me, trying to see what I can remember with my aging feeble mind, but I have had to look a lot of stuff up. It would have been next to impossible without the internet. And of course, you guys, who help me with what I didn't get. So thanks for playing along, we'll do one more shot at this.

Page 1

• Superman, L1 Lightning Lad, L1 Saturn Girl and L1 Cosmic Boy at Vanishing Point at the end of time as scenes from the Legion's past appear (as seen via cover shots). Clockwise from upper left: the war between Krypton and Earth (ADV 333); Triplicate Girl's death at the tentacles of Computo (ADV 340); Polar Boy leads the new Legionnaires (which issue is this?); the rebooted L2 Legion (LSH v4 0); Darkseid (Great Darkness Saga TPB); Superboy joins the Legion (ADV 247); Rokk restarts the Legion (LSH v4 1); the SW6 Legionnaires appear (LGS 1); the Legion vs the Sun-Eater (ADV 352); Superboy right before his death (LSH v3 37); the L.E.G.I.O.N. (L.E.G.I.O.N. '89 1).
  

Page 2

• Superboy/Conner fights Superboy-Prime with L2 and L3 Ultra Boys.
  

Page 3

• L2 Andromeda, Superboy, L1 Polar Boy, L2 Wildfire, and XS along with Sodam Yat and the whole brand new freakin' Green Lantern Corps (or are those just constructs?). Bart and Conner were members of the Teen Titans prior to Final Crisis; Conner was a Titan when he traveled to the future and became a Legionnaire.
  

Page 4

• Panel 1: L1 Mon-El vs Superboy-Prime in the 31st century, Superman and L1 Lightning Lad vs Time Trapper at the end of time.
  
• Panel 3: A Dominator appears through a rift in reality. This is the panel that makes the rest of the story possible - a way to access every parallel universe and every Legion that's ever existed. Right at this panel I knew my annotating skills were going to be put to the test later.
  
• Panel 4: L1 Cosmic Boy and L1 Saturn Girl contact all three Brainiac 5's, Gates, and L3 Light Lass.
  

Page 5

• Panel 1: L2 Andromeda, L2 Valor, L1 Sun Boy, and L1 Polar Boy vs Superboy-Prime.
  
• Panel 5: L1 Wildfire - "Stay away from my girl." Nice!
  
• Panel 6: "Wildfart", heh. Nice sound effect, "NRG".
  
• Panel 7: I don't know why she's that concerned, his suit has been blown up before lots of times.
  

Page 6

• Panel 2: In a new development, we hear that Kinetix had all of the remaining magicks from Universe-247. And Mordru ate her. Oops.
  
• Panel 3: L1 White Witch and Blok, vs Terrus (who apparently is made of flying insects).
  
• Panel 4: Not sure whose boots are in the upper left corner, but that's L3 Chameleon Boy, L3 Colossal Boy, L2 Kid Quantum, L3 Saturn Girl, L3 Star Boy, L1 Chameleon Girl, L1 Invisible Kid, L2 Ferro, L2 Sensor, and L2 Timber Wolf getting blasted by Mordru.
  
• Panel 5: Dr. Regulus, Silver Slasher, L1 Lightning Lord, Mist Master, and Mano
  
• Panel 6: L2 Violet vs Titania with L1 White Witch looking on, not sure who's getting blasted
  

Page 7

• Panel 4: L2 Wildfire has helped out L1 Wildfire.
  
• Panel 9: In Final Crisis, Superboy (Conner) died in the arms of his girlfriend Wonder Girl.
  

Page 8

• Panel 4: Now it gets interesting. What they do to Superboy-Prime in the 31st century affects him at Vanishing Point, although the synchronization of things in two different time periods always makes my brain hurt.
  
• Panel 9: The Time Trapper's story is retconned, but in the sense of "what you saw before was true but there's more to it". L1 Brainy theorizes that the Trapper is a "sentient alternate timeline rebelling against ours. His own history changes, I'd guess even his identity could alter, as the true timeline marches on."
  
• Panel 11: L1 Cosmic Boy is about to give me a headache in a few pages...
  

Page 9

• the L1 Legion founders link their powers to send a multi-universal distress signal. Interestingly, in panel 8, the years in which Saturn Girl sends out her signals are going forward, from 3058 to 3104 A.D., instead of backwards to 3009 (or so).
  

Page 10-11

I think I actually yelled "Yeah!" when I saw this. Then I said "oh shit I'm going to have to identify all of them for the annotations." We've got multiple versions of the same Legionnaires - I think Perez just wanted to draw every costume variation ever. And they did say we'd see everyone who was ever a Legionnaire (though this also includes some from the L.E.G.I.O.N, the Legion Academy, and other associates too). Let's see how well I do. Roughly top to bottom in columns, then left to right:


• Unknown (blue pants), Tiger Girl (name never officially given, applicant), unknown (fire guy), L1 Sensor Girl (v3 costume); L3 Dream Girl, L1 Laurel Gand (from the v4 retcon of Supergirl), Thunder, L1 Duo Damsel (1970s), L1 Duo Damsel (1980s), L1 Polar Boy (v3 costume), L1 Karate Kid II, L1 Laurel Gand (v4), unknown silver hand, Crystal Kid, L1 Shrinking Violet (1970s), L2 Leviathan, Devlin O'Ryan
  
• Unknown green suit and boots, Power Boy, Celeste Rockfish as Green Lantern, L1 Lightning Lass (v3), L2 Dragonmage (new costume?), L1 Mon-El, unknown gold container, L1 Stone Boy, Kono, Kid Psycho, L1 Ultra Boy (original costume), Kent Shakespeare, L1 Violet (v4)
  
• L1 Supergirl (Crisis-era), L3 Triplicate Girl, L1 Triplicate Girl (1960s), L2 Triad, L1 Porcupine Pete, L1 Saturn Girl (ADV 247 costume), L1 Cosmic Boy (ADV 247 costume), L1 Lightning Lad (ADV 247 costume), Computo, L1 Bouncing Boy, L1 Cosmic Kid, L1 Color Kid, L2 Ferro, Strata
  
• L2 Karate Kid, L1 Wildfire (boots), L1 Lightning Lad, Laurel Kent, Visi-Lad, L1 Invisible Kid I, L2 Inferno, Proty II, Veilmist
  
• Atmos, L1 Cosmic Boy, L1 Cosmic Boy (1970s), L2 Sensor (snake version), L3 Colossal Boy (?), Streaky, Chemical King, L1 Timber Wolf (1970s), L1 Insect Queen, L2 Umbra
  
• L1 Infectious Lass, Dawnstar (1970s, behind the caption), Stealth, Tellus, L1 Saturn Girl, Computo (as majordomo), Lightning Lad (1970s), Catspaw, Kinetix (original costume), Quislet, Colossal Boy (1960s), Lady Quark, Calamity King, Saturn Girl (1970s), Chameleon Boy (1960s)
  
• Bloodclaw's boots, unnamed Academy member, Night Girl, L1 Invisible Kid II, L2 Matter-Eater Lad, L1 Element Lad (1970s), Krypto, L3 Cosmic Boy, Elastic Lad, Beppo, Princess Projectra (1970s), Tyroc, Firefist
  
• L1 Phantom Girl (1970s), L2 Element Lad, Reflecto, L1 Spider-Girl (hair only), Flederweb's arm, Plant Lad, Echo, Monstress, Furball.
  
  That's 100 characters. Scott Koblish said there were 101. Who did I miss?
  

Page 12:

• Panel 1: Shikari tied up by Spider-Girl, Mist Master, Magno Lad, Micro Lad, Dr. Regulus (?), Grimbor, Gear, Lazon, and who's that in the red and black getting hit?
  
• Panel 3: Saturn Queen watches as Mordru blasts Blok
  

Page 13:

• Saturn Queen, Cosmic King, Chameleon Chief, Radiation Roy, Spider-Girl, Tharok, and Echo(?) watch as Mysa absorbs Mordru's magicks (and by extension, those of Kinetix from Universe-247). She wins, but at the cost of turning her from White magic to Black.
  

Page 14:

• Panel 1: L3 Lightning Lad vs Validus. If that's L3 Saturn Girl, shouldn't she be thinking instead of saying that?
  
• Panel 2: L2 Saturn Girl, Kid Quantum, and Tyr
  
• Panel 3: L1 Lightning Lord, Mano, Chameleon Chief, Earth-Man, Black Mace, Tusker, unknown glowing girl
  
• Panel 4: L1 Bouncing Boy's back!
  
• Panel 5: L1 Lightning Lass
  
• Panel 6: L1 Duplicate Damsel! That's new, although Geoff Johns mentioned this at the Legion panel at the 2008 San Diego con.
  

  Q: Will we see more of the Legion Subs?
  A: Johns kind of sidestepped that one, but said that (he paused at this point, and said "what the hell, I'll spoil it here") he had big plans for Luornu (who he suggested be called "Una Damsel"): "I don't know how I got anything done with just three of me". She will be called Duplicate Damsel and can multiply into many, not just three.

  
  

Page 15:

• Panel 2: That's Phase and Garv from the L.E.G.I.O.N.
  
• Panel 3: This must be the 1960s-era Supergirl. She has the big "S" logo, so it's not the Crisis-era or 1970s hot-pants era, and it's not the crop-top Supergirl who was with the L3 Legion.
  
• Panel 4: Ultra Boy as v4-era Green Dragon
  
• Panel 5: L2, L1 (1970s), and L3 Colossal Boys, with L2 Cosmic Boy, Blok (v3 chains), and unknown
  
• Panel 6: L1 Lightning Lad (1960s with robot arm), L2 Inferno, L1 Wildfire (1970s), unknown woman, L3 Lightning Lad, SW6 Inferno
  

Page 16:

• Panel 1: In the background, that's L1 Star Boy (1960s), Kinetix, L1 Dream Girl (1960s), Quislet, Sensor, Monstress (orange), L1 Cosmic Boy, L1 Phantom Girl, Blok, Superman, L1 Saturn Girl, L1 Lightning Lad, L2 Cosmic Boy
  
• Panel 6: Evolvo Lad, L1 Shrinking Violet, L2 Spider-Girl, L1 Brainiac 5 (1960s), L2 Dreamer, Comet, and the ADV 247 Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and Lightning Lad
  
  And that's it for the alternate versions. Back to regular L1, L2, and L3 now.
  

Page 17:

• Back in the L1 31st century. Superboy-Prime is an idiot.
  

Page 18:

• Oh, Brainy says the same thing. Good-bye to Time Trapper and Superboy-Prime, for now.
  
  Huh. We're 18 pages into a 32-page story and the big fight is over already. Now comes 14 pages of wrap-up and set-up.
  

Page 19:

• "The future is always open, nothing is ever set in stone." Pretty much sums it up for the Legion's history, doesn't it?
  

Page 20:

• I called it after Dan Didio's 20 questions the other day. Superboy-Prime is back home on Earth-Prime. I wonder if his family had to wait so long for the conclusion of this mini-series? So much for trying to redeem him.
  

Page 21:

• Panel 8: Statues of the formerly fallen (L1 Ferro Lad, Triplicate Girl, Invisible Kid I, and Proty; and L2 Monstress and Leviathan) and newly fallen (L1 Karate Kid II, L3 Element Lad, Kinetix, L3 Sun Boy, and L1 Rond Vidar).
  
• Panel 9: It's always been "Myg of Lythyl", not "Mygg".
  
• Panel 11: First appearance of the guy who will be Karate Kid III.
  

Page 22:

• Panel 3: If Sodam Yat is sending out his rings to reconstruct the Green Lantern Corps, who were those guys back on page 3, just constructs?
  
• Panels 7-8: this suggests that the ring for sector 2814 has found a worthy bearer. Anyone we might know?
  

Page 23:

• Panel 5: On Sorcerer's World. Is that Green Lantern Alan Scott and Raven of the Teen Titans? Not sure who the guy is on top. Mysa says that she's not there to save them.
  
• Panel 10: "Evil beware the Black Witch". Doesn't quite sound like she's squeaky-clean Legionnaire material anymore, though she is wearing her Legion ring.
  

Page 24:

• Panel 1: OK, who expected Chameleon Boy and Dream Girl to show up in this issue and save the day? I was pleasantly surprised that they did NOT, that would have been too expected. But where are they?
  
• Panels 3-6: Starman at McDonald's. "Warrior needs food badly!" Ha! The document in panel 6 says "Last Will and Testament of R. J. Brande".
  
• Panel 9: So Earth-Prime is one of the 52 Earths that were reborn after Final Crisis and 52.
  

Page 25:

• Panel 1: That settles that. The L3 Legion is the future of Earth-Prime. A few years ago, I noted that we had seen a backup story in which old DC comics were seen and were a part of the plot. At the time, I tried to explain it as the future of a new Earth-2, but that's because we didn't know about the newly revived Earth-Prime yet. So I should get partial credit for catching that.
  
• Panel 5: Didn't Livewire get his original arm back?
  
• Panel 6: The L2 Legion, who no longer have a universe to go back to, are going out into the multiverse. Kid Quantum misspeaks the name "Shikari".
  

Page 26

• Panels 4-5: Arguably the two most favorite L2 Legionnaires are staying with the L1 Legion, XS and Gates.
  
• Panels 6-8: It's comedy gold when three Brainiac 5's argue.
  

Page 27

• Panel 1: Long Live the Legion!
  
• Sometime in here, I'm not exactly sure when, L1 Brainiac 5 shows Superman the Miracle Machine so he can use it when he gets back to the 21st century to help out at the end of Final Crisis (that happened in issue 6 back in January; that issue was supposed to come out after this issue of L3W.)
  

Page 28

• Superboy and Kid Flash return to the present and meet their fellow Titans.
  

Page 29-30

• The meta-commentary here is that the former Superboy-Prime is now just a guy living in his parents basement, surrounded by comics and trolling message boards. The "Can Superboy Prime be redeemed?" thread on the DC Message Board is a real one (and now has someone posting as Superboy Prime). It was pointed out there that the Earth-Prime version of this issue has page 29 on the left side of the page (as shown on page 30), while our version has page 29 on the right.
  

THE END... for now.

So, some plot points that are ready for a new Legion series:
1. The Black Witch and Sorcerer's World
2. What happened to Luornu that she's now Duplicate Damsel?
3. Karate Kid III and Lythyl
4. Earth's new Green Lantern
5. Where are Chameleon Boy, Dream Girl, Element Lad, Matter-Eater Lad, Quislet, Sensor Girl, Tellus, and Tyroc?
6. What is Brande's top secret mission for Starman in the 21st century?
7. The L2 Legion is going wandering into the multiverse in search of other survivors from the long-dead parallel Earths.

Koblish @ SDCC09, plus L3W out today

Here's some more from L3W inker Scott Koblish. Sorry I won't be there to meet you this year, Scott!

July 12:

San diego Comic-Con is coming up and i just want to let folks know that I'll be doing sketches of any Legionnaire, for the price of a donation to the Hero Initiative! I'll be at the Hero Initiative Booth [#907] from 6:30 through 9pm on Wednesday night at the San Diego Comic-Con. Come one, come all, it's for a good cause.

Special note - you can throw me all the curves you like - the Legion has many very distinct and insane design histories, but if it's super-crazy, bring a little reference for me, so I can do the character justice!

Come on, let's see some super-crazy for Scott!

July 21:

In addition to drawing sketches of whatever Legionnaires the crowd wants in return for a reasonable charitable donation (I'm going to leave it up to the charity to figure out what the cost should be, although I'm sure it will be reasonable), I'll also have these little sketch cards I did up today. I drew about 20 of them, all in their Lo3W's costumes, 16 are here...

And finally, also from July 21, a sneak at some panels shows two long-absent Legionnaires, whose initials are KS and Q! Are they part of a dream, a hoax, or an imaginary story? We'll find out later today!

The final fate of Superboy-Prime?

In the latest 20 Questions with Dan Didio, he answers this question in video format (at the 2:07 mark): Will we be seeing Superboy-Prime any more after the end of Legion of 3 Worlds?

The answer:

Well, if you read the end of Legion of 3 Worlds which came out on Wednesday the 22nd, you know exactly where Superboy-Prime is right now, you know exactly where he's interacting, and you could be chatting with him right now.

Totally uninformed speculation: Maybe Superboy-Prime goes back to Earth-Prime (home of DC Comics).

This was obviously taped ahead of time, with the expectation that it would be seen after L3W #5 comes out (tomorrow).

Trivia #37

I've been such a slacker this month that I've missed the window for a trivia quiz which would give everyone enough time to answer, as it's already halfway through the month and San Diego is next week. So instead, here are some San Diego-related trivia stories just for the hell of it.

1. The Omnicom you're reading now is the second one online. The first was a mailing list back in the olden days, started by Vernon Harmon. That was the dawn of the web, the mid-90s. The welcome page is still up, as well as the main navigation page, but none of the links work any more. I spoke to Vernon not too long ago and he said that the archives are lost, and even the Internet Archive doesn't have a cached version. I met Vernon at the 1995 San Diego Comic Con where he had dressed up as Wildfire.

2. The 1995 San Diego con was my first year going (here's my trip report). I got online in 1994 during Zero Hour, and by the next year I had met enough people on Compuserve and the Legion mailing list that we all decided to meet up for dinner one night. I think, but am not sure, that was the first of the "Legion Dinner" meetings that took place at San Diego and Chicago into the early 2000s. One night it was a bunch of fans with Phil and Jeff Moy, Cori Carani, and KC Carlson. Another night I was with a group of internet-based fans who met with the Interlac APA group (which included Tom & Mary Bierbaum), and everyone decided that was the first significant meeting of online and offline Legion fandom.

3. Many of the Legion fans went to both Chicago (pre-Wizard) and San Diego, and the Legion Dinner tradition was carried on there as well. I was not there, but the 1997 dinner was extra-special due to some guests. Mike Chary has the whole story.

4. At the 1995 San Diego and Chicago cons, "Legionnaires" artists Jeff Moy and Cory Carani were taking pictures of some of the fans. We didn't know until Legionnaires #43 came out (cover-dated 11/96) that a number of fans from the conventions were drawn into a crowd scene during the Legion tryouts. My collection isn't organized enough for me to find my copy, and I can't find the page online, but if anyone has theirs handy to scan, I can put the page (or panel) here.

5. At that 1995 San Diego con, I picked up a copy of Adventure 247 on the last day. It was way over my budget - it was $150, marked down because the dealer had just purchased a collection before the con and didn't want to take the time to price everything. Turned out that when I got home, I noticed that the centerfold was missing, and when I brought it to the dealer the next year, he gave me a discount that I could apply to other books I got from him (so I bought Adventure 267 and Action 267, the 2nd and 3rd appearances of the Legion). That was Mike Carbonaro out of New York. Years later I picked up a coverless copy of #247 that was also missing the outer wrap for cheap on eBay, so I cannibalized the centerfold from that one.

6. One year in San Diego I ran into Kevin Gould, who has been active in Legion fandom since the 1970s. He happened to be carrying a piece of artwork from Superman #247, which featured the Guardians of the Universe. (I didn't know it at the time, but it was Elliot S! Maggin's first story.) In an amazing coincidence, I recognized that page from one of the first conventions I had gone to, in New Jersey in the late 1970s. There was a table with artwork just piled on it, and I saw one page I liked but it was too expensive (probably like $20). At that con, I happened to buy the issue that page came from, which is why I remembered the page. Kevin told me that he bought that page at a convention in Houston (my hometown). He still has it, and Maggin has also inquired about it.

7. Most people who have a copy of All New Collector's Edition C-55 with the wedding of Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl know how hard it has been to find a copy in decent condition. Hence, the (polite) nickname for it - "That Damned Tabloid", or TDT for short. For a while in the 1990s, it seemed like every Legion fan I saw had a copy of it, and they call brought them in to be autographed by Mike Grell and Paul Levitz. It was almost a rite of passage to be able to see the two men and get them to sign the cover.

8. Last year, I stopped at the DC booth to chat with Paul Levitz for a minute. I told him how I had wanted to be an astronaut, and if I ever do get to fly I'd take my Legion flight ring with me. If you remember, the box for the ring says "Warning: does not enable the wearer to fly". I wanted to have my picture taken in space wearing my flight ring, flying, to prove him wrong. He thought that was a pretty neat story.

So in lieu of guessing trivia questions this month, how about some convention-related Legion stories of your own?

Legion of Three Worlds #5 out this week

OK, so it's 7 months late (originally should have shipped last December for a monthly book that started last August). We already know part of how it ends from other books that came out months ago - [redacted until the issue comes out since I figured it was common knowledge]

Back in April, when we were told that issue 5 should be coming out in June, I ran a poll asking you when you thought it would come out.

June - 13%
July - 37%
August - 51%
(doesn't add to 100% due to rounding)

Of the 138 people who voted, just 4% correctly picked this week (6 people).

With the last issue coming out the day that the San Diego Comic Con starts, should make for some interesting discussion. All of the other Final Crisis blogger have long since finished their annotations, so looks like I'm the last one standing. Look for my annotations late Wednesday night.

The Legionnaire's Guide to SDCC09 (preview #3)

Update: Added link to Francis Manapul's web site, changed his Artists Alley location

In Preview #2 I listed what I thought were the panels most likely to have Legion stuff in it. Here now are those people signed up for Artists Alley who are considered significant Legion artists; you might score a nice page from them if you hit them up early in the con.

Chris Batista (GG-05)
Dennis Calero (FF-03)
Eric Canete (II-17) (animated show artist, designer)
Seth Estrada for Ric Estrada (FF-14)
Ben Jones (JJ-09) (animated show writer, director)
Francis Manapul (DD-09) (LL-10)
Jeffrey Moy (EE-07)
Philip Moy (EE-08)
Joe Phillips (FF-10)
Adrienne Roy (FF-12) (colorist)
Anthony Tollin (FF-11) (colorist)

Also, not listed in Artists Alley but appearing elsewhere: Scott Koblish, inker on Legion of 3 Worlds. In Preview #2 he left this comment:

I'll be doing sketches of any Legionnaire, for the price of a donation to the Hero Initiative! I'll be at the Hero Initiative Booth from 6:30 through 9pm on Wednesday night at the San Diego Comic-Con. Come one, come all, it's for a good cause...

Update: Francis Manapul has his schedule up on his site, with times and locations for his signings.

Trivia Answers #36

Last month I asked (but never answered) this: Not counting Superboy or Supergirl non-Legion stories, when has the Legion (or individual Legionnaires) met and/or fought...

1. Giant robots?
2. Zombies?
3. Ninjas?
4. Dinosaurs?
5. Space pirates?
6. Cyborgs?
7. Vampires?

This is mostly a compilation of your answers. Sometimes I come up with a question and crowd-source the answers, and once in a while I will have thought of something you didn't (but it's mostly you coming up with ones I hadn't thought of).

Giant robots

• Computo
  
• The Supergirl/Legion robot revolution storyline
  
• Adventure #319 on Throon Gim got clobbered.
  
• In Action 389, "The Mystery Legionnaire"
  
  My answers:
  
• Wildfire got eaten by the giant agriculture robot on Manna-5
  

Zombies

• During the Mordru/Glorith storyline in v4 #47 when he raised the dead
  
• I hadn't thought of it, but Soljer was basically a zombie
  
  My answers:
  
• I consider Darkseid's Servants of Darkness to be evil clones rather than zombies.
  

Ninjas

• Karate Kid was never explicitly stated to be a ninja, but he did appear to have all the skills required.
  
• Similarly, Karate Kid's Sensei and the Black Dragons could be considered ninjas.
  
  My answers:
  
• What about some of the guys from Lythyl?
  

Dinosaurs

• The War Between Krypton and Earth
  
• Crisis on Infinite Earths
  
• Adventure 380, Superboy is apparently eaten by a giant robot dinosaur with Kryptonite teeth (yes, bonus points for a Giant Robot Dinosaur)
  
• During the first fight with the Infinite Man
  
• Adventure 360, a flashback to the Legion of Super-Pets vs Ghost Space Pirates (which should also get bonus points for combining genres)
  
  My answers:
  
• On the cover of Amazing World of DC Comics #9 (art by Dave Cockrum)
  

Space pirates

• Captain Frake, during the Ultra Boy/Reflecto story
  
• Sklarian Raiders
  
• Starburst Bandits
  
• Resources Raiders
  
  My answers:
  
• Command Kid was from the pirate world of New Tortuga
  

Cyborgs

• Tharok
  
• Khunds (including Kharlak, Bloodclaw, and Firemist)
  
• Tyr
  
• Vic "Cyborg" Stone of the Teen Titans
  
• Lightning Lad with his robot arm
  
• Shrinking Violet with her robot leg
  
  My answers:
  
• Validus, from the animated Justice League episode "Far from Home" (I don't remember if he's been shown to have robotic parts elsewhere)
  
• I don't consider Wildfire or Quislet to be cyborgs since neither was an amalgam of human and robot parts. Wildfire was energy in a suit, Quislet was energy in a space ship.
  

Vampires:

• Vrykos, Mordru's henchman in v4. He was supposed to have been a real vampire but I don't think we really saw much of him.
  
  My answers:
  
• Haven't we seen "energy-vampires" before?
  

The Legionnaire's Guide to SDCC09 (preview #2)

Here's the updated Legionnaire's Guide to San Diego. The previous version only had the DC schedule. Added Friday's Mattel/DC panel; Saturday's DC Editorial panel and the Siegel/Shuster/Superboy lawsuit panel; and Sunday's Smallville panel.

Thursday July 23

11:45-12:45 Superman: Two Worlds
Torn between New Krypton and Earth, The Man of Steel has only just begun his latest adventure. You've seen the stories. A new planet of Kryptonians. Scores of super-powered beings. The people behind Superman's future are here to face the most trying times in his life. Meet the talented folks behind Superman as they give you a glimpse of what is in store for our favorite Super-family. Featuring Superman Group Editor Matt Idelson, Geoff Johns (Adventure Comics, Superman: Secret Origins), Greg Rucka (Action Comics), James Robinson (Superman), Sterling Gates (Supergirl), Renato Guedes (Superman), and more! Room 6DE

2:15-3:15 Spotlight on Geoff Johns
He is the mastermind behind the smash-hit, critically acclaimed Flash: Rebirth and DC's most anticipated book of the year, Green Lantern: Blackest Night. Wondering what makes Geoff Johns tick? Don't miss this panel hosted by Eddie Berganza, Group Editor—DCU, interviewing one of the most exciting talents in the DCU. Room 6DE

Friday July 24

11:00-12:00 Mattel and DC Comics: A Heroic Partnership
You've been a fan of Mattel's popular DC toy lines, now find out the latest news, sneak peeks and behind-the-scenes scoop on your favorite Mattel/DC action figures, including DC Universe Classics, Justice League Unlimited, Infinite Heroes, and exciting new lines like Batman: The Brave and the Bold, as well as the world premiere of new action figure lines announced here first! Join Mattel Toy designer Bill Benecke, Mattel marketing brand manager Scott Neitlich (AKA "Toy Guru"), The Four Horsemen, and representatives from DC Comics and Warner Brothers for an insightful Q&A. Room 2

3:00-4:00 DC NATION
Calling all NATION recruits! Bring your friends and hear top talent discuss where the DC NATION is heading from 2009 and beyond. Sr. VP - Executive Editor Dan DiDio hosts this exciting discussion with Ian Sattler, James Robinson, Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka, and more! Join them for a VIP look into the most talked about stories and events of the summer! Room 6DE

Saturday July 25

11:30-12:30 Spotlight on Francis Manapul
The hot up-and-coming artist Francis Manapul takes the stage to discuss his kinetic art on one of the most anticipated projects of the year: Adventure Comics with Geoff Johns! Hosted by Group Editor Matt Idelson see what's it like illustrating the return of Superboy. Come find out from one of the freshest artists in the biz! Room 4

12:45-2:00 DCU Editorial Presentation
Senior VP/executive editor DCU Dan DiDio, senior story editor—DCU Ian Sattler, and countless DCU talent are gathering for a discussion that's not to be missed. Now that Blackest Night is upon us, what lies ahead for your favorite heroes? Got a question for your favorite DCU creator? Come on by! There's no greater gathering of top-tier creative talent! Room 6A

1:00-2:00 Comics Arts Conference Session #11: The (Strange) State of Siegel and Shuster Scholarship
Brad Ricca (Case Western Reserve University), director of Last Son, a scholarly documentary on Siegel and Shuster, moderates this conversational panel featuring Craig Yoe (Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman Co-Creator Joe Shuster) and Lauren Agostino, an independent scholar, who will share letters connected to the 1947 lawsuit and portions of the original Superboy script that completely upset a lot of myths about who created Superboy. Room 30AB

Sunday July 26

10:30-11:30 Smallville Screening and Q&A
Comic-Con favorite Smallville returns, as showrunners Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson join cast members Allison Mack (The Ant Bully), Erica Durance (House of the Dead), Cassidy Freeman (Finishing the Game: The Search for a New Bruce Lee), Justin Hartley (Gemini Division) and new series star Callum Blue (The Tudors), who will be playing the villainous Zod, to talk about the year ahead, answer fan questions and give an exclusive sneak peek at clips from season nine. Award-winning comic book writer, Emmy-nominated film and television writer/producer, and Smallville alum Jeph Loeb (Heroes) will moderate the session. From Tollin/Robbins Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, Smallville will air Fridays at 8:00 PM this fall on The CW, premiering September 25. Smallville: The Complete Eighth Season will be released on DVD and Blu-ray Hi Def August 25. Room 6BCF

Who knows which other panels we may find something out? Remember, last year, who expected to hear about the Legion from the "Smallville" panel?

Superman lawsuit update

Update: news from CBR and Newsarama (here and here), both written by lawyers who know how to interpret all this legalese.

I haven't posted an update to the Superboy/Superman lawsuit lately, but something new came out on Wednesday.

The BEAT wrote

The Siegel family — including Joanne Siegel and Laura Sigel Larson — were granted half the copyright to Superman in 1999, and the present case involved their share of the revenue from such Superman appearances as SMALLVILLE. The Siegels argued that a “sweetheart deal” from Warner Bros. led to lower than market value licensing fees for the use of Superman.

Jeff Trexler at Newsarama posted that:

Last year a federal court awarded the Siegel heirs half of the copyright in the Superman material in Action Comics #1. Remaining to be decided, however, was how much that copyright interest was worth.

Today the court released its ruling on the first issue related to this question: namely

“whether the license fees paid” by Warner Bros Entertainment Inc. (“Warner Bros”) to its corporate sibling, DC Comics, for the audiovisual rights to the Superman copyright pursuant to various licensing agreements entered into during the 1999 to 2002 period “represents the fair market value therefor, or whether the license for the works between the related entities was a ‘sweetheart deal.’”

These licensing agreements included the TV series "Smallville", the movie "Superman Returns", and animated shows such as "Justice League" and "Legion of Super Heroes".

CBR has more here, and The BEAT has more as well.

There's still a big part of the Superman lawsuit still remaining (but hopefully in the near future), and the Superboy copyright lawsuit is supposed to follow that one.

SDCC09 preview

DC Comics released their schedule for this year's San Diego Comic Con, so for those of you who are going (which does not include me this year), here's what you can look forward to:

Thursday July 23

11:45-12:45 Superman: Two Worlds
Torn between New Krypton and Earth, The Man of Steel has only just begun his latest adventure. You've seen the stories. A new planet of Kryptonians. Scores of super-powered beings. The people behind Superman's future are here to face the most trying times in his life. Meet the talented folks behind Superman as they give you a glimpse of what is in store for our favorite Super-family. Featuring Superman Group Editor Matt Idelson, Geoff Johns (Adventure Comics, Superman: Secret Origins), Greg Rucka (Action Comics), James Robinson (Superman), Sterling Gates (Supergirl), Renato Guedes (Superman), and more! Room 6DE

2:15-3:15 Spotlight on Geoff Johns
He is the mastermind behind the smash-hit, critically acclaimed Flash: Rebirth and DC's most anticipated book of the year, Green Lantern: Blackest Night. Wondering what makes Geoff Johns tick? Don't miss this panel hosted by Eddie Berganza, Group Editor—DCU, interviewing one of the most exciting talents in the DCU. Room 6DE

Friday July 24

3:00-4:00 DC NATION
Calling all NATION recruits! Bring your friends and hear top talent discuss where the DC NATION is heading from 2009 and beyond. Sr. VP - Executive Editor Dan DiDio hosts this exciting discussion with Ian Sattler, James Robinson, Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka, and more! Join them for a VIP look into the most talked about stories and events of the summer! Room 6DE

Saturday July 25

11:30-12:30 Spotlight on Francis Manapul
The hot up-and-coming artist Francis Manapul takes the stage to discuss his kinetic art on one of the most anticipated projects of the year: Adventure Comics with Geoff Johns! Hosted by Group Editor Matt Idelson see what's it like illustrating the return of Superboy. Come find out from one of the freshest artists in the biz! Room 4

There are also a number of other panels that might yield some Legion info; last year, who expected to hear about the Legion from the "Smallville" panel?

More answers with Dan DiDio

Couple of items in today's "20 Answers" with Dan DiDio:

10. ...We had a question about the heroes who have come into the books where the title characters have stepped out. What happens if you find out what readers really like Batwoman in Detective, Mon-el in Superman and Flamebird and Nightwing in Action when it’s time for Bruce and Superman to come back home? Is your plan flexible enough to allow for more time, or spinoffs?

DD: That would be the best of both worlds – if we’re able to support the Batman titles or the Superman titles without Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent, then that shows the strength of the DC Universe and more importantly, the strength of the characters that are inhabiting those books. So my standpoint is that there is room for all of them, and as their stories progress, we’re going to let them flow according to their natural course, and whether or not Superman reutns sooner or later or how the changes in the Batman books play out – it all gives us hope that we have a lot of untapped potential for stories in the future with the characters that are now in them.

So, we have a long-term plan as for how this goes, but that doesn’t mean that we’re not going to be flexible as to how we play it.

NRAMA: So the return of Bruce Wayne or Superman are set in stone for a specific month or a specific issue?

DD: We have a very strong structure as to how these stories unfold, and that’s probably something that’s not too flexible, but there are a lot of aspects as to how things can progress.

...

18. With Superman: Secret Origin coming up, a reader asked how often do you feel a character’s origin needs to be re-told or tweaked, and what drives that decision? Secret Origin is the third retelling in 20 years, Batman’s has been retold a handful of times to include and remove and include Joe Chill...

DD: In this particular case, there was a real sense of some of the status quo changing following Infinite Crisis and a feeling of some things changing when Geoff and Richard Donner stepped on board – you got the sense that there were slight changes in the past of Superman’s world. The re-introduction of the Legion of Super-Heroes that we’re still seeing in Legion of 3 Worlds is another tweak. So in that case we felt that it was time to revisit that and to embrace the sensibilities of that, not only because there were slight changes and I felt that they made for great story, but it also re-introduces Superman back into the Legion of Super-Heroes lore, which I think will make everybody very excited, but it was also setting up a lot of the parameters of the world of Krypton and who Superman is, and will play out in the Superman story in the coming year or so.

The interesting part of this story for me is that when we came up with the changes after Infinite Crisis and launched Geoff’s run on Superman, there were a lot of people asking for Superman’s origin, and one of the reasons why we pushed this through was that people asked for it early on.

Adventure Comics #1 preview

The DCU Blog has a 5-page preview of Adventure Comics #1, due to August 12th. What did Superman do? He joined a team of super-heroes, among other things.

The Francis Manapul art is pretty damn good, much different than his Legion stuff, yet still similar.