Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1977) #241

The opening story, Prologue to Earthwar, is an all-time Legion banger, despite a bit of weaponized misogyny and classism. And Wildfire being okay with manslaughter on his conscience. Oh, and weird racism against the bad guys. They’re green and slimy, so the Legionnaires call them slime-related slurs. Is it speciesism?

Finally, lots of it is definitely fascism. Fascism is okay as long as you were right in the end, says Brainiac 5 with the most disconcerting grin. Penciller James Sherman has these big, expressive eyes on these careful faces, and so when every hero is grinning in their action panel, it feels like a victory lap of a comic book. But it’s unclear for what, because writer Paul Levitz doesn’t just punt the reveal into the next issue; he punts two reveals into the next issue. Probably not three, but possibly three.

It’s a wild story and wildly successful. The political and military business comes in rapid fire, but never with too much exposition. The story is mostly an action story. Superboy shows up and kicks ass; the Legion zooms out on a mission against the green space pirates in an extended sequence, which includes those sexism and classism subplots. Plot points. Plot details. Whatever they are.

With Sherman’s pencils (ably inked by Bob McLeod), Levitz basically has primetime TV teenagers as the Legion to play with. They’re able to do a bunch of character work, like Levitz is flexing because he knows he’s got Sherman doing the art. So, again, it has that victory lap feeling, like the creators know what they’ve got going here, they know how well it’s going to land, so they’re enjoying the stroll.

That attitude is infectious–the story’s fun. Superheroes show up and do really well-rendered superhero action things. They’re usually not being creepy to the girls. They’re often not being crappy about how other carbon-based life forms look. And there’s time for missions and side missions. Levitz has a full twenty-two pages, and Sherman only takes one of them for a big splash page. Sherman draws this book as if he wants to read it; Levitz writes it as if he wants to see Sherman draw it. The synergy’s out of sight.

The buildup towards the finish, where Levitz recalls various details from the story to that point, letting the reader in on some of the connections, is fantastic. Great cliffhangers. Just an outstanding Legion comic book.

There are the bad vibes, of course–the fascism, racism, sexism. Again, as long as you never get caught being wrong, you’re doing the right thing. I also just realized Superboy is never around for Brainiac 5 manipulating his teammates.

Still, great comic.

The backup has Paul Kupperberg writing a Timber Wolf extended backup (it’s 12 pages, meaning we get a full-page retelling of Light Lass’s origin). They’re on mission together, but the planet police guy doesn’t want Light Lass on the case because it’s about her evil brother, Lightning Lord.

Kupperberg’s scripting from a Levitz plot, with Arvell Jones and Danny Bulanadi on art. Jones likes doing some seventies fight scenes. The attitude and particulars remind a lot of Wolverine (oh, and Timber Wolf’s hair). But Kupperberg’s got a bunch of exposition to get out, like they were supposed to have more pages, not less.

It’s okay. It’s kind of roughly done; Kupperberg’s most engaged when it’s Timber Wolf interrogating the locals and playing rogue superhero. Then, most of the story ends up being Lightning Lord’s whinging.

But it doesn’t need to be on par with Prologue, just smooth enough to get through. And it does.

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1977) #242

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The feature opens with Legion leader Wildfire yelling at the “camera” about war. He’s actually yelling at the probably corrupt officials sabotaging a diplomatic conference, and Wildfire’s team is picking up the pieces after terror attacks. The last issue ended with Brainiac 5, off on another mission, saying war on Earth was imminent. They’re not talking about the same war. It’s a quick, sensational red herring before the Legionnaires storm off to drop some exposition about what’s going on, specifically the probably corrupt officials.

It quickly turns into Ultra Boy making a suggestion and Wildfire dismissing him for talking out of turn. No one can question Legion leader Wildfire, which sycophant mercenary Dawnstar backs up. It’s a hell of a flex from Wildfire and Dawnstar, considering Wildfire’s never right, and most stories involve the rest of the cast having to prove him wrong before he’ll actually help. Ultra Boy blows up at Dawnstar about that very situation, which is welcome self-awareness from writer Paul Levitz.

I’m ready for anything with Legion of Super-Heroes, but “teens can’t work together, actually” was not on my bingo card.

Especially since Ultra Boy immediately proves his point in the argument, stopping another terror attack, which just casts more suspicion on the adults.

The action then cuts to Earth, where the other Legion team has arrived to fight the space war. Lots and lots of great superhero action art from James Sherman and Bob McLeod. The feature story’s art is spectacular, page and panel after page and panel.

Levitz does a good job rushing through the space battle so he can get to a more containable storyline. Superboy’s going to lead a team to the invaders’ home planet to try to stop the attack. The Khurds are attacking; they’ll turn out to be humans who look like punks. Wildfire’s diplomatic mission involves the Dominators, who still don’t make an appearance; it’s more about the adult Earthlings conspiring to attack them while they’re unprepared. Probably. Levitz has to amp up the suspicious behavior while delaying the resolution.

Coincidentally, it turns out Superboy and company’s mission relates to Wildfire and company’s mission. Who’d have thunk?

There’s also some more “teens can’t work together” when Brainiac 5 decides he should be in charge because he’s the smartest. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have Dawnstar along to parrot him, so everyone quickly dismisses his idea. I thought he might go on to a subplot about that science cop who showed up with a message last issue, which Brainy ignored because girls can’t have important messages, but no… if it’s going to come back, it’s not going to be in this issue.

The art’s really, really good, and the story’s fairly engaging. So any contrived plot machinations are worth it for the art.

Then the backup’s a lot better than I was expecting. It’s too long at fourteen pages, especially since they’re panel-packed pages, but it’s better than scripter Paul Kupperberg’s previous entry. Levitz gets the story credit; Arvell Jones and Danny Bulandi are on the art. They can’t compare to the feature, but they clearly put in the work on this one.

It’s a Silver Age story done Bronze Age. Female Legionnaires Dream Girl, Light Lass, Princess Projectra, and Shadow Lass are having a girls’ night out (the story’s title, too), and their dinner gets interrupted by some bad guys. The bad guys hold everyone hostage while other bad guys pull off a series of heists around the city. Will the Legionnaires be able to outsmart them?

The plot’s predictable and loses momentum after the Legionnaires split up for their individual adventures, but it’s not bad. But there’s something off about Superboy and the Legion’s feature and backup balance; maybe if the backup needs more room, it should get it instead of Jones cramming every page.

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1977) #241

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Writer Paul Levitz’s A, B, and C plot structuring from Legion of Super-Heroes is famously good, so I’m really hoping what he’s doing in this issue is figuring that system out. The feature story starts with one plot—Mon-El and Wildfire leading a diplomatic mission—switches over to another with Brainiac 5 and Superboy—while both teams ignore a female science police trying to give them an important message.

Why do they ignore her? Well, because if it was important, they’d have sent a man, wouldn’t they?

That exceptional sexism comes from Brainiac 5 (having Brainiac 5 be a twelfth-level intellect who’s also a misogynist is unfortunate) and isn’t even the first jerk store move from the Legion in the story. It starts with Wildfire ignoring the science cop’s flying car and almost causing her to crash. Mon-El goes to save her, thinking about Wildfire’s infinite jerkiness but doesn’t hear the science cop try to give him her message. Apparently, Daxamite super-hearing isn’t as good as Kryptonian.

Mon-El then returns to space, where Wildfire blames the accident he caused on the science cop. At least he doesn’t make a lady drivers joke.

The science cop then goes to Legion headquarters, where an emergency calls them away (here’s where Brainy says the lady cop isn’t important enough to have a real message).

Mon-El’s team’s story is about doing security on a diplomacy planet. After an attack, the Legionnaires start suspecting there might be an inside job component to the attack, and then the story cuts away to Superboy’s team never to return. Starting a plot and putting it on pause isn’t the same as back burnering. Though, one last thing on that plot: Dawnstar. They established her as an elitist mercenary last issue, but she’s naive about corruption in this issue. Levitz only plotted that issue, didn’t script, but still, it’s incongruous and seems like it’s just there for Wildfire to be a justified dick to Dawnstar.

I mean, at least there’s some effort in the justifying.

The Superboy and company plot is about some space raiders they’re fighting and exposing the vacuum of space. Eventually, Chameleon Boy gets captured and interrogated by the floating brain thing on the cover. It’s a rather effective scene, maybe because Chameleon Boy’s entirely sympathetic. But, unfortunately, it seems like everyone else comes with a caveat this issue or is just such an ass they’re not sympathetic at all.

So the feature’s got three cliffhangers—the science cop’s urgent message, Mon-El’s diplomatic intrigue, Brainiac 5 uncovering an imminent attack on Earth (the story’s called Prologue to Earthwar. It’s entirely unclear if the imminent attack has anything to do with the first two cliffhangers; it may and would technically utilize Levitz’s plotting system, but it’d be in the cheapest possible way.

All those problems aside, however, the art’s by James Sherman and Bob McLeod and is gorgeous. They’ve got similar faces for everyone in close-up, but they’re good, expressive faces and more than the story needs. The action scenes are where the art excels; the movement and figure work are phenomenal. For superhero art, Sherman and McLeod are unstoppable. And more than enough to cover the iffy aspects of Levitz’s script.

Unfortunately, the art in the back-up’s nowhere near good enough to cover the script. It’s a Levitz plot, Paul Kupperberg script, Arvell Jones on pencils, Danny Bulanadi on inks. Jones and Bulanadi put in the work, especially on the sci-fi setting, but I don’t think even Sherman and McLeod could make the story palatable. It’s an endless twelve pages about Timber Wolf and Light Lass going to her home planet to help recapture her criminal brother, Lightning Lord, and it’s an excruciating bore.

There’s still some sexism to round out the experience between stories, with Light Lass a helpless damsel as her macho boyfriend, Timber Wolf (I’m not understanding the Legion’s policy on marriage now if all the Legionaries date amongst themselves), does all the work. Including strong-arming the local law enforcement into letting him destroy the planet and assault civilians. Seemingly innocent ones, as it turns out.

Kupperberg fills the pages with the exposition, all of it bad. It’s a grueling read.

I’m sure some Legionaries aren’t complete assholes, but apparently, Levitz never wants to do stories about them.

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1977) #240

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So Howard Chaykin doing layouts of a teen superhero book without being pervy. All the dudes look about forty-five. It’s hilarious. It’s not good, but it’s hilarious. There’s only one female Legionnaire in the story—Phantom Girl—who’s not as scantily clad as Cosmic Boy, so not the salacious Chaykin one might expect. Also, he’s just doing layouts (over Alan Kupperberg’s layouts, according to Kupperberg), with Bob Wiacek finishing. And maybe Al Milgrom, who’s got editor credit, doing more inks (according to Milgrom, not the credits).

Not good art. Like. There are some cool ideas for visuals—Colossal Boy holding up a bridge and various future stuff—but it’s a patriarchal decorum story set in a cool-looking sci-fi future. The patriarchal decorum thing is the subtext; the main plot is about a bad guy named “Grimbor the Chainsman” hunting down the Legion because they locked up his lady love, Charma (whose power was to charm men), and she died in prison. Because they put her in a lady jail and ladies hate Charma; the power she had over men worked in reverse over ladies. Everyone’s really boringly straight in the future.

Including Cosmic Boy, who’s bummed out because he misses the Legionnaires who just got married and left. He’ll never get married and leave, though, he assures Superboy, who’s all up in his business; Legion over ladies.

Superboy and Phantom Girl have that patriarchal decorum thing going; he wants to make sure Cosmic Boy’s not lollygagging over missed friends and failed romances. If you’re going to be a Legionnaire, your head’s got to be in the game. Meanwhile, Phantom Girl’s made at Colossal Boy about something he did last issue, and her subplot is about not being allowed to have feelings if they go against the boys.

Cool.

Jack C. Harris scripts from Paul Levitz’s plot. The plot’s better than the script, though only slightly. After spending the issue setting up a second part, they wrap it up in a few pages anyway, so there’s at least a wasted page forecasting a future adventure. They’ve also got the problem the bad guy’s got a real motive–shame it was too early for them to call the story The Wrath of Grimbor. The “chainsman” stuff is weird, though maybe it’s all a metaphor for a bunch of vanilla straights bullying bondage enthusiasts.

And the story comments on how Legionnaires are cast based on how their powers will combine to resolve plot points, which is a little on the nose.

The backup, however, is a visual delight. James Sherman on pencils, Bob McLeod on inks, it’s absolutely gorgeous. The art sustains for the whole story, all twelve pages, with some standouts even on the last page. It’s great-looking superhero art, just phenomenal.

The story’s about how Dawnstar’s a stuck-up b-word who needs to learn to play well with others. She’s one of those uppity Native American descendants gone to space who became navigational mercenaries, and she’s only in the Legion because she gets paid. She’s not some nerd who wants to be a superhero.

She and three other trainees need to go on a real mission, only she’s pissed everyone off, and no one wants to work with her. Will she survive on her own? Will she learn a valuable lesson about teamwork?

What’s funny is how the setup for Dawnstar being the focus is team leader and trainee trainer Wildfire asking her out on a date. Mind you, he’s a complete asshole in addition to not having a physical form outside his super-suit. So there’s a considerable power dynamic thing going on, but, obviously, the comic will not acknowledge it. Please.

Again, truly great art, so it doesn’t matter. Levitz plots, Paul Kupperberg scripts. The dialogue’s much better than the feature. Not great—it’s also not a great dramatic arc—but much better.

That Sherman and McLeod art, however, is divine.

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1977) #236

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Who’s James Sherman, and why have I never heard of him before? He pencils two of the three stories in the issue, with Bob McLeod inking him on the first, Joe Rubinstein on the second, and he’s good. He’s a little too designed-focused, but more on the second story, and the design element comes from the narrative. But he’s good. Great expressions. Pretty good flying superhero sci-fi space action.

Though the first story doesn’t just have sci-fi action, it’s also got some sports ball.

The story begins with Superboy convincing Brainiac 5 not to pay attention to his monitor duty and play three-dimensional chess instead. As if it didn’t feel enough like “Star Trek.” Brainy was supposed to be keeping an eye on Cosmic Boy and Night Girl, who are on vacation on Cosmic Boy’s home planet.

Now, during the sports ball sequence, the girls are scantily clad for the game. The boys are in shorts and t-shirts. It seems a little weird, but then Cosmic Boy and Night Girl put on their superhero costumes, and they’re both basically wearing lingerie. It’s comically revealing for both of them, but more Cosmic Boy because he’s the story’s lead. Once the rest of the Legion shows up to help them, Night Girl gets squat. Her powers don’t help.

The one other female superhero is also in an absurdly scanty outfit (the cape doesn’t offset it). Otherwise, for a few pages, anyway, I thought Legion would try to balance its gazes.

The actual story involves some funny-looking alien terraforming the planet. The superheroes utilize their powers in precisely the right way to save the day, which makes me wonder if writers Paul Levitz and Paul Kupperberg came up with the solution or the problem first.

The second story is about an evil alien spaceship interrupting Mon-El’s vacation. Levitz writes this one solo, and, wow, is there a lot of Mon-El interior monologue. Thought balloons crowd the emptiness of space.

Michael Netzer pencils this one, with Rubinstein and Rick Bryant on inks. The art’s low okay; the sci-fi spaceship stuff is all good, but the Mon-El action is eh. Might also just be a boring story with too many thought balloons. The end’s a cop-out too, which doesn’t help.

The last story is where Sherman comes back and goes wild with the design stuff. Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl want to get married, but it means leaving the Legion (unlike failing to explain Cosmic Boy’s bustier-based costume or Night Girl’s thong, writer Levitz does cover the marriage rules for new readers). So they go to mind-reading VR place to test whether or not they should get hitched or stay on the super-team.

Sherman goes all out with the transitions as the VR throws the heroes into unexpected sci-fi fisticuffs. He’s got detail and consistency—though McLeod’s a better inker for him than Rubinstein—but the repetitive visuals get tedious fast.

There aren’t any standouts as far as the stories go; the first one “wins,” but only because the third one’s draggier than the second one, which is already tedious. Nice art, though. And the character work is solid. They’re just doing boring things.

Fearful Symmetry: Kraven’s Last Hunt (October-November 1987)

43929 20080609052204 large I remember when Kraven’s Last Hunt came out. I was eight or nine. Marvel advertised it something fantastic. I was a regular Spider-Man reader, but mostly from collections and it wasn’t like there were a lot of collections in the late eighties. Almost thirty years later and I still can’t think of a better Spider-Man story, not an eighties or later one.

J.M. DeMatteis writes Hunt for new and regular readers, which is in itself a little strange. When I think about eighties comics, Marvel and DC alike, it was always very hard to jump on. But in Hunt, Spider-Man had just gone through a lot of unusual publicity–he’d gotten married–and the story immediately follows the wedding. It was also a cross-over between the three Spider-Man books, which might have been a new thing? I can’t remember.

So, in other words, DeMatteis is working a lot on character. He’s introducing not just the guest stars–Vermin and Kraven–he’s also introducing the regular cast, as he needs them for this story. Peter and Mary Jane are going to have a very rough six issues and DeMatteis forecasts it. When it seems like he’s hit the limit on foreshadowing, he pushes further because he’s trying to make sure the reader knows what’s coming.

And the relationship with the reader is important. DeMatteis wants a lot of trust–he wants to jump around in place, he wants to use a whole bunch of narration–Kraven, Spider-Man, Mary Jane, Vermin–Last Hunt is ambitious. For an eighties Marvel comic, it’s through the roof ambitious, but it’s ambitious in general because DeMatteis is treating Spider-Man as the icon.

Even in the black costume, he’s an icon. I think he was just still wearing the black costume (and might eighty-six it as a direct result of this storyline), but DeMatteis uses it to establish what makes the character. It’s not hard to do a good Spider-Man story and it’s sometimes not even hard to do a better than good one, but it is hard to do an ambitious one.

DeMatteis succeeds in no small part thanks to Mike Zeck’s art. Last Hunt isn’t fantastical, it’s realistic, it’s depressing, it’s scary. DeMatteis and Zeck have a story about four people who are afraid, all the time, all to varying degrees. They’re afraid of themselves, of each other, of the world. It’s awesome.

I haven’t read the comic in ages; it holds up really well.

CREDITS

Writer, J.M. DeMatteis; penciller, Mike Zeck; inker, Bob McLeod; colorist, Janet Jackson; letterer, Rick Palmer; editors, Jim Salicrup and Tom DeFalco; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Firestorm, The Nuclear Man 5 (October-November 1978)

Firestorm, The Nuclear Man #5 It’s a pointlessly double-sized issue. The extra pages give Conway time to get in fight scenes between Firestorm and both villains–and the art on the fight with the Hyena does have a great double page spread–without having to sacrifice the character development.

Ronnie and the girlfriend, Doreen, go on an actual date. There are big problems with the date, both in them walking into a supervillain fight and in now Conway forces too much ominous foreshadowing, but it’s at least a scene between two people where they exhibit personalities.

There’s some really good stuff with Professor Stein too. Conway roams a lot as far as protagonists for a scene. It’s too omniscient to let the comic have a personality, but it’s definitely effective for engaging storytelling.

The problem is there’s just too much in the issue and it ends without having accomplished anything. It’s inflated but empty.

CREDITS

Again: Multiplex!; writer, Gerry Conway; penciller, Al Milgrom; inker, Bob McLeod; colorist, Jerry Serpe; letterer, Clem Robins; editor, Jack C. Harris; publisher, DC Comics.

Firestorm, The Nuclear Man 3 (May 1978)

Firestorm, The Nuclear Man #3 I don’t know how best to make the remark without it sounding like a slight but McLeod inks the heck out of Milgrom’s pencils this issue. There are maybe two questionable panels, otherwise the art is first-rate.

And it’s first-rate art on an excellent comic. Conway doesn’t do a direct sequel to the previous issue, he jumps ahead a bit and starts with Firestorm being juvenile. There’s a lot in the issue about the dynamic between Ronnie and the Professor when it comes to being Firestorm and the maturity required for it (Conway wants to say the great power line and does come close).

There’s also quite a bit with Professor Stein on his own, which is cool. And the villain introduced is Killer Frost. I should have punned.

No, I shouldn’t have.

The issue’s very strong thanks to the emphasis on Stein and the villain. Very strong.

B+

CREDITS

Kiss Not The Lips of Killer Frost; writer, Gerry Conway; penciller, Al Milgrom; inker, Bob McLeod; colorist, Mario Sen; letterer, Ben Oda; editor, Jack C. Harris; publisher, DC Comics.

Firestorm, The Nuclear Man 2 (April 1978)

Firestorm, The Nuclear Man #2 I don’t want to spend time griping about Milgrom’s pencils. If his composition were better, I might even let it pass, but the composition–and how he handles the costumed stuff–is a real problem. Conway gets in a lot of scenes and Milgrom handles the transitions awkwardly. His figures in superhero motion are really awkward, especially the flying. Superman guest stars too so lots of flying.

This issue picks up the day after the previous issue with more superhero stunts from Firestorm. He gets a villain–Multiplex–and Conway works a little bit on the character stuff too. Conway succeeds at making teenage Ronnie Raymond simultaneously a star athlete and a kid with low self-esteem. Right now, it’s all in broad strokes. Conway’s hinting there’s more depth.

As for Professor Stein, the other half of Firestorm, Conway doesn’t give him much space.

The issue’s likable, but very problematic.

B-

CREDITS

Danger Doubled Is Death; writer, Gerry Conway; penciller, Al Milgrom; inker, Bob McLeod; colorist, Adrienne Roy; letterer, Ben Oda; editor, Jack C. Harris; publisher, DC Comics.

Marvel Treasury Edition 28 (July 1981)

Was Jim Shooter paying himself by the word, because I don’t think I’ve ever read more exposition in a comic book. It’s terrible exposition too, but I suppose the sentences are grammatically correct. For the most part.

But what I can’t figure out is the artwork. The combination of John Buscema on pencils and Joe Sinnott on inks produces one of the worst eighties comic books I can remember seeing. Superman’s figure is strangely bulky, with a little head. But the facial features on everyone are awful. It’s a hideous thing to read.

The story concerns Dr. Doom trying again to take over the world, which is boring. The interesting stuff is Clark working at the Bugle and Peter working at the Planet. They should do a series. But not by Shooter, who makes Peter constantly horny.

Interesting to see the black chick after Clark though.

It’s an awful comic.

CREDITS

The Heroes and the Holocaust!; writers, Marv Wolfman and Jim Shooter; penciller, John Buscema; inkers, Joe Sinnott, Terry Austin, Klaus Janson, Bob McLeod, Al Milgrom, Steve Leialoha, Walt Simonson, Bob Layton, Brett Breeding, Joe Rubinstein and Bob Wiacek; colorist, Glynis Wein; letterer, Joe Rosen; editor, Milgrom; publisher, Marvel Comics.