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

The number one thing about Paul Levitz is he understands and respects the Legion,its history and characters better than anyone.

Though I have said in the past,alot of people seem to think their was never a Legion before Levitz and Giffen were doing it,I on the other hand seem to think their was never a Legion after they were doing it.

Other thoughts

Levitz biggest weakness was creating interesting villians for the Legion to face.

I would not be surprised if Giffen gets involved in someway,as he has said in the past that he was trying to get Paul to get back in the game and do something Legion related.

This very well could have been the plan all along,Johns fixing the Legion for Levitz to take over,Paul has said in the past that he hopes to write again one day.

I hope I get as excited when they announce the artist as I did when they announced the writer!

I have mixed feelings, frankly. It is all too easy to get one's expectations up into high gear, even more than with Shooter (who has baggage and was stuck with a lesser incarnation of LSH), and it is all too easy for our collective expectations not to be met.

on the other hand, I really *want* this to be the event we can all envision.

More than Claremont, I'm thinking George Lucas: Willow and The Boredom Menace. It is possible to get rusty, to stay out of the captain's chair too long.

I almost rather they kept this as a surprise, and even a pseudonym until the results stand on their own. Then, the buzz could draw people back and catch up on a hit-in-progress, rather than the height the bar is now set at.

That said, I think Johns has built a worthy launching pad for Levitz to leap from. I will hope for the best.

Keith Giffen quote from CBR

"And right now, it's just everybody speculating. It's a tempest in a teapot, and if I pay too much attention to it my eyes start to bleed. I just hope that everything works out well for everyone involved. Seeing Paul Levitz's name on the creator's masthead again? I'm really looking forward to it. [When it comes to us collaborating on the Legion again] all Paul has to do is pick up the phone and tell me when. And if comic book fandom knows a good thing when they see it, they should be popping champagne corks at the fact that Paul Levitz is returning to the 30th Century. Knowing Paul, it's not like he ever 100% left."

Translation: There's no Val for him to kill yet.

Hopefully Levitz calls him to do the relaunch of the Karate Kid title,where Val becomes the new Resurrection Man,that way Giffen can kill him in every issue and he keeps coming back.

And in the first issue Val Armorr takes out Lobo with one punch!

but Lobo isn't even worth one panel.

It's hard to believe that there hasn't been some sort of change in plan. Otherwise, why not have Levitz come on board with the first issue?

Well this news just brightened my lousy day.
Happy, happy!!!!!

It's interesting reading the quotes of other creators at CBR...

For one thing, Marv Wolfman said Levitz has wanted to step down from being publisher and return to writing for years now. That makes it sound like Levitz wasn't really demoted but was actually looking to get out of the corporate side of things and this was his opportunity. Looking at this whole merger thing, it seems to be more of an evolution than anything else...I was on the fence about it until I found out the hot chick who is now running the show has been in charge of the DC Animated features...

The DC Animated Features are awesome. If that's what got her this job her promotion was well deserved.

Maybe Paul feels like he's played his part in the evolution of the industry as much as he could and now it's time to return to his first love(the Legion).

If this has been in the works for years, it's entirely possible Johns has been setting this up for Levitz to take over from the get go...Johns is a fan of the Levitz Legion too.

What if setting up this Legion was something Paul wanted to do while he was still in a position to do it? I know from various interviews with Didio and Waid that fixing the Legion is something that Levitz was interested in...


And the point at which Johns rebooted this Legion is just about around the time I would think Levitz thought things started to go sour himself.

I know one thing...Levitz has an extreme amount of patience and would build up to things over the course of years, I could just as easily see the way this reboot has been handled as being seeds he was planting as much as Johns himself...since both of them tend to do that.

Levitz will want to make Giffen happy. He will probably marry Val to "Duplicate Girl" so that there will be as many KK's to kill as Giffen has pencils.

Re: other creator comments.

In the Wed Comics interviews on CBR or some site a couple writers/artists when asked what they'd like to see if the project continues is a Levitz Legion.

That would be the best of all worlds to me. A Levitz Legion not contrained by continuity.

Now *that* would get me excited.

I finally go to work for a day and all... something breaks loose.



Well, I wish everyone involved good luck, of course. Really can't afford to jump in with a regular book the way prices are nowadays, though. Also, isn't there a saying about how you can't go home again?

Even if they do return, Levitz and Giffen aren't the same people they were in 1982 (or whenever) and neither are we.

This is certainly an interesting development. I lean toward being skeptical regarding the idea that one can truly ever go home. Lightning rarely strikes twice. It wasn't that long ago that fans and press releases heralded the return of Jim Shooter. Fan response to to his writing was, at best, lukewarm and editorial pulled the rug right out from under him. I predict that Levitz will have a more successful return than Shooter, even though that isn't a very high bar. At the very least, Levitz has the reputation of being a professional and a company man. He will be treated with respect, and will be given the chance to finish the story that he starts. How long has it been since that has happened on a Legion book?

Regarding artists, I would love to see some brief and fun reunions. However, the Legion always works best with a hot new talent who has a fresh visual perspective on the team. I hope that is what we end up with.

Well, to say that reaction on this board is mixed is an understatement.
I'm in favor of Levitz returning. Geoff Johns said he was a big fan of the Legion and he was gonna do this and that and blah,blah,blah, at San Diego in '08 I believe, and overall, he did some good things, but in general, I think we got hosed.

As many have said, Levitz has a real respect for the history of the Legion. When I emailed him once upon a time he said he'd love to write it again. I agree that there will likely be a "transition" toward the Legion being the main feature of the book. As Levitz transitions out of his old role, he will likely write shorter stories, just to get his feet wet and set up some foundations for the future, no pun intended. Then as he establishes more, the Legion takes over the bigger portion, if not the entire book.

As President, Publisher, and fanboy, he knows the Legion as well as anyone, I think. as far as his stories being dated, has anything worked REALLY well with the Legion in the last dozen or so years? I'm not saying we settle, but it has to be an improvement. As far as comparing his situation to that of Jim Shooter, let's face it, Jim Shooter has a...ah...problem with not doing things his way and taking orders. He tends to rub people the wrong way, whereas Levitz is respected and simply seems to get things done.

How could that be possible? It's the future! In a comic book! He can write in what ever direction is needed!

I do hope you can go home again...again.

As far as artists go, much has been made about those who burn out on the Legion. The late great Curt Swan never really enjoyed the Legion and literally needed a scorecard with a color key to tell himself who to color what color. On the other hand, there a number of artists, like Grell, the late Dave Cockrum, Steve Lightle, Terry Shoemaker Dan Jurgens, and others who have said they'd do it again in a heartbeat. Personally, I'd take any of them. IVAN REIS?!? Holy cow, I'd cry with joy every month I opened the book! He did some of the most breathtaking work I've ever seen on Green Lantern.

Keith Giffen on the other hand--he has his place in Legion history as a writer/plotter and artist, but I really want him far, far, far away from the art chores, unless he could go back to his orginal style. At his age and after so many years however, I don't think that's possible.

To sum it all up, for the first time in months, I have...hope.

2010 has to be a better year than 2009 for the Legion.

Levitz.
He's old enough to retire, right?
Writer's aren't like athletes, so maybe his age won't be a bad thing.

He probably won't like the New Wanderers (aka. .

I guess I should be happy, Waid turned Shady into a one dimensional caricature of herself and Shooter didn't really write about her at all.

Is Levitz the one who had cut off her finger and then, become a nun?
(Please tell me he didn't have marry !)

I really respect Paul Levitz, though.
This is just an awful lot of change and I'm .

I mean, more than usual but I'll still be hopeful for the Legion.
It's just that I've been so done with this Legion for so long.
sigh

It was funny when Swan said he'd rather retire that go back to doing the Legion after Byrne replaced him on Superman. He wanted no part of drawing all those characters and all that futuristic stuff...a shame too because he was really good at it.


Hmmm...Al Plastino's still around.

He's really not that old Candle...53. He started really young.

Er...actually he's not 53 yet.

The article said he went through the DC headquarters at 13 and somewhere it said he worked for DC 37 years.
I thought he must have gone to college, but he could have started as a page or something.

So, he's 52?

Well, that's young enough to still be a strong force with futuristic ideas and everything!
Thanks, I feel much better.

Here, I was thinking that he was at least my age!

He wrote his first Legion story when he was 17 or 18 or something. He was an editor when he was like 19 or 20 or something and he's been on the DC executive board for as long as I can remember...since the mid 70's. He was in his early 20's when he wrote the Great Darkness Saga...

If he went to college it was probably while he was working for DC.

But you know...you might have stumbled onto something here about the Legion writers...

It seems like the most popular ones have been really young guys.

Jim Shooter was 13, Levitz was 17...I bet Cary Bates wasn't much older either because he was part of the same youth movement that brought Marv Wolfman, Len Wein, Shooter, Bridwell and I guess Levitz into comics.


Maybe the problem has been the writers have all been too old since Levitz....I don't think any of them have been under 30.

Paul has tremendous respect for the Legion, and I'm more than willing to give him the benefit of the doubt as to whether he can write the 30th (31st) century again! He's one of the reasons the Legion has always been my favorite team!

I appreciate that Giffen would jump if Paul called, but I actually never cared for his artwork (regardless of how he changed his style).

Can't wait for this to happen! (and I was worried when I heard Geoff was leaving 6 issues in...guess you gotta have faith!)

LLLL (long live the Legion and Levitz!)
(Hey NC, we need a Paul Levitz graemlin!! )

Maybe you're right!
I think the artists, most of them(?) were youngish though, when they started with the Legion.

Coipel was very young, I know.
(But then, I call my husband's sons 'kids' and they're 48 and 50.)


Maybe DC should hire the boy that wrote 'Eregon'.
He should be in his middle teens still.

Yay! Just Yay!

I'm 21, will graduate in english next year. They should give me a call

Paul Levitz to return to the LEGION OF SUPER HEROES!!!!!!

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/090909-levitz-statement.html



is this the real story behind 52 not the parallel earths but that Levitz will return to the legion?