Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1977) #243

It’s one issue-long story this time, no backup, which is both good and bad. It’s bad because this issue’s a letdown from the previous two “Earthwar!” entries, but it’s good because after an issue of Joe Staton penciling instead of James Sherman… It’s okay if the issue is over.

Writer Paul Levitz carries on as though nothing’s changed with the penciller replacement. Except Levitz’s exposition plays very differently against Staton and inker Jack Abel’s bland future scenery. It’s not just bland compared to the previous issue; it’s bland for any Legion. Staton and Abel are working fast, and it’s impressive how much they get done; completion, not excellence, is their goal.

The wind’s out of the sails immediately, with Levitz opening with that female Science cop Wildfire almost killed a couple issues ago. She gets a name this time—Shvaughn Erin—and quite a bit of expository reflection to catch readers up. We get to see Staton and Abel’s take on moody close-ups. Not promising. We also finally find out why she was on an urgent mission to see the Legion at the start of this story arc–one of their greatest foes has escaped captivity. She’s fairly sure the escape will have something to do with the resolution of this big storyline. So much so, she knows not to think the name of the great foe; be too soon to reveal.

The story then jumps to Weber’s World, the artificial planet of intergalactic peace, as aliens arrive for the long-promised peace negotiations. Not good space alien art. Lots of dialogue for them, and weak art to go along with it. It’s rough times, though Staton and Abel do better with the action scenes than the talking heads. And there’s some action in this part. It’s chase action, which is probably the best kind for the artists. Because their space-war action art won’t really click, nor will their future ground-war action art. They get it all done, though. They do accomplish their task.

Superboy and the guys who didn’t do that genocide–which they totally could have done, too, they’re tough guys–last issue on Khund arrive on Weber’s World just after the latest assassination attempt, and because the negotiating aliens (the Dominators, who are supposedly peace-loving) only trust the Legion, Earth negotiators are on their own.

Levitz cuts from the protagonists of parts one and two and does this summary bit over the war on Earth. It’s all about the valiant Legionnaires who are still around, making their last stand. There’s a bit about their deeply held value of not killing sentient beings, which is an odd inclusion unless someone read the last issue and thought they should remind some of the boys. The “sentient” bit lands odd, of course. Presumably, the multiple telepaths have cleared all their meats.

Anyway.

This section of the issue gets tedious fast. It’s cameo and guest star time, but it’s not exciting. The book’s not visually engaging. Sometimes, quite the opposite. And it gets more and more tedious as it goes on. No matter what Levitz has in store, Staton and Abel don’t make it look interesting. By the time the comic gets to the conclusion—after a nothing-burger reveal of the “Earthwar!” masterminds as an old Legion nemesis (with no editor’s note or context from Levitz for unfamiliar readers, which is a choice of its own)–the art’s operating on fumes, looking more like a proposal than finished work.

The issue’s a race for both Levitz—whose pacing for this story is completely different than the previous two entries—and the artists. They both make it, the artists worse for wear, and Levitz has exhausted his repertoire of narrative devices. He tries everything, and Staton can’t make hash out of any of it.

For part three in this arc, it’s a major letdown and entirely obvious why it’s happened. It is an exemplar team superhero comic narrative, again, only for the endurance, this time, not for the quality.

Maybe Sherman’s back next time. And if not, hopefully Levitz figures out how to adjust to Sherman’s absence for the finale.