Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, DC Comics | Tagged: gail simone, legion

What Really Happened With Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning On Legion?

What really happened with Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning on The Legion? Gail Simone remembers... and posts...

Published Sat, 15 Mar 2025 08:57:07 -0500

Article Summary

Gail Simone recalls how her brief LoSH run replaced Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning unexpectedly.
Simone was told DnA needed a break, but her story ended up concluding their series.
Editor Stephen Wacker's decisions led to mixed feelings and industry shifts.
Wacker later transitioned to Marvel Animation, showcasing career evolution.

When a reader posted art from Gail Simone and Dan Jurgens's brief run on Legion Of Super Heroes back in 2004, she quote posted on X saying "When they ask if you want to write LoSH oh and by the way, @thedanjurgens is the artist…"

Ben Fritz, the AI Editor at the Washington Post asked "Did you know going in it would be only 4 issues and then the Legion reboot continuity would end? Your story was good but it was weird in hindsight to let go of DnA, have a new team do a 4-issue story, and then reboot again."

That would be Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning and the book was The Legion published between 2001 and 2004 featuring the Legion of Super-Heroes that followed two miniseries from 2000AD creators Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, Legion Lost and Legion Worlds. The Legion resumed ongoing publication with artist Olivier Coipel. It was cancelled in 2004.

Gail talked about the circumstances. "No, and I'm still irked about it. I was told DnA needed a short break so I agreed to do four issues, just a fun LoSH story. What actually happened was they ended DnA's run and ran my story as the final story in that run. It was not fair to DnA who had been doing a great job. That editor is long since gone but that was a really mean thing to do to the regular creative team. And it was the first time I'd ever been manipulated like that. Otherwise, I loved writing the story and the artists were incredible."

: Legion #34 (2004)

: Legion #35 (2004)

That editor was Stephen Wacker… former DC editor, co-creator of Kamala Khan Ms Marvel, Senior Spider-Man editor including One More Day and Brand New Day. In 2013 Bleeding Cool broke the story that Steve Wacker had switched coasts to become Marvel VP-Animation… He then left to be EIC at 3 Worlds/3 Moons until 2023, and is now currently working in development at Stone Kite Studios where he is SVP, alongside other familiar names, Margaret Stohl, Jeanine Schaefer, and Lewis Peterson. It's amazing where people end up, is it not?

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!