Legion Companion And Al Plastino

 Every so often, I feel lucky.

I was in my comic store a couple of weeks ago when they were having a sale. As I was thumbing through their stock of back issues, I stumbled across this book, the Legion Companion.

It has a cover price of $24.95 but was on sale, about 70% off that. It is a TwoMorrows compendium of interviews with Legion royalty, bringing together these disparate conversations into one neat volume. From Otto Binder to Mark Waid and nearly everyone in between this book showcases creators of the Legion from multiple decades and continuities.

I have only started the book, just three interviews in and I already know that I'll be cannibalizing the Supergirl-centric bits to share here.

But seriously, this book was so cheap that I might have bought it for the Dave Cockrum cover alone!

Add to that Jim Mooney's drawing on the back, Kara holding a big place among the notaries, and the cover itself is a score.

I love TwoMorrows, subscribing to back issue and picking up Alter Ego and collections like this (for example the recent DC Implosion one). They never fail to satisfy.

I mean I can never get enough Mooney Supergirl.

But if you told me that Dave Cockrum once drew the head band Supergirl, I would have said you were lying. I appreciate that Supergirl was shown this Legion respect!

But onto the first noteworthy interview (from a Supergirl perspective), Al Plastino.

This interview was done by the book's author Glen Cadigan in 2003.

It is a nice in-depth look at Plastino's career, from his early days through his non-comic work, through his daily newspaper strips. His work on Superman is covered extensively. Throughout the interview it becomes clear that Plastino didn't particularly like comics or the characters. He says over and over that it was a job and little more.

But for the Supergirl fans out there, he is known for being the artist of her first story in Action Comics #252. He didn't draw any of her solo stories after. But he is the first artist to draw Kara Zor-El.

Here are the few comments he had to say about her.

 I think it is important to remember that this interview took place nearly 50 years after Action Comics #252. So Plastino doesn't have a lot of specifics to say.

Interesting that the main decision about her look was to have her be blonde or not. Given Lois was already a brunette star who had been in the super-costume a few times, I guess making Kara blonde was an easy way to differentiate her immediately.

Too bad Plastino doesn't remember too much more about the early discussion.

He isn't even sure if he was the one who designed Supergirl specific look or not.

I can't imagine anyone else designing her, especially since Plastino was the primary Superman artist on the book. Of course, when he looks at the folds and pleats of the art it looks like his style or what he would have designed. But then again, it is doubtful given his personality that he would have drawn her in the style someone else came up with.

Of course, there was the 'magical' Super-Girl prototype from Superman #123, drawn by Dick Sprang. I suppose Plastino could have looked at that to get his vibe.

The last question is sort of intriguing to me. Plastino drew the first Supergirl and the first Legion story. But he never followed up to see how the characters grew or if their looks changed. As I said above, and as he clearly states here, 'it was just a job.' He didn't pay attention to much in comics.

I suppose he shouldn't have much of an affection for Supergirl given he only drew the one issue. We'll get a much better discussion when I come back to this book and share some of Jim Mooney's thoughts.

This book is going to be a treasure trove for me. I see interviews from Cary Bates, Paul Levitz, Steve Lightle, Keith Giffen, and the Bierbaums are in here. Plus many more creators who worked on the Legion. Looks like I scored big because the book is on sale on line but for much more than cover price. That makes this especially sweet.

I promise I'll share the Supergirl stuff I come across. But if you are a Legion fan and you see this at a reasonable price, you should grab it!

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