Enjoy your work on Young Justice together. Was sad to see it end.
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Thank you, that’s a very swampy answer.
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BB: I write full script, I have discovered that most artists prefer it. In fact I have a whole artist roundtable in my book about it! for Legion I write very very very full script, ask poor Scott, but always with the very sincere invitation to my collaborators to do whatever the hell they want. I write the script for them; to inspire them. I want them to feel the freedom that comes with an open script but not any of the panic that can come with it. Marvel style sometimes requires the artist to do an enormous amount of writing and storytelling. Things that a lot of people think the writer does. also, with Legion there is so much world building. Every time a character turns their head and looks at something it’s something brand-new. Something a thousand years from now. We don’t have light bulbs and toilets. Everything has to be brand-new. so I feel it’s my obligation to not just throw that problem at my collaborators but to support them and their choices.
SG: Funny answer is I aim to include as few as possible…On a book like this the job is as much about logistics as it is creative or clear storytelling. Half the battle is getting everyone where they’re supposed to be! I appreciate all that you (Brian) put into the scripts because it addresses nearly all of the questions that I may have
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SG: The constructs are the hardest part of drawing Lanterns. But also maybe the coolest part? Unless specifically directed in the script, it really comes down to what would be the most practical build vs what do I want to draw? And Kala having no sight really challenges an artist to visualize something coming from a mind that doesn’t “see” like other Lanterns.
BB: I’m a huuuuuge fan of The Question, and I was very excited to include him in the event Leviathan gang. Soon after we started crafting that, my friend Greg Rucka decided to join us and returned to DC to do Lois Lane and within their was some pretty outstanding work with the question. Because I knew this was coming and because I have such high regard for Greg and his legacy with the character I think I subconsciously, more than consciously, stepped back from using the question in some places. I guess wanted Greg to never feel he had to deal with us. But if you look at every issue the question does something very quiet and important. I make sure that. every character needed to be there and the story would not have worked without them, also I deeply enjoyed writing the question and green arrow hanging out together. I love characters with a history that is both obvious and not obvious.
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BB: Oh, it was on my very early Legion checklist. First of all, I just love stories like this. One of the most unique aspects of Legion of superheroes is that they are aspiring to an age of heroes and have time travel. So their aspiring toward something they can visit, with permission. they literally can do that thing we are always told not to do: meet their heroes. But I think if your hero is Superman it’s okay to meet them…because pop culture has deemed all time travel as a selfish act there always has to be a reason for them to meet each other, and having a great darkness event happening simultaneously in two different time eras is just the kind of thing Brainiac five would be forced to make simple choices. Any great team up having the characters meet each other gives us an opportunity for them to get to know each other and for us to get to know them through each other. Easily my most influential storyline in regards to this story is X-Men versus teen Titans by Chris Claremont and Walt Simonson. A tight and powerful character motivated team up that felt like the end of the world was coming. The only downside to a giant story like this is that it could easily be 20 issues long with side tangents and character drama.
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SG: The Legion is what we hope the future looks like and it’s about all the great people who choose to fight for it…Justice League almost feels like the start of the shaping of that future–there’s a great moment in #2 that really highlights that notion.
BB: The similarity is obviously that they’re both a group of very worthy heroes attempting to make the entire world and galaxy a better place than they found it all with the help of their friendships and collaborations. The Legion is aspiring to be the Justice league…they will always see the Justice league as the Beatles who can do no wrong and did everything better than them. Even though they are going to find out in this series that the Justice league are just like them and have the same trials and tribulations as everyone else, while the Justice league are desperate to hold the constant crisis of the DC universe together hoping beyond hope for a hopeful future. So having the Justice league see and breathe this future could be the most important thing that’s ever happened to them. We have a moment coming were wonder woman is profoundly moved by the reality that the future is so bright. She is immediately overwhelmed with the feeling that every fight she’s ever fought and every fight she will fight is damn well worth it.
SG (following up): It’s my favorite moment so far.
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Alright, we’re going to wrap it up here! Massive thank you to Brian Bendis and Scott Godlewski for taking some time to chat with us here today. And of course, thank you to the amazing DC Community for being here! Enjoy your week, and keep an eye out for more fun community events.
<3
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I’m 0 for 2 now getting an answer from Brian in these Q&A’s. I know… I know… the focus was Legion this time. Still just a little disappointed.
Nonetheless, thank you @Jitsu for putting this together. And thank you to Brian Bendis and Scott Godlewski for the time 
.
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Sorry about that, Moro! With limited time, getting to all the questions can be tough. But there will certainly be more Q&As in the (near) future, and I’ll keep a special eye out for you questions next time!
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Thanks for the reply. And awesome choice. Thanks again for all the great entertainment and artwork. Keep it up.
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Yeah Legion buddy @JimboFett got skipped over also and he was one of the first in line, alas
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Awesome™
. Sounds like it will be great.
Thanks for answering
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Thank you for answering my question man
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I was hoping they answered yours and it would’ve been the answer I gave you awhile back. That would have been hilarious.
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Too bad I don’t know how to create tiny font
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Wasn’t able to take part live but just read through the thread. This was fantastic - thanks to @Jitsu and the staff for putting this together and big thanks to @JSLvsLSH.QA for taking the time to answer some of our questions. Getting insights into the writers and artists of our favorite books/characters is something we will always be interested in and having this be just for us subscribers makes it all the better.
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What is your vision of a great board? Also, if you already have another Legion mecca, share link please.
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I apologize, @Don-El, I cast too wide of a net with that statement out of frustration. The Legion Club is definitely a bright spot on these forums. But being one of the first in line with a very simple (and popular) question being effectively ignored got the better of me. Knowing that the selection of questions was done by the folks that run this overall online forum made me angry, as I’ve been blocked and muted by others in the online fan community just for stating opinions elsewhere about the Legion. This seemed to be yet another incident of someone gatekeeping me out just because of something that I said as my own opinion and without malice.
I apologize to you specifically as I did not mean to include you in that scope of reaction. You run a great area with the Legion Club, and including you in a group of folks that apparently take issue with me personally was not fair to you.
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Thank you.
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Howdy JimboFett,
Figured this particular conversation needs addressing.
This isn’t a feasible solution. There is no ‘queue’ so to speak for the Q&As, so the amount of likes on a comment doesn’t hold any weight. (You’ll also notice I liked your specific question before the Q&A started.) Bendis is correct in saying that we picked out the questions and there’s a couple of reasons for that.
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We have an allotted amount of time to answer questions. This means that there’s no way every question can be answered to begin with.
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There are 2 people in the Q&A and we wanted to make sure we got questions where both could answer with substance. Failing that, we wanted to keep the questions as balanced as possible.
Specifically regarding your question, it wasn’t pitched to the team because:
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It only applied to Bendis, not Scott.
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The only way the question would actually be answered with any substance would be with spoilers for future comics which is something we’re obviously looking to avoid.
For reference (and to ensure clarity), your question was: “When will Shrinking Violet say something? (i.e. have a speech bubble in a comic)” - Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.
As a policy, the moderation and admin teams for the forums will not block or mute other members of the community. It makes it pretty hard to moderate if we can’t see your messages.
The questions were chosen by myself and @Jitsu. Neither of us has had any form of negative interaction with you, neither of us harbor particularly strong opinions about the Justice League or The Legion of Super-Heroes and both of us are professional individuals. Gatekeeping an individual when our entire goal is to encourage engagement seems counter-productive.
I apologize that we weren’t able to pitch your question in this session, hopefully this response is able to sufficiently explain why.
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