Continuing with the Legion retrospective SLSH 225-251 (First Levitz as writer)

Just over a week ago, I started a conversation about the Cockrum/Grell days that started over 50 years ago. Today, let's move into the next phase of the Legion - the first Paul Levitz days.

To me, this is a very interesting time in Legion history for the big changes that occur, the big successes, and the big failures. I find it's a very uneven re-read. Whereas with the previous Cockrum/Grell issues, where you always knew you were getting good artwork even if the stories were thin, I'm a little less impressed by the artwork here. Sorry, James Sherman, but following two amazing artists is a daunting challenge most couldn't match.

I'm going to go over the run in chronological order and see how this goes.

We start with Wildfire taking over as the leader, which shows just how popular he was when he joined the team. Dawnstar joins the team, Chemical King dies (which was handled so... oddly... like they just needed a way to make the Dark Circle more threatening and chose a character who was unpopular and hard to write to sacrifice. Bouncing Boy gets his powers back and I think you can safely say that Levitz is, with almost every issue, shaking up the title and doing what he wants with the book.

Which leads to issue 231 - which is the official first time the book is actually called Superboy & the Legion of Super-Heroes. Even though the covers said the Legion for years, it was still officially just called Superboy. But now that they were Giant-Sized, time for a change.

What's great about this Giant-Sized run from 231-242 is that Levitz gets to use every Legionnaire, multiple times, and develop their characters. Unfortunately, this is countered with some really mediocre stories and characters (Arma Getten, anyone?). And as much as I love Grell's work on the special where Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl got married, I can't say I was a big fan of the story.

I have to call out issue #239 - Jim Starlin comes in to craft an issue unlike anything the Legion had seen before. This must have stunned readers at the time - Ultra Boy is accused of murder, Chameleon Boy shows off his amazing detective skills, and the killer is a hooded mystery.

Then, Earth War! Whereas just a few years earlier, Legion was producing 12-page stories with the simplest of plots, Earth War is their first multi-issue story, running from #241 - 245. It's an epic story with tons going on - Levitz brings in almost every character he can think of and it's really a thematic pre-cursor to the Great Darkness Saga. My big complaint about this is simple - Joe Staton would become a great artist and has a very particular style. At this point he's not and this book doesn't fit his style at all.

I also wonder if Earth War just knocked Levitz out of writing. You can tell by the fill-ins, Gerry Conway writing more and more, and the added workload of the Karate Kid series (less said about that, the better), Levitz was straining with the pressure.

But he gets to go out with a bang, so to speak. We finally get the wrap-up to Jim Starlin's #239 with the two-parter in #250-251. Although yes, it's obvious that this was written and drawn long before it was published (and not just because of Wildfire's presence throughout the book when he was no longer leader). Brainiac 5 is insane, the Legion headquarters are destroyed, and we've officially turned the corner.

I walked about the previous run being a more mature Legion with the stories gently pushing towards that. With this run, we're fully into this book being written with real stakes and characterization. I think Levitz probably bit more off than he could handle, but this run affects the Legion for years to come with new characters (such as Shvaughn Erin) who would play critical roles for years.

Art is really a personal taste, so please don't take this as me hating on the artists. They're just not on the pantheon of Legion artists, which is a hard level to get to. Sherman is a little too cartoony for me, Michael Netzer does some good stuff that often feels like he's directly copying Neal Adams, and I've already mentioned that I don't think Staton fits on the Legion. Jim Starlin's work is the only one that really stands out.