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Steve,

I just wanted to say that we really do appreciate the insight and info you provide. We eagerly await whatever else you wish to contribute to our knowledge of the backstory of the Legion.

I do want to thank everyone for the kind reception I've received here on the DC boards.

For those that have asked what I'm doing next ...

I've just finished the pencils and inks to a Flash interior story, written by Stuart Immonen, which should soon be scheduled to appear. I've drawn a short Lightray story that is, to my knowledge, has not appeared in print yet. I'm also looking forward to receiving a script from the Legion office very soon. I'm very much open to the idea of doing more comic work, possibly for DC Comics.

In recent years, I've concentrated on doing work that has appeared outside of comics, although I've kept my hand in with various comic related assignments featuring characters like; Batman, Red Sonja, Superman, X-Men, Tommi Trek, Spider-man, Wolfshead, Silver Surfer, Tim Can, and the ever popular Peking Tom & Bobbi Sox. I've recently contributed art to video games and electronic comics, sometimes featuring various DC characters. I've done animation and toy design work, once again, sometimes involving well known comic book characters. My art has appeared on-line at Cartoon Network's web site, and can currently be seen as part of an interactive Batman adventure at ... http://www.onstaradventure.com/ba_comic.htm

I moderate, and am actively involved in, an e-mail message group known as ArtPost. Anyone that is interested can register with Yahoo!groups and join ArtPost.

Thanks again to everyone who has welcomed me here at the DC boards.

Sincerely,
Steve Lightle http://www.geocities.com/stevelightle/home.html

See Steve's interactive online Batman adventure ... http://www.onstaradventure.com/ba_comic.htm

****
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Question for Steve--

What LEGION work have you done POST-boot?

To the best of my ability to recall, you did the awesome covers for SECRETS OF THE LEGION, which featured expanded post-boot origins for Star Boy, Spark, Umbra and Ultra Boy.

Is that it for the post-boot era so far?

Can't wait to see your upcoming LEGION work-- I'm sure it will look wonderful!

MLLASH asked ...
"Question for Steve--
What LEGION work have you done POST-boot?

To the best of my ability to recall, you did the awesome covers for SECRETS OF THE LEGION, which featured expanded post-boot origins for Star Boy, Spark, Umbra and Ultra Boy.

Is that it for the post-boot era so far?

Can't wait to see your upcoming LEGION work-- I'm sure it will look wonderful!"

I did four covers on the Legends of the Legion miniseries (Umbra, Ultra Boy, Star Boy, and Lightning Lass ... I think). I also did a couple of Legion covers on Showcase a few years back.

I'm certainly ready to try my hand at the current Legion ... again. I hope old and new Legion fans will check out my issue(s).

Steve

See pages of original Steve Lightle art at ... http://www.geocities.com/stevelightle/home.html
Or see Steve's interactive online Batman adventure ... http://www.onstaradventure.com/ba_comic.htm

Let's not forget the XS solo story illustrated by Steve from the FLASH 80-page giant a few years ago! It's worth picking up just to see Steve's lovely rendition of Jenni.
BTW Steve, isn't XS based on a character you created for the LEGION - ALLEGRA??

lil'rhino

lil'rhino asks:
"BTW Steve, isn't XS based on a character you created for the LEGION - ALLEGRA??"

Ahhh! A man with a good memory!

Are you one of the Legion fans who first saw Allegra in issues of the Legion APA KLORDNY? She did later appear as part of a super team called New Genix, in much the same way that Dave Cockrum's Nightcrawler was originally intended for the Legion but ended up in the X-Men.

Allegra was part of the early planning for the Legion reboot. As I originally conceived of her, she was a descendant of Wally West who was born with the curse of both an accelerated metabolism and accelerated aging. Allegra's development, feeding, general well being and teaching were entirely overseen by high speed computers. No normal human could even begin to communicate with her. Thank God that Iris and Barry Allen could step in to raise her as their own. The idea was received by my editor and members of the Legion "reboot" team of creators with enthusiasm, as I recall.

You could certainly speculate that Allegra inspired both Impulse and XS. Who can say?

Thanks for remembering the first Hispanic Legionnaire, Allegra.

Steve

Why did you call her Allegra? Any pictures?

Any information about other Legionnaires you created who never made it into the book? What about that leopard-print wearing Legion applicant? Did you have any plans for her?

Also - did you design Tellus? Have you heard from any other Legion artists if they liked/hated drawing him? He was quite unusual-looking (which helped make him one of my favourite Legionnaires.)

Who was responsible for Comet Queen's "look" anyway?

I just want to say that "Allegra" is a far better code name than "XS". I love Jenni, but that name really sucks.

Woo hoo.

Is XS is Hispanic too?

Comet King said:

<< Why did you call her Allegra? Any pictures?>>

I named her Allegra (before the much advertised alergy drug) from the base word Allegro ... which basically means music played fast. I changed the "o" to an "a" to feminize it.

Pictures of the character have been circulated since 1992, in Legion fanzines and eventually in Marvel Comics Presents. The version in MCP had short hair, although the original had shoulder length hair. The other difference is that Allegra was originally supposed to be wearing a scarlet and gold costume rather than the purple and silver that I gave her for her Marvel appearances.

Steve

Cool! Does anyone have any links to any pic sites?

Also Steve - anything you can tell me about my faves Comet Queen and Tellus would be most appreciated!

Steve Lightle has also posted his Allegra design here ... but you'll need to join the LegionPics Yahoo! Group first to see it, if you aren't a member already. You can do so at the second link, if you have a free Yahoo! ident, or by sending a blank e-mail here .

Actually, that first link in the msg above was to a posting by Steve of his Allegra in action.
Here is a another, similar panel scan.

And here is Steve's posting of the cover of Marvel Comics Presents 175, the only mainstream comic that Allegra appeared in.

Here is a scan of Steve's one-page character profile with a design sketch for Allegra, along with his thoughts on the whole experience of proposing and submitting this character (and others) for the Legion. A smaller scan is available here .

Finally, that e-mail (not Web, though you can do it there as well) address/link above for subscribing to LegionPics does work, sans the "http" prefix that this msg board added ... but you'll need to join with a (free) Yahoo! ident in order to see items in the LegionPics archives.

Instead of forcing to join a Yahoo group why not just post a mirror of the images that is more accessible?

I would do just that if I had the bandwidth, but I don't. My allotment renews at my Internet provider every calendar month. All I can afford to offer is bandwidth for my own fan fiction. (And some art for my own Yahoo! Group, Pteraphiles .)

You're missing an excellent bet, though, if you don't try LegionPics. A host of fan artists, and other fans adept with a scanner and Photoshop, and a few pros such as Steve Lightle, all provide fascinating material.

Comet King asked:

<< What about that leopard-print wearing Legion applicant? Did you have any plans for her? >>

I always liked to imagine that every bit player or "extra" was a fully realized person with a life of their own. In the case of the red skinned girl in the tiger print costume, I imagine that her powers were very similar to Timber Wolf's, and that the duplication of powers clause in the Legion rules might have killed her chances of joining the team. I also imagine that she was both young and naive, and maybe tended towards hero worship of the Legion.

I could easily imagine a scene of Timber Wolf out on a date with her at a carnival ... she's got stars in her eyes and he's trying to act the predatory male ... but ends up rambling on about Lightning Lass. Still, maybe the relationship might have grown ...

<< Also - did you design Tellus? Have you heard from any other Legion artists if they liked/hated drawing him? He was quite unusual-looking (which helped make him one of my favourite Legionnaires.) >>

I did design the first non-humanoid Legionnaires Tellus and Quislet, and yes, I noticed how much trouble other artists seemed to have with staying "on model." One of my favorite versions of the character of Tellus was done by Art Adams. He seemed to grasp the idea that Tellus' anatomy wasn't supposed to closely resemble human anatomy. Most artists seemed to think of Tellus as a physically distorted human. They tried giving Tellus a human head/kneck/shoulders relationship, or they would give him human arms. The worst example is the artist who gave Tellus long human fingers with especially long nails. I seem to recall that George Perez did a pretty good version of Tellus also. Of course we are talking George here ... How could I be surprised that he'd go the extra mile?

As for complaints ... I was once told, shortly after introducing the character, that Tellus looked like "a big yellow lump of sh*t." Of course, that was only one colorist's opinion. I've got to at least give him credit for being bold enough to speak his mind. Now, if only he would have stuck with my character diagram that showed the sensor nodules on Tellus' back and face changing color to reflect the character's emotions. The idea was that Tellus had no vocal chords, and thus, no spoken language. The electronic voice that was emitted from his helmet was a translation of a purely visual language. Tellus' sensor nodules emitted a language comprised completely of ever constantly changing lights.

<< Who was responsible for Comet Queen's "look" anyway? >>

I don't remember who Giffen said had created Comet Queen's look, but I do believe that she first appeared during his earliest run on the title.

Thanks for your interest in Tellus. Who knows ... maybe someday the big non-humanoid "lump" can return.

Steve Lightle

Stev, I just want to say how much I enjoyed your work on Legion, Doom Patrol and various other places here and there. Really beautiful. And it was a real kick to know that Sensor Girl was really Supergirl, at least at the early stages. I wondered why Levitz went to the trouble of hinting that Sensor was Kara, when we knew it couldn't be, due to Crisis #7. It all makes a little more sense now. Thanks for taking time to post here. I'm really looking forward to any more tidbits you may give us.

Me too! The early-ish Baxter run was one of my favourite Legion eras and all these insights are most appreciated!

Re Tellus: It's a shame that both the "mechanized voice" and "mood spot" ideas went out of the window so early on. Wasn't he "talking" to everyone telepathically by his 2nd appearance? And I don't remember seeing him change colour once! Tellus brought a lot to the Legion - having a none-humanoid on the team seemed such an obvious idea once it was done. It emphasised the book's sci-fi element and the Legion universe seemed a lot bigger because of his presence. I really liked his personality too - all super-eager and friendly, I couldn't believe it when Duo Damsel called him a "fish" - but maybe she was just voicing the opinions of the book's colourists, heh heh.

The try-out issue was one of my favourites from the entire Legion run - all the "extras" really made it stick in my mind. I especially liked the 30th century Batgirl character, the mixed-race looking bloke with the M on his chest, Energy Boy and the little kid in the blue and magenta outfit. There were enough stand-out "background" characters to make a Lightle Legion of Subsitute Heroes. Did you have plans for any of these?

Thanks for putting the extra effort in at the time Steve - it turned me into a lifetime Legion fan anyway!

I echo these sentiments. That particular tryout issue fueled my imagination for weeks as I pored over all the extra characters and their designs. The variety of costumes and characters were what initially drew me to the Legion when I was a boy and that issue threw me back to an earlier childhood feeling. Thanks for that, Steve!

For those of you who [don't] belong to LegionPics (With a nod to both Steve and Greybird who did it first - why not join? It's FREE!), here's some visual enhancements to the topics brought up on this thread.

Steve Lightle wrote:
"Awhile back Paul Levitz and I created a few Legionnaires, and assorted supporting characters. Sensor Girl was always more Paul's baby, just as Tellus and Quislet were more mine. He had this idea of doing a female character that had exaggerated sensory powers."


Steve Lightle wrote:
"Eryk Davis Ester asked:
'Can you give us any info on some of the background characters from the try-out issue (#14)? Particularly the two flying fish types and the red skinned girl with the bandana who made it on the cover.'

Those 'fish' characters have been referred to as Skreaks ... because that is the sound that Paul had them emitting whenever they appeared. I just remember tossing them in the backgrounds for some kind of visual continuity. I would repeat species types in scenes that called for the casting of 'extras' specifically to make the Legion's universe seem more real. Too often artists would create alien characters only to discard them and create new ones for the next scene. Having familiar background types seemed more realistic to me, and may have helped make it all seem a bit more real ... I hope."


Steve Lightle wrote:
"I do want to answer the question about the inspiration for Mentalla's costume. It certainly was based on Saturn Girl's earliest costume. In fact, I'd probably have given her the same hair color too, except that my wife had blonde hair at the time.

Nemisis Kid's costume had nothing to do with her appearance. I know for a fact, since I designed the character of Mentalla, that her fate was not decided at the time of her creation. In fact, she probably would never have appeared again if not for the large amount of fan mail that mentioned an interest in Mentalla. Paul conceived of the idea of having her infiltrate the Fatal 5 without any input from me. If he was subconsciously drawing inspiration from the color scheme of Nemisis Kid's costume ... I have no way of knowing.

Steve Lightle wrote:
"I did four covers on the Legends of the Legion miniseries (Umbra, Ultra Boy, Star Boy, and Lightning Lass ... I think). I also did a couple of Legion covers on Showcase a few years back."



Steve Lightle wrote:
"Are you one of the Legion fans who first saw Allegra in issues of the Legion APA KLORDNY? She did later appear as part of a super team called New Genix, in much the same way that Dave Cockrum's Nightcrawler was originally intended for the Legion but ended up in the X-Men."


Steve Lightle wrote:
"I named her Allegra (before the much advertised alergy drug) from the base word Allegro ... which basically means music played fast. I changed the "o" to an "a" to feminize it.

Pictures of the character have been circulated since 1992, in Legion fanzines and eventually in Marvel Comics Presents. The version in MCP had short hair, although the original had shoulder length hair. The other difference is that Allegra was originally supposed to be wearing a scarlet and gold costume rather than the purple and silver that I gave her for her Marvel appearances."

Steve Lightle wrote:
"Comet King asked:

<< What about that leopard-print wearing Legion applicant? Did you have any plans for her? >>

I always liked to imagine that every bit player or 'extra' was a fully realized person with a life of their own. In the case of the red skinned girl in the tiger print costume, I imagine that her powers were very similar to Timber Wolf's, and that the duplication of powers clause in the Legion rules might have killed her chances of joining the team. I also imagine that she was both young and naive, and maybe tended towards hero worship of the Legion.

She appeared again in LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #57 (May 1994). She's a member of the U.P. Military Academy and has the ability to transform into an alien-looking tiger. She also tackles Timber Wolf in the story.
They never give her a name. Hey Steve, as her creator, could you name her for us?


<< Who was responsible for Comet Queen's "look" anyway? >>

I don't remember who Giffen said had created Comet Queen's look, but I do believe that she first appeared during his earliest run on the title."


Maxwell Demon wrote:
"The try-out issue was one of my favourites from the entire Legion run - all the 'extras' really made it stick in my mind. I especially liked the 30th century Batgirl character, the mixed-race looking bloke with the M on his chest, Energy Boy and the little kid in the blue and magenta outfit. There were enough stand-out 'background' characters to make a Lightle Legion of Subsitute Heroes. Did you have plans for any of these?"

And just for the heck of it -

Steve Lightle wrote:
"Comet King asked:

<< Also - did you design Tellus? Have you heard from any other Legion artists if they liked/hated drawing him? He was quite unusual-looking (which helped make him one of my favourite Legionnaires.) >>

I did design the first non-humanoid Legionnaires Tellus and Quislet, and yes, I noticed how much trouble other artists seemed to have with staying 'on model.' One of my favorite versions of the character of Tellus was done by Art Adams. He seemed to grasp the idea that Tellus' anatomy wasn't supposed to closely resemble human anatomy. Most artists seemed to think of Tellus as a physically distorted human. They tried giving Tellus a human head/kneck/shoulders relationship, or they would give him human arms. The worst example is the artist who gave Tellus long human fingers with especially long nails. I seem to recall that George Perez did a pretty good version of Tellus also. Of course we are talking George here ... How could I be surprised that he'd go the extra mile?

As for complaints ... I was once told, shortly after introducing the character, that Tellus looked like 'a big yellow lump of sh*t.' Of course, that was only one colorist's opinion. I've got to at least give him credit for being bold enough to speak his mind. Now, if only he would have stuck with my character diagram that showed the sensor nodules on Tellus' back and face changing color to reflect the character's emotions. The idea was that Tellus had no vocal chords, and thus, no spoken language. The electronic voice that was emitted from his helmet was a translation of a purely visual language. Tellus' sensor nodules emitted a language comprised completely of ever constantly changing lights.

Thanks for your interest in Tellus. Who knows ... maybe someday the big non-humanoid "lump" can return."


Steve,

Did you want to talk about Quislet? How he was created to be an organism and not energy-based, since the Legion already had Wildfire.

We could go with something very Silver Age, and call the Legion applicant Tiger Girl ...
or we could all toss our two cents worth in ... What should the red skinned Legion applicant be named?

I wasn't aware that the character had made an appearance in the nineties. As her designer I find that both flattering and ... odd. : )

Does anyone have any ideas for a code name for this, apparently memorable, young woman?

I'll gladly volunteer to pick the winner. Of course, this is all very unofficial, since the DC editors will have the last word.

Steve Lightle

Tigra