Legion of Super Heroes - the Levitz/Giffen Era Reviews

[caj]

I didn't, and a I have to say that I felt that picking a recently retired Legionnarie to kill was kind of cheating. Not much courage required to snuff out someone you had already written out of your story, IMHO.

Peace

I always wondered if Levitz had this planned from the start. He said in one of the letter columns that this showdown was foreshadowed from the time they both joined the Legion and Nemesis Kid framed Val with being a traitor.

I actually thought the victim was going to be Colossal Boy. Why? Because the letter column came out with a ballot for the next Legion leader and Colossal Boy's name was left off. But then, I changed my mind and thought it would be Light Lass.

[kcekada]

I honestly never gave it much thought!

[caj]

Legion of Super Bloggers review of Legion of Super Heroes Annual #3 - Four villains scheme to revive Mordru's powers, Lightning Lad confronts Starfinger, Saturn Girl gives birth, and Darkseid's curse on the Legion involves Fatal Five member Validus.

http://legionofsuperbloggers.blogspo...al-3-1984.html

[caj]

Legion of Super Heroes was very confusing during this period because there were storylines happening in two different issues each month. Each book was constantly referencing what was going on in the other book.

I did not remember much about the Mordru storyline. It was disappointing that he never was revived in this story. Levitz didn't seem to know what to do with Mordru.

The Starfinger story was also disappointing. Levitz didn't seem to want to write for Lightning Lad. Maybe he felt that LL had been overused by previous writers in the 70s. But this story was over in one page and fell flat.

Like most readers, my jaw dropped at the ending. My first reaction was 'Whoa, amazing, WOW'.

But the more I thought about it, the more annoyed I became. It wasn't the grand 'curse' I was expecting from someone like Darkseid. Yes, Validus killed a Legionnaire so this did have a huge impact on the group. But still, I was disappointed yet again.

[Nomads1]

Legion of Super Bloggers review of Legion of Super Heroes Annual #3 - Four villains scheme to revive Mordru's powers, Lightning Lad confronts Starfinger, Saturn Girl gives birth, and Darkseid's curse on the Legion involves Fatal Five member Validus.

http://legionofsuperbloggers.blogspo...al-3-1984.html

The art was by Curt Swan, right?

Peace

[madmodpoetgod]

Do we have the sales figures for this era (and the Baxter era)?

[Captain Nostalgia]

Do we have the sales figures for this era (and the Baxter era)?

Sales statistics from the 80's are really hard to find.

Below are two links. The first one gives the sale position for the Legion of Super Heroes 310.

The second link only has Tales of the Legion of Super Heroes, (which is how I started out collecting the Legion)

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/rece...-34-years-ago/

https://www.comicsbeat.com/the-unbel...-comics-sales/

[caj]

Legion of Super Bloggers review of Legion of Super Heroes #1 - A re-formed Legion of Super Villains vows to kill Legionnaires, Light Lass is captured on Winath, and Shrinking Violet jumps back into action.

http://legionofsuperbloggers.blogspo...v3-1-1984.html

[caj]

For all the bragging the villains did about being the first to kill a Legionnaire, why did they keep capturing them and locking them in a dungeon????

I really liked the Baxter paper. Giffen's art still stank but it looked a whole lot better on this new paper. The colors really pop.

Is it me or does Blok look a little 'Creature From The Black Lagoon' on this cover?

I was very happy to see Light Lass again but I feared she was the one who was going to die.

[CaptCleghorn]

I always wondered if Levitz had this planned from the start. He said in one of the letter columns that this showdown was foreshadowed from the time they both joined the Legion and Nemesis Kid framed Val with being a traitor.

I actually thought the victim was going to be Colossal Boy. Why? Because the letter column came out with a ballot for the next Legion leader and Colossal Boy's name was left off. But then, I changed my mind and thought it would be Light Lass.

One of the strongest parts of the Legion was the importance of many stories in that series. With other DC books, the story was over, the hero won, and there was very little ever mentioned again about it. The Legion had far more of a Marvel style in that subplots and events carries on. The story in Adventure 346 and 347 was much bigger than it seemed at the time. I'm sure there are Legion purists who dislike Projectra's actions, but being a fan from the Marvel side of the tracks, I favor shades of grey in my characters. There are also those who claim that Projectra had no real power against Nemesis Kid in that scene, but it wasn't Projectra's power that won the fight, it was Nemesis Kid's cowardice that caused him to freeze up before an opponent who really DID want to kill him. I loved that scene.

[kcekada]

I thought the scene with Projectra and Nemesis Kid was possibly alluding to an unknown power she had -- to instill fear. I have an interview with Lightle, I think, that references those panels. I will have to consult it when I have a chance, but I think my conclusion was faulty -- and Nemesis Kid's own natural fear did him in. I had only been introduced to NK in the first issue of Karate Kid, but thought he was a great character. He did appear previously in the Bronze Age in a Mike Grell issue -- but it's one that I missed when it was first released.

[CaptCleghorn]

Obviously the scene needs to be shown here. I can see the thoughts behind the "hidden power" theory, but still these villains have gotten their asses kicked and come out of it OK without being killed. They can take a loss and a beating, but this was something never before seen.

[caj]

I always thought Projectra put a spell on him that made him terrified to the point that he froze. After all, her grandmother Haggai was a sorceress, so she had that in her bloodline.

[Uncanny X-Man]

Legion of Super Bloggers review of Legion of Super Heroes #1 - A re-formed Legion of Super Villains vows to kill Legionnaires, Light Lass is captured on Winath, and Shrinking Violet jumps back into action.

http://legionofsuperbloggers.blogspo...v3-1-1984.html

Ah, the start of my favourite Legion era ever, with a Paul Levitz absolutely on fire since page 1 and delivering the goods until the very last issue of this series. I sincerely don't understand how this run is not more celebrated and more importantly mostly not available in collected format. I'm not sure what Levitz was trying to achieve being Publisher for decades and not having his own best work collected, but he really did fans a disservice.

On this #1 specifically, I remember Keith Giffen bringing his A-game to this same as George Perez did for New Teen Titans Baxter series #1. I'll also just come out and say I love Giffen in all his iterations, from his initial Bolland/Perez style to the Muñoz era all the way to his more recent Kirby-inspired art, with my personal favourite being the Kevin Maguire-aping style circa immediately before the Magic Wars.

[kcekada]

Do we have the sales figures for this era (and the Baxter era)?

I used to track all of the top 100 books in the 80s. I think I eventually threw these out -- unless some are in my overstuff storage bin. I think, though, that Legion was in the top 50 at this point. Where it fail in that list, I don't recall -- maybe 20s?