Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Visionaries of Tomorrow Wizard World Texas -- Waid/Kitson/Wacker discussion + sneak peak of Legion #1!

At the Wizard World Texas convention this past weekend, Legion creators Mark Waid and Barry Kitson, along with editor Steve Wacker, discussed the book in a Legion-only panel, as well as a separate DCU panel the following day.

All three were also on-hand at the DC booth each day for signatures, chatting, and (in the case of Barry) some seriously terrific sketches. Also available for viewing at the DC booth was a black-and-white advance copy of the Legion #1 -- which is currently set for publication on December 29.

I'm not sure how much people want to be spoiled, so I'll start off with some relatively minor spoilers and then maybe we can work our way up to more major ones if everyone is comfortable with the way things are going...

<font size="5">SPOILERS</font s>

Highlight the text below to read it:


There is going to be a core group of about 18 Legionnaires that will be the focus of the book. Each issue will spotlight smaller groups of a couple of Legionnaires.

As a movement, however, there is something on the order of 75,000 kids who follow the Legion's beliefs.

The characters that are featured in the first issue are Ultra Boy, Light Lass, Sun Boy, Cosmic Boy, Micro Lad (a.k.a. Colossal Boy), Invisible Kid, Phantom Girl, Karate Kid, Shadow Lass, Element Lad, and Chameleon. There may have been one or two others (I think Triplicate Girl is shown at least in the background in one panel), but those were the ones I recall seeing.

The other Legionnaires aren't sure of Chameleon's gender, so it's not "Chameleon Boy" or "Chameleon Girl" -- just "Chameleon."

Invisible Kid joins the Legion in the first issue. When invisible, he apparently can't be perceived in any visible spectrum. (Ultra Boy's ultra-vision can't pick Lyle out.) IK initially seems to find the codename a bit cornball.

Light Lass has dated at least two members of the Legion already. (Should I say who they are?)

The Legion's headquarters has plenty of 21st century parapharnelia, including a foosball table and comics-spinner racks.

Those are the main points I remember from the first issue... I'm sure others will recall additional things.


Coming soon... info about the title generally and where it's going in the near future...

Awesome! More, I say, more!

SPOIL ME! I'd do it for you!

You're doing fine so far, STU.

Oh, yeah! And I sure wouldn't mind knowing who Light Lass had dated. Also, that spin on Chameleon is interesting.

Some more spoilers:


Issue #1 begins with a series of pages that show scenes throughout history leading up to the Legion's time. This is done in rows of horizontal panels -- three or four per page, I think.

Add Star Boy to the list of characters that appear in the first issue -- I'd forgotten about seeing him, but he plays a relatively large role, I think.

Light Lass appears to have dated both Ultra Boy and Sun Boy before. Although both are in the book, I don't recall seeing Ultra Boy and Phantom Girl interacting with each other. (I didn't read the advance copy that closely, though -- so I could be mistaken.)

The creators have roughly the first three years planned out already.

The book is not going to do a reboot version of any past Legion stories, events, or villains just for the sake of doing a reboot version. My take on what they said is that they have no specific plans at this point to "do over" any past Legion stories, but that they haven't completely ruled out doing so in the future if the story could be done well on its own.

The Legion seems to be almost entirely humanoid at the start of the series, but my impression is that that status will change -- and that it's all a part of what the creators have planned with the team.

There are a few more things I recall, but let's see if anyone else who was there wants to post some spoilers...

Your doing it just fine.. heck I want to hear more and I was there.

I'm glad you guys got to go-- and had as good a time as it seems you did! I'm envious...

What about Element Lad?

And the rumored 'page 14'?

Thanks for the info, STU!!

Todd

Actually, I like that certain "classic" relationships aren't in evidence at the beginning of the series. It takes time for people to get to know one another, start dating, and have a relationship.

I don't think all of these previous relationships need to be revisited. I'm a little tired of the Jo/Tinya coupling. I liked it preboot, but it was a little much in the reboot. I wouldn't mind if these two went in a new direction this time around. Like I've said in the past, I want to see _new_ situations for these characters, not a new spin on old stories.

I was quite pleased myself to learn that certain LEGION chicks dated certain LEGION guys that you wouldn't normally think would have dated... I mean, Jillikers! Let's be real here!

There are teens-- there's going to be some out of control hormones here!

No offence, but nothing I've just read encourages me to read the book so far (the foosball table is going to haunt me now!)

I just hope it's better than it sounds, because it sounds like one of those Waid "miss" times more than a Waid "hit" time... :-(

I'll check it for the art though

The presence of a spinner rack seems to be the ultimate bit of meta-irony. The lack of them in the 21st Century -- they pretty much didn't make it out of the 20th in any numbers -- is what may keep this book, and all printed non-manga comics, from lasting any longer than this decade.

No more mass audience. Even 100,000 copies -- let alone "LSH" v5's more likely 25,000 -- would not be a mass audience.

I'm afraid I'm with Pariscub thus far. Except for some of Kitson's costume designs, nothing is compelling about this -- though, yes, I'll be trying it for at least a year.

I really hope they take a lot of the 'classic' couples in different directions in this series. I'm so over Thom/Nura, Jo/Tasmia, Garth/Imra, etc. Time to mix things up a bit!

And sounds like Ayla's gonna be the one adding the spice! Cool. That added to her cool new costume and I already know she's gonna be one of my faves in this new universe!

Also looks like we've got some non-humanoid members just around the corner - EXCELLENT!

Element Lad appears a couple of times. I seem to recall one scene where he transmutes some weapons into a gaseous element. I don't remember whether he did much more than that, but he was definitely around. And, I'm growing to like his costume more and more...

The accuracy (or lack thereof) of some of the 20th/21st century "artifacts" is, I think, meant to be deliberate. A lot of information has been lost between our time and the Legion's time. These are kids who are trying to re-enact some of the aspects of the "golden age" of super-heroes, and not necessarily knowing all the facts -- kind of like the way we have Renaissance faires and the like, even though a lot of the details are really based on contemporary interpretation and not 100% historically accurate.

This also explains the costumes -- the presence of capes, etc. -- which are what the Legion imagines the costumes of "today's" super-heroes were like.

A few more spoilers:


When asked whether they had any back-up artists lined up, I believe the creators' response was that they didn't -- implying that Barry is committed to doing the art for at least all the issues they have planned so far. (And note that they've got roughly the first 36 issues planned out already.) I'm sure that this isn't set in stone, though.

There are no current plans to kill off any of the Legionnaires at this point. Again, keep in mind that this would seem to mean no deaths in the first three years -- but, of course, this too is probably subject to change.

The Legion isn't necessarily bound by what happens in the current DCU (i.e., present-day continuity). A lot will have happened between now and then. This, IMO, is a good thing.

Brainy doesn't appear much inside issue #1, but he and Dream Girl are the focus of issue #2.


If anyone remembers things differently, please chime in -- I find that my memory isn't what it used to be.

Kudos to STU for sharing so much information!!!

I'm dying to know more.

Me, too. It's only a month away, but it still seems like forever.

Wow - thanks STU!

A few more tidbits that have trickled into my memory since last night:


There won't be any "dedicated" speedsters in the Legion for now -- i.e., members like XS whose primary/sole power is super-speed. Ultra Boy (and possibly others), of course, has super-speed as one of his powers.

The Legion's rallying cry is...

Are you ready?

"Eat it, grandpa!"

Something else else else I just remembered: the DC people were giving away a copy of "DC Horizon" (that freebie you usually get at your comic book store) that features six colored pages from Legion #1 (which contains some of the spoilers I mentioned above).

I don't recall seeing this issue of DC Horizon at my store, so I'm thinking it's probably one that hasn't been released yet -- and if so, will probably be made available very soon (maybe even today). If you don't already have a copy, keep an eye out for it at your store -- it's red and also features a sampler from the Deadshot mini-series on sale December 1.

funny, my grandma says the same thing as the legion

Actually, I found out that it came out last week. So if you haven't seen it at your store yet, ask for it!