Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Legion Panel at SDCC

Michael Grabois posted the following on the various LSH Facebook pages:

Tom Galloway will be moderating an "All Paul Levitz, All Legion, All the Time" panel in San Diego this year. Here's the info. I'll pass along any questions to him (if he doesn't reply here even though I tagged him).

"Pleased to announce that at San Diego I'll have the pleasure of interviewing Paul Levitz about his Legion work. Said interview will about all-Legion, all the time; unlike most interviews with Paul, I won't be addressing his publishing work, other writing, etc. I'm not supposed to say when/what room until the official schedule comes out though.
Meanwhile, anyone have any questions they'd like me to ask Paul?

Awesome!

I was hoping there would be a Legion panel this year!

Cool! I finally have a Legion panel to attend.

Questions for Paul?

How about the obvious "When are we going to get a Legion book again?!?"

Seriously.

He MIGHT be a little sensitive to that question. In his shoes, I would be.

Well, it can be worded around that, e.g.
"would you ever consider writing the Legion again? If so, do you think you'll ever get the opportunity? If not, who do you think would be a likely candidate, and have you heard any rumors in that regard?"

... or something like that...

Personally, I feel sad that he was so criticized in his final run... I bet if the same people went back and read his previous stuff as though it were new and not colored by memory or nostalgia, they'd probably be just as critical of the stories they now consider "classic"...

It might have been the "colored by memory or nostalgia" that doomed his latest run but... I kind of think it wasn't that well done on merits. Just MY opinion on that.

How his earlier work would fair to a modern reader, never having seen LSH? Yeah, you make a point. I do wonder how it would hold up to the much more critical modern audience. I suppose he'd have to include a few more be-headings.

Any hints on where the run would have gone before Giffen and the changes that were coming when Giffen was on board would be welcome.

It seemed as though the book was going back to some of the themes that launched the five year gap.

How painful was it to plot Mon-El as Legion leader and Green Lantern and as one of the team's mightiest heroes?

Any regrets on Earth Man joining?

Okay, I've got a question:

The Universo project is my favorite of your Legion storylines. Do you look back on it with fondness? Would you like to see it collected in a trade?

I'd ask him if he was an EDE alt.

My question:

Had you stayed on the book after The Magic Wars, how would you have gone about rebuilding the team and their universe? What kind of changes would we have seen?

Looks like the panel is on Thursday (July 9) at 5:00. Anyone planning on being there?

I suppose I'd like to ask him the difference in corporate approach from the 70s and the present and its effects on how projects are written and developed, but I don't know that someone still working the business could be as forthcoming as they'd want to be?


What I'd really be wanting to get at, would his latest run on Legion have been significantly different if developed under the same atmosphere as his earlier runs. Did he get to tell the story he wanted to tell or was he telling the story he thought would sell? Are they the same?

I wasn't going to go... but the Legion table and the Paul Levitz interview are tempting me...

Who would he pick to revitalize the concept? As a Legionfan himself, who is his dream team?

Oh, and of course don't forget to say "thanks"

So... how'd it go?

It was pretty good. I don't think we learned anything new or groundbreaking but it was a wonderful walk down Paul's history as a Legion writer.

He said he couldn't comment on his feelings about losing the Legion Lost team during the new 52 push for contractual reasons. And basically Keith was 100% responsible for Dirk and Thom's "deaths." He wouldn't have done any of that. That's the art/plot that Keith provided him.

In addition to what Nighty already said, Paul also commented that:

- the Universo Project was one of his favorite stories he wrote
- Cosmic Boy's evil grin at the end of LSH #297 may have been a possible subplot of him turning evil, but Paul couldn't remember for sure
- after Paul read the 5YL run for the first time, he told his fellow editors at the time that it was "the most painful weekend he had spent out of a hospital"

Not entirely surprised, but I wonder if there was a deadline issue (so no time to discuss or change this) or if Keith was really driving the series at that point.

I didn't remember Cos' evil grin, but here it is:

Thanks for the summary.

In hindsight I would have wanted to ask which, if any, 5YG/5YL/Postboot/Threeboot/Retroboot Legionnaires he would have included in his V3 run.

Transcript here: http://scifipulse.net/?p=9841

Paul Levitz has said that ^ before.

Thanks, Dave.

Random thoughts:

- I was overjoyed when Galloway asked Levitz if Wildfire was a copy of Marvel's Hawkeye. I'm a big fan of both characters (or at least Hawkeye pre-Bendis). And I "hear" the same voice for both of them, Neil Ross doing the Bugs Bunny/Jack Nicholson hybrid that he used for G.I. Joe's Shipwreck.

- Glad that Levitz gave then-Legion-editor Mike W. Barr credit for talking him into doing a second run on the Legion. I already knew it, but I was glad he shared it because I like Barr and think he gets a bad rap.

- Very happy that my question was answered and that Levitz is so proud of the Universo Project.