Last year I interviewed Glen Cardigan regarding the Legion Companion book published by TwoMorrows which celebrated the 45th anniversary of the creation of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Near the beginning of this year Glen told me he was working on another “secret project”. Then Harry Broertjes spilled the beans in Interlac #169 on the project he was working on with Glen on the Best of the Legion Outpost. I asked Glen if I could interview him on the book.

1. What gave you the idea to come up with a book on the fanzine the Legion Outpost from the 1970s?

While I was working on the Legion Companion, there came a point in the production of the book when I realized that everything which I wanted to put in it simply wouldn't fit. I guess the question started to roll around in my mind back then, "Where else can this stuff appear?" but it was simply pie-in-the-sky thinking at that point. I forget the exact details, but at some point I saw the stack of Legion Outposts, saw the stack of artwork which didn't make it into the book, and just put two and two together.

I don't mean for it to sound as cold-blooded as that; I know that the Legion Outpost had a low circulation back in the day, and that only a privileged few Legion fans today have even seen it. It seemed like a shame to me that it couldn't get into more hands, and this seemed like a great opportunity to do that. I remember how excited I was when I got my set in the mail, and I'm hoping to make people who buy the book feel just as excited when they open it.

Just as an aside, as a kid I used to see mentions of Interlac in the Legion's letters page and would fantasize about having every issue of this mythical Legion fanzine. I didn't even know what Interlac looked like, but in my mind it was what the Legion Outpost actually was. I never, ever dreamed that I would own a complete set of the Legion Outpost: that was fantasyland. I saw owning Interlac as an attainable goal, and owning the Outpost as an impossible mission. So imagine my surprise when you contacted me and offered to send me a complete set. As it turns out, Interlac was a different beast entirely, and that dream has since abated.

2. What was TwoMorrows' response about the concept of the book?

At first John Morrow was hesitant to put it out, so I had to twist his arm a little bit. He thought it was too close to the Legion Companion, but my thinking was it made the most sense to put it out while the infrastructure for the Companion was still in place. It's like how movie trilogies these days are all shot back-to-back-to-back; it makes the most sense to do that than to tear the sets down and build them all up again. Plus, the Best of the Legion Outpost should see a boost in sales coming out while the Legion Companion is still fresh in everyone's minds. For those reasons, among others, he fell before my persuasive logic.

3. Was it difficult finding the founders of the Outpost such as Mike Flynn, Harry Broertjes and Jay Zilber (among others) and what was their reaction and support of the project?

A fella by the name of Kevin McConnell cc:'ed me an email which must have had a dozen other names in the cc: field, and there were Harry, Mike, and Jay's, among others. This was before the Legion Companion, so I've known how to get in contact with them for a while. But that's Kevin McConnell for you, bridging the gap between Legion fandom past and present.

As far as their reactions go, they were all in favor of the book. So to make a long story short, all three became involved and supported the project.

4. How was DC's reaction and did they have any input into the project?

(I'll answer this one when I find out.)

5. What should the reader expect when getting The Best of the Legion Outpost, reprints of the highlights or something new?

Both. It's exactly what the title suggests, plus new material in the form of artwork, interviews, and articles.

6. What was the hardest part of putting this together and what did you enjoy the most?

The hardest part was transcribing the Keith Giffen interview. It involved over forty hours of listening to passages of less-than stellar quality audio, trying to decipher what he was saying in the difficult parts. For the most part it would click after a while, but some passages I just had to totally write off, like the one where it sounded like he was saying, "Divide by Sulu! Divide by Sulu!" Even considering the source, I had to leave that one alone.

A close runner-up was bleaching artwork, which involves many monotonous, mind-numbing hours of sucking the color out of scans of four-color comic book pages. I literally spent weeks at that. There's a lot of hard work which has gone into this book which the consumer will never know about.

What I enjoyed the most was seeing draft after draft take form. It's really special seeing all that hard work pay off as the book comes to life right before your eyes.

7. I know with the modern era of websites and message boards do you see things such as fanzines or APA's such as Interlac ever making a comeback?

I don't know if they ever went away. Sure, there isn't a three hundred person waiting list anymore, but Interlac is still being made, as is Klorndy. But I know what you're saying; they've become to the internet what radio has become to television. Still, people still listen to the radio.

8. Anything additional you would like to mention on the book and any plans for other upcoming projects?

I just hope that people enjoy the book as much as I enjoyed making it. If you liked the Legion Companion, you'll like this book, and even if you didn't like the Legion Companion, you'll still like this book. There should be something here for everyone.

I'm not allowed to talk about anything which may or may not be in progress, but I do have stuff in the works..

9. When will The Best of the Legion Outpost come out and where can it be purchased?

Sometime in November of this year, roughly a year after the Legion Companion. It can be bought at comic book stores everywhere, as well as online at http://www.twomorrows.com/books/bestlegionoutpost.html.

Anyone interested with this interview in WORD format or a copy of the 30 Year Outpost Tribute put out in August 2002 Interlac or Interlac the LSH APA contact me at:
mranziety@yahoo.com
LLLater,
Kevin