The Legion of Super-Heroes at 50: Talking to Jim Shooter
by Vaneta Rogers
Date: 19 August 2008 Time: 12:58 PM ET
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The Legion at 50: Jim Shooter CREDIT: |
It was superheroes meets science fiction. In 1958, a fraternity of flying teens from the future first appeared in Adventure Comics #247 as the Legion of Super-Heroes was introduced to comic book readers.
A few years later, a 14-year-old named Jim Shooter wrote his first story about the Legion of Super-Heroes in 1966's Adventure Comics #346. Over the next decade, Shooter would help define the characters that won the hearts of DC Comics readers, making his mark on a team that is not only still around 50 years after their introduction, but is at the center of this summer's Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds mini-series. Newsarama celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Legion of Super-Heroes this week with a look back at what makes this concept so compelling to the people who have created the stories over the years, and a look forward at what's coming up for the futuristic heroes. We start with Jim Shooter, who returned to the characters last year when he took over the Legion of Super-Heroes ongoing series more than 30 years after his last story in 1976 about the superhero team of the future.NRAMA: Let's talk about your current run on Legion of Super-Heroes. What was your goal for the series, and do you feel like you're achieving it?
JS: I want the characters to come alive for the readers the way they’ve come alive for me. I hope to introduce enough things that are new, interesting and exciting that readers just can’t wait to see what happens next. I hope to tell a story so compelling that they don’t dare look away. I feel like I’m doing my best. I have no doubts that Steve “Magic” Wands will execute the lettering with his usual rare excellence, so… if my stories are good, if Francis Manapul and Livesay convey them well enough in the art, if JD Smith’s coloring serves the story, if production does its job properly, if it all comes together, then I think we have a chance of achieving the goal. The readers will let us know if we succeed. NRAMA: Are you on the Legion long-term? JS: As long as they'll have me. NRAMA: What's been the most fun thing about returning to these characters and reviving them through their new series? JS: It’s been fun getting to know them all over again. Mark Waid did the heavy lifting part of “reviving” the characters, and some have been changed since last I wrote them, but, for the most part it’s been done in interesting ways that I can relate to. NRAMA: What's coming up in the series? JS: Let’s see… there will be a bunch of new opponents introduced, four new Legionnaires, an engagement, a tragic death, major changes in a couple of long-established Legionnaires, two returns, two departures and a partridge in a pear tree. NRAMA: Do you think the Legion will be around another 50 years from now? JS: It wouldn’t surprise me. There’s something wonderful about this series. Even if it were to go away for a while, it’ll be back. NRAMA: Any chance you'll be writing it? JS: I’d only be 107. Why not?