Well look at that! I managed to do a post only one week after my first ever post of 2026. I am on a roll! I do hope I can keep this up.
I’m well into Paul Levitz’s second run on the Legion of Super-Heroes and it’s been great. What amazes me about this is that Levitz took the Legion of Super-Heroes that sort-of-kind-of had a rich world, history and mythology (at least for comic book standards) and blasted it with the result of a big bang. Simple concepts as a Galactic Encyclopedia and furthering little bits of information that were established in the past to full blown stories propelled LSH to epic proportions.
He didn’t do this alone because he had Keith Giffen as co-plotter and artist. You can only imagine these two were working very well in tandem so it really doesn’t matter who contributed what or most. But for those that know Keith Giffen you know his imagination and how he was able to put that imagination on paper. And I can’t say this lightly and words themselves cannot do Giffen justice. But he somehow managed to bring his creativity to the intersection of utility. And that in itself created a world that was natural and believable. When I read these comics those forces allow my imagination take over and I’m instantly transported to the 30th Century. I don’t think I’ve ever had the amount of joy, heartbreak, suspense, and tears of laughter from anything else. Another worthless attempt to describe Giffen would be to compare him to Steve Ditko. I think these two were from the another planet belonging to the same universe because again, they were able to put on paper depictions that never exited before but when you look at them it just seems so obvious. I could write an essay about this but to conclude Giffen was a genius and you can see that genius in these books.
Back to Paul Levitz. There was a method to his writing madness. If you read the DC Guide To Writing Comics from another legend Denny O’Neil, you will see O’Neil’s definition of the Levitz Paradigm. Here’s the description taken from my notes that may or may not be directly taken from O’Neil’s description so take that as the citation from the DC Guide (I’m too lazy to hunt down the book from my bookshelf as I write this but am able to take the time to write this sentence.):
The writer has two, three, or even four plots going at once. The main plot—call it Plot A—occupies most of the pages and the characters’ energies. The secondary plot—PlotB— functions as a subplot. Plot C and Plot D, if any, are given minimum space and attention—a few panels. As Plot A concludes, Plot B is “promoted”; it becomes Plot A, and Plot C becomes Plot B, and so forth. thus there is a constant upward plot progression.
And you see that in these books and its brilliantly done. I imagine this can really only be pulled off by comic books or perhaps a mini-series on television. But going from one plot to another on screen would probably give you whiplash. Because you read comics at your own pace it’s easier to swallow. Probably. But either way, this method was perfect for the Legion and allowed Levitz to instill characterization, backstory, and enrich the environment of about thirty-three characters and probably more.
On the creative side, I finished the plotting of Season 2 of Solicitations and am now blocking in the shots, dialogue, and action. I don’t have a timeline when this will be finished but if I can take my time and really ensure the quality of this, it will be something special. On top of that I’m building the assets that will be used for all the web-sites and social media things and I am almost finished with the banner. I’ve finished Franka’s image so that just leaves Curt and then I can put it together and color it. Here’s Franka.
That’s it for this week! Will there be a post next week? Only my brain knows!
Long Live the Legion!
-Chris
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