Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Bleedingcool Rumors: Giffen, Lightle

Legion-related post (with fairly long discussion thread following) over on BleedingCool.com. Gist of it is:

- September brings #0 issues to all DC 52 titles.
- Giffen will be joining Legion with #0 (not specified in what capacity).
- Lightle is new permanent cover artist.

A Johns

Hmm... we knew before that Giffen would be joining Levitz for something, but this sounds like it will be more longterm than expected. Let's hope he can breathe some life into the book!

Even if Giffen only came in to pencil Levitz's stories, it might be just what the LSH needs.

The Baxter series under levitz was seriously dull and stagnant when Giffen came back and jazzed up proceedings with issue 50.

"Life and death and the end of time" is one of my all time favorites. So many great stories from issues 50 to 63 of that series. The final fate of the Emerald Empress. Blok's search to find himself. Dream Girl finally kicking Atoms's butt. Luornu further cultivating the fascinating aura of tragedy that surrounded her. Poor Polar Boy failing so bad as leader after waiting so long and trying so hard. Shady's terrifyingly fierce love for Mon-El. Lesbians toying with the emotions of
slowwitted straight boys to the point they become suicidal.

It was all clearly the influence of Giffen's imagination.

Let's hope history repeats itself.

Levitz and Giffen have turned out some outstanding tales together. I think the credit is typically that Levitz and him work so well from a plotting standpoint and each's individual work pulls together a lot tighter since they have the same vision in the end.

Their collaboration is always welcome to me, though I imagine it may just be for the "0" issue.

No offense meant to Giffen fans, but I think he's the Anti-Christ of super-hero comic books.

It's funny how KC and I are so much on the same page about L.E.G.I.O.N. but so different on Legion. I loved the Greg LaRocque Baxter era, and I wish he had drawn "Life or Death..." because then I'd have been able to forgive the flaws in Levitz's story. I hated almost everything Giffen did during the last year of the Baxter Legion: the new costumes, the death of the Emerald Empress, Magnetic Kid, the bloody Arch-Mage. Paradoxically, the spotlight on Shady, Mon, and Blok in #56 is one of my favorite issues, but that's largely because Eduardo Barreto guest-pencilled it.

I think Giffen is King Midas in reverse. Everything he touches turns to *bleep*.

Stealth, just imagine how boring it would be if we agreed on everything.

As has been well noted, it seems legion fans either adore Giffen's later work on the series, or they despise it. Just no middle ground there.

And sadly, no matter how you cut it, there's probably no way Giffen coming aboard will translate in the Legion getting the bump in sales it so desperately needs. The book needs a "hot" artist who can create a buzz.

I think Portela is a great artist but maybe doesn't stand out enough. I actually preferred his stuff when he and Cinar were sharing art duties. Since then, Portela seems to have dialed back those expressive flairs that made me really take notice of him at first. I wish he'd go back to them.

As for Giffen, I doubt he'll be on art for more than an issue here and there. I think he's too burnt-out from past runs drawing all those characters to return full-time. However, if he returns as ongoing co-plotter with Levitz, I think that could give the stories just the kick they need!

And, hell, you just CAN'T go wrong with Lightle covers!

Umm.
Maybe you can.
Or rather, I can.
I hate the Nura/Brainy cover.
with a

KC, it would be boring indeed.

Now it's time for me to disagree with Shady...

...and agree with Lardy.

I've always felt that Lightle works best as a cover artist, and I think the Nura/Brainy cover is just as good as his past covers.

I think that Paul Levitz & Keith Giffen together on the Legion is greater than the sum of the parts.

I love Giffens plotting and lightle's covers so can't wait!

Harby, while the latter is confirmed, the former is just speculation at this point. Giffen may or may not just be around just for the 'zero' issue.

<== :fingerscrossed:

Fingers crossed too, which does make typing this reply difficult

yeah, they did. thirty years ago.

i really really wish to see someone new (and, possibly, good) writing the legion, for a change.

It's hard to believe that the last really "new" writers we've had on the Legion for a long-term run were DnA...

I wouldn't mind them getting a shot at the regular version of the Legion. They seem to have hit a good vibe with space drama...from what I hear with what they did at Marvel.

I am praying the Giff can re-spark my interest in LSH... one thing is certain to me at any rate: his presence certainly cannot make things worse than they currently are.

PS/ I wouldn't count on seeing Giff's art regularly on LSH but I wouldn't count on not seeing it at all either

*resists urge to slam your use of 'regular'*

Space-wise, DnA are doing their own series, Hypernaturals, now (the #0 issue of which is Boom's FCBD book this year). Unfortunately, they're paired with Brad Walker, the really stiff artist from their GotG run.

There's an interview here and a preview here .

At this point, I agree with Mr. Kayak in that more than anything I'd like a brand new voice. That being said, I'm optimistic about Giffen's return if it comes to pass. Like Lash says, it can't hurt the series, which has grown increasingly weak.

I don't buy for a minute that he'll do regular art though I'd welcome it in any capacity.

yeah, i find that very sad. especially considering how fresh DnA's legion was, instead of everything that followed.
this book desperately needs some new blood. how bitterly ironic to see that the one DC comics' book set in the future is actually stuck in the past...

i have to say that my interest in the legion is also crippled by the whole dark trend almost every DCU title is living these last few years. right now i'm buying less DC books that i did when i was a student and i hadn't any money.

I actually struggled with what term to use. I didn't want to use 'original,' since this is not the original version in my mind, but the closest we're going to get...and I know we could debate that for hours, and probably a few full threads without reaching a consensus on it.

I still say that if Geoff had any balls, he would have picked up after the 5YL stuff and went from there.

Well this is good news if Giffen can help with the plotting of stories. Levitz is great at throwing initial ideas into the mix but has poor execution.Does this mean we will never get the followup to Projectra’s dream of Karate Kid from the Adventure series? Hopefully Matter-Eater Lad will make an appearance.

Again, for now news of Giffen coming back in some longterm capacity is just speculation. His involvememt in the "zero" issue hasn't even been confirmed, though I think it's pretty likely he'll at least co-plot or even draw that one issue.

Interestingly, one of the big stories this week on BC and the other comics news websites was writer Chris Roberson's cutting ties with DC. Chris is the guy who wrote Star Trek/LSH. Chris stated that he cut ties over DC's treatment of creators and their business practices. Here is an interesting part of his statement:

Sorry. In a better world, characters like the Legion would be owned by a more ethical company, but sadly not in this one.

Now, this could just be a references he used because he'd just done the Star Trek thing. However, I found the mention oddly specific to be a part of his statement. It makes me wonder if he'd been up for replacing Levitz, and it went wrong somehow with his pitch being rejected. And maybe he got wind of where DC wanted to go with the LSH and felt it was a disservice to the characters.

This is pure speculation, but the reference made me go there. It seemed an oddly specific reference when you consider all of the more prominent properties he could have mentioned.

Here's the article from BC. There's not any more info there about the Legion, but you can see what I mean.

Sounds to me like it's a reference to a specific fan question about the possibility of him writing the Legion.