I did a weekly satirical comic strip in The Syracuse (NY) New Times for 12 years, starting in 1978. I never came close to making a living at it, but it was fun, and I enjoyed the small-city notoriety. Turned out one of my readers was the awesomely famous comic book writer Roger Stern, and when we finally met at a Syracuse comic book convention, we hit it off really well.

Despite the fact that I was doing a newspaper strip, in my heart I was mostly plugged into comic books. Another Syracuse cartoonist, Joe Orsak, started Captain 'Cuse, a Syracuse-based super-hero continuity strip in the New Times. He was more interested in drawing than writing, so after awhile I started writing it for him. If that had been the end of it, it would have been all right, because it let me live out my Stan Lee fantasies.

After a couple of years of doing this off and on, I got a call from Roger. He was overbooked, and one of his projects was a two-page, Sunday newspaper-style Superman strip for Action Comics Weekly. Roger was a hard-core Captain 'Cuse booster, so he knew I had experience writing super-hero material in that format, and he asked me to give him a hand.

I had no idea this local strip would be a springboard into comics, so it just goes to show you. . .take every job you can, because you have no idea where it might lead. After I helped Roger out for a few months, he introduced me to Mike Carlin and the two arranged for me to write the last few issues of Roger's Power of the Atom.

I guess Mike had a good impression of me from that, so when his fellow DC editor Karen Berger needed to fill an assistant editor slot, he suggested she call me. I got the job, moved to NYC and worked on staff for three years.

Had working in comics always been what you wanted to do for a career, or was it something that just fell in your lap?

I always loved comics, and I was always jealous of the people who got their names into credit boxes, but I wasn't very ambitious. Finally, at a relatively advanced age -- I was already in my 30s -- I buckled down and took advantage of the opportunities that came my way, and the walls came down like tissue paper. I couldn't believe it.

You edited a lot of different titles for DC and Vertigo. How were you able to make the transition from editor to writer (in terms of convincing someone that you could write a comic book)?

I had already written some comics when I joined staff, so I guess they already thought of me that way. And I continued to do a little on the side while I was editing. But I had never written a monthly title for more than three or four issues, so I still had that to prove. When Dan Raspler gave me L.E.G.I.O.N., that helped me decide to go freelance.

Another big push came from Mark Waid, who always thought I could do well as a freelancer, and used to kind of nag me into taking the plunge. He helped me find a lot of work, and he still recommends me for projects.

Anyway, being an editor was the best training I could hope for as a writer. I learned an incredible amount from Karen, who's brilliant at what she does. The experiences I had working with artists and writers inform my work every day. I got to work with the best and worst talents and take from them what to do and what not to. I got to participate in the whole process of making comics, so when I'm planning a story I know first-hand what's possible on a technical level, what's reasonable, and what's not.

How did you get the jobs on Legion of Super-Heroes and Legionnaires?

Mark was writing them, and he was overbooked and needed to cut back. He recommended me to KC Carlson, and I guess KC had read some L.E.G.I.O.N.s and thought I could give him what he was looking for. Soon after I started, KC, Mark, Tom McCraw and I met for a plotting session at McCraw's house, and we all clicked very well. The reboot had just started -- I came in the month after the Zero Issues -- so it was very stimulating to start with such a blank continuity slate. Ideas were flying like frisbees.

Was the Legion of Super-Heroes something that you had always wanted to work with? Are you a longtime Legion fan?

I read Legion when I was a kid; they were in Adventure Comics then. I liked them, but they weren't my favorites: I was in fact pretty mad at them for replacing Tales of the Bizarro World in Adventure (I forgive them now). But going back and rereading Legion Archives, I found a lot of stuff I liked and had forgotten. Years later, I got into a run of issues Paul Levitz and Jim Sherman did, but I was never a hardcore Legion fan.

I think the fact that I didn't read every single issue for 35 years has worked to my advantage, given our mission to restart the team as teenagers. The Adventure run -- the era we're dealing with -- looms larger in my head than it would otherwise.

Are there any other characters/titles that you have always wanted to work on?

I'm writing the re-launch of Marvel Team-Up, which means I'm finally getting the chance to work on Spider-Man every month; that's a big deal for me. I've never done a Batman story; I'd like to some day. I'd kill to write the ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing. Superman was a thrill; I'm always up for one of those. Swamp Thing would be nice.

What was the first Legion story you read?

I think it was "The Three Super-Heroes," the Supergirl story where they tried to initiate her but Red Kryptonite made her into an adult and put her over their age limit. I don't know; it was a long time ago. But I've recently become quite a fan of those Action Supergirl backups that Jim Mooney drew. There was a real sense that this poor little orphaned alien girl was in over her head... and, while I'm digressing, I'm very unhappy with Superman for sticking her in that dreary orphanage instead of a French boarding school or someplace she'd enjoy.

So do you have an all-time favorite Legion story?

"Computo the Conqueror," hands down. The Legion's problem -- Brainy built an out-of-control computer and it wants to kill everybody -- escalates beyond reason, and the Legion's responses are all over the map, from unleashing the secret Weirdo Legionnaire to pilfering an A-bomb from the ruins of the Batcave. I could read that story every day.

I also loved the Legion's brief appearance in Alan Moore & Curt Swan's "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" I won't spoil it for you; go read it now.

Do you have a favorite character?

Too many. I honestly find something to like in each one of them, and my list of favorites changes like the weather. When I was a kid, it was Cham, and I still like him. Brainy, of course... it's fun to frustrate him, because it's so easy. Gates, because his politics are right-on, if a bit naive. Triad, because she's so sane her homeworld put her into a mental hospital. Ferro's fun to work with; as Green Lantern quipped, he's "Elephant Man to the rescue." Garth and Ayla are great. He's this lovable loser, but he inflates a lot of his problems in his head, and Ayla's smart and hip to his routine, like Lisa Simpson is with Bart.

Are there characters you feel more comfortable writing than others?

I think I have Brainy and Ferro figured out on a pretty instinctual level; most of the others, I have to stop and think about what they'd say or do, but with those two it just flows out.

Are there any characters that you want to "add to the mix" soon?

There's a 20th century character we're talking about bringing into the 30th century -- which is complicated by the fact that he has his own monthly series set in the present -- but I'm afraid it's too early to identify him.

What do you and Tom McCraw do when you are plotting a new issue?

We talk on the phone, he writes down what we talked about, he adds a lot of ideas at that stage, and I'm free to pick and choose when I write the final script. He's wonderfully open to the possibility that he might be surprised by the script, and his love and knowledge of the Legion is second to no one's.

People staying on the same books for a long time has become something of a rarity these days. Yet, almost the entire creative staff of the Legion books has been there since the "reboot" that happened with Zero Hour. Why is this?

A big part of it is editorial; KC maintains a close working relationship with all of us, and that really helps hold the group together. I also really enjoy seeing the job Lee Moder and Ron Boyd do every month; I'd be pretty foolish to walk away from that. As far as the actual writing goes, when you're working with so many characters, it probably takes years before you feel like you've done them all justice and can walk away with a clear conscience. And all of those characters and planets are so diverse, and there are just so many, it's hard to get sick of them.

You have been on Legion of Super-Heroes since 1994. How long do you plan to work on the Legion?

The contract I'm about to sign takes me up to LSH #110. I haven't thought about what to do either way, beyond that. But I haven't wanted to stop yet.

What are some of the plotlines planned for the near future (or the far future, depending on how you look at it)?

We have a peek into Shvaughn Erin's secret diary; two members of the 20th century team will marry; Team 20 will encounter some New Gods characters, and that includes a meeting between Brainiac 5 and Metron; we'll finally meet the Golden-Age Legion of Super-Heroes (that's right; Golden Age, not Silver Age); we'll eventually find out how the team got trapped in the 1950s and met Curt Swan back in LSH #92; and Apparition will meet Phase from L.E.G.I.O.N., and we'll find out their surprising connection, which I guarantee no one has guessed.

In the original L.E.G.I.O.N. series, an amnesiac Phase popped into the book out of nowhere, and we were meant to assume that she was Tinya Wazzo.

When the Legion was rebooted and that version of Tinya ceased to exist, we said that Phase was really cousin Enya Wazzo, just so we could keep using her. That was pretty lame, so we're taking it back and giving you The Real, Much More Significant Untold Story of Phase in LSH 98-99.

Most Legion readers are wondering when the Legion will be reunited. How much longer is part of the Legion going to be stranded in the 20th century?

No comment. I don't know about you, but it kind of ruins things for me when I know how many issues are left before The Big Change. If I had my way, you wouldn't know they were going back until you turned the page.

Well, can you tell us who else they will team up with?

Let's see... J'Onn J'Onzz, Superboy, Metal Men, Phase, some Justice Leaguers if we can get them. . .I know I'm leaving someone out.

Will there be any Legion annuals this year?

No, but there will be a lot of extra Legion material to compensate. Brainy guest-stars in the Supergirl Annual, which I wrote. LSH #100 will be 100 pages long. We're also launching some mini-series, starting with Inferno by Stuart Immonen, and I'll be scripting a Legion mini plotted by my friend Barry Kitson.

What is planned for the blockbuster Legion of Super Heroes #100?

It's shaping up to be a 30-page lead story by McCraw, Lee Moder, Ron Boyd and I, and a bunch of short backups by various writers, artists and writer-artists. Some of their names will delight you, but I don't think I'm supposed to give them out yet.

To a comic book fan who has never read a Legion book, why should they pick up an issue of Legionnaires?

First and foremost, the characters are good kids; honest, likable super-heroes, which I'm told are coming back into vogue any day now. We want you to like them, and we try to help you tell them apart. Our aim is to give you clearly understandable, highly suspenseful stories where anything can happen. The Legion universe is big enough that we can believably hit you with outlandish ideas, yet leave enough unsaid that you can fill details in on your own. Legion fans have had fun exercising their imaginations for decades.

Alternately, for all of those diehard, dispossessed Legion fans who could not stay with the books when the revamp started, why should these people come back to the Legion and give it another shot?

I think they'd find that it's much closer to the Spirit of the Legion than they'd feared. If they didn't agree, then I'd thank them for reading Legion all those years and remind them they're welcome back anytime.

And to all of those Legion fans who are current readers, what do they have to look forward to leading up to the big issue #100 of Legion of Super Heroes?

The usual story twists and character interaction, and probably more forward motion in the story than they've been able to detect recently. A lot of story points that may have looked like they were going nowhere will, in fact, go somewhere.

Let's talk about some of your past work. You wrote L.E.G.I.O.N. and R.E.B.E.L.S. for a long time. But since the cancellation of R.E.B.E.L.S., these characters have been stuck in limbo. Are there any plans for them in the near future? Can we look forward to a L.E.G.I.O.N. team-up with the 20th-century-stranded Legionnaires?

Barry Kitson and I were talking just the other day about revisiting the L.E.G.I.O.N. characters and giving them an ending. That's as far as it got, but I think we'll try to do that in a year or so, DC willing.

Because of the cancellation of R.E.B.E.L.S., you had to tie up the storyline much faster than you expected to (at least, reading it seemed that way). Was there anything that you changed to give the series a happy ending? What would have happened (in terms of the plotline) if the series had not been canceled?

In my mind, it was always headed for a happy ending. It was probably better to get there sooner rather than later. If the book had been around longer, Vril Dox would have settled on a remote planet and built a rebel force comparable to L.E.G.I.O.N.'s, which would have been fun, but the end result would have been the same.