posted
I love Earthwar and enjoy it more than the GDS. It was probably Element Lad's finest hour and the return of the married founders at the end made the Legion (almost) whole again. But I wouldn't necessarily call it a major "turning point" except in one sense -- it boosted the popularity of the already popular 70s Legion high enough they got to headline the series about a year later.
Levitz's first run was less cynical and beholden to faux "realism" than his second run. He brilliantly reinforced the developed mythos of the Legion in the 70s, whereas later he began dismantling it. Earthwar need to be collected in trade as one of the best examples of the LSH in its prime.
From: Reimagined Trom | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Funny, I never saw Levitz's second run as "cynical." Rather, I saw it as life affirming and holding true to the Legion's overall identity while allowing individual characters to grow and change. To me, this is a celebration of the Legion's mythos, not a dismantling of it.
-------------------- The Semi-Great Gildersleeve - writing, super-heroes, and this 'n' that
From: The Stasis Zone | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
heh, nice defense of Levitz's 2nd run! To his credit I think all comics got the faux realism thing going in the 80's.
From: Tampa | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
I'm not even sure what "faux realism" means. There was certainly an attempt to make super-heroes more believable by having them experience problems that ordinary humans undergo -- but this idea had been started by Marvel in the early '60s. DC was slow to catch up, but not by much. Certainly by the '80s, virtually every Marvel and DC hero was portrayed as a well-rounded character who underwent believable changes (as well as not-so-believable ones). So, I'm not sure what aspects of Levitz's Legion were "faux realism."
-------------------- The Semi-Great Gildersleeve - writing, super-heroes, and this 'n' that
From: The Stasis Zone | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Thinking about Earthwar, in many ways it was the apotheosis of Shooter's Legion.
Shooter's first story introduced the Khunds. He also created the Dark Circle, Universo and Mordru, accounting for most of the Legion's serious bad guys up until the Great Darkness.
Shooter also moved to make the Legionnaires more 3-dimensional and distinctive, played up the relationships between members, told 2-part stories, etc. Bates, Cockrum, Grell and Shooter again took things to the next level in the early 1970s with very cool costumes and more grown up situations. All of this "Marvelized" the Legion, and the characterizations of Wildfire and Dawnstar were the icing on the cake. Earthwar crystalized those characterizations.
So, Levitz took all these elements and wove them into multi-layered, multi-part tale and introduced some of his own elements, notably Weber's World (who was it named after, anyway?). This was probably as good as the Dark Circle and Mordru ever got. (The Khunds were given a lot of nice development by Levitz in the 1980s.) All three levels of bad guy had tried to conquer Earth in the past, and failed, so how cool that they all end up working together (sort of), and come within a hair's breadth of succeeding. That's what I most remember from Earthwar--I think it was the most suspenseful story in Legion history. Right up to the end, I thought the Legion was toast.
-------------------- ...but you don't have a moment where you're sitting there staring at a table full of twenty-five characters with little name signs that say, "Hi, my superpower is confusing you!"
From: Chicago, IL | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
Oh I just remembered. I didn't like Khundia. There were people wearing head phones and skate boarding I think. It looked very earth-like.
And I don't where the name Weber's World comes from. It had to be in one of those Encyclopedia Galactica entries.
From: Tampa | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
I've always thought of the Khunds as DC's version of the Klingons. Same warrior race idea, same convenient bad guy usage, same initial letter.
In addition to Weber's World, "Earthwar" also re-introduced us to the perpetual diplomat, Ambassador Relnic. Every time I see his name, I think its spelled backwards, or perhaps it's an anagram. Does anybody know its origin?
[ July 06, 2007, 12:31 PM: Message edited by: He Who Wanders ]
-------------------- The Semi-Great Gildersleeve - writing, super-heroes, and this 'n' that
From: The Stasis Zone | Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by doublechinner: Thinking about Earthwar, in many ways it was the apotheosis of Shooter's Legion.
Shooter's first story introduced the Khunds. He also created the Dark Circle, Universo and Mordru, accounting for most of the Legion's serious bad guys up until the Great Darkness.
Shooter also moved to make the Legionnaires more 3-dimensional and distinctive, played up the relationships between members, told 2-part stories, etc. Bates, Cockrum, Grell and Shooter again took things to the next level in the early 1970s with very cool costumes and more grown up situations. All of this "Marvelized" the Legion, and the characterizations of Wildfire and Dawnstar were the icing on the cake. Earthwar crystalized those characterizations.
So, Levitz took all these elements and wove them into multi-layered, multi-part tale and introduced some of his own elements, notably Weber's World (who was it named after, anyway?). This was probably as good as the Dark Circle and Mordru ever got. (The Khunds were given a lot of nice development by Levitz in the 1980s.) All three levels of bad guy had tried to conquer Earth in the past, and failed, so how cool that they all end up working together (sort of), and come within a hair's breadth of succeeding. That's what I most remember from Earthwar--I think it was the most suspenseful story in Legion history. Right up to the end, I thought the Legion was toast.
Never thought of it like that, but I agree completely. Earthwar then stands as a culmination of 'phase #1' almost, or at lest a part of the culmination, the next I'd wager being Superboy's exit from the title.
I love Earthwar. I think I need to reread it, as its one of the few stories that I've only read one time. Pov was with me when I bought the whole thing for like five bucks!
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
Shooter's Khunds actually predate the Klingons, but not by much. But clearly 70s LSH was strongly influenced by Trek - they even had transporter beams briefly (during Earthwar, I think?)
Sherman's art was great, but IIRC, he left becuase he didn't like mixing Mordru into the story.
The story was kind of all over the place, and while it had its neat elements, the strongest part to me was the potwar implications - that was the real "turning point" for me: the aftermath, the political and economic fallout, and the need to rebuild.
From: Vancouver, BC, Canada | Registered: Dec 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Kent Shakespeare: Shooter's Khunds actually predate the Klingons, but not by much.
You're right about that, Kent. Adventure # 346 was cover dated July 1966 (meaning it was probably on sale in March or April). The Klingons first appeared in Star Trek's "Errand of Mercy," which aired nearly a year later, on March 23, 1967 ... another example of the Legion anticipating some cultural phenomena (e.g., Timber Wolf/Wolverine, Karate Kid/martial arts, etc.)
-------------------- The Semi-Great Gildersleeve - writing, super-heroes, and this 'n' that
From: The Stasis Zone | Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by He Who Wanders: I've always thought of the Khunds as DC's version of the Klingons. Same warrior race idea, same convenient bad guy usage, same initial letter.
In addition to Weber's World, "Earthwar" also introduced us to the perpetual diplomat, Ambassador Relnic. Every time I see his name, I think its spelled backwards, or perhaps it's an anagram. Does anybody know its origin?
can we get a Levitz interview? Ask him how he came up the names like Shvaughn Erin, Relnic, and Weber's World.
Weber's World? wikipedia lists a few Weber's that might be it? doubt it though.
There was a gravitational physicist called Joseph Weber.
Wilhelm Eduard Weber, physicist and inventor of the telegraph. The SI unit of magnetic flux, the weber (symbol: Wb) is named after him.
From: Tampa | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
I always loved the artifical constructs like Null-Port, Weber's World, Labrynth, and Legion World.
I think Weber's World and Legion World need to return asap! Destroy the moon again and have LW replace it.
From: Tampa | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
OK -- I spent a sleepless night last night re-reading the entire "Earthwar." It reminded me that, when this story first appeared, I really didn't like it at all.
First, let me say that I admire Paul Levitz's overall contribution to the Legion, and, when all is said and done, he made the most positive contributions of any of the Legion's long-term writers. But with "Earthwar," the 21-year-old Levitz was still feeling his way as a comic book writer. The plot is rather clever, in that you have villains using villains using villains, but its execution leaves much to be desired.
The early chapters feel rushed, which probably was intended to create a sense of urgency. Instead it conveys the impression that Levitz was trying to get through this story as quickly as possible. It's only after Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl appear that the pacing of the story slows down enough that the reader can reflect on what is happening and how dire the situation is. Perhaps Garth and Imra were Levitz's favorite characters and this entire story was engineered for their return. That is, after all, the most significant and immediate outcome of this story.
None of the other Legionnaires get much valuable screen time, and, when they do, they look bad. Element Lad seems vindictive for sending Brainy out in a ship all by himself to Weber's World, after Brainy has twice usurped Jan's role as deputy leader. (Ironically, E-Lad's team makes it to Weber's World in advance of Brainy, who never does arrive!) Brainy spends his time complaining and making fatalistic prognostications -- symptoms, we will later realize, of his mounting insanity. Wildfire is a reckless jerk who nearly causes a Science Police ship to crash and then accuses Ambassador Relnic and Ontiir of collusion with the enemy without any real evidence. Dawnstar feels it necessary to remind Drake that his powers can kill criminals (which may actually be a reasonable reaction on her part, given Drake's earlier impulsiveness). Most of the other Legionnaires just go through the motions of doing what they have to do.
As for the art: Jim Sherman has been praised for his early work on the Legion, but here, in his final two issues (# 241-242), he, too, seems to be rushing through his job as quickly as possible. Anatomy and faces look awkward and bland; action scenes are competent, but uninspiring (much of this cannot be blamed on the inker, which is often the case when appraising Sherman's work).
The art improves somewhat after Joe Staton takes over and is inked by Joe Giella (on # 244) and Murphy Anderson (on # 245).
Coloring is rarely discussed, but here it should be. Cory Adams' colors are also bland and he frequently uses different shades of the same colors in key scenes -- hardly the most appropriate choices for a space-faring epic with multiple characters and settings.
To me, "Earthwar" should be remembered for what it attempted to achieve, if not for what it fully realized. It was an ambitious undertaking that expanded the Legion's world by introducing more political tensions to complement the Imsk/UP tensions introduced earlier; by showing that a multi-part story could work in the Legion's setting; and by changing one of the fundamental rules of the Legion's Constitution (no married members), thereby paving the way for the characters to grow up.
The ending is also rather poignant and ironic in hindsight. With Garth and Imra rejoining, the Legion is whole again, just as they were in Adventure # 351, when other former members rejoined. Earth is safe and celebrates its heroes. The Dominators sign a 1,000-year peace treaty (on which they would apparently later renege.) The Legion would probably never again be this whole. As such, this ending takes on a fairy-tale quaility. It represents the apex of the Legion's idealized adolescence -- before everything changes.
[ July 06, 2007, 02:04 PM: Message edited by: He Who Wanders ]
-------------------- The Semi-Great Gildersleeve - writing, super-heroes, and this 'n' that
From: The Stasis Zone | Registered: Jul 2003
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