Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Volume 23

LSH Baxter #41, "...Shall Ne'er Burn So Bright..."

Paul Levitz, script - Greg LaRocque, pencils - Mike DeCarlo, inks - Arn Starr, ink assist - John Costanza, letters - Carl Gafford, colors - Karen Berger, edits

PLOT: In Nyx Olympia, on Mars, a trio of Legionnaires (Jeckie, Gim, and Jan) get rough with a few of Starfinger's thugs, in hopes of finding out their boss's exact location. Meanwhile, the Tharr team from last issue (Mysa, Dawny, Brek, Mon-El) take to the far reaches of space with the same objective.

At Legion Headquarters, Brin feels sorry for himself because he's stuck on monitor duty even though he's famous and rich (I'd say it's karma for acting like such a jerk to Nura last issue.) Dirk feigns sympathy, but betrays his true feelings when he walks out gloating about his date with Laurel.

On an asteroid with a belt between Mars and Jupiter, yet another team of Legionnaires (Drake, Vi, Ayla, Reep) shakes down another bunch of criminals.

Mysa contacts the three Legionnaires we saw at the start of this issue, to inform them that she believes her spells have finally located Starfinger. Nearby, the usual Drake/Dawny drama unfolds with the predictability of one of those old coffee ads on TV.

Jeckie's team and Drake & Dawny converge at Starfinger's base, and attack. Starfinger now has two sexy female djinn companions (cue "I Dream of Jeannie" theme) who help him try to fight off the Legionnaires. Starfinger uses a blast from his ring to disable Gim.

Just then, the rest of the Legionnaires at large charge in like the cavalry.

Cut to Legion HQ, where Brainy is working alone on his latest sinisterly secret project.

Starfinger, through a lapse in logic that calls into question his abilities as a crime lord, decides to cut his losses and blow up his own base. Of course, the Legionnaires get to safety just in time.

Later, at Medicus one, Yera and Dr. Gym'll banter while Reep and a convalescent Gim confer. Then Yera throws Reep out.

Starfinger's ring lies intact among the debris of his former base.

THOUGHTS: Early on in this run, Paul Levitz namechecked the works of Steven Bochco ("Hill Street Blues") and Robert Altman ("MASH," "Nashville") as influences on his Legion stories. Fast forward to this point, and there is little echo remaining of those tasteful, semi-realistic influences. If the current state of the Baxter Legion recalls any 80s prime time TV show, it'd have to be "Miami Vice," with plots so schematic as to bring shame to the term "basic," brutal interrogations and bombastic action sequences that are Pure Hollywood, and a lot of superficial glitz to keep things halfway engaging. Normally, I'd have little or no problem with any of this (hey, that's entertainment sometimes), but when both art and writing are subpar, as is the case with this issue overall, it leads to a tedious, dispiriting read.

OTOH, being as I am a LaRocque fan, I pan each of his issue's pages for gold nuggets, and there are a few here to be had: Mysa doing her magical thing on Page 7, Drake's scary face in the upper tier of Page 12, and Starfinger's vicious attack on Gim on Page 18. The last of these is, I think, to be commended for leaving the gory details to the readers' imaginations.

The last page hints that we may never see Starfinger again, or at least not for a long time. Unfortunately, neither of these possibilities will be the ones that are proven true. With so many more interesting villains, I have to question Levitz's decision to see the so-called Starfinger saga to its bitter end. Which actually makes it a blessing in disguise that it'll be over fairly soon.

6 out of 10 Taryns: x 6 (sorry, I feel a bit lazy right now)

LSH BAXTER SERIES #42, "To Sleep A Thousand Years" (Millennium tie-in)

Paul Levitz, script -- Greg LaRocque, pencils -- Mike DeCarlo with Arne Starr, inks -- John Costanza, letters -- Carl Gafford, colors -- Karen Berger, edits

PLOT: Brek is being more smug than usual, even as he is overestimating the Legion's pyrrhic victory over Starfinger last issue. He also shamelessly plugs the guest appearance of several team members in the Baxter series' short-lived sibling book, "The Wanderers," which I've never read a single issue of. That Brek would be so callous about Gim's serious leg injury from the aforementioned battle last issue...well, that just adds insult to injury (pun!)

Understandably, by this point Tellus does believe he has had enough of Brek's preening. But being the sweet-natured, well-mannered sentient he is, Tellus politely excuses himself and keeps his judgmental thoughts to himself. He is equally polite to Laurel Kent and Dirk, even though their behavior rivals Jan and Schvaughn for sheer nauseating lovey-doveyness.

But wait! Laurel's got a secret she's keeping from Dirk...and perhaps the rest of the Legion as well!

Tellus ambles into the gym, where Jacques is swimming, Vi is jogging, and Tasmia is doing a very challenging...and very sexy...workout. Reep drops by to get some equipment he's gonna take to Gim at Medicus One to help his friend pass the time.

Meanwhile: That naughty, naughty Laurel breaches Brainy's multi-lab. Apparently, stealing the data from Brainy's computer files makes Laurel ecstatic (hey, it takes all kinds, bla bla bla.)

A shirtless Brainy (damn, this is a sexy issue) barges in on Laurel. He gets right to the point: "What are you doing here?" She gets cryptic: "That, Brainiac 5, you cannot know."

Cut to: Jan seeing off Reep, who rather suspiciously turns down Jan's offer to accompany him to Medicus One.

Back at the multi-lab, Laurel is ripping apart the machinery at throwing it at Brainy's good-old reliable force field, while spouting more cryptic nonsense about having a wisdom far older than even Brainy's. Having made her point, she contradicts it with sheer brutality which manages to stagger poor Brainy.

Into the fray charge Tasmia, Vi, and Tellus. As she fights them off, Laurel's blather switches from cryptic to Saturday-Morning Cartoon cheesy. Tasmia counters by using her powers in the most bad-ass way since at least LSH 288. Laurel decides to cut her losses and flee. Oh, yeah, and she can actually fly without a ring, along with all the other out-of-nowhere powers she's shown. Tasmia has one of the few good bits of dialogue in this issue when she opines that *if* Laurel really is a descendant of Superman, then she has none of his nobility. Enter Brek, whose overconfidence doubtless enabled Laurel in the first place. Some leader!

The escaping Laurel swoops past Reep's cruiser, but I guess that he already has so much on his mind that his detective skills are temporarily impaired, and he lets it pass.

Brainy and Tellus are joined at the scene of the incident by Brin and Nura and a very embarrassed and apologetic Dirk. When Brainy refuses to mince words, Nura keeps quiet but the deliciously snarky look on her face says it all.

Then...hooooo boy, do we *ever* stumble back into bad Saturday kid-vid territory as the fully-organic Brainy somehow interfaces with the computers, apparently because Levitz couldn't think of any other way to move the plot forward!

Cut to: Medicus One, where Reep's visit to a surprisingly chipper Gim results in some heavy-handed foreshadowing of (bad) stories to come.

Ah, but *then* we finally get to the big confrontation with Laurel. She's alighted at a Buddhist temple in the Himalayas, allowing LaRocque to jolt the issue back to full force by adding the picturesque surroundings to his talents for over-the-top action sequences.

There is a pause in the battle, for the sake of nothing besides facilitating an obligatory info-dump about Laurel's true origin (she's a Manhunter android built 1,000 years ago by the Guardians of the Universe, the ultimate sleeper agent-slash-killing machine.) But instead of clarifying all this gobbledygook, she loses patience with the Legionnaires and blows up the temple...with herself in it. Ooookay. To be continued, of course!

THOUGHTS: It's a guilty pleasure for me, okay? As I alluded to above, Levitz has now gone from "Miami Vice" to 80s action animation. And I'm a child of the 80s raised on that crazy, loud, over-the-top, trippy kind of stuff, so despite this issue's complete and utter schlocky-ness, I enjoyed it thoroughly. And, oh yeah, Tasmia finally gets to do something interesting that has nothing to do with Mon-El. Ergo, despite my docking a full point off my grade for that terrible cover (IIRC, it's the one Lightle Legion cover that has no redeeming qualities,) it still gets...read it and weep, folks: EIGHT out of Ten Taryns!

LSH Baxter #43, "...And Wake to Find a Dream"

Paul Levitz, script -- Greg LaRocque, pencils -- Mike DeCarlo with Arne Starr, inks -- John Costanza, letters -- Carl Gafford, colors -- Karen Berger, edits

PLOT: "Plot?" "PLOT?" What is this "Plot" you speak of? There is no such thing to be found here!

Okay. Fine...

The same Legionnaires who were almost killed last issue by Laurel-Droid dust themselves off, go to headquarters, and hold a conference where Brek comes off like more of a clueless boob than ever. Then the same team pursues Laurel across the Earth, with Nura and Jacques added (for no discernible reason, because those two really embarrass themselves against Laurel -- I mean, that scene where Jacques takes a swing at Laurel only to break his hand against her metallic hide is Cringe City.) Finally, they trick Laurel with an absurdly elaborate plan of the kind that Fred used to come up with in the old Scooby-Doo cartoons. But she just keeps pulling power after power out of her butt (something vague about her being fueled by Green Lantern energy) until the Legionnaires' deception convinces her she should self-destruct. The End.

THOUGHTS: Yeah, it's juvenile schlock. I already covered that in my review of the previous issue. But it's GAW-GEOUS schlock, with the art team really going hell bent for leather to keep the reader turning pages when Levitz's story gives them no real reason to. All kidding aside, I don't blame anyone for hating this 2-parter, especially not Laurel Kent fans. But consider this: If she hadn't been written out during the Baxter era, she would've been left to the mercies of TMK, who were under orders to eradicate all references to Superman, and who did some stuff to certain characters that might charitably be interpreted as mean-spirited. So, in that sense, Laurel's fate could have been even worse than this. And since I also went into detail in the previous issue's review about why I consider this 2-parter a guilty pleasure, I'll just get right to the grade: 7 out of 10 Taryns.

No kidding. This is the most tedious relationship in the Legion, if not in comics. At least the eternal triangle of Archie, Betty and Veronica was funny.



I hadn't made the Jeannie association, but it sure fits. Starbright and Starlight are more interesting than their master and I wish we had an origin story for them.



Questionable behaviour for a crime lord, but it goes with the temper tantrum personality he's been given.




I didn't find it that bad, personal tastes differing and all. Having different teams chasing down a target has been used several times before, so that's not terribly original, but I enjoyed the chase well enough.



Oh, those Mysa scenes! Lovely! The gory details may have been prohibited by the Code, but I agree that, even without the Code, that sort of damage can well be left to imagination.



I know you're not a fan of TMK, but this Starfinger brings to mind their version, who was only seen briefly (one issue, I believe) but had a real sinister air about him - and had driven this Starfinger into hiding like a frightened puppy.

He strikes me as almost manic. Of course, it's not Brek's fault that he had to plug The Wanderers.... and he sure was dismissive of Gim's injury.



A different Legionnaire than Tellus might have been more sharp-tongued regarding Brek's behaviour - and Dirk and Laurel's. Since Nura got her shots in at those two in an earlier issue, I guess they couldn't bring her back for some catty comment.



Legionnaires struttin' their stuff... but what was he doing with his shirt off? He wasn't sleeping, he said he'd just been meeting with Circadia Senius. Casual day at the Time Institute, I guess.



Great line from Tasmia! She's really well portrayed in this issue and it's a pleasure to see her apart from Mon-el.



An excellent panel with Nura, subtle yet unmistakeable.



Agreed, this didn't work/make sense for me. Reboot or animated version, ok - unless he's installed implants that none of the readers know about.



Necessary info-dump to explain all this, but I still wasn't clear about what/who she was seeking. Was this some carryover from the Millenium series?





I enjoyed these issues, great settings, Tasmia on full-blast shadow power, a resolution to the Laurel Kent mess. A very elaborate deception crafted for Laurel which might have made more sense if Projectra had been there. I didn't take to Laurel as a human, so didn't mind that she turned out to be a despicable Manhunter. I liked that the Legionnaires were slow to realize what a serious threat she was in terms of power; very human to not want to believe that someone has not only been deceiving you but has no core of human compassion. Even after all she did, they give her a proper burial.

That does make two villains in a row who blew themselves up, however....or appeared to have done so.

Very late to the party - Hi everyone - hello? Where did everyone go? Oh I'm so late there's a new party? Well I will join you there soon but not before leaving the snack I brought to this one.

I have finally reread the Superboy/Superman crossover. I have already commented on LSH #37 so I will move on from there.

Superman v2 #8

What a Fantastic Foursome of legionnaires. I wonder whose idea that was but it seems an obvious nod to Byrne's long FF run. Thanks Ann for pointing out the cover homage and the Who's Who pic as well. I wasn't aware of either. Further on the artwork the retelling of the same scenes that appeared in LSH #37 provides an interesting comparison. At the time I preferred Byrne's version but now I think I prefer LaRoque's.

Brainy "feels" they are making a mistake. (!?!) Not what I am used to hearing from him, even if a few panels ago he said Superboy turning bad was not logical.

Post-Crisis Superman remembers meeting Superboy-Prime during the Crisis. i wonder how much else of it he remembers - certainly not the death of Supergirl who no longer exists!

Back to Brainy again and I have to say this rendition feels a little off to me. The way Brainy talks seems more like Byrne's Mr Fantastic than the Querl we are used to. While we are there how did Brainy know about the other Legionnaires meeting Chief Parker, Pete Ross and the Kents? they were captured before they reported back which seems confirmed by their comments while waiting for the others. Can their flight rings be used as communicators and this happened off-panel before they were captured?

The final shot of Superboy and his dialogue is very dramatic (and rather silver age in its words I feel) but at least shows that he is not an evil version.

Action Comics v1 #591

Superboy refers to "the Master" which is the first time it is suggested that he is obeying someone else's commands.

Out in space Krypto thinks "my master is in trouble, I can sense it." Apparently Krypto's super-powers include super-loyalty-sense.

Now we get at least some explanation from the Time Trapper monologuing. I guess when you spend eternity alone at the end of time you get in the habit of talking to yourself.
We also get some of those time passing simultaneously type comments - "recently invented time machine" "I realized I had but seconds to act". TT had all the time in the world literally to think and plan what to do and then implement it in the past, which I guess is what he did. However he can't count since he equates one million years to a hundred thousand centuries - that's one zero too many buddy. Probably been a long time since someone pulled him up on his counting of years. The Kents being already "advanced in years" when they adopted Kal was meant to give him a "constant awareness of the mortality of human beings" and the "eternal imminence of death". I guess this was meant to make him more desperate to save his family and friends but I like to think that what it really did was create and even greater tendency to self-sacrifice for others. It was a nice touch to have Superboy's costume based on Superman's, which of course from a comic publication point of view it really was. TT then refers descriptively to his creation as "my pocket universe". I think this is the only time in the four issues this term is used yet it becomes the title of this reality, possibly because of Byrne's later use of it in Superman. Interestingly TT's monologue seems to say that he did this without a complete plan and only when Crisis came about did he see how he could use this and "his" Superboy against the Legion. Also apparently each previous Legion encounter with TT was a real defeat, even if it was some of his minions/stand-ins.

Nice (kind-of) to see the Super Sacrifice of the Canine Legionnaire. I mean it's tragic as Pa Kent says but it's also a nice heroic sendoff for Krypto.

I like the final revelation full page image. It is well done without any distracting background. Nevertheless we still don't actually know what TT's hold over Superboy is.

It's very considerate of the Legion to make sure Superman isn't messed up in their history - I guess this was not thought of with all the other times Superboy was in life-threatening situations. Then again I suppose this could be considered different since they were talking about someone who had been shown to manipulate the time stream and they no longer had any guarantee that Superman would survive to help create their future, especially since it had been just shown that what they thought was "their" past wasn't.

These two issues are of course Superman comics so naturally he is the central character in them as he should be. I very much like how he is portrayed. Superman's surprise and unfamiliarity with the Legion's powers is well done, as well as the difference in power levels between him and Superboy. There are also a number of "thought" moments highlighting other similarities and differences in quite a natural way such as seeing Superman's experience of time travel so different .Other thoughts like: "it doesn't even look like Smallville", "like an idealized version of a typical small town", Kents look a bit different but feel the same to Superman, and of course the fun bit with his cape ripping and surprising Krypto.

The interaction between the Man and the Boy at the end are really good and have a wonderful feeling to them, very true to both characters - and they are now two separate characters. Superman is still the main protagonist here and we finish with his viewpoint, in a way that feels like a good farewell from the post-crisis universe to Superboy and all he represents. Whatever we think of the decision to go in this direction, I like how it was done in the Superman comics.

LSH v3 #38

"The Greatest Hero of them all"

What a beautiful cover. I'm glad they went for something so different and special for this issue.

We finally get the detailed explanation for Time Trapper's hold over Superboy. the Crisis was destroying Superboy's town, planet, reality and TT created a mchine to hold it back. I imagine he could dl this because he had created the universe in the first place.

I found the Interlude with Wildfire and Dawnstar and another "Damn" to be not as good as the original Damn, in fact worse for seeming to try to recapture it.

Plot question: TT's words show he was unaware of the Superboy/Superman fight and its outcome - so why did Superboy stage it in the first place? Couldn't he have just told his teammates to go along with it? Convoluted plotting that really doesn't stand up in the end, but I have to admit it was fun reading.

At last we come to the final sequence which is the reason behind these issues. Superboy finds a way to save his reality AND the Legion but at the expense of his own life. These pages are very well done. I like the sequence of Superboy doing the actual saving - he appears to hear his friends and parents talking about him and what is happening. Then the finale follows on just as well. It makes sense that Mon-El would be the closest to him and the most impacted by it in these scenes considering the time he spent with Clark when he first arrived on Earth and their history beyond that. The whole thing is beautifully done. Sure there are plot issues and nitpicks but the feeling and impact come through. Whatever we think f the choice of DC editorial, PL did a good job in the implementation.

Agreed about Superman, and although Krypto gets a heroic sacrificing end in both this is perhaps friendlier.


Well put.


A good point. This one was sort-of answered in the later "Supergirl Saga" Part 2 in Adventures of Superman #444. When Superman returns to the Pocket Universe he learns of the Kents' fate. Pete Ross: "In the end it was that not knowing that cost us two of our dearest friends. Martha Kent passed on not longer after Superboy vanished. Jonathan followed her in less than a week. I'd guess it was a broken heart that killed them both. We'd all lost a friend. A champion. But they'd lost a son." Not exactly a happy ending but relatively kind compared to what happened to the rest of the planet.


The closest I can think of to another funeral scene is at the start of the second part of the Computo story which begins with collecting the remains of Triplicate Girl's third body and sending them off in a rocket to Shanhala. This is somewhat better done.(A lot)


Yes considering the end it finally came to Superboy's sacrifice here seems to have been almost in vain. His second visit to the Pocket Universe eventually results in his exile into space, and his subsequent return with the Eradicator, without which he would never have been revived after Doomsday, making the PU's existence vital to his backstory. Combine that with DC Editorial's increasing decision to remove all connection between the Legion and Superboy and we get an increasingly tangled web that apparently could only be sorted out by the "End of an Era". I am one of those that admired how they played out that story in the Superman books, showing the results of his actions, but it certainly didn't help the Legion books.

Tales from the Letter Pages

LSH #42 has some very interesting responses to letters regarding the Superboy story in LSH 37/38. I could summarise but I decided the responses gave such a good insight into the thoughts of PL and his team that it was best to quote them in full (the responses not the original letters - I do have limits - occasionally).

Letter 1 from DKSN Jef Peckham USN says "...If we figure out how many times Superboy saved other Legionnaires, the only people who Superboy didn't save at least once consist of those who have joined since the White Witch."



Rather ironic considering the later "Valor" change in the series.

Letter 2 from Rick C. Moore says "Imagine you're at the scene of a terrible accident. You want to look away, but for some reason you're compelled to look at it ... Why can't you people simply pluck Superboy (and Krypto?) from this doomed time frame and transport him into the 30th Century to again become a regular Legion member? ..."



This response really show how hard they were trying to honor the legend while keeping to DC's new approach.

Letter 3 from Larry Speiss says "... This looks like a vulgar attempt to increase the sales of SUPERMAN and ACTION COMICS ..."



And one last letter to which no comment was given: Keith L. Partain says

"Dear Ms. Berger,
Re: LEGION #38. "The Greatest Hero Of Them All"
MURDERERS!
Ah, thank you. Feel much better now.
Thank you for dedicating the issue to fellow Oklahoman, the late E. Nelson Bridwell, now that was a super hero."

He was right, though: substituting Valor did change the tone of the series, given the explicit religious elements brought in. Maggie might have played with that stuff pre-Crisis, but the Legion stories never did.

I think the best solution would have been to leave Superboy alive but trapped in the Pocket Universe, forever inaccessible. That way we could imagine him living happily ever after, continuing his adventures as normal.

At least until another writer decided to crap on the story.

Good point. We never saw the Legionnaires say that Superboy couldn't be killed since he'd grow up to be Superman. The issue just wasn't addressed. I'd have to go back over earlier Time Trapper stories, but up until now, did the Legion realize that he could change the timeline/history? Big step up from turning them into babies and glorp.



Agreed; I don't have to like the result but the tale was well told.

It would have been interesting to know what other possibilities the DC team was considering to deal with the Superboy question - probably some of those proposed here. It was the total eradication of Superboy that I feel was unnecessary - fine to leave him in the Pocket Universe - but no doubt DC wanted a clean slate. What a tangle it all became in the years since.

This.

But...ah, for those bygone days when comic book creators crapping on their predecessors' stories wasn't the standard operating procedure.

Yeah, as I posted that, I was thinking "Even if Byrne didn't screw it up, Geoff Johns certainly would have."

Cogs in the wheel, cogs in the wheel...one picks up the previous one's mantle...it might be a way to earn a living, but I just don't see how it would be fun for any halfway decent human being.

Rule Forty-Two of Being A Comic Book Writer:
"Kill Somebody Else's Darlings To Make Room For Your Own."

LOL

Ain't that the truth.

Thanks, Klar. I needed a laugh.

LSH #39 "The One that Got Away"

A rather different issue compared to the drama of previous issues. The "breather" issue after multi issue stories was pretty common in Levitz's run and some were better than others. This one is never going to be the star in the pack but it is still fairly enjoyable. The plotting of the main tale is not bad although not exactly gripping either. It is more a nostalgic look back at the Legion's early days. In that sense and in deepening Gim and GiGi's history and relationship it succeeds very well. I also quite enjoyed the Cham/Gim intereaction . We knew they joined together but this adds to their relationship. The bookend front and back were somewhat less well handled although still nothing terrible. The difference in artwork styles was a bit jarring but acceptable with the two different periods. Frankly I thought this was some great work by Swan. I often find the backgrounds in his art fairly plain and empty but here they felt very well rounded.

There were a couple of missteps in the actual text that confused some. With the legion's membership, it actually only says there were seven during the ceremony, not before Gim joined, so I think GiGi was counting Cham and Gim along with the five existing members. This also matches up with the image on page 24 of their induction. Cham and Gim are being sworn in by Cos with Tinya, Imra, Garth and Luornu standing to the side.Interestingly amongst the bystanders seated at the back is apparently a Coluan in Brainiac 5's outfit and next to him is someone who could be Salu/Vi. Since we know Brainy didn't join for another couple of inductions it is interesting to speculate on his presence here. I wonder if it was Paul's request or Curt's fun insertion?


Tales from the Letter Pages

Ginger Rapsus didn't like how the ending was handled saying that GiGi's turning down Sun Boy's offer of marriage so casually was a putdown for those women that chose homemaking and childrearing over career. Levitz's response was surprise, saying how they had to go back and carefully reread the issue because marriage was not their intention at all. Sun Boy obviously had something more than a simple date in mind but it might still have been a weekend cruise in the asteroids or something. As for GiGi's choice PL expressed total respect for women who choose any course in their life that pleases them, whether a demanding career or a demanding childrearing role. However his own reading of GiGi's personality led inevitably to the career taking first place. (As an aside Nightcrawler's recent post of pages from Superman Family #200 about Supergirl's possible political career sent me back to read that story. In it Lois is looking forward to renewing her journalistic career now her daughter is old enough, only to find out that she is pregnant again. Superman/Clark is at first surprised at her reaction but then realises that she has made most of the sacrifices for their family so far and it is time he made some more as well. It is left unclear whether he will be dropping journalism or super-heroing but that he will be giving up something is clear. The story reflects the era it is written in but is also fairly forward looking in how it handles this.) This confusion is one of the miss-steps I mentioned. It was written to lead us up the garden path but the resolution wasn't clear enough.

Anthony Galagher of Melbourne, a frequent correspondent in this and the 5YL period, "wondered who the escaped prisoner was in #39, and came up with his own theory - which matched our sneaky little sub-plot so we won't share it with the rest of you . Congratulations Anthony." We find out upcoming issues more about the escapee.

Rex Joyner complained about how this was a "pleasant" issue but lacked the frequent sub-plots and tie-ins to ongoing storylines. PL responded "There was more than one connection between #39 and recent issues but we admit they were unusually subtle." I count three connections - the relationship between GiGi and Sun Boy, the recently (or soon to be) portrayed friendship bewteen Cham and Gim, and the escaped prisoner which is probably the one that most readers at the time missed until their nose was rubbed in it in a few issues time.

Good to see you catching up, Stile. Welcome back to the Re-Reads.



The Cham/Gim scene was, I think, the highlight of the issue.

Agreed 100 percent on Swan. He really outdid himself here. Those scenes of Gim and GiGi having fun at the beach are infectious and make me wish I was there -- and I normally hate beaches, especially the way the sand seems to get into every pore in one's body. Hmmm...maybe I should post that in the Anywhere Machine's "Overrated Concepts" thread.

HWW's Belated Review of the Death of Superboy

Hello, everyone. It?s been a long time since I?ve reviewed an issue. I was hoping to at least get up to the Death of Superboy, since it?s a major Legion milestone, but life has gotten hectic. However, I?ve been thinking about this story lately and how it represented a turning point for both the Legion and for me. I read three of the four issues this morning (I could not locate Superman #8 in my collection), and then popped into LW to read the reviews, which I will comment on as well. Here are my thoughts:

In a nutshell:
The story does what it was intended to do--write Superboy out of the Legion--but does so in a ham-handed and rushed way.

A bit longer than a nutshell:
Okay, I?m reading this story many years after it was published, and it?s hard for me to separate the person I am now from the fan I was then. I may be a bit overly critical in my assessment. But I also think the story didn?t quite deliver the major death story it should have for a character of such great importance, not only to the Legion but to the DCU itself. For many years, Superboy was the junior version of DC's flagship character, the greatest and most recognizable superhero ever. But, in the post-Crisis times, he was shuffled off the stage very quickly, like a retired employee, with nary so much as a gold watch. The story of his death is grand in its scope, but a little too grand. In an attempt to build off the current storylines and mini-series involving the Time Trapper, the creative team loses sight of what mattered most to Superboy's association with the Legion?his friendship with powered teens from the future, a team he inspired and which counted him among their own. Obligatory references to this friendship saturate the story, but it all feels contrived. References to past tales and characters are there because they are expected to be there, not because they add anything of inherent value to the story.

Issue-by-issue breakdown

LSH 37

The storyline begins well enough with Brainy and crew repairing the time beacon and preparing for a journey to the end of time where they plan to confront the Time Trapper. These scenes are my favorite in the storyline, as they do what Levitz did best: show a large group of Legionnaires doing their jobs and bantering. Cramey is right that there is a leisurely pace as the story unfolds, but it feels natural and gives us a warm introduction into the Legion and its world (always helpful for both new and old readers).

I loved Polar Boy's interruption--he coldly (literally) overrules Brainiac 5?s decision to take the entire team to confront the Time Trapper, and for good reason. Brek is absolutely correct that Legionnaires are needed to safeguard the 30th century. But he exercises his authority with an unnecessary display of power and then later worries to Element Lad about doing the right thing, a clumsy but realistic depiction of a new leader. Lydda's jab about Brek not using logic was uncalled for, as was the scene in # 38 where Dream Girl gives him essentially the same advice as Jan.

Skipping over the subplot interludes, we catch up with Brainy and his team as they enter an oversized time bubble and are pushed through time by Mon-El--a nice and comfortable trope, as is the unexpected bumpy ride in the time stream. The Time Trapper appears in isolated scenes to remind us he's the villain, he's watching all these events unfold, and, like all major villains, he talks to himself. Seriously, the guy needed a puppy, just as Superboy did.

Despite Brainy's overconfidence, the team goes backwards in time instead of forwards. They land in Smallville, where they encounter Pete Ross, Chief Parker, and the Kents. This is where the story struggled for me. These characters are here because they are expected to be here, and they behave in ways they are expected to behave, even down to Pa Kent's "Gosh." They seem like stereotypes instead of "real" characters (John Byrne alludes to this the third part of the story when he has Superman comment on how this Smallville resembles an idyllic version of a small town). I'm not sure what I would expect them to do--Ma Kent's hug was a wonderful touch, though I thought she would hug Mon-El, not Ultra Boy--but I can think of several possible reactions: "Oh, oh, it's the Legion! Clark must be needed!" "Damn, Martha, I need him to do the inventory on peaches." "Oh, Jonathan, don't be rude! They are visitors, even if they dress too preppy for a small town." Anything to give the encounter a more personal slant. Instead Levitz reminds us that the Legion inspired Superboy, that they once came back to invite Superboy to join the team, etc.--all stuff fans would know and which don't advance the story.

When Clark finally shows up, he acts abrupt and distant towards his friends, not even asking if they've finished their meal as he ushers them into the basement. There we find out why he behaves so distantly. He pulls out a time-stasis projector and freezes his friends. There's nothing wrong with this development--it's about time something happened. But it seems too abrupt. As Clark himself mentions, the Legion doesn't come to his time very often anymore. There's a chance for him to catch up with the Legion and for them to tell him why they've come to the past (albeit by accident). Instead, we have a panel of the Legion statuettes, a callback to earlier stories but not needed here. This is Levitz the writer indulging in Levitz the fanboy.

Speaking of obligatory appearances, Lana Lang pops in just long enough to ask for Clark's help with algebra and unwittingly delays his confrontation with the Legionnaires who have been left with the time bubble. Pete Ross is used primarily as a vehicle to guide the Legionnaires from place to place--first ushering Cosmic Boy's team into the Kents' store and then convincing Brainy's team to leave. Why Brainy accepts Pete's word that they should depart is unexplained. Sure, Pete's an honorary member and all that, but for a team which frequently encounters mind control, impostors, and betrayal, you'd think Brainy would have sent Invisible Kid into Smallville to verify Pete's story and see if their teammates could be rescued. But never mind: They have to hit the time stream so Superboy can spend a page ruminating about how "awful" it is that he has to betray his friends and so the Time Trapper can spend another half page ranting. In hindsight, I would have preferred Superboy's actions to remain vague and mysterious--is this the real Superboy, an impostor, or has the Time Trapper gotten to him? A little mystery can go a long way.

Greg LaRocque is one of the better Legion artists of this period, but here his work seems stilted and unconvincing. His figures are frequently awkward, such as Colossal Boy's legs on Page 1 and the expressions of the frozen Legionnaires in # 38 (Cos, at the bottom of Page 6, looks like he was about to sneeze when he froze).

As I mentioned above, I couldn't find Superman # 8 in my collection, so, moving along . . .

Action Comics # 591

Brainy's Legionnaires are immediately taken out of action by Superboy's time-stasis gizmo so Superboy can spend the issue fighting his post-Crisis adult counterpart. The battle is good enough, but an inordinate amount of time is spent reflecting on the differences between this Superman and Superboy. Superman struggles to stay ahold of the latter's boot in the time stream, his cape is torn, he would like to have a dog, etc. Some of the observations are helpful in showing how Superman is less powerful than he was pre-Crisis and in building tension, but there are too many of them.

The paper-thin plot is padded with a lengthy interlude in which the Time Trapper reveals to us his machinations all along--how he manipulated the time stream so the Legionnaires in that long-ago adventure visited not their own past, but a past of his creation: a past where Superman was Superboy. This revelation should hit the reader like a ton of bricks, but it doesn't--and I think there are two reasons why it falls flat. First, the Trapper is telling all this to the reader, not to a character. Wouldn't it have been more emotional, more profound, if the Legionnaires learned their entire history was based on a lie? How would Superboy have reacted? Sure, the heroes eventually learn all this, but there's no emotion as they do so. Wouldn't it have been more powerful to watch their arch enemy gloat?

The other reason why this revelation doesn't work is because there seems to be no reason behind the Time Trapper's plan. Why does he go to all the trouble of creating a pocket universe just so the Legionnaires can meet Superboy, induct them into their team, and regularly have adventures with them? His motivations are as obscure as ever, and obscure villains are not compelling.

At least Pete Ross is used much better here, helping the adult Superman and openly confessing to the Kents that he's known Clark's secret all along. But since these characters are all about to be shuffled off the four-color mortal coil, the revelation comes too late to have any consequence.

This issue also brings Krypto back into the fold, and, while the super-dog is used to good effect, it threw me out of the story every time he had a thought balloon. Sure, we are told he has super-intelligence (which he loses along with his powers when exposed to gold K), but the charming idea of a dog with intelligent thoughts and reactions just seems out of place in a story that strives to be more modern.

However, the biggest letdown for me is the full-page explanation (page 19) of how Superman realized Superboy wanted to lose their fight. This huge exposition is just sloppy writing. It could have been worked into the story in a much more natural fashion as the characters fought or did something else. Furthermore, it makes no sense that, after going to all the trouble of trapping his friends and fighting Superman that Superboy would now just give up because the former has figured out what's going on. What if the Time Trapper is watching?

Anyway, the story concludes as it should: with the Legionnaires being freed from stasis and Superman returning to his own present in 1987. While Brainy's logic in leaving Superman behind is unassailable, it does leave me wondering what he was thinking all those times when Superboy put his life on the line during Legion adventures.

Then the story ends with the worst telegraphed line ever. As he flies away, Superman thinks of Superboy, "Whatever happens next . . . I hope he'll find the peace he's earned." People usually find peace when they die. Gee, d?ya think . . .?

The art is recognizably John Byrne and moves the action along well. The opening shot of Superboy ambushing the Legionnaires and Superman from atop a roof is dynamic. Facial expressions, such as Superman's g-force-like grimace on Page 4 are natural.

LSH 38

I gotta admit, there's something very gratifying about seeing Superboy in the time bubble with the Legionnaires on the opening page. He's back where he belongs, as least for the moment. Knowing what lies ahead gives the image particular poignance.

However, we are then treated to another recap/exposition as Superboy fills the Legionnaires in on how he came to make a deal with the Time Trapper. This is followed by another recap/exposition as the Time Trapper gloats to the still-frozen Legionnaires (who have somehow changed out of the period clothes and back into their uniforms). When Superboy and the team finally confront the villain, the latter materializes a humungous blaster into Superboy's hands and tells him to kill the Legionnaires in order to protect Smallville. Well, we all know Superboy's going to make the right choice, and it's gratifying to see him crunch the blaster into a ball and hurl it at the Time Trapper. But his logic is unclear. By doing this, Superboy puts the pocket universe Smallville at risk. There's a lot of macho posturing involved when he tells the Time Trapper "Over our dead bodies," but there's no plan.

It doesn't matter because there's a lot of action--a lot of things explode, a lot of energy beams get shot, and the Trapper retreats, as he always does. Then it's up to Superboy to absorb the energy needed to save Smallville--a move that fatally injures him. But he has just enough power left to push the Legion's time bubble back to their own era, where he collapses and dies in Mon-El's arms.

The idea of Superboy's sacrifice is good, but the execution feels very rushed and contrived. To prove once again why he is the greatest hero of all time, the Legionnaires have very little of substance to contribute. Why couldn't Mon-El have pushed the time bubble back to the 30th century, as he pushed it into the time stream in the first place? Why didn't he push it alongside Superboy? The image of the tattered Superboy in Christ-like pose on Page 23 is compelling, but logically it makes no sense for him to push the time bubble alone.

Most of the Legionnaires are wasted in this story. Invisible Kid is just an extra. Night Girl, Cosmic Boy, Mon-El, and Ultra Boy spend most of the four-part story frozen in stasis. This is really Superboy's story, and in that respect it calls back to the early '70s, when the Legion co-starred in his title and he was front and center in every lead story. But the Legion has grown much since then, and it feels like a cheat to have them sidelined so much in a story which carries major consequences for them all.

The two-page funeral scene is well depicted, but, again, nothing new or terribly interesting is revealed. The usual funeral dialogue?--"He was a legend," "I never met a better man," etc.?could apply to any deceased person. Only Lu's "I loved him, you know" harkens back to something special the Legionnaires shared with their lost friend.

In summation
I don't wish to be overly critical about this story. Judging by the reviews in this thread, it is still well liked. But I couldn't help remembering how I felt when I first read it. I turned 24 just about the time issue # 38 was published. My life was going nowhere, and I found refuge in comics, especially the Legion. I loved the depiction of these fictional friends having grown up together, making a difference in the world, and continuing to grow and explore their lives and the universe around them. I wished my life could have been like that. At their best, Legion stories transcended wish fulfillment and offered something new, something challenging. Like the best of science fiction, they showed what future society could be like. Along the way, some things had to be left behind--including old friends.

Superboy's demise was determined by corporate decision, and it was given to Paul Levitz and John Byrne to pull it off. They give him a suitably grand exit, but one that feels too grand, not human enough. Just as Star Trek is not merely about spaceships and phasers and Klingons, the Legion is not merely about time travel and action and godlike villains. The human element is what made both series work. In giving Superboy a massive send-off, Levitz sacrifices that human element. Only Byrne's contribution plays off the emotions of the situation--what it would be like to encounter a younger version of yourself, parents who are so similar to your parents but not quite, and a life which might have been yours? I truly felt for Superman when he wished he had had a dog. I didn't feel anything for the Legionnaires or even for Superboy when he sacrificed everything for the people he loved.

Sometimes that cosmic story needs to be brought down a notch or two.

Firstly, He Who, great to see you back here and posting your review of "Death of Superboy/The Greatest Hero of Them All." Proving once again that there's no such thing as coincidence, I had been musing just the other day, "Gee, it would've been nice if He Who had reviewed that storyline."

Secondly, while I disagree with your review overall, I have to admit I also got a smile out of it, because your reaction to the story was exactly what *I* had been expecting *my reaction to be.*

I didn't find the story to be lacking in the human element, nor did I feel like Superboy himself was given short shrift. But, to borrow an expression you use frequently, your mileage may vary.

I also don't see LaRocque's art as being below his usual standards, and there were several times during the Re-Reads that I called him on just that.

And as long as we're talking about this era of the Legion again, I now believe this is *exactly* when Levitz should have left. Not after "Conspiracy," like he'd originally planned, but right here.

I still think "The Greatest Hero of Them All" is a decent storyline which left a bad legacy because of what happened in its wake. And not just the decline in Levitz's writing. As EDE and I noted earlier in this thread, if they'd just left the Pocket Universe alone, instead of Byrne and Carlin having the Phantom Zone villains destroy everything and kill everyone, and then add insult to injury by having Superman kill *them*...

Hey He Who! Great to see you saying your bit again!

I think you are right about the fragile nature of the plot. So the Time Trapper sees an opportunity in the Legion's peculiar mythos to setup a grand scheme. That's good although of course we have to wonder why he played the loser so many times later but hey that's a retcon for you. So Superboy is blackmailed into betraying his friends, at least temporarily to save his family and town. Believable as long as we know he will turn good in the end. Then finally TT reveals his grand scheme, his final trick, the ultimate trap. He tells to Superboy to kill the handful of Legionnaires he has trapped here !?!? Umm? yeah that bit always was a bit jarring for me. I get the idea behind it, using the Crisis as a threat and providing safe haven for his friends and family only on condition of his total obedience, but, well maybe this explains why he lost all those previous times. A villain can have great power and even great schemes at times and still be a doofus. Also I agree it wasn't exactly clear why Superman defeating Superboy was such a big deal, especially since he was sent straight home, unless it was to reveal his motives to his friends in a way that didn't break any promise he made to TT (you know how Supes was about his word).

John Byrne does tend to add a lot of exposition to his scripts. That's part of his style and his other work isn't much different. I think we have been spoiled now by seeing other writers handle this type of thing better. Still in this case I think he can be forgiven a bit. The Superman titles had a lot of new readers, in fact I was one of them having grown up with Silver Age reprints but starting my comic collecting with this reboot and only then going back to get all the Legion I had missed. Because of the differences between this Superman and the Silver/Bronze Age Superman Byrne often thought it important to mention these in Superman's thoughts, highlighting things that we noticed were different but the character thought were perfectly normal. This crossover was written as much for the Superman fans as for the Legion fans. As such even the Legion titles needed to include additional exposition explaining this Superboy's adventures with the Legion for the new readers who might never have read the Legion or only knew of them vaguely. I remember PL replying to a letter in the Legion comic where the writer complained about what he saw as a selfish cash grab and just trying to boost the sales of a series he wouldn't have in his house (the Superman titles) by linking to the Legion titles. PL's comment was that the decision had practically nothing to do with sales and everything to do with explaining a major continuity issue that was vitally important to both lines of comics. He went on to mention wishing that Legion was as big a seller as the writer thought but that the reality was entirely the other way around. The crossover caused a significant increase in Legion sales (presumably by Superman fans) but nary a bump in the Legion sales. The point being that there were a lot of Superman fans reading those crossover Legion issues so the exposition was probably necessary.

I still like this story. Do I think it could have been better handled? Perhaps. I also think it could have been done a lot worse. It certainly made me think about it at the time, including wondering and looking back to past stories to explain Luornu's love comment and Mon-El's brother comment. It also always bugged me how the Supergirl aspect (never explaining her stories) was just hushed up and pushed to the side. Perhaps that is a part of why the FYL team felt compelled to make the radical change they did.

Anyway, glad to have you back and your input might even get me caught up and contributing again so thanks.

Delightful to see you back for a review, HWW.

You raise good points about some of the clunkier aspects of the story. I'd love to see a variety of writers present ideas of how they would have handled the ordered elimination of Superboy. It's a tough assignment. Perhaps the overly grand funeral send-off was an expression of guilt.

Your comments about including all the Smallville regulars () struck me. Indeed, they were there more just as requisite elements of the Superboy story, and they might have been written to have a greater sense of being real people than appearances. The warmth of the Kent household is diminished by the crisis at hand; to make them more real would have accentuated the sense of loss at the end. I expect writing the Smallville characters that way was a question of panel space rather than intentional emotional distancing. That's how I react today; the Superboy/Smallville world has a sheen of nostalgia over it now. At the time it was published, I had been glad to have Superboy out of the Legion and the Smallville of my childhood seemed corny and unrealistic. Now a town and that never was and never could be is a reminder of what is lost by growing up.

Beautifully put, Cramey.

I agree. Beautifully put.