Good Week for DC?

[Chris Fluit]

DC declared this a week of big announcements for projects for 2010.

It started on Monday, with the announcement of the Brightest Day bi-weekly series by Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi.

It continued on Tuesday, with the announcement of a second bi-weekly series by Keith Giffen and Judd Winick about the JLI. That also contained a smaller announcement that Giffen and DeMatteis would be taking over Booster Gold.

Wednesday brought us the announcement of Gail Simone and Ed Benes reuniting on a new Birds of Prey book.

Thursday brought us the announcement that Paul Levitz would be debuting a new Legion of Super-Heroes title as well as writing Adventure Comics.

And today, DC announced that the long-waited TItans: Games original graphic novel by Marv Wolfman and George Perez would finally be released.

So what do you think? Was this a good week for DC? Are you excited about or interested in any of these projects?

[Luke Blanchard]

Randy Jackson said:

I've never read Levitz's Legion before, so I dont' know what to think. I've heard it's good, but I've been told that before about stuff that I ended up despising.

Levitz's first run was in the second half of the 70s, in the "Superboy and the Legion" period.(1) I found his Legion stories from this period mediocre. Near the end of this run he did a five-parter known as the Earthwar in which Earth was successfully invaded. This isn't a favourite of mine, but it's fondly remembered by some fans.

His second run started in the early 80s. After a few issues the regular artist became Keith Giffen, who later got a co-plotter credit. They gave the Legionnaires distinct personalities - many of them hadn't had them before - increased the strip's romantic/sexual content, and increased the intensity of their adventures and the action scenes. They also introduced new characters, paid attention to detail, and elaborated the Legion's universe: so they devised a script for Interlac which was used in the art instead of English letters,(2) Giffen gave their future a new look, the Legion's communicators became holographic, we learned more about the cultures of the different Legionnaires, more alien aliens were introduced, and so on.

Giffen broke out as an artist during this run, but around #307 he adopted a more stylised art-style which some don't like. Not long after DC included the Legion in its Baxter experiment.(3) Giffen left a few issues into the new title's run. I'll have to leave it to others to say whether the quality of the title was maintained by Levitz after this point. After a few years Giffen returned to the book for another run with Levitz, but I've never seen the issues from that run.

Some of Levitz's issues, incidentally, recycled old Legion plots from the 60s. There was a story where the Legion was infiltrated by an impostor, and a story in which a new Legionnaire joined who was suspected of being a particular old Legionnaire and who turned out to be a different old Legionnaire.

(1) Superboy became a Superboy and the Legion title with #197 in 1973. Although the Legion's name was added to the cover-logo, the title remained Superboy in the indicia until #231, when it became Superboy & the Legion of Super-Heroes (with an ampersand). Superboy left, and the title became Legion of Super-Heroes, at the end of 1979.
(2) So where the Sixties Element Lad's costume had an "E" on the chest, his costume from this period used an Interlac letter.
(3) DC launched new volumes of New Teen Titans and Legion of Super-Heroes as direct market-only titles on Baxter paper, and renamed their newsstand titles (the Legion's newsstand title became Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes). The Baxter series started off a year's worth of stories ahead of where their newsstand titles had been, and the newsstand titles filled in the gap for a year and then started reprinting the Baxter series stories. The numbering was also restarted for the Baxter annuals. Later DC tried the same trick with (Batman and) the Outsiders.

[Travis Herrick (Modular Mod)]

Chris Fluit said:

Rob Staeger said:

What I really like about Levitz's stuff is that he seems intent on really tearing some things apart. The trouble (physical and emotional) he'd put his characters in was a large part of the appeal of his run on the Legion, and I'm glad he's intending to keep that up. Being willing to upend the things he himself established shows he's serious about writing the book NOW, rather than simply being a nostalgia act. The interviews he's given make me think he's *very* aware of the nostalgia trap -- which alleviates any fear I had about his return.

And good gravy, that new artist's work is fine.

That's right. The artist is Yildiray Cinar, formerly of Noble Causes.

Thank you! I knew I had see that artist somewhere before but I couldn't place it.

[Chris Fluit]

Giffen left a few issues into the new title's run. I'll have to leave it to others to say whether the quality of the title was maintained by Levitz after this point. After a few years Giffen returned to the book for another run with Levitz, but I've never seen the issues from that run.

I would say that Levitz kept the quality going on Legion for another two years or so. The issues with Greg Larocque and Steve Lightle are pretty good.

[Chris Fluit]

Thank you! I knew I had see that artist somewhere before but I couldn't place it.

You're welcome!

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

I know what you mean. I'm glad there are bi-weekly books. I enjoy the more rapid pace, and being able to count on a new chapter each week (or every other, in this case). But right now, my budget can't afford $78 for a story. Waiting for the trade usually also means steep discounts online, so if I want to buy it later, I'll probably be able to get the whole story for about $40 or less (assuming two $29.99 trades).

[Figserello]

Rob Staeger said:

What I really like about Levitz's stuff is that he seems intent on really tearing some things apart. The trouble (physical and emotional) he'd put his characters in was a large part of the appeal of his run on the Legion, and I'm glad he's intending to keep that up. Being willing to upend the things he himself established shows he's serious about writing the book NOW, rather than simply being a nostalgia act. The interviews he's given make me think he's *very* aware of the nostalgia trap -- which alleviates any fear I had about his return.

And good gravy, that new artist's work is fine.

I get the impression that most good creators, with the obvious exception of Chris Claremont, hate to go back to old set-ups and wallow in the nostalgia. As you point out, Rob, Great runs tend to be about change and growth anyway...

Writers and fans have very different attitudes to these things.

[Larfleeze]

In my opinion, it always a good week for DC, unless they announce the loss of a major creative talent.