<< What about that leopard-print wearing Legion applicant? Did you have any plans for her? >>
I always liked to imagine that every bit player or "extra" was a fully realized person with a life of their own. In the case of the red skinned girl in the tiger print costume, I imagine that her powers were very similar to Timber Wolf's, and that the duplication of powers clause in the Legion rules might have killed her chances of joining the team. I also imagine that she was both young and naive, and maybe tended towards hero worship of the Legion.
I could easily imagine a scene of Timber Wolf out on a date with her at a carnival ... she's got stars in her eyes and he's trying to act the predatory male ... but ends up rambling on about Lightning Lass. Still, maybe the relationship might have grown ...
<< Also - did you design Tellus? Have you heard from any other Legion artists if they liked/hated drawing him? He was quite unusual-looking (which helped make him one of my favourite Legionnaires.) >>
I did design the first non-humanoid Legionnaires Tellus and Quislet, and yes, I noticed how much trouble other artists seemed to have with staying "on model." One of my favorite versions of the character of Tellus was done by Art Adams. He seemed to grasp the idea that Tellus' anatomy wasn't supposed to closely resemble human anatomy. Most artists seemed to think of Tellus as a physically distorted human. They tried giving Tellus a human head/kneck/shoulders relationship, or they would give him human arms. The worst example is the artist who gave Tellus long human fingers with especially long nails. I seem to recall that George Perez did a pretty good version of Tellus also. Of course we are talking George here ... How could I be surprised that he'd go the extra mile?
As for complaints ... I was once told, shortly after introducing the character, that Tellus looked like "a big yellow lump of sh*t." Of course, that was only one colorist's opinion. I've got to at least give him credit for being bold enough to speak his mind. Now, if only he would have stuck with my character diagram that showed the sensor nodules on Tellus' back and face changing color to reflect the character's emotions. The idea was that Tellus had no vocal chords, and thus, no spoken language. The electronic voice that was emitted from his helmet was a translation of a purely visual language. Tellus' sensor nodules emitted a language comprised completely of ever constantly changing lights.
<< Who was responsible for Comet Queen's "look" anyway? >>
I don't remember who Giffen said had created Comet Queen's look, but I do believe that she first appeared during his earliest run on the title.
Thanks for your interest in Tellus. Who knows ... maybe someday the big non-humanoid "lump" can return.
posted
Stev, I just want to say how much I enjoyed your work on Legion, Doom Patrol and various other places here and there. Really beautiful. And it was a real kick to know that Sensor Girl was really Supergirl, at least at the early stages. I wondered why Levitz went to the trouble of hinting that Sensor was Kara, when we knew it couldn't be, due to Crisis #7. It all makes a little more sense now. Thanks for taking time to post here. I'm really looking forward to any more tidbits you may give us.
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
Me too! The early-ish Baxter run was one of my favourite Legion eras and all these insights are most appreciated!
Re Tellus: It's a shame that both the "mechanized voice" and "mood spot" ideas went out of the window so early on. Wasn't he "talking" to everyone telepathically by his 2nd appearance? And I don't remember seeing him change colour once! Tellus brought a lot to the Legion - having a none-humanoid on the team seemed such an obvious idea once it was done. It emphasised the book's sci-fi element and the Legion universe seemed a lot bigger because of his presence. I really liked his personality too - all super-eager and friendly, I couldn't believe it when Duo Damsel called him a "fish" - but maybe she was just voicing the opinions of the book's colourists, heh heh.
The try-out issue was one of my favourites from the entire Legion run - all the "extras" really made it stick in my mind. I especially liked the 30th century Batgirl character, the mixed-race looking bloke with the M on his chest, Energy Boy and the little kid in the blue and magenta outfit. There were enough stand-out "background" characters to make a Lightle Legion of Subsitute Heroes. Did you have plans for any of these?
Thanks for putting the extra effort in at the time Steve - it turned me into a lifetime Legion fan anyway!
-------------------- "What a total entropic mess! Let me at it!"
From: London, England | Registered: Oct 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Comet King: Me too! The early-ish Baxter run was one of my favourite Legion eras and all these insights are most appreciated!
Re Tellus: It's a shame that both the "mechanized voice" and "mood spot" ideas went out of the window so early on. Wasn't he "talking" to everyone telepathically by his 2nd appearance? And I don't remember seeing him change colour once! Tellus brought a lot to the Legion - having a none-humanoid on the team seemed such an obvious idea once it was done. It emphasised the book's sci-fi element and the Legion universe seemed a lot bigger because of his presence. I really liked his personality too - all super-eager and friendly, I couldn't believe it when Duo Damsel called him a "fish" - but maybe she was just voicing the opinions of the book's colourists, heh heh.
The try-out issue was one of my favourites from the entire Legion run - all the "extras" really made it stick in my mind. I especially liked the 30th century Batgirl character, the mixed-race looking bloke with the M on his chest, Energy Boy and the little kid in the blue and magenta outfit. There were enough stand-out "background" characters to make a Lightle Legion of Subsitute Heroes. Did you have plans for any of these?
Thanks for putting the extra effort in at the time Steve - it turned me into a lifetime Legion fan anyway!
I echo these sentiments. That particular tryout issue fueled my imagination for weeks as I pored over all the extra characters and their designs. The variety of costumes and characters were what initially drew me to the Legion when I was a boy and that issue threw me back to an earlier childhood feeling. Thanks for that, Steve!
From: Canada | Registered: Jul 2003
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For those of you who [don't] belong to LegionPics (With a nod to both Steve and Greybird who did it first - why not join? It's FREE!), here's some visual enhancements to the topics brought up on this thread.
Steve Lightle wrote: "Awhile back Paul Levitz and I created a few Legionnaires, and assorted supporting characters. Sensor Girl was always more Paul's baby, just as Tellus and Quislet were more mine. He had this idea of doing a female character that had exaggerated sensory powers."
Steve Lightle wrote: "Eryk Davis Ester asked: 'Can you give us any info on some of the background characters from the try-out issue (#14)? Particularly the two flying fish types and the red skinned girl with the bandana who made it on the cover.' Those 'fish' characters have been referred to as Skreaks ... because that is the sound that Paul had them emitting whenever they appeared. I just remember tossing them in the backgrounds for some kind of visual continuity. I would repeat species types in scenes that called for the casting of 'extras' specifically to make the Legion's universe seem more real. Too often artists would create alien characters only to discard them and create new ones for the next scene. Having familiar background types seemed more realistic to me, and may have helped make it all seem a bit more real ... I hope."
Steve Lightle wrote: "I do want to answer the question about the inspiration for Mentalla's costume. It certainly was based on Saturn Girl's earliest costume. In fact, I'd probably have given her the same hair color too, except that my wife had blonde hair at the time. Nemisis Kid's costume had nothing to do with her appearance. I know for a fact, since I designed the character of Mentalla, that her fate was not decided at the time of her creation. In fact, she probably would never have appeared again if not for the large amount of fan mail that mentioned an interest in Mentalla. Paul conceived of the idea of having her infiltrate the Fatal 5 without any input from me. If he was subconsciously drawing inspiration from the color scheme of Nemisis Kid's costume ... I have no way of knowing.
[ June 26, 2005, 02:10 AM: Message edited by: Nightcrawler ]
From: San Diego, CA | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Steve Lightle wrote: "I did four covers on the Legends of the Legion miniseries (Umbra, Ultra Boy, Star Boy, and Lightning Lass ... I think). I also did a couple of Legion covers on Showcase a few years back."
Steve Lightle wrote: "Are you one of the Legion fans who first saw Allegra in issues of the Legion APA KLORDNY? She did later appear as part of a super team called New Genix, in much the same way that Dave Cockrum's Nightcrawler was originally intended for the Legion but ended up in the X-Men."
Steve Lightle wrote: "I named her Allegra (before the much advertised alergy drug) from the base word Allegro ... which basically means music played fast. I changed the "o" to an "a" to feminize it. Pictures of the character have been circulated since 1992, in Legion fanzines and eventually in Marvel Comics Presents. The version in MCP had short hair, although the original had shoulder length hair. The other difference is that Allegra was originally supposed to be wearing a scarlet and gold costume rather than the purple and silver that I gave her for her Marvel appearances."
[ June 26, 2005, 02:11 AM: Message edited by: Nightcrawler ]
From: San Diego, CA | Registered: Jul 2003
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<< What about that leopard-print wearing Legion applicant? Did you have any plans for her? >>
I always liked to imagine that every bit player or 'extra' was a fully realized person with a life of their own. In the case of the red skinned girl in the tiger print costume, I imagine that her powers were very similar to Timber Wolf's, and that the duplication of powers clause in the Legion rules might have killed her chances of joining the team. I also imagine that she was both young and naive, and maybe tended towards hero worship of the Legion. She appeared again in LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #57 (May 1994). She's a member of the U.P. Military Academy and has the ability to transform into an alien-looking tiger. She also tackles Timber Wolf in the story. They never give her a name. Hey Steve, as her creator, could you name her for us?
<< Who was responsible for Comet Queen's "look" anyway? >>
I don't remember who Giffen said had created Comet Queen's look, but I do believe that she first appeared during his earliest run on the title."
Maxwell Demon wrote: "The try-out issue was one of my favourites from the entire Legion run - all the 'extras' really made it stick in my mind. I especially liked the 30th century Batgirl character, the mixed-race looking bloke with the M on his chest, Energy Boy and the little kid in the blue and magenta outfit. There were enough stand-out 'background' characters to make a Lightle Legion of Subsitute Heroes. Did you have plans for any of these?" And just for the heck of it -
[ June 26, 2005, 02:12 AM: Message edited by: Nightcrawler ]
From: San Diego, CA | Registered: Jul 2003
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<< Also - did you design Tellus? Have you heard from any other Legion artists if they liked/hated drawing him? He was quite unusual-looking (which helped make him one of my favourite Legionnaires.) >> I did design the first non-humanoid Legionnaires Tellus and Quislet, and yes, I noticed how much trouble other artists seemed to have with staying 'on model.' One of my favorite versions of the character of Tellus was done by Art Adams. He seemed to grasp the idea that Tellus' anatomy wasn't supposed to closely resemble human anatomy. Most artists seemed to think of Tellus as a physically distorted human. They tried giving Tellus a human head/kneck/shoulders relationship, or they would give him human arms. The worst example is the artist who gave Tellus long human fingers with especially long nails. I seem to recall that George Perez did a pretty good version of Tellus also. Of course we are talking George here ... How could I be surprised that he'd go the extra mile? As for complaints ... I was once told, shortly after introducing the character, that Tellus looked like 'a big yellow lump of sh*t.' Of course, that was only one colorist's opinion. I've got to at least give him credit for being bold enough to speak his mind. Now, if only he would have stuck with my character diagram that showed the sensor nodules on Tellus' back and face changing color to reflect the character's emotions. The idea was that Tellus had no vocal chords, and thus, no spoken language. The electronic voice that was emitted from his helmet was a translation of a purely visual language. Tellus' sensor nodules emitted a language comprised completely of ever constantly changing lights. Thanks for your interest in Tellus. Who knows ... maybe someday the big non-humanoid "lump" can return."
Steve,
Did you want to talk about Quislet? How he was created to be an organism and not energy-based, since the Legion already had Wildfire.
From: San Diego, CA | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
We could go with something very Silver Age, and call the Legion applicant Tiger Girl ... or we could all toss our two cents worth in ... What should the red skinned Legion applicant be named?
I wasn't aware that the character had made an appearance in the nineties. As her designer I find that both flattering and ... odd. : )
Does anyone have any ideas for a code name for this, apparently memorable, young woman?
I'll gladly volunteer to pick the winner. Of course, this is all very unofficial, since the DC editors will have the last word.
posted
When she first appeared I imagined that she was from the same planet as Katma Tui and Sinestro from Green Lantern (although I've now forgotten what it's called) and had sort of super-athletic/animal control powers (didn't she hold what looked like a pole-vault/javelin type thing at the try-out? Or am I making things up now?)
So I always thought she could be called something like - Shanna! Or Jayna! Or one of those jungle-girl type names. Which, given the nature of this competition is a bit unhelpful...
I saw her appearance right at the end of the old Legion title too and thought that making her a were-tiger was a bit lame. Still, nice to see her though.
But what about the 30th century Batgirl? And "M" man? Those were nifty outfits too!
-------------------- "What a total entropic mess! Let me at it!"
From: London, England | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
Although I like Maxwell Demon's train of thought, I think her skin tone is too dark for a Korugaran.
I believe that she's from Tyrraz, Tyr's homeworld. In fact in LSH #57, one of her fellow cadets is R327 of Tyrraz. I would like to think that she was throwback of her feline-originated race (kinda like Deathbird of Marvel's Shiar). She was probably persecuted by her race for not liking technology or weapons and becoming a cyborg. And when the Legion immobilized her homeworld, she left to join them. Maybe R327 is her brother who left his Warlord ways to be with his sister? If so then her real name is probably R-some-such number. So I'd give her a name that begins with an "R". Using the Jungle Girl theme, how about Rheema, the Tiger Girl?
BTW, Rima was one of DC's Jungle Babes in the 70's.
From: San Diego, CA | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
My favourite pick of a name for a feline character has always been "Prowl".
Steve, add me to the list of those clamouring for more info on the "Batgirl" design. Was there a name for her and background?
From: Canada | Registered: Jul 2003
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