Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Volume 18

I was going to post a compliment, but first I must kneel...kneel before Darkseid. Great stuff Future.

We must all kneel before Future.

Certainly the most dramatic Archive cover to date. The back cover promises all sorts of re-read goodness!

DCCP #43 In Final Battle by Paul Levitz, art by Curt Swan & Dave Hunt, colours Gene D'Angelo, letters J. Costanza



Clark Kent sees a problem and, leaving his baffled co-workers with a story about an endangered parakeet, races off as Superman to confirm that a Sun-Eater is headed for Earth. He is felled by a blast from the Sun-Eater and falls onto the Moon, face to face with Mongul, who shrinks him and encases him in a clear cube. Mongul is in control of the Sun-Eater. Lois and Jimmy observe this through a telescope. Jimmy pulls out a Legion flight ring and takes a chance that they might respond to a signal.

Six Legionnaires are available to answer his call and, after a debate about the dangers of time travel, they head to the past. Meanwhile, Mongul is defeating Justice League heroes and Supergirl.

When the Legion arrives, Superman explains that he is getting weaker as he remains in the cube; Sun Boy's blast bursts the cube, within the protection of Tasmia's shadow and Brainy's forcefield. They attack Mogul and, in so doing, destroy the devices he uses to control the Sun-Eater, which heads to Earth's sun. As Superman confronts Mongul, the Legionnaires fly after the Sun-Eater. They use their combined powers to get close to the Sun-Eater's core, then Wildfire unleashes his full anti-matter energy (after hurling his fellow Legionnaires out of danger, despite their protest).

Superman defeats Mongul, the Legionnaires create a cell to hold him and explain that Wildfire has blown the Sun-Eater to molecules. Superman confirms this, but notes, with sadness, that there is no trace of Wildfire either. The Legionnaires remind him that Wildfire just needs a new containment suit and joke that they can talk about him without him answering back in the meantime.

Jimmy claims that he saved the day by calling the Legion and asks a returning Clark if he saved the parakeet. Clark responds that he did and that those who can't save the world do what they can.

Comments:
A fairly simple, classic Superman story with the usual Lois-Jimmy-Clark set-up and epilogue. Levitz does a good job explaining who both Mongul and the Legion are, for readers unfamiliar with the characters.

I never really liked those stories which bring a 30th century villain into the 20th century, since I felt it diluted the future. So there's a Sun-Eater in the 1980s, then not another one for a thousand years? However, it serves the purpose of giving the Legion a chance to use their particular expertise and knowledge to deal with the danger.

There's plenty of good teamwork and noble intentions here and Wildfire plays the true hero. Sure, he can't be destroyed, but how certain was he that he'd be able to reassemble his energy waves (or whatever) to return home with the Legion? Could uncontained anti-matter energy affect the operation of the time bubble? His explosion of the Sun-Eater might have been portrayed as a more risky venture, with bigger stakes for Wildfire in particular.

Shadow Lass seems particularly attentive to Superman's well-being. It's that old attraction to powerful men thing, I guess - and maybe she's been bored with Mon-el lately.

Clark makes an excuse that he's worried about leaving the gas on and killing his friend's parakeet. The parakeets of the world no doubt approve of being placed on equal footing with the destruction of the Earth; it's actually a good message, all creatures great and small , God (and Superman) know when a sparrow falls. While it's the much-used bumbling Clark Kent trope, Clark's comment about doing what one can is a good line on which to end the story.

Can't really think of much to add to what Cramey said about the story -- it's a solid effort from Levitz.

I do have to say that the art, both front cover and interior, is a sweet treat. Brian Bolland did the cover -- what can be said about his awesomeness that hasn't already been said? And Curt Swan seems to be going that extra mile with his pencils -- it definitely does not feel phoned-in, which, by this point, having been drawing the Super-Books for more than 25 years in a row, he sometimes did. But the real nice surprise is Dave Hunt's inking! He tended to be either nondescript or sloppy, but this job is beautiful, reminds me in spots of Marvel's John Romita Senior! Or, more apropos, of Swan's default inker during the Adventure Legion era, George Klein! Definitely one of the DCP issues most worth seeking out!

World's Finest #284 by Cary Burkett, art by George Tuska, colours Gene D'Angelo, letters Adam Kubert



Superman travels to the 30th century to enlist the help of the teenage Legion to fight the Composite Superman, claiming that they are indirectly responsible. Statuettes of the Legionnaires were given to Superboy as a memento; later, he placed these in the Superman Museum. A lightning bolt struck the statuettes and bathed a caretaker in radiation, giving him Legionnaires' powers along with a hatred of super-heroes. He used Chameleon Boy's powers to become a combination of Superman and Batman, was thought to have been killed but had just resurfaced.

The Legion and Superman return to the 20th century to confront the Composite, Wildfire blasts him but he survives, explaining that he not only has all the Legion's powers but that the powers are cumulative – and he is now calling himself Amalgamax.

A battle ensues, as Batman considers that a better strategy is needed. He hurls a batarang carrying Shrinking Violet at Amalgamax; she activates his belt-buckle alarm to alert him that his powers are about to fade. He disappears, giving the heroes time to come up with a battle plan.

There's a complicated backstory to explain how the alien Xan became Amalgamax and why he hates Superman and Batman. Superman discovers that Xan's father died of the Muranis Plague. Projectra casts an illusion that he has developed the plague and Wildfire mentions that there's a cure for that in the future. Xan surrenders to the Legion in order to get the cure; he is sedated so that Superman could return him to his world's prison. Batman makes a joke about Wildfire's ego.

Comments:

You know how sometimes you hear a story that's about somebody's uncle, then it involves the uncle's cousin's boyfriend's ex-wife and you get the whole extended backstory? That's what this story was like. My eyes glazed over. It was a 1962 story in a 1982 book.

There's a far-fetched explanation of how Amalgamax got every Legionnaire's power, except Wildfire's. It's a set-up that provides considerable challenge to the Legionnaires. However, in the end, it's clever Batman who figures out the right approach, using different Legionnaires to outwit the bad guy and Wildfire's “loud mouth” to seal the deal. It really wasn't a bad story in terms of action and teamwork, but the WTF gaps of logic kept getting in the way of my appreciation.

Wildfire, unfortunately, has once again been saddled with the primary characteristic of being a loud-mouth. Although his recent origin story gave the reader more insight into his personality, he's written as a one-trick pony. Heroic, certainly – but it always comes back to his blowhard attitude. Gas bag in body, gas bag in speech.

It's odd to read another story with an affable Batman, given how long he's been the dark knight. The ending is like the ending of Harvey Birdman cartoons, with everybody standing around, laughing. I guess that was a parody of the Super Friends cartoon (which I never saw). It must have been an '80s thing.

Pretty impressive cover, though. Also of note is letterer Adam Kubert, who would go on to bigger projects.

We seem to have skipped from January 1982 (LSH 283) to October 1982 (WF 284--at least the issue numbers are sequential). No matter. The WF story is hard to place chronologically. It seems to have occurred before Jeckie and KK took a leave of absence (in LSH 284; I've been reading ahead), but after Cos changed his costume in Annual # 1 (between 289 and 290). One might suppose that Jeckie returned temporarily to active duty or Cos was "trying out" the new costume before adopting it permanently, much as Imra did with her new costume back at the end of the Action run. (EDIT: I just noticed that Imra also sports her later costume on the cover. Inside, her costume is hard to see and miscolored.)



This pretty much sums it up. The Legionnaires don't question why Superman instead of Superboy is paying them a visit, and there's no explanation for why Superman didn't visit the Adult Legion instead. Although lip service is paid to the JLA, there really is no logical reason why Superman had to travel a thousand years into the future to recruit allies against the Composite Superman. Most of what the Legion does here could have been performed by members of the JLA, such as The Atom (instead of Shrinking Violet) and Zatanna (instead of Projectra). The lapses in logic and the "Gee, aren't we clever" ending (I'm only passingly familiar with Harvey Birdman) would indeed be more at home in the early '60s.

Stories like this strike me as the superhero equivalent of business as usual. A bad guy needs to be defeated, so they defeat him. It's a lot like a plumber going to work on a clogged drain. There are no major events here, no life-changing revelations, nothing that teaches us anything new about our heroes or their world. They have a job to do and they do it. At the time, I took solace in such "ordinary" stories. I felt as if I were getting a glimpse of these heroes' lives, like riding along with a police officer in a squad car on a day when nothing special happens. In real life, it's always good when such days occur (especially for police officers and others who regularly put themselves in harm's way). For fiction, not so much.



Well said. This pretty much sums up how Wildfire was depicted here and in other stories.

Yeah, that's the order in which I had it and, given the story, we can be glad it's behind us. I hadn't noticed the sequential numbers - it must be destiny!



Great observation, HWW! Green Arrow could have stood in for loudmouth Wildfire.

The "A cold and lonely corner in hell" cover is one of my all time favorites... and the story is excellent as well!

Next review coming this weekend - suffered total computer failure here and am now a prisoner of a new machine with Windows 10 (which is not as bad as I feared).

Any one else inclined to post on LSH 284, please jump in. The quicksand is lovely.

Sorry to hear about your computer problems, Cramey.

Windows 10 tip not everyone knows: right click the start button to get the traditional windows menu.

Thanks for the tip, Brain-Fall-Out Boy.

Cramey, I echo He Who's good wishes and sympathy. Hope the internet is working smoothly again at chez Cramer as soon as cosmically possible.

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #284 (Cover-date: February 1982)

The first hint that this is going to be a less-than-auspicious start to Levitz-Legion Mark 2 is the cover. Pat Broderick is one of my favorite artists of his generation, sort of like Jim Starlin but with prettier people and a looser, more ethereal line. But this issue's front cover, inked by Romeo Tanghal, who IMO hadn't quite yet found his artistic footing, is bland and stodgy and almost wholly nondescript. That description will be borne out by Levitz's script, but there is still some promise of a decent read in the opening 2 pages -- the attention-grabbing splash of Chuck Taine in the Hall of Heroes could have been more fluidly composed, but interior inker Bruce Patterson (who, like Broderick, had just left Marvel for DC) proves much more stylistically simpatico with Broderick's pencils. The first real sign of how well they mesh is in the 2nd and 3rd tiers of Page 2. The expression on Chuck's foregrounded face speaks far more about his combination of sadness and relief at his decision to retire from the Legion than the stilted soliloquy that Levitz gives him. Once Chuck's partner, Luornu Durgo Taine, enters the scene, the dialogue doesn't get any better, but the artistic team does delineate a lovely likeness of Lu.

The team conference scene, on the other hand, is so awful that not even the art can save it. Ironic how Levitz, who, during his Legion Mark 1 run had done more than anyone else to make Wildfire fully-rounded, would portray him in the worst one-dimensional hotheaded way. The escalating argument is tedious, although I do find it amusing that Cosmic Boy (still in his kinky Grell costume) would tell Wildfire not to make an ass out of himself. Pot, kettle, black, Cos.

Mercifully, the comic cuts away at this point to the sight of Medicus One against dark deep space skies with a generous sprinkling of faraway stars. But this peaceful panorama is immediately shattered by an enemy ship breaching the hull of the venerable galactic hospital. Disappointingly, the invading party turn out to be generic-looking reptile-people spouting action-movie-villain cliches. Enter Timber Wolf and Light Lass, who spout equally uninspired banter while TW makes short work of the lizard goons. Once TW exits, we get to see that the artists draw a truly adorable-looking Ayla, and things be even better in the next 2 pages, with lots of outer-space exteriors full of starry goodness, not to mention some nice panels of Wildfire, Dawnstar, and Ultra Boy leading the Legion's charge against the reptilian ruffians and their ship.

Cut to an allegedly comedic sequence of Chuck & Lu saying their farewells to an exposition-spouting Karate Kid and an all-too-playful Dream Girl; at least it gives the artists a chance to show Val with convincingly Eurasian features for a change, and to draw cute expressions on the faces of the other three. Also, this is, to my knowledge, the first hint of Nura having an actual personality, and while Levitz's execution strains too hard for cheap laffs, the porcelain-faced precog is definitely showing potential here.

After another nice-looking outer-space exteriors page, we get a rather dull and wordy one inside Medicus One, punctuated by a close-up of Lightning Lad sporting a haircut that makes me wonder if he's a descendant of Feargal Sharkey, the Undertones' original lead singer. Then the artists give us their prettiest, shiniest galactic vista yet, while Levitz finally deals with what should have been an obvious repercussion which the previous writers were too busy fixating on Reflecto to deal with immediately -- namely, Chameleon Boy finding out (in the year-old "Secrets of the LSH" mini-series) that R.J. Brande is his father. The normally serene Reep Daggle is definitely on edge here, effectively seeding storylines to come in later issues.

Next...more forced comedy, this time involving Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad. The latter, in one panel, looking like he's re-enacting one of the most infamous scenes of "The Exorcist" even though all he's actually doing is spitting out some slop he just cooked. And it only gets worse when Levitz has Ayla react in a deeply insensitive and self-centered way to Brin's ambivalence about the plastic surgery that Ayla had insisted on. We do catch our first glimpse of Dr. Gym'll, but he's spitting out squirm-inducing sophomoric "humor" which I find inappropriate for an all-ages comic book.

And, finally, we meet the one-shot villain of this tale, Organus, and...well...he refers to himself in the Third Person (Strike One) and, at first glance, he looks like a demon-possessed teddy bear (Strike Two.) He doesn't look quite as silly once he's fully visible, but his energy-absorbing tongue is creepy and gross in all the wrong ways (Strike Three!)

From here on, script and art are strictly by-the-numbers, as the Legionnaries mount an attack on Organus, which ends when Levitz falls back on the old Bronze Age Legion trope of "But wait, the villain's powers don't affect that ONE SPECIAL LEGIONNAIRE (in this case, Blok) and even though we know it doesn't make any sense, we're on a deadline here, so cut us some slack."

Not having read any Legion issues between 254 and 284, I can't really say whether this is any better than the average Gerry Conway issue, but I doubt it.

Something else else tells me the next few issues of Levitz Mark 2 are going to require a great deal of patience on us readers' part. Hopefully, by the time the Great Darkness Saga proper begins, things will have improved substantially.

Well, hopefully I’m not too late! Catching up on the non-LSH proper issues…

DC Comics Presents #43

The Superman / LSH team-up in DC Comics Presents is nothing short of awesome, with one great thing after another. So much to love: incredible Boland cover, incredible Swan art, a rare chance to see Superman with the LSH, seeing Superman remember Ferro Lad (just awesome and something I always wanted to see), Jimmy referencing his reserve membership for the first time in years, the LSH showing bravery and intelligence in how they beat the Sun-Eater, Levitz showing his ability to use multiple Legionnaires, Mogul—the best *new* Superman villain of the late Bronze Age, A SUN-EATER!!!, an awesome battle between Superman and Mogul at the end, the LSH defeating the Sun-Eater…whew! It’s fantastic! This is probably the best of the LSH team-ups throughout the entire preboot. And it even leaves open the possibility for a great follow-up story—well done, Paul.

World’s Finest #284
Which leads to WF #284, which simply can’t stand alongside DCP #43. And its hard not to compare them since they open up the “archive”. I remember when I was rummaging through my Dad’s WF collection years ago and found this, and simply couldn’t believe there was a Levtiz / Giffen LSH issue that I didn’t know about! Seeing that cover, I imagined inside was going to be some glorious hidden issue that would leave me stunned. And then I was so disappointed to learn that Giffen wasn’t the artist and Paul wasn’t the writer. And unfortunately there was a lot to dislike as others have pointed out: a Silver Age feel that is out of place in the 80’s, bad artwork, super-ventriloquism, Wildfire and others acting as clichés rather than the multi-layered characters we have now come to expect from LSH stories. The last thing is especially annoying, as by the time we get the scene with Saturn Girl telling Wildfire to shut up, I basically started to breeze through the rest of it.

So there we have it: one fantastic issue and one ‘meh’ one. Onwards to the proper LSH stories!

Great comment about Dave hunt, Fanfie! I totally agree, and feel his inks really made Swan's art look more lush and robust. I also thought of the George Klein similarities as well.

LoSH 284

“The Hall of Heroes: Statues of those who have served with honor – and died with honor. It’s not a place where the Legionnaires like to hang out.”

Unless it’s to have a laugh at the hijinks surrounding Jo’s statue being in there.

The opening words of Levitz v2.0 are a mix of sombre heroics and every day practicality.

Watching the statues, is Chuck Taine, tossing his flight ring in the air, and deciding not to become one of them.

It’s not uncommon for new writers to start clearing out the cast of the people they won’t be using. In a book with the ensemble cast of the Legion, it can provide some easy and early drama whether it’s by quitting, marrying, resigning or death. Not to mention providing a bit of breathing space for the writer to focus on the stories they want to tell.

It’s a good character study of Chuck in a page. He’s the cheerful, happy companion but also someone with a strong sense of the group’s history, the risks involved and how it could affect those he cares about.

Mentioning that the universe is either counting on or after the Legion gives the reader an early indication of the threat levels to come. In the next page, Levitz continues to lay the solid groundwork any decent writer should bring to a title. We get a lot in a page. We’re reintroduced to the HQ and its meeting room. We’re reminded that Lightning Lad is leader and of the Legion as an organisation. When Chuck and Lu do retire, we’re shown some of that traditional administration, when they tell Blok that it’s easier to change to and from reservist than as a full member.

Following on from the opening page, and that clearing out the cast point, Superboy is gone in a single word balloon that also updates us on the Reflecto saga. Levitz is not flinching big decisions, with the group now spending some time apart from their inspiration. It’s also possibly an early move to distance the team from the lives of the DCU’s main characters.

We get some early conflict too, which drives so many super teams. As discussed in the last issue, it’s Wildfire who acts as the team’s thorn, criticising Lightning Lad’s idea to discuss membership. He ends up nearly getting into a physical confrontation with Sun Boy. It’s a bit overly dramatic, and pushes Wildfire a bit too far in the pain in the rear direction. Name calling a fellow member isn’t nice.

It’s interesting that it’s Sun Boy who pulls him up. There’s a little overlap in origins in powers, and this is an early sign that Levitz will look to differentiate Dirk.

On the membership issue, this could be a very early indication that the line-up will get some changes, or at least that there will be more sightings of the Academy. Does anyone think Lamprey, Crystal Kid or Nightwind have shown enough promise to get into the team? We’ve also seen Power Boy, Shadow Kid and Laurel Kent, although they duplicate the powers of existing members.

The Mission Monitor Board serves as a straight forward way to introduce the team to this issue’s mission. Again, it’s a reminder of some of the Legion’s trappings. It also reminds us of Chuck’s comments that the universe depends on the team to deal with threats.

Pat Broderick provides a lovely rendition of Medicus One, a null gravity space hospital and we get the first of the Encyclopaedia Galactica comments from Levitz in this run. These really help to provide a lot of flavour and background to the universe the Legion inhabit.

A group of heavily armed and armoured aliens, who look like they may be Gordonians are attacking the hospital. If they are Gordonians, the race only made their debut a couple of years before, and it links the Legion into the sci fi of its other titles. They are introduced as organ leggers. And they are after the body banks. That picks up on the theme of future technology having a possible darker side. Where do the organs come from exactly? What permissions have been granted?

In trying to capture their prize, they meet two Legionnaires, who were already on site. We learn that Brin has been undergoing some surgery, as Levitz provides us with a subplot right along with the main action. The differing approach of the two is marked. Ayla prefers to control the situation while Brin leaps into action looking to beat all of the pirates. He proceeds to leave a number of them strewn along the corridor to their ship, as we see when Ayla follows him. She makes herself light, to increase her speed which is a good use of her powers, but it would have been nice to see her more directly involved this early on. As mentioned, you can often tell from a writer’s first few issues which characters are going to become key to their interpretation of the group.

Despite their losses, the organleggers seem to be more focused on the profit of what they have managed to get onto their craft. It looks as though they expect losses on all of their raids. They don’t get far as the Legion’s advance team reaches them before they can escape. Dawny and Wildfire are indeed made for space travel, and it’s nice to see a simple and effective link established between them. We get the traditional bit of exposition on how Jo’s powers work.

The three are very confident heroes, and they make short work of the aliens. It’s worth pointing out this approach. Some new writers like to tear apart everything that went before. Conflict makes for a good story after all. But with no idea of where to stop you end up with a hero or group that are broken and have nothing left. While that can make for a good arc, creative changes and conflicts can then result in the writer leaving behind half-finished ideas and badly damaged characters. Quite often what they had in mind was never as good as what had gone before anyway.

There are some super hero teams where I have to think hard to remember if they’ve ever won. The late TMK run comes to mind as having a lot of running away tactical withdrawals.

But writers can challenge certain aspects of a character. In the often underdeveloped world of comic characterisation, there are plenty of aspects to explore, without trashing everything. A conflict built on solid foundations, and not from ruins. Seeing a capable team here, there’s a hint that this is the approach Levitz might take.

Like Ayla, it would have been nice to see more of Dawny’s range of powers, but the enclosed space probably didn’t help on this occasion. Levitz gets points for making sure that the battle doesn’t extend to pages. It’s partly a reinforcement of what Chuck said at the start. Despite their arms, the antagonists are up against the UP’s main heroes. And they act like it. But it’s also a sign that Levitz has a lot of ideas that he wants to put into the book. We’ve already had a lot happening in a few pages, and it will be interesting to see if the pace continues.

The mission monitor board serves a further purpose, in handling communications from other members. It’s more membership changes, as Karate Kid and the unseen Projectra announce a leave of absence. We get a quick reprise of his own series (which was partly written by Levitz) and an idea of what will be in the couple’s immediate future. Considering how reactive so many stories and tenures are, it’s refreshing to see a couple with some solid plans for a change. We’re ten pages in and there are five Legionnaires who we will not be seeing as much of.

We get to see one last (for a while) fun moment with Chuck and Lu, as Dream Girl teases him. It’s a lovely summation of her character as an out in the open flirt who has flustered the boys since her first appearance. There’s more to Nura than that of course, and we see that she is considerate and that she is still haunted by her premonitions. They have often portrayed catastrophe only for it to have been misunderstood. With Chuck already mentioning that the team are short staffed, will Levitz go the same way?

It’s not just about fighting the villains as a Legionnaire. The team repair the damage to Medicus one. It’s an opportunity to get to see Element Lad, Sun Boy, Cosmic Boy and brainy in action. We get a touch of Brainy’s intellect but the scene changes tone when they snipe about Wildfire. Coz considers him to be an “egomaniac” and Brainy and Dirk have their own comments. I was thinking of the snarky remarks made by certain characters much later in the Baxter run. But there’s similar things going on right here at the start of Levitz v2.0.

Along with the (telepathic) plug for the advanced technology the Legion uses, there’s a little aside made by Brainy that perhaps reveals Levitz’s thoughts on the character. Brainy is self-critical as a way of constantly trying to improve. Because he’s involved in so many things, he will therefore try to improve everything. That’s going to be tough on anyone. We also learn that Imra has been using her powers to calm the patients down. It’s good to see the cast not just standing around in the background, but being used.

It’s Sun Boy who deduces that it wasn’t the Medicus one staff who raised the alarm. It brought a smile that he’s sitting next to the team’s resident detective. But Chameleon Boy is focused on the revelation from the Secrets of the Legion miniseries. It’s an early sign of things to come for Cham.

Inside the hospital, Garth pays Brin a visit before more surgery. There’s the feeling that whatever procedure he’s undergoing is more than simple plastic surgery. Ayla had commented on side effects earlier. We also get another hint that the danger hasn’t passed. One of the aliens was shown throwing a device into the organ backs as he was challenged by Brin. Whatever that was, is beginning to activate.

But the pace keeps going, and it’s back to Earth where the burden of leadership subplot is raised by Garth. Back in the Grimbor story, he had quit only to table it until the threat had passed. This scene also picks up on the strength of Garth & Imra’s marriage (she’s only recently moved into their Legion HQ quarters). The reminder of the Legion origin was particularly well done. There’s also the idea that they wouldn’t share information with the others, if it meant violating someone’s privacy. Imra backed Garth back on the hospital. She respects Garth too much to ask more. But it’s worth bearing the much later Conspiracy in mind as another example of people keeping secrets with the best of intentions.

Back on Medicus one, and we see Brin ditch his wolverine clone look. There’s pros and cons to this, partly in hindsight. With Wolverine’s popularity, Brin was only going to be an imitator at this point. There’s also only so far you can realistically go with a loner-in-a-team subplot too (something ignored by Marvel for decades). The downside, and this is in hindsight, is that it was a distinctive look, and Brin’s personality under Levitz would have a different emphasis partly as a result. But it’s another lasting change to be chalked up to the issue. Another subplot launched form the scene is the tension in Brin and Ayla’s relationship. We only get a brief insight into it, before that organlegger’s device breaks loose and Ayla must face … Organus.

Levitz had often said that creating villains wasn’t his strongpoint. The Who’s Who picture for Organus made him look a bit uninspiring too. But could that be doing him a bit of a disservice? His introduction reveals that he is a creature from somewhere…else. Contained within a vessel, but using the organleggers as slaves. Able to absorb and utilise the parts and energies of others. Broderick’s depiction of his mental domination of prey and then his horribly organic attack on Ayla reveal his origins to be firmly in the sci fi/ horror films of the period.

Brin also finds out that Organus can use the superpowers of those he absorbs too. It’s unfortunate that Organus was more effective in using Ayla’s powers so far this issue than Ayla was herself. As the second attack on the facility begins, another alert reaches Legion HQ, where we see the team play D&D (without Star Boy!) There’s another nod to Legion protocol as Element Lad takes mission command. Although Garth and Imra are in the HQ, I quite like that there’s the concept of off-duty being used.

It turns out that seeing the team repair Medicus earlier was the writer showing us their power levels before they return to face the villain (there’s a little nod to Dirk being the team’s best pilot too). Levitz resists having Blok stay behind. It would have been easy to leave him there as an indication that the Dryad’s unspectacular days in the group were numbered.

Medicus is a bit bright and shiny to resemble alien here, but it might have been in someone’s mind, as the group burst in and a body hangs in the foreground, Lambert from Alien style. Although the villain is described as an agile parasite, and we see two Legionnaires cocooned, the Alien references don’t really work out too well. Having one of the characters explain what the villain has just done is never a good thing. The creature’s visuals become more and more like the Who’s Who picture the longer they appear and the potential drains away well before an awkward somersault moment.

Blok is seemingly immune to the creature’s powers and saves the day. In doing so, we get a little edge about his darker past as a member of the League of Super Assassins. It’s his conscious awareness of the Legion code (another bit of Legion heritage dropped into the issue) that prevents Blok from violating it.

Blok was going to face the villain anyway, but is inexplicably more effective when used as a missile by Ayla (she did get to use her powers effectively!). Does Ayla know of the weakness as she had close contact with it? Does Organus wander around thinking “gosh! I hope I don’t run into any non-carbon lifeforms and not recognise them as such.” It’s not explained. In the end, it’s all a bit too convenient that Blok was on the mission after all. Drawing attention to it by having him offer to stay behind actually makes it worse. Jan could have picked him as part of the team without saying anything, or in reference to the need for brute strength since Jo/Lar/Kal weren’t part of the mission team.

With Organus restrained on the prison planet for a sequel that never came (he made at least one cameo later on in one of the many Takron Galtos scenes), it’s back to HQ for a last bit of administrative work. The structure of the Legion; it’s code of conduct; technology and membership have been strongly established this issue. Like the mention of Imra and Garth meeting on the Legion’s first case, there’s the reminder of the Legion’s membership limit established for tax purposes the last time the creative team needed to offload Superboy for a while. It’s the end for Tyroc as a member, honourably discharged and not making an appearance like so much of his time as a member.

Despite the losses, and the mention of membership back at the start of the issue, the team still stands at twenty-three, with a twenty-five legal limit.


Summary
At first glance the issue made me think of it as the mediocre Organus story. A one-shot villain in a standard mission. But what a huge amount of other things were going on around it!

Membership changes with Chuck, Lu, Kal, Val, Jeckie and Troy all stepping back. With them go a couple of long term relationships. This will free up space to focus on the Brin/ Ayla and Drake/Dawny romances.

Lots of subplots are picked up on such as Garth’s leadership burdens, Blok’s dark background and Brin’s changes.

The pacing is already different. We have a lot of little scenes, establishing the role of the team, what it means to the UP and how it functions. They are mostly connected or intertwined such as chuck pointing at a screen just as the mission appears or Brin being on Medicus one when it is attacked. Contrived sure, but it assists in the flow of the scenes.

There’s fun in here too with D&D, Dreamy and Chuck. The villain is not at the centre of the story. He’s one of many missions in the lives of the Legionnaires and that is something I’ve no doubt I’ll be coming back to. Gosh! foreshadowing, just as Dreamy did this issue! Levitz is clearly thinking ahead, which gives the book some momentum again after the recent creative changes.

Thank you, Cobie. And since posting that, I've started to recall some other instances of above-average Hunt inks -- he did a pretty decent job on some of John Byrne's late-70s Marvel Team-Up issues.

Wow, 284 has already generated a lot of interesting and thoughtful commentary from Annfie and thoth.

Levitz II begins with a tale that broadens the Legion's scope to almost biblical proportions. So much happens here, and so many different characters are involved that the tone of the series feels markedly different from what has gone before. I can't help feeling that Levitz was watching "Hill Street Blues," the groundbreaking police drama which premiered only a year before. Like "HSB," Levitz introduces multiple plot lines and hints at future developments. He expands the relationships of the characters and incorporates personal dramas to create a more realistic sense of interaction among the Legionnaires than had been attempted before. He also shows the Legionnaires being heroes and winning against a group of organ bank raiders while acknowledging the very real risk heroes take.

As thoth pointed out, the villain becomes almost incidental to all of this, but Organus does serve a vital function. He poses a challenge for the Legionnaires to defeat, and it is only because of new member Blok (the "special Legionnaire" who conveniently is not affected by the villain's power, as Annfie notes) that he is, in fact, defeated. But the villain only serves to highlight various Legionnaires in action and, more, to show how they are going to interact with each other in this brave new world Levitz is charting.

Several aspects stand out to me. Garth's irritation with his sister for keeping Brin's surgery a secret feels like real sibling contention. Brin's surgery itself is both unexpected and full of unknown promise for the future. I lamented the passing of his distinctive wolf-like appearance, but I understand now why it was done. I hadn't thought of Brin as looking like a Wolverine clone at the time (despite Brin's wolf appearance debuting first), but it makes sense that DC would try to differentiate him from the more popular Marvel character. Still, Brin looks strangely naked as he rushes into battle with his Cockrum-designed costume and new, human face.

I also enjoyed the glimpse of Garth and Imra's domestic life. It's a cliche that Garth can't cook, but it works in the context of the scene: He's obviously trying to avoid answering Imra's question about Brin and Ayla, and Imra picks up on that and lets it be. This feels like a very real relationship.

Not all the interactions are successful. Wildfire and Sun Boy come off as incredibly immature during the administrative meeting. Their behavior may have been intended to remind us that these heroes are still young people and can be prone to juvenile behavior. (Some of the other Legionnaires laughed at Wildfire's comeuppance.) The scene, which also illustrates how little control Garth has over these proceedings, is well-intended, I think, but comes across as too Marvel-like in its execution.

The Blok of this story is almost unrecognizable from the lovable and innocent hunk o' rock he becomes. He comes across as severe and stern, almost sinister. He is more than willing to allow Organus to die and expresses disapproval of the Legion code. But his primary function in this story is to serve as the newbie, the stand-in for the reader. The Legionnaires have to explain things to him, such as reserve status and the membership limit, that more experienced Legionnaires would already know. While some of this information is necessary, it comes across as clunky exposition and makes Blok look as if he hasn't done his homework.

Levitz also struggles to find his way back into Brainiac 5's persona. Since when did Brainy criticize his past inventions? In this story, he comes across as one of the guys, not the aloof intellectual into which he later develops. (It's actually refreshing to see him try to fit in socially with the others; in hindsight, I wish Levitz had developed this aspect of Brainy's persona more.)

The Broderick/Patterson art is ten times better than anything we've seen in quite a while, even the Jimmy Janes run, which I generally liked. Broderick has a distinctive style, but, like Cockrum and Grell, his style does not interfere with the story telling. The space scenes are breathtaking, and the interior scenes of the HQ and the Legionnaires gathered around convey a lot of information without overwhelming the reader. Most of the Legionnaires also sport distinctive facial features. These welcome strengths make up for some of the weaknesses in the art, such as Garth's hair and that really awkward cover.

There are also some problems in the story telling. Levitz doesn't seem to know where to end scenes. I would have liked the revelation that Chuck and Lu are moving on to sink in for a moment before transitioning into the alert. The ending of the story also feels anticlimactic and would not leave me, if I were a new reader, yearning for more.

But these are kinks in the system to be worked out. 284 does what it's meant to do: start the Legion over with a fresh slate and hint at glorious things to come.

LoSH 285



Summary
The Legion investigate the sabotage of space cruisers, including their own, at the Nullport spacedock. They uncover a Khundian plot and, after foiling the sabotage, push back an attack fleet. Realising that NUllport continues to be a target, they move Nullport further into United Planets territory. Elsewhere, Princess Projectra’s father is killed by unknown forces on Orando.

In the issue’s second story, Dream Girl investigates why the Naltorians have lost their precognitive powers. Connecting the loss to the activation of an earthquake-reducing planetary gyroscope, Nura returns her race’s abilities while also continuing to protect the planet form quakes.

Comments
A traditional five-person team arrive on Nullport to collect the Legion’s new cruiser. Levitz has rotated the cast. Mon El uses super speed to run, rather than fly, to save workers as their old ship collapses. He will later use super breath, strength and microscopic vision firmly establishing him as the member taking on Superboy’s duties. Without having to divide that panel time, this could turn out to be a strong period for Lar.

Violet is caught in the wreckage, but this is a convenient way to show her powers and to have her find that the signal that caused the wreck came from the control tower. Like last issue, it’s a small start to an adventure and we’re given a recurring location in Nullport and a new member of the supporting cast in the cigar chomping operator H’Hrnath.

As the team interviews the galactic boatyard’s owner a further two accidents occur. Once again, Vi takes on the proactive investigative role that suits her espionage squad background. Gim and Mon-El handle the heavy lifting of wrecked cruisers. It’s not all plain sailing as Gim finds he has to adjust to the planetoid’s low gravity.

Star Boy and Shadow Lass haven’t had much to do yet. Thom has already mentioned his attachment to Nura and shown a dry wit that the others seemingly have to put up with. He’s acting as team leader on this mission which also gives him some panel time. Shady’s concern over Vi seemed a little out of character for her.

Star Boy reports into Brainy, giving us another chance to establish the HQ and the mission monitor board. It’s interesting that Lightning Lad is off panel, although he’s the leader. Brainy will continue to be a key member of the team, which is a remove away from being written out after his breakdown.

His analytical approach is shown early on. It stands out all the more as its shown in contrast to an arriving Brin Londo’s instinctive reasoning. Londo’s operations from last issue are referenced providing some between issue continuity and he an Light Lass are clearly a couple. There’s a bit of snark form Brainy concering Londo’s intellect. With that in both issues, it could be Levtiz’s shorthand way of establishing personalities through the reactions of their teammates.

The one subplot in this story is to show the feudal ruling of Orado as Val and Jeckie return to look for her father’s consent to marry. King Voxv is reluctant, and is bound to reinforcing the world’s traditions. Not that he gets the chance, as he collapses and we learn of his death at the end of the story.

Back on Nullport, we see that Vi’s skills allow her to shrink to the point where she can follow circuit pathways, allowing her to identify the disriupter that caused the accidetns.

Brin and the Legionnaires on site all seem to suspect the Khunds. Vi’s investigations seem to confirm this. I had been expecting a twist to another culprit, so I get the surprise of it really being the Khunds all along. After the Levitz penned Earth War, they have been rebuilding their power. Warlord Galmark has authorised the use of the disruptor. Once it has failed, he kills the person responsible for its insertion. That person turns out to have been his son. There’s no mercy in the martial logic of the Khunds. With the subterfuge gone, he looks to attack Nullport only to run into the Legion team stationed there. The Warlord can barely believe his ill fortune, and Mon El uses a fastball special to hurl Colossal Boy at their fleet. Gim remarks on it not being the least painful way of getting into the fleet, but at least he wasn’t smeared against their hulls or forcefields. There’s the comic book cliché of anyone big also getting a boost in strength and resistance too, even if not to Daxamite levels.

Star Boy gets to use his powers and we learn that the Khund fleet also consists of drone ships. But that’s not all Thom is there to do. With the Khunds defeated, the Legion team look to move the whole palce further into UP space, and away from Khundian raids. Like Blok, last issue, the team just happens to have people on it that can achieve this. Shady gets to do something by shielding the whole place from view. Although perhaps people will notice that they can’t see anything in the cloaked region. Evne the stars that would normally be seen. Star Boy provides Nullport with its own gravity as Mon El moves it to a safer home.

As a reward, the Equissian H’Hrnath gives them five star wars style Mark 494 cruisers for the price of one. As the team departs, it’s Shady who is again the one who more empathic. While Mon lightly calls H’Hrnath a “bandit,” it’s Shady who points out the soft heart beneath it that reminds her of Legion Founder RJ Brande (in another nice use of dialogue to reinforce team history). Violet is the one who respects privacy of emotions. It must be considered to be one of her key personality traits as it’s something Star Boy feels he can comment upon.

His partner, Dream Girl, takes centre stage in the back up tale. It’s written by Levitz with art by Giffen.

The people of Naltor have lost their precognitive abilities. Dream Girl has returned to assist them, although she too has lost her powers. Nura goes out into the now disaster strewn world with only her flight ring and Legion training.

She comments that others doubted her usefulness as a Legionnaire. While she may have liked Imra, Brainy (both of whom she’d end up with on Universo’s prison planet years later) or Mysa to be there, but they are not. Nura uses her intelligence and training to get on with the job at hand. Dream Girl never gives into self-doubt. Even as she realises that she may have to leave the team if she remains powerless goes unfinished as she tackles robbers.

The story is an update on those spotlight tales where a Legionnaire questions their place in the team and comes out on top. But, unlike a lot of those tales, Nura isn’t shown as simply coming to terms with limitations or that she can contribute in her own way. This story must have undoubtedly led to calls for her to be the next Legion leader.

Even without powers, Nura is shown as a very capable combatant. Although Naltorians have precognitive powers, ashe’s the sister of the White Witch, we’ve known she had a scientific background. She uses that, and her status as the disciple of the High Seer, to solve Naltor’s problem. Better yet, she deduces the solution. It’s not only her science, but how she thinks that saves the day. Singling out what caused the problem takes effort and deduction. Intelligence is one thing, but Dream Girl also looks to expand capabilities. Her use of the flight ring in her battle with the robbers is excellent. In later issues we would see Nura being one of the team’s key scientists and the one who knew how Brainy’s equipment worked.

As we’re early into the Levtiz run, he could easily have looked to move out characters such as Nura, Instead, she will become an important figure in the team, if a little to the writer’s own surprise.

LSH #285 Night Never Falls at Nullport by Paul Levitz, art by Pat Broderick & Bruce Patterson, colors by Gene D’Angelo, letters by Bruce Patterson


Comments:
Although these are both straightforward stories, they seem quite dense. In Nullport, we meet the comedic H’hrnath; I wonder which character (if any) was the inspiration for his personality and speech. His talk reminds me of Foghorn Leghorn, lots of bluster. In a galaxy full of different life forms, Shadow Lass still finds him funny-looking; that seems odd, but maybe she never saw a horse before.

Mon-el is acting like team leader, rational, calm and serious. There’s banter among the Legionnaires, but nobody comes off as childish, petulant or angry. Colossal Boy goofs up, forgetting that the lower gravity will affect him when he increases size, but otherwise the team is thoroughly capable.

The Khunds are familiar bad guys and just how bad is confirmed by the Imperior’s murder of his own son for mission failure.

Nullport itself makes good sense. It looks peculiar, but that’s after seeing how Star Fleet built the Enterprise. We’re more removed from shipyards in our present day, but any civilization that depends on ships would have massive yards throughout the galaxy. We’ve left behind those Adventure-era stories in which Legionnaires are stranded on a planet and build their own ship to escape.

While I found the artwork a bit uneven, especially on the faces, there were some interesting touches, such as Mon-el’s viewing of the circuitry and the backgrounds.

The Projectra interlude gives us some insight into Orando, but it’s main purpose is to set up a major storyline.

I recently read that Levitz had a particular scream that he wrote “Ayyyeee!”. Never noticed that before, but, funny enough, here it’s used twice.

The Dream Girl story adds a lot to her character, revealing her insecurities as well as her determination. It also sets her up as a very bright mind and a skilled fighter, which Levitz will develop further in future issues.

It may strike one as unlikely that a frequency could jam the Naltorans power that easily, but we don’t know how their precog works, so it becomes an acceptable premise. Why couldn’t they foresee this problem with the gyrostabilizer? It’s as if the act of viewing the loss of their powers prevented their viewing – they can’t see losing their powers, because at that point in time, they will have lost their powers. Furthermore, they can’t see beyond this point to learn that their powers return, whether because their vision is time-limited or the event instigated a break in their future sight. Useful information for any would-be conquerers of Naltor.

You're right, the use of multiple powers does make him the new Superboy. And it's a relief to not have Wildfire in the story for once.



Mon-el came off more as team leader to me, but Star Boy did act very professionally. Shady also seemed out of character laughing at H'hrnath.



Questioning their place in the team is a theme that's used fairly often. I wonder how many of the spotlight tales are based on this idea; the solo tale is the perfect vehicle for introspection.



I wondered about that, whether Nura was a favourite of his to begin with or became one over the course of several stories.

Hasn't Dreamy already had one too? Wasn't it part of a back up where Karate Kid was knifed, but was too tough to notice. What's that Look Up Lad? It was Issue 201?! Thanks Look Up Lad!

I want a signal ring to call Look Up Lad for reference emergencies!

(Much-belated) thanks for the kind words, He Who.

And thanks, too, for bringing up HSB. The impact that show had on pop culture across the board cannot be underestimated. It's also no coincidence that it was one of, if not the most, ethnically diverse TV shows of its time, what with diversity being such a strong theme of the Legion. Also signficant were the every-woman quality of Officer (later Sgt.) Lucy Bates (Betty Thomas), and the casting of the dark-haired, somewhat exotic-looking Veronica Hamel as D.A. Joyce Davenport when just a couple years earlier the role would probably have gone to a blue-eyed blonde. And to digress for a moment, I have particularly warm memories of watching reruns of the most recent HSB seasons with my mother as a grade-schooler during early-80s summer vacations to the US -- good times, and very edifying to my young mind (oh, and we'd always laugh every time Belker would show up in the lunch room and unwrap one of his smelly sandwiches.)



Ironically, by that time, Marvel had, by that time, refined and transcended its own cliches, thanks to an influx of more thoughtful creators such as Walt Simonson, Jo Duffy, John Byrne, and Chris Claremont, among others.



I think Levitz never quite got a handle on Blok, even with 7 years to do so. I wouldn't be surprised if part of the reason Tellus was created was so that the "wide-eyed-innocent" role could be filled by a character with far less backstory baggage than Blok.



Agreed.

By Olsen's Bowtie! Crafty Cramer is after thoth's signal ring! Will she become Look Up Lad's Best Pal?! Read "Signal Your Intentions" in Look Up Lad #134!

Annfie,
Thank you for mentioning the ethnic diversity on "Hill Street Blues." It was indeed a very diverse show for its time, and none of the characters were stereotypes. (Well, most of them weren't. Johnny LaRue was pretty much a typical Lothario, but he had a wonderful foil in Neal Washington. Lt. Howard Hunter, as a reactionary emergency team commander, was fun to watch. And Renko was a redneck--so, all the stereotypes were white!)

I hadn't thought about Veronica Hamel as being unorthodox for a leading lady/love interest, but you're right about her being dark-haired and exotic. I had quite a crush on her.

The Legion had already had such diversity for years, but it wasn't fully developed until this era of the team. Under Levitz and Broderick (and later Giffen), the team members developed more well-rounded personalities and relationships. They just happened to be blue or green or orange or Eurasian. I like to think of this era of the Legion as the HSB/St. Elsewhere era of the team. Levitz took a lot of chances with the characters, as "St. Elsewhere" did with its cast. As a reader, there was a sense that you couldn't take anything or any character for granted.

So, 285 . . .

I've been mulling over what to say about this issue for some time. I appreciated thoth and FC's comments, because they both see more positive aspects than I do. To me, it's a meh story: Levitz's attempt to do a Boltinoff-era tale that marks time but really doesn't accomplish anything special. I get the feeling that Levitz was more interested in setting up Projectra's ascension to the throne of Orando, but he needed time to do this, so this story was meant to involve world building and little else.

To be fair, Levitz does a great job at this world-building. Nullport and the aggression of the Khunds are wonderful concepts that build on what we've seen before and hint at bold, new directions. Nullport takes the science fiction aspects of the Legion to more credible lengths. (Yes, it's much better than the Legionnaires building rocket ships themselves.) However, I could have done without the horsey alien, H'hrnath. (Wonderful personality, but silly appearance--a horse with human hands? And his hind quarters disappear on page 19.)

Levitz also earns props for varying the cast: Mon, Shady, Star Boy, Violet, and Colossal Boy isn't a combination we've seen before. Levitz also does some interesting things with their powers--especially Violet and Thom's unorthodox use of his mass-increasing powers. But little is done with them as characters. Gim forgets the low gravity in Nullport, and Mon forgets that Gim isn't invulnerable. This passes for character flaws?

I did appreciate the last page, in which all five Legionnaires pilot a new ship back to earth--showing, I think, that piloting starships is as common as driving a car is today. A great future to look forward to!

The art is uneven and rushed.

The backup story is much more successful in developing Nura's personality and her homeworld, Naltor. It's great that she's aware of how her usefulness as a Legionnaire is doubted. This shows that she believes in herself when others don't. As an interesting touch, she never once uses her ability to see the future in this story (well, maybe in the last panel she does). She relies only on her Legion training and her own intelligence. In hindsight, this story does an excellent job of setting up her eventual election as leader of the Legion.

He's Foghorn's equine cousin from "Noo Joi-zee." (The Leghorn family tree is a tangled one indeed.)



I agree, that was a nice, imaginative touch on Broderick & Patterson's part.



Well said, Cramey. She was definitely the "surprise breakout star" of this Legion era.



Good point. That's often the biggest problem with writing a team book that's heavy on the slow-burn subplots.



Reluctantly, I have to agree for the most part. That said, I think the fault lies mostly with Patterson's inks. The finesse that he showed in the previous issue comes and goes in jarring ways, often undermining the strengths at characterization which Broderick had shown in said previous issue. Ironically, given that I felt the climactic pages of 284 were the weakest artistically, I feel that the climactic pages of 285 (specifically, Pages 14-18; the last page is one of the washouts) are actually the best-drawn. Exhibit A: The last panel on Page 16 -- my girl Tasmia hasn't looked this pretty or this fierce since the better Jim Sherman issues. Exhibit B: The entirety of Page 15, with Thom, Gim, and Mon charging at the Khund ship as it fires on them, and Gim, with Mon's help, making like a guided missile (as an aside, the payoff to Gim's attack on the ship works better on the front cover, which I think is near-faultless -- if not for that cheesy "comical" word balloon, it would be perfection IMO.)



It's a well-written story, a much better script in many ways than the lead story, but the artwork takes me out of it.

Yes, the time has come for me to make my first LSH Re-Reads comment on Keith Giffen. [sarcasm] And I'm sure all of Legion World's Giffen fans are just giddy with anticipation. [/sarcasm]

All kidding aside, I have been planning ahead for this moment, so that I can make my best effort to be constructive and fair and to stay focused on Giffen's pencil art and co-plotting of his first several LSH issues -- no more, no less.

So here are my three main beefs with Giffen's early LSH work, in particular when the assigned inker is not a good match (yes, I'm a heretic, I don't he and Larry Mahlstedt went well together -- and I do like a lot of Mahlstedt's work for Marvel in the 1990s, for other pencilers) :

1) THE FACES: It bewilders me that my favorite of Giffen's LSH successors, Greg La Rocque, takes so much guff from Giffen fans for his faces -- overall, the criticisms boil down to "inexpressive, samey, and ugly." Uh...as if Giffen's faces did not commit the same aesthetic sins, only worse? I'm willing to concede that La Rocque's faces were inconsistent (I'll elaborate on this once the Re-Reads reach the Baxter Era), but if Giffen's were consistent, they were consistently bad (IMHO.)

2) THE RHYTHMS: In a word, FLOW, or the lack thereof in the case of this pencil artist. To use a musical analogy, the rhythms of Giffen's compositions and layouts remind me of amateur musicians trying to play atonal jazz -- think of that horrible, creepy Bill Lava music from the dregs of the Looney Tunes cartoons (circa 1963) and I think you'll get the idea.

3) LACK OF DISTINCTION: I'll be blunt with this one -- most of the time, Giffen's LSH work looks to me like a bad imitation of John Byrne, who, at the time, was the hottest artist in superhero comics thanks to Uncanny X-Men and Fantastic Four. That's one of the things about Giffen in general that most confuses me -- for a guy with such a...um...colorful public persona, his artwork itself has always come up short on personality to me. LSH is no exception.

However...I shall approcach the remainder of my allotted Re-Read issues from this era (286-294, plus Annual 1) with an open mind and hope that I am pleasantly surprised. IIRC, 286-289 are inked by Patterson, so there's a glimmer of promise there.

I'm not disputing any of the flaws you found in Giffen's art, though I found them less distracting than you do. To me, Giffen's art almost always evoked a sense of fantasy, imagination, and even romance. 285 is not fully representative of this (Dream's Girl hair, for one thing, never looks right), but the elements are there. The splash page with Nura standing before the high seer looks like it comes out of a fantasy story, and the top panel of the next page, where they are looking at crystal ball-like viewscreens, further expands the sense of wonder of this place. The candles in the slanted tubes remind me of the Fortress of Solitude in the first Superman movie, with an equal feeling of this place being foreign and magical.

Some other images which stand out to me include the bottom of Page 4 (Nura gestures in a dramatic, dance-like pose as she causes part of the wreckage to spring up out of the floor), the top of Page 7 (Nura, in silhouette, flies across the top of the page; below that is an image of the gyrostabilizer, which looks like an old, wooden spinning wheel), and the three masked robbers, whose look is simple but tells us they do not belong here without making them look silly. (No horse-like aliens, at least!)

A year or so after this, I would discover Nexus, published by First Comics. The artist, Steve Rude, conveyed a similar feeling of a futuristic setting combined with the romantic flair of fantasy.

Fair enough, He Who. And good call mentioning Steve Rude. His style took some getting used to when I first encountered it around 1994-ish (I'd only seriously started collection superhero, sci-fi and fantasy comics around 1991), though despite their common ground in atmospheric decorations, in other ways Rude is the inverse of Giffen, all clean lines and smooth, straightforward storytelling, kind of anticipating Allred and Cooke. I found the early issues of Nexus (seen via Dark Horse trade collection) to be a bit TOO clean, as in, where are the details? But I came around when I saw Rude's later work, especially his painted covers (Rude has one of the richest perceptions of color I've ever seen), and when Rude was noted as an influence on my boy Steve Epting (whose style over the past 10 or 12 years has gotten more and more like Rude's.)

Come to think of it, either one of the Steves would be a great pick to draw a Legion story.

I would love to see a Steve Rude Legion.

LSLH #286 Old Friends, New Relative and Other Corpses! By Paul Levitz, art by Pat Broderick & Bruce Patterson, colours D’Angelo, letters Costanza



A group of Legionnaires enjoy some R&R on Brande’s World estate. Guest appearance by Superboy.
R.J. tries to connect with his son Reep, who rebuffs his new-found father’s affection.

Dr. Regulus arrives, seeking final revenge with the death of Dirk Morgna. He takes over Brande’s fusion dome, absorbs its energy and vows to destroy the Legionnaires. His power is now too much even for Superboy, but it doesn’t stop Phantom Girl, who heads to the core to prevent an explosion. Sun Boy confronts Regulus directly.

Cham has returned to Legion HQ, where some members are debating the Khunds’ new aggression. As leader of the Espionage Squad, he orders them to join him on a mission to Khundia. Although some question him, they go along.

Sun Boy and Regulus battle, until Regulus flees in his ship. R.J. and the Legionnaires realize that the fusion dome is now running wild and send Superboy, directed by R.J. via Saturn Girl, to stop it. The radiation overcomes him, but Sun Boy is there at the controls and gets the dome under control. Dawnstar finds Regulus and Colossal Boy grabs his ship with giant hands.

When Lightning Lad learns of Cham’s departure back to Earth, he is angry that Cham did not ask his permission to leave.

Back-up: A Crown for a Princess by Paul Levitz, art by Keith Giffen & Bruce Patterson, colours Gene D’Angelo, letters Adam Kubert

Jeckie and Val discuss her new status as Queen and he vows to stay by her side. They are interrupted by a challenge from her cousin Prince Pharoxx, who accuses her of regicide. According to tradition, he has a right to challenge Jeckie to trial by combat. She falls in the arena, since Pharoxx knows about her illusion power, and Val takes up the challenge in her place. He fights vailiantly, but falls; Pharoxx, as new king, imprisons Val and Projectra.

Comments:
This was a good issue. We saw the Legionnaires at play, bantering among themselves; R.J. and Reep’s story took a new turn, promising future developments; Sun Boy was not only heroic, but surprised even himself by being super-smart; Colossal Boy didn’t goof up when it came to capturing Regulus and the ill-fated mission to Khundia began. At this point, it’s not clear that it will be ill-fated but it’s off to a bad start with Cham acting on impulse.

R.J. Brande is further developed as a personality, with some speech peculiarities creeping in, and reminding us that money can’t buy you love.

Superboy’s appearance was unnecessary, but he didn’t hog the action, so maybe that was the point of it.

I’m not sure what Phantom Girl thought she could do – materialize long enough to fix something and sacrifice her life? How would she even know what to do?

I felt that Levitz was taking a jab at the Adventure era when he has Dawnstar comment on the unmissable golden ship.

Sun Boy claims an exploded fusion dome’s effect could reach Earth in less than five mintues. If Brande’s estate is near Mercury (as previously written) and light from the Sun reaches Earth in eight minutes, perhaps Brande has moved his planetoid closer to Venus.

For someone who doesn’t want to be leader, Lightning Lad is taking the job pretty seriously. His anger at Cham leaving Brande’s estate without permission seems to be an overreaction, although the surprise attack by Regulus showed that Legionnaires shouldn’t just wander around at will if they want to keep the galaxy safe.

The Projectra story was more of a set-up for future issue, but what a set-up! It played to sword and sorcery fans, but presented Jeckie as someone who wanted to introduce more modern ways to her home planet. Was she overconfident and thought her illusions could disable Pharoxx? She had reason to be, having defeated considerable foes with her power as a Legionnaire, but she failed quickly. The reader ends the story wondering if Val and Jeckie will battle their way out of prison, or if a Legion team will somehow come to the rescue.

LoSH 286

The cover leaves us in no doubt that this is another mission of vengeance by Doctor Regulus against the Legion, and specifically Sun Boy. Not having read the Regulus tales in any order, they merge to some degree for me in terms of plot.

Our story starts off a bit more quietly than the cover, with a picnic game of volleyball. Gim uses his powers impulsively, cheating at the game, while claiming he just got carried away. It’s a similar reaction he was shown as having at Nullport. Acting first, without necessarily being aware of the consequences. Gim would later be called “Hands On Allon” and this is where a lot of that comes from.

Phantom Girl doesn’t let him off the hook. She takes a very principled stance on such things, even during games. She gets her own back with the aid of Dawnstar. They both agree about the principles of fair play, while Gim childishly laughs it off. It’s the returning Superboy who cools things down.

Broderick’s art has a distinctive look. Where it’s characters who live in the 30th century it’s mostly fine, but Superboy has looked a lot better elsewhere.

Levitz doesn’t escape unscathed here either. RJ Brande and son Reep are reintroduced. Reep’s scripted reaction to being reunited with his dad has the wrong emphasis for me. The pressures behind it are interesting though. RJ isn’t exactly introverted, and I can easily see his personality seeming like an intrusion on Reep. Not to mention all the many issues behind why he had no father growing up. RJ knows that he’s overcompensating, but can’t help himself, leading to further alienation.

This panel develops into a broader scene that results in Reep flying off under the pressure of the relationship and the impact it’s having on him.

Broderick has spent a lot of time on Regulus’ spaceship. It reflects its grimly vengeful pilot so much, it even comes with its own evil toothy grille at the front. It’s gold coloured of course, fitting in with the villain’s methods and background.

The plot, like so many involving Regulus, is far from subtle. He’s targeted the Legionnaires, on Brande’s private planetoid, because it contains a fusion dome. The dome is part of Brande’s research into star making, and it’s perfect for a villain who can absorb solar radiation. The only time he’s spent on the plan is to find a way to disrupt Brande’s security system. Like so many villains, he doesn’t think to consider to use that knowledge to have a normal, productive life. It’s all about vengeance here.

Regulus lands and begins to manipulate the fusion dome. It’s easy for the Legion to find the cause of the problem. They confront Regulus, only for him to blast them back. Perhaps that’s part of why Regulus is used in the same way so often. He has a huge amount of power that a lot of the other human antagonists simply don’t. There’s enough wiggle room in those abilities for him to be able to hold off Superboy. That’s another big plus for Legion writers, as an alternative to Kryptonite, magic or Forced Plotting.

Regulus subdues the Legionnaires, giving an extra dose of red solar radiation to Superboy. While he may have one trick motives, we’re going to get three possible solutions form Levitz to the story. Regulus’s powers can’t affect Tinya. She moves through the villain and into the fusion dome to shut it down. It might be the last thing she does, but the start of the story showed how seriously she takes the role of Legionnaire.

I’ve already mentioned that Broderick draws a very cool Regulus (and ship). This continues right through the issue, and extends to Sun Boy. Dirk’s powers have come a long, long way from emitting bright light. Here, he’s handling the power of stars. Visually, he has a corona of energy around him. He’s almost transformed into an energy form in a couple of panels. It’s an effect I would have put down to Giffen later on, but it really started here.

On the other hand, I do credit Broderick for giving Garth his worst ever haircut.

We get a look into Dirk’s skills in a one panel reminder. Back in his origin he was an assistant. We’re told here that he was a nuclear scientist, so he wasn’t just blundering around his dad’s lab when he interrupted Regulus’ experiment. Dirk also says that it’s been years since he was that assistant, showing that he’s not necessarily kept his skills in that area up to speed since he became a Legionnaire. This adds a bit of depth to him. He’s skilled in an area, but it’s not necessarily the thing that defines him. He’s also well known for his socialising and his pilot skills too, for example.

As Dirk faces up to Regulus, we return to Earth to continue the Reep & RJ subplot. I guess I don’t reread this issue much. I had forgotten that this was the scene that takes them to the Khund home world. So, Levitz does a fine job in ensuring that Reep has a reason for leaving Brande’s planetoid and in getting him off before the Regulus encounter. That keeps the leader and other members too busy to overrule him.

Unfortunately, this is where Reep takes his personal life into his job. As the head of the Espionage squad he orders those present to join him in scouting the Khundian home world. I found a few things particularly interesting due to my lack of rereading.

Firstly, was that the other Legionnaires were already starting to discuss the same idea when Reep arrived. Star Boy and Blok were considering it, as Ultra Boy and Brin assessed the threat. It was the lack of discussing a plan, rather than the reason for going that was the problem. But how often have we seen hero groups fly off and plan on the way, if at all, and get out unscathed?

Secondly, Brin has a strong reaction to being dragged on the mission. At this point his character seems to be capable of being involved more in the planning and decision making than perhaps he would be later on. Brin’s parting remark for Ayla to take care came with a fair bit of foreboding.

Thirdly was that Levitz makes it clear that the reason for going in the first place was due to the attack on Nullport in the previous issue. So, what seemed like a self-contained story was really an early chapter in a wider story. Like Brin’s parting remark, I wonder just how far ahead Levitz was already in the plotting. At the end of this scene, we see Val’s face on a monitor. This links the end of last issue to the back up story in this one. Under Levitz, the back ups are being used to either provide spotlights or that are offshoots form the main storyline.

Finally, I hadn’t realised that so many were in the room with Reep when he ordered the mission. He only takes Brin and Vi when he could have also had Jo, Thom, Ayla and the admittedly easier to spot Blok.

In the energy duel that is also a fixture of Regulus vs Dirk stories, Dirk wins out. But Regulus doesn’t have to stay around to see the planet explode. He escapes to absorb the radiation from orbit, as Dirk melts the dome’s containment wall (well, it’s all going to blow up anyway I suppose). There, he hopes to use what he can remember from his training to shut down this power sphere. This is the second possible solution.

Regulus melted at least one of the controls he was using to land the ship. I wonder how important it was to taking off again. It didn’t seem like he planned to be using it once the planet exploded after all.

The third possible solution comes as part of a Legion power crossover. A recovering Superboy follows Dirk into the reactor. Although he’s super smart, and has created all sorts of things in the past, he’s getting direct information from RJ Brande, courtesy of Saturn Girl’s telepathy. Imra already knew what the plan was going to be by mind reading her colleagues. I’m beginning to wonder if there was ever a time she was reluctant to do this sort of thing.

As the rest of the team goes after Regulus, we have three Legionnaires ready to sacrifice themselves to save the planetoid. The otherwise uninhabited planetoid. So option four could have been to abandon the place, get Dirk to beat Regulus in orbit and fly him far away. Mind you, there was the hint earlier that the planetoid would be as powerful as a nova. Perhaps it would incinerate Earth. So, we have three Legionnaires ready to sacrifice themselves to save the planetoid after all.

Dirk and Kal look to be able to get to the controls ahead of Tinya who went in first. There’s a suggestion she’s a bit lost in there, without the knowledge of how it all operates. Kal tells her to evacuate, leaving us with two in the building. But it’s Kal who succumbs to the solar radiation, falling unconscious before he can even instruct Sun Boy. Imra tries to contact Dirk directly. Solution five was her contacting him pages earlier to see how he was getting on. Perhaps that extends to the lack of confidence they have in Dirk compared to Superboy. But Dirk has already worked it out, directly handling the reactor’s control rods, and shutting down the process. Dirk reinforcing his identity on the team is done more subtly than most stories, as it’s only a small part of this plot. After a run of prominent Wildfire appearances, perhaps Dirk will begin to become more centre stage.

Regulus spends at least a few panels in his appearances waiting for things to give him power. It must be a constant disappointment to see those power sources fade away. In a little error, Lightning Lad responds directly to Regulus’ thoughts, even though the villain has no telepathic ear plug to communicate to them with.

We’re reminded of Dawny’s tracking abilities as they find Regulus, even if they are diminished by Lightning Lad’s comments that Regulus wasn’t hiding. Both Dawny and Garth act as decoys so that Colossal Boy can sneak up behind the villain and squash him into unconsciousness. It’s good to see Gim successful in combat. There’s the danger of writers making him a big target, but he uses his powers well here.

Like the multiple solutions to the problem, this is a nice bit of writing as it provides one bookend to the story that started with Gim using his powers all the way back in the volleyball game.

At the story’s end Garth finds out that Cham has returned to Earth. I hadn’t read enough of the Adventure issues before I had read this one. So, I didn’t fully appreciate the overriding Duty to Administration that some interpretations of the Legion have had. To me, Garth was just being a jerk.

The back up story picks up from the death of Jeckie’s father on Orando at the end of the last issue. It’s a lovely opening page that sets out the distinctive architecture and medieval fantasy trappings of that world. It’s an approach that will help strongly define the Legion’s universe. Levitz’s use of Encyclopaedia Galactica in other stories is another example of this. Giffen clearly had a lot of fun with the panel compositions in this back up and there are some excellent results, combining foreground intricacy with storytelling clarity.

With her father gone, Jeckie will now be Queen and she feels alone. She’s pretty much testing the strength of their relationship, and Val has no qualms about staying with her forever. Although, in true comic tradition, her question about him leaving the Legion is left hanging as she is violently interrupted. Her uncle Pharoxx accuses Jeckie of being behind the death of her own father.

It’s trial by combat on Ornado. It seems unfair that it’s just Uncle Pharoxx and his lizard mount (just one of those lovely Giffen details), against two seasoned Legionnaires. Certainly Jeckie and Val seem confident enough. But Pharoxx is immune to Jeckie’s illusions, as the world is steeped in traditions and magic.

And while Val may have been able to best Pharoxx in martial prowess, we never find out as Val has no defence against a magic blast. Pharoxx is a very capable threat here, and his call to dispatch the two “traitors” he has bested carries real menace.

Summary

Like the Organus and the Nullport stories, there’s more going on behind the main tale. Here, the one trick Regulus is used to showcase Dirk and to provide a jumping off point for Cham’s relationship with his father and his trip to Khundia. There’s noticeable characterisation of Gim, Tinya and Kal while Lightning Lad’s leadership issues continue to simmer away each issue.

Elsewhere, Thom is involved in more than just back up duty and Brin seems to have moved a fair distance from his broody, loner self already. Vi does seem to be very aware of her own personality traits. Blok doesn’t add a great deal. But if his history with the assassins is considered, his agreement to a mission to warlike Khundia takes on a darker tone.

The Orando subplot has been built up very nicely over the three Levitz issues we’ve had. You can see the structure of the Levitz paradigm beneath it, as some of the multiple plotlines are progressed to their next stages.

286:

The Hill Street Bluesization of the Legion continues in some odd ways. The main story, for me at least, is merely average, but the subplots keep things moving in new and uncharted territory. On HSB, the bad guys were never that interesting--pickpockets, gang-bangers, run of the mill street criminals, but it was the officers' and detectives' efforts to catch them and deal with an inept and corrupt system that fueled the drama. Here we have Dr. Regulus, a run-of-the-mill bad guy with a run-of-the-mill motivation (revenge for losing his job? Get over it, Zax baby. With your skills and power, what the heck to do you need a job for?). The conflict could be used to bring out some new facets of Dirk's personality, but that doesn't really happen. Dirk is heroic (what else?) and even figures out how to shut down the reactor on his own--but we would expect nothing less of a Legionnaire. The lengthy recaps of his origin likewise tell us nothing new about Dirk or his relationship with Regulus. Levitz is absolutely correct, I think, when he says he never had a handle on villains; alas, his grasp of heroes also needs work.

The scenes which rock, however, are those with the Legionnaires just being friends and colleagues. The volleyball game is a winner in bringing out both Gim's and Tinya's personalities. Then Superboy shows up to ruin things by having nothing to contribute to the story. I guess he was included just to remind us that he was a Legionnaire once more. Most of the other Legionnaires on Brande's world are just there to fill up the numbers.

The main exception is Chameleon Boy, who leaves Brande's world without Garth's permission and returns to earth to lead his teammates on an impulsive mission to Khundia. At the time, Reep's actions didn't make sense to me, but now they kind of do. Reep's whole world has been upended by learning that R.J. is his father, so he's out to prove something--what isn't clear to the reader or even, I suspect, to him. Maybe he just wants to get his mind off of thoughts and feelings he'd rather not deal with. Whatever the cause, he isn't thinking clearly. If even Timber Wolf calls your mission "dumb," there must be something to it.

The backup story, once again, is much better. It's shorter and more focused yet has room to develop its plot and characters well. Jeckie is now queen of Orando--at least momentarily--a huge blow to the stasis most Legionnaires have been in for years in terms of their personal development. The Legion, like most super-heroes of their day, seemed to be stuck in a realm where no one really changes--except for the odd costume switch, the odd marriage, and the occasional death. But other real life events were not allowed to creep into these four-color fantasies. Jeckie's ascension is all too real and, for its time, groundbreaking.

The ascension is not without complications; Pharoxx proves to be a worthy adversary. He accuses Jeckie of murdering her own father, proving that "alternate facts" are alive and well even on 30th century medieval planets. He takes advantage of Jeckie's overconfidence and, when he can't best Val, he cheats. Things don't look good for our lost Legion lovers...but hope lies in the message Val left at HQ in the issue's first tale.

When this issue came out, I probably loved it because it featured Dirk, one of my favorite Legionnaires. At the time, the reader had to wait months for a particular character to be featured, and Dirk seemed to have disappeared for much of the Conway and Thomas runs. In hindsight, the story has a lot of promise but Levitz's interest seemed to lie more with his subplots.

Garth's reaction reminded me of Mon-El's similar reaction when Invisible Kid went derelict on duty back in # 203. In both instances, I think, the leader's reaction was warranted. IK went missing during a training exercise, and Reep left when his teammates were just having fun. But a leader must always know where his troops are in case an emergency arises.



Good point. Like the Dream Girl story last issue, Levitz and Giffen are beginning to envision a 30th century that is far more complex than any we've seen before. Orando isn't just a planet that looks medieval; it feels medieval with its traditions and use of magic in the form of illusion-casting.

LEGION OF SUPERHEROES 286

I must admit that, thanks to the keen observations of the Re-Reads regulars, I am developing a greater an appreciation for just how innovative Levitz's prime-time TV inspired approach to writing the Legion was at the time. Just a couple caveats -- one, Levitz would probably be the first to admit that his approach also had its roots in the better books coming out of Marvel between the mid-1960s and the late-1970s, books such as the Avengers, which Levitz has readily admitted was among his favorites during his fan days; and, two, while Levitz was reinventing the wheel as far as the DCU went, I don't think he "hit the ground running," so to speak, and that the first few years of Levitz-LSH Mark-2 are something of an awkward transitional phase towards what I consider the creme de la creme of Mark-2, the 2nd and 3rd years of the Baxter Legion.

So what we end up with here, in this issue's lead story, is another rather pedestrian "A-Plot" undermining the stronger "B-and-C-Plots" which Levitz has simmering on the back burners. That said, I like "Old Friend, New Relatives..." quite a bit better than the lead story of 285 or the book-length 284 story. As the others have already noted in their reviews, the characterizations really start to jell here, and there's much more of a sense of scope and substance to Levitz's efforts at an expansive portrayal of the universe in which the Legion lives, loves, and fights.

Pat Broderick & Bruce Patterson are, as in the better moments of 284, both seemingly giving it their all, which is a great relief to me after the erratic quality of their work in 285 (particularly Patterson's inks.) Standout sequences for me would have to include Page 5, with the expressiveness that the art team brings to Brande's failed attempt at bonding with his son, Reep; Pages 12 & 13, a very well-executed one-on-one battle between Dirk and Regulus which segues into Dirk's breaching the out-of-control dome with fierce determination to save the day; and Pages 17 & 18, with multiple Legionnaires taking down Regulus amidst typically impressive Broderick-style star-scapes, and the bittersweet aftermath back on the surface of Brande's world -- damn, does John Fogerty Garth Ranzz look angry in that last panel after he learns of Reep's rash actions!

The back-up story leaves me less enthused, and not just because Giffen pencils it -- but even though Patterson provides what I consider a much smoother finish than Mahlstedt, showing a much better talent for faces, and also at conveying the illusions of solidity and plausible shadows, Giffen's layouts continue to underwhelm me, for the same reasons as before: 1) Lack of originality, in this case a superficial resemblance to some of the better early-mid 70s Marvel artists such as Paul Gulacy and Tom Sutton before THEY transcended THEIR influences; 2) Lack of fluidity in the compositions, with a lack of flow both within the panels and the segues from one panel to the next. It's not that I think it's all that bad, it's that I don't think it deserves to be held up as the gold standard of 1980s Legion art.

Then there's Levitz's script, which I feel tries in vain to hide how ineffectually Projectra and Val come off behind all the ornamental details; neither character has ever been a favorite of mine, and this story doesn't change my mind -- Projectra's illusion fails to take down Pharoxx, so what does Jeckie do? She tries ANOTHER illusion, which doesn't work either. And Val becomes a boastful boob at the worst possible time, giving Pharoxx a clear opening to defeat him (THIS is the supposed greatest non-powered warrior of the late 30th Century?) Pharoxx doesn't really impress me, either, he kind of reminds me of a generic Silver Age Gardner Fox villain, who can pull a new power out of his butt every time the plot requires him to.

Baby steps for the LSH book, then, but hopefully it'll learn to walk sooner rather than later.

They certainly are repetitive!



It also struck me as a radical change from his initial reaction. The comment Reep made about getting used to luxury also seemed odd, although he did show a taste for upscale women in previous stories.



That's one of the revelations of this reread for me - how far in advance these various plots begin. Brin & Vi are certainly the most stealthy of that group, although you'd think Jo would have brought some welcome physical clout.



Good spot on that detail. If he were a good guy, he might have ridden a unicorn.



I really like this comparison to HSB. Whoever's on monitor duty should say, "Be careful out there".



It is enjoyable to see Dirk back in the action (and, as thoth wrote, have Wildfire recede). Perhaps Regulus could have been taken out of the story altogether: just an unknown agent who set off the fusion dome, turning this into a shorter, tighter tale and turning the tracking down of the villain into another subplot.



Was Val disoriented by events or has pride gone before a fall? A guy who takes on Superboy and the Fatal Five by himself should have been more of a match for Pharoxx. Projectra's poor performance is pretty inexcusable, but then we wouldn't have much of a story if they just toddled off, got married and ruled Orando.

BTW, enjoyed your insights into the art, Annfie, but no comments since that's out of my league!

Annfie is our resident art critic!

I like to think that Val and Jeckie were both just a tad overconfident--and Val didn't know what to expect since he had never encountered Pharoxx before and had no idea that the dude knew both martial arts and magic. But the episode certainly doesn't reflect well on either Legionnaire.

I keep waiting for Brin to call someone "hairbag"!

LSH #287 Save the Espionage Suicide Squad by Paul Levitz, art by Keith Giffen & Bruce Patterson, colors D’Angelo, letters Costanza



Garth appears at Legion HQ, furiously demanding to see Cham.

Cham and his team approach Khundia; Brin and Vi are reluctant. Cham Turns himself into a layer of rock around a hollow asteroid and the three use their flight rings to land it on Khundia.

Garth then learns that Mon-el and Ultra Boy have been sent to Orando to rescue Jeckie and Val, then learns from Gim that the U.P. wants nothing to disrupt peace negotiations with the Khunds. In anger, Garth resigns and leaves Element Lad as leader.

On Khundia, the three Legionnaires disguise themselves as Khunds. Brin accidently bumps into a warrior, who demands he recite “the honorable litany of shame and apology”. When Brin fails to do so, he is challenged.

Ayla appeals to Imra to help rescue Brin from the Khundia debacle; the two share a rare emotional moment.

Kharlak the Khund transports the Legionnaires to a Challenge Court and a fight ensues, with many Khundians watching and wagering. They defeat Kharlak and flee as a battle cruiser appears, followed by a Legion team which rescues them and escapes in a ship “borrowed” from President Allon.

Saturn Girl comforts Brin, who is confused as to why she is there. Cham slinks off. Gim, piloting the ship, prepares to leave warp speed just as the ship’s navigation is damaged by collision with space debris.


Back-up: Prologue to Darkness by Paul Levitz, art by Pat Broderick & Larry Mahlstedt, colors D’Angelo, letters Kubert.

Mon-el and Shady interrupt their vacation when asked to investigate a wrecked planet. Shady gripes, Mon-el is dutiful. They are attacked by blasting crawl-tanks, which are even too much for Lar to handle. The tanks pull back when they hit Shady’s shadow field.

On the other side of this world, unknown to the two Legionnaires, a non-human being slowly awakens from many years of sleep. Shady and Mon leave, having received a distress signal from Val and Jeckie, and decide to have the planet marked off-limits. Mon is puzzled why darkness stopped the tanks. The awakened being laughs and declares they should worship the darkness until it comes for them.


Comments: Lots to like in this issue. There’s some great and welcome world-building of Khundia from writer and artist. Garth’s explosive reaction and resignation as leader surprised even his telepathic wife. Cham’s team has escaped, but one senses that this is far from the end of that story. The rescue ship looks like it’s about to be in serious trouble. The second story promises very dark and dangerous events ahead, beyond the immediate dangers facing Val and Jeckie on Orando.

We see a lot of emotion from Imra, which is rare, but she’s been hit with a lot of events in a few minutes. Is she letting her guard down because she’s speaking to her sister-in-law rather than another Legionnaire?

She’s maybe the only one among available Legionnaires who could pull off the rescue mission. Brin is surprised it’s her and, one assumes, not Ayla who has come to help. But Imra has the experience, the authority as a founder/former leader and the sheer force of will to get away with it; who’s going to argue with her? It’s a mess, and she deals with it. Interesting tidbit that Gim borrowed a ship from his mother’s private shipyard – is that private as in private presidential, or private Allon family? Nevertheless, it indicates that this is a sub rosa rescue mission in a volatile political situation.

Cham as a rock layer and the hollow asteroid is another of these far-fetched bits that doesn’t bear much thinking about. The actual battle with Kharlak is thankfully (for me) short-lived, but provides a good occasion to display Brin’s considerable athletic talents.

I liked the depiction of Khundia and the fact that there were women who weren’t dressed like “I Dream of Jeannie”.

The second story was good for setting up the major dramas ahead, on Orando and with Darkseid. I wouldn’t have thought it was Darkseid at the end, just figured it was some new villain. The artwork on Shadow Lass seemed a bit off to me, as did her whining about their interrupted vacation.

Thanks a lot for spoiling the villain at the end FC!

LoSH 287

This is a cover that’s never captured me. A mediocre looking villain bests three Legionnaires, while the display tells us that they didn’t stand much of a chance. Looking at it now, the leering crowd is probably its best feature. Design wise, it’s by the book. Split it into three horizontally and you have the logo plus the “vs Kharlak” while the middle has the action and the bottom has the crowd. All nicely separated. Split it vertically and Kharlak takes the centre, with space on either side to focus our attention on that action. Actually, that Legion logo could be part of the betting display so it gets some points for that. - From " A cover in Nine Panels " by K Giffen.

Inside, we pick up from last issue’s development that Cham is going off to Khundia while Garth is less than pleased about it. He’s so unhappy that he and the grumpy alien that lives on his head and passes for a haircut come crackling into a room filled with electronics.

I’ve always been struck (ow!) by Ayla’s reaction to Garth’s tantrum. She’s hesitant around him in that mood. Are there things about Garth’s childhood we don’t know about? Is Mekt the only volatile one? Considering Garth’s Livewire retcons later on, it would seem not. Even though Ayla may not have seen Garth this wild, I wonder if there’s more behind this one.

Garth shows that he’s not all about anger. He can sulk like a champ too. When Cos calms him down regarding leadership crises, Garth pretty much moans that no one has problems like he’s having.

It doesn’t help that the lights then go out. Garth is about to lose it completely before they all realise it’s a Giffen mood panel.

Leaving Garth to question his team mates’ courage, we nip off to somewhere near Khundia. Unfortunately, the macho posturing disease that has afflicted Garth has spread here. We don’t get more than a couple of panels and it’s all about Cham’s authority, as he and Brin square up. Vi seems to place her duty to do a job under Cham’s authority, over the sense of it.

Disguising Legion teams as asteroids would be used by Levitz later on in v7 to reach the Dominators. It’s a come down for the snazzy Space parachutes they got to use to infiltrate Talok back in the Mission: Impossible Adventure days. A trio of Legionnaires against the Khunds seems very few this issue, and I remember all those they could have brought with them.

Back on Earth, someone tells Garth the bad news. His hair was never in fashion. Worse, his plan to use Mon El and Ultra Boy to rescue the others isn’t possible as Element Lad, as Deputy Leader, has sent them off to Orando. Gim then tells him that his mom, President Allon, has ruled out Legion missions against the Khunds as there are ongoing negotiations with them.

It a lovely catalogue of mounting problems, all taken from the subplots around the team. It’s in these moments a leader would find a solution. Say, sending Dawny and Wildfire off to help, using warp technology seen in the Adventure days or perhaps contact the White Witch. But Garth just quits.

Giffen has been showing us transformations when the Legionnaires use their powers, and not just as expected for Cham. Dirk became surrounded by fire when facing Regulus; Vi has a mist like quality when she shifts her size while Garth emits crackling, angry electricity. It consumes him much as the pressures of leadership have, and he storms (pun!) off.

Back on Khundia, our scouting party has landed, We get more lovely visuals from Giffen that immediately identify the world to accompany the encyclopaedia entry. It’s a grim place. Years later, when Brin went off to Lithyl, he must have been reminded of Khundia. Here, we get reminded that he has super speed, Cham gives a recap on how his powers work (this will have a pay off much later on) and we see the Legion’s distorter technology. Vi has another moment to shut down the mission, as Cham clearly isn’t emotionally stable enough to be leading it. But in they go. Cham changes into a very alien creature to reflect his mood, but Brin is not impressed in a nice touch. I remember Vi saying she was actually creeped out by Cham’s powers and wonder what she thought of that one.

Emotions are also heightened back on Earth. We see Ayla very emotionally dependant on Brin, trying to persuade Imra to do something. Imra sees that Ayla’s love for Brin is greater than anything she has for herself. Feeling isolated and cold, she agrees to help. It’s a strong, crisply dialogued scene. Like a lot of others, it will have far reaching consequences. Ayla will be forced to confront her dependency as Imra will once again stand out as one of the team’s strongest members. It should be remembered that Imra had a similar bonding experience with Tinya when they thought Jo had died.

Three disguised as Khundians go into the capital. It doesn’t go well. In the aggressive, packed environment a single bump leads to a challenge and transport to the combat arenas. In the arena, Cham ask the others not to use their powers. Why Brin can’t use them and maintain his disguise is a mystery. Gharlak may be a champion of the courts, but he’s outmatched by Brin in what’s proving to be a very good spotlight mission for him. Much like the organleggers a couple of issues ago, Levitz doesn’t shy away of showing the Legion as very capable, if they clearly outmatch their opponent. It probably makes the losses, such as to Pharoxx, have more impact. It does mean that it's another main story where the villains play their part among the other subplots, rather than hog the limelight. Perhaps that will change soon.

With no escape plan, and a Khundian warship approaching, Brin expected more from the team leader. Fortunately, they are rescued by Gim and Imra. The pair have taken a ship from Gim’s mom (does this come from the presidency?) and manage to pick up their teammates.

Unfortunately, their ship is damaged during the escape and our cliff hanger panel shows them crash into an asteroid. As Cham had slinked away form his failure a few panels before, it’s unlikely he’ll hollow out this one for a return visit to Khundia.

I have a few mixed feelings about this story. Garth’s personality in this arc is what I remember most about him. Most of the worst parts of that are evident here. In fairness, his authority has been questioned and undermined for a long time, resulting in at least one blow out. Perhaps that has weakened his resolve when he feels that things have gone against him here. But previously, before Levitz, there was every chance Garth was getting through his leader’s angst. Here, it’s back with added Space Melodrama. He lashes out against his teammates, he sulks, he moans and he offers absolutely nothing as an alternative. Just as Wildfire, absent here, was doing a few issues ago.

I’m willing to go along with Ayla feeling that her world would end without Brin. Someone should have had a word with her ages ago. But lots have people have been there. If anything, Levitz’s arrival has seen Brin act more as a team player than ever, providing a lot of hope for them as a couple.

I’ll go along with Imra’s realisation that she doesn’t have anything as powerful as Ayla’s feelings. We’re all different, so it’s not something that you necessarily have to beat yourself up about. However, Imra has been emotionally isolated from her teammates for a very long time. Just remember the comments they made about her during the Reflecto arc. Her wish to change things, and to rescue Brin is a strong moment for her. I wonder if this is overcompensation, and that it’s this that becomes an issue in the stories to come.

What bothers me is Brin’s reaction of “Why you?” when Imra arrives. It’s very forced and will lead onto further scenes I feel are similarly pushed at the reader. Look at all the other cavalry saves in previous issues. No one said “Why you?” in any of those.

While Cham’s reasons to go to Khundia were genuine enough, it bothered me why he’d leave so many others behind. Even on a scouting mission, the Legion would be stronger in numbers. Similarly, why would Ayla not be part of the rescue team? She’s pleading Imra to organise it, yet isn’t there. Very odd and, as we’ll see, very forced in order for the next part of the story to work.

I’m not convinced concerning Cham’s mission either. I can see him going off ill prepared. But it all becomes far too vague as the characters are put through the plot hoops leading to their rescue. What exactly are they there to do? What are their goals?

But for all the over egging, having the side missions eat away at the Legion’s resources was more subtly done. It will presumably lead into the subplots too.

Last issue Giffen had a lot of intricate foreground work within sparse backgrounds. This time round nearly every panel has a lot going on behind the characters. From the technology of Khundia through the circuitry of Legion HQ to space warping rescues. Yet, he does change for certain panels such as Ayla and Imra’s moment. Losing all the light for Garth’s gloomy panel was funny, and is a precursor to all those unlikely later Giffen shadows. The panel breakdowns across each page are very varied, while the action sequences are excellent. There’s a fluidity to the movement of Cham, Brin and Vi. Tapping into Sherman’s work, Gim seems always to be using his powers. It’s visually impressive if a little odd when he even has an oversized pilot’s chair.

One thing I’m looking forward to are the political ramifications of Cham’s actions. Gim has used him mom’s ship to rescue Legionnaires who have clearly been seen by all of Khundia’s capital. All this while the UP is negotiating with the Khunds. It’s not going to look good. It shows the Legion operating in a more highly defined universe, reminiscent of some of the more in depth older stories.

Thank you both so much. That makes all the thought and effort that goes into those posts worth it.

And I'm happy to say that I'm mostly pleased from start to finish with the art in the issue currently under discussion, LSH 287.

Giffen gets his first shot at the LSH lead story, and I think he -- with no little help from Bruce Patterson -- performs above and beyond the remit. Because although it's still very much in the mold of the most popular styles of the early 80s (this particular case reminds me not so much of John Byrne as of George Perez circa his brief JLA run, particularly when Perez was inked by John Beatty), it's perfectly efficient and effective, same as Paul Levitz's meat-and-potatoes old-school space-opera script. The latter is a good reminder that Levitz, IMHO at least, tended to be a better LSH writer when he didn't overreach himself with the metaphysical and deconstructive aspects of the Legion mythos, and just stuck to the gutsy Galactic Grand-Guignol thrills.

Broderick, in what will be, IIRC, his last Legion contribution until Levitz's writing was in quality free-fall during the middle installments of Conspiracy, does the back-up here, and, as Cramey noted above, it's not his best work. I am tempted to put the lion's share of the blame on Larry Mahltstedt -- whose Legion work, as I said before, is less to my liking than his 90s work on Marvel books such as New Warriors and Spider-Man -- but I also get the feeling that Broderick may have been champing at the bit to get cooking on Firestorm's upcoming solo book, whose first issue gets an ad in this very LSH issue, and so he simply did not put his most focused effort into the LSH backup. (A digression: it's easy to forget just how popular Firestorm was at that time, thanks largely to his appearances in the Perez/Conway JLA -- within only 2 years of his solo book's premiere, he'd make the leap onto the Super Friends animated TV show, a much more rare honor back in those days for a relatively new character!)

Having said all that, even below-average Broderick is still more to my satisfaction than 90 percent of above-average work from other artists. It's erratic, yes, but it definitely has its moments of power and splendor, same as his work on the lead story of 285. My one real bone to pick with the art on the backup (and, by implication, the script as well) is that it doesn't make it clear HOW the Mystery Villain is awakened and set free. As a Tasmia lover and a Mon-El detractor, I'd like to think it was Mon's fault, and that while he was carelessly wrecking everything, he also accidentally shorted out the devices that kept the villain imprisoned. The thought that Tasmia would have accidentally released both Mordru (Adventure #369-370) AND this very ominous Mystery Villain is anathema to me. OTOH, if that IS the case, then it certainly supports my theory that Umbra is a superior iteration of Tasmia to both her Preboot and Threeboot counterparts.

In short, 287 is just plain good comics, and I only hope the remainder of my allotted Pre-Baxter issues not only surprise me equally, but maybe even convince me to not take a hiatus between LSH #294 and Baxter #1.

I really love those Pre-great Darkness stories. They do have the right mixture that I consider make the Legion so great: There are a lot of tiny tidbits from different characters, nearly everybody plays at least a minor role or has a minor story. There is a larger story with Chams expedition to Khundia, but there is still time for smaller character pieces and shorter stories like Medicus One. And the artwork is terrific!

These stories are kind of special for me for another reason: They are the first ones that were no longer translated into German (they somehow stopped with Reflecto, doing just two further specials publishing the Annual #1 and #300). So they kind of are the stories that are a direct sequel to my childhood Legion days, and it took me over ten years to finally be able to read them in the English original.

In the Annual, there are references to Chams Khundia adventure and Imras intimate moment with Timber Wolf - it was very interesting to actually see that so many years later. I am glad that these stories are included in the Great Darkness Hardcover version

This issue gives the basis for every Khund character in my fan-fics - the gossip, the gambling, the disdain for others, the strict hierarchy and paranoia - it all comes from here.

Sorry I don't have the time right now to join in the discussions properly but I will o in a couple of weeks when I have more time.

There's so much more to work with seeing a society so tense in such packed, volatile conditions. Much better than the standard Khunds....in..Spaaaace! invading warlords we'd seen before.



Looking forward to it.



There's something refreshing with a cast reshuffle under a new writer. Levitz does seem to give everyone something to do, which is always welcome. I'm sure from lettercols that giving panel time to everyone was something he considered. Like you said Chemical King, it's just that right mixture during this period.



They probably thought it couldn't get any better after Reflecto "Great Darkness Saga? Feh! It is nothing compared to the creepy identity crisis of Kal-Jo!"




Thanks for sharing that. That's something in the favour of continuity. That references in future issues make getting the earlier stories all the more enticing.

Tsk! Since I'm on the spoiler roll, the baby is Izaya. And Brin & Imra get all huggy next issue!



You just made the cover more interesting!



Mekt went evil, Garth had a breakdown. Maybe his 5YL calm was the result of medication. Or Imra worked a few mind tricks on him.



It worked for Prince Valiant!



Good point, power made visual adds to the power.



Moons of Colu! You're right. Garth is the new Wildfire!



Good points again! (You are racking them up!) Ayla could have gone along and the whole asteroid scene could have still happened; she'd just have found out about it earlier. And while Vi, Gim and Brin might have been duty bound to accompany Cham, they might have tried to question him more and get a plan in place before landing on Khundia.



That's a surprise - praise for a Giffen issue, albeit with caveats!



It's a shame that Khundia wasn't further developed along these lines in the comic. They seemed to go rather one-note with a military society and left aside the gossip, gambling and paranoia.

Sorry for the late review; RL has kept swimming against a maelstrom this week. I’ll try to make up for it by discussing this issue more in depth than usual.

287:

“Save the Suicide Squad” has the distinction of being the first fully realized lead story of Levitz Mk. II. The tale springs naturally from the characters and the situation they find themselves in (or have blundered into). Both it and the backup story, “Prologue to Darkness,” bring Levitz’s vision of the Legion together in an exciting package that kicks off what has become one of the most lauded eras Legion history. What follows here is a breakdown of the hits and very few misses of this exceptional issue.


The action in “Save the Suicide Squad” springs naturally out of the characters and reveals them in new and exciting ways.

Chameleon Boy. Still conflicted over his own emotions, Cham leads an ill-advised mission to Khundia, which amounts to an invasion of a hostile world. The Legion did this sort of thing routinely in the past, but now there are constant reminders that Cham’s actions may carry legal and political consequences. None of this matters to Cham, though. He browbeats the others with his right to lead the mission and to order them about. This young man desperately clings to a shred of his former identity, which has been demolished by the revelation that R.J. is his father. The only aspect that remains constant for Cham, it seems, is his role as permanent leader of the Espionage Squad.

(This shifting identity comes off as ironic, considering Cham’s powers. He has made a career out of imitating other people, animals, and objects. Like an actor who has lost himself in the role he plays, Cham seems to have completely lost any sense of his own identity here.)

Cham seems intoxicated with his own power as Espionage Squad leader. I can’t help but wonder if he thinks R.J.’s billions will get him out of any legal difficulties that arise from this mission—or if he’s even thinking that far ahead. Perhaps Garth pegged it correctly that Cham is leading a suicide mission. In any case, I couldn’t help feeling sorry for Cham as much as I deplored his actions; I wanted his mission to succeed, even though I knew it wouldn’t.

Timber Wolf and Shrinking Violet. Brin serves quite well as the thorn in Cham’s side. Brin knows the mission is stupid and acts out in anger because he can’t do anything else. Vi serves as peacemaker between the two; as others have pointed out, she comes across as “the good soldier,” the one who follows orders without question. Perhaps, as a long-time member of the Espionage Squad, she has more faith in Cham.


SPOILER WARNING

Saturn Girl. For me, the real surprise is Imra. For too long, she has played a subservient role as Ol’ Iron Butt and as Garth’s loving lackey. What brings her out of her shell is Ayla. This is the first we've seen of their relationship as sisters-in-law, and it works beautifully. In desperation to save Brin, Ayla turns to Imra, whose response reveals something very interesting and attractive about her: She cares deeply about her friends and colleagues and will break the law to save them.

Imra regains the trailblazing and self-righteous aspect of her personality which was first revealed way back in Adventure 304, when she manipulated the others into electing her as leader of the Legion to save them from death. Later writers would develop this aspect of her personality to an even greater degree in the first Legion Lost mini-series.

Lightning Lad. Garth’s resignation as leader also springs naturally from his character and from what has gone before. Not everyone is cut out to be a leader, and Garth gives us a vivid demonstration of this truth. Cosmic Boy is right: Every Legion leader has faced trials, but Garth’s head is wedged too far up his hindquarters to see that. He takes Cham’s actions personally, and, when the Legion needs him most, he quits as leader. Good riddance.

Colossal Boy. Gim remains a bit player in all this, but an effective one. I can only speculate that he agreed to go along with Imra’s mad plan because he’s loyal to his teammates, he wants to save Violet (for whom he still has unrequited feelings) and/or out of defiance toward his mother, whose presidential directive has hamstrung the Legion. However, we don’t really need to know his motivation—not every Legionnaire needs to “star” in every story.



This story affords us our first real glimpse into Khundia and Khundish culture. The Khunds have always seemed like second-rate Klingons, and that resemblance comes across even stronger here. The Khunds, like the Klingons, are ruled by a merciless warrior ethic with trial by combat as the preferred method of settling disputes. No matter—the resemblance serves its purpose by showing how ill-prepared the Legionnaires are. When Kharlak orders the disguised Brin to recite “the honorable litany of shame and apology,” I knew the jig was up. This scene reminded me of any number of WWII films, in which an allied infiltrator, posing as a German soldier, is exposed when someone speaks to him in German and he does not know how to respond. Nothing ruins a cover more quickly than being asked for a match to light a cigarette.

Kharlak himself is simply a means to an end: an obstacle which exposes our heroes’ identities and moves the story forward. I would have been disappointed if he had been harder to defeat. Surely the Legionnaires are better than a boastful street thug.



As I re-read this story, I noticed some of the weaknesses Annfie has pointed out in Giffen’s art. These weaknesses are most apparent in the establishing shots inside Legion HQ (pp. 2, 5, and 11, for example): There is a certain flatness and “sameness” to the backgrounds which make them appear fake. Nevertheless, Giffen’s art is cleaner and more exciting than any art we’ve had in quite a while.

I can’t help wondering if he felt forced to draw this way. The cartoony, off-the-wall style, which he adopted later, seemed more natural to him (though, in my view, much less appealing).



“Prologue to Darkness” provides an effective setup for the major story line to follow. It’s interesting to read this now, knowing the identity of the master villain and the abandoned world. At the time, I hadn’t read Jack Kirby’s Fourth World titles, and Darkseid was an occasional villain I’d encountered in JLA and elsewhere, so I did not connect the dots. However, the clues are there for those who are more familiar with the character and setting.

As with the Sun Boy “spotlight” last issue, this story frustrates me by revealing little about Mon-El and Shadow Lass. They go through the motions of acting like lovers whose competing desires conflict with their duty as Legionnaires. Shady bemoans their ruined vacation while Lar puts duty first. When the action starts, Lar blunders through the planet’s automated defenses, and Shady saves the day—albeit unintentionally. They serve the needs of the plot, nothing more.

The Broderick/Mahlstedt art is serviceable but rushed in places—especially the first page (Tasmia’s head looks too large for her bubble helmet) and Mon’s overly dramatic posturing on Page 3.



When this issue came out, it wasn’t among my favorites because it didn’t spotlight any of my favorite Legionnaires, except Garth (and in a less than flattering way) and Mon-El (who doesn't do anything interesting). I was also used to larger mission teams, so the three-member team shown here seemed a paltry offering. However, Levitz does so much with all of the Legionnaires featured in the lead story and with the story itself, that he caused me to reevaluate my preconceptions about what good writing is. For that, I will be eternally grateful.

This story rocks. The characters drive the plot, which, in turn, reveals many surprising and long overdue insights about our heroes.

LoSH 287 - Backup

Mon-El’s grin at Shady’s huff over an interrupted vacation, belies the very ominous captions on the opening page. “…a world that has been forgotten…no, let us say instead, erased… a world who inhabitants were too cruel, too cold…to survive into this enlightened thirtieth century. A world whose ashes may yet be the setting for the final battle of the Legion of Super-Heroes.” I’d expect huge storylines to be front and centre in most titles, but this one starts in a back up and builds in stages.

A planet has drifted into the major interstellar trade routes. Investigatory probes have not returned, so two nearby Legionnaires investigate. They find a bleak world with an oppressive atmosphere. It’s vicious structures are placed in a cold, rocky world that Mon El notes he hasn’t seen even in his thousand years spent in the Phantom Zone.

In the few Levitz 2.0 issues, we’ve seen Mon El step up to fill in for Superboy. He screams on three occasions when dealing with the world’s automated defences, before Shadow Lass surrounds them with her protective darkness. The machines deactivate. Now that could have meant that they simply couldn’t locate their targets. But it’s made clear on a couple of occasions that it’s the darkness itself that the machines respond to.

The couple are summoned via their rings to help Val and Jeckie form the last back up story, and leave the world. Behind them a dark plume rises from an open air sarcophagus. Its occupant awakes into this new century illuminated by the pits that still burn across his world. Even the simply action of stretching, is tied into acts of violence and darkness. As Mon El tells Shady that he’ll get the world declared off limits, the figure below plans to test this universe with the aim of ruling in darkness over it all.

I first read this issue well after I had got the later ones, and there are plenty of clues here as to who the main villain was going to be. There’s even a handy from behind shot of his distinctive head, as Lar and Tasmia fly off.

I’ve never been impressed by the art in this one. Mon El looks a bit too distinctive. Shady doesn’t look as bad. If anything it’s her peevishness that’s a little out of place this time round. If asked to render a now desolate, forgotten word that still has hallmarks of its evil past, the art does tick all the boxes. Perhaps it’s my lack of 4th world reading, or later Byrne renderings in Superman that made me expect something more.

I think the defence robots/systems are almost cartoonish, and I imagine Apokalips falling when they outsourced their Menace department to ACME. But for all I know Kirby had hundreds of things looking just like those populating that world. And they do just what the script wants. Reading it here, I still get a disconnect between the visuals and the captions. The captions tell us that the villain is deep in a crypt, but he’s shown watching (well, he’s looking up and we see the word balloon) the heroes depart. So, I was never sure where exactly he was supposed to be. Deep underground, or on the surface. Looking at it again, I think he’s supposed to be a lot further down in one of the fire pits that we’re told about. But it’s a tough ask to get those conflicting instructions into a single frame, so we get what looks like a much shallower pit.

We’ve had a few villains so far. Organus had writing, if not visual, promise (Getting his to steal Brin’s powers for that somersault still looks odd). We’ve also had the organ leggers in that issue, the robotic faced villains on Naltor, Pharoxx and the return of Regulus. While the Khunds have offered large scale threats we’ve seen them used here around other stories and as a general UP threat. This story, for all its blatant foreboding promises a villain up there with Mordru and the Trapper in both scope and power.

Marte Allon was a school teacher before her election, correct? I don't recall what Gim's father does for a living, but, even in the 30th century, it's doubtful that a school teacher would make enough to have her own private shipyard. Maybe she's rich and slumming.



Yeah. There seems to be no reason for him to put himself at risk of burning up on re-entry by "coating" the asteroid with his body; however, it makes a nice visual demonstration of his power.



Good catch--a point in the Khunds' favor.




True. Much depends on the purpose of Cham's mission. If they were only going to gather intelligence, a smaller, more compact team might be necessary (Cham as the brains, Gim as the brawn, Salu as the one who can get into tiny places). Alas, the purpose is never revealed to us.



One of the really nice things about this issue is that it sets up Ayla for the drastic changes she will make after the Great Darkness Saga: breaking up with Brin and quitting the Legion. This arc could be seen as the story of Ayla growing up and coming into her own.

Good point about Brin. This side of him is much more appealing than the angsty loner who can't stand civilization.



Another aspect I'm enjoying about these stories is that the characters' motivations become more complex and open to interpretation. Levitz draws on our previous associations with the characters without spelling everything out for us.



Good catch. Even if Tasmia and/or Lar awakened the villain, I don't think either should be held responsible. Things happen, and they had no way of knowing the consequences of their actions. But it's just as likely that Darkseid awoke when he was ready, and that his awakening coincided with Lar and Tasmia's visit. As with the character motivations, we're left to draw our own conclusions.

Very interesting insights into Cham's possible motives. He may well be conflicted between suicide mission and reliance on R.J.'s money and influence. The idea that he's lost his identity would explain a lot - and indicate how affected he has been by R.J..




SPOILER REPLY



I still see Gim as immature in a lot of his actions. Taking the ship strikes me as a bit of a prank or a dare, but I overlooked the "saving Vi" motivation, which must have been strong, and the defiance toward Marte.

^A straitjacket bazooka could only have been designed by DeSaad!

I'm not sure how future spoilers are handled in this thread: do we limit discussion to what's published as if we hadn't read future issues? Or can I ask the question about #286 I'm dying to ask?

We don't have an official policy that I know of. So feel free to post your question. I'm dying to know what it is!

According to Wikipedia, #286 was Yera's first appearance. I've looked over the issue pretty thoroughly, but I can't see anything for that to be based on. Was there any in-story hint given that we can recognize the point at which the switch happened? I realize that she must be Yera at this point just because it's the start of a mission where in hidsight it had to be Yera, but that doesn't mean this is where the switch happened, right? As far as I can tell, it could have been Yera at Nullport for example.

In the reveal issue, they do the memory scan and see she pulls the switch "Just before" the mission to Khundia. Hard to say the exact moment it happened, whether she was snatched off-panel while they were prepping the mission, or if she was replaced before Cham recruited her.

The deception was explained - or will be - in #305, when she's revealed to be Yera; Levitz just had her state that the switch was made at the time of the Khundian mission. I don't think there are any real clues. In the letter column in #311, they claim that this was planned a year and a half in advance of the reveal i.e. when writing the Suicide Mission story.

It's going to be interesting tracking her through her strong showing her to her equally strong showing in the Baxter Universo saga and beyond. At the very end, there’s an acknowledgement that she was the team’s best leader. This issue gives a glimpse as to why that is.



I was wondering if there’s an alien life form that can survive re-entry, and Cham is imitating it. Why he feels the need to is a mystery. Perhaps it’s to protect the others form the heat inside the rocky inner shell. While things like the cartoonish head on an alien body is funny, I probably prefer a bit more definition on Cham’s powers. Not that we’ve ever really had that.

As for Brin, he does seem to be establishing a niche for himself with Levitz. Possibly in the same way Mon El has moved into Superboy’s boots. With Val on leave, there’s room for an agile, melee driven fighter on the team.



Gah! Well…Neil Gaiman’s death is waiting for them all at the end of the DCU…so there…





Perhaps Garth’s inner Proty was otherwise occupied. Odd that this would happen just as Brande would be revealed as Reep’s dad, and that Brande would be shown as very close to the Proteans…hidden story there.

Combining this with Imra’s decisiveness when confronted by Ayla here (and Tinya previously), perhaps this pushes her to think that a falimy life with Garth, even one away from the Legion will bring her similar happiness.




I’ve never liked Price Valiant because of his hair either. My brain cell tells me I didn’t like Valiant first, before I saw Garth. But why? Clearly some flashback to Arthurian battles in my ancestry.



I bet Drake had stupid hair too. The accident had one upside.



Possibly why he clings to the only solid thing he has, his Espionage position.



I was thinking that help form Brande was the last thing he wanted. Consciously at least. If it’s a suicide mission, then it casts some fresh perspective on Cham’s mind. I’d really hope he’d not take two colleagues into it, no matter how grim things seemed. But the Secrets reveal is certainly paying off under Levitz’s pen.



Yups. Although memory tells me it hangs over him for some time to come. Which probably means the Comic Cliché of sitting in darkened rooms, while others fight your battles until…



Really good insight into Gim’s motives there. All excellent reasons why he would go. Together they are very compelling.



Always happens. That’s why MI6 started extensive language courses for its operatives. Soon, they were all speaking in dodgy accents, but slowly and very loudly so the locals would be sure to understand.



I don’t know if a lot of artists go through the same number of influences on the printed page. Perhaps it’s just that we know of Giffen’s that makes them stand out more. I like to think he was developing and experimenting as he went. I seem to recall there’s a story coming up that bears an uncanny resemblance to the 5YG work that would appear later.




I think that there’s an element of this right at the heart of their relationship, so seeing them like that works as development for me I agree that both serve the plot well here. Mon as Super-Stand in to show how powerful the villain is, and Shady to give a whopping insight into the nature of the threat. It was nice seeing Lar’s sheer determination and Shady saving his butt.



His dad is shown as involved with the UP fleet at some point in the retroboot, so it might be a loaner form there.




An espionage story without a plot, isn’t much of a story and that’s partly what we got here. It was all about getting Cham into the position and having them escape than having any other purpose.



A lot of Levitz Legionnaires will have to question what they believe in, while the action goes on around them.



There’s a plot point later that does show the villain as able to take information form others. That was from Mon too. But I like to think of the dark world as returning after a cataclysmic earlier battle, after which it was foretold that the galaxy would be free from its blight for a millennium. And here we are at the end of that.

Since that time, the colony worlds have sprung up and what would have been a quiet orbit previously, now takes the world into shipping lanes. If anything, the UP probes might have activated the place. None of them came back after all. Any follow up lifeform may have been enough to raise the villain, or perhaps the cycle was already running when they arrived.

How do you fire a bazooka from a straitjacket? Next on the Querl and Tenzil Sanatorium Show!


On Vi

#284 – sitting next to Gim in the background during a meeting.

#285 - Trapped under a fallen cruiser. Would the real Vi have managed an easier escape by shifting between the molecules of the debris? But then, she does find that there was sabotage, which was the Plot point of having her stuck under there in the first place. She’s keen to investigate, and knows her way around Khundian technology. She also shrinks down to follow circuit paths. In the final panels, she’s tells the others that there’s nothing wrong with keeping feelings private. Promoting her cover? Perhaps, but Star Boy associates it clearly with Vi’s normal personality.

#286 – Initially a background character in HQ. She knows what Cham’s personality is supposed to be like, when he acts out of character, and comments that next, she’ll become like Nura. Knowledge that only Vi would have, or an admission to the acting potential of Yera?

#287 – Confident enough to step between Brin and Reep’s argument. Compliant in following Cham’s orders, but he does have authority. I did note that as the three entered the asteroid, Brin tells Cham not to be so theatrical. Beside him is the actress Yera, and this might be one of the early examples of Brin’s accurate intuition. Yera’s use of a distorter and having to blow her cover also carry more weight when later events are revealed. Vi also looks to support Cham, who clearly has personal issues.


She survives the Khundia mission. While not showing much combat prowess, she does shrink to “microscopic size” when hitching a ride out on Brin.

In summary, there’s not much to show the change until next issue. Some of her dialogue does seem to relate to what personality should be like. Likewise the Khundia mission is all about infiltration and disguise. Both might be telling. We’ve already seen Levitz plan ahead, so I’d like to give him the benefit of the doubt that this wasn’t just retrofitted in.

I wish I'd realized last year that you guys would be getting to this classic Levitz/Giffen run so soon. I did a re-read of the run all the way thru 325 (no Baxter) in late 2016. Much as I love it, it's just too soon for me mentally to re-read it again. I'll enjoy reading your posts, though.

I suppose I'll hold off on re-reading the Baxter series until you guys reach it, though.

Thanks.



Point taken, but I think there actually is a plot--we're just not given much insight into the crucial purpose of Cham's mission. That omission may be deliberate. I don't think this is an espionage story so much as the story of a Legionnaire (or several Legionnaires, actually) suffering a breakdown. The espionage angle is just a plot device.



Very carefully.

Thanks for the breakdown of Vi's appearances leading up to this issue.

In # 305, Cham says, "...she began her impersonation the morning I led that stupid mission to Khundia" (p. 7). This suggests to me that the switch occurred between 286 and 287, allowing for a day or two of prep time for the mission. This supports your theory that the familiarity Vi displayed with her teammates in 286 came from the real Vi.

Very well put. I also appreciated your insights into the characters, especially Cham.



LOL I'm just as surprised as you! But, as I said before, I think Bruce Patterson prettified and solidified Giffen's pencils a great deal. Hopefully when Mahlstedt comes back soon as Giffen's default inker, I'll find more to like. I do have to admit I'm a bit worried that GDS might suffer from the shift in plotting -- Levitz solo to Levitz/Giffen -- about halfway through, but we shall see.



Agreed about the flatness of the images you mentioned. Also, I've found, in previous reads of this LSH era, that Giffen's pages tend to strike me as rather static and stiff, as well as over-crowded with too many little panels and too much superfluous detail. Oddly enough, I think those criticisms could also be applied, in unsentimental hindsight, to a lot of the lesser work of George Perez, to whom I (favorably) compared Giffen's 287 art. And hopefully, the art in the next few issues will surprise me as pleasantly as that in 287.

As for Giffen's later, stranger, crazier style, the ultimate irony is that it brought him accusations of outright plagiarism, albeit of an obscure-to-American-readers European artist named Jose Munoz. Even so, I've gathered that there was quite a bit of controversy about this in the mid-1980s fan press.



Again, agreed. Levitz does definitely know the nuts & bolts of good serial writing better than most of his generation IMO. Of course, it doesn't hurt that one of his writing teachers was none other than Frank McCourt.



Thanks, Lardy. But just a reminder that it's never too late to chime in, even if it's not until a couple years from now. I've been considering going back, at some point sooner rather than later, and doing full reviews of selected stories from Volumes 11 through 17. Maybe even reaching back to the Adventure era, during which my re-read participation was spotty.



Yay! Glad to hear that. As I've said before, it's the first 3 years of Baxter (especially Year 2 and Year 3) that I'm most passionate about as far as the Levitz LSH goes. To have more people participating "in real time" would be wonderful!

Wow! I'd totally missed that possibility. What a great retrofit! Garth/Proty's on edge because R.J. is possibly on to him or the whole Durlan/Protean thing seems to be getting out of hand... and Garth's Proty-senses wouldn't pick up on the Yera deception because he's so muddled with anxiety and stress. Could be quite the trip down the rabbit hole with that hidden story.



It did sort of sneak up on us, time-wise. I had the impression it would take longer to get there as well. Your comments on any of the stories from whatever you remember reading would be well appreciated!



Wasn't aware of this controversy. When somebody imitates Kirby, it's a tribute. I wonder what the problem was.

Oops. I was actually trying to use the example of reading a spy novel, only to find that there was no espionage in it. The Legion issue is saved quite a bit (as HWW mentions) as there are other intertwining plots.




Thanks HWW. As you know, I'm trying to be careful after my helicopter-in-a-neckerchief incident.




Is there a feeling that the reader should have had a tip off of some kind? Or do some of the above comments work in hindsight, so the reader can piece it together?

[snip]

I'd go with the second. But I first read these stories after the big reveal, so...

Cham says, "She must have," etc. But he can't be sure.

With what we know about technology now, I bet this would be a tougher story to pull off today.

The first real tip-off comes in "Cold and Lonely..." when Gim works up the courage to confess his feelings to her and she reacts with doubt and confusion.

Another tip-off occurs in 298, IIRC, when Gim and Duplicate Boy have their showdown over Violet. Dupe remarks that Vi is not the woman he thought she was. On the surface, it's a comment from a jilted lover, but it's also a tip-off that Dupe sees something that isn't quite right. Vi's reaction is also not what we would expect; she simply averts her eyes. We're led to believe that the real Vi would behave much differently. In 305, the Legionnaires point out that they had trouble believing the real Vi would give up on her love for Duplicate Boy so easily.