Jose Luis Garcia Lopez Autograph

Welcome to the last of my Legion Autograph posts.

I feel both elated and a little upset with myself about this signature story.

One of my comic book gods is Jose Luis Garcia Lopez. We in the comic internet don't say 'Praised be his name' when we talk about him for nothing.

His work spans comics and companies. But his work on anything Legion of Super-Heroes is almost non-existent.

Garcia-Lopez was a guest at Boston Comic Con a few years ago and I brought him Legion of Super-Heroes #55 , I believe his only Legion work, to get signed.

The issue is a classic 'catch up' issue by Paul Levitz. We get four separate brief stories catching us up on some of the Legionnaires personal lives. Garcia-Lopez drew the Dream Girl story. So I had him sign on her 'square of the cover'.

I have to admit, I talked almost exclusively about Superman during my brief time at his table. (The rest of the talk was gushing over his work on Howard Chaykin's Twilight'.) So I didn't take advantage of the opportunity to talk Legion with him.

Reboot: Legionnaires #81

Legionnaires #81 (March 2000)
title: "Even Horizon"

writers: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning

penciller: Adam DeKraker
inker: Andy Lanning
lettering: Comicraft
colorist: Tom McCraw

editor: Mike McAvennie

cover: Olivier Coipel & Andy Lanning
reviewers: Siskoid & Shotgun

Mission Monitor Board:  
Apparition, Brainiac 5.1, Chameleon, Cosmic Boy, Element Lad, Ferro, Gates, Invisible Kid, Karate Kid, Kid Quantum II, Kinetix, Live Wire, M'Onel, Monstress, Saturn Girl, Sensor, Spark, Star Boy, Thunder, Triad, Ultra Boy, Umbra, Violet, XS

Guests: 
Amber, Atmos, Chuck Taine, Dreamer, Dune, ERG-1, Insect Queen, Lori Morning (Dialed Hero: Helios), Magno, Marla Latham, Meta, Phrenologax, Repulse, RJ Brande, Wimena Wazzo; UP Ambassadors

Opponents: 
Leland McCauley

Who's Who: Science Police - Gigi Cusimano

Gigi Cusimano
by Russell & Siskoid

Real Name: Gigi Cusimano

Super-Power(s): None
Planet of Origin: Earth

Relationship to Legion: Science Police liaison

TOS: Action Comics #383

Action Comics #383 (Dec 1969)
title: "Chameleon Boy's Secret Identity!"
writer: E. Nelson Bridwell
penciller: Win Mortimer
inker: Jack Abel
letterer: Ben Oda
editor: Mort Weisinger
reviewer:  Mike "Nostalgic Kid" Lane

Mission Monitor Board: Chameleon Boy, Karate Kid, and Princess Projectra.


 

Karate Kid #9

Karate Kid #9 
"The Black Belt Contract!"
script by David Michelinie writing as Barry Jameson
art by Ric Estrada and Joe Staton
edited by Denny O'Neil
cover by Al Milgrom
cover date: August 1977
review by Russell "Bilingual Boy" Burbage
dedicated affectionately to Glenn "Continuity Kid" Walker

In typical mid-Seventies fashion, we start this story on the docks, after dark, with two shadowy characters in trench coats, one an Angry Black Man and the other a debonair White man, discussing underworld activity. An episode of SHAFT? Perhaps it's BARNABY JONES (a Quinn Martin production)? No, it's the newest issue of Karate Kid. 

More Keith Giffen Autographs

 Last week I talked about meeting Keith Giffen and bringing him some 5YL books to get signed.

As I have said, one of the new things I need to calculate when I attend cons is the cost of autographs. With more and more creators charging for their autograph, I need to decide how much money I want to spend on signatures and therefore how to rank issues.

For Giffen, as a lifelong fan, I had in my mind 10 signatures or $50 maximum. If Giffen was charging $10 a sig, I would only get 5 books signed.

Incredibly, Giffen wasn't charging. In fact, at Terrificon that year, only a couple of creators were charging. Most had a Heroes Initiative charity jar on their table instead. I definitely threw a lot of money into those jars that weekend.

Meanwhile, with Giffen signing whatever you brought to him and with (shockingly) never a long line at his table, I was able to bring books to him each day. And with the 5YL books signed, I dove into the earlier years.

So now, with that out of the way, the question I ask you is which issues would you bring from your collection to be signed.

I think most would bring some (if not all) of the Great Darkness Saga. Let's face it, that story sort of out Levitz/Giffen on the map. And it still holds up today. I opted to bring the first and last issue, #290 and #294. My guess is Giffen has signed a ton of these.

Reboot: Legion of Super-Heroes #124

Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) #124 (February 2000)
title: "Childhood's End"

writers: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning

penciller: Angel Unzueta
inker: Jaime Mendoza
lettering: Comicraft
colorist: Tom McCraw

editor: Mike McAvennie

cover: Olivier Coipel & Andy Lanning
reviewers: Siskoid & Shotgun

Mission Monitor Board:  
Brainiac 5.1, Cosmic Boy, Element Lad, Invisible Kid, Live Wire, M'Onel, Saturn Girl, Star Boy, Thunder, Triad, Umbra, Violet

Guests: 
Chuck Taine, Dreamer, Lori Morning, Magno, Marla Latham, Proty, R.J. Brande, Wimena Wazzo; medical personnel, refugees, U.P. ambassadors, adult Workforce (unseen)

Opponents: 
Amelia Crugg, The Blight (flashback), Leland McCauley; McCauley employees

Who's Who: Science Police

 

Science Police
by Russell & Siskoid

Known members: Commander Loring, Chief (Commander) Wilson, Chief Zoltorus, Chief Ianos, Chief Zendak, Officer Dvron, Captain Maltor, Officer Smyt, Commander Hagbard, Officer Shvaughn, Officer Cusimano, Officer Quav, Officer Ishikindru, Officer Skden, Officer Shadder, Officer Omar Magz, Officer Dyrk Magz, innumerable unnamed officers 

Relationship to Legion: Allies

TOS: Action Comics #382

Action Comics #382 (Nov 1969)
title: "Kill A Friend To Save A World!"
writer and layouts: Jim Shooter
penciller: Win Mortimer
inker: Jack Abel
letterer: Milt Snapinn
editor: Mort Weisinger
reviewer:  Russell "Bilingual Boy" Burbage

Mission Monitor Board: 
Ultra Boy, Karate Kid, Shrinking Violet, Light Lass, Timber Wolf; cameos by Superboy and Mon-El

Opponents:
Cosvarr and Zorla

The Write Stuff: Back to the Future Pt 2

BACK ISSUE! 22 (Jun 2007)

Following on from the article in BACK ISSUE! 15 which featured both Dave Cockrum and Mike Grell, this issue turns the spotlight on scribe Paul Levitz and artist/writer Keith Giffen.

    At the time of the joint interview, Paul was president and publisher at DC Comics, while Keith was handling Countdown for DC and Starlord for Marvel.

    Paul's love for the Legion is well-known, as is evidenced by his three separate tenures as the writer of a title which he acknowledges would be “a pain in the ass” unless you really loved it.

    “You'd literally have to write the Legion with a scorecard and notes. If you didn't know them and love them, it was a lot of hard work,” he said.

    Keith was more direct. “If you didn't care for these characters, it would be agony,” he said.