"The Legion: Magic" available very soon

I noticed during preparation that this will be post # 200 for me.  The subject matter couldn't be much more appropriate as the Legion Unleashed comics were among my inspiration for starting this blog in the first place.

And those books are being re-released, after a fashion.  They will become available in prose format (officially said to be "novellas") instead.  Here's a portion of the Amazon solicitation:

Canada’s greatest heroes have been reborn in a brand new, pulp-style novel series!

As gifted men and women begin appearing around the world, Canada becomes the first country to form a team of super-humans dedicated to protecting the lives and freedoms of all humanity. But heroes cannot exist without villains and as the heroes gather together, great evil also begins to rise; not only from ancient realms but inside the hearts of men and women. It will take a Legion to keep the whole world Strong and Free.

...

The characters and stories in this series are based off the comic book series which was cancelled after two issues. The heroes have been redesigned, the stories updated and the book relaunched. Look for more Legion novels soon!

That's a new-look version of Black Flag on the cover.  I've written about him before; I enjoyed his all-too-few appearances in large part because he was the exact opposite of what you'd expect from a Canadian superhero.

I was initially a little surprised by the character's new image, but it grew on me quickly.  Simple reason: When I first laid eyes on him, I immediately thought of a Canadian version of Midnighter from the Authority book.

Truthfully though, I have no idea whether Black Flag was actually inspired by Midnighter.  But if one character reminds you of another so quickly, whether due to design or (and?) personality, that may not be a good thing.  Black Flag's new look goes a long way towards avoiding that, so I welcome it.  In fact, since the pitch implies that the whole team went through redesign, I'd be interested in seeing what the other characters now look like (sound like a blog entry of your own, Rick? ;-) )

So book one is about to become available (as I write this, the Amazon page is up, but no price is pricing information is available).  Can we expect the story to continue?  Sure sounds like it! 

I am not sure how many books will be released but I worked on this series in comics for ten years, so there are at least a dozen issues already plotted out that just need to be written up and expanded as novellas.

Legion isn't the only superhero offering from writer Richard Evans.  He has also penned another novel called Earth Man, also featuring a Canadian character.

In order to protect itself from an alien scourge, the planet Earth chooses a good-hearted Canadian to infuse with great power. Danny Boyle finds himself gifted with superhuman abilities and suddenly his simple life in Kelowna, British Columbia is turned upside down.

Three monsters no bigger than a flea descend to Earth, burrowing into the flesh of the living creatures of the planet and changing them into the perfect hosts. Their hunger has taken the Growth across the stars and they have left a thousand dead worlds in their wake. Mankind has no idea that evil now walks among them and Danny must quickly learn to decipher the strange clues the animals and the trees are sending him.

With the power of Earth’s animals at his command, Danny must find the hero inside of him before everything he knows and everyone he loves is lost.

Click on the cover to be taken to the Amazon page from which you can order the book.

Legion Unfinished

About two weeks ago, it was mentioned in a post comment that Legion Unleashed writer Richard Evans was done with comics.  Evans had made the announcement on the Raven Entertainment Facebook page.

I didn't say much about it at the time because...

• It would be stating the obvious to say that I was disappointed, and I prefer to focus on those producing comics than those who no longer wish to.
• Evans could just as quick decide to "unretire".  It's not like the decision is binding in any way.
• Evans didn't go into detail as to what led to his decision.

Well, at least not right away. This past Sunday, Evans added another Facebook wall post entitled "Why I Quit Comics".  It got mentioned by bleedingcool.com and as a result, got picked up by a number of other sites.

Evidently, Bleeding Cool didn't care for Evans' opinion of the business and they took the opportunity to attack him personally, question his professionalism, and attempt to paint him as a hypocrite.  Also evident is that the writer for the Bleeding Cool piece, Rich Johnston, doesn't watch Mad Men because Evans' wall post was taken from an episode of that show, but adapted to the comic industry.

The Bleeding Cool message board thread in regards to the announcement is seven pages long.  It includes all of one post by Evans in which he clarifies his comments.  Here's a partial version:

Raven Entertainment Studio isn't a real company. It's just me guys. This is not a professional press release, it was released by me after watching that episodes of Mad Men and identifying with what they went through...

It was never intended to represent anyone or anything but my own experiences as a writer. I paid to make all those books out of my own pocket and can no longer afford to do so. It was supposed to be fun, but like the comments I read here, it was anything but fun.

I am still working with ANA Comics because they are good guys. I ALWAYS deliver on what I promise. I'll be working on novels with subject matter that we don't see enough of in comics.

...

All those companies I mentioned have put out decent work and I look forward to seeing what they put out. If you don't like one of them, that's cool. I never intended to insult them.

Best of luck to those in the industry and I am glad to be free of the stress. Thanks.

It's unfortunate that the Evans and Arcana partnership did not work out better.  I'm not going to try to assign responsibility for a situation in which I had no involvement, but it doesn't seem like it should have reached the levels that it did.

Here's a cover for the first issue, which I assume was never actually used.  I'd like to give proper credit, but I do not recall where I found it.  Probably Mr Evans' blog, linked at right.

I find it a little ironic that the most publicity that Evans was ever able to generate for his book was the result of announcing he is no longer producing it.

"In Case You Missed It"Art: Black Flag

The above piece of badassery is top and center on the new(ish) Google Page for Raven Entertainment Studio, featuring the work of Raven Heisenberg, creator of Legion Unleashed (among others).  Right click and open it in a new tab for the full-sized version.

Given the choice of a Legion Unleashed one-shot origin issue for a character, this guy would be my selection.  Make a Black Flag figurine and it'll find its way onto my desk.

A black-clad cigar-chomper, he's not your standard flag-bearer.  And as much as I like THAT type of character, the different take on it makes Black Flag interesting to me.  And not to discourage anyone, but we're hardly hurting for the "standard" option.

No doubt if I work my way through the Legion Unleashed blog I'd come across more details about Black Flag's background, but I don't want to find out that way.  I want an in-story reveal, so I'm not going to peek behind the curtain.

Black Flag spends a fair bit of the first issue with another Shaman-like character named Morgan Snowfall.  Obviously their time together is limited in light of the fact that there are only two issues of Legion Unleashed presently available, but there's a certain chemistry to these characters.  You would not necessarily expect that from a mystic and ass-kicker, but it's a "World's Finest" type of thing where they seem to mesh because they're so different.

The books remain available for $1 in pdf format on the Google site above.

Spring Vacation Reading, part 3: Legion Unleashed

Finally...Legion Unleashed!

This is one of the books that caused me to start this blog.  It was the discovery of Legion Unleashed and the Red Leaf Comics line which made me realise, appreciate, and wish to share that there are Canadian superhero comics options out there.

It has taken me a little while to obtain them.  My plan was to wait for print versions but the only opportunity to do so to this point was through IndyPlanet and I struggle to order from them.

However, creator and writer Richard Evans recently offered the first two issues as pdf files for $1 each so I happily took advantage.  If you'd like to as well, while the offer stands, click the above and select the "buy now" button rather than the Graphically link.

A few things that stood out to me:

For the most part, these are not the "typical" Canadian characters.  Off the top of my head, I can not think of many Canadian superheroes with stretching powers like Plasti-Girl.  I can not think of an archer, especially one with enhanced speed like The Arrow.  The flag-waiver is a standard but the one in this book (Black Flag), as I've mentioned before, reminds me in appearance to The Authority's Midnighter.

Without giving anything away, the choice of antagonists in issue two is...unpredictable.

Combining the "extras" in these two issues with the Handbook to the Canadian Legion material, it is quite clear that the surface is barely scratched in terms of the stories Evans wants to tell.  These characters (including the villains) have deep backgrounds that have yet to be revealed. And there are many more characters to be revealed as well.

Let's give a little nod for customer service.  My copy of issue #1 had a couple of pages out of order.  No big deal, it wasn't during a key point of the story.  But evidently Richard noticed and contacted me to provide me with a corrected version of the book.  I wouldn't have said anything so the gesture was appreciated.

All told, a great addition to the TSOG library.  When #3 is available, it won't take me so damn long to add it to the collection.

Legion Unleashed!

In my first post, I mention having looked for alternatives to Alpha Flight following the recent end of that series. One of the options I came across while working my way through the Canada-specific page of the International Heroes website was the Canadian Legion .

Said to be published by Arcana, I checked if the book(s) could be purchased from them, but the title was not listed among a very extensive list. Then, on a message board, I saw a reference to a Canadian Legion graphic novel, but any time I would find a listing for it, it was said to be sold out. That is, until I saw one reference to it being "delayed".

Eventually, I landed on something called Legion Unleashed. It looked like the same characters, but I didn't want to buy the sequel before the original, and Unleashed appeared to be exactly that.

I contacted writer Richard Evans and he was kind enough to respond quickly. He explained that the plans for the graphic novel have been dropped. The books will be released individually instead. At the moment, they can be downloaded from Graphicly, however print versions will be available soon.

Looking forward to it. Hell, I would get it for that #2 tribute cover alone. ;-) It came as something of a surprise as I've seen some criticism of Mr Evans on Alpha Flight creator John Byrne's forum for having made negative (or at least perceived as such) comments about that team.

Find out more about the Canadian Legion Universe on (one of) Mr Evans' blog.