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One day before my 47th.
So, Steve, here's my favorite poem about our shared sign--

If you should see a Scorpio,
Then, goodness gracious, say hello!
For if his presence you ignore,
He'll soon declare a private war;
However, if you're over-nice,
You'll pay an even bigger price;
For once he says your friend he'll be,
You'll never never an enemy!

--Frank Jacobs
MAD for Better or Verse

Well, DavidEdward is approaching in 47th, Happy Birthday!
What year is Steve approaching?

Shady

Wow! Now this is a surprise ... Birthday wishes and poems! Cool!

One year I forgot my birthday altogether, until my wife spilled the beans on the 18th. Thanks for the reminder ... heh, heh ... She won't get me this year.

: )

Shady says:
<< What year is Steve approaching? >>

I'm close enough to David that he can see me in his rearview mirror ... just a few years and I'll catch up.

Steve

Hi Steve,

Funny that I should be catching up on a few posts this morning and I see there is birthday talk. Today happens to be my wife's birthday and for the few moments I'm not tending to her birthday needs, I'm sending out this query (non-birthday related; it's obvious you are being vague about revealing the truth of your age!)

Here's my question. Perhaps it's already been asked before, but if you had to pick just one, do you have a personal favourite legionnaire?

Hi Steve,

Funny that I should be catching up on a few posts this morning and I see there is birthday talk. Today happens to be my wife's birthday and for the few moments I'm not tending to her birthday needs, I'm sending out this query (non-birthday related; it's obvious you are being vague about revealing the truth of your age!)

Here's my question. Perhaps it's already been asked before, but if you had to pick just one, do you have a personal favourite legionnaire?

Hi Steve,

Funny that I should be catching up on a few posts this morning and I see there is birthday talk. Today happens to be my wife's birthday and for the few moments I'm not tending to her birthday needs, I'm sending out this query (non-birthday related; it's obvious you are being vague about revealing the truth of your age!)

Here's my question. Perhaps it's already been asked before, but if you had to pick just one, do you have a personal favourite legionnaire?

Woops...would you believe my finger got stuck on the return key?

There's a little debate going on in another thread. Some people are saying that they know what Quislet's physical form looks like, while others say that he is still a mystery. I think both may be right. Let me explain.

When I first suggested (insisted?) that non-humanoid Legionnaires should be introduced to the team, I was thinking of creatures that might have physiognomies that would look as if they were designed to suit the environments of their home worlds.

I tried to create them by asking myself a series of challenging questions and then doing my best to find the most logical answers.

When I originally showed my writer and editor the designs for both Quislet and Tellus, each of the characters had physical bodies. When Paul and Karen approved them as new additions to the series, neither Tellus or Quislet was an energy being. What Quislet actually was (in those early issues) was a tiny sentient creature that was incapable of surviving in Earth's atmosphere. His frail body needed constant support from the machinery built into his "ship." In fact, the ship's primary purpose was to function as a life support unit. Its secondary purpose was to provide Quislet with mobility.

What left the character vulnerable to reinterpretation was that I had insisted that Quislet's physical form should not be shown. I wanted his repulsive (and if you saw my designs, you'd agree) physical body to remain mysteriously hidden away from the eyes of both his fellow Legionnaires and the readers.

The spark of energy that was always seen leaving Quislet's ship, was actually only his life force escaping the restraints of his alien anatomy to inhabit the raw materials of Earth. It is very much the same power that the Roboticans recently exhibited when they inhabited the mechanisms of Earth.

Paul and I always planned to work on an origin issue for Quislet. Did you know that we very nearly did a Quislet one-shot special? I think that the idea was eventually nixed because some people feared that human readers couldn't sustain their interest in a nonhuman Legionnaire for an entire solo issue. Some time after I left the book, Paul came up with a different origin for Quislet than the one that I had created. I'm not sure if that is because he had changed his mind about the original concept, or because he had forgotten the details about Quislet's physical body.

So, anyway ... that's how those who think they have seen Quislet "in the buff" and those who think the Quis still has a few secrets ... well, they are both right, if you ask me.

Steve Lightle

PS: If I were given the chance to return Quislet to active status in the Legion, I'd certainly want to return him to his original concept, and redesign his ship.

Hi all....

Just wanted to share my thoughts on the original spirit of this thread that Steve Lightle started.

Although I was a die-hard LSH fanatic in 84 and 85, for some reason during the time I was in the 7th grade, I hardly ever got taken to the "comics" store like I used to!!! Whenever I bought a comic, it had to be at a "newsstand-type" outlet, which didn't carry direct books. So, for quite a few months, I was horribly behind on what was going on in the "Baxter" book.

Anyways, I think the first time I saw Sensor Girl was on a reproduction of the cover of #14 on the back page of WHO'S WHO. I remember thinking that her costume was visually quite exciting and wanted to know more about this character. Eventually in the summer of 85, I got my Dad to take me to our local comics store for the first time in ages, and I stocked up on most of the Baxter issues I had missed.......except for #14. They were out of it!!!!! But they did have #15, the Dr. Regulus story.

So you see, during my first exposure to Sensor Girl, I had no idea there was any "mystery" surrounding her identity. I thought she was a totally brand-new character to the Legion mythos. I sometimes think it would have been really cool for her to have been developed that way.......an entirely new female character. Of course, when she was revealed as Projectra, I wasn't going to complain, as I love me some Jeckie.

Oh for the record......do you know it took me FOUR more years to finally find the original copy of #14?? I had to read that story for the very FIRST time in the TALES reprint the next year in 1986!!!

I would have loved to have seen some more development of those minor characters who applied for Legion membership in that issue, too. And Steve, who WAS that red-skinned girl??? :-)

Take care all.......

Jamie

Dang, I would have loved a solo Quislet one-shot!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Steve! (or is it happy belated birthday now?)

------------------
I have passed the Massachusetts Bar Exam!

Favorite lawyer joke:
What is the difference between a catfish and a lawyer?
One is a scum-sucking bottom feeder.
The other is a fish.

Salchow30 says:
<< I would have loved to have seen some more development of those minor characters who applied for Legion membership in that issue, too. And Steve, who WAS that red-skinned girl??? >>

Apparently, here's how it went ...

After the Legion tryouts, where she made quite an impression, the Legionnaires couldn't stop talking about her. Unfortunately, they also couldn't recall what her name was. Brin said, ""I've got her number, if you want, I can give her a call." Lournu said, "I've got copies of the sign in sheets in triplicate ... old habit." But it turned out that the tiger striped applicant had forgotten to write her name. Jo mumbled, "Wasn't she the Scarlet Temptress?" The looks that he got from the female Legionnaires, especially Tinya, made him look at his feet and wonder just when his day had taken such a bad turn. They couldn't remember any one name that the applicant had given. Among the more pitiful guesses were Ruby Damsel and Kat-Thee. Just before the vote, they checked to see if Brin had any luck contacting the mystery woman. It appeared that he was desperately trying to explain something himself ... "No, no, no, I was kidding. No really, how could I forget you? You're Night Girl's friend ... uhhh ... oh yeah! The waitress from Hooters-Alpha Centauri! Yeah ... I KNOW you don't have red skin ... But you have a red blouse, right? I ... I mean, red ... yeah! That's it, earrings! See! I couldn't forget YOU! Oh, now you don't wanna ... You're name? It's ... Bres ... ta ... ta ... Tanya ... Mel ... Mel ... Melon-ie ... Melony? Hello? Aww ... Damn! Disconnected ... AGAIN!"

The moral of the story is, names can be very important to a super hero. If you want to be remembered in the competitive field of galactic super-heroing, you must have a name that people can remember. Oh, and don't forget to write legibly on the sign in sheet.

Steve

I was recently re-reading the "Legion on the Run" issues and I noticed 'FELINA ROUGE', complete with headband, featured in LEGION of SUPER HEROES #57 (may94)!!

She is shown to be a student of the UP military academy under Chuck & Luornu, and although she has a line of dialog;
" We know, Chlorophyll Kid! Let's just go already!"-
and is even shown transforming into red & black striped tigress, we never do get to find out her name!

lil'rhino

I really, REALLY like "Felina Rouge" as her name (I also could live with it in either shortened version ~ "Felina" or "Rouge")

V

Last year I did a little comic called PEKING TOM & BOBBI SOX, and it featured a cartoon feline named Catrina Fellina. No relation to Felina Rouge. : )

Check it out!
http://www.geocities.com/lunaticks2001/index.html

Lunatick Press, Peking Tom & Bobbi Sox, Catrina Fellina, and other featured characters are created by and exclusive properties of Steve Lightle, TM and copyright, 2001

: )

Great work Steve! I wish we could see you do a regular book again for DC.

Thanks, V! The more I think about it, the more I think it would make a great name for a drag queen.
"Ladies & Gentlemen, please welcome the fabulous FELINA ROUGE!!!"

lol,
lil'rhino

Steve, has Paul Levitz ever thought of writing a fill in issue for old times sake? And have you looked into doing an issue of Doom Patrol?

lil'rhino you are TOO much! Now I can't get a picture of your "Queen Felina" out of my mind. ROFLMAO!

Someone mentioned Paul doing a fill-in (which I would love dearly)......but I've always thought Paul and Keith should do an Elseworlds Story about THEIR Legion.......the one that last showed up in 89, in LSH #63. There would be no reboot, no five-year-gap........just our gang of heroes living life after the "magic war". Granted, it would not be something the new breed of Legion reader would necessarily understand or appreciate, but that's why it's Elseworlds.

I think a lot of us old-timers would relish a small-scale project of this nature....kind of like a valentine to folks who have been reading the book since the 50s, 60s, 70s (that's where I fall in the mix). One more look at the LSH we grew up with.

Maybe Keith could even "evolve" again, coming up with a style combining the sensibilities of his current look with maybe a touch of the realism and detail he used to portray.

This has just always been a little dream of mine. And LARRY MAHLSTEDT inks it!!! No exceptions!!!!!

Jamie

Lord, I miss Larry! I LOVED his work. Any idea what he's up to lately?

JaFabian,

I'd love to draw the Doom Patrol again, but unlike the Legion, I'm only interested in the original version. I am still geeked over the first appearances of the Doom Patrol in "My Greatest Adventure!" No matter how good any of what followed may have been ... THAT was the real Doom Patrol, case closed! In fact, I've even proposed a Doom Patrol graphic novel, but at the time, DC wasn't interested in reintegrating the DP into the mainstream DCU. I suppose that things have changed since then.

As for Paul Levitz doing the Legion ... I think that Paul would be bitten by the bug again if he wrote another Legion story. My guess is that Paul knows he couldn't write just one. It would be too much of a reminder of how much he loved it all.

Salchow30,

I share your enthusiasm for Larry Mahlstedt. He's a good guy and a talented inker. I haven't seen his work in comics since a Flash 80-Page Giant that we both worked on a few years ago. He was inking Butch Guice's pencils on a Flash story in that issue, while I was doing the art on an XS story. I don't think Larry has done a lot of comic work lately, but I could be wrong. Whatever he's up to, I certainly wish him the best.

Steve

Ahem.

Oh, don't mind me ... just clearing my throat.

Steve : )

Hey Steve, are you getting 'into the groove' on your LEGION issues ??
I just know you're gonna blow us away !

lil'rhino