Legion TV schedule Dec. 2006

Via my TiVo schedule, since ToonZone doesn't have it ready, here are the airdates and episodes for the Legion show for December. All episodes are supposed to air at 10:00 a.m. local time on The CW Network.

Dec. 02 - episode 6 "Phantoms" (2nd airing)
Dec. 09 - episode 5 "Champions" (2nd airing)
Dec. 16 - episode 4 "Fear Factory" (2nd airing)
Dec. 23 - ???
Dec. 30 - ???

I don't know if they'll have new episodes on the 23rd and 30th. I'd suspect two more reruns then and then new episodes in January.

Also, don't forget that 12/9 is "Super Sing-Along Saturday", with Superman and Timber Wolf as part of the Kids' WB! Choir, which "will croon Christmas carols with a decidedly Warner Bros. twist, interspersing sing-along appearances between episodes throughout the morning lineup."

Previously:
schedule for Sept./Oct. 2006, Nov. 2006

Even more Vs. cards

From the official tournament FAQ, here are some more Legion-related cards (I'm not sure about which Darkseid cards to count yet) from the upcoming Vs. System CCG, some previously mentioned. The tournaments are this weekend.

Obviously, these are based on the post-Zero Hour reboot Legion, not the current one, from around the time of the "Foundations" storyline.

• All Hail Darkseid!
  
• Andromeda, Laurel Gand
  
• Atrophos, Chief Blight Scientist
  
• Connor Kent <> Superboy, Inspiration to the Legion
  
• Dark Firestorm
  
• Dark Matter Drain
  
• Dominated
  
• Dream Girl, Nura Nal
  
• Five Against One
  
• Joining the Darkseid, Team-Up
  
• Karate Kid
  
• Legion World
  
• Live Wire, Garth Ranzz
  
• Ra's al Ghul, Engine of Change
  
• Return of the Demon's Head
  
• Saturn Queen, Legion of Super Villains
  
• Sensor, Jeka Wynzorr
  
• Shrinking Violet <> Leviathan, Salu Digby
  
• Time Trapper, Temporal Manipulator
  
• Triad, Luornu Durgo
  
• We Are Legion
  
• Wildfire, Drake Burroughs
  
• Youth of Tomorrow, Team-Up
  

More Cockrum obits

Due to his involvement with the X-Men, Dave Cockrum's obituary has now been written up in the New York Times, the LA Times, and the Associated Press, with those three reprinted in scores of papers and entertainment-based websites around the world. The AP story noted that he died in his Superman pajamas and a Batman blanket, and will be cremated in a Green Lantern t-shirt. (that surprised me - I figured it would have been a Nightcrawler one). Most of them mention how he reinvigorated the Legion before moving to the X-Men.

Evan Dorkin adds a Legion memory:

Costume design was a specialty of Cockrum's, who worked on DC's Legion of Superheroes book previously to the X-gig. LOSH is a book which practically demands bold and unique costumes in order to differentiate a seemingly endless load of bland, lookalike fratand sorority kids running around in a rocket ship clubhouse doing lots of silly crap. I read only one issue of LOSH as a kid (being fervently anti-DC at the time, I can't recall how I ended up with a comic from the dreaded "Distinguished Competition"), an issue which happened to feature the debut of Wildfire, a Cockrum-designed character I was instantly taken with. Wildfire died at the end of the story, and so did any further interest I might have had in the book. I didn't see Cockrum's art again until Giant-Size X-Men # 1 came out.

Sing Along with Timber Wolf!

This week's sign of the impending Apocalypse... a press release from KidsWB! as seen on AnimatedBliss.com.

I still haven't found out what the next few episodes are going to be. If we continue the pattern, it'll be two more weeks of reruns (12/2 and 12/9) followed by three new episodes.

KIDS' WB! HOSTS SUPER SING-A-LONG SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9 ON THE CW

Popular Kids' WB! Characters Croon Carols-with-a-Twist During Top-Rated Saturday Morning Kids Broadcast Lineup

BURBANK, CA (November 28, 2006) - Move over Mitch Miller - the Kids' WB! all-star lineup of characters will have viewers following the bouncing ball December 9 when The CW's No. 1 rated broadcast slate of Saturday morning children's programming hosts its first Super Sing-A-Long.

Led by animated favorites from Superman to Scooby-Doo, the Kids' WB! Choir will croon Christmas carols with a decidedly Warner Bros. twist, interspersing sing-along appearances between episodes throughout the morning lineup. The antics begin at 7:00 a.m. ET/PT.

While the characters harmonize, viewers will be encouraged to sing along at home, following the "bouncing ball" as it dances over on-screen lyrics.

The Kids' WB! Choir includes Shaggy & Scooby-Doo ("Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get A Clue!"), Superman & Timberwolf ("Legion of Super Heroes"), Batman & Robin ("The Batman"), Slam Tasmanian & Danger Duck ("Loonatics Unleashed"), Omi & Kimiko ("Xiaolin Showdown"), Krypto ("Krypto the Superdog"), Johnny & Dukey ("Johnny Test") and Zick & Bombo ("Monster Allergy"). Even the ever-silent Tom & Jerry ("Tom and Jerry Tales") will take part in the musical festivities.

What if?

What if...

What if Carmine Infantino agreed to give the two-page spread from "Superboy" 200 back to Dave Cockrum even thought that was against DC policy at the time?

• Cockrum stays at DC as the artist of the Legion. A character named Nightcrawler appears as a member of the Outsiders. The team appears a number of times in the Legion series. When Jim Shooter takes over from Cary Bates, the book soars to new heights of popularity under the Shooter/Cockrum team. Perhaps Shooter eventually rises through the ranks at DC from writer to editor and into management.
  
• Mike Grell finds other work at DC between his gigs doing Aquaman and Green Arrow backups, and his simultaneous work on "Green Lantern/Green Arrow" and "Warlord".
  
• Over at Marvel, Len Wein co-creates with another artist a different All-New, All-Different X-Men revival, a team which does not include Nightcrawler, Storm, or Colossus. Without his input and those characters, the title probably does not get the critical acclaim it needed to eventually become a fan-favorite and a cornerstone of Marvel Comics itself.
  

What if the rumors of Shooter coming back to work on "a" Legion book are actually him doing "The Last Legion Story" rather than on the animated book? In his own words from an interview with CBR in 2000, here's what happened with that.

MDT: When do you think you'll be forgiven for your transgressions: real, imagined or manufactured?

JS: I don't care. I think there will always be assholes. I don't care. I've never really cared. I can't say it hasn't affected me.

My phone never rings. Nobody ever calls me. Am I such a bad writer? Am I the worst writer in comics that no one can use me? In fact, a while back, I was looking for some work.

I called Paul Levitz and I said, "Paul, I got one Legion story left in me. Call it Jim Shooter's last legion story. Do like Watchmen, do it like a series, 8 books, whatever and bind it in a book." Because I know the only thing they're making money on is the trade paperbacks. I said, "Look, it won't interfere with anybody, it'll be set back in the time when I wrote the Legion. Won't interfere with continuity. It'll be Jim Shooter's last legion story, I think I got some good ideas." He said, "I can't wait to read it."

He was in San Francisco. He said, "Look I'll be in the office Friday, I'll call you. Put together a list of the reference you'll need, I know you don't have any comics at your house. And think about what artists you'd like to have. We'll talk Friday and get going on this."

The last thing I said is, "Y'know, Paul, you have some people working for you that don't like me and this will piss them off. Are you sure that's not going to be a problem?" He said, "They'll go to their corners and sulk for a little while, but it'll be fine. I'll take care of it."

Didn't get a call Friday, didn't get a call Monday. Called him Tuesday. "The scars are deeper than I thought. It would be too much hassle. They would make things difficult. You don't need that and I don't need that." I said, "Ok, that's fine."

There's more at Howling Curmudgeons from 2005:

It is widely believed that [former editor Mike] Carlin was responsible for spiking a proposal by Jim Shooter to do a "Last Legion Story" at DC, pitched to and accepted a few years ago by Paul Levitz, who knows a little something about the Legion. Carlin's opposition is widely believed to result from personal animus arising from Carlin's training as an assistant editor at Marvel during Shooter's last, acrimonious days there.

Of course, the rumors might be totally false, in which case this is just a mental exercise.

Who are the other writers on the animated comic?

Via Legion Clubhouse comes the lead entry in this week's "Lying in the Gutters". This rumor gets an "Amber" from Rich's LitG, which means "there's likely an interest involved or the likelihood isn't set".

I understand that Jim Shooter will return to DC Comics in the summer, working on a "Legion of Super-Heroes" title.

This is the same super hero team that Jim Shooter first wrote when he was 13 years old.

It would make sense if Shooter were to do something for the upcoming comic based on the animated series, rather than for the regular series. Here's a ComicBloc discussion thread on the story.

(Jason "foenix" Gray says "I'm a huge Shooter fan, and welcome our gigantic Legion overlord.")

One writer who will not be doing the book is Vito Delsante (wikipedia). In a LiveJournal post yesterday, he listed the things he wanted to do in 2007 and the things he couldn't do. This was among those that he wasn't going to do:

Legion of Superheroes comic - I was asked to write it along with J. Torres and a few others. Unfortunately, Mike Siglain moving to 52 meant that he was no longer on the book, so one down.

However, after I commented on the post, he took it private so it's no longer visible unless you're authorized (and I'm not).

Cockrum proposal: LSH/Blackhawks teamup

The Dave Cockrum tributes keep coming in. Alan Kistler at Monitor Duty passes this link along: a proposal Dave had for a team-up of sorts between the Legion and the Blackhawks (who Dave enjoyed drawing). I had never heard of this before.

I'll let you read it without spoiling it, but it involves the Legion finding Blackhawk Island.

A Death in the Family

Update 1 a.m. Monday: added CBA interview, Neil Gaiman links

Unless you've been travelling all day and have just logged in (pretty much like me), you've probably heard the sad news today that Dave Cockrum passed away Sunday morning.

My first Legion issue was #212, a year or so after Dave's last issue. My first Legion artist was Mike Grell, and he remains one of my favorite artists to this day. I didn't discover Cockrum's issues until a couple years later when I started looking for back issues. I didn't really know about his history with the Legion until much later, when I was able to piece things together and look at the run from the end of Adventure through Action Comics and into Superboy that I saw what an impact he had.

He was basically the first Bronze Age artist on the Legion, if you consider their Silver Age to have ended with the Action run, which was the end of Mort Weisinger's tenure as editor. He updated the look and feel of the 30th century, from the clubhouse to the costumes, dragging them all kicking and screaming into the 1970s. His stamp on the book was indelible and inspired the next artist, Mike Grell.

The two of them only did a single, otherwise unremarkable story together, the Devil-Fish story from Superboy 202. Cockrum pencilled it, Grell inked it. The Cockrum era was over, the Grell era began.

It's fairly common knowledge why Cockrum left the book and went over to Marvel (where he co-created the All-New, All-Different X-Men, including some characters adapted from some Legion designs) because DC refused to return the original artwork for the 2-page spread from Superboy #200, the wedding of Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel (in DC's defense, at the time that was their policy). So who knows what might have been had Nightcrawler stayed in the 30th century, among many other things.
See the extended quote below for an interview with Dave where he recounts this.

Lots of tributes today from around the web. Here are some comments and reminiscings from others.

Mark Evanier:

When Murphy [Anderson] was asked to draw a Legion of Super-Heroes back-up story one day, he begged off — "too many characters" — and recommended Dave. Cockrum not only got that job but became the feature's steady artist and creative heart, helping to redesign the Legion and create new characters. Among his many strengths, he was a superb inventor of new costumes. Later, he did the same thing — only with greater success — when he and Len Wein revamped the old, cancelled X-Men strip into the new, highly-successful X-Men franchise at Marvel.

Johnny Bacardi:

I quickly fell in love with the amazing costume designs of these characters- some of the established Legionnaires even had groovy-looking new togs, and it was like a breath of fresh air to the previously Swan-stodgy Legion. So I set out to get as many Cary Bates/Cockrum SatLSH back issues that I could, through mail order or just being lucky enough to get them off some other magazine stand (no internet in 1974, remember, and no comics shops in those prehistoric days). Anyway, I eagerly picked up #202, and then came #203, featuring the "Wrath of the Devil Fish" story, which in my less-than-authoritative opinion is among the best things he ever did, art-wise. Then...#204, and Mike Grell. No more Cockrum. Whahoppen?

Mike Flynn, one of the founders of Legion fandom:

Of course, this is a sad and tragic loss for all of us as Legion fans, as comic fans, and, of course, as human beings. Dave was a fan just like the rest of us... he drew for FANTASTIC FANZINE, for Warren, worked as Murphy Anderson's assistant, all before telling Murray Boltinoff that "goddamn bet your ass" he was ready to be the regular artist for the LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES strip in the back of SUPERBOY. Some of us might like to think that we had something to do with the strip's eventual rebirth, but it took an energy and a talent like Dave's to help others see what we saw.

Neil Gaiman reprints an essay he wrote a couple years ago for the Dave Cockrum Tribute Book:

The important stuff, the way I saw it was that super powers would allow you to survive school more easily. ...

I think that was why I loved the Legion of Super Heroes, back in my own personal golden age. There were lots of them. They lived in the future. And their powers seemed made for surviving school with. (There were school meals put in front of me that only Matter Eater Lad could comfortably have disposed of.) They had a clubhouse. They didn’t fight bank robbers, either. (Mostly they seemed to fight each other, even if they had been brainwashed by intergalactic evildoers. This also made sense to me. I had lived twelve years, and had come to the conclusion that bank robbers turned up more infrequently than they did in the comics.) And, most of all, for just a little while – oddly enough, while I was twelve – they had Dave Cockrum.

I ought to Google and find out what the first Legion story Dave drew was; on the other hand, I still know the first of his stories I read. It was called “Curse of the Blood Crystals”, and it was inked by Murphy Anderson. (I have always been a sucker for Murphy Anderson’s inking.)

And, almost immediately it seemed, Superboy’s comic had become The Legion’s, and Dave Cockrum was the Legion artist (Cary Bates was writing), and suddenly it was cool...

Tom Spurgeon at the Comics Reporter has a good article about Dave. He even made a MetaFilter discussion.

In Dave's own words, here's the "secret origin" of his working on the Legion (from Comic Book Artist #6, from TwoMorrows):

CBA: You went over to DC from Warren?

Dave: Yeah. I started doing background inking, first for Tony DeZuniga (who was doing a lot of House of Mystery and stuff like that). They weren't running a stable yet, at that point. He was okay to work for, but his wife, Mary, was something else. She looked at my stuff and said, "Ehhh! Ten years, maybe, you might make it." I stayed long enough to work on five or six issues, but Murphy Anderson needed a background inker for the work he was doing on Curt Swan's Superman and Bob Brown's Superboy. He also got the "John Carter of Mars" strip, which I desperately wanted to help out with (being a John Carter fan all of my life) but Murphy wouldn't let me touch that. He'd say, "This is mine! Go away!" I worked for Murphy for about a year in a downtown Manhattan studio. It was great and I learned a lot, but the only trouble was that we did more bullsh*tting than working! So it turned out to be not that profitable and he finally closed down the studio.

While I was working for Murphy, the "Legion of Super-Heroes" strip became available. Murray Boltinoff, the editor, got Murphy to agree to ink it. Murray figured that Murphy would be responsible for the quality of the book and fix anything that I did wrong. Because Murphy was an old-time professional and I was the newcomer, Murray listed Murphy's name first on the credits, so everybody thinks that Murphy penciled those first three or four strips, when actually I did. It was the other way around: I penciled and he inked. But Murray thought that Murphy would be offended to be listed second, though he wouldn't have.

By the fourth "Legion" strip I did, Murphy was embroiled in "John Carter" and Superman, and he just couldn't help anymore. So he said, "You're on your own!" There was a lot of snowpaque on that art from correcting mistakes, but I got through it. It looked pretty slick and people said that it wasn't bad, so after that it was my book. Fan reaction was pretty good, because I was young and enthusiastic—and obviously the first one in a long time who much cared what was being done with The Legion—I even badgered Murray into allowing me to introduce new costumes, but he was timid about that. That was my best early work.

CBA: Around the same time were you doing some inking for Marvel? The Avengers come to mind....

Dave: I didn't start working for Marvel full-time until I had my little go-around with Murray and Carmine Infantino. DC wasn't returning artwork at that point, and Marvel was, but I asked for the double-page spread of the wedding of Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel to be returned. I just wanted it for a souvenir, and Murray had said, "I don't see why not," and he apparently had it set aside to give to me. But Carmine came in the day I came by to pick it up and he said, "What's this?" Murray told him, and Carmine said, "You can't give this back to him. We don't do that." It was the only artwork that I had asked for back and I said, "Gee, guys, can't you bend the rules? It's all I'm asking for." He said, "Nope, can't do it." I said, "All right. See ya." (Just prior to this incident, I had gotten the Captain Marvel Jr. job from Julie Schwartz.) I then went over to Marvel and got some work, and asked Julie and Roy Thomas, "Do you guys mind if I keep doing Captain Marvel Jr.? Because I really tried hard to get that." Both of them said fine, but Carmine said, "No, he can't." So I made a clean cut with DC.

J. Torres comments on animated Legion book

From a posting by J. Torres on the Comicbloc forums:

I'm not the only writer on the book. I've written issues #1 and #2 so far, and I'm working on a third story that will probably end up being used for #5 or maybe #6. Anyway, I'm hoping to contribute to the series as much as my editor (and schedule) will allow! Since the Subs are supposed to show up on the cartoon at some point, I can't see why they wouldn't end up in the comic book (and I'd love to write that issue!). The thing is, I hear the cartoon is struggling in the ratings so everyone please keep watching and tell all your friends or else they might not get to the episode with the Subs in it

It's news to me that the cartoon may be struggling, I hadn't heard of that elsewhere (and I've been tracking the ratings, which I'll get to in the next couple of days).

Of course, if they ever re-run any episode besides the Timber Wolf one, maybe more people would watch (if that's a problem). They've had six new episodes and four reruns so far - three new, three reruns, three new, and one rerun into the next cycle - with three of those reruns being the Timber Wolf episode.

Two Legion podcasts

I haven't had time to listen to either of them yet, but two Legion-related podcasts showed up in the last few days. If anyone has a chance to listen to them, please leave a note in the comments if there's any good stuff!

First, ComicGeekSpeak has a podcast in which, among other things, a bunch of fans discuss Legion trivia, posted Wednesday 11/22.

Can you name all of the Legion worlds in alphabetical order? Neither can we, but we brought a second Peter into the room to help us with our Legion of Superheroes Spotlight episode. Be prepared for loads of Legion lore as two Peters are always better than one.

Second, WordBalloon has an interview with Mark Waid, posted Friday 11/24.

Mark's been a DC comics fan forever, and says Adventure Comics #357 was a mind blowing experience. The comic featured a classic Legion Of Superheroes story, The Death Of Ferro Lad, written by teenaged Jim Shooter, and drawn by the legendary Curt Swan. Nowadays, Mark is making Legion history himself, as the writer of Supergirl and The Legion Of Superheroes, drawn by frequent Waid collaborator, Barry Kitson. Mark is also co-writing the weekly DC Comic "52". We get updates on both books, and delve into a bunch of other pop culture topics.

More Vs. cards

Previously: Vs. System previews for Ferro Lad, Live Wire, "We Are Legion", Dream Girl, Dark Firestorm, Brainiac 5.1, Dark Superboy, Fatal Five Hundred, Time Trapper, XS, "No Match for Darkseid", Dark Thanagarian

Here's a checklist of those cards known so far. Discussion, should you be interested, is at VSRealms and Metagame.

---

More card previews, via BatMite's pages here, here, and here:

Holy crap, is that actually Michael Golden art on the Mordru card?!

Cosmic King

Claudio Aboy

Mordru

Michael Golden

Legion HQ (Star City article)


Persuader


Chain Lightning



Via TCGPlayer.com:

Dominated (TCGPlayer article)

The Great Name Dropper

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I'll drop it onto my iPod.

Issue 24 review roundup

Yay Mon-el! And he's really Mon-el again!

Starting off the reviews, more as they come in:

• Matthew at the Legion Abstract:
  

  Don't get me wrong: I'm not complaining (yet) that we don't know what these guys are up to, or what Tarik the Mute's motivation is, or anything. That's fine. That will come out. And I know it's difficult. This comic book has a large cast, all of whom need some screen time, so there isn't a lot of time to spend on the villains**. All I'm saying is that I need a name for that guy in the green, with the orange eyes, who's stepping on Shadow Lass's head. (To invent an example.)
  
  Now some good stuff. Barry Kitson's art is at its usual high level. I was particularly intrigued by his rendition of Saturn Girl melding her mind with Phantom Girl's body as they visit the Phantom Zone. It's pretty cool.
  
  I liked Supergirl's stunt to defeat the LSV on Rokyn. I like Cosmic Boy's bitter, deadpan sense of humour. I like Ayla's warm personality.
  
  I sort of liked the scene where Cosmic Boy invites Supergirl to come back with the Legion instead of staying on Rokyn, but I was distracted. I couldn't help but wonder who was being manipulated here--me or Kara? Or both, I guess. I was definitely being manipulated...
  
  The comic wasn't as action-packed as I had hoped after last issue; basically the only fighting was Supergirl's scuffle with the LSV. But it did step along nicely, and next issue looks to have a lot more conflagration in it.

  
  
• Ami Angelwings is a reviewer new to this site, who sounds as if she's younger than many of our veteran reviewers:
  

  I think what's great about the Legion of Superheroes is that they're not exactly part of the greater DCU, in that b/c they're in the 31st century, what they do has nothing to do with Batman, Superman or nebody else. B/c of that it's not necessary for the readers to know everything about the DCU. :) It's very self contained! ^^ Also all the characters are VERY likeable and very convincing as teenagers and young ppl who want to make a difference in the universe. I like the idea of various races, cultures and species from different planets co-operating together to do good :D And the names are so adorable! Yes it's girl/boy/lass/lad but it's cute that way xD And so simple! B/c they ALL do it like that, it makes it less stupid and just the way they want to name themselves :)
  
  The character interactions are soooo good, and even without a plot, every issue has been a joy to read! :D I rly rly do like and recommend this series in general. I just worry that they're gonna eventually send Supergirl home and that's gonna be it for this story :( But I'm enjoying it while it lasts!

  
  
• Rokk's Comic Book Revolution shows some rare praise:
  

  I’m psyched for Supergirl and the Legion of Super Heroes # for one reason and one reason only: Mon-El. That’s right. He’s back! This move alone has rejuvenated my rapidly fading interest in this title. I know, I’ll have to put up with several annoying scenes with the ever vacuous Supergirl, but it will be worth it just to see Mon-El back on this title.
  ...
  Supergirl and the Legion of Super Heroes #24 was a tale of two stories. The first half of this issue was more of the typical boring standard story that we have been getting on this title ever since Supergirl hi-jacked the Legion. On the other hand, the second half of this issue was a good read and rather interesting and engaging which is very much unlike the previous issues of this title.
  ...
  Once again, Waid shows in this issue exactly why I despise having Supergirl on this title. Supergirl makes the rest of the Legion totally irrelevant. But, what is even worse in this issue is that Supergirl is totally powerless and she STILL makes the Legion looking completely irrelevant.... I have been pretty harsh on this title ever since Supergirl hi-jacked the Legion. However, I really think that Waid is just about to turn the corner on the Legion and crank out a pretty entertaining story arc. Or at least I hope so.

  
  
• DCU Boy at the Continuity Blog has a review of the last 6 issues. Interesting perspective on the whole arc so far from someone who is essentially unfamiliar with any of the previous versions of the Legion.
  

  This issue continues this series with great success, I still think this is series is highly underrated. ... The ending was good too, I look forward to next issue.

  
  
• Graig at Rack Raids, the Four Color Valhalla:
  

  Waid, Kitson and team may have faultered a little following the end of their year-long introductory storyline, and initially the addition of Supergirl to the title was a hinderance, but in the past few Waid has really made it work, and with another gang as opposition to the team, were wading (no pun intended) back into some big-time fun superheroics.

  
  

DiDio answers some questions

From the ComicBloc forum, DC honcho Dan DiDio took some time out to answer a bunch of questions to forum posters. Here's the first substantial Q&A:

I'd like to know why it was necessary to reboot Legion of Super-Heroes this last time after having been done so many times before. I'd like to know the thinking, or justification, of that for such a storied comic franchise and if there was concerns about alienating or upsetting long time readers.

- There are always concerns about alienating readers. The problem with Legion is that once Superboy was removed from the equation after the first Crisis, the series lost its biggest star and struggled for an identity. As things changed to help redefine the series, it kept moving away from the core concept and there was a sense of change for the sake of change. Things slightly different from their original inspiration but not radically different as to understand why it changed. We felt we wanted to go back to and restart the series rather than change it on the run. Mark came up with a concept we thought captured the spirit of the series so we gave it a restart since the incarnation at the time was flagging and close to cancellation. The bottom line is that LEGION was one of the top sellers for DC in the 80’s along with Titans and we wanted to make every effort to put it back on top.

VSapalooza!

Previously: updates in July, October, and November.

The official Sneak Preview is the first weekend of December. Here's one tournament in Warren Ohio, another in Kansas City, and one at Star City Game Center in Roanoke, VA.

Star City Game Center has images of the promotional playmat and t-shirt to be given to tournament participants:





I asked at these sites if the goodies are available to non-players, or if I could sign up for the tournament just to get the stuff, and they all told me that you have to be there at the tournament to get it. Check back on ebay in a couple weeks, I guess.

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Man, you turn your head for one minute and there's a whole mess of stuff out there for the upcoming "Vs. System" card game. Scott over at the Legion Clubhouse got to most of it before I could.

Of course, I have no interest in the game itself, only the pretty pictures on the Legion cards, so I won't be discussing strategy or any of the non-Legion cards (like the Teen Titans or Infinite Crisis stuff), there are plenty of other places for that.

Interestingly, they appear to be using the post-Zero Hour Legion team, not the current version. Wonder if it's been in development that long.

These first few are from the Metagame.com forums:

• Ferro Lad, Live Wire, and "We Are Legion" (on Metagame):
  
  
  Adam DeKraker
  
  
  Brian Bolland
  
  
  Kieran Yanner
  
  
• Dream Girl:
  
  
  Stuart Sager
  
  
• Dark Firestorm, one of Darkseid's Elite, from "Foundations":
  
  
  Phil Noto
  

From the VSRealms forums:

• Brainiac 5.1:
  
  
  Sanford Greene
  

From VSParadise.com:

• Dark Kryptonian <> Dark Superboy, another of Darkseid's Elite from "Foundations":
  
  
  Richard Clark
  
  
• The Fatal Five Hundred:
  
  
  
  

From the latest issue of Inquest, #140:

Kieran Tanner


Adam Archer


Richard Clark

One more via the Marvel_DC_TCG Yahoo list, it's Dark Thanagarian, another of Darkseid's Elite from "Foundations".

Kieran Yanner

Episode 1.04: Fear Factory

Yes, they did run episodes 1.04 (Fear Factory) and 1.06 (Phantoms) out of production order. However, most people don't care and call them by broadcast number instead of production order. Sigh.

Why they ran this episode a week before Thanksgiving instead of around Halloween is beyond me. This was a perfect Halloween haunted house episode with everyone facing their fears. I'm far from the only person who thought that.

Your torrents du jour: hi-def and regular.

Anyway, here's my wrapup.

• Rokk's Comic Book Revolution:
  

  We also got some drama to balance out the comedy with the relationship between Superman and Brainiac 5. I really like the chemistry between these two characters. Clearly, Brainiac 5 has some deep rooted guilt of being the decedent of one of Superman’s biggest villains: Brainiac. It was interesting to see how Brainiac 5 is determined to make Superman face his own fears so that he may become the hero that the world needs Superman to be.
  ...
  All in all, “Fear Factory” was another fine episode. The Legion of Super Heroes Animated Series has been an absolute blast. There is plenty of humor, action and themes about friendship in each episode. The Legion of Super Heroes Animated Series is obviously designed for kids, but I think the creators have done a nice job making these episodes entertaining for older Legion fans as well. Personally, I love the “young” and “bright” feel to the animated Legion. After being forced to read the TMK Legion and the DnA Legion, I have had enough of the dark and grim Legion to last me a life time.

  
  
• Matthew at the Legion Abstract:
  

  The thing about this episode is that there's really nothing about it that required it to be a Legion episode. The main theme was that heroes need to be able to overcome their fears, which is perfectly standard not only for superheroes but for any adventure genre (and therefore quite appropriate as a plot for a kids' show). I thought we were going to delve a little more deeply into the complicated Brainiac 5/Superman friendship.... But it didn't happen. What we got instead was Brainy keeping information from Superman (again!) so that Superman would have to face his fears (in this case, fear of killing Brainy when he brought down the station's computers; if Brainy had told him that the disc he gave him was a backup disc of Brainy's self, he wouldn't have worried). Which actually supports Your Obedient Serpent's theory that Brainy recruited Young Clark instead of Veteran Superman in an effort to train him up so he'll better be able to deal with Brainiac back in the 21st century.

  
  
• Jeffrey Bridges at the Superman Homepage:
  

  This felt like a Halloween episode, and according to the production schedule it was the fourth episode produced but the sixth one aired (had it aired in production order, it would have come out on Nov. 4). Clearly it was intended to be a Halloween episode, so why Kids WB chose to air it now instead of Nov. 4 makes absolutely no sense.
  
  And I'm sure, for little kids, this would have been a spooky Halloween episode. But the whole "it's a haunted mansion!" where we're supposed to believe that superheroes who regularly fly all over the place and battle aliens would be scared of roller coasters and... aliens is pushing things a bit.

  
  
• Darren Kramble, apparently watching via download in England, at Nerdsville:
  

  Hooray! New Legion episode! The thing that I really like about the animated LSH series is how much it resembles a sixties 'Adventure Comics' story brought to life. There is just something about the bonkers nature of these old stories that lend themselves to a twenty-first century kids cartoon show. The necessary lack of depth (or maybe more accurately, hyper-depth) is a Legion tradition....
  
  But 'Fear Factory' (Adventure Comics title: The Haunted House of Space) was another enjoyable episode. The episodes early flirtation with sub-Scooby Doo haunted house cartoons was nicely subverted as the episode progressed, looking at each character's hidden fears. That being said, I don't believe that Saturn Girl's greatest fear is a roller coaster, nor that she is not mentally strong enough to resist Quavermass' powers. Doesn't Super Thought Casting count for anything?

  
  
• From Cat-Scratched-Victim:
  

  The production team does appear to be taking the original “feel” of the old stories into play for this series. This latest episode, Fear Factory, seems to have fit in with Halloween, it being about a haunted house and our heroes having to stay there for the night, but it seemed to have come late instead. Oh well. It was cute episode that could have been an old story from the days when the Legion comic was being drawn by the late Curt Swan or perhaps even during the Cockrum era. It was nice to see that.

  
  
• Lizard_SF at Bowling With Sisyphus:
  

  his is a difficult episode to review; when it was good, it was very good, and when it was bad, it was seriously cringeworthy.
  
  The bad: The Legionnaires broke down way too fast. These are heroes, after all, and should be able to confront the fairly trivial fears presented with a lot more gusto. A chance for interesting psychological examination (what scares a hero) was squandered badly in this episode.
  ...
  IMO, this episode was a misstep and a missed opportunity. Not utterly unwatchable, but it reeks of wasted potential.

  
  
• Vincent J. Murphy at Spandex Justice:
  

  ...For the second week in a row, we get the "If I do this, I might die" speech (last week, it was Phantom Girl, this week, Brainiac 5). It starts to ring a little hollow when they play that card too often. That, combined with the rather pedestrian plot (and the solution, which is basically "wreck things"), didn’t thrill me. The episode was a clunker.

  
  

And now a dissenting review, from Ryu I's World of Inanity:

After prying myself away from FFXII I decided to download the first episode of the Legion of Super-Heroes cartoon because it looked so incredibly, horribly bad that I figured it had nowhere to go but up (and I was cleaning; needed something to look forward to).

E. Gads.

They PAY people to design art like this?!

Brainiac 5 is a transformer?! (Dude, like...he turns into a Gundam)

Okay, really? Brainy is Data. Data who turns into a Gundam. And is really, really short.

And the themesong is so disco!

It's HORRIBLE! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

But really, so incredibly awful that it amused me somewhat. Hey, at least Clark's personality was all geeky and adorable.

Validus rocks!

Courtesy of BeaucoupKevin comes this meme...






Previously: beefcake/cheesecake appreciation week, armed gorilla week, snakes on a blog, talk like a pirate day

Trivia 5 answers

The answers to trivia quiz #5:

1. A question in honor of Election Day - who would Dr. Mayavale have voted for in the 1952 US Presidential Election?

Dr. Mayavale wore an "I Like Ike" button around his neck.

2. Another Election Day question - which Legionnaires were involved in planetary-level politics? Whose parents were?

I didn't count Planetary Champions or last survivors, I was looking for politicians.
* Pre-Zero Hour: Projectra was the daughter of the King and later became Queen of Orando. Colossal Boy's mother was President of Earthgov, as were later Invisible Kid II and Tyroc. The mother of Dream Girl and her sister White Witch was High Seer of Naltor. Matter-Eater Lad was a Senator on Bismoll.
* Post-Zero Hour: Apparition's mother was President of Earthgov.
* Animated series: Phantom Girl's mother is President of the United Planets.

RJ Brande and Leland McCauley were both Earthgov Presidents post-Zero Hour, but their offspring (Chameleon Boy and Celeste Rockfish, respectively) were Legionnaires pre-Zero Hour only, so they don't count.

3. In honor of the upcoming Veterans' Day/Remembrance Day, which Legionnaires were war veterans?

My original answer was just Cosmic Boy and Shrinking Violet, both soldiers wounded at Venado Bay in the Imsk/Braal war. I wasn't considering those who fight Huge Threat level battles as Legionnaires (Earthwar, Great Darkness, etc.). Matthew had some ideas about battles in v4 (Xolnar) and the post-ZH reboot (Robotica), but I also would have taken anything where a Legionnaire was on official business with a military operation. I don't remember what else counts as military battles, so I'll give you that as a bonus question.

4. The LSV had a character named Chameleon Chief, who despite his Durlan appearance could not have been one because his power was very different than a normal Durlan's. What was his power?

He had the power to change the shape of other things, not himself.

5. In Adventure 300, how did Saturn Girl develop Serum XY-4, a temporary antidote for poisoning by lead radiation, to let Mon-el out of the Phantom Zone for a while?
a) She used Brainy's Potential-Factors Reorganizer Complex to soften his fate by bisecting and multiplying his urgal psytrops, which temporarily counteracted his lead poisoning.
b) With her super thought casting power, she was in telepathic contact with Mon-el while he was in the Phantom Zone. Mentally, she diagnosed the harm done to his body and figured out what chemical elements would counteract his lead poisoning.
c) She used some negative id elements complicated by F-type ancestral karmatics to zero out the mechano-tracers that sought to recondition his reflexes, which temporarily counteracted his lead poisoning.
d) She initiated the shield grid and reconfigured it to emit a deflector pulse using the auxiliary deflector array in the saucer section. Then she reconfigured the deflector dish to emit an anti-chroniton pulse, which temporarily counteracted his lead poisoning.

Obviously, the answer is (b). Answers (a) and (c), by the way, are verbatim from Adventure 301 where Brainiac 5 was trying to cure the teenage Luthor in the 30th century. Answer (d), of course, is from any number of Star Trek episodes.

6. Put these pre-Zero Hour events in chronological order.
a) Brainiac 5 frames Ultra Boy for the murder of An Ryd.
b) Brainiac 5 creates the Infinite Man in a botched experiment.
c) Brainiac 5 creates a Supergirl sex robot.
d) Brainiac 5 creates Computo which goes on a rampage, killing a Legionnaire.
e) Brainiac 5 nearly destroys LSH HQ with a piece of a white dwarf star.
f) Brainiac 5 cures Danielle Foccart, but blows up the LSH HQ.
g) Brainiac 5 creates Omega which goes on a rampage, goes insane, and is indirectly responsible for blowing up the LSH HQ.

a - Superboy/LSH 239
b - Superboy/LSH 233
c - Superboy 204
d - Adventure 341
e - LSH v3 ???
f - LSH v2 Annual 1
g - Superboy/LSH 250

The correct order is d, c, b, a, g, f, e

J. Torres, Scott Beatty to write the animated comic

Looks like I was right about a couple of things the other day - J. Torres is indeed going to be one of the writers of the upcoming series based on the animated show, and it was already common knowledge (or at least available knowledge).

After Comics Worth Reading and Crocodile Caucus commented on my conclusion that Torres was going to be a/the writer, Heidi at The BEAT confirmed it with an October 16th article in Publishers Weekly about comics and graphic novels based on animated properties (emphasis added by me):

DC publishes comics and digests that mimic the animated style of The Batman Strikes!, Teen Titans Go! and Justice League Unlimited. These titles are aimed at a general audience outside the comic book specialty shop system, but they don't rival the sales of top manga titles in bookstores. However, DC continues to pursue this audience: it just launched a Krypto comics miniseries. In addition, Legion of Superheroes, based on DC's long-running SF superhero title, has been a hit this fall on the Cartoon Network and the Kids' WB, and DC is planning an ongoing periodical comics series based on the cartoon written by J. Torres, Scott Beatty and writers from the show.

The Physics of Superheroes

Thanks to Matthew for pointing this one out.

Newsarama has an interview with James Kakalios, author of "The Physics of Superheroes", whose book tries to semi-plausibly explain the physics of what goes on inside a comic book, from Flash's aura to the Hulk's strength and beyond. The interviewer asks if Kakalios has been in contact with current creators, to help them out. He mentions one exchange with Gail Simone on "The All-New Atom" and this exchange with Mark Waid on the Legion:

When Mark Waid wrote that Supergirl suddenly shows up in the year 3000 and people are trying to figure out how she got there and even she’s not sure how she time traveled. I said, “I know how this happened.” But I waited until the next issue and then I saw that it was going to be presented as a big mystery. I sent them an email saying “This is the mechanism by which she probably did it.” He wrote back saying, “That’s much better than what I was thinking of. I got to see if I can change this now.” So that’s fun. But so far in the storyline he hasn’t explained how she’s shown up in the future. So I’m waiting to see whether my mechanism pops up or not.

The apparent explanation that we've seen is that a zeta-beam transports across space, so a messed-up zeta-beam transports across time. Or is that just a red herring in 52?