Deep Diving Away - LSH #304-313 - What was Giffen smoking??

These are the final non-Baxter issues that Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen worked on together and it's also right when Giffen starts his new art style and stuns every Legion fan.

For those of you who don't know the story (and I will admittedly get some of this wrong), as we approach the end of the Giffen's first run on the Legion, he went from being an artist who was admired and respected for his clean lines and amazing futuristic style (very Jim Starlin-like) to someone who seemed to have a stake in an ink company. The artwork became very dark, with heavy ink lines, and longtime fans of the book were very shocked by the change. What we didn't know at the time was that he became very influenced by the work of Jose Munoz, an Argentinian cartoonist. In a podcast, Giffen stated that he needed to change his style - he was growing bored drawing the Legion and this stylistic change kept him on the book. Considering it only really kept him on the book for another year, I think he was just delaying the inevitable.

And let's be honest - the moment he knew there was going to be a number one issue, at a higher price point, which meant a bigger paycheck, I'm sure that gave Giffen a reason to stick around. That's not a criticism - that's just a smart employee.

On a complete aside, I never made the Starlin connection when I was reading the book, but as soon as I read it, it was so very obvious.

These ten books are somewhat of a mixed bag. There are some amazingly good ones and there's a lot of filler. With the benefit of hindsight, you can tell that they're building up the Baxter series and they're stretching out some stories to give Giffen a chance to get all the pages done.

Now let's get into the best and the worst:

Issue #304

What can I say other than I like the Legion Academy stories. These are great little one-offs that show a little more of the world around the Legion, let us see who the new batch of heroes are, and re-enforces the dangers the Legionnaires face.

The downside is that you have to ignore that half of these trainees are more powerful than many of the current Legionnaires.

I also really like seeing Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel as teachers and mentors, helping these new heroes develop and grow. It's the perfect role for them... and not just because I honestly never thought either of them should be regular Legionnaires. (Yes, I'm now expecting the backlash)

This issue is a great callback to when Dawnstar was introduced, showing that Levitz can homage his own work (although he wrote that he did this to make up for what he thought was a bad story from his past). I like these moments that show the writers remember what's happened before.

Issue #305 - Another amazing cover

By this point in time, everyone knew something was up with Shrinking Violet and we were just waiting for the resolution to the story. However, I doubt anyone was expecting how they resolved it.

For those who don't know the story, Violet was kidnapped by Imskian rebels and a Durlan actress, Yera, was hired to take her place in the Legion. Element Lad and Shvaughn Erin have figured it out and last issue, recruited Brainiac 5 to help them capture the imposter.

They get the truth, rescue the real Violet, and then it is revealed that Colossal Boy married her, thinking she was the real Violet. And in an even more surprising twist, he decides to stay with his new wife and make the marriage work. I honestly don't think anyone saw this coming.

Everything about this story line was handled brilliantly, from the buildup to the reveal and then, they way the repercussions were felt by the team. It allowed them to actually give Colossal Boy a character and a life, it gave us another married Legionnaire (and one married to someone who isn't another hero), and it let them completely change who Violet was and make her so much more interesting than before.

I've said many times before that the Legion may have DC's greatest collection of strong women and Violet is the perfect example of this. She would become a leader and a fighter instead of the usual "her name's Shrinking Violet and that's her character as well".

Issue #306

Again, I love the spotlight issues.

The smartest part of this issue is who they chose to have Star Boy relate their story to: Wildfire. He's a new enough member that he wouldn't actually know Star Boy's history, but he's not new enough that he would be awed and not fire off some sarcasm when the story didn't seem quite right. They work really well off each other and that's another testament to the good writing.

Here's another controversial take: I like Curt Swan on flashbacks and I hate him drawing anything in current continuity. We'll get to that in a later annual.

Issue #313

Someone posted this cover to this subreddit before and I had to do it again - it does look great, even if you're not a fan of the changing art style.

I really enjoy all the Science Police stories and Levitz did such a good job making Gi Gi Cusimano and Shvaughn Erin integral characters to the series. This issue (and the one before it) feel like an episode of Law & Order or some other police procedural. It's tough to pull focus away from a huge team book and introduce more characters, but these issues really give the book a more grounded feel and you really understand that world in which the Legion operates.

Issue #307

The less said about this "Prophet" four-issue story (which really should have been told in two), the better. The art is blah, the story is worse, and the only positive is that we get the original Invisible Kid back (kind of).

The only positive is the decent back-up stories.

Thoughts about and new things that happen in this 10-issue run:

• Some really nice back-up stories throughout. It was great seeing Pat Broderick back in what was really Projectra and Karate Kid's final happy moment. I'm not a huge George Tuska fan, but seeing President Allon deal with her new daughter-in-law was handled very well. I am a Gene Colan fan and really loved the way he handled Dawnstar's story.
• The new headquarters, built by the new Computo, was a great addition. Once again, we get a far more sci-fi concept than what we've seen before. It was also nice to see them finally resolve the Computo storyline and 'fix' Danielle Foccart's problems. It was a little surprising they did it all in 11 pages, but that kinda harked back to the short stories of the 70's.
• Post-rescue, watching the new Shrinking Violet in action was awesome. New attitude, new costume, and her dressing down of Duplicate Boy was perfection.
• Saturn Girl is pregnant! The first Legion baby is coming. We are truly a book about adulting, aren't we?

This is an odd re-read. One on hand, the first three issues are amazing. But I found myself just powering through the rest to get to the Baxter issues. The title is really in a holding pattern here.

One final note about Keith Giffen, in case you think I'm being too harsh here:

I don't think I can understate how jarring the art style change it. In modern times, we're far more used to Giffen's style as it's been his predominant style for almost 40 years. But at that moment, it was watching your favorite artist suddenly lose all ability to draw. The lines are so clean and precise and then, all of a sudden, muddy and dark. I don't think there's ever been an artist who's so radically changed his style like this. Frank Miller might be close, but you can still see elements of his early work in the newer stuff. Giffen's work looks like two completely different artists.

I would love to hear an interview with Larry Mahlstedt and see what he thought of the change.

But with all of those complaints, I still believe that Giffen is one of the greatest artistic storytellers of the last 50 years and he knows how to lay out a page. He's also one of the best plotters ever.

Next column I'm going to look at the first 12 issues of Tales of the Legion before moving on to the Baxter series, so prepare yourself for some "Whatever happened to Mindy Newell and Terry Shoemaker?" questions.