Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Levitz back to writing Legion, leaving DC presidency?

I'm excited. I have been a fan of Geoff's work...didn't love it but I liked it. But Levitz? Oh yeah!

Of course when PL was on Adventure, it was Aquaman not the Legion. But the Legion is what made PL one of DC's mega stars.

I just hope this means a full Legion book not 32 pages of aquaman and a Legion back up.

I think the quote "with his eyes set to the future" is pretty self-explanatory.

Yeah, I'm not exactly jumping with joy over this. He wrote two of the best Legion runs ever, but Marv Wolfman enjoyed the same success with New Teen Titans, and Claremont enjoyed the same success with the Uncanny X-Men. Neither of their recent "returns" were anything spectacular, and all I've seen of Levitz's recent writing, while not bad, seemed...dated. Bland.

I'm of course going to read it--I buy all DC collections--but I'm not so sure that I feel a desperate need to buy this monthly anymore. Either way, while I could've seen Adventure Comics under Johns and Manapul as a top book for DC, I'm seeing it under Levitz as going to mid-range at best, and that disappoints me.

It's been a tumultuous time recently, hasn't it? I know it isn't as simple as this, but from my point of view it seems like it worked out this way:

Disney buys Marvel. Therefore Paul Levitz is back on the Legion.

From what I'm reading over at Newsarama regarding the restructuring of TimeWarner and DC in response to Disney buying Marvel...it may indeed be just as simple as that.

They say it was in the works for over two years. If so, this probably hastened it is all. 'course, that could just be corporate spin.

I'm really rooting for Paul to succeed in his return. I honestly thought that Johns was gearing up to relaunch the book when his schedule freed up some, though. My main worry is that Paul's been on the editorial side for so long, that he may be too out of touch writing. I know he did some work on JSA a few years back, but I haven't read those issues.

Anyone read that story with Jim Lee? How was it?

In any case I feel Paul did more for the Legion as a writer than any other writer in its history, and I know he has the passion for them that we want. If not Geoff Johns, I can't think of any other writer I'd rather take on our Legion--especially the current version.

This is great news! I look forward to Paul Levitz writing the Legion again!

I hate to be pessimistic but I kinda think this could be a bad move by Levitz.

Right now he's considered one of, if not the best writers the Legion's ever had, writing the team when they were at their best-selling best and being responsible for their most famous and well-loved story. Where else is there to go from there but down?

I'm a firm believer in the old adage that "you can't go home again" and I think Levitz might be attempting to do just that here.

Don't get me wrong - I'm sure he's capable of giving us great stories and great characterisation, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what he brings us, I just can't help but think that people are always going to be comparing this era of the Levitz-Legion to the previous era of the Levitz-Legion... and guess which one will come out on top.

That's a fair comment, I think. I do look forward to it, I do want it to succeed, but DC has a history of people returning to great books and not doing well.

then again, look at Geoff and Flash, or the JSA. Lots of people didn't like either return, but even more did like it.

So, it could go either way. Hoping for the best, it couldn't get any worse than Legion #50 of the last run.

Well, unless Didio pops up again and starts monkeying around.

That is what I'm excited about. He was famously reluctant to let kara go and now she's back. If anyone is going to put that right its Levitz. I wouldn't mind at all if we saw an older Supergirl appear in Legion while the younger one was in the monthly.

Don't DO IT Paul,

We're message boarders.

We'll eat you ALiiiivvvve.....


It's like,..

our job you know.

This sort of thing would be impossible to set up in...what, a week and a half? This is a huge deal, involving the hiring of many people and, well, a complete restructure of the division. There's no way that it's in response to Disney buying Marvel.

Wow,I just asked this question over at newsarama on Aug 12th 2009,in 20 questions with Dan DiDio.

wildwolfkid says.

Hi Dan,just want to say congrats on getting The T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents,one of my favorite Silver Age teams along with The Doom Patrol and especially The Legion of Super-Heroes,though The Bronze Age Legion is my favorite era.

I have two questions.

1.Is DC looking to purchase or lease anymore defunt comic book companies or creators characters,such as The Futurions or Atlas/Seaboard etc...

2.Any chance of luring Paul Levitz out of retirement to write or co-write The classic Legion of Super-Heroes in their very own monthly title.

My question didn't get picked,but it might come true,which is better.

Woo-hoo! Now maybe I'll be able to buy DC comics again.

With the horrorshow that has been Claremont's 'X-Men Forever,' I'm also in the 'fingers crossed' camp, hoping that Levitz isn't trying to relive glory days and has something new and exciting up his sleeves.

As for the art, pretty much anyone who can make the characters crisp and distinctive. I don't care if they 'pull a Byrne' and skimp on background in four out of five panels. I understand that not everybody can be George Perez, and fill every panel with incredibly detailed fractured ground and whatnot (and Lo3W proved that even George Perez can't live up to the standards of his past, these days).

I don't want to get my hopes up too high either, but I feel like the sun just came out.

Just a reminder that the Great Darkness Era/Baxter Era was Paul's second attempt at writing the Legion. Most people would agree (myself included) that this was a memorable era for the Legion.

Nonetheless, you have a valid point. I was excited to learn that Jim Shooter was returning to the Legion and we all know how that concluded.

I remain optimistic though!

Exciting news but I approach it with a little trepidation, as most writers have failed to return to properties where they have had great runs. I also worry about how his writing skills have held up, I read the JSA story that he did awhile back, and although I don't think it was as bad as many people say, it wasn't great either, it was just there (of course the timing was bad, it was the end of the series and was essentially a fill in).

Anyways, if Levitz is coming back because he has more stories to tell with the Legion then I think it will be great, but it's obvious that by the end of the Baxter series he had run out of stories to tell, and who knows if he has come up with a new run's worth since then.

But still, pretty exciting news.

I'm such a sourpuss that my first reaction was "can't ANYONE else write the Legion?!?" After that initial reaction, I began to realize it's a good thing that anyone IS writing the Legion, or that there will a Legion to write, and if it has to be Paul, we could probably do worse. While nothing would surprise me, I think it less likely that DiDio would totally set up his former boss for total disaster. Levitz has said that he has a LOT of catching up to do on the state of things, which is probably a good sign. At his best, Levitz's stories built strongly from one to another, and that's something some of today's most successful writers (Johns, Brubaker) are good at, and I think it's a model that suits the Legion well. At the same time, the Legion's history is so rich that there's plenty of opportunity for "lost tales" too (which the Legion origin was, originally, as written by E. Nelson Bridwell). I too hope he comes in with lots of new energy and really cuts loose with something daring, creative and new. Whew. What a few days it's been.

I'm never going to be convinced that Johns not continuing was a good thing for this Legion. The guy made Green Lantern and JSA better than they ever were before, he loves the DC Universe, he seems to be the only guy with his finger on the pulse of the DC Comics audience as a whole. On top of all that, he's pretty much the top writer draw at DC. There's no way that was a good thing...regardless of how hard it is for other writers to follow him.


But...the last time the Legion truly clicked on all cylinders, Paul Levitz was the guy writing it. Unfortunately he was also the guy that was writing it when it stopped clicking on all cylinders and whether that was his fault or not, the association I have mentally with him and the decline is a tough one to overcome.


I do not think he's really like Marv Wolfman, Claremont or even Jim Shooter as a writer...he's definitely more of a technical writer than they are, and he usually has an awesome first major arc planned well in advance...and this time around he's got Johns' subplots to play with and Johns is arguably the best setup man in comics right now. Plus Levitz knows the continuity issues that irk the heck out of us....and it's really not fair to expect anyone else to really understand that.


That said, the first time I see an issue with 55 pages of Element Lad, Dream Girl and Brainiac 5 discussing the downside of being Legion leader with, with the other 22 characters getting their allotted panel of characterization time and the death of classic hero or villain thrown in in the name emotional impact...I will drop the book and I will never look back at it again.

I've been through that before....it sucked harder than any other experience in my comics reading lifetime....and I'm not going through it again.

It's at the top of things I never want to see again...

Don't go there Paul, don't go there ever again.


Space, Planets, Time Travel, Alternate Dimensions, Galactic Wars, Darkseid, Mordru, new ones even...that is the ticket. Not 3 characters sitting around in a room chatting for 3/4ths of an issue. That is my definition of suck.

Ok I take that back, that's not the thing I most do not want to see...Mike DeCarlo being listed as inker on anything with the word Legion in the title is the #1 thing.

Holy guacamole! I always thought Levitz would someday return to writing Legion, but I'm still surprised! It's hard not to link this to Disney's purchase of Marvel... I'm sure the formation of DC Entertainment has been in the works for much longer, but perhaps Levitz's decision to step down as publisher was influenced by the Disney/Marvel deal.

I certainly look forward to his writing the LSH- though he doesn't have long to get it in gear, does he? I wonder if he has a drawer/file/laptop full of ideas for the Legion that he's saved over the years?

It's also hard not to think about returning writers like Claremont to the X-Men and Wolfman to the Titans (sort of) and wonder if there'll be a similar disappointment.

The fact that he says he has 'homework' to do, is, in my view, a very good thing. I hope he makes good on the utilization of all three (or more) legions in ADVENTURE, while simultaneously giving some characters the patented Levitz spotlight. Tall order.

I do have other concerns- that some characterizations could be dated (Dream Girl, Element Lad) and his spotty track record creating villains (Legion needs this badly... though the various folk filling the ranks of the LSV in LO3W could keep things humming for quite awhile).

Actually Superboy, I wouldn't mind a few "downtime" issues again. It seems like the Legion has been a blur of non-stop end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it stories for far longer than I care to remember. If I see another Galactic War, I won't look twice.

I'd be a lot happier about this if I didn't think Levitz will play the hand dealt him and follow through with all the Johns characterizations that I don't enjoy: Angry Garth, Wolf-cliche Timber Wolf etc. I wouldn't care if he tossed those over and used his old characterizations, but I guess he'll probably just use them as is. It's the "right" thing to do, just not to my taste. Still, I expect better from him than what we've had lately and I hope DC will give him some latitude after so many years of service as a "suit."

Agreed. I'm really not loving the characterization of Garth, in particular, and the longer goes between mentioning Wildfire-as-Red-Tornado or Emotional-Spectrum-Rainbow-Girl, the happier I'll be.