Oh, Never Mind...

With the news that Legion of Super-Heroes will be cancelled, apparently with no plans to continue elsewhere, I've been prompted to once again reread some of my favorite Legion stories, and being the natural critic that I am, I'm reviving Reviews of Old Comics to chronicle them. Eventually there will be a link in the sidebar to get to these quickly, but for now just click the Tags for more. We're starting with the first one of a long run that I own, so as to not have to go shopping for issues. Also, a couple of these are already reviewed making it easier to get some continuity going.

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #298

April 1983

 A lot of the things that happen in this issue get brought back for future storylines including one for the end of the Legion's seventh series. There's also a preview of Amethyst, which won't be part of this review but is an excellent addition to this issue as it's a complete, albeit open-ended story awesomely illustrated by Ernie Colon.

SYNOPSIS:

A Legion team is investigating a remote asteroid mine because of reports of trouble. The United Planets consul that contacted them is dead. Seizing the consul'd coffin, Wildfire takes it back to their cruiser where the rest of the team, consisting of Dawnstar, Blok, White Witch and Invisible Kid begin the investigation.

Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl arrive on Medicus One and get the runaround from a receptionist that has trouble understanding their request. They get through to her and visit a physician substituting for regular Legion doctor Gym'll.

Meanwhile, Duplicate Boy, one of the Heroes of Lallor, arrives at Earth seriously mad at Colossal Boy and tracks him to a Himalayan resort where he's enjoying a romantic vacation with Shrinking Violet, which explains Duplicate Boy's anger since last he knew she was his girlfriend.

Back on the asteroid, White Witch's spell reveals, in a very graphic (to the characters) that the Consul was indeed murdered. Wildfire and Blok go into the mine to investigate.While in the tunnels a loud BOOM nearly causes a collapse which Wildfire helps prevent by leaving his containment suit. Afterwards the miners are very little cooperation in directing to the source of the explosion that nearly collapsed the tunnels, but eventually point the way.

At Legion HQ, Element Lad and Science Police officer Shvaughn Erin receive a call from SP Chief Zendak that Colossal Boy is being attacked in the Himalayas.Ultra Boy, using his prerogative as the new Deputy Leader speeds ahead of the rest of the rescue team to find Duplicate Boy and Colossal Boy slugging it out as giants. He tunnels underground and trips up Duplicate Boy, saving Colossal Boy.

Back on the mining asteroid, Invisible Kid and Dawnstar have joined Wildfire and Blok in their investigation. They discover that behind the explosions and murder is a Khund warrior, Karlak who was disgraced in the challenge courts on Khundia when Legionnaires invaded and used their powers against him. He's upgraded with cybernetics and established a challenge court here in order to get revenge against the Legionnaires. Wildfire goes nuts when he hurts Dawnstar and flies right into having his containment suit blown apartand his energy absorbed. When Blok hurts him, he teleports out. Invisible Kid also vanishes, not just turning invisible, as he remarks he saw something when Wildfire was absorbed by Karlak.

Back in the Himalayas, Duplicate Boy gives up and apologizes for the damage he caused. He loved Shrinking Violet but now realizes that she's "not the Shrinking Violet" he fell in love with. He flies off, and everyone goes back on their way. Shvaughn and Element Lad both recognize that Shrinking Violet had an odd reaction to Duplicate Boy, actually looking afraid.

Elsewhere RJ Brande and his son, Chameleon Boy discuss the Legionnaire losing his powers, similar to how his father lost his from fever, but that Chameleon Boy wants to return to Durla to get his powers back.

REVIEW:

At first glance this is a filler issue, with a lead into an Invisible Kid/Wildfire adventure next issue, but it seems that not too much of importance seems to occur. Paul Levitz in this period was good about juggling subplots and here he is setting up a few storylines that would culminate in the coming months. The big one is the Shrinking Violet story, which came to a head in one of the best comic books I have ever read.

Keith Giffen's art is consistent but hasn't gotten to a peak of its style at this point. He does convey that this is the future and not just space, and this is the period that aliens in Legion stories looked like aliens, and a lot of that credit goes to Keith Giffen, even though he wasn't the first. He does have a little trouble making characters with similar hairstyles look unique.

The colors are ambitious, given that this is a pre-computer time, and Carl Gafford helps illustrate the story, carrying the burden a couple of times to indicate Invisible Kid and convey a sunset in the Himalayas. His variations on the last page are excellent in setting the mood of a gazillionaire's eaborate remote retreat and building to a crescendo of determination.

NOTES:
I don't believe that this issue has been collected anywhere yet, and it may be a little difficult to pick up for a bargain. It isn't going to be too expensive, though, as there are no major events that would spark a frenzy among comic collectors.

FINAL RATING: 7 (out of a possible 10)

The art is good but not fantastic. This issue seems to build up to a lot of bigger things, even without already knowing where the storylines are going. It doesn't seem like enough emotional weight is given to Wildfire's apparent death, even though Blok has a monologue ending the scene. This series would get better, but it was building from the plateau of the Great Darkness Saga

Never Mind the Cattiness

The initial thought to start off this new blog feature was going to be the first issue of Legion of Super-Heroes that got me hooked on the Legion, but I saw this issue sitting behind it, and I have fond memories of how it affected my twelve year-old brain. So I pulled this out and popped the tape on the bag. My copy has seen some abuse and has, at some point, been bent diagonally (Hint: I need a new near-mint copy) so I don't mind reading while eating half of a leftover burger. Keep in mind that when I first read this, I had no idea who these people were for the most part. I'd only read the previous issue that had been centered on the Legion Academy and the main characters from this story showed up in one page of that story.

NOTE: This is a repost of one of my reviews of old comics from a blogger account I set up some time ago. In an effort to consolidate everything I post blog-wise, I'm posting it here.

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #305

November 1983

SYNOPSIS:

A spaceship arrives in orbit around the planet Imsk, which a convenient caption tells us that its inhabitants have the ability to shrink and it's threatened repeatedly to secede from the United Planets. Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy and Element Lad summon Colossal Boy and Shrinking Violet (who is from Insk) to the bridge and reveal that their mission was a ruse as they ambush the pair and spray Violet with a chemical that cancels the shape-changing power of Durlans. It shouldn't affect Violet since she isn't a Durlan, but she tearfully admits that she is a Durlan, and therefore not Shrinking Violet.

Back at Legion HQ on Earth, Wildfire is sparring, rather roughly and effectively with three other male Legionnaires, while Phantom Girl and Shadow Lass trade catty comments about Wildfire's failed relationship with Dawnstar and team leader Dream Girl's relationship with Star Boy, right to his face.

We return to Imsk where Brainiac 5 is using a "psych-probe" on the sedated fake Violet reveals that she is a Durlan actress named Yera who was hired to impersonate Violet by three Imskians who claimed that Violet was with them while she was sick. She took the job to prove that she's a real actress with talents beyond shapeshifting. Element Lad tries to apologize to Colossal Boy afterwards, saying that they felt it was necessary to keep him in the dark as to not tip off Yera. Colossal Boy understands, but still pops Element Lad in the nose for making him "the last to know."

Elsewhere, on a planet that looks medieval, a man with long flowing red hair brushes by an old man into a village which he promptly destroys with a flash of fire and heat, just as a warning of who he represents.

On Imsk, Shrinking Violet is visiting the populace as a returning hero, and is secretly approached by an Imskian woman named Marlu who chastises Yera for coming to Imsk, and takes her to meet the others through a series of tubes that the Legionnaires and Science Police can't follow. Marlu takes Yera to Liberation Headquarters, which looks to be better organized than anyone suspected. They capture Yera and take her to the three men that hired her who then reveal that the real Shrinking Violet has been kidnapped and tortured to steal Legion and United Planets secrets from her brain.

Cut to Starhaven, near the galactic core, Dawnstar takes part in a private ceremony to start her search for a soul-mate and flies off, crying over having to lose Wildfire's love.

Back on Imsk what we thought was Yera turns out to be Chameleon Boy who breaks free of the restraints and leads the Legion to the Liberation Headquarters, where they make short work of the separatists, thanks to Colossal Boy's rage and Brainiac neutralizing the leaders' size changing powers to capture them. The Science Police mop up and take the rescued and medically critical Shrinking Violet away for months of recovery.

In an epilogue, Colossal Boy confronts a recovering Yera and realizes that he fell in love with Yera, not Violet, and decides to honor and continue their marriage.

REVIEW:

The inking is really great on this, with Kurt Schaffenberger providing a different inking style that really accentuates the mood of the various scenes, especially the artificial feel of the Legion cruiser, and the moodiness of the bowels of the Liberation Headquarters. His use of Duoshading was really well-done, although at the time, when comparing against other mainstream comics of the time, probably looked a little distracting at the time.

The story is excellent, with Paul Levitz really able to highlight Colossal Boy emotionally in a way that I can't recall any subsequent writer being able to pull off. He appears as a real person here, although the ending is a bit convenient, as he very easily accepts Yera for who she is. His writing of Shadow Lass and Phantom Girl really made me despise them as being the equivalent of the popular girls in school who are real bitchy just because they can be. The fact that these two relatively weak powered heroes are dating the most powerful guys on the team just adds to that characterization.

Penciller Keith Giffen was known during his run for setting a definitive look to the 31st century, and this issue doesn't disappoint in that aspect. He renders a world whose inhabitants can shrink as believably as any major motion picture. At this point, Keith Giffen's art style had yet to evolve into the style that came from his emulation of Jose Munoz, and his artwork is very reminiscent of Wally Wood here, but with more attention to detail, as this was the era at DC of George Perez, which permeated a lot of art at that time. It works really well here. I might even put this as the naturalistic high point of his Legion run.

NOTES:
This issue has yet to be collected in any trade paperback. Fortunately, at this point, Legion was a very well-selling title for DC and it should be easy to find at a large convention or a shop with an extensive back-issue collection that isn't flooded with 90s glut comics. It should be available for very litle cash. Comicspriceguide.com has this listed for $3.00, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to find it in dollar bins or cheaper.

FINAL RATING: 8 (out of a possible 10)