Legion of Super Heroes - the Levitz/Giffen Era Reviews

[SJNeal]

One of my biggest gripes about DC is just how much of the Legion is not collected in any form. For being such a big book is has very few collections with issues 259-283, 314-325, and issues 14-63 of the "Baxter" series never being collected. That is 84 issues not counting annuals with most of them being by Levitz. If nothing else the "Baxter" series should be collected in full.

#260-271 are being collected in Before the Darkness, a trade scheduled for release next month.

Not sure why they skipped #259; that would've bookended it nicely with the Superboy and the LoSH HC Vol. 2... but who knows with DC. Maybe it'll actually show up in the final product.

[caj]

Legion of Super Bloggers review of Legion of Super Heroes #287 - Chameleon Boy, Timber Wolf, & Violet infiltrate Khundia against UP orders, Light Lass asks a huge favor of Saturn Girl, and Element Lad becomes leader when Lightning Lad resigns.

PLUS - it all begins here in "Prologue to Darkness". Mon-El and Shadow Lass investigate a planetoid that has entered into UP territory with weaponry that can handle even Mon-El. But when they leave to answer a distress call, something/someone awakens.

http://legionofsuperbloggers.blogspo...eroes-287.html

[kcekada]

Not 100% sure, but I think this is the story where Vi gets replaced by Ayla -- because shortly thereafter, Vi and Gim start a relationship. Since Superboy 202, I thought they'd be a great couple. Was disappointed when it turned out that Vi wasn't Vi.

This definitely wasn't one of Giffen's better covers, but I guess it was fitting for a book in which not much seemed to happen. The awakening of Darkseid was barely touched on -- I don't think he was even revealed in this story. The panel shown at the blog with Timber Wolf in action, though, shows that Giffen was bringing a new dynamism that the series had been missing for many years.

[caj]

Not 100% sure, but I think this is the story where Vi gets replaced by Ayla -- because shortly thereafter, Vi and Gim start a relationship. Since Superboy 202, I thought they'd be a great couple. Was disappointed when it turned out that Vi wasn't Vi.

I'm pretty sure this was just a mis-type on your part, but Vi was replaced not by Ayla (who is Light Lass) but by Yera, a Durlan actress who was tricked by some villains to replace Violet because she was ill.

[Sutekh]

I'm pretty sure this was just a mis-type on your part, but Vi was replaced not by Ayla (who is Light Lass) but by Year, a Durlan actress who was tricked by some villains to replace Violet because she was ill.

I hate that autocorrect can't handle the name Yera and changes it to Year.

[caj]

I hate that autocorrect can't handle the name Yera and changes it to Year.

LOL - I didn't even notice it. Thanks for letting me know. It's fixed now.

[kcekada]

I'm pretty sure this was just a mis-type on your part, but Vi was replaced not by Ayla (who is Light Lass) but by Yera, a Durlan actress who was tricked by some villains to replace Violet because she was ill.

Just getting my wires crossed again. Thanks for correcting.

[Sutekh]

Just getting my wires crossed again. Thanks for correcting.

Ayla did pretend to be Garth back in the day, making her and Yera the two Legionnaires who joined after successfully impersonating another member for a time!

[hareluyafan1]

I'm not sure if you're a "collections only" reader, but I see the majority of these issues in $1 bins all the time. If you're into hunting down singles, the whole run can be found very affordably.

That's great. Thank you very much.

I usually prefer collections (less hassle) but I'm willing to make exceptions.

#260-271 are being collected in Before the Darkness, a trade scheduled for release next month

I've already pre-ordered it.

[caj]

Legion of Super Bloggers review of Legion of Super Heroes #288 - Element Lad begins sending out search parties looking for the missing Legionnaires. The group is actually stranded on a frozen asteroid. The ice crystals have somehow damaged the Legion flight rings making it impossible to call for help. But Colossal Boy is not too upset as Violet has finally warmed up to him.

Meanwhile on Orando, Ultra Boy, Dream Girl, Mon-El, and Shadow Lass arrive to try and save Projectra and Karate Kid. However, they are soon thrown down by Projectra's relatives. It's up to Dream Girl to come up with a way to save the group.

http://legionofsuperbloggers.blogspo...es-v2-288.html

[caj]

As I've mentioned before, #288 was my first issue of LSH in quite some time. I was in Jiffy Market looking at the comic book stand and the cover quickly grabbed my attention. I glanced at the art inside and quickly bought the book.

So glad I did. To this day, it remains one of my all-time favorite comic book issues.

I was familiar with almost all the Legionnaires except two - Blok and Dream Girl. Blok was a fairly new member at the time and I had just missed Dream Girl since she wasn't featured very often. She definitely made a strong impression on me in this issue.

It's a shame that Levitz rushed Projectra and Karate Kid out of the Legion because he was quite good at writing the two characters. I wonder if he already knew at this point what he was going to eventually do with both characters.

[Thor-Ul]

Sad news people: Steve Lightle, penciller of the Legion and regular cover artist of several eras passed away.

https://www.cbr.com/steve-lightle-le...tist-obituary/

[Timber Wolf-By-Night]

#260-271 are being collected in Before the Darkness, a trade scheduled for release next month.

Not sure why they skipped #259; that would've bookended it nicely with the Superboy and the LoSH HC Vol. 2... but who knows with DC. Maybe it'll actually show up in the final product.

I believe #259 was included as the last story in the S/LSH Hardcover #2 from last year.

[kcekada]

Sad news people: Steve Lightle, penciller of the Legion and regular cover artist of several eras passed away.

https://www.cbr.com/steve-lightle-le...tist-obituary/

Lightle was a welcome change once Keith's art style became so blocky. Steve also brought back the Cockrum design for Colossal Boy (Giffen had introduced more generic design) and co-created several new characters.

[kcekada]

That was a great cover. This is another story I read some time after getting back into the series, but it's a strong one. Levitz was really making a concerted effort to give Dream Girl more prominence. It was overdue, because we knew from earlier stories that she was quite intelligent (scientest-level), but most stories played up her looks. It's too bad, though, that her powers weren't developed more back then to be more useful.

Alas, Jeckie was still the same old princess for a couple of more years. I always enjoyed returns to Orando -- so ironic that a planet would have a medieval culture in the 30th century!