Who’s Who: Star Trek & Legion Listener Feedback

Who's Who is back, and Shag and Rob have brought Siskoid with them to cover all the Listener Feedback for WHO'S WHO IN STAR TREK and WHO'S WHO IN THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES! Plus a few surprises!

Have a question or comment? Looking for more great content?

Our fantastic opening theme is by Daniel Adams and Ashton Burge with their band The Bad Mamma Jammas! http://www.facebook.com/BadMammaJammas.

This episode brought to you by InStockTrades. This week’s selections:

This podcast is a proud member of the FIRE AND WATER PODCAST NETWORK:

Thanks for listening! Who's Next?

30 responses to “Who’s Who: Star Trek & Legion Listener Feedback

    1. We figured it out during the break, but by then it was too late to mention it again. A nice little Duck Soup reference, but completely bizarre in the context of role-playing games.

  1. Part of me wanted to comment on Rob’s feelings on the one million issues and all that but I realized about halfway through typing it that, to quote Bill Murray in Meatballs, it just doesn’t matter. I liked it. He didn’t. Who cares? There are so many terrible things going on in the world right now that bitching about a comic book disagreement that would ultimately go nowhere seems like a giant waste of both Rob’s and my time. It might provide a few fun moments for the show but it’s just not worth it.

    So on to something that does matter; how I organize my binder Who’s Who entries.

    I won’t say it’s weird because I have a feeling mine won’t be the strangest you all discuss. It’s fairly straight forward. Mainly I organize it by character and how important the character was to get their own section was determined by how many entries were associated with them. Superman and Batman got their own sections because they had characters associated with them. Blue Beetle…not so much. Then it broke down like this;

    CHARACTER (example; Superman)
    SUPPORTING CHARACTERS ASSOCIATED WITH THAT CHARACTER (example; Bibbo, Jimmy, etc.)
    ASSOCIATED HEROES (Newsboy Legion, Linear Men, etc.)
    VILLAINS (Lex, Brainiac, Doomsday, etc.)
    SUPERNATURAL (Blaze)
    TECHNOLOGY (Fortress of Solitude)
    GEOGRAPHY (Krypton)

    The entries in those sections were in alphabetical order. For grins I put all of the Legion and New Gods entries as subsections of the Superman part.

    Once I got through the big heroes (yes Aquaman got his own section, no Firestorm did not) I went by teams. So Justice League, Infinity Inc., etc. Then I broke the remaining entries by category. Hero, Villain, Supporting and so on.

    A decade or so ago I re-bought the entire series super cheap on eBay so now I use the covers with the characters on them as section dividers. Around the same time I finally got the Brian Bolland three ring binder. On the inside of that binder I taped the Who’s Who listing. On the inside of the Perez binder (which I bought back when it came out so it’s seen better days) I taped the one pronunciation guide.

    My Impact Who’s Who are in the Impact Binder.

    After hearing about the guy that put his listings in binder inserts I am going to start doing that. You would think that someone that works at an office supply store would have thought of that before but apparently not. At least I get the discount.

    1. I must be a better actor than I think, because I really didn’t/don’t care about the 1,000,000 issues at all, I just thought they were silly and it would be fun to kick them around a bit.

      That said, anyone who DOES like them isn’t a true comics fan and should only be allowed to read the “Heroes Reborn” run from Marvel, and that’s IT.

  2. I needed a disclaimer that no panties were lost in the making of this episode.

    Seriously, that was a great Xum impersonation, Siskoid. I shutter to think what someone’s impersonation of me would sound like. I hear Cletus from the Simpsons saying “Post-Cri-sis” over and over.

    Fun show guys, and hats off to Frank for that exhaustive effort. I would have bought that series! Thanks for covering it fellas.

    On to the binders! Oh, and just in case you forgot, I grouped my Who’s Who binders similar to Michael above, but for characters who were in a group and didn’t have associated supporting cast or a lot of specific villains (like say Blue Beetle) they were put under the team they were most associated with (in Ted’s case, Justice League America). Heroes and villains who weren’t under either of those were just out there in alphabetical order under “Hero” and “Villain” and then there were the Supernatural entries who didn’t fit into anything else.

    I kept my Batman entries in a separate binder that had the 89 Batman logo on the front. My official binders were pretty packed, plus I thought that it was cool to keep all of that in a “Bat-Dossier” one might find in the Batcave, because Bruce is ALL ABOUT the branding, as we well know.

    Chris

    1. What next, a Monet? I would think old FASA classics are rare and coveted items.

      If just for the “world”, GURPS Prime Directive licenses FASA’s Trek and should be easier to find.

      1. It isn’t as rare as you might think. I found the box set at a convention a couple of years ago for $20.

        Still, I might wait until Rob’s done with the Motion Picture novelization. I don’t want to overwhelm him with awesome. 😉

  3. Okay a couple of quick comments

    1) Call me old fashioned, but I just put my looseleaf together alphabetically. Too many variables otherwise. Nightwing in ‘Batman’ section or ‘Titans’ section? ‘Deadshot’ in heroes? Or villains?

    Frig it … the alphabet is the alphabet.

    2) You know you have found your crew when while on a Who’s Who recap show, they are discussing a near unknown Martian Manhunter background character from a fan made compendium, and they drop a Bib Fortuna reference, knowing everyone will understand.

    That was an inception moment – geek within geek within geek.

    I am glad to be one of this crew!

  4. Hey fellas! Another great episode… and a very welcome one after a drought of Who’s Who content. Although, I was kinda hoping you were going to let us know how you’re going to go through the loose leafs on the show so I could prepare! When I was collecting at the time I filled up one complete binder, but then dropped off around issue #10. I went back and repurchased all of the issues as well as an extra binder, and was eagerly awaiting my Who’s Who Overlords to tell me how to best organize this stuff! Like Anj, I just did it in alpha-order as a kid but I’m guessing you guys will do it issue by issue. Arrghhhh…. If only Brenda Pope was around to make sense of all of this!!! Okay, all gripes aside, it was a great episode. The Who’s Who in Martian Manhunter entries were awesome! What a great labor of love. Looking forward to the loose leafs. Keep up the great work guys.

  5. Will there be a Who’s Who episode feedback episode to the feedback episode?

    Hearing my earlier reply, I Googled After Dark screensavers. I found the Horta screensaver! Here it is: https://youtu.be/buRo9bOsU-k
    According to the youTube account, there are 16 Star Trek screensavers. There also appear to be Star Trek: The Next Generation screensavers, but they don’t seem to be as fun as the first 16. (Insert snarky comment, if you wish.) One of my favorites was this one (https://youtu.be/YeDCfweGVgA), which was focused solely on Mr. Spock. See if, like me, you suddenly find out the video ends and you’d just spent more than 30 minutes watching a screensaver. Maybe that was one reason After Dark went out of business. Holy time-waster, Batman!

    (As an aside, searching for After Dark screensavers and their modules reminded me that there were huge libraries of screensavers available. There were ones centered around the Simpsons, the Flintstones, and Disney; instead of flying toasters, there were flying flocks of flying Dumbos! On a comic-related note, there were even Marvel and X-Men screensavers. I can’t seem to find any recordings of those. I’m pretty sure I had one of them, but by that time the memory requirements for running it was more than my Mac SE/30 could handle at the time. If anyone has any info on recordings of what was included, I’d appreciate it.)

  6. It’s good to have the team reassembled, gentlemen. While it seems super odd to leave feedback on an episode about the feedback that has been left on previous podcasts, I do have a couple of comments:

    1. I welcome my new feud with Siskoid. Bring it on, brother!

    2. I feel a bit targeted by the taking of a handful of comments I made about identity politics over a space of more than a year and bringing them together, excluding most of the other comments I left, as if I was hyper focused on those issues, but the comments were mine so it is certainly fair to bring them up. I will reiterate what I have already said: I am not particularly concerned with anyone’s sexual orientation (I am thankful to have a number of close connections with people across the spectrum), even fictional characters. What bothers me is changing a characters’ orientation for no purpose, especially when that orientation has already been set (Yes, Alex Danvers on Supergirl is a good example of that). I’m also never a fan of “the fans” deciding that a character must be gay because the character displays “feminine” personality traits (shy, artistic, etc.). Shouldn’t we be beyond the trope that, “all gay people are . . .”?

    Siskoid’s comments about Element Lad or Invisible Kid being bisexual or possessing a fluid sexuality is certainly valid, though. Element Lad, in particular, has an established history now as pansexual, so I’m certainly willing to accept that, although it still bothers me that the character’s sexuality becomes a focus, again, just because his personality traits didn’t match up with the typical “masculine” paradigm.

    3. Siskoid is not entirely wrong that I might be engaging in a bit of hyperbole about the ending of Adventure Comics #326, but I believe that I accurately portrayed the spirit of the story if not the facts of it. The Queen specifically mentions, “begging” their men “for forgiveness”, which is hardly indicative of a continuation of the status quo on Femnaz. Still, I will admit that I inferred some of my conclusions about the story rather than simply reporting what the text stated.

    4.I am in awe of Diablo Frank’s work putting together this labor of love. Any additional entries into the Who’s Who genre is welcome, particularly one done with such an attention to detail. Quick question, though: Did Dan Didio model for the Prophet entry?

    1. I singled out those comments because they were interesting, and essentially led the small “arc” to Martin Gray having the last word. I’m sorry if that made you sound obsessed with the issue. I will reiterate that Element Lad etc were adopted by the LGBTQ+ community (of a certain era), so the biases are 1) not coming from cis-straight readers, and 2) essentially outdated even within the LGBTQ+ community (which doesn’t have a single focused opinion on the matter, nor should it).

      Personally, the orientation retcons (or reveals) I care about are entirely based on relationships. I like the Ayla=Violet pairing, so I care about their orientation. Invisible Kid never had a relationship on the page and he’s dead, so it’s a bit of waste to make him gay because, well, who cares. It’s not like he’s offering gay representation. The Reboot was heading that way (with him and a Condo Arlik who wasn’t Chemical King), but the subplot never actually got there.

      1. I don’t think you owe me any apologies. As I said, the comments were mine and were certainly fair game. More than anything else, my reaction was based on me realizing, “Gosh, I did comment on that aspect of Legion lore a bunch!” You don’t realize how much you are harping on a single issue until it is all brought together in one podcast. I am likewise thankful that Mr. Gray got the final word.

        Thanks for the hard work.

  7. I bought Pérez binder when the series started, then a second one when the series overwhelmed the binder. Then I bought the Bolland binder when it finally came out, giving me a spare Pérez binder which I now use for DC trading cards in 9 loader sleeves.

    I sorted my Who’s Who in good old plain alphabetical order with Green Arrow being the last entry in binder 1.

    Oh, the exception was all Doom Patrol entries that I kept out for an eventual discussion on Waiting For Doom, the exceptional Doom Patrol podcast.

    Once I knew this show was imminent I could not imagine an approach that wasn’t issue by issue, so I resorted all the entries back into original issues, which took forever especially because Sudden Death was omitted from the cover list.

    I’m so glad I didn’t die before you got to do this (tempting fate with that statement).

  8. Thanks for the shout out for our Storium “Mystery in Space” story. It is indeed still running strongly, with myself and four other writers playing: Captain Comet, Ultra the Multi Alien, Space Cabbie, Star Hawkins, Jemm – Son of Saturn and Sir Lyle of the Knights of the Galaxy.
    (As you can see, we went for the real A-List names of the DCU for this one!)

    At the time of posting, the story has hit 28,347 words. Our characters have run into: Evil Star, Tommy Tomorrow, Chief Justice Max on Hardcore Station, A Weaponer of Qward, some Dominators, a couple of obscure Green Lanterns and – by the time you get to read this out – we should have encountered Kanjar Ro on the wreck of the old, ruined JLA satellite.

    It’s been a lot of fun to write, and if anyone’s interested to read the story so far, you can follow the link here: https://storium.com/game/mystery-in-space/chapter-1/scene-1

    Good luck for the Loose-leaf issues: can’t wait to get a little more Who’s Who in my podcast feed! (I actually have some of these editions, so – for the first time – I’ll be able to follow along!)

    P.S. MASSIVE HATS OFF to Frank for the amazing Martian Manhunter Who’s Who extravaganza! Truly a work of genius!

    Reply

  9. Wow. Got two of my comments read on the episode. Gave me a smile, especially since Shag read it with the exact inflections I imagined he would. And that smile means a hell of a lot to me.

    A note about listening to all the episodes in a little over a month. No, I’m not insane, but I do suffer from severe depression and have been having quite a rough go of it lately. Listening to this show is a bright spot for me: truly “finding my joy.” Thank you for helping me through a very tough time. I’m not out of the woods by a long shot, but I promise I am continuing to fight it every day.

    1. Jeff–

      Thank you for your comment and for listening to the show.

      While I’ve never been officially diagnosed or anything, I think I suffer from some “low-level” form of depression so the idea that any of ours shows could help you AT ALL with what you’re dealing with means a lot. Stay strong and please keep listening (and commenting).

      All the best.

  10. I ain’t mad at’cha, Shag! Wasn’t sure if there was any interest in a Martian Manhunter Who’s Who episode, especially among folks who’ve had to wait over a year for the meat & potatoes DC Universe show they’ve been hankering for. Figured it would just be one more curve ball to tick them off, and possibly a drag for yourself and cohorts (I did think I smelled a hint of booze in the air.) My only real concern was whether or not the artists I hoped to get showcased in this project would get their due, and you certainly did that! Thank you very much for remaining steadfast in this endeavor and doing such a great job for what was surely a tiny audience of J’Onn J’Onzz J’Unkies surrounded by tolerant onlookers! Also, it’s a reminder that Photobucket tried to extort $500 a year to maintain image hosting, and my refusing hobbled about seven years worth of daily posts that still need to be addressed. That will certainly sour a mood…

    1. Not a sarcastic question – are there many MM fans that weren’t brought in by his JLI stint? He never left much of an impression on me before or after that.

      He’s no Bloodwynd.

  11. Terrific feedback episode. I am a rubbish geek in not knowing much about Star Wars, and not being fascinated by how other people organise comics and the like – Em and Prof Middleton tapped into a huge vein of interest in this area over the past year!

    I do enjoy all the Legion talk, though. Can you believe a new series still hasn’t been announced?

    Shagg entirely missed my point on Luornu’s purple and orange costume, so I shall beat it into the ground… if your power is splitting into two identical people, and this is deemed useful on a mission, splitting into two identical people wearing identically designed, but differently coloured, outfits is dumb, because it begs the question of whether there is one woman, or two – remember, in comics people wear the same thing every day!

    While Cockrum reworked Timber Wolf into that look people associate with Wolverine, that was BEFORE he began drawing Marvel’s stunted star, so I reject accusations of Timber Wolf being a Logan-come-lately!

    How I wish Eyeful Ethel were French… making her such would be a towering acheivement.

    Speaking of which, well done Frank on the remarkable Martian Manhunter W’ho’s W’ho! It’s the spin-off we never knew we wanted, but boy, do I want it!

  12. Hey guys,

    More Who’s Whos – thanks. Pity I get too busy to listen on a timely basis, but I get to them eventually. I liked the Trek ones – while I like the stuff, my Trek Fu is weak. Thanks for the schooling.

    But I do know a bit about the Legion. Part of Blok’s schtick is energy absorption. This includes the energy generated by the flight right, the energy required by Ayla’s power, and the ability to ignore most energy based damage. And he ignores most physical damage because he made of rock.

    Regarding replacing Color Kid – Please don’t take me “seeing the logic of it” as DEFENDING the decision. Understanding it doesn’t mean happy about it.

Leave a Reply to Anj Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *