Alien Legion was an early Epic Comics title about the members of a military unit called Force Nomad, comprised of the "dregs of the universe" and similar to the French Foreign Legion. The cast includes leader Sarigar, whose lower half is serpentine, fully humanoid Torie Montroc, and probably the most popular character, Jugger Grimrod, a Thraxian. Epic Comics was a creator-owned imprint of Marvel Comics started in 1982, lasting through the mid-1990s, and being briefly revived on a small scale in the mid-2000s. ... Legionnaire (film) The French Foreign Legion (French: Légion étrangère) is a unique elite unit within the French Army established in 1831. ...

Primary creator Carl Potts and co-creators Alan Zelenetz and Frank Cirocco developed the concept, and in 1983 Epic launched the first of several Alien Legion miniseries and one-shots. Collaborators have included writers Chuck Dixon and Larry Stroman and artists Terry Austin, Whilce Portacio, and Scott Hanna, among others. Carl Potts (born Oakland, California) is an American comic-book writer and editor best known for creating the series Alien Legion for the Marvel Comics imprint Epic Comics. ... Alan Zelenetz is an American film producer and comic-book writer best known for co-creating the series Alien Legion for the Marvel Comics imprint Epic Comics and a founder of Ovie Entertainment. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Chuck Dixon is an American comic book writer, perhaps best-known for long runs on Batman titles in the 1990s. ... Larry Stroman is a comic book artist best known for his pencils for Epic Comics series and regular and guest drawing duties for Marvel Comics series including The Uncanny X-Men and X-Factor with writer Peter David. ... Terry Austin is an American comic book artist, working primarily as an inker. ... Whilce Portacio Whilce Portacio is an American comic book artist originally from the Philippines. ...

In 2003, Potts was working with Mainframe Entertainment on a possible computer-animated Alien Legion television series. Mainframe Entertainment is a Canadian computer animation and design company based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and Los Angeles, California, USA. It produces childrens computer animation TV series. ... Computer animation is the art of creating moving images via the use of computers. ... A television program is the content of television broadcasting. ...

Early issues used the fuller title The Alien Legion in its logo.

Bibliography (Epic Comics)

• The Alien Legion Vol. 1 (20 issues)
• The Alien Legion Vol. 2 (18 issues)
• The Alien Legion: A Grey Day To Die (graphic novel)
• Alien Legion: On The Edge (3 issues, bookshelf format)
• Alien Legion: Tenants Of Hell (2 issues, bookshelf format)
• Alien Legion: One Planet At A Time (3 issues, bookshelf format)
• Alien Legion: Grimrod (one-shot, bookshelf format)
• Law Dog - Grimrod: Terror at the Crossroads (one-shot, bookshelf format)
• Alien Legion "Binary Deep (one-shot, bookshelf format)
• The Alien Legion: Slaughterworld (trade paperback collection)
• Epic: An Anthology #3
• Heavy Hitters Annual

All of Volume 2 and the first 6 issues of Volume 1 have been published in trade paperback form. Checker Publishing (www.checkerbpg.com)released the books "Force Nomad" and "Piecemaker" that collect Volume 2, and "Footsloggers", which collects the first 6 issues of Volume 1. Titan Books published trades of the "On the Edge" and "Tenants of Hell" storylines. Trade paperback of Will Eisners A Contract with God (1978), often mistakenly cited as the first graphic novel. ... A trade paperback can refer to any book that is bound with a heavy paper cover that is generally cheaper than the hardcover but more expensive than the regular paperback version. ...

The websites of these publishers can corroborate this.

Awards

The graphic album, Alien Legion: A Grey Day to Die, received the Squiddy Award for Favorite Graphic Album in 1988.

Quotes

Carl Potts: [1] "The original concept was the 'Foreign Legion in space' and all the legionnaires were human. ... Then I created the humanoid/serpentine design that later became Sarigar and decided that the Legion should include a wide variety of species. This was in the early '70s. By the time I got around to developing the idea further in the early '80s, Star Wars obviously became an influence. The Alien Legion universe is a giant extrapolation of the American democratic melting-pot society where different races and cultures work together for the common good while dealing with the pluses and problems that the nation's diversity creates." Opening logo to the Star Wars films Star Wars is a science fantasy saga and fictional galaxy created by writer/producer/director George Lucas during the 1970s. ...

References

• Lambiek Comiclopedia: Carl Potts
• PopImage, May 2000: Carol Potts interview
• Alien Legion official site
• Comics2Film: Alien Legion
• Comic Book Awards Almanac