User:Craigopher

Hi folks! My name is Craig "Gopher" Richardson and I've been a Legion fan since the mid-1970's.

My first exposure to the Legion...

I was in elementary school at the time and did not buy any comics myself. I only occasionally read comics that other people lent me, and one such comic was the treasury-sized All-New Collector's Edition C-55. It contains the two part Mordru story from the Adventure Comics 269 and Adventure Comics 270, which I still believe to be one of the best stories in the Legion canon (written by Jim Shooter, then 13 years old). The story itself features only a few Legionnaires, but the two page center spread reprints a panel from Superboy 200 depicting Bouncing Boy & Duo Damsel's wedding and features all the members, reservists, honorary members, the Legion of Substitute Heroes, the Heroes of Lallor, the Wanderers, and a few extra guests to boot. I spent hours pouring over that picture, and while a numbered key in the back cover told me their names, I was left to imagine what adventures they might have.

...and how I began collecting them

I had one comic to my name, a treasury sized version of the first three issues of Star Wars. I was so intrigued by the Legion story that I convinced the friend who had lent it to me to make a trade. But it never occured to me that there were other comics out there about the group. Fast forward to 1981, when I found an issue of The Flash under a heater at my school and wanted to know what happened in the next issue. At the point, I was able to get to a store on my own and look for the next issue. Lo, and behold, a couple of positions down on the spinner rack was Legion of Super Heroes (v2) #278. For the first time, I was able read a story that actually featured almost every character that I had wondered about so many years ago.

Needless to say, I was hooked. Since then, I've picked up every issue since, and have tracked down all of the preceding issues (couldn't afford Adventure Comics 247, but I got everything else). That was before eBay existed, so finding all those issues was no easy task. For a while during college and later during a period when I was flat broke, I went through periods during which I stopped buying comics. But I've always returned, and I always caught my Legion collection back up. Today I buy almost no comics, but I faithfully pick up any Legion related issues I find each week.

Websites and stuff

In addition to comics, I'm also an avid animation enthusiast. Check out my animation-related website at ToonHub.com. At one point I toyed with building a Legion website at LegionOutpost.com. My vision was to build some parts myself, and to allow some other legion enthusiasts who did not have their own domain name to post their work on my site - basically, free hosting for anyone who wanted to post Legion material. However, my schedule has not allowed me to put the time into it, and it has gone nowhere. I think this Legion Wiki will realize in a far greater way what I would have liked to have seen develop on my own site.

Also, given my love for animation, I'm very excited to see the new Legion Cartoon. I have yet to see the Superman and Justice League episodes featuring the Legion, but at soon as they are out on DVD, I will pick them up.

My initial focus for the Legion Wiki will be scanning and posting covers for all of those issues I have, particularly from the early Adventure and Superboy days of the Legion. Those eras seem to be less represented by the current contributors, so that's where I'll concentrate.

Anyway, I'm excited to contribute. If you need info from any issue, drop me a line any time at Craigopher. I'll be happy to look something up or make a scan, although it may take me a few days to get a particular issue out of storage and get the data to you. Feel free to write just to say "hi" too!

Long Live the Legion Gopher 13:28, 7 July 2006 (PDT)