Superboy and the Legion #252 - 283 (continuing the retrospective)

(Just a quick introduction, since I posted this a year ago - it's odd reading over these again but fun to see how I'm adjusting and changing my style as we go. This is the first column where I include cover pics but I'm still going waaaay too fast and am not breaking down each issue. I'm going to have to go back and start from the beginning once I'm done the reread to current day.)

Not sure if anyone is actually reading these, or getting anything out of them, but since I'm already two posts in, I figured I may as well continue. I have a strange feeling this is going to be longer than the others for no other reason that this era is when I discovered the Legion, so I'm going to ramble.

We've reached a very interesting part of Legion history. I tend to refer to this section as the Marvelization of the Legion, as long-time Marvel writer Gerry Conway really changes how the book was handled. Conflict moves to the forefront both within the team (Lightning Lad really struggles as the leader) and outside (Earth no longer funding the Legion/bankrupting Brande). We see the fallout from Earth War and Brainiac 5's insanity within these pages. It really feels like we're reading an Avengers comic, if that makes any sense.

But the biggest change is that finally, after 22 years, the Legion finally got their own title. Superboy left the team to go and star in his own book.

And that's the best logo they could come up with?

Although this was a momentous occasion, it came out of a pretty lame story line. This is one of those situations where you know the writer was given an order: "Get Superboy out of the book and come up with a reason why he can never come back - but don't mess up our ability to time travel in the future!" So Conway did his best.

Reading back over the book, I can't say that I'm a big fan of a lot of what Conway did here. Most of the stories are pretty basic - they're just barely more complicated than what Shooter and Bates were doing in the mid-70's. The only difference is that they're almost always stretched over 2 issues. It does kinda feel like they were padding stories.

With issue #263, we see a new regular artist: Jim Janes. Let me admit my personal bias right here - I discovered the Legion during his run, so I will always have a soft spot for his work. He's not one of the best Legion artists ever, but he does some very solid superhero work and his almost 2-year run is quite good.

I have to talk about issue #268 because it's just so bonkers insane. Behind an amazing George Perez cover (on comic shelves this month, Perez had this cover, Avengers #200, Fantastic Four Annual #15, a Firestorm backup in the Flash, and a the first New Teen Titans story in DC Comics Presents), is one of the craziest Legion stories ever. Karate Kid, Chameleon Boy, and Dream Girl are captured by the evil and insane Dr. Mayavale, who wants revenge on them for what they did in their past lives. It is obviously a fill-in, letting J.M. DeMatteis show off what he can do (you'll wonder how he kept working) and provide Steve Ditko with some work (I'm guessing no one at Marvel wanted to hire him). It's one of the worst Legion stories ever, with one of the worst villains.

We get a new member of the team - Blok. Let's give Gerry Conway credit for this one - he created such a good character, and outlined who he was and what made him tick so well, that this was the characterization that stuck for his entire existence. I hope he returns in the next reboot.

And now, the best part of this run: Issues #273-275, 277-283. (I'm skipping 276 because it's the worst Mordru appearance ever)

We get three-long stories that are interconnected and work beautifully together. We also get some great George Perez covers!!

First, the death and rebirth of Ultra Boy. The Legion thinks he's killed on Rimbor, put up his statue, and then we discover that he's actually an amnesiac and working with space pirates. The reader relaxes, thinking it's only a matter of time before he's reunited with Phantom Girl (she gets some great moments here) and then they "kill" him again. WTF?

Roy Thomas joins the writing team for the next big epic - Reflecto arrives just as Grimbor has arrived on Earth to get his revenge. But who is Reflecto? And can the Legion work together to stop Grimbor while Lightning Lad loses control of the team? In the biggest reveal on the series, Reflecto is Superboy, but with Ultra Boy's memories.

Superboy is back and the book gets a much better logo:

Since the new mystery is about Superboy, six Legionnaires go back to Smallville to figure out what's happening. The Time Trapper is messing with everyone, Ultra Boy is actually trapped between dimensions, and Insect Queen makes a great guest appearance.

By the end, everything is back to normal, Superboy is back, and we're ready for the next big Legion run. Paul Levitz is also back, handling the scripts for 281 and 282.

I love this whole storyline. The plot works well, the characters get some great moments, and everything is interconnected and results in a well-told story. The Grimbor story has every Legionnaire, which is something that really isn't done enough. It adds to the epic scale.

Why do I love issue #283? Why is my reddit user name Drake Burroughs?