Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Visionaries of Tomorrow Francis Manapul Interview: The Start of Something Big!

Great news! Canada-based Filipino artist Francis Manapul has been announced as the new, ongoing artist for the Legion of Super-Heroes though with an undisclosed writer!

I dunno what part of this news I'm gushing over but...yahoo!!! But you guys have to just click on the pretty, pretty picture on the article! Wowza Saturn Girl!!!!

Newsarama Article

And hmmm... no Supergirl!

I know!!! And noticeably absent as well on that spread...a founder!

Phantom Girl...recolored!

Karate Kid...retro'd!

Timber Wolf...grrrr!

Brainiac 5...very fitting outfit!

Shadow Lass...in pale red...hmmm...

But overall, I think it's fair to say things are lookin up!!!!!!!!!!

Here's a link to the pic: Francis Manapul\'s LSH Spread

My, that's quite a striking depiction. Saturn Girl does look much better--like she might even have a personality. So do Garth, Dirk, Brainy, Lyle, Jeckie, and Jan (though I kinda hope he loses the cape now). I'm not so keen on Ayla's new look, partly because I thought her last one worked particularly well. Colossal Boy seems a tad over the top, as does Ultra Boy (figures they would be a pair). Of course, it's the writing that'll matter more to me, but this picture stokes my optimism.

Notice the foot gear. Big boots for some, but bare feet (well toes any way) for Brin.

Haha I overheard Francis talking at length about reading old-school Legion and Cockrum designed costumes at a signing back in the spring.

And now we know why.

Someone send him a link to Legionworld. He obviously doesn't know us well.

...and, that's one of the better renditions of Cos' uni though he seems to be missing a hamstring.

The barefeet and four toes looks good on Brin. Gym's old time fans should be happy. That might in fact be my favorite costume for him (except for that brown thing across the top).

Not a fan of the wide lightning on LL. Wide ties didn't last. Wide lapels didn't last. Wide lightning will not last.

My fav redesign is Brainy's jacket. A little arrogant but crisp. The pants and boots, not so much.


Val has changed nationality again.

Very unique faces on everyone. Be interesting to see if he can keep that up through an entire arc.

Sun Boy's back, Trip's in 3, Lyle got a real uniform, Brainy lost the Vril look and - yeah - no Cos. Temporary absence I suppose.

This is okay.

I was thinking the same thing. He obviously hasn't been in touch with Legion Fandom. Marts is probably hiding the truth from him lest we scare him off before he even gets started.

The art makes it look more like an X Book than a Legion book to me.

Not sure I like that at all. We'll see how these changes go over.

Brainy looks great! The outfit, too.
Is that Vi in hot pants? Dang, Miss Digby!
Saturn Girl. Hello, Binary !

Where's WILDFIRE?!?! I hope this is a case of his first appearance repeating itself where he "dies" as ERG-1 and comes back as WILDFIRE later on...

I like most of the redesigns, and the Cockrum influence is apparent (though there's nothing wrong with that) - is that an up arrow I see on Element Lad?

Nice. Not too thrilled by Ultra Boy. I don't know about the red outfit for Shadow Lass. And Invisible Kid needs a headband.

The costume or the steroids?

Same KK. I don't envision him as a "power" guy as he's depicted here. Val's more of a finesse player.

Ummmm...me likey some Francis Manapul Legion! I LIKE wide lightning (but then I like wide ties and lapels, too!). The Saturn Girl outfit may be this year's winner for "squaring the circle" between all her historical outfits. I REALLY like it, but then I've always been a sucker for hip boots. Didn't Barry do a design sketch of Light Lass that looks ALOT like this elegant new version. And Phantom Girl moves ever closer to that most caliente of costumes.

Is Cham wearing chain mail? THAT'S an interesting choice. I rather like Micro Lad's new outfit. I always thought Gym should have a full-body protective outfit--his powers are extremely high-contact physical, but he's NOT invulnerable like some. Great to see Karate Kid in the Cockrum/Bruce Lee outfit. I BET it's a tribute to the soon-to-be-dead-AGAIN Countdown Kid.

As a side-note, isn't it interesting how often the Legion (and some other heroes, notably the X-Men) change costumes? You certainly wouldn't see Superman or Batman or Wonder Woman changing so radically so often, if ever.

The steroid look.

As for KK, I didn't notice his big guns until you pointed it out. It doesn't bother me as much as Ultra Boy's look. But I agree that KK would do good without overly muscular arms.

Exactly, I find it distractingly unnecessary.

Well okay but he's going to be getting two issues of use out of these custumes then they'll just sit in a tesserect for 20 years or so.

Superman doesn't even change his underwear and that's canon.

Fandom supplying costumes are such a part of Legion fandom, I wish they'd get back to doing some of that. There was a vicarious thrill in seeing a letters column idea find its way into a story. 50th anniversary and all that and it doesn't seem as if any of the old stuff, fan participation, is any part of it. They've got it all mapped out.

You can do that with lesser known characters. Of course that might also help keep the character lesser known.

That was kind of my point, I think Quis. With most of the X-Men, you can tweak their costumes because they such distinctive physical features -- the visor, the wings, the claws, the tail, the blue fur, the ice shell, the white hair, the green hair, etc.

With a few exceptions, the Legion's just a buncha white kids. You change their look too much and I think you undermine the brand. Having said that, I think MOST of these costumes are tweaks of the current ones, with the exception being Karate Kid, wearing a costume that is getting a lot of exposure in other books.

Hmm. Some of them I like a lot, some of them not. (Ooh, that rhymed!)

Kiston's outfit for Val was hands down one of my favorites, so I'm sad to see that go the wayside. I suppose it might have a good story behind it, maybe relating to what's going to happen in Supergirl's title. But if not, then I'm definitely disappointed. But that's just me.

So happy to see Lyle with a real costume, omg. And I really like it, too! Love Brainy's new outfit and its condescension. Plus it looks good. I notice his microchip thingy was missing, though. I'm still hoping for a story about that.

Never been a huge fan of headgear but Gim works it. I feel like Tinya's cutout is sort of unnecessary (I liked the "p") but... eh. It doesn't take away from the outfit, either. And I wish we could see Projectra's outfit! She's hidden by that darn cape.

Speaking of capes, I do not like Tasmia's at all. Hers was probably my other favorite Kitson design, so... yeah. Again, I could see a good story with it-- something about the champion of her homeworld or what have you but.. I dunno.

Also on capes, glad to see Imra's is gone! I never understood why it was there in the first place. Weird. Hey, did anyone else notice how the white in her costume is like her Saturn bikini outfit? It sort of creeps me out. I don't like the visual personally. It's just kinda weird.

Overall, I like the image it presents. I'll agree with Gary that it is a bit X-Menish (though for the life of me I'd never be able to explain what that means) but that might be a good thing. I think the series will really hang on the writer-- right now the art looks solid enough to me.

Hey nice catch on Saturn Girl's outfit being a negative image of the bikini outfit.

Maybe the other Legion showed them some old holos during their get together.

I have always hated the "Bruce Lee outfit" both on KK and on the 70s era Marvel martial arts heroes.

Funny that they wouldn't announce the writer at the two big summer cons though. Makes me think its one of two things. Its one of DC's big guys (ie Johns or Morrison) or its someone from outside comics who needs to finish their day job before coming over.

Not in that image, for whatever it's worth:

Dream Boy
Dream Girl
Cosmic Boy
Mon-El
Supergirl

Welcome aboard to Mr. Manapul. Can't tell yet if I like his style as well as Dennis Calero's, but there's certainly nothing wrong with that one picture.