Connect – Page 3 – Paul Levitz

Hey Paul, I’m a huge fan of your work. I’m an aspiring writer and artist making a comic book. With the hopes of making a superhero universe. Do you have any tips for the journey? 2. June 2022

Try writing smaller stories first. Zelazny had an approach that when he was going to do a novel in a new universe, he’d often do a short story of a character in that universe first–even if it wasn’t a character he’d use in the novel. Building a whole universe is a GIANT task, and no writer has successfully built a whole new super hero universe solo, maybe Jim Shooter coming the closest at Valiant?

Hello Mr. Levitz, I have been rereading the Who’s Who series because of the Omnibus editions and I have a few questions: 1) Before you leaving the Legion, did you have any plan for the Legion of Subs II like a Special, a Limited Series or some arc/subplot in the main Legion series? I ask this because in Who’s Who in the Legion, there were entries from some Academy students as Westerner and Mandalla (although no entry for longer-standing student Urk!!!) and this has led me to think if they were included because you had plans to use them in some future story with the Subs II. 2) About the Legion Academy entry in Who’s Who in the DC Universe XIII and the Legion Academy splash page in Who’s Who in the Legion #6: IMO the penciller only looked for 1 reference, the original Who’s Who entry. So he draws exactly the same students, minus “deceased” Laurel Kent, and excludes newer students! Can you confirm that the floating device isn’t a student but a communication device used by Tellus and so it’s a mistake calling it a student? In Legion #304, we have Tellus’ 1st appearance (see Who’s Who in the Legion #6), although he isn’t seen directly in the story. So he should presumably be the mentioned student in the conversation between Lamprey and Nightwing (p.15) and presumably, he uses the floating device as a way to attend classes. So he’s talking to the rest of the class via the device in p.2. If the device was really a student, he could have appeared in later stories after Tellus left the Academy and he didn’t. Also he would have appeared in the Legion poster by Giffen and perhaps even had his own individual entry in Who’s Who in the Legion, although IMO some character were missing: Terrus from LSV, Urk from Legion Academy,… 2. June 2022

Lots of questions, not too many answers. No specific plans for other stories.

I think your logic on the floating device seems sound, though I have no memory of it.

No page for Urk…ah well…

I became a long-time Legion fan when I was ten due to your “Wedding of Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad” and the final Earthwar issue — thanks for all the Legion enjoyment over the years. You’ve worked in-depth writing Legion in multiple different time periods. Is there still a particular Legion story or storyline that you didn’t get to do that you would have liked to? 2. June 2022

Not really. At the time the last series was split off from LEGION LOST with little warning, I lost the chance to do some reveals of TYROC that I had in mind, but there wasn’t a specific story. I tended to make up my story ideas as the need arose, rather than banking them.

Hi Paul–I LOVED The Experiments. The first two DC Through the 80s volumes are perfect, but I’m left with one burning question: Who is Vince Squeglia? I was obsessed with that Blue Ribbon digest as a kid, and it was a thrill to see some of it beautifully reprinted. But that book’s the sole credit for Vince. Did he ever work under a different name? Thanks for all you do, Kevin Gibson 19. August 2021

I met Vince when he was working on Super Jrs, but never spoke with him about his other professional experiences. Don’t recall him doing anything else in comics. As far as I know it wasn’t a pseudonym, though.

I hope you are well and don’t mind me writing this to you, but I’m a huge fan of your work and would be grateful if you could answer a question I have. My question is regarding the grey templed Earth 2 Superman, who you wrote a lot of comics for. In the early 1980s there was a comic called DC Comics Presents Annual #3, which featured the Earth 2 Superman Kal L and the younger Earth 1 Superman Kal El. In this comic, Dr Sivanna notes that Kal L is weakening with age, and Kal L is shown as weaker than the younger Kal El. In post crisis DC continuity, there’s a comic called Kingdom Come (1996) which shows an ageing Superman with grey streaks in his hair. However, this comic explains that Superman is now far more powerful than he was before due to absorbing more sunlight. When this older Superman met the younger mainline Superman, he was depicted as more powerful than his younger counterpart due to having absorbed more sunlight. My question is essentially, what do you think of this concept of Superman being stronger as he ages into his 50s/60s? Was this acknowledged in pre crisis comics or was it only an idea that was introduced later? 19. August 2021

I didn’t work with the concept of Superman progressively growing stronger, but it’s an interesting pseudo-science approach that I can understand.

My question, to continue, is how did this come about, and what were the repercussions? Robert Kaniger would have been the write and editor, but I’ve never hear much about him being a social crusader. And distrbutors and retailers were generally not open minded. And Jackie WAS on the cover, from the back. A friend was going to approach Joe Kubert at a convention to ask his memories, but he missed on that convention, and passed away shortly after. Any information would be apprectiated. Earl G. 3. July 2021

Sorry to take so long to respond, but I’ve been off the website for a while with other duties. Given the time period, I have to assume it was Bob’s impetus to do that story, which I agree is very groundbreaking. I suspect–though I have done no research on this–that there might have been an article on some then-current event that triggered Bob to do the story.

Any memory of or insight into the ‘A DC Quality Magazine’ blurb that popped up next to all credit boxes across the line in January of 1975, only appearing that one month? It always struck me as odd. 3. July 2021

Just a momentary dumb idea. Not sure whose it was.

Hi Paul — I’m wondering if it ever occurred to anyone at DC to ask Gloria Steinem, or perhaps the Ms Magazine staff as a whole, to take over the writing on Wonder Woman after Steinem publicly decried the depowering of the character. I realise it would have been a very different approach to the way things were generally handled at DC, but the character appears to have been a perennial problem after the death of William Marston, and farming her out to an outside office would essentially have been a return to the way the book was originally produced — not to mention a great promotional coup. By the way, I recently encountered your own short 1979 crack at writing the book, and appreciated your impulse to return her to the UN. I suspect the book was not regarded as a plum assignment, but of all the writers available at the time your role in the creation of Power Girl and The Huntress, and progressive vision of Earth 2 in general, make me wish you had taken personal charge of her careeer away from Bob Kanigher for a decade or so. Thanks, Jonathan Allen 3. July 2021

Thanks for the kind words about my brief run, which I regard as one of the more disappointing efforts of my writing career.

As far as I know, the idea of asking Gloria to write WW never crossed anyone’s mind. She was already so accomplished and active, it would have pretty improbable, but I agree it would have been fascinating if she was willing.