Last week I gave my first recap of 2024's Terrificon including my June Brigman commission.
Brigman was my primary target for a commission from the show. But my second was Greg Larocque.
Most people who frequent this site know that the Legion is my second favorite DC IP. In fact, I reviewed multiple runs of the Legion over on the Legion of Super-Bloggers. In fact, I think my reviews of the first 60 issues of the 5YL Legion is my high water mark as a blogger.
Larocque was the artist on a large part of the Baxter run of LSH, so I have always been a big fan.
But I had a particular interest in getting a sketch from him. He was the last artist to draw the pre-Crisis Supergirl in continuity.
You see, the DCU was re-written in Crisis On Infinite Earths #12, a book which hit the stands on 12/19/1985. After that, Supergirl was a word that couldn't even be uttered in DC Comics.
But then in Legion of Super-Heroes #31 , drawn by Larocque, we saw a statue of Supergirl in Legion's hall of heroes.
Seven months later, in the classic Legion of Super-Heroes #38 we once again saw the Supergirl statue. Once again it was Larocque on art. Legion #38 was released on 6/9/1987, a full 18 months after the Crisis ended! A year and a half after Supergirl was 'erased' from continuity.
With all that history, I thought Larocque doing a commission sketch of the Supergirl statue for my book was a pretty cool idea. And I think he nailed it. For a Supergirl fan and a Legion fan, this was a winner.
Larocque and his handler were great too, answering my questions and giving me some time to bend their ears.
Perhaps the biggest gossip that Larocque spilled was that John Byrne was not happy that the Supergirl statue was in the book but Paul Levitz pulled rank.
I hope that story is true. If I ever meet Paul Levitz, I will definitely ask.
I had met Larocque many years ago in Baltimore and had him sign several of his issues of the Baxter Legion series. This time, I grabbed LaRocque's signature on Legion #25 (the Sensor Girl reveal) and Legion #27 (signed by Colleen Doran, Shawn McManus, and Mike DeCarlo). LaRocque was charging $5 a signature but later in the con it looked like he might have upped it to $10.
I also grabbed Erik Larsen's signature on Legion #55. Larsen drew the Blok story in that issue. Surprisingly, Larsen didn't charge at all.
And just a couple more Supergirl-centric signatures I got.
Clay Mann signed my copies Action Comics #983 and #984, both which have Kara prominently on the cover. Mann charged $5 a signature.
Des Taylor signed my 'bombshell variant' of Superman #43. I thought this was a fun cover so was glad to have met him. Taylor did not charge me.
So another great commission for my collection. And another great Terrificon.
One more recap to go!
3 comments:
I was more impressed by Paul Levitz' writing than Greg Laroque's art on Laroque's Legion run. I thought he was competent. but didn't realize his true greatness until his Flash run when he finally got out from under Mike DeCarlo's heavy handed inks. Love the new Supergirl illustration.
Wonderful report, and how lovely to see both the Supergirl sketch and a picture of Greg… I remember him as a new artist drawing Power Man/Iron Fist! Why did he have a handler?
Thank you so much for Legion #36 with the superb Polar Boy cover signed by Greg, and Action #965 with the beautiful Clay Mann Lois image.
Many creators have someone at their table to handle requests, the cash, and the lines. Sometimes there's one person covering a couple of tables.
Always happy to send books to pals!
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