Diving Deeper - Tales of the LSH #314 - 325

Welcome back! As we continue down memory lane, I'm going to take a look at what, in retrospect, is a very odd year at DC comics. Sorry for this opening missive, but I think knowing the history is slightly important here. If you don't care, skip to the first cover image.

TLDR: Legion has two books - one in Baxter, one in newsprint - this dive looks at the newsprint stories.

In the early 1980's, the comic industry was rapidly changing. Two big shifts were driving this:

First, the rise of independent publishers. Companies such as First Comics, Eclipse, Fantagraphics, Comico, and the British import Eagle were starting to take away sales and carve out a section on the top sellers list. (Yes, I know I've forgotten at least one or two publishers.) They also, for the most part, printed on better paper and their books had a higher price point. For example, Uncanny X-Men, a newsprint comic, sold for 60 cents an issue. American Flagg, a comic shop only book, sold at $1.25. Now the X-book sold four times as many issues, so they were profiting heavily, but Flagg was still very profitable (and made its creator more money). DC and Marvel started to take notice and wondered if they could start copying some of the successes of these independents.

Second, the slow decline of the newsstand. I have read a lot of articles about how comic companies focus on the direct market in the 1980's helped kill the comic industry. They make the argument that newsstands were where comics thrived and reached the biggest audience. And by turning to comic shops, that were niche stores, they lost a lot of their potential readership. I would argue that they didn't move away from the newsstand because they wanted to - they moved away because they needed to.

I know this is anecdotal, but I think this explains what happened. I remember, as a kid, the excitement of checking out the spinner racks in department stores, 7-11s, and, as I mentioned before, tobacco shops. You'd walk in, take a look at the covers, try to read as many as you could without paying, and then spend your allowance on the best of them. I also remember the shock, one day, when I arrived at a corner store and saw the employee tearing off the covers and packing the unsold comics into a box to ship back to the printers. "What are you doing?" I asked, trying to control my surprise. They explained it to me - any unsold comics (and books and magazines) got sent back to the printers with their covers removed so they couldn't be resold. So the publisher didn't get the money for the sales, the stores were having to do extra work on an item that didn't generate any revenue, and the printer has tons of paper to pulp. This was time-consuming and expensive, all for something that wasn't making money. Stores stopped doing it, and DC and Marvel needed to find a way to sell their books without dealing with these returns.

Okay, so how does this affect the Legion and why are you writing this truncated history lesson?

In the early 80's, DC tried to figure out the best way to move towards the Direct Market and comic shops. They didn't want to deal with the newsstands anymore. So they decided to publish a bunch of books on higher quality paper (called Baxter paper), sell them at a higher price point, and sell them only to comic shops. It worked for books like Omega Men and Vigilante. But for it to become really successful, they wanted to take their two best-selling books, The New Teen Titans and the Legion, and give them Baxter series.

But what would happen to the newsprint books? They'd rename them, adding "Tales of" before the titles, publish a year's worth of stories during the first year of the Baxter series, and then after a year, reprint the Baxter series in newsprint. This way everyone would get their books, fans who didn't have access to the comic shops could still read them, and, most importantly, they'd generate twice as much money.

This is why this deep dive is talking about Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes. And this is why, for the most part, these books are fill-in issues at best, with young talent learning how to work in comics. These books also tend to be more character-driven. There's some good stuff, some bad stuff, some really bad melodrama, and some very funny concepts.

Think of this kinda like Community's "Gas Leak Year". It's still the Legion, you recognize the characters, but it's not as good as before or after and they make some weird choices.

Oh, and in case you're thinking that fans wouldn't ever want to touch this, here are some sales numbers for October 1984:

The Baxter series is the 19th highest selling book

Tales of the Legion is the 32nd highest selling book

The only DC books that have higher sales numbers than the Baxter book are The New Teen Titans and Tales of the New Teen Titans.

The other DC books selling better than Tales: Conqueror of the Barren Earth #1 (I had to look this up - a Warlord spin-off mini-series that lasted four issues) and Blue Devil #9.

So if anyone tells you that the Legion can't attract fans because of the large number of members, remember that, for a time, they were outselling Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and the Justice League of America.

Issue #315

Okay, okay, enough history - talk about the books!

Dark Circle fans were probably a little disappointed that they only got two issues and it ended with everyone's death. But it was a good two issues and a nice way to wrap up some long-running stories. Don't worry, they come back... cause they always come back.

I really liked Terry Shoemaker's pencils for the first six issues of this run. I find it hard to believe that this was, essentially, his first comics work. He had done one issue for Marvel, then appeared in New Talent Showcase (a series DC published that was written and drawn by newbies), and then given the Legion. He was also only 23 years old (if my math is right). What a great start to a career. Just solid storytelling and a real flair for the action. I wish we had seen more from him.

Annual #3

Remember during the Great Darkness Saga we talked about Darkseid's threat to the team: "That which is purest of you shall be the first to fall."?? Here's the story that reveals the results.

Saturn Girl is in labor, and because Lightning Lad is the father, the expectation is that she'll be having twins. But, surprisingly, Doctor Gym'll only delivers one baby during a blackout. At the end, it's revealed that Darkseid has taken the other baby, transformed him, sent him back in time, and named him Validus.

Yes, Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad's son becomes the longtime Fatal Five villain, and killer of Lyle Norg, the mindless Validus.

First of all, let's forget about the fact that this is the 30th Century, that there would be far better methods than ultrasound, and there's no way they wouldn't know that Saturn Girl was carrying twins long before the birth. And let's forget that Darkseid really doesn't have any reason to go after either Saturn Girl or Lightning Lad (they weren't especially important during that series). And let's ignore the fact that there's absolutely no way either of these Legionnaires would just say "I guess we were wrong, we only had one kid" without investigating to the ends of the galaxy.

This really just reads as if Levitz and Giffen wanted to make the kid Validus, figured out a way to make it happen, and ignored all the logic that would ruin that plan.

Also, and I've mentioned this before, but I really dislike Curt Swan drawing 'current' Legion stories. His art style just screams the 1960's and futuristic just isn't in his wheelhouse. He's great for flashbacks, and he's one of the definitive Superman artists, but it just didn't work here.

Issue #317

We continue wrapping up story lines (kinda) with some melodrama mixed in with this issue, where Invisible Kid II faces off against Invisible Kid I in some weird other dimension. Wildfire gets dragged into this and becomes human again.

It's not really Lyle Norg, but some demon who presents you with an image of your greatest wish. After Wildfire gets to moan about not being able to be with Dawnstar, even though she has chosen to be with him, they decide to create a fantasy Legion, use that to distract the demon, and escape the other dimension.

This is only a 16-page story, and they're able to work in a Crisis on Infinite Earths page, a subplot with Shvaughn Erin and Dev-Em, and Duo Damsel cursing the new Computo. It's rushed, it doesn't make any sense, and the demon, thankfully, never appears again. Invisible Kid also never goes back to the dimension which means that his powers don't do that anymore... or something...

Issue #321

And now, the most bonkers insane story line of this run.

Mindy Newell has taken over writing the book, with Levitz helping with the plotting. She's another graduate of the New Talent Showcase series and, considering this is her first regular writing gig, does a fairly admirable job with the series.

However, I'm betting this story isn't put very high on her resume.

To summarize, Dawnstar and Brainiac 5 have crashed on a planet and are separated. She can't fly because her wings are damaged and their flight rings aren't working, either. Dawnstar meets Jhodan, a guy who she falls for, questioning her feelings for Wildfire. Brainiac 5 relies on someone names Spliff, who is... slow to think, and schizophrenic, maybe (it's the 80's - we didn't know much about this stuff)... to figure out how to get off the planet.

If you want melodrama, look no further. Dawnstar is about as over-the-top as you can get in this story, constantly questioning why she's doing things, is it fair to have a crush on someone when she loves Wildfire, and wondering whether she wants to stay and be with this new guy. It's fairly cringe-inducing. And I say that as someone who really likes her character. Add in the romantic triangle as the girl Jhodan's training, Ina, also has a crush on him so she hates Dawnstar and it's even worse. The fact that there isn't a panel of someone crying in the rain is mind-boggling. Or maybe there is - I try to forget this story the moment I put it back into the box.

However, I actually really enjoyed Brainiac 5 working with Spliff. It shows him problem solving at his best and trying to work out this frustrating problem. They even add some mysteries to the story that mean that this planet could be tied to Earth.

Of course, because this is such a bad story, the writers ignore all the clues that Spliff gives and this story, thankfully, is never spoken of again.

 

Quick thoughts (cause this is getting way too long):

• Great two issue trip to Talok VIII. I'm always a fan of Shadow Lass stories and this issue shows one of the best ways to ruin Mon-El - just flood him with memories from his time in the Phantom Zone.

• Some nice back up stories and good character development. Yes, there are moments when I wonder why the writers hated Sun Boy, but they have made him a real person, warts and all.

• Dan Jurgens, even at this early point in his career, is just so damn good.

• One of the best things about Levitz's work on the Legion is the focus on everyone - no one gets lost in the shuffle. This run gives a lot of the characters some time to shine and, usually, it works. For example, the quick aside of Duo Damsel yelling at the new Computo - not needed, probably forgotten by most writers, but works really well.

Next time - we start the Baxter run and I will probably spend too much time venting about how they shouldn't have killed Karate Kid.