In memoriam: Steve Lightle
Jan. 8th, 2021 03:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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scans_dailyNews is just coming in of noted comic book artist Steve lightle having passed unexpectedly at the tragically young age of 61, due to cardiac arrest related to a COVID 19 infection
I'm sure I join everyone in expressing our sympathies for their loss to his family and friends, of whom he had many, being a genial and pleasant chap on facebook for a good few years.
My first exposure to his work remains probably my favourite; the 1980's Legion of Superheroes, where his slightly cartoony style seemed eminently suited to the sci-fi adventures of brightly costumed superheroes.
And this remains one of my favourite issues, one of the (in)famous "Legion Try Out" issues, in this case from 1985 (with story my Paul Levitz) which goes a bit more smoothly than some of it's predecessors
The original three Legionnaires are retiring, Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad to raise their new son Graym, and Cosmic Boy to take an extended holiday with his girlfriend (Night Girl from the Substitute Legion) and isn't sure what he'll do on his return, but isn't sure it will be to do with the Legion. So there's more of a need for new members than there has been in many, many years... Cue a large scale recruitment drive.
We open with the purple skinned guy, Power Boy, demonstrating his powers to an assembled team of Legionnaires, rather impressively lifting Colossal Boy one handed, and not even dropping him when Timber Wolf knocks his legs out from under him. Having finished he sits down with the other candidates...
Most of these characters we'll meet as the issue continues, alas, we won't find out who the red skinned tiger outfitted young lady is, nor will we ever see the twin floaty fish demonstrate who they are or what they can do, and that's a shame, as they look to be fun...
It's Simon Cowell time for Power Boy though....
Did you have to use "Rejected" Element Lad? It's a very pejorative term, "Unsuccessful" would be far more appropriate... Nice to see that Bouncing Boy at least is trying to see the upside...
For the sake of my sanity, I will refrain from posting Comet Queens demonstration as she drives me nuts. She talks like Chris Claremont on a bender with sentences like "Prism my eyes if I'm not seeing stars"... She has the power of flight, and can release clouds of smokes which will put people to sleep (Really... that's her power)
Next up, a character I rather liked the powers of;
Like I said, that's an interesting power, sort of Karma-like...
Suffice it to say, she doesn't make it through to the finals... quite some time later she would join a new incarnation of the Emerald Empress' Fatal Five. However, it would be as part of an attempt to infiltrate and defeat them from the inside to prove her worth to the Legion so she could join them (as other Legionnaires like Colossal Boy had in the past) . When she made her attempt to stop the Five attacking the Legion, the Empress murdered her.
The three second-round qualifiers are Comet Queen, Magnetic Kid (Cosmic Boy's kid brother Pol) and Tellus, a non-humanoid Hydrakian with powers of telepathy and telekinesis (He needs the mask to stay alive, his people aren't the usual convenient amphibians, but are true liquid breathers. He'd had to live in isolation in the Academy until they were able to produce the helmet he wears here, which is enough to keep him going in a normal Earth environment).
The team are dispatched to deal with an explosion in California, which has collapsed the drainage system (It's a glamorous life in the Legion). They are accompanied by Brainiac-5 and Mon-El for support and guidance.
Whilst Mon-El grasps the central supports, Magnetic Kid tries to raise the main sunken area.
Brainiac-5 is so impressed he smiles? That happens slightly less often than Halley's Comet!
Meanwhile the next round of candidates are going through their paces.... Prepare for some of that Legiondickery as... enter Energy Boy...
Now that was bloody RUDE Polar Boy, interrupting Energy Boy like that was just plain uncalled for! And if HIS entry meant we never got to see the floaty fish again, then I object wholeheartedly. Given his own... unfortunate experience at Legion auditions in the past it also seems deeply unsportsmanlike
Meanwhile, the Legion have met up with Dev-Em, another Daxamite hero who works for the Counter-Intelligence Corps, as they seek the source of the explosion, which turns out to be a clone of Ontiir, an old foe from the Dark Circle terrorist group.
Ontiir with his weapons chair seems an even match for those Legionnaires not involved in trying to save the city from further destruction, and he manages to knock out the candidates. Which leaves only Brainy and Ontiir, each trying to out forcefield the other.
Until....
No one has a clue what's going on, so Phantom Girl does a quick check against records and finds...
Well, that's an interesting question Shadow Lass, and a deeply unfortunate bad hair day you're having there (In fairness she's just come out from under the dryer)
And I will NEVER get used to Comet Queen's speech pattern, it just gets on my nerves from the word go...
I LIKE this little fellow!
So we're into the final selection round...
Yeah, nepotism is alive and well and living in the 30th Century.... I think Pol proved that he has what it takes DESPITE being Rokk's brother rather than BECAUSE of it)
But there's one final twist. Saturn Girl makes an impassioned plea for a new unknown candidate based solely on her recommendation. She notes that she has done this once before, years before, with Element Lad.
Wildfire (a serious proponent of the Legion Academy since he is a graduate himself) finds this approach distasteful, but Saturn Girl says that she only wants her candidate to be submitted to an open vote, and leaves it up to the individual membership if they trust her enough, and ends by reassuring them that Sensor Girl has THE best reasons to deserve membership, but won't say what they are.
And so, the votes are cast and... the Legion has it's first two non-humanoid members in the fshape of Tellus and Quislet, as well as it's first member with a secret ID (They actually HAD had a masked member before; Ferro Lad, who hid his distorted features behind a mask at all times, but not one who concealed their identity like this)
(I like Magnetic Kid being so firmly at attention you could use him as a flagpole himself, and that he's wearing his brothers old outfit! :) )
I'm sure I join everyone in expressing our sympathies for their loss to his family and friends, of whom he had many, being a genial and pleasant chap on facebook for a good few years.
My first exposure to his work remains probably my favourite; the 1980's Legion of Superheroes, where his slightly cartoony style seemed eminently suited to the sci-fi adventures of brightly costumed superheroes.
And this remains one of my favourite issues, one of the (in)famous "Legion Try Out" issues, in this case from 1985 (with story my Paul Levitz) which goes a bit more smoothly than some of it's predecessors
The original three Legionnaires are retiring, Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad to raise their new son Graym, and Cosmic Boy to take an extended holiday with his girlfriend (Night Girl from the Substitute Legion) and isn't sure what he'll do on his return, but isn't sure it will be to do with the Legion. So there's more of a need for new members than there has been in many, many years... Cue a large scale recruitment drive.
We open with the purple skinned guy, Power Boy, demonstrating his powers to an assembled team of Legionnaires, rather impressively lifting Colossal Boy one handed, and not even dropping him when Timber Wolf knocks his legs out from under him. Having finished he sits down with the other candidates...
Most of these characters we'll meet as the issue continues, alas, we won't find out who the red skinned tiger outfitted young lady is, nor will we ever see the twin floaty fish demonstrate who they are or what they can do, and that's a shame, as they look to be fun...
It's Simon Cowell time for Power Boy though....
Did you have to use "Rejected" Element Lad? It's a very pejorative term, "Unsuccessful" would be far more appropriate... Nice to see that Bouncing Boy at least is trying to see the upside...
For the sake of my sanity, I will refrain from posting Comet Queens demonstration as she drives me nuts. She talks like Chris Claremont on a bender with sentences like "Prism my eyes if I'm not seeing stars"... She has the power of flight, and can release clouds of smokes which will put people to sleep (Really... that's her power)
Next up, a character I rather liked the powers of;
Like I said, that's an interesting power, sort of Karma-like...
Suffice it to say, she doesn't make it through to the finals... quite some time later she would join a new incarnation of the Emerald Empress' Fatal Five. However, it would be as part of an attempt to infiltrate and defeat them from the inside to prove her worth to the Legion so she could join them (as other Legionnaires like Colossal Boy had in the past) . When she made her attempt to stop the Five attacking the Legion, the Empress murdered her.
The three second-round qualifiers are Comet Queen, Magnetic Kid (Cosmic Boy's kid brother Pol) and Tellus, a non-humanoid Hydrakian with powers of telepathy and telekinesis (He needs the mask to stay alive, his people aren't the usual convenient amphibians, but are true liquid breathers. He'd had to live in isolation in the Academy until they were able to produce the helmet he wears here, which is enough to keep him going in a normal Earth environment).
The team are dispatched to deal with an explosion in California, which has collapsed the drainage system (It's a glamorous life in the Legion). They are accompanied by Brainiac-5 and Mon-El for support and guidance.
Whilst Mon-El grasps the central supports, Magnetic Kid tries to raise the main sunken area.
Brainiac-5 is so impressed he smiles? That happens slightly less often than Halley's Comet!
Meanwhile the next round of candidates are going through their paces.... Prepare for some of that Legiondickery as... enter Energy Boy...
Now that was bloody RUDE Polar Boy, interrupting Energy Boy like that was just plain uncalled for! And if HIS entry meant we never got to see the floaty fish again, then I object wholeheartedly. Given his own... unfortunate experience at Legion auditions in the past it also seems deeply unsportsmanlike
Meanwhile, the Legion have met up with Dev-Em, another Daxamite hero who works for the Counter-Intelligence Corps, as they seek the source of the explosion, which turns out to be a clone of Ontiir, an old foe from the Dark Circle terrorist group.
Ontiir with his weapons chair seems an even match for those Legionnaires not involved in trying to save the city from further destruction, and he manages to knock out the candidates. Which leaves only Brainy and Ontiir, each trying to out forcefield the other.
Until....
No one has a clue what's going on, so Phantom Girl does a quick check against records and finds...
Well, that's an interesting question Shadow Lass, and a deeply unfortunate bad hair day you're having there (In fairness she's just come out from under the dryer)
And I will NEVER get used to Comet Queen's speech pattern, it just gets on my nerves from the word go...
I LIKE this little fellow!
So we're into the final selection round...
Yeah, nepotism is alive and well and living in the 30th Century.... I think Pol proved that he has what it takes DESPITE being Rokk's brother rather than BECAUSE of it)
But there's one final twist. Saturn Girl makes an impassioned plea for a new unknown candidate based solely on her recommendation. She notes that she has done this once before, years before, with Element Lad.
Wildfire (a serious proponent of the Legion Academy since he is a graduate himself) finds this approach distasteful, but Saturn Girl says that she only wants her candidate to be submitted to an open vote, and leaves it up to the individual membership if they trust her enough, and ends by reassuring them that Sensor Girl has THE best reasons to deserve membership, but won't say what they are.
And so, the votes are cast and... the Legion has it's first two non-humanoid members in the fshape of Tellus and Quislet, as well as it's first member with a secret ID (They actually HAD had a masked member before; Ferro Lad, who hid his distorted features behind a mask at all times, but not one who concealed their identity like this)
(I like Magnetic Kid being so firmly at attention you could use him as a flagpole himself, and that he's wearing his brothers old outfit! :) )
no subject
Date: 2021-01-08 04:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-01-08 06:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-01-08 07:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-01-10 01:54 am (UTC)Any minute now, y'd expect one of the Legion to burst into song.
I thinking it'd be Brainy. If anyone couldn't hold it back anymore, it'd be him.
Also, love just how angry those fish look with Polar Boy. Them's some real angry fish.
"Chris Claremont on a bender". What a chilling thought, given what he seems to have written while entirely sober...
(Though Claremont's characters usually tend to be pretty intelligible, even if they speak in broken English or in ze Poirot speak... though that may also have something to do with Claremont's fondness for explaining everything, either through speech or narration.)
no subject
Date: 2021-01-13 01:21 am (UTC)