Happy Meal toy program ends tomorrow

If you haven't gotten your Legion Happy Meal toys yet, hurry up... the program officially ends tomorrow (Thursday 8/30).

LSH season 2 info

From the KidsWB press release on the Fall 2007 season:

Legion of Super Heroes (11:00 a.m.)
The second season of "Legion of Super Heroes" finds the group fulfilling their collective destiny, each member elevating his skills to new levels ... just in time to face even greater challenges. A incomprehensibly undefeatable nemesis – Imperiex, the destroyer of galaxies from the rich annals of DC Comics – puts the Legion into action alongside new team members. Superman returns from the 21st century with greater development of both his physical prowess and far better utilization of his powers to help the Legion toward victory in the 31st century and beyond. Moreover, the Legion finds a surprising, new ally from across the space-time continuum – a 41st century Superman, cloned from the original Superman with alien DNA added to the mix for new, enhanced powers – to assist in its efforts to rid the universe of this powerful foe. Along the way, the LOSH – including new members like Chameleon Boy – provides the perfect complement of heroics and comedy to the efforts of the Supermans. Produced by Warner Bros. Animation.

"Supermans"?

Here are three images included in the press release (click to enlarge):


Lightning Lad, Phantom Girl, Chameleon Boy, and the Duo Damsels


Imperiex and his warriors


The 41st century clone Superman Kell-El and the 21st century Superman Kal-El

Superman Homepage has three other pictures, showing Imperiex, Phantom Girl, and Matter-Eater Lad taking a bite out of crime.

LSH DVD reviews

To buy your own copy online, see this PriceGrabber listing of internet retailers. Or you can use my Amazon link:




No screener copy for me, sadly. A number of reviewers around the country did get them, though. I'm including the reviews since a lot of them would be new to the show and it's interesting to hear some insight from those who were not familiar to the Legion mythos prior to this.

• UGO (UnderGround Online):
  

  First, a warning - if you're a hardcore fan of superhero animation, DON'T buy Legion of Super Heroes: Volume One. I don't advise that because the show is that awful or because the DVD is particularly bad, but it's an undeniably weird release. This first volume of the hit show only includes the first four episodes of the first season and only serves as a brief (89 minutes total) sampler for the entire series. You can almost be assured that the other nine episodes from season one will be included on a future season set, making this one obsolete (except for maybe its lone special feature).
  
  [snip]
  
  As you might imagine with a single disc, four-episode release, there aren't many special features to speak of. In fact, there's only one - "We Are Legion: From Comic Book Origins to Animated Series Stars." One can presume that they're saving the commentaries, the storyboards, and the deleted scenes for the full season set. One can also presume that this standard-but-informative featurette won't be included in the full season set, making this a must-purchase for hardcore Legion fans. Like the rest of the package, there's nothing particularly wrong with the one extra included on the DVD, but it's going to leave you wanting more. In some ways, that's just what the WB wants.

  
  Ratings:
  Show: B
  Sound: B
  Extras: C
  Overall: B
  
  
• The San Antonio Express-News:
  

  I was eager to pounce on the problems that were sure to abound in "The Legion of Super Heroes: Vol. 1" DVD of the Kids WB animated series.
  
  The series, which first aired Sept. 2006, looked like a cheap imitation of the awesome "Justice League" series, which was written by some of comicdom's top names. "Legion" had the trappings of a cheap knockoff to appeal to snot-nosed kids who couldn't sit through a "to be continued."
  
  I was wrong. While I'm not a fan of the animation, which looks like Bruce Timm meets "Pokemon," the stories and direction are good action-packed fare.
  
  [snip]
  
  These episodes really were fun to watch. There was little in the way of special features aside from a 10-minute segment called "We Are Legion" that talks about taking the comic and turning it into an animated series. Geeks abound in this segment.

  
  
• DVD Talk:
  

  The young hero-themed "Legion of Super Heroes" nicely fills in the hole that was left when "Teen Titans" went off the air last year. Which makes sense, as "Legion" is pretty much "Titans" recast for the 31st century - even if comics fans will be quick to tell you that the "Legion" comic book was created years before "Titans." No matter. Both teams focus on teenage superheroes, and both series, from the seemingly infallible combo of Warner Bros. Animation and DC Comics, supply a terrific mix of colorful action, lighthearted comic relief, and exciting visuals.
  
  Indeed, for a youth-oriented show, the series finds a commendable amount of time for character growth. Superman is a teen coming to term with his destiny, while other characters have to deal with famous parents, or loneliness, or jealousy, and so on. Even though the stories whiz by, we're still given solid characters, a rarity in this genre and a specialty of Warner/DC.
  
  There's some minor controversy surrounding this release, as it counts its "first four episodes" in terms of original air date and not by production number. Considering that episode-to-episode continuity does not play a major role during the middle of the first season, this does not seem to be a problem.
  
  "Legion" is a fantastic series and a worthy addition to the Warner/DC animated line. And yet we all know that a full season set is bound to be released eventually, and at only a slightly higher price than this collection. Why waste your money now, when all 13 episodes will be yours later? Still, this is an excellent introduction to the series, so those curious about this new show should definitely Rent It to see that the studio's still churning out solid work.

  
  
• The Trades includes good reviews of each of the four episodes too, from someone who's never seen the show:
  

  With the demise of Justice League Unlimited and Teen Titans, it looked like The Batman was going to be the only outlet for animated superhero adventure. And when I first saw some of the advance artwork for Legion of Super Heroes, there was a lot I didn't like. Being an LSH purist, my largest concern was the Clark Kent (voiced by Yuri Lowenthal) recruited by these future heroes would go by the costumed identity of Superman, not Superboy. Not that I don't understand the reasons why, of course ... but for me the team will always and forever be Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (hyphen included.)
  
  And then there was the slightly more cartoony look to the characters than what we had in Justice League Unlimited. And the selected main cast. And... and...
  
  And now I've got the DVD in hand of the first four episodes, and I've yet to see a single show broadcast. So my initial first informed impressions are these:
  
  I'm liking me some Legion.

  
  
• MovieWeb gets the title wrong (I mean geez, it's only right there on the DVD itself, the cover, and the image on your web page!):
  

  This was a very well done show. While I think that people sometimes make too much of a big deal about Superheroes, comics and those kinds of things in general, all in all I liked Legion of the Superheroes, Vol. 1's light touch. This isn't to say that the genre shouldn't be taken seriously, (maybe we are having too much of a Superhero renaissance now?), but I find that the characters in these stories be it Superman, Batman, Wolverine, etc. all seem to somewhat be the same. Then it seems like these characters get overanalyzed to the point that anything that may have been interesting about them is lost. Here I didn't find that to be a problem. The subjects in the Special Feature all seem to know where they wanted to go with these stories, but I never felt like any of the motives or actions displayed were entering the aforementioned, over-analytical territory.
  
  Legion of the Superheroes, Vol. 1 is yet another solid release from our friends at Warner Bros. The animation is well conceived, the execution flawlessly put across and overall this is one of the stand out, smaller Superhero releases that I have had the pleasure of reviewing.

  
  

Keith Giffen, on Karate Kid (1989)

From a 1989 interview in the late, lamented "Amazing Heroes" magazine with Keith Giffen:

AH: I remember I saw in an old interview you did you said you wanted to kill Kalista of the Omega Men and Karate Kid....

GIFFEN: Every so often, a character comes up that I just look at and say, I just want to off this guy. Karate Kid was one. And Kalista. Everyone was insisting on keeping her around and I just thought, This is nothing I don't see anything in this character. Maybe I was just being too....

AH: Cynical?

GIFFEN: Cynical and negative. Yknow, there is a tendency in the business to say, Well, I'm now doing the Avengers and I don't like the Wasp so I'm going to kill her. If you step back a bit, then you say to yourself, Maybe I don't know what to do with her. I tend now to think twice about it if I say, I don't like this character. I'm going to kill this character. I stop and think, Wait a minute. Maybe something else will know what to do with this character. So if I'm going to kill a character now, I make sure, Is there a reason for it or is it a cheap shot? If I have the slimmest doubts about it, I won't do it.

AH: Do you think death and change are vital to keep a book interesting?

GIFFEN: No. If you've got an active imagination and you're really interested in the characters, I think you can weave interesting enough stories with out killing a character.

Note that at this point, Giffen had co-killed Karate Kid only once. Val's second death (as an SW6 Legionnaire) was still a couple years in the future from the perspective of this article.



I'll just point out that both Keith Giffen and Karate Kid are in "Countdown", though Giffen is only as an artist, not a writer.

Guttered!

I'm sure many of you saw Rich Johnston's "Lying in the Gutters" this week. So did a lot of others who came to visit - I'm on my way to the highest hit count ever (over 1100 hits).

I had emailed Rich last week to find out if he knew anything about the possible return of Jim Shooter to the Legion, and he replied that he did not. I told him that this would rank as an "amber" (that's "yellow" to us United Statesians) on the rumor-meter.

A few sites picked up on the news before today, including ComicMix, Jimmy Olsen's Blues, Howling Curmudgeons, and JK's Journal.

Read what others are saying on DC Message Boards, and ComicBloc.

Here's what my traffic looked like earlier this afternoon:

Trivia #14 answers

This month's quiz theme was the myriad Legions of the Multiverse. Sorry I'm behind on posting them, it should have been a week ago.

1. Name ten different versions of the Legion (as appearing in books published by DC). By "different" I mean where it is not the Legion as regularly seen in the "mainstream" Pre-Crisis, Post-Crisis, Glorithverse, Post-Zero Hour, or Post-Infinite Crisis series (and you can't use any of those in your count).

I asked this one first instead of last, because you would have gotten half of them while answering the other questions. I consulted Don Sakers' site for the obscure ones and counted more than 30 different versions of the Legion apart from those above. The rest of the readers came up with a LOT more:

1. the Imaginary Story of Superman Red/Superman Blue (Superman 162)
   
2. the Imaginary Story where Lois Lane came to Earth from Krypton and took the name Krypton Girl (Lois Lane 47)
   
3. the Imaginary Story in which Superman and Batman join the Adult Legion (World's Finest 172)
   
4. the alternate timeline seen in the tabloid wedding of Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl
   
5. the alternate timeline where Superboy gives up time and space travel (LSH 300)
   
6. the alternate timeline where lots of Legionnaires died fighting Computo (LSH 300)
   
7. the alternate timeline where Mordru won Earthwar (LSH 300)
   
8. the alternate timeline where the Dark Man triumphed (LSH 300)
   
9. the alternate timeline where the Earth-1 Douglas Nolan went to and joined as Ferro Lad II (LSH 300)
   
10. the alternate timeline of the Adult Legion where the galaxy is at war (LSH 300)
    
11. the alternate timelines that the other Legionnaires came from in "End of an Era"
    
12. the Mordruverse
    
13. the Adult Legion
    
14. the Dead Earth Legions of Wildfire's future
    
15. the Time Trapper's good Legion
    
16. the Time Trapper's evil Legion
    
17. Legion 1,000,000
    
18. the parallel Earth where the evil Legionnaires visited Superboy in Smallvile (Superboy 117)
    
19. the Adventure Comics Bizarro Legion (Adventure 329)
    
20. the SW6 Legionnaires
    
21. the evil Legion of Mordru and Glorith (Legionnaires 18)
    
22. the Brainiac Adventures kid Legion (LSH v4 100)
    
23. the alternate universe demon Legion (LSH v4 105)
    
24. the Wild World Legion which arose from a defective World Duplicator (Action 388)
    
25. the Elseworlds Kingdom Come
    
26. the Elseworlds Legion from Generations III
    
27. the Elseworlds Superboy's Legion
    
28. the Elseworlds 80-Page Giant where they reject Young Darkseid
    
29. the Elseworlds Legion of Oz
    
30. the Elseworlds Legion of Avalon
    
31. the Elseworlds JLA: Another Nail
    
32. the Elseworlds Justice (Alex Ross story)
    
33. the DC Animated Universe Legion
    
34. the LSH Cartoon Legion
    
35. the Lightning Saga Legion
    
36. the alternate timeline Legion from Superman/Batman
    
37. the "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow" timeline
    
38. the JSA arc with Mordru that showed a flash-forward to the future

2. In any continuity, which Legionnaires were related by blood or marriage to a villain or former villain? (Again, you guys came up with way more than I had originally thought of.)

Pre-Crisis: Lightning Lord is the brother of Light Lass and Lightning Lad; Validus is the son of Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad (and nephew of Light Lass); Rond Vidar's father is Universo; Brainiac 5 to Brainiac; Shadow Lass by marriage to Mother Memory, via Grev; Colossal Boy married Yera; Princess Projectra's grandmother Hagga and cousin Pharoxx

Glorithverse: White Witch married Mordru; Tenzil Kem married the former Saturn Queen; as Jim said, "Various Brianiac 5s to Brainiac and Pulsar Stargrave and Brainiac 4 and presumably Lyrl Dox and Ignea and Max G'odd"; Night Girl was married to Cosmic Boy who became Time Trapper

Post-Zero Hour: Mysa is the daughter of Mordru; Saturn Girl's cousin is Universo; XS is the niece of the Thrawne family (her mother's brother's wife); XS to Inertia, the clone of Impulse; Kon-El is a partial clone of Lex Luthor

Cartoon: Lightning Lord is brother of Lightning Lad; Timber Wolf's father

3. A couple quizzes back I asked which of the marriages, deaths, and other relationships seen in the original Adult Legion story (ADV 354-355) did occur in mainstream pre-ZH Legion continuity. This time, which ones did NOT occur in mainstream pre-ZH continuity?

The Shrinking Violet/Duplicate Boy, Light Lass/Timber Wolf, Ultra Boy/Phantom Girl, and Dream Girl/Star Boy marriages/kids; deaths of Quantum Queen and Shadow Lass; Shadow Lass not blue

4. Across all continuities, which Legionnaire(s) had the most official code names?

By my count, Ayla Ranzz: Lightning Lad, Lightning Lass, Light Lass, Spark, Gossamer, Pulse, Light Lady, and Live Wire.

5. Which Legion-related character(s) died in the Crisis on Infinite Earths?

Kid Psycho and Supergirl. If you want to stretch things, you could also say Flash (Barry Allen) as the grandfather of XS.

6. Name 5 Elseworlds stories in which the Legion or Legionnnaires (not including Superboy or Supergirl) appear.

Generations III; Superboy's Legion; Elseworlds 80-Page Giant, where they reject Young Darkseid; the Annual where everyone looked like a King Arthur story (Legion of Avalon); the Annual with the Wizard of Oz homage; Kingdom Come; JLA: Another Nail

7. When several members of the Legion went back to the 20th century and first met the Byrne-reboot Superman in the "Pocket Universe Saga", what was the inside joke behind choosing those specific Legionnaires?

Byrne had just come off the Fantastic Four. The four Legionnaires who went to the 20th century were the FF's closest counterparts: Brainiac 5 (Mr. Fantastic), Invisible Kid II (Invisible Woman), Sun Boy (Human Torch), and Blok (Thing). He even did a Superman cover the same as an earlier FF cover, switching out Gladiator for Superman and the FF for the Legion.


FF 249, 12/82 - - - - - - - - Superman (v2) #8, 8/87

8. What was the difference between Mxyzptlk V and Mxyzptlk 5?

Mxy 5 was the good one who joined the Adult Legion. Mxy V was the evil one who, as Mask Man, killed the Legionnaires (but they got better when he left).

Special bonus question: Matthew E. submitted this one to the San Diego trivia quiz, and it stumped everyone (including Paul Levitz).
9. Which Earth-1 character travelled to a parallel universe to join that Earth's LSH?

Douglas Nolan, at the end of the story in LSH v2 #300.

More Heroclix on the way

Only a month removed from the last set of Heroclix figures starring the Legion, comes word that the next set starring the Justice League will have even more Legion figures:

• Bouncing Boy (common)
  
• Tharok (uncommon)
  
• Dream Girl (rare)
  
• Time Trapper (super rare)

There's also a "Feat" card that features the Legion somehow.

Tharok is the last of the Fatal Five to appear in a Heroclix.

No images as yet, but as the sneak peeks are released, you'll see them here on the Heroclix site. Here is the figure gallery for those specified to be affiliated with the Legion. The Justice League set comes out Sept. 7th.

New team: Manapul, Livesay, and.... Shooter?

Thanks to some good detective work by my commenters, there's an interesting chain of "evidence" which strongly (though not conclusively) suggests that Jim Shooter will indeed be returing to the Legion in time for its 50th anniversary.

1. Francis Manapul is announced as the new Legion artist starting with issue 38 37. His blog is over here, and the 8/13 entry is the pencil art to the double-cover for issue 37 or 38 we saw at Newsarama and Wizard (though curiously, CBR still hasn't said anything about it). His official home page (which was last updated in late May) is at, surprisingly, francismanapul.com.

The articles don't say who the writer or inker are, but the news of the writer is apparently a Really Big Deal.

2. On the ComicBloc forums, Manapul says:

I'm so stoked to finally have this announced! I'm really excited about this project, although I'm still very new to the Legion universe, I have much respect for its legacy. I tried my best to combine some of the old elements of the characters with the new, and hopefully it will start to grow on you guys! It's quite obvious that the costumes are an homage to Dave Cockrum and his inspiring run on the book, during my research into the characters his was what struck me the most so I decided to try and see if I can tweak it a bit to "modernize" it. Again I'm focusing on simplifying rather than making them look too overly complicated. Anyways I hope you all join us during our run next year!

A few posts later, inker John Livesay adds:

I'll be on the book as well, hope everyone likes it!!

To which Manapul replies:

thanks guys! also Livesays doing some amazing inks over my stuff!
if anyone is interested in checking out the pencils to the cover, I just put it up on my blog. thanks again!

3. In something I wish I could take credit for finding, Livesay's listing for the June 2007 Toronto Comicon contains this as the last sentence in his bio:

Currently, he’s involved with several top secret Superman projects at DC and inking a new project with collaborator and legend Jim Shooter

Now, it's not clear that this new project with Shooter is at DC. It's also not clear (to me) whether Livesay is exclusive to DC or not, and I'm not familiar enough with him to know how many books per month he regularly does. But let's suppose for the sake of argument that Livesay does one book per month. If that's true, then if he's inking Manapul on the Legion, that means that Shooter's there too. Quod erat demonstratum, ex post facto, cogito ergo sum, habeus corpus, i.e., e.g., Ibid., there you go.

Of course, if Livesay is doing more than one book and he's not exclusive to DC, then please disregard the above. "Jim" could be Salicrup, Krueger, Robinson, Lee, Ottaviani, Valentino, Starlin, Hudnall, or even Steranko.

Happy Klordny Week 2007!

Today starts Klordny Week! 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, Erwin Frunt, Frunt's flickr photos, Blind Programming, Frunt's blog on Vox, and Frunt the British blogger.

Legion's new writer: Jim?

Someone who wishes to remain anonymous spoke recently with someone pretty high up in the DC hierarchy. The DC person accidentally mentioned in passing what's supposed to be the first name of the next Legion writer - a real accident, not a fake convention panel accident. (Both the anonymous person and the DC source are trustworthy, I'll leave it at that.)

After the announcement that he's on the book, new artist Francis Manapul said "the writer who will be doing the book that I’m working on is more the bigger announcement."

Supposedly, the writer taking over after Tony Bedard is Jim. Neither my source nor I know who "Jim" might be, but there have been rumors for a while (see here for the latest) that Jim Shooter will be returning. Of course, Jim Lee has said many times he would love to do the Legion (see here, among other places).

But Shooter - if it is him - would be a buzzworthy event for the Legion's 50th anniversary, hmmm?

Legion's new artist: Francis Manapul

Newsarama and Wizard both have interviews with Francis Manapul, who is now exclusive to DC and will be taking over the Legion after Dennis Calero's arc is complete. Everyone is being coy about who the new writer is, though (more on that in my next post). Go read the interviews, there's more there than I have here.

Here's what looks like the cover to issue 38. Notice that Supergirl and Mon-El are not in the image. Make of that what you will. Biggest costume tweaks: Saturn Girl (in a reverse of her pink bikini), Brainiac 5, Karate Kid, and Colossal Boy.

Newsarama:

Do the math – the Legion of Super-Heroes first appeared in 1958’s Adventure Comics #247. And what year follows 2007?

Yeah, it’s a safe bet that DC Comics has some plans afoot for the 50th anniversary of the super teen team from the future, and part of that will begin in December with a creative team change. DC’s mum on the identity of the writer, but has revelaed that the new artist coming on to the series with issue #37 will be Francis (Iron and the Maiden, Witchblade) Manapul.

Newsarama: First of all Francis, is this for a finite run, or are you the open-ended, “regular” artist?

Francis Manapul: My run begins with issue #37 which is planned to be released I believe, right around the anniversary of the Legion. I'm hoping to stick around for as long as the writer decides to stay.

NRAMA: And is that writer Tony Bedard?

FM: No. And that’s all I can say about that. [laughs]

NRAMA: So tell us from an artist standpoint how one approaches a series like Legion. Obviously there is no need to pour through reference manuals for backgrounds? Or is there? Do you reference science and science fiction in creating the future work of Legion, or just used the current run as your guide?

FM: When I came into the project to be quite honest I knew very little about the characters and their world. So rather than a hindrance I thought this would be to my advantage since I'll be approaching the book with fresh eyes and hopefully bring something new to their world. The backgrounds are definitely more fun to work on since there is no set rules on how buildings look like in the future, so I feel quite free messing around with little reference. However, I have looked at Barry Kitson’s run and I'm trying to keep some elements of that to have some sort of consistency.

NRAMA: Will you be doing any character redesign work or will the current looks carry over to your run?

FM: Yes I'll be doing some tinkering with their look. I'm quite fond of Dave Cockrum’s designs so I'm trying to work in some elements of that along with Barry Kitson’s contribution. Mostly I'm trying to simplify rather than modernize. I think simplicity carries over and creates a timeless look.

Wizard (with my emphasis added in bold)

WIZARD: How did your exclusive at DC come about?

MANAPUL: I’ve basically been freelancing for the past year and a half working on Iron and the Maiden and the French graphic novel. Usually, the route most people take having worked for Top Cow is to go work for Marvel or DC, and I thought when I eventually worked for them I’d like to get back to doing an ongoing series like I did on Witchblade, and I realized that’s probably a two-year undertaking. I thought, “I’ll freelance for a year and get to do some of these cool projects.” Around that time I decided it’s time to decide what I’m going to do eight months down the line. So I started talking to Mike Martz and Mike Carlin over at DC about possibilities of what I could do over there. It just made a lot of sense to sign an exclusive over there if I wanted to do an ongoing book. A lot of times if you decide to do an ongoing book as a freelancer a lot of things get thrown in your way and you might get sidetracked and leave. Whereas this way, I figure if I’m going to stick to one project, I might as well stick to one company.

Wizard: Did they have a project in mind when they announced it to you?

MANAPUL: It was a weird process because initially I was supposed to work on three other things, which I didn’t feel was the right thing for me to do. When I decided to work on Legion it coincided with the contract, and I decided if I was going to do an ongoing book it just made more sense to do the contract, and we both agreed that that was probably a good idea. Initially there were a couple of books pitched my way, and while they were kind of interesting and I would have gotten to draw one of the characters that I’ve loved since I was a kid, not to tease anyone, but the writer who will be doing the book that I’m working on is more the bigger announcement.

Wizard: What can you say about the team lineup and what the book is going to look like when you come on? Are you going to be doing any redesigns?

MANAPUL: Yeah, I’ve actually done some redesigns for the characters. But it’s not really even a redesign more than it is simplification of what’s there. I always thought that when you simplify something that it makes it more timeless. A lot of times when you modernize something it’s really only modern for a year or two. I’ve been looking at a lot of the Dave Cockrum stuff from back in the ‘70s. I’ve been looking at that in terms of where I want it to go. The cover to the first issue that I’m working on will feature all of them in their new costumes, but as far as I know it will be slowly worked into the new story.

Wizard World Chicago '07: day 2

Saturday at Chicago:

Saturday Aug. 11:
DCU: NEW WORLDS ORDER
The Dave Cockrum Room
The DC Universe survived 52, but will it survive Countdown? Dan DiDio, Senior VP—Executive Editor DCU and Bob Wayne, VP—Sales are joined by Tony Daniel (Teen Titans, Flash), Patrick Gleason (Green Lantern Corps), Sean McKeever (Countdown, Teen Titans ), Will Pfeifer (Catwoman), J. Torres (Teen Titans Go!), Ethan Van Sciver (Green Lantern) and others for a peek into what’s upcoming in comics’ greatest universe!

Interestingly, CBR has an image from the Legion's new penciller (the cover to issue 38 - click to enlarge it), but it's not credited there and there's nothing in the article about it.

News from Newsarama:

• "We have a new writer coming up, but we can't say who that is."
  
• Will DC bring the real Legion back? Didio: "Talk to me next year for the Legion's 50th anniversary.

Wizard Universe:

• Shortly after artist Francis Manapul steps onto "Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes", he will be joined by a new writer, whose identity remains unknown at present."

‘CREATING COMICS IN THE DIGITAL AGE’ WITH DENNIS CALERO
The Wizard School Room
Writer/artist Dennis Calero (JSA Classified, Legion of Super-Heroes) shows you how the creative process in the comic industry has expanded from pen and ink to a wide range of tools available through the computer. Learn valuable techniques on improving or fully creating your art with programs like Photoshop and more!

Nothing on this one yet.

Wizard World Chicago '07: day 1

How time flies. Some people are still recovering from San Diego and it's Chicago time already. The lineup for Wizard World looks a lot like San Diego, so I can't imagine there will be THAT much that could be new (although supposedly Mattel might have some new stuff that wasn't ready in time for San Diego).

Friday August 10:
MATTEL AND DC COMICS— A HEROIC PARTNERSHIP
The Dave Cockrum Room
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 Super Heroes, Justice League Unlimited, The Batman, DC Superfriends, plus exciting new lines and never-before-released information. Join Mattel toy designers, Warner Brothers and DC Comic representatives for an insightful Q&A.

Nothing new Legion-related from here. CBR has some pictures. One item of note is that "all lines to come will be focused on the collector market rather than the general audience" which suggests to me that they'll be going for the obscure stuff in addition to a million Superman/Batman variants.

Mattel and DC are listening to their fans and are trying their best to fulfill their needs and wants. They have lots of characters to make for 2008 and beyond and want the input of the fanbase and are investigating new ways to make that line of communication easier for both Mattel and the fans.

Hey Mattel, we want Legion figures!

Newsarama had more from the Q&A:

Will there be Legion of Super-Heroes figures with the show starting up? "Yes, we are very interested in getting those out there. Some prototypes have snuck out on the internet, so yes, we're working on it."

Hmmm, the only prototypes I've heard of was the packaging. Anyone seen any of the figures?

DC NATION
The Dave Cockrum Room
Come one, come all, rise up and join the DC NATION! Meet Dan DiDio, Senior VP-Executive Editor DCU, as he invites you to be part of the revolution! Discuss surviving 52, living in a multi-verse guarded by Monitors and try to discover the secret of the cosmic chess game as the DCU counts down. Rise up, and shout. The NATION is waiting!

CBR doesn't have anything specific about the Legion, but this new announcement is intriguing:

“Countdown: Arena,” a newly announced title in which alternate versions of heroes fight against each other (for example, Batman from the “Red Rain” Elseworlds versus the Batman from “Gotham By Gaslight”). ... “We want to take full advantage of the multiverse. Four books weekly in December -- fans vote who wins. You guys argue among yourselves, leave me out of it for a goddamn change!”

Lightning Saga Legion vs Post-Zero Hour Legion vs Post-Infinite Crisis Legion vs Glorithverse Legion vs the Adult Legion vs the SW6 Legion vs Superboy's Legion - drawn by George Perez, that's what I want to see. :)

Sadly, that's not going to be the case on who's fighting, according to Newsarama. But in the regular panel article, they did say they have "plans" for the Legion over the next year. Whew, thanks for that scoop! "The old Legion that appeared in Lightning Saga: pick up the Showcase stuff and the Supergirl issues with Karate Kid in them. "

Apparently someone "accidentally" slipped up and announced that Bart Allen would be back. It doesn't show up in either of these reports, but Newsarama mentions it in their coverage for Saturday's New Worlds Order panel.

Wizard doesn't have anything new to add.

SILVER AGE TRIVIA EXPERTS TAKE ON THE FANS!
The Marshall Rogers Room
Fans will get a chance to compete against Silver Age superhero experts to be crowned the champion! Moderated by Craig Shutt, writer of the “Ask Mr. Silver Age” column for the Comics Buyer’s Guide.

Haven't heard about this one yet.

Gary Frank sketchbook: updated Dawnstar

Gary Frank, the artist on Action Comics starting with the storyline "Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes" (Action #858), has a sketchbook up on Wizard Universe with an article and commentary by Geoff Johns:

And according to Johns, the finish line is nowhere in sight. “He’ll be on for good,” says the writer, who previously worked with Frank on Avengers [Vol. 3] #61-#62. “We’re going for very classic stories in Action with modern interpretations. Our first arc is called ‘Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes.’ It spins out of the JSA/JLA crossover, but it’s really a story that stands on its own. It’s Superman finding out what’s happened to the Legion.”

Dawnstar gets a makeover (click to enlarge):

Though it’s not the classic design, look for the Legion’s resident winged warrior to show up in Frank’s run on Action.

“Dawnstar, as she’ll appear, will have gone through some stuff,” teases Frank. “I wanted the costume to reflect that and be a little less cute. I also wanted to close up some of the holes and make it look like a more serious piece of work-wear. She is supposed to have a Native American look, so I wanted to emphasize those strong, proud features. We sometimes have a tendency to equate beauty in comics with things like a button nose and big, blue eyes, but if you are prepared to adjust your approach, you can move away from that and come up with something at least as beautiful and a lot more interesting.”

Time for Wizard World Chicago already?

How time flies. Some people are still recovering from San Diego and it's Chicago time already. The lineup for Wizard World looks a lot like San Diego, so I can't imagine there will be THAT much that could be new (although supposedly Mattel might have some new stuff that wasn't ready in time for San Diego).

Friday August 10:
11 a.m.–12 p.m.
MATTEL AND DC COMICS— A HEROIC PARTNERSHIP
The Dave Cockrum Room
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 Super Heroes, Justice League Unlimited, The Batman, DC Superfriends, plus exciting new lines and never-before-released information. Join Mattel toy designers, Warner Brothers and DC Comic representatives for an insightful Q&A.

2–3 p.m.
DC NATION
The Dave Cockrum Room
Come one, come all, rise up and join the DC NATION! Meet Dan DiDio, Senior VP-Executive Editor DCU, as he invites you to be part of the revolution! Discuss surviving 52, living in a multi-verse guarded by Monitors and try to discover the secret of the cosmic chess game as the DCU counts down. Rise up, and shout. The NATION is waiting!

3:30–4:30 p.m.
SILVER AGE TRIVIA EXPERTS TAKE ON THE FANS!
The Marshall Rogers Room
Fans will get a chance to compete against Silver Age superhero experts to be crowned the champion! Moderated by Craig Shutt, writer of the “Ask Mr. Silver Age” column for the Comics Buyer’s Guide.
Not specifically Legion related, but always a lot of fun and there will probably be some Legion questions.

Saturday Aug. 11:
11 a.m.–12 p.m.
DCU: NEW WORLDS ORDER
The Dave Cockrum Room
The DC Universe survived 52, but will it survive Countdown? Dan DiDio, Senior VP—Executive Editor DCU and Bob Wayne, VP—Sales are joined by Tony Daniel (Teen Titans, Flash), Patrick Gleason (Green Lantern Corps), Sean McKeever (Countdown, Teen Titans ), Will Pfeifer (Catwoman), J. Torres (Teen Titans Go!), Ethan Van Sciver (Green Lantern) and others for a peek into what’s upcoming in comics’ greatest universe!

2–3 p.m.
‘CREATING COMICS IN THE DIGITAL AGE’ WITH DENNIS CALERO
The Wizard School Room
Writer/artist Dennis Calero (JSA Classified, Legion of Super-Heroes) shows you how the creative process in the comic industry has expanded from pen and ink to a wide range of tools available through the computer. Learn valuable techniques on improving or fully creating your art with programs like Photoshop and more!

Sunday Aug. 12:
Nothing. Enjoy the con!

Trivia Quiz #14

Taking a break from all that legal stuff with made-up words like "collateral estoppel", it's time for some really important stuff. In honor of the Black Ink Irregular team's victory over the Purple Pros in the San Diego Comic Con's trivia challenge (the contest's theme was The Multiverse), we hereby present this month's trivia challenge with the theme: The Multiverse!

1. Name ten different versions of the Legion (as appearing in books published by DC). By "different" I mean where it is not the Legion as regularly seen in the "mainstream" Pre-Crisis, Post-Crisis, Glorithverse, Post-Zero Hour, or Post-Infinite Crisis series (and you can't use any of those in your count).

2. In any continuity, which Legionnaires were related by blood or marriage to a villain or former villain?

3. A couple months back I asked which of the marriages, deaths, and other relationships seen in the original Adult Legion story (ADV 354-355) did occur in mainstream pre-ZH Legion continuity. This time, which ones did NOT occur in mainstream pre-ZH continuity?

4. Across all continuities, which Legionnaire(s) had the most official code names?

5. Which Legion-related character(s) died in the Crisis on Infinite Earths?

6. Name 5 Elseworlds stories in which the Legion or Legionnnaires (not including Superboy or Supergirl) appear.

7. When several members of the Legion went back to the 20th century and first met the Byrne-reboot Superman in the "Pocket Universe Saga", what was the inside joke behind choosing those specific Legionnaires?

8. What was the difference between Mxyzptlk V and Mxyzptlk 5?

Special bonus question: Matthew E. submitted this one to the San Diego trivia quiz, and it stumped everyone (including Paul Levitz).
9. Which Earth-1 character travelled to a parallel universe to join that Earth's LSH?

Superboy's super-lawsuit: update

Well just a couple weeks after my non-update on the Superboy lawsuit, Scott from LegionWorld pointed me to this entry at Trexfiles (see also discussion at THE BEAT, Newsarama, Howling Curmudgeons, and soon to be more places).

The bottom line: DC successfully appealed the 2006 ruling, which said that the Siegels had successfully regained the rights to Superboy. The judge ruled that the 2006 case did not adequately interpret what a 1948 court said (and the 1948 case left some stuff out), and he needs to see more supporting documentation from both sides as to whether Superboy as published in "More Fun Comics" #101 was derivative of Superman. What it's going to boil down to is this: was there anything copyrightable in Siegel's original plans for Superboy, or was it basically derivative of Superman? They've got 30 days from July 27 to present their case, making the due date August 26.

Here's the long-winded explanation. I don't think that it's difficult to follow, and the few legalese terms I didn't recognize I was able to look up easily. Given that I am not a lawyer, here's how I read the court document (which was written July 27, 2007).

First, a timeline of the litigation is important while reading the document. Here, "DC" is used to refer to "Detective Comics" and its successors "National Comics", "Independent News", "National Periodical Publications", and "DC Comics" just because it all gets too confusing.

• Siegel and Shuster co-created Superman independently of DC and sold the rights to DC in 1938 for $130.
  
• In 1938 and again in 1940, Siegel pitched "Superboy" to DC, which had the right of first refusal. DC passed.
  
• In 1944, DC published the first appearance of Superboy in "More Fun" #101.
  
• In 1947, Siegel and Shuster sued DC, claiming that, among other things, (a) they were being cheated out of Superman profits, and (b) Superboy did not belong to DC since they passed on the character earlier.
  
• Later in 1947, the court ruled that (a) Siegel and Shuster had sold all their rights to Superman and thus DC did not owe them anything, (b) Superboy was a work distinct from Superman and that DC should pay them.
  
• In 1948, a court referee issued a 36-page Findings of Fact document detailing the Superboy case, which concluded that "Plaintiff Siegel is the originator and sole owner of the comic strip feature SUPERBOY", DC cannot publish any Superboy material without Siegel's consent, and Siegel is free to shop Superboy to any publisher.
  
• Later in 1948, while the matter was on appeal, the parties settled, with DC paying Siegel and Shuster $94,000 and the men turning over all rights to Superman and Superboy to DC, and the Findings of Fact document vacated.
  
• In 1969, Siegel and Shuster again sued DC. Under the copyright terms in effect at the time of creation, the copyright to Superman lasted 28 years, or somewhere around 1966. The two claimed that the copyright that they sold to DC had run out, but DC successfully claimed that as the copyright holders of record it was allowed to renew the copyright for another 28 years.
  
• In 1976, Congress changed the copyright laws again, adding another 19 year extension, but also allowed authors to terminate their rights that they may have sold.
  
• In 2002, the heirs of Siegel (now deceased) filed again for Superboy's copyright termination when it expired in 2004 (1948 + 28 = 1976, + 28 = 2004, or something like that).
  
• In 2006, a judge ruled that the Siegels had successfully recaptured the rights to Superboy as a result of the original 1948 case. He left for a future trial whether or not DC (and parent Time Warner) had infringed on their rights since 2004 with things like the "Smallville" TV series. DC appealed.
  
• In 2007, the appeal was released.
  

Well, the main question is "which takes precedence here, the original 1948 ruling which said that Superboy is separate from Superman and thus Siegel owns him, or the refereed settlement agreement later in which Siegel and Shuster sold any rights back to DC and the original ruling was vacated?"

After several pages of discussion of judicial estoppel (DC's 2006 case, which used the fact that the 1948 ruling was vacated, is opposite their 1976 case, which used the fact that the 1948 ruling was upheld. The judge ruled that the 1976 case citation was not relevant to the verdict, so this was not an issue.

Then the 2007 judge ruled on "collateral estoppel", which basically means that once a court has decided an issue of fact or law necessary to its judgment, you can't try that issue again. He said that based on New York State Law, the 1948 trial shouldn't be overturned based on 1976 laws since the trial couldn't take into account future laws. (I think that's what it says on page 28).

However, though copyright is a federal issue, not a state issue, state courts may litigate federal issues. Plus, the 1948 case was involved state claims of misappropriation of property, while the 2006 case is about federal copyrights. A finding of fact is not the same as an application of law to fact. (page 34) An earlier state court judgment does not preclude litigation in federal court. And basically, the 2006 judge was wrong when he equated the two. (page 37)

Next, the judge looks at whether Superboy was "work for hire", part of "joint authorship", "published", and was a "derivative work". He ruled that Superboy was not created as work for hire (page 53); sidesteps for the moment whether or not it was joint authorship (page 62); says that while the idea for Superboy was published in "More Fun" 101, the 1948 referee never said whether the material from Siegel's original script was published, and the court is in no position to do so (page 65); and cannot determine whether it was derivative without further information (page 72).

So... if you're still with me after all this, the judge ruled that both the Siegels and DC must submit within 30 days (by August 26) information which will help decide the case - was there anything copyrightable in Siegel's original plans for Superboy, or was it basically derivative of Superman? That's the only thing that the judge wants to hear about, so it's the critical issue. If the Siegels win, then the judge rules that DC did violate the copyright. If DC wins, then the judge rules that Superboy is derivative of Superman regardless of anything else.

Your homework: read the following case law, referenced in the document.

• 1940: DC vs Bruns Publications, the first one in which a character was ruled a ripoff of Superman
  
• 1952: DC vs Fawcett, over whether Captain Marvel was a ripoff of Superman
  
• 1983: Warner Bros. vs. ABC television, in which "Greatest American Hero" is ruled not derivative of Superman
  
• 1999: Sapon vs. DC Comics, in which original vs derivative works of Batman are argued
  
• 2002: Joe Simon vs Marvel, over co-ownership of Captain America
  
• 2004: Gaiman vs. McFarlane
  

Tony Bedard, on "Supergirl & the LSH"

CBR has part 2 of their interview with Legion writer Tony Bedard. Part 1 was a couple weeks ago where he mentioned the changes in the Supergirl book and goings-on with Karate Kid in "Countdown". Part 2 also discusses Batman, Birds of Prey, and Countdown.

RT: Let's talk "Legion of Superheroes." Were you a big "Legion" fan yourself? I'll admit that prior to Mark Waid's work on the title, I never read a Legion book in my life.

TB: Being a "Legion" fan is a thing unto itself, man. [laughs]

Speaking of not reading message boards, I stay away from the Legion ones as much as possible. But it's only because the Legion has four or five distinct incarnations that are somebody's favorite, and with those fans it's either their version or none at all.

For example, you saw the version of the Legion that showed up in the JLA/JSA crossover, right?

RT: Yes, sir.

TB: And they aren't the ones that Waid has been doing in his book.

Brad Meltzer and Geoff Johns really dug the seventies version of the Legion, so that's what they went to. But if you choose one version of the Legion to do, the fans of the other four factions gang up on you.

As a creator, that is a bit of a challenge. But as a fan, I'm not like that. I happen to like something from each of the Legion eras. I'm just trying to tip my hat to all of them -- which probably means I'll please no one.

One person who is pleased with Bedard's work on the book is just-exited writer Mark Waid, who had this to say: "Tony's doing a great job with the Legionnaires and their voices as established, but more importantly, he's creating new characters that are fun to watch. And he didn't even complain that I used Validus in Brave and Bold before he got to him. Good man, that Bedard."

RT: So what's happening in the book currently?

TB: It's one big overall story arc, even though it is split into three chapters. I'm tying up several loose threads from Waid's run. It's definitely still his book and I loved what he did with the Legionnaires.

I'm trying to focus on specific Legionnaires who haven't gotten the spotlight that much. There are certain major players like Brainiac 5, who is much smarter than everyone else and doesn't mind reminding everyone of that. He's kind of a jerk but I love that about him.

RT: Just like me! [laughs]

Happy Meal Toys at last!

So the Legion Happy Meal toys are finally out at your local McDonald's (assuming you live in the US and have a McDonald's close by - if not, sorry, there's always eBay). It's heartening to see a push for the Legion to be recognized outside of our little niche. People who watch the cartoon might eventually realize that they come from the comics (whether it's Supergirl and the Legion or Legion in the 31st Century) and maybe pick up an issue.

There's been a number of vocal complaints about why there are no girl figures (Saturn Girl, Phantom Girl, Triplicate Girl, and Emerald Empress were all shut out). I wrote about it here, but since then I've found some more discussion:

• Pixie Palace:
  

  This is the year 2007, I would have hoped that we’d have moved beyond thinking so blatantly in terms of blue and pink, but obviously we haven’t. At least, McDonalds hasn’t. And in their world, superheroes are strictly blue. Sorry girls. Evidently McDonalds thinks boys=superheroes and action, girls=teddy bears and dress up. Hope that matches with your and your kids’ world view, because if not, you should probably go buy kids meals elsewhere.

  
  
• The kamisama:
  

  The whole "girl toy" and "boy toy" thing is made even more insane by the fact that the girl alternative Happy Meal toys, are not female superhero toys, but instead are "Build a Bear" mini plushes. I wonder why a company like Build A Bear, that seems works so hard to market it's brand as gender neutral, would allow gender restrictive toy promotions.
  
  The message seems to be "Girls can't like Superheroes, Girls shouldn't like Superheroes, Girls need Plush Bears, Boys can't like Plush Bears"
  
  What a way to mess up something that could have been so damn cool.

I had to go to four stores this weekend before I was able to buy all 8 toys. Two had just Superman, and two had both Superman and Timber Wolf (the first place I went to had only the two, so I bought them there), but at the last store (where they only had Superman) the manager told me that they did have all of them. He got out a nearby carton and dug through it until he found the remaining six. At both stores that I bought the figures at, there was a special button on the register for "Happy Meal Toy No Food" which rang up at $1.79 each (plus tax).

Though there's not much about these to review, here's what Dave van Domelen had to say:

Happy Meal Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century Toys: McDonald's - This month, McD's is doing a Happy Meal promotion tie-in with the first season of the new LSH cartoon. Each week there's two characters (both male) from the cartoon done as non-poseable PVC figures packed in book-shaped cases. They come with trading cards that describe both the character and the scene shown on the case/card. The box is mixed, half LSH and half Build-A-Bear (McD's usually does this, a "boy" toy series parallel with a "girl" toy series). The LSH side has various animated images, a "defeat Mano" game that involves having your figure punch out holes in the Mano image (yes, it's as lame as it sounds, if not lamer) and an Interlac alphabet translation. Week 1 has Superman (can't call him Superboy anymore, lest the lawyers get nervous) and Timberwolf, both in airborne poses so that they can't stand on their own. They rest against diorama-printed blisters and are held in place by clear clamshell halves. Neither can stand on its own, but both are about the right size to be slapped on an Attacktix base for kitbashing. Most stores will sell you just the toy for about a buck, worth grabbing at that price.

Other reviews or commentary: All About Duncan, Pixie Palace,

Meanwhile, the LegionWorld message board has lots of photos and scans of the figures, boxes, and cards, starting here.

In addition to the toys themselves, there's one easy-to-get ancilliary items and several that might prove harder. The easy one is the Happy Meal box, which you can get for free just by asking at the counter. LegionWorld has a scan of that one too, but here's what it looks like fully opened (click to enlarge):



There are loads of auctions on eBay right now for the figures, as a set or individually, if you can't (or won't) get to the participating stores.

At the store itself, I found four pieces of advertising (but I only got pictures of three): an image on the drive-thru order board outside, a "menu" of Legion and Build-a-Bear figures in case you want to specify one at the drive-up window, and a display case inside showing what the toy looks like. The fourth, a two-sided poster that had food on one side and Legion figures/Build-a-Bears on the other, was not in a location where I could unobtrusively take a photo. Maybe later. (Click the picture to enlarge)

Stan likes the Legion

Stan Lee, on tonight's episode of "Who Wants to Be a Super-Hero", speaking to his group before eliminating a contestant:

Super-heroes - this is especially difficult for me, because standing before me I see a true Legion of Super-Heroes!