Conclusion: I expected spooky eye critters and I was totally amused by that drawing Bouncing Boy carried around. Interpretations of other civilizations are some of my favorite scenes and this issue is a cornucopia. We get to see some of my favorite supporting cast: the Legion "Pets."
p1. cool beans. p2. Legionnaires plunder archeological treasures for profit and there conveniently happens to be an emergency dive lever where it can be accidentally bumped almost every time someone uses the ship. Who would make that? Who would BUY that? This page is the perfect example of something I've mentioned I do NOT like, dumbing down the heroes in order to try and move a plot.
p3 EVERY character has unique facial features. Love the art. p4 Some characterization for future writers to play with. p5 taught me to always look where I was going when flying through a city.
Legion Outpost: So THAT's where he got his LW ID. lol PSA: Cabbage did me in. I'd have had a perfect score.
p13 That's not bad luck. That's a ninja! p14 How amazingly consistent the drawings on the temple are with the luck beliefs of other planets, described earlier in the issue. p 16 DOH! I thought it was going to be that thieving archeologist. Check out that look on Comet's face. That's one po-ed horsey.
Second story: Pete Ross redeems himself from the previous story.
In general, I've never cared much for the concept of the Luck Lords, and in fact don't really like the idea of "luck" or probability in general for super-characters. (Maybe I missed a really great Longshot story?). The one great exception, of course, is Calamity King and a certain LW poster that came up with a groovy way to do it.
Probability and luck would be different things I think. I do like "luck" depicted as one of the natural energies of the universe. Logic, magic, luck,.. things like that to divvy up what makes life move. The great hunt for a unification theory, would be a good Brainy Story IMO.
I think a lot of Imra's "personality" in these early stories was attributed to her simply because of the rather sterile silver age exposition that was used in the dialogue and since she was the most often featured of the girls she was the one who got the lion's (or lioness's) share of the dialogue, making her seem more "strictly business" than the other girls. Later writers built on this of course and explained that she had to act cold and unemotional to avoid being overwhelmed by the emotions of those around her via her telepathic abilities.
Tip: If you don't want to quote the post you're replying to, using the "Reply" or "Quick Reply" still means that the little "[Re: *]" beside the post title links back to the post you're replying to, to avoid these little whoopses
My views are my own and do not reflect those of everyone else... and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Even crazier: some dude claims he's a superhero known as...Lard Lad!!! I shit you not! Did we know about this and discuss it years ago? Do we need to track this dude down for a fight to the death?!
Adventure #343 In general, I've never cared much for the concept of the Luck Lords, and in fact don't really like the idea of "luck" or probability in general for super-characters. (Maybe I missed a really great Longshot story?). The one great exception, of course, is Calamity King and a certain LW poster that came up with a groovy way to do it.
Luck powers seem to be something most comic book writers don't get, or don't handle well, since *all* comic book characters, pretty much by default, have ridiculous streaks of awesome or awful luck, as the needs of the story dictate.
Indeed, for some heroes, 'hard luck' is part of their schtick at times, with Spider-Man, Nova, the Thing or Booster Gold sometimes having really bad days when the one gizmo they were counting on fails at the worst possible time, or they get blamed for something, or some other person gets the credit for one of their accomplishments.
With that sort of luck-as-drama built into the storytelling, a character whose *power* is luck has an uphill struggle to shine, as the freakishly improbable one in a million long-shot is not only probable, but kind of the rule, in a comic book universe.
That said, my favorite luck-based super-character was Talisman, from the Justice Machine.
At one point, he's being held hostage with some sort of energy gun to his head, and the leader of his hero team just shook his head and said to the villain, 'No deal. Go ahead and shoot him.' The villain did so, and the gun misfired and blew out the power to the room, leading to the heroes making short work of them. 'I knew he couldn't actually shoot you without *something* going wrong...'
Ah, the pre-Image days of Independent comics, the Justice Machine, the Elementals, the Southern Knights...
AThe panels posted by Lance do a great job showing this: Nura and Thom are shown to the tender, vulnerable and caring, and therefore more romantic with a heavy, tense atmosphere. Meanwhile Imra is stiff and formal; it's almost as if she's acting the way she thinks she should act, instead of showing how she really feels.
I'll occasionally still "catch" myself just reading the words.
Gon was a real eye opener for me. No words at all.the story and trust that the artist can convey and the reader will perceive the rest.
I LOVE pages without text. I included many in my own graphic novel. IMHO it's much more effective at setting the tone of the story than to belabor it with a lot of words.
The Star Boy trial story was a mix of great and questionable for me. The actual vote, while adding to the tension of the story, annoyed me because of the "all the girls voted for romance" explanation. Also, Saturn Girl voted and it seemed to me that the judge should not vote.
It always seemed cold to me to show Star Boy which members voted for or against him, though of course the fans would want to know.
To add to my own thoughts about writing vs. art in comics, I WILL say that modern comics have maybe gone too far in how much they've generally cut words out. Omniscient narrative captions are increasingly rare and thought-bubbles virtually non-existent these days. While I don't think it's necessary to explain things that are drawn for you and plain to see, I think narration can set a tone and allow the writer's voice to be expressed. And, of course, it gives the reader a little more bang for his or her buck by extending the experience. And if you have only a so-so artist failing to convey or add nuances to a text-lite script, the book is not going to entertain the reader.
The Star Boy trial story was a mix of great and questionable for me. The actual vote, while adding to the tension of the story, annoyed me because of the "all the girls voted for romance" explanation. Also, Saturn Girl voted and it seemed to me that the judge should not vote.
It always seemed cold to me to show Star Boy which members voted for or against him, though of course the fans would want to know.
I thought it was a good choice and a bold one. Look at all the discussion the vote has sparked here as we speculate as to their reasons for voting the way they did. And those contemporary readers who were devastated by Thom's expulsion might have found themselves suddenly disliking those who voted against him.
AThe panels posted by Lance do a great job showing this: Nura and Thom are shown to the tender, vulnerable and caring, and therefore more romantic with a heavy, tense atmosphere. Meanwhile Imra is stiff and formal; it's almost as if she's acting the way she thinks she should act, instead of showing how she really feels.
Uh, No. That would be me.
Sorry Jim. I knew it was you too, when I was typing that. The perils of posting from your phone.
I was reading a totally different thread right before. In my head I was saying "Jim" but typing "Lance". Unfortunately there's only a handful of people who are actually posting here!
Anyway, well done on picking two panels to compare! (Twice). Now you should post one of Nura in the cape!
The Luck Lords story.....hm. Not a fan, even after the re-read. Too many storytelling leaps. The power of the Luck Lords is ill-defined and just too unbelievable from that distance. If they had that much power, they could have done a lot more than just run their racket.
Then, there was the leap of the Luck Lords taking a pre-emptive strike against the Legion. Wouldn't it have been easier for them to take out the people who were going to call the LSH in? (This one's more of a caveat, I suppose.)
And Imra's leap to investigate Thaun is cheap and unearned. Let's face it...it was a storytelling shortcut! Very flimsy evidence leads to the story's solution. There really needed to be a smoking gun of some sort to earn that showdown.
Don't misunderstand--there've certainly been worse Legion stories. But it's clear the idea behind the story was to play with the idea of superstition in readers. It wasn't all that creatively done, and the story was obviously secondary to the idea. I also think the Legionnaires recently affected by loss could have been played up a little better.
You've done sooo much better, Hamilton!
Swan did a creditable job, though, with his designs for the Thaun citadel and vicinity and some of the more way-out things like the rainbows of Jupiter being stand-outs. I also liked the masks the Luck Lords wear. They were kinda creepy and a little ahead of their time. Lots of continued good work on facial expressions as well. More reason to affirm that Swan is one of my two favorite Silver Age artists (the other being John Romita).
Continuity note: More instances of Imra's prominent pointy side-boobage, particularly on page 7, panel 3!
I think the "Super Pets save the day ending" was too easy and too cliched. Already been done in The Legion of Super Traitors AND The Condemned Legionnaires. "Oh, gee. Our powers don't work on animals. We give up." It could've been a nice chance for some of the weaker members to shine. How cool would it have been if Lu, Vi, and the Kid had taken out the Luck Lords, after the more powerful, Imra, Garth, and Jan were taken out of action? Also, what's up with that one panel where Imra says, "There's one more bad guy in another room." It served no purpose.
To add to my own thoughts about writing vs. art in comics, I WILL say that modern comics have maybe gone too far in how much they've generally cut words out. Omniscient narrative captions are increasingly rare and thought-bubbles virtually non-existent these days.
I miss thought bubbles as well, especially when the scenes feature only one character. Thought bubbles give us some nice insight into their personalities.
Bonus Lettercol Review: Mort clarifies that Imra was appointed Deputy Leader by Brainy in response to a fan question about who is the leader, anyway? It seems like he just makes it up on the spot, accidentally kicking off a long term Legion tradition!
I wouldn't be surprised. The Imra-Brainy dynamic so far has shown that, even though these two are sometimes at odds, they hold great respect for one anothr and have a pretty deep friendship to boot.
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