Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Visionaries of Tomorrow first time post from chris batista

Wow Chris, I had forgotten you drew Steel in the beginning of his series... I dug your art way back then too!!

Has your new series been announced yet, or are you teasing us? Maybe it's a new Booster Gold series!!

Kent Shakespeare was one of the most pleasant surprises from the five year gap era. Most of the cadets were left up to me, and there was no way I was leaving out Kent. I was really hoping he'd make the active roster. It would have been nice to actually come up with a costume for him. Oh well! Steel has shown up in the latest issue of 52. He's been great to draw as well. Check out the colors on the issue, really great stuff. I don't mean to be a tease on the topic of a new series but I have a duty to protect what little secrets I know about 52. Since there is speculation about who lives or dies, I can't reveal who it is yet. All I can say, which unfortunately will still be teasing, is that I have already drawn the character in my issues of 52. He's a favorite of mine.

Hi Chris! I can't believe I've only just discovered this thread now! Welcome to Legion World!

I'm a big fan of your work! Your time on the Legion was my first exposure to it and it made me an instant fan! Congratulations on your excellent work in probably the best JLA story of the last 5-10 years too!

Really looking forward to seeing what your post-52 series is. Hoping its a Ralph Dibny ongoing! He's too good a character to end up in limbo... or worse - in the ground!

One last thing before I go - SO great to see you're a Colossal Boy/Gim Allon fan too! I think I'm probably the biggest Gim Allon fan on this site and thus one who blames the reboot's sudden decline in quality (pre-DnA) to be a direct result of the Emerald Violet storyline (which killed off Gim and left us with that endless/useless Team 20 mess).

So here's a question - were there ever any plans to bring back Gim? Or was that just your wishful thinking as an artist?

Chris, you should know that we *really* like it when creators tease us around here. You might want to use Barry's favorite graemlin:

JLA was such a treat to draw. I got to draw the original lineup and Despero. Not to mention working with the amazing duo of Geoff Johns and Alan Heinberg. I wish I could do a fill in on the new Brad Meltzer Leauge. Maybe I'l start begging now. Sorry it won't be a Ralph Dibny ongoing but he is definetly proving his worth in 52 without any powers.
Collasal Boy was "hopeful" thinking if the book never got rebooted. My plan was that somehow his lifeforce had been preserved in Violet by the Emerald Eye. When he is restored, Violet would get her classsic Cockrum suit and so would Colossal Boy. That costume just looked perfect to me. I love Violet as a character but not at the expense of Gim Allon. Besides, his being an ex cop would play really well with Legion World being a base for the Science Police. I doubt most Legion fans would be too upset at seeing Colossal Boy back in full glory.

They had actually, deliberately, ruled that out as a possibility back in the issue where they revealed she had his powers though...

Good point Reboot. I had forgotten about that especially since I remember I was'nt reading the book as much at that time. It felt a bit "Archie" at the time. If I had ever gotten the chance to Bring Gim back, never fear, I would have done my reserch thoroughly. It had taken DnA to get me back as a full time reader. I felt they gave the book a giant set of cojones.

Just saw this. Hello Chris. Welcome to the board from another fan of your art. It's a pleasure.

The pleasure is mine Rickshaw

It's comic books.... nothing is ever entirely ruled out! (except perhaps a single, coherent, logical DC continuity!)

I liked that Vi could get big, tho.

My main objection to seeing Gim brought back in Reboot would have been - is it just another pointless comic-book death/resurrection, or would there be some kind of character development as a result? The former cheapens all comic book deaths, as it's done too frequently. Not that I'd want to see a returned Gim flake out into existentialism or similar... but something to show it's given him more depth.

Also - wouldn't it be fun for a returned Gim to be the one able to shrink, and leave Vi with the giant end of the powers dichotemy?

I hear you Kent. If I was indeed able to bring Gim back from the grave, I would do my best to not make it a cheap stunt. He would definetly be affected as a character. I just felt that in the reboot, we did'nt really get a chance to know him before he died. They never dug into his heritage. What does being a Jew mean in the 30th century? It has lot's of possibilities......

Welcome, Chris!

Wow, it's fun reading your comments... revisiting what's now a 'bygone' era.

I remember when ROM came out thinking that you'd be a great match for the LSH. And I was right!

Would you be interested in returning to the series someday?

As a big Sun Boy fan, I was pleased to read that you, at least, had plans for the character. Dirk really deserved some reboot spotlight.

As a bigger Element Lad fan, I found the revelation that Jarth would've eventually been Jan separate from Garth heartening. Would that have been heroic Jan the Legionnaire?

And Omniphagos? How would that have worked out?

I'm really sorry we Legion fans didn't get to read the stories that you and DNA had planned for the series. They sound like good stuff.

Thank you for your work on the Legion. I especially loved your Dream Girl. And that image of the boat in the canals or rivers of Titan is one that has stayed with me. Was that meant to evoke the river Styx?

What was ahead for Brainy and Invisible Kid? Were some of us fans reading too much into 'that kiss'?

Nightcrawler provided a link to a thread in which we made up back stories for all those unnamed cadets. There were headshots from the comic that was used for IDing the characters. If we posted those here, would you share what you remembered about them?

Again, thanks for posting here-- it's been a treat reading this thread on a flash-flooding, gloomy day here in Tennessee.

Thanks so much Mystery Lad. I remember reading a negative review for Spaceknights (can't blame them), in which the reviewer felt that I would be very well suited to the Legion. I think doing an All Star Legion would be pretty awesome. Of course there are no plans for it. Jan, if I recall, would've been the heroic Element Lad. Just can't remember all the details. I would hope that he would be more in the vain of the 80's Legion in which he was'nt shy and lead the Legion. The canals of Titan were just effectively capturing the amazing detail in the script. I'm glad you liked it. As far as Brainy and Lyle, who knows? I would be very happy to share any of my thoughts on the cadets. I was never sure if the fans would like any of the unfamiliar ones. Keep dry and thanks again.

OK, Chris... remember you asked for it How about these three to start?

To bad Chris with you and then there's George Perez,Jim Lee,Carlos Pacheco,Allan Heinberg and Brad Meltzer all saying they would love to do something with the Legion,DC should do an All-Star Legion book for the fans,I would really love if it tied in with All-Star Superman and had the feel of the Original Legion with them being in costumes closer to the ones they wore in the 70's and 80's(Dave Cockrum rules)maybe even some of the writers and artists who did the Legion in the past and still love the characters could work on the series also like Paul Levitz,Steve Lightle and dare I say Jim Shooter and Kieth Giffen.

Misdirection. Chris is really working on it right now!

OK here goes....
1. I think she may have been a possible White Witch or she may have been immensely strong due to her manipulation of her mass.
2.May have been Reflecto or a new take on Chemical King. Did'nt want him to look like every other caucasion Legionaire.
3. My tribute to Rocket Racoon, Pakrat from Atari Force and Starfox. He would be very fast and incredibly agile. Like trying to catch a squirrel. Fun loving prankster but very feral when cornered. Never gave him a name. Any suggestions?

I had no idea so many creators want to do an All Star Legion. If I had to pick I would go with Alan Heinberg and Carlos Pacheco. Brad Meltzer is great but we have'nt seen what he can do with science fiction. He may be great at it. Pacheco is in a class all his own, as are George and Jim, and Alan proved himself on Young Avengers. I would love to do it, but with that kind of competition, I doubt I would be considered. I definetely feel it should evoke the Cockrum era with a real grasp for futuristic thinking (much like DnA). Steve Lightle was definely amazing on the Legion.

1 & 2 - well, we saw Mysa in a major role three or four times (Kinetix's origin, Mordru, Elements of Disaster), and Condo in several extended cameos as a holonews reporter (and possibly Invisible Kid's boyfriend, although they yanked the actual confirmation of that) respectively, so presumably the other two choices

3 - Dunno, but something entirely non-squirrel/raccoon/rodent related, hopefully. That goes second only to the "I'm from Country X, so I must have powers/a costume/a name/all of the above related to stereotypes/the flag/the name of that country" in my list of pet hates on that score

No questions (atleast right now). But Chris I'm a huge fan.

Ever since Starknights I've been a huge fan. I had a letter published in the last issue of that mini.

Loved your Legion work. That was a dream come true for me.

I was really blown away by your JLA run. Hawkman wow!!! Great job. And ofcourse I always get excited when you do an issue 52. Can't wait to see what you do next. You are one of the few artists these days that follow on all their work.

This character actually picked up a bit of a cult following during the time he was featured, with the nickname "Floating Foxlike Creature Boy".

Although some of us wondred if FLoating Foxlike Creature could have been female?

This is fun, so let's keep going!







The last one's obvious Kent, but I'd like to hear any more ideas you might have about him.

Of course, that's assuming that Condo was going to be Chemical King. Since CK never popped up, there's always the possibility that he would have been someone different once rebooted.

Chris, I'm really glad you've started posting. I thought your art really made the book special once Coipel left.