Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! Gerry Conway's Legion

Check out Nightcrawler's link on the previous page, cleome. Nightwind was originally supposed to be a sister (or half-sister?) of Timber Wolf, as indicated in the brief bio that appeared in Amazing World of DC Comics.

By the time she actually appeared in the Legion comic, she had been given a new name (Berta Haris). No mention was ever made of her being related to the Londos.

It's probably just as well, as the original bio sounds very fannish. Nightwind was supposedly in love with Sun Boy and was awaiting application so she could be with him. (Shades of Lydda!)

I actually totally like the idea of Nightwind as Timber Wolf's secret half-sister!

I like the idea of that Dave Cockrum character from the Wanderers, who was kinda/sorta vampiric looking (Nocturne?) being connected to Timber Wolf in some way. He's got wolf-like traits, from his father's research (giving him a lycanthrope vibe), and she could have bat-like traits (giving her a vampire vibe).

#274 and #275

“The Exaggerated Death of Ultra Boy”
“Of Pride Passion and Piracy”


It truly is possible for a story to be so bad that it’s good. There are a number of Adventure era stories that fall into the category. The Dr. Mayavale story is probably the most obvious post Adventure example. In my opinion, these two issues also deserve to be included.

To be so bad that it’s good, a story must have a strong element of camp. Captain Frake, the space pirate villain in this story has camp to spare – especially as illustrated by the Steve Ditko. She has long dark hair and an amazingly tacky outfit. From bottom to top: Blue boots with fold down tops reach up her shins to almost her knees. Then we get some bare leg and thigh until we reach her purple and white checked short shorts, with a gold belt draped about ¾ of the way up. Next, we get a blue top, long sleeve on one side and sleeveless on the other. The top is draped from her shoulder on one side to curve below her armpit on the other. She accessorizes with gold loop earrings and tops it all off with a gray wide brimmed hat accessorized with a pink hat band. She’s mean, controlling, sharp witted and chooses to make the amnesiac Jo Nah her Ultra Boy Toy. Priceless!!

Unlike Dematties in the Mayavale story, Gerry Conway appears to be attempting to play it straight here. That makes the whole thing even more fun. To open the story, we get over five pages of overly dramatic narration while Ultra Boy drifts through space, as a result of Pulsar Stargrave’s blast in the previous issue. The drifting scenes are interspersed with the Legionnaires conducting Jo’s funeral on Earth. Saturn Girl and Phantom girl get a lot of melodramatic screen time. Tinya tells Imra that she referred to her as “The Ice Maiden”. Is this the first time that nickname was ever used in an actual story? Imra perseveres and uses her telepathy to fill Tinya’s mind with happy memories of Jo. Tinya cries and the girls hug.

Jo gets rescued by the beastly pirates who serve Frake. He gets a series of nicknames including Fresh Meat and Driftwood before he finally decides to call himself Seeker in the second issue. Cap’n Frake decks Jo out in a hot pirate outfit that includes purple boots, purple and white striped pants, a black belt with a big gold buckle, and a yellow shirt. A white scarf with red polka dots is tied around his head to finish off that stylish 30th century space pirate look. Interestingly, Frake trades in her big hat for a purple scarf when they retreat to her private quarters. Jo’s yellow shirt only lasts a few panels. Frake blasts it off him to test his invulnerability, conveniently leaving him shirtless for their first kiss.

Conway treats us to some stirring narration about Eistein’s theories on light speed and mass as Garth and Imra pilot a Legion cruiser to an orbit around Pluto. This is where the Legion first confronts Frake’s crew. Jo gets some deep space action in a blue and white space suit complete a skull and cross bones on the chest.

Karate Kid gets some brief action worrying that he hopes he still has what it takes after his extended leave of absence for personal reasons. That’s totally out of left field. There’s an untold story there.

Tinya gets in on the action wearing a red and white space suit that coordinates perfectly with Jo’s blue and white ensemble. Whatever happened to trans suits?

Imra picks up Jo’s thoughts and realizes that he is still alive. She dares not tell anyone though until she’s sure, carrying her burdern into the second issue.

Sadly, Janes picks up the art chores for the second issue. The story maintains much of its campiness, but the loss of the odd Ditko effects detracts a bit from the over the top nature of the story.

Brin and Ayla go to the zoo. Brin continues to question his place in the Legion and among the large population of Earth.

Gim, Lar and Tasmia go to a fancy dinner at a Metropolis night spot called the Moon Dome. Gim complains about his mother, knocks over a robot waiter, and decides he is a klutz.

Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Wildfire, Dawnstar, Element Lad, and Shrinking Violet fight with the space pirates on a populated asteroid. Jo’s memories slowly start to return. He starts to reject Frake which makes her furious. In a super dramatic scene, the raging Frake shoves a peasant girl out of the way while calling her trash. The peasant girl hits her head on a rock and dies. Jo snaps to his senses.

In the final sequence, Jo is blasted by one of Frake's men. There is an explosion.

Saturn Girl no longer senses Jo’s precense. She screams “Oh Garth..” and collapses. The issue ends very melodramatically with Imra in tears convinced that Jo is really dead now. She tells Garth, “Perhaps what I saw.. or thought I saw..was just the fading light of a noble dream.”

If you take this story too seriously you are bound to be disappointed. With the right frame of mind, however, it can be a fun romp.

#276
"Lord Romdur's Castle"

Star Boy, Princess Projectra, Sun Boy, Shadow Lass, Phantom Girl and Chameleon Boy travel to a medieval planet to search for some lost United Planet's explorers. They become involved in a quest to save a king from from the dark Lord, Romdur, who recently appeared on the planet. They are joined by a young man who Star Boy fears will be a traitor. Projectra gets attacked by a suction cup plant and is sick for a few panels.

When they arrive at Lord Romdur's castle, the Legionnaires deduce that Romdur is an anagram from Mordru. Mordru attacks. Star Boy uses his powers to bring the castle down on top of Mordru, thus defeating him. The king is saved. The young man who Star Boy didn't trust is revealed to be the king's son.

This issue is a contender for one of the worst Legion stories of all time. I like it better than Space Circus, but, as I've stated earlier, I've learned to enjoy Ditko's take on the Legion. For those who can't get past the Ditko artwork, this issue is an example of everything they don't like. The offending thing for me is how the powerful Mordru is so diminished.

KK is almost certainly referring to the leave of absence he took in order to live in the 20th century during his own series. The self-doubt bit is clunky characterization. Conway does the same thing with Gim ("I'm a klutz") and Drake, who nearly blasts a room full of women, children, and old men. Apparently, the only way Conway can make the Legionnaires interesting is if they lack confidence or act rashly.

You're right about the kitchiness of this story and the campy fashion sense of the space pirates. (Even more campy is the dialogue, which is peppered with pirate-isms such as "laddie.")

Even so, I had little trouble taking this story "straight." Granted, it hinges on our acceptance of the old trope of the hero with amnesia. Ultra Boy doesn't know who he is, so he sides with the villains until he sees the face of the woman he loves. Then he starts to have doubts until the death of the bystander forces him to choose between his values and his new friends. The plot here is nothing new; even so, the execution worked for me.

Jo finds himself utterly alone--even more alone than when he was accused of murder (# 239). He is so alone, in fact, that he doesn't even have his memories to fall back on, a Tinya does. In the end, though, he still does the right thing.

There is something reassuring about that--about the "rightness" of being a Legionnaire, of not killing, and of protecting the innocent. Somehow, Jo's values transcend the loss of his identity.

Stories in general are supposed to help us make sense of reality. They are supposed to find patterns in the seemingly random and chaotic events of our lives. Some stories even try to show us the way things "should" be rather than reflect how they really are. I think this story succeeds in doing all the above. It reassures us that a hero, stripped of his identity, is still hero, and that the values he upholds are still "right."

It's reassuring to read this type of story after nearly 30 years of morally ambiguous heroes. (Though moral ambiguity has its own value in storytelling.)

I also liked the scene between Imra and Tinya. Understandably angry over losing the love of her life, Tinya lashes out unfairly at Imra. Perhaps she is jealous that Imra married her love. After all, these two women had once staged a mock marriage with their boyfriends (Adv. # 337); it must have galled Tinya to see Imra's dream come to fruition while hers did not. This is one of the most "real" character moments in Conway's run.

Not all of the character moments work, however. Every time Timber Wolf whines about not wanting to be around people, it stops the story cold for me. Also, Imra's refusal to tell the other Legionnaires about Jo's survival is overly dramatic and unbelievable. She fails to consider that her teammate may be brainwashed, may have been coerced, or may have very good reasons for his actions, circumstances the Legionnaires have all encountered in the past. At least she should have told Garth. Not only would it be believable for her to share her suspicions with her husband, but one would think it her duty to tell the leader everything she perceived.

The ending comes as a surprise. Conway sets us up to expect Ultra Boy's joyful reunion with his teammates. Instead, Jo disappears again. This type of plot twist was all too common in Marvel comics, but it works here if only because it's new to the Legion and runs counter to the usual neatly wrapped-up endings.

I agree with HWW. I never had a problem taking this story "straight". In fact the biggest hurdle to me was simply how unfuturistic the space pirates looked, however, badly rendered sci-fi is hardly anything new for a Legion book.

I really like the scene between Imra and Tinya and also wondered if this was the first time "Ice Queen" was used to describe her, but since this is a theme that Levitz would pick up and I think suits Imra well it is certainly a very strong piece of her characterization that Conway added. So we have Imra as the "Ice Queen" showing that, even though she was probably never the most open or sociable of the Legionnaires, she certainly does not love any less than they do. A great moment for Saturn Girl.

I also like how Jo stays strong in his values, even though he is lost and alone in the galaxy. He Who Wanders certainly said it more eloquently than I can, so I'll say "ditto" and add that I've always preferred Jo portrayed as the good kid who happens to be from the bad part of town rather than the bad kid who is good because of the influence of his friends.

The ending always works for me and I don't find it overly dramatic at all. Saturn Girl has allowed herself to hope, but she has now had that hope cruelly extinguished. Works for me.

Lord Romdru's Castle. Honestly, story wouldn't bother me too much except now I know how powerful Mordru should be portrayed and wish Conway had used some random mage instead of one of the Legion's most powerful foes. Also, Star Boy suspecting the knight and then being proven wrong is pretty standard as well and pretty cliched. However, I think the pacing and everything works pretty well for a one-shot, maybe just wished it had been less formalic, and if you pretned it's just a dark wizard and not Mordru it certainly improves the tale.

Re: # 276.

Yes, this issue does for Mordru what the Dark Man story did for the Fatal Five: it turns him into a wimp.

Otherwise, the story's biggest crime is that it is just average. Conway introduces us to a world we'll never see again, a king we'll never see again (though I couldn't help but think of the band Kings of Leon when I saw his name!), and a knight/prince who is so unmemorable that Conway doesn't even give him a name. So, the knight turns out to be the king's son. Who cares?

The story hinges on Star Boy's distrust of the knight and change of opinion at the end. But the knight never does anything to arouse Star Boy's suspicions. This makes Thom look like a brash jerk who's spoiling for a fight. Thom seems to have taken too many lessons from Wildfire.

There were a lot of missed opportunities in this story. As with the space pirate story, Conway simply transplants the Legion into an unfamiliar setting taken from any number of B-grade science fiction shows. You want to do a pirate story? Simply make them aliens. You want to do a story with castles and wizards? No prob--call it a pre-industrialized society. Such stories can work with a little bit of ingenuity or sociopolitical commentary. Unfortunately, Conway offers neither.

I like the idea of the Legionnaires exploring a new world, and Jeckie's royal heritage is used to good effect when she convinces the knights to cease fighting. Unfortunately, Conway does so little with either--or with anything else in this unremarkable tale--that the issue seems overpriced at 50 cents, even in 2010.

This is the last issue Conway wrote as both plotter and scripter. The next two issues, which he plotted, were scripted by Roy Thomas. One can almost envision Conway counting the minutes until he could clock out of his Legion factory for good.

RE: Karate Kid's comment about personal leave in #274.

I didn't take this to be a reference to his 20th century adventures. #274 had a cover date of April 1981. The last issue of his magazine was cover dated July-August 1978. He returned to the 30th century around September or October 1978, in issues #244.
Karate Kid appeared in, at least, #262 and #268 in the meantime. Why was he absent so frequently after returning to the 30th century? I think this was Conway acknowledging that he hadn't used Karate Kid very much.

#277 and #278

It hardly seems to fair to critique Conway in the context of these issues. It's difficult to tell exactly what he contributed. The idea of giant energy chains crushing the Earth certainly seems like a Conway concept. It seems fair to give him credit for the Reflecto as Ultra Boy twist, given the set up of Jo's disappearance and Reflecto's early fascination with Tinya. What about the Reflecto as Superboy interlude? My money is that credit for that twist goes to Thomas.

The dialogue immediately becomes more crisp when Thomas takes over. Garth and Imra stop calling each other "my darling", and Brin's brooding stops.

In the interest of being complete, I went back to check out Conway's fill in issues during Levitz's first run. I hope I caught them all.

S/LSH # 232: Can this be true? Is Gerry Conway responsible for giving the world the Klordny Festival? He just got bonus points from me. Put this man in the Legion Hall of Fame. This issue also gives us an early strong political disconnect between Imsk and the United Planets government. Shrinking Violet's response is interesting. Conway sowed the seeds for Levitz and Giffen to capitalize on in later years. Shrinking Violet became a stronger character for it.

S/LSH # 234: Bounty and the Composite Legionnaire are neither villains I enjoyed much. Space dragons? Not so much. More interesting Imskian politics. Dialogue and characterization are pretty smooth.

S/LSH #235: The conclusion of the Bounty story. Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Shadow Lass, Timber Wolf and Brainiac 5 on trial for murder. Hmmm. Interesting that this episode wasn't referenced when Brainiac 5 was put on trial again in #273. Nice resolution. Fairly solid story. Interesting note: George Tuska did the art on this story with Vince Coletta. When I heard the news of Mr. Tuska's death recently, I thought I remembered him doing a Legion story. I just couldn't place it. Glad to find it.

Bear in mind that comic book time isn't the same as real time. From Val's perspective, he could have returned to the 30th century only "a few weeks" ago.

Even though Conway had used Val before, I took the dialogue in 274 as just another awkward attempt to instill characterization.

[snip]

Thanks. I knew my memory couldn't have been that bad.

Romdur! heh

Jerry's concluding thoughts:

For years, I’ve regarded the Conway run as one of the low points for the Legion of Super-Heroes. I spent New Year’s weekend reading some old Justice League of America comics, and found that I enjoyed Conway’s stories more upon rereading than I remembered. I posted my thoughts on the Space Circus thread. Sketch Lad picked up the ball, and through the magic of Legion World, we now have a pretty comprehensive analysis of Conway’s Legion work. Nice work, everyone.

I have lots of concluding thoughts. Let’s start on a high minded note. A question that occasionally gets asked is, “Are comic books art?” My answer typically is something like “combining words and pictures has the same potential for being art as storytelling in any other medium.” However, business constraints, and the need to make a profit, have typically meant that comics published on a regular schedule haven’t met a standard that would make most of them art. Comic books have more in common with genre works of fiction, like romance novels or western novels, than great literature. The term “hack writing” is sometimes applied to those genres. That doesn’t mean that comic books are never art. That doesn’t mean that comic books can’t be sophisticated or well written. It doesn’t mean that comic books can’t tell amazing and stimulating stories. We have no need to be embarrassed by our love for comics and the entertainment they provide us. It does mean, that more often than not, comic book writing has more in common with genre fiction than great literature.

Our analysis brought home just how busy Gerry Conway was. He was contracted to produce an amazing amount of work for DC each month. He did it. He produced and, as far as we fans know, never complained.

When does a positive become a negative? When does a negative become a positive? Are we to consider Conway “a professional” or “a hack”? I don’t know the answer to those questions. I do know that writers are not machines. I do know that even the best writer is only going to be able to come up with so many good ideas in his or her career.

We know that Gerry Conway was capable of coming up with good ideas. His contributions to comics are many. A few that we mentioned are: the death of Gwen Stacy; the Punisher; Firestorm; Vixen, the Red Tornado’s daughter, Traya; Blok, and Marte Allon as President.

His work also includes many uninspired ideas and a heavy reliance on clichés. Space pirates, anyone? He made definite attempts to bring personality and characterization to his work. These attempts were sometimes over the top and melodramatic. Sometimes he succeeded. He always tried.

Art matters: Comic book storytelling is a team effort. For his Legion run, Conway was never matched with a Cockrum, Grell, or Giffen. Staton, Ditko and James each had a special talent. Some will say that talent just wasn’t a good match for the Legion. I would argue that the scripts that Conway turned in may have failed to inspire those men to their best work. Perhaps Conway was just matched with artists who were “professional” on the same level that he was. The editors put together teams that got the books to the printer on time. In recent years, there have been plenty of complaints from fans about books not shipping on schedule. Do we really want books to be on time no matter the impact on quality? It’s a debate we could have all day, and it does appear that editors are working to come up with creative solutions. The Conway run serves as an example of what can happen if editors take a mindset that puts schedule above all else. Ultimately, Mr. Conaway failed to establish that powerful chemistry with his artists that marks the best of the medium. Sometimes the spark just isn’t there.

Vision matters: Conway didn’t appear to have a clear vision for where he wanted to take the Legion. He had a vision for Spiderman, Firestorm, and the JLA. He obviously didn’t have the love for the Legion that most of us here do. His work came between the runs of Paul Levitz. Levitz obviously loves the Legion and has always had a vision for the team and each member. Conway’s work suffered by proximity and in comparison.

Conway is obviously a humanitarian. He made many attempts to instill his stories with social conscious. He used psychology to try to explain his character’s motivations. Sometimes it was bad psychology. He tried to educate his young readers, at times. Care for the environment and feminism were recurrent themes. Some of these attempts seem dated and awkward by today’s standards. So be it. He tried. As a kid who was raised on a steady diet of Conway stories, I think I’m a better person for it. Thank you, Mr. Conway.

Sketch Lad mentioned reading the Conway Legion run while in junior high. I was in high school. I think I ended up with a bad case of Conway fatigue. Last week, I spent $21.00 at my local comic book shop. I got six comics. Back in the late 70s and early 80s that $21.00 would have bought me 42 comic books. Believe me, some months I bought that many. Sometimes it feels like at least a quarter of them were written by Gerry Conway. I quit reading comics for a time starting in late 1981. That decision was mainly the result of my desire to be a cool kid my senior year instead of a comic book nerd. Honestly, though, it was a pretty easy break . I had become quite bored with comics. Our analysis illustrates a formula approach and lack of inspiration in some of Conway’s work. He was hardly the only offender. I hope that is one of the things that our analysis helps illustrate. Many of today’s fans are critical of the comics of the later 80s and early 90s. The changes of that era are sometimes presented as destructive. From my vantage point, those changes saved comics. We were sorely in need of the Millers, Moores, Morrisons, the Crisis, the Giffens, Vertigo, and the Byrne Superman. Yes, many of these changes made us uncomfortable. We needed to be made uncomfortable. Things had become too mediocre.

Those changes helped comic books grow up a bit. So here we are, adults still into comic books. Here we are subjecting the Conway stories, that were meant primarily for kids, to our harsh adult scrutiny. I’m sure that if Conway should stumble upon our critiques he would take them as the professional that he has always been. I hear strains of John Lennon’s “Working Class Hero” in my mind as I type this. I still feel that the Conway era was a low point for the Legion. That doesn’t mean that his stories don’t have value. I hope that Sketch Lad retains a sense of wonder for them. I found He Who Wanders’ letter of praise for Conway’s efforts on the An Ryd story while finishing up my reviews. There are early signs that he would turn out to be the exceptional writer that he is. I do have a greater respect for these stories than when we started. However, I still consider “Space Circus” to be the worst Legion story of all time. There’s a saying that a bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work. I’m not much of a fisherman. The closest I can come to that sentiment is that reading the worst Legion story of all time is still a lot fun for me.

Re: # 277-78.

Although Conway only plotted these issues, I feel it’s only fair to review them for the sake of completion. (I will, however, stop here instead of going back to discuss Conway’s fill-in issues during the 230s, as Jerry has done. My reasons for stopping have to do with time constraints, although, as Conway was not the regular Legion writer then, those stories also seem to belong to a separate category. Your mileage may vary.)

Roy Thomas scripted # 277-78 (and took over as sole writer for the conclusion of the Reflecto arc in 279), and his imprint is indelibly stamped on these issues. The dialogue, for example, is full of Thomas-isms such as flowery language (Reflecto to Bouncing Boy: “You pathetic mountain of corpulence!”) and irrelevant fannish commentary (Duo Damsel: “Me too, Phanty—and I’ve had a chance to look with up to six eyes”). Also, characters’ powers seem to do whatever the story requires. Mon-El can somehow sense that the matter in Grimbor’s chains was recently converted from “pure energy.” Saturn Girl can apparently sense the thoughts of everyone on earth and pinpoint Grimbor’s “super-powerful thought emanations” coming from the North Pole.

But, whatever Conway’s contributions to this story, it reads better than most of his efforts. The concept of the story has serious ramifications. Forget space circuses and space pirates; the survival of earth is at stake. The plot moves along swiftly, and more than a handful of Legionnaires are engaged. Conway and Thomas move us deftly between the actions of two teams of Legionnaires with brief asides of Jeckie and Val minding the HQ and Wildfire, et al, meeting with the president. All of the these scenes move the story forward and build tension.

There are flaws, to be sure, but they are mostly minor. I laughed out loud, for example, at the last panel on page 10 of # 278. As Tinya partially phases through a building to take a look inside, her butt sticks out of the building. The building’s supervisor, who had tried to stonewall the Legion, runs toward her, saying “I will soon grab--” Alas, we never find out what he intended to grab, as Reflecto intervenes on the next page.

Another gaffe is the unexplained presence of Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel. They are treated like full Legionnaires, yet no mention has been made of them rejoining the team.

Perhaps the biggest flaw is the portrayal of Lightning Lad, who announces his resignation as leader after the current crisis. (The nature of this crisis isn’t specified, since Grimbor hadn’t tipped his hand yet.) While Garth has frequently expressed doubts about being leader, this announcement comes out of the blue. The events of his tenure have certainly been no worse than other trying times the Legion has faced, and he takes undue responsibility for one event (Brainiac 5 being framed for murder) that predated his leadership.

Conway and Thomas go to great lengths show how bad a leader Garth is. First Wildfire openly criticizes him for allowing Reflecto to escape. Then, Mon-El and Shady blunder into Grimbor’s chains and knock themselves out. Finally, Ayla lashes out at her brother in the middle of the crisis. But these are the rash actions of other people, not Garth. Perhaps Garth has failed to inspire his teammates to follow his example. Perhaps he holds the reigns too loosely, allowing people to do whatever they please. But except for Wildfire’s criticism, these actions come after Garth’s announcement. Knowing that your leader is giving up on you would demoralize any troops. By not setting up Garth’s decision properly, Conway and Thomas make him look even worse than a quitter; they make him seem callous and uncaring.

Although this story is well paced and full of expertly choreographed action, it makes me realize how ill-suited Conway and Thomas were for the Legion. Both bring a Marvel-style sensibility to the book. In doing so, they cause the Legion to lose some of its grandeur, its futuristic fantasy. Past writers had preserved that fantasy at the expense of believable character development. Conway and Thomas forced characterization upon the Legionnaires by making them bicker like the Fantastic Four. It would take Levitz, upon his return, to find the right balance between characterization and grandeur.

Excellent summation, Jerry. You raise a lot of valuable points, particularly in regard to the role of artists during Conway's run and the necessity for the changes in comics during the latter half of the '80s.

I think we've established before that you and I are about the same age. I graduated from high school about the same time that Conway's run ended. Unlike you, I continued reading comics for many years after. I didn't stop reading the Legion (for the first time) until 1990. So, my perspective comes from following their adventures for an unbroken period of over 17 years. (In a way, though, taking a break from comics has great value, as I later learned. It can give one a more detached perspective on what is truly significant about them.)

I agree with your conclusion that the Conway era was a low point for the Legion; I also agree that "the worst Legion story of all time" still has value.

For me, the principle value of these stories is that they "happened." They were not retconned away: Superboy really was a part of the Legion; Lightning Lad really did threaten to resign as leader; Brainiac 5 and Matter-Eater Lad really did go insane. I have no problem accepting these stories as part of the Legion's fictional history. As bad as some of them were (and some were very bad), they still fit into the larger whole of the pre-Crisis Legion. And, really, most of these stories were no worse than "Prisoner of the Super-Heroes," Jerry Siegel's horrid second Legion appearance.

The Legion in these stories is still recognizable--something I can't say about more recent versions of the team. Conway may not have had the liberty or the clout of a Johns or a Waid to do with the Legion as he wished; he played in the ballpark he was given. If he didn't improve the Legion, at least he left it no worse than it was when he arrived.

Conway does deserve credit for some things. First, the possibility of a Legion leader resigning had never been considered before. Though badly initiated (and Conway didn't see the plotline through to its fruition), it was quite a daring move for the time. Second, although the psychology behind Brainiac 5's cure from insanity is questionable, the story itself highlighted the Legion's love for each other.

Third, and perhaps most important, Conway played a significant role in launching the Legion's own title--an achievement in itself as DC had always believed that the Legion needed Superboy. The Legion was not cancelled during his run, which lasted some two and a half years--nearly 30 issues. He must have been doing something right.

Is it wrong to hold these stories up to adult scrutiny? Is there any point in doing so? I think there is. These stories played a significant part in our lives and in shaping who we are. I don't know that I'm necessarily a better person for having read Conway's run, but I do know that he played his part in perpetuating the values the Legion, values that I continued to be exposed to month after month for over 17 years. Those values transcended the mediocrity of his stories. From my perspective, it would be wrong not to reflect honestly on these stories and their impact on our lives.

Conway's stories, as you note, were not art. They were barely passable genre fiction. But, in an era in which DC launches multiple versions of the Legion to see which, if any, stick, it's good to revisit an era in which even mediocre stories really "happened."

I have a lot of catching up to do, which I will... soon.

Thank you for the excellent participation, guys. I'll be completing my reviews soon.

Jerry, thanks for a beautiful post.

Didn't Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel start drifting back into the action without explanation a few issues back? I don't have the issue in front of me, but if I'm remembering correctly Chuck and Lu showed up in the Stargrave framed Brainiac 5 story out of the blue. And then there was the Brave and Bold issue where the Legion teamed up with Batman and Lu was front and center there (I can't remember if Conway, Thomas or someone else penned that issue).

Also something I've always wondered - does anyone know why around this time the colorist started shading in parts of Shady's, Jeckie's and I think Vi's bodies as to be part of their costumes? Did the colorist force it upon himself to give the girls more modest costumes, or was this some kind of editorial edict? If so, why not just create new costumes for them instead of taking the lame route with the coloring?

The coloring of costumes for a more modest effect seems to have started about the time Jack C. Harris became editor. I don't recall it ever being discussed anywhere.

You're right: Chuck does put in a brief cameo in # 273, which Conway wrote. I had to look very carefully to spot him.

I don't have the Brave & Bold issue you mention.

However, their unexplained presence strikes me as another "Marvel-ism." In the Avengers--particularly during Roy Thomas's run--former members dropped in frequently with no official recogniton of them rejoining the team. This informal approach came to characterize teams such as the Avengers and Defenders.

However, the Legion always stood on ceremony when it came to members joining and leaving. Also, Chuck and Lu had worked hard to establish themselves as colonists on Wondil IX. Did they abandon that life to hang out with their old buddies?

Several issues later, Levitz dealt with this by having Chuck, in a moving scene, ruminate over the statues of the fallen Legionnaires and decide that he no longer wants to be part of this life. It's a wonderful scene, but it shouldn't have taken so long to address why he and Lu were there to begin with.

Lu was in the Brave and Bold issue. It was written by Marty Pasko and came out a couple of months after Conway left the Legion.