Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! Levitz v. Wolfman

What if Paul Levitz and Marv Wolfman had switched the books for which they are acclaimed in the 80s? Would their styles of storytelling have worked for the other book? Would Wolfman's socially relevant tales have worked on the LSH? Would Levitz' cosmic scale have been a hit on NTT?

Just curious what people think...

Phantom Girl ditching Jo for a whiney, permed 40-year old dude? *shudder*!

Levitz probably would have at least used some of the more obscure Titans characters, and I imagine if Giffen had switched titles along with him, we would have gotten a Titans West Special instead of the Subs special!

Check the credits for Teen Titans 44.

You know, I think that Levitz and Wolfman were similar in that niether of them really appreciated the sillier aspects of the Titans or the Legion.

As much as I enjoyed the Levitz era, he did more or less ignore fun characters like M-E lad, Tyroc, infectious lass etc

And his "legion try-out" issues weren't as much fun as the Bierbaums.

Agreed somewhat on Levitz's sense of humor. Although he did give us such characters as Comet Queen and Visi-Lad.

Small trade-off in my opinion for the sheer quality of stories we got. And there were elements of silliness at times.

I think both were the right man for the right job at the right time.

Agreed, Kid Chaos, although I think Levitz was more willing to allow Giffen to bring out his fun side (DCCP # 59, the SUBS special).

As I understand it, Perez had to fight tooth & nail to get Duela an appearance in NTT # 50.

As for the 'what if Wolfman and Levitz had switched books" question....

I say the Legion would have been the big loser in that trade. I think Wolfman was a good writer, but there's no way he would understand the specialness of the legion's more light-hearted aspects. He would have gotten rid of legionnaires like Duo Damsel and Bouncing Boy for good and done away with the Lad/Lass codenames.

Levitz's sense of humor (or lack thereof at times) was not always my cup of tea, but he loved and understood the legion. I don't think the same could be said about Marv.

Levitz's strength on the Legion was mostly a matter of taking old concepts and stories and revitalizing them. I wonder how that would have played out in the Titans? Without the same kind of unbroken history and continuity to work with, I don't think Levitz would have been nearly as strong.

Levitz also loathed dealing with heavy-continuity characters. Like the TEEN TITANS.

His preference was for the pre-Crisis Justice Society (see the 70s ALL-STAR COMICS) and the far-flung future of LSH.

I agree.

Its an interesting "what-if" question, but I Don't think it would ever happen.

The Legion was too campy for Wolfman and the Titans had too much baggage for Levitz.
I think both titles would have suffered from such a trade. I can't imagine Levitz writing a story about the convoluted Donna Troy any more than I can Wolfman writing about the Subs.

With that said, Paul did manage well with complicated continuity when forced to. (a la Pocket-Universe Superboy)

Hmm.. With Levitz on board, I could see a TEEN TITANS that focused primarily on the less heavy-continuity characters...

Who decided who was on what books back then? Wasn't Julie Schwartz still in charge? If so, just even more proof that he was THE man. Rest in Peace.

Schwartz was in charge of the Superman titles. I doubt he had anything to do with the Titans and Legion assignments. Likely, the editors of the titles (Len Wien on TITANS, and Karen Berger, I think, on LEGION) would have chosen the creative teams).

This is a tough question. It's hard to imagine really.

My guess is that Levitz wouldn't create the New Teen Titans but use members of the past. I can see him doing some interesting things with Bumblebee and horn blower but don't see it reaching the high Wolfman's Titans did...though it would have been successful.

Pretty much the same with Wolfman on the Legion. I see him focusing on smaller parts and possibly very different things than what we are used to.

The cool thing would be if it was Levitz/Perez on Titans and Wolfman/Giffen on Legion...how much would the artists shape things?

Just caught this; Levitz co-wrote the first issue of the 1976 TT revival with Bob Rozakis. Hence the heavy focus on Mal Duncan?

Rozakis wrote the rest of the series alone, but maintained a heavy focus on Mal and Duela.

Wolfman could never have lasted as long as Levitz... he burns out too quickly.

Dang I knew Levitz would use Duncan and those old school Titans.

Paul Levitz DID write the New Teen Titans. He scripted 28-29 of the second volume to give Marv Wolfman a break, and he wrote 30-33 all by his lonesome. So for half a year, he was writing the Titans and the Legion at the same time.

Since the idea of "Levitz/Perez" was thrown out there, Perez did provide some covers to the Legion ("The Man Who Chained the Earth"/Reflecto Saga). Man, those were beautiful!

Wouldn't have wished Giffen on the Titans. Sorry folks, but I've never been a fan of Giffen's art.