Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Visionaries of Tomorrow New Levitz Legion story in 2009

Paul Levitz did an question and answer session on WashingtonPost.com , and had this tidbit:

Levitz/Jim Lee??? A Levitz/Giffen reunion?!?


OM-freakin'-G!!!!! Heaven!

Some years ago Levitz said he was doing a HC with Keith. Nothing came up. So I hold my breath this will be true this time.

unfortunately, Levitz is so oft trapped at the desk-job.

I'll take what comes, but realize it's all wishful thinking until it hits the shelves.

If DiDio is talking to Levitz about a reunion with Giffen, it rather sounds like desperation to me... would love to see it but I'm lacking faith...

Sometimes desperation can lead to greatness. AW YEAH LEGION!!!!

FABOO!

Though the panel was about BR, I was impressed with the love thrown Legion's way. I would have asked him, which Legion characters will be showing up in the next Batman movie?

Levitz??? Hell, yeah!!!! Giffen, NO WAY!!!! Giffen should not be allowed anywhere near the Legion ever again!! He should not even be able to mention the Legion!! There are too many fantastic artists out there that we should not have to settle for the crap that is Giffen!!

Shut up.

Speechless? Levitz? Lee? Giffen? Wow.

While I'd LOVE to see Levitz back in the saddle like old times, I'm also nervous after the disastrous return he had to JSA a few years ago.

Two words.

First word: Anywhere

Second word: Machine.

Two more words: 'Nuff said!

NO MORE GRIFFEN ON THE LEGION EVER...AFTER COUNTDOWN FLORG HIM! FLORG HIM WITH DEAD BLOK FROM LEG VOL. 4 ISSUE 3! and rats from countdown!

Yeah, no more Griffen, but all the power to that Giffen dude. He gave us v4, so he KNOWS a thing or two about writing the best Legion book ever.

By the way, Giffen had nothing to do with Countdown story. He was a consultant.

Might such a collaboration feature the return of the fearsome ruler of Taltar? If so, you cretinous males are in for a treat!

OH MY GOD!!!

From DC Nation Panel!!
"If you heard news Paul Levitz and I were returning to the Legion, how would you respond?" Giffen asked, and the crowd was shocked into applause. "Just wondering."

Just read it myself, I wonder if there just doing a story or a taking on a book, and I also hope Kieth is just co-writing with Paul and they get someone else do the art.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=17384

Isn't the Levitz story the one in this book -



Which has been scrolling on the front page for quite awhile now (two months?).

Sorry, just read the Giffen comment. That'll be interesting.

Shut up!

It seems you've been out-shuted: they do have a Legion book coming up!

And YES to Keith as artist as well. Either that or Jason Pearson.

Keith on the art, I would rather have Joe Staton or Jimmy Janes.

Well at least with Paul on board he won't be able to go crazy and disrespect the characters again.

Giffen should be a politician. Let's try a different scenario.

Giffen: "If you heard news Paul Levitz and I were returning to the Legion, how would you respond?"

Wild applause.

Giffen: "If you heard news Paul Levitz was returning to the Legion, how would you respond?"

Wild applause.

Giffen: "If you heard news that I was returning to the Legion, how would you respond?"

Chirp....chirp....




Giffen WITH Levitz the control rod would be great as long as the art was done by some other, simply because I do not think Giffen would be willing to do it straight. Originally, he called it personal experimentation but it's become lifelong obsession.

Hmmm...I'd have mixed feelings about it.


Levitz and Giffen are two of my favorite Legion creators ever. They wrote my favorite comics mega arc.

Levitz and Giffen are two of my least favorite Legion creators ever. They wrote some of my least favorite Legion stories. Including my least favorite. And they are both pretty fond of killing characters...if there's a KK left after L3W I don't want to see him killed again. 3-4 times is enough. It is going to have zero entertainment value if they do that. If that's all Giffen is going to do, I'd rather he not return to the book.


Pros of Levitz returning:

1. Levitz always starts out his Legion runs strong. You get his best stories right off the bat, and they are usually really good, the best writing of his career.

2. He is very inventive with tweaking, twisting and and sometimes intertwining Legion continuity and loose ends.

3. Paul Levitz is the only writer in history to succeed at taking a book with 30 characters in it and giving them all something meaningful to do and something meaningful to say in 27 pages per month. Thus keeping everyong pretty satisfied that their character isn't being ingnored, something that just about every other Legion writer has has a problem with. I'm not saying it's my favorite way of writing for the Legion, but Levitz does pull it off. And no one else does...and unfortunately many try.

4. And this one is major...

No way he gets editorial or executive decisions imposed on him by DC brass or another book's editors. He is the publisher...he will win that battle. Since the Legion has frequently been the victim of just that sort of inteference and the book has suffered from it...it would be nice to have a guy with some pull on the book. And if there's one thing Levtiz has now, it's pull.


Cons of Levitz returning:

1. Levitz is not very creative. He's written more Legion stories than anyone yet he has created few chracters that are significant, memorable or meaningful considering the amount of stories he's written.

He's not nearly in the same league as Cockrum, Shooter, Siegel and Giffen when it comes to having a creative mind.

2. He will kill characters and feels it is an essential part of storytelling to give life or death situatons more suspense. He will kill characters, and the ones he replaces them with will not be as good as the ones he killed.

3. Last time I read a Levitz Legion story it was pretty clear to me that he had run out of things to write and his heart was not in it anymore. Granted, I can understand why he felt this way, as the Legion went through a lot of negative changes. But many said Shooter returning to the book would play out like Waid returning to the Flash or Claremont to the X-Men, still burnt out..and while I don't think that has happened, because Shooter really hasn't written that many Legion stories, not near enough to burn out, I think it very well might happen with Levitz.


Pros of Giffen returning:

1. Giffen still has one of the great creative minds in the industry. He will give you something you weren't expecting, and he seldom repeats himself(except when it comes to killing KK). I'd argue that he's a better writer now than he has been before.

2. Giffen still has an unmatched ability for drawing fight scenes and future world. He's still very good at Sci-fi.

3. There will be a huge interest in he and Levitz returning to the Legion at this point, as they are the last great writer artist team to work on the book.


Cons of Giffen returnng:

1. He will kill Karate Kid, if there's one alive. I like Karate Kid, he is one of my favorite characters. As a fan of that character, as a fanof that character before I ever even knew who Keith Giffen was, I feel particularl picked on by Giffen. I mean people read books because they like the characters, when you keep killing one of them, it's going to ruin some people's enjoyment of the book. And superkarate isn't a stupid power. It's not a power...it's a human being that has pushed himself to being to fight at a superhuman level.

2. Giffen has one of the great creative minds in the industry, he will give you something you haven't seen before, something you weren't expecting....that doesn't mean it's going to be good.

3. Not just KK, but Giffen has killed more than his fair share of characters in the book as well, and he didn't get to kill as many as he wanted last time.

4. Giffen's art can really be confusing on a large cast book. It is really hard to recognize the characters sometimes and it takes a lot of intense focus to do so at times, and that does reduce the enjoyment of the story for some(including me). His panels can also be hard to discern as well.

I am good at discening panels and recognizing Legionaires...and Giffen is by far the hardest to do that with.


All in all...I remain mixed. Could be really good...could definitely be a case of can't go home again, as this is the most prolific writer artist team in Legion history, and their best Legion work as a team was nearly 30 years ago.


Still...if it was a mini I'd definitely be in favor of that...as long as Giffen doesn't kill Karate Kid again. Giffen hasn't created a Legion character as memorable or as successful as Karate Kid was...and so I'd just rather him not do that since he can't come up with anything better.

reading through the post, that just caught me by the boys.

My response?

Tru Dat! KK, all 52 of him, would be history.

ohhhh! i kept seeing that at the top and had no idea it was legion related!! also, that is the laziest cover ever!!! it's the same cover to the infinite crisis trade , so i thought it was something to do with that!

the desc says "comic-strip" with LOSH....what does that mean? do they mean a paged story or do they mean COMIC STRIPS?

i actually kind of hope it's the latter... just because i can't even imagine his ridiculous style in comic strip form.

i don't like lee's art. at all. but if it's legion i'll pick this up.

I hope you meant that in jest. If so, a smiley face would be in order to prevent misunderstanding. E-communication loses the subtleties we might intend.

If that's the case, Kent, I took it lightly. No hard feelings. And it is actually funny to see how polarized Giffen can be seen around these parts. Not a middle-of-the-road, as usual. That's probably why I like his work: he pushes it to another level.
And for those who think his art is too intricate, check the new Ambush Bug. Probably his lightest since his Magic Wars period, but still keeping his European dynamic style.

I think I saw mentioned in the solicitation that it was an 11 page story.

Actually, when I was told to shut up for expressing my feelings toward Giffen doing another Legion story, my feelings were hurt. Yes, Ricardo might like Giffen, but there was no need in telling me to shut up...smiley face or not. I just thought by telling him to shut up for no reason might make him think before he attacks someone else. A smiley face does not excuse rudeness. I apologize for "my shut" up comeback. I was quite surprised by his comment, but realize I am not a regular contributer here and it is easy to attack someone who you don't know. Sad to feel that way as I LOVE Legion World and am on here several times a day.

I am sorry, but the way you reacted to news of Giffen doing another Legion story were pretty harsh and, as also a fan, thought it was way over board. So, my "shut up" WAS to be taken lightly (hence the smiley) and kind of a suitable answer for such an opinion. We all love the Legion (and Giffen's work was always a big part of it) and being a bit of a cluster ourselves we are entitled to joke a bit around these parts.

We are a really sorry bunch.

==> <==

Levitz Lad himself said the idea is a nice one, but he is obligated to the Mrs to have a free month just for family time before he's allowed to write anything... and as busy as the desk job is, he can't make promises.

Giffen and others seemed to float the idea more than he was.

I am sorry, but the way you reacted to news of Giffen doing another Legion story were pretty harsh and, as also a fan, thought it was way over board. So, my "shut up" WAS to be taken lightly (hence the smiley) and kind of a suitable answer for such an opinion. We all love the Legion (and Giffen's work was always a big part of it) and being a bit of a cluster ourselves we are entitled to joke a bit around these parts.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Thank you both for contributing here.

All opinions are welcome, and neither of you should have to take any flack.

A note to EVERYONE:

Please think about how any strong statement could be
interpreted, or how any sarcasm might be misinterpreted. We've all been there, all posted something in good intent to have it misinterpreted.

Let's all make the extra effort to maintain a civil discussion. It's something I've had to remind myself of sometimes too.

I'll get off my soapbox here.

note to Ricardo:

There were plenty of us 5YL fans present at the LSH-50 panel, and Tom and Mary even got added as last-minute panelists. I myself got to chat with both of them the day before; it was the highlight of my Con/Celeb experiences this time out.

Perez and Johns are apparently including ALL LSH members that have ever appeared... I'd imagine that must include 5YL too.

Giffen is using "a" LSH in DreamWars and, though their appearances are but a couple of pages per issue, I think readers can tell he CAN write Legion dialogue quite effectively. I vote "aye" for a collaboroative effort with Mr. Levitz any time, but it would be much cooler if it were to happen during this anniversary celebration.
Side note: Anyone doubting that being able to inflate one's body is useful needs to check out one panel in particular from issue four of DW! It is a classic piece of iconographic LSH art!

Thank you, Mr. Shakespear, for you very diplomatic statements and sage advice!!

I am looking forward to seeing some of the 5Y members as I did actually enjoy SOME of the stories (mostly the later issues). Kent & Celeste were 2 of my favs and I hope they get to stay around after the whole L3W is over. They would make great additions to the Action Legion we have been seeing.

Thanks for the heads up, Kent! Did someone show some respect for the most viled era in LSH history, even though Legion On The Run or the Reboot was so much worse?

I hope to see Kono, Kent Shakespeare and Devlin O'Ryan, but I don't think I will. I wasn't at the Legion panel (I'd love to have that chance) but I don't feel Johns' love for TMK so far. He likes canon and roots, and even though TMK was all about it, it twisted everything - and that's not Johns at all. I bet they are considering TMK as Elseworlds or something.

There was a great deal of applause when the Bierbaums were added to the panel, and positive responses to their contributions.

I don't recall anyone singling out the era per se (although at least one simply said the Reboot was unnecessary, presumably from the point where things were left off), and any of the bashers who might have been present (including one friend of mine) bit their lips.

I'm rather tired and jet-lagged. That's all I could think of, and if I add more I might be confusing other conversations with the panel.

Thanks again, Kent. Cool to have some report!

WHAT!!! And I'm just now hearing about this?!?! I *love* T&MB! Wanna hear more!

They stopped by the table and took some of our legionworld.net swag as well. Maybe they'll stop by and post soon.

Awasome news! Better than Legion on Smallville!

OMG, I would totally wig!

Well, not the right forum, but since mentioned, it seems v4 WILL BE featured in Legion of Three Worlds...

From CBR, Geoff Johns panel:

Will "Legion of Three Worlds" also include alternate continuities like the Giffen era? "George wants to draw every single Legionnaire ever," Johns said, so the answer seems to be yes.

From the Titan Books press release:

"Lee's ascent through the ranks of comics stardom, both in art and in business, is charted in Icons: The DC Comics and WildStorm Art Of Jim Lee, as Titan Books lays out his rich, varied and astonishingly successful career through an array of beautiful work, bringing it right up to date with an all-new cover by Lee and an exclusive, all-new Legion of Superheroes twelve-page comic strip, written by Paul Levitz, with art by Lee!"


Solicited for October 2008 according to Amazon UK

Paul Levitz quote from Newsarama*** Holding Keith Giffen back from announcing we’d do a new LEGION run to a panel room of 700 dedicated Legion fans by reminding him that he’d have to get my wife to agree, and Science Police officers are armed. (Honest, I’d love to do if my travel schedule ever lightens up again.) ***