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SPECIAL LEGION IN THE ’70s AND ’80s ISSUE

THE RETRO COMICS EXPERIENCE!

Edited by MICHAEL EURY, BACK ISSUE magazine celebrates comic books of the 1970s, 1980s, and today through recurring (and rotating) departments like “Pro2Pro” (dialogue between professionals), “BackStage Pass” (behind-the-scenes of comicsbased media), “Greatest Stories Never Told” (spotlighting unrealized comics series or stories), and more!

Go to www.twomorrows.com for other issues, and an ULTIMATE BUNDLE, with all the issues at HALF-PRICE!

BACK ISSUE #58

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“Licensed Comics”! Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Man from Atlantis, DC’s Edgar Rice Burroughs backups (John Carter, Pellucidar, Carson of Venus), Marvel’s Warlord of Mars, and an interview with CAROL SERLING, wife of ROD SERLING. With art and commentary from ANDERSON, BYRNE, CLAREMONT, DORMAN, DUURSEMA, KALUTA, MILLER, OSTRANDER, and more. Cover by BRIAN KOSCHACK.

“Avengers Assemble!” Writer ROGER STERN’S acclaimed 1980s Avengers run, West Coast Avengers, early Avengers toys, and histories of Hawkeye, Mockingbird, and Wonder Man, with art and commentary from JOHN and SAL BUSCEMA, JOHN BYRNE, BRETT BREEDING, TOM DeFALCO, STEVE ENGLEHART, BOB HALL, AL MILGROM, TOM MORGAN, TOM PALMER, JOE SINNOTT, and more. PÉREZ cover!

JENETTE KAHN interviewed by ROBERT GREENBERGER, DC’s Dollar Comics and unrealized kids’ line (featuring an aborted Sugar and Spike revival), the Wonder Woman Foundation, and the early days of the Vertigo imprint. Exploring the talents of ROSS ANDRU, KAREN BERGER, STEVE BISSETTE, JIM ENGEL, GARTH ENNIS, NEIL GAIMAN, SHELLY MAYER, ALAN MOORE, GRANT MORRISON, and more!

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BACK ISSUE #60

BACK ISSUE #61

BACK ISSUE #62

“JLA in the Bronze Age”! The “Satellite Years” of the ‘70s and early ‘80s, with BUCKLER, ENGLEHART, PÉREZ, and WEIN, salute to DICK DILLIN, the Justice League “Detroit” team, with CONWAY, PATTON, McDONNELL, plus CONWAY and GEOFF JOHNS go “Pro2Pro” on writing the JLA, unofficial JLA/Avengers crossovers, and Marvel’s JLA, the Squadron Supreme. Cover by McDONNELL and BILL WRAY!

“Toon Comics!” History of Space Ghost in comics, Comico’s Jonny Quest and Star Blazers, Marvel’s Hanna-Barbera line and Dennis the Menace, behind the scenes at Marvel Productions, Ltd., and a look at the unpublished Plastic Man comic strip. Art/comments by EVANIER, FOGLIO, HEMPEL and WHEATLEY, MARRS, RUDE, TOTH, WILDEY, and more. All-new painted Space Ghost cover by STEVE RUDE!

“Halloween Heroes and Villains”! JEPH LOEB and TIM SALE’s chiller Batman: The Long Halloween, the Scarecrow (both the DC and Marvel versions), Solomon Grundy, Man-Wolf, Lord Pumpkin, Rutland, Vermont’s Halloween parades, and… the Korvac Saga’s Dead Avengers! With commentary from and/or art by CONWAY, GIL KANE, LOPRESTI, MOENCH, PÉREZ, DAVE WENZEL, and more. Cover by TIM SALE!

“Tabloids and Treasuries,” spotlighting every all-new tabloid from the 1970s. Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man, The Bible, Captain America’s Bicentennial Battles, The Wizard of Oz, even the PAUL DINI/ALEX ROSS World’s Greatest Super-Heroes editions! Commentary and art by ADAMS, GARCIA-LOPEZ, GRELL, KIRBY, KUBERT, MAYER, ROMITA SR., TOTH, and more. Wraparound cover by ALEX ROSS!

“Superman in the Bronze Age”! JULIUS SCHWARTZ, CURT SWAN, Superman Family, World of Krypton miniseries, and ALAN MOORE’s “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?”, art & comments by ADAMS, ANDERSON, CARDY, CHAYKIN, PAUL KUPPERBERG, OKSNER, O’NEIL, PASKO, ROZAKIS, SAVIUK, and more. Cover by GARCÍA-LÓPEZ and SCOTT WILLIAMS! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

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BACK ISSUE #63

BACK ISSUE #64

BACK ISSUE #65

BACK ISSUE #66

BACK ISSUE #67

“British Invasion” issue! History of Marvel UK, Beatles in comics, DC’s ‘80s British talent pool, V for Vendetta, Excalibur, Marshal Law, Doctor Who, “Pro2Pro” interview with PETER MILLIGAN & BRENDAN McCARTHY, plus BERGER, BOLLAND, DAVIS, GIBBONS, STAN LEE, LLOYD, MOORE, DEZ SKINN, and others. Fold-out triptych cover by RON WILSON and DAVE HUNT of Marvel UK’s rare 1970s “Quadra-Poster”!

“Bronze Age Backup Series”! Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Metamorpho, GOODWIN and SIMONSON’s Manhunter, PASKO and GIFFEN’s Dr. Fate, “Whatever Happened To…?”, Nemesis, Rose and the Thorn, Seven Soldiers of Victory, art and commentary by CARY BURKETT, JOHN CALNAN, DICK GIORDANO, MIKE GRELL, ELLIOT S! MAGGIN, DAN SPIEGLE, cover by GRELL and JOE RUBINSTEIN.

“Bronze Age B-Teams”! Defenders issue-byissue overview, Champions, Guardians of the Galaxy, Inhumans, PETER DAVID’s X-Factor, Teen Titans West, Legion of Substitute Heroes, an all-star chatfest of Doom Patrol interviews, plus art and commentary by ROSS ANDRU, SAL BUSCEMA, KEITH GIFFEN, TONY ISABELLA, PAUL KUPPERBERG, ERIK LARSEN, GEORGE PÉREZ, BOB ROZAKIS, cover by KEVIN NOWLAN.

“Bronze Age Team-Ups”! Marvel Team-Up and Two-in-One, Super-Villain Team-Up, CLAREMONT and SIMONSON’s X-Men/New Teen Titans, DC Comics Presents, SuperTeam Family, HANEY and APARO’s Batman of Earth-B(&B), Superman/Captain Marvel smackdowns, plus art and commentary by BUCKLER, ENGLEHART, GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, GIFFEN, LEVITZ, WEIN, and a classic GIL KANE cover inked anew by TERRY AUSTIN.

“Heroes Out of Time!” Batman: Gotham by Gaslight with MIGNOLA, WAID, and AUGUSTYN, Booster Gold with JURGENS, X-Men: Days of Future Past with CHRIS CLAREMONT, Bill & Ted with EVAN DORKIN, interview with P. CRAIG RUSSELL, “Pro2Pro” with Time Masters’ BOB WAYNE and LEWIS SHINER, Karate Kid, New Mutants: Asgardian Wars, and Kang. Mignola cover.

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Volume 1, Number 68 October 2013 Celebrating the Best Comics of the '70s, '80s, '90s, and Beyond!

1994--2013

Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow DESIGNER Rich Fowlks COVER ARTIST Dave Cockrum (from Amazing World of DC Comics #9) COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg PROOFREADER Rob Smentek

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BACK SEAT DRIVER: Editorial by Michael Eury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 FLASHBACK: Move Over, Superboy! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 The resurgence of the Legion of Super-Heroes during the Bronze Age of Comics FLASHBACK: Making the Teen (of Steel) Scene: The New Adventures of Superboy . . . . . .17 The adventures of Superman when he was a boy—in the ’60s, man! ART GALLERY: Legion Fantasy Covers by John Watson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 From the silly to the sublime, variations on a theme by the talented cover artist FLASHBACK: The Honored Dead of the Legion of Super-Heroes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 Saluting the fallen heroes of the 30th Century INTERVIEW: Paul Levitz: Welcome to the 30th Century—The 31st, Too . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 The Legion’s longest-lasting mythmaker discusses the book—and a few others, too FLASHBACK: Back to the Future: The Legion in the 1980s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 From multi-part mysteries to the Pocket Universe, it was a decade to remember BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: Too Much Time on My Hands: The History of the Time Trapper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64 Tracking the convoluted yet captivating timeline of one of the Legion’s chief foes BEYOND CAPES: Cosmic Boy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71 This LSH and Legends spin-off brought a Legion founder into the mid-1980s BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76 Reader reaction to BI #63 and other topics BACK ISSUE™ is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief, 118 Edgewood Avenue NE, Concord, NC 28025. Email: euryman@gmail.com. Six-issue subscriptions: $60 Standard US, $85 Canada, $107 Surface International. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover art by Dave Cockrum. Legion of Super-Heroes TM & © DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2013 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing. BACK ISSUE is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing. ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

www.twomorrows.com Legion in the 1970s and 1980s Issue

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SPECIAL THANKS Cary Bates Aidan Lacy R. J. Brande “Sijo” Art Lapham Tim Brown Greg LaRocque Kurt Busiek Paul Levitz John Byrne Steve Lightle Byrne Robotics Randy Matthews KC Carlson Robin Matthews Mark Ciemcioch Alex Ross Gerry Conway Bob Rozakis DC Comics Philip Schweier Ronnie Deen Anthony Snyder Jim Ford Mark Waid Mike Flynn John Watson Keith Giffen Grand Comic-Book Database Bob Greenberger Mike Grell Heritage Comics Auctions Dan Johnson Jim Kingman Paul Kupperberg

Legionnaire Lost? Nightwing, Lara Londo of the planet Zoon, was a potential LSH member proposed by fan Robert Harris. She’s realized here by artist John Workman. From “The Legion Outpost” in Amazing World of DC Comics #12 (Aug. 1976).

Michael Eury

TM & © DC Comics.

The Legion of Super-Heroes: Chances are, you either love them or you hate (or have ignored) them. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of reactions in between. Since 1958’s Adventure Comics #247, which featured a trio of super-teens from the future time-traveling to Superboy’s era to recruit him to their superhero club, the Legion has attracted diehard fans who have remained loyal to the team as its comic book has flourished and floundered. Other readers have scratched their heads, arguing that The Legion is too dense—with characters, planets, powers, and futuristic science—for them to appreciate. Creators are fascinated with the promise afforded by Legion’s myriad worlds and super-beings. Adventure starring the Legion featured some of the earliest character deaths in comics. Legion of Super-Heroes was one of the few mainstream comics to allow its characters to age: Readers followed them from teens to young adults, and into marriage and parenthood. The series offered soap opera long before most other DC titles did—and I can point to tear stains on Duo Damsel’s pillow if there’s any doubt. But as the legend of the Legion grew and its characters matured, the series strayed from its original concept and required rebooting—time and time again. So this issue, we’ll make it easy for you by spotlighting Legion of SuperHeroes during the Bronze Age, the 1970s through the mid-1980s, a time when the series blossomed. Even if you aren’t a Legion fan, you may find yourself becoming one as you explore the stories behind the team’s resurgence in popularity; the emergence of ’70s fan-favorite artists Dave Cockrum and Mike Grell; Superboy’s struggles to maintain his title and his very existence; the team of Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen, who made LSH DC’s number-two bestseller; the emergence of ’80s fan-favorite artists Steve Lightle and Greg LaRocque; and Cosmic Boy’s foray into the “current” DC Universe. And you longtime Legion fans will appreciate the creators’ behind-the-scenes recollections, our tribute to the team’s fallen, and the history of one of its greatest adversaries, the Time Trapper. Ironically, this edition of BACK ISSUE is the only new publication this month starring the Legion, as DC Comics canceled the current incarnation of Legion of Super-Heroes with its 23rd issue, which went on sale in August 2013. Helmed by writer Paul Levitz—who discusses the series in an exclusive interview this issue—the New 52’s Legion didn’t connect with enough readers to maintain its continuance. Also, co-plotter/penciler Keith Giffen’s return to the book was short-lived, disappointing many fans. But shed no tears for the Legion of Super-Heroes. As comics history has shown us—and as the following pages will prove—this futuristic fighting force will one day return. Until then, join us as we revisit many of their glory days. Long Live the Legion!

BITS OF LEGIONNAIRE BUSINESS Here’s an image we wanted to share: Neal Adams’ wraparound cover to the 100-Page Super-Spectacular Batman #238 (Jan. 1972), featuring the LSH on its back cover—including Kid Psycho and Elastic Lad! 2 • BACK ISSUE • Legion in the 1970s and 1980s Issue

TM & © DC Comics.

To be a true fan of the Legion of Super-Heroes you must endure shock, dismay, and disappointment alongside unconditional love and loyalty for the young super-team of the 30th Century. I learned this as I gradually developed into a dedicated fan of the Legion beginning with “Curse of the Blood-Crystals!” in DC’s Superboy #188 (July 1972). As the series progressed through the Bronze Age of Comics, it was often reinforced that anything could happen with the characters—good, bad, and tragic. Anything could disrupt the consistency of the creators involved, abruptly, albeit effectively. And anything could upend the Legion’s tenancy in any given title they precariously called home: Would they stay or would they go or did they blow; with sometimes all of the above clashing simultaneously. I wasn’t there for the first great shock to the system of Legion fans near the dawn of the Bronze Age, but it was indeed a jolt, the beginning of many to come. It’s where this look back at the Legion from 1968 to 1979 will begin.

FALL FROM GRACE

Jim “Comics Boy” Kingman

There was a transition period at the end of the Silver Age, a two-year juncture, 1968 to 1969, wherein dramatic changes at DC and Marvel set the stage for what is considered by many the official beginning of the Bronze Age with the publication of Green Lantern (co-starring Green Arrow) #76 in February of 1970. Artist Carmine Infantino settled into his new post as editorial director at National Periodicals Publications (now DC); Marvel Comics went with a different distribution company, no longer shackled in that respect to its biggest competitor, DC; editor Joe Orlando revamped House of Mystery and House of Secrets; Gardner Fox and John Broome, two of editor Julius Schwartz’s long-standing writers, were dismissed; and Wonder Woman surrendered her powers and costume to become a more down-toEarth, Emma Peel-style crimefighter. As these and other comics-related events took shape during 1968, the Legion of Super-Heroes feature in Adventure Comics was at the tail end of a creative surge. The series, starring a powerful group of superteens battling evil in the far-flung future of the 30th Century, and also featuring a time-traveling Superboy (Superman as a teen) from the 20th Century, had been going strong for many years, much to the delight of the Legion’s loyal fans (the Legion debuted in Adventure Comics #247, Apr. 1958, and began their ongoing series in Adventure #300, Sept. 1962). The imaginative sparks were fading, however, as the year wore on. Furthermore, 1969 delivered a sudden, drastic change to the LSH, providing a severe letdown to followers of the team.

The Artist Who Saved the Legion A vocal fan base helped nudge a marginally interested editor toward the Legion’s slow climb back into the limelight—but it was the art of Dave Cockrum that galvanized those fans and helped the LSH squeeze the Teen of Steel out of the title he had headlined since 1949. TM & © DC Comics.

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The Lean Years (right) A mere logo crawl was the only mention the LSH got as the Action backup. (left) Legion fans had to grin and bear it in the early ’70s, but this Giant—Adventure #403 (Mar.–Apr. 1971), with a cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson— was a reminder of better days. TM & © DC Comics.

It was announced in the letters column of Adventure Comics #380 (May 1969) that the Legion would be moving to Action Comics, beginning with the June cover-dated issue. Along with this shift, Supergirl moved from the back of Action to the front of Adventure, with the Maid of Steel now promoted to full-length starring status. The Legion, with its membership and page count of 23 in Adventure, had in effect been demoted to ten to 12 pages per issue of Action. “Sadly, the last handful of Adventure stories ‘earned’ that demotion,” explains BACK ISSUE editor Michael Eury, and one-time editor of Legion of Super-Heroes. “By that point, editor Mort Weisinger was tired and marking time toward retirement, and the stories showed his fatigue. Win Mortimer wasn’t a good artistic match for the Legion, although I fondly remember his Tornado Twins tale.” The Legion appeared in new adventures in Action Comics #378–387 and 389–392, with issues #377 and 388 containing LSH reprints from earlier issues of Adventure Comics. Writer Jim Shooter also shifted over from

Adventure to chronicle the Legion’s exploits, then left the series with #384. E. Nelson Bridwell, Weisinger’s assistant editor and Superman family historian supreme, came on board, while newcomer Cary Bates slipped in a few tales. Mortimer illustrated all the stories and Jack Abel provided the majority of the inks. As was common practice in Weisinger’s books, no creator credits were provided. A complete list of credits appeared in the contents page of Legion of Super-Heroes Archives vol. 9 (DC Comics, 1999). While the Legion shared a text banner with Superman above the Action logo heralding the group’s interior appearances, the team never usurped from the Man of Steel his full cover-artwork status. To compensate for potential over-crowding in their own series, under-developed Legionnaires were spotlighted in tightly plotted skits, with the roll call ranging from three to five members. Saturn Girl, a Legion founder, received a new look with a new costume in Action #392, a harbinger of a racier fashion blitz to come. Invisible Kid, one of the more popular members, saw no action in Action, an ominous harbinger in its own right.

A BOLT FROM THE BLUE When Weisinger retired from DC in 1970, editor Murray Boltinoff took murray boltinoff over Action and gave Superman the © DC Comics. entire book. The Legion of SuperHeroes quietly entered comic-book limbo, much to the greater shock and dismay of the team’s fans. It may seem a little silly and nostalgic now, this loyalty to the Legion. Even as I write this, I’m having some trouble putting a proper perspective on it. Yet, there is something truly special about the Legion of Super-Heroes. In those days, they were a team of teens marketed to, mostly, adolescent boys who weren’t quite teenagers

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Ahead of Their Time Original art from “War Between the Nights and Days,” the LSH backup in Superboy #193 (Feb. 1973), where the darling Duo Damsel cuts loose in her new duds. By Bates and Cockrum. Courtesy of Anthony Snyder (www.anthonyscomicbookart.com). TM & © DC Comics.

yet. They were superheroes each with a unique power (you had to have a unique power to be considered for membership) with the majority of its members from assorted distant planets, christened with tongue-twisting civilian names, gathered together to battle the likes of the Fatal Five, Universo, and Mordru the Merciless. They were far less stiff and stoic than members of the Justice League of America, while not as awkwardly hip as the Teen Titans. Even a teenager, Shooter, chronicled their adventures. To have them unceremoniously gone for good in the second half of 1970 was too much for their fans to bear. All was not lost. After a five-month absence, the Legion returned, now in the back of Superboy, where they appeared in issues #172, 173, 176, 183, 184, 188, 190, 191, 193, and 195, ten stories in all, kicking off with a new, auspicious beginning (despite how one might feel about artist George Tuska’s interpretation of the Legion) that quickly deteriorated into erratic, suspicious sequencing. Initially, though, it was just good to have them back, and they appeared twice in January 1971. The “death” and return of Lightning Lad saga was reprinted in the Giant Adventure Comics #403, along with the new ongoing Legion series debuting in the back of Superboy #172 (Mar. 1972). Editor Boltinoff, who only recently had raised the ire of Legion followers, would now oversee the course of the Legion for almost six years. You had to squint on the last page to see the creator credits of Bridwell and Tuska—but at least they were finally there! Unfortunately, in the ten issues of Superboy published in 1971, the Legion appeared in new stories in only three of them. Concerned readers wrote in inquiring about the Legion’s status, including Susan Finnegan’s plea in Superboy #181 that spoke volumes to just how distraught a loyal Legion fan could become, where she was tentatively promised a new Legion story in #182. A backup Superboy short appeared instead. The Legion, not counting the reprints in the expanded 52-page format, had once again become as invisible as Invisible Kid’s appearances … who, by the way, finally landed a spotlight role in Superboy #176’s “Invisible Invader!” “Bates and Bridwell kept the Legion alive during its most dire era,” comments KC Carlson, who edited Legionnaires in the 1990s, “something that’s pretty hard to do in eight- to ten-page stories that only ran occasionally, and probably seldom knowing who their artist would be.” The Legion was back in action in #183. Princess Projectra, Karate Kid, and Shadow Lass sported new costumes for this story only, designed by fans and first displayed in Adventure Comics #403 a year earlier. This was a nice reminder of how close the connection could be between Legion fans and the powers-that-be at DC. It also kicked off a very good year for the

Legion, the best the team had had in years. Cary Bates was now sole writer. Artist Dave Cockrum debuted in “One Legionnaire Must Go!” (Superboy #184, Apr. 1972), with his pencils inked by Murphy Anderson’s (although their credits were reversed on the splash page), and a new chapter in Legion history began. I stepped into comics collecting in March of 1972. Soon after, I read my first Legion story in the aforementioned Superboy #188. I didn’t get it—any real enthusiasm for the Legion, that is (I didn’t get Jack Kirby at first, either, but that’s another story), but it was certainly more entertaining than the “Superbaby” feature the team rotated with. Once I realized how vast the Legion’s membership was, that it was truly legion, I became more intrigued. A character barely seen in one story could be the featured star in the next. Also, I was connecting with them all for the first time; they weren’t like most members of the Justice League that I knew of from Saturday morning cartoons. I had stumbled onto something new in the way of sciencefiction/adventure stories (and it also made up for the loss of Rocket Robin Hood on syndicated television). Legion in the 1970s and 1980s Issue

TM & © DC Comics.

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What’s Holding Up Cos’ Costume? An undated pencil rendering by Mike Grell of the Legion’s three founders, from the collection of “Sijo” Art Lapham. TM & © DC Comics.

Legionnaires in appearances, and that’s a pretty nifty feat that I wanted to have reflected on this list. Finally, the fifth tier. The following are Legionnaires who were members as the team shifted from Adventure to Action and in time left for various reasons (death, weddings, politics) and those who came on board during the Legion’s run in Superboy/Legion, Wildfire excepted: Bouncing Boy, Chuck Taine of Earth, leads all, with 12 appearances, closely followed by Dawnstar of Starhaven, with 11; Duo Damsel, Luornu Durgo of Cragg, with ten; Chemical King, Condo Arlik of Phion, with nine; Matter-Eater Lad, Tenzil Kem of Bismoll, with eight; Tyroc of Earth, with four; and last, but never, ever least, Invisible Kid, Lyle Norg of Earth, with four. Supergirl, Linda Danvers of Earth, Kara of Krypton, remained an honorary member throughout, and that honorable designation netted her a lowly two appearances. I have a list of the issues each Legionnaire appeared in, but printing that would take up three pages of practically nothing but issue numbers, and I believe only Brainiac 5 would see the entertainment value in that. Still, the list is available, and if you would like to contact me through the editor for it, you are more than welcome. Legion appearances via monitor screens—sorry, you’re on your own.

THE PRESENT: MUSING ON THE LEGION AS THE DEADLINE LOOMS

The most diminutive Legionnaire, Shrinking Violet, Salu Digby of Imsk, kicks off the fourth tier with 29 appearances, followed by Wildfire, Drake Burroughs of Earth, with 28; Princess Projectra of Orando, with 27; Element Lad, Jan Arrah of Trom, with 25; Phantom Girl, Tinya Wazzo of Bgztl, also with 25; Light Lass, Alya Ranzz of Winath, with 24; Dream Girl, Nura Nal of Naltor, with 22; and Star Boy, Thom Kallor of Xanthu, with 19, the lowest number of appearances for a Legionnaire who was an ongoing member throughout the Bronze Age. Although not my favorite Legionnaire (that would be Colossal Boy, Ultra Boy, and Dream Girl), I have a soft spot for Star Boy. He was one of the most under-utilized Legionnaires during the 1970s, despite a stunning costume design by Cockrum and a superlative superpower. That Thom could make an object, any object—be it an armed, attacking foe or a hovering enemy spacecraft—so heavy that it could drop to the ground and become essentially worthless, was fantastic. Given that he could expend and expand his power seemingly without limit—well, a lot of Legion missions and battles theoretically would be successfully accomplished right off the bat once he entered the fray. However, Star Boy wasn’t around a good portion of the time. The number of appearances by Phantom Girl came as a surprise to me; I thought she appeared more. But while relatively consistent in appearances from #200 on, she did not appear in any of the Action tales. All Legionnaires above on all four tiers appeared consistently throughout the time frame researched for this article (1968 to 1979), with one notable exception, Wildfire. Although introduced in 1973, once becoming a member in 1974 he overtook six other long-standing 16 • BACK ISSUE • Legion in the 1970s and 1980s Issue

The Legion era I’ve encapsulated over the last few pages came to an end almost 35 years ago. I would have been 18 at the time. In the present, as I’ve journeyed back and forth in a mental Time Bubble to research and write this article, I’ve felt touched by the ghosts of Legion fandom, stirred by the memory of those creative forces no longer with us, and often distracted by nostalgia. The Legion I knew then and often return to now no longer exists in that form; it has been rebooted and reinvented more in the last two decades than any other superhero team, I believe. As a once proud Legion fan, it’s hard to admit that I’m the ghost. That ghost nags me: “Where is the introduction of Laurel Kent? What about the contributions of Paul Kupperberg and Howard Chaykin? Why no discussion of the artistic efforts of Joe Staton and Dave Hunt? Can’t you see it’s incomplete?” That’s one of the interesting side effects of nostalgia: It always feels incomplete; and it’s another hallmark of a true Legion fan, satisfied somewhat, but demanding more. Still, this concludes my part, at least here, because history requires more room and I’m out of it, in recalling the Legion’s past. At the end of 1979 the future was still behind a closed door, but today I can look back at what the future wrought for the Legion of Super-Heroes in their own title, and the memories, the reinforcements, begin to kick in. That wasn’t Shrinking Violet? Shock. Validus is who? Dismay. Karate Kid was what? Disappointment. These events would play out in the Legion’s future; for us fans, it happened in the 1980s, as did so much more. (Poor Timber Wolf.) Again, it’s not easy being a Legion fan, it never has been, and never would be. Unconditional love and loyalty comes with a price, a price we fans are willing to pay. Long Live the Legion! JIM “COMICS BOY” KINGMAN purchased his first comic book, DC’s World’s Finest Comics #211, on a family road trip in March of 1972, and has been reading and collecting comic books ever since (with no end in sight). He is a Legion Reservist living in the 21st Century.

Dan

I can still remember seeing the ad that started appearing in the fall of 1979 in all the DC comic books. It featured Superboy holding up the covers for two upcoming books with a banner that proclaimed, “One mighty magazine is now two!” In his right hand, the Teen of TM Steel held the cover for Legion of Super-Heroes #259 (Jan. 1980) and in his left hand was the cover for his all-new solo book, The New Adventures of Superboy #1 (Jan. 1980). The ad announced to the world that Superboy was leaving his friends from the 30th Century behind, but more importantly, he was back in his own title again for the first time in nearly a decade. As a kid, I loved almost everything Superman, but I never really “Kid Flashback” was that big of a fan of the Legion of Super-Heroes. n o s n h Jo As a child, I never really took to the idea of Superman working with a team that wasn’t the Justice League of America (even in this case, when he was just a boy). Having enjoyed Superboy’s recent solo stories in Superman Family, though, this news of Superboy being in his own comic book was exciting to me. Superboy’s departure from the Legion of Super-Heroes was a logical conclusion for the “Psycho War” storyline that wrapped up in issue #259. As for getting his own, all-new title, that was an even more logical step on the part of DC considering the time when the first issue hit newsstands. “I can’t say for sure,” says Cary Bates, who was the first writer on The New Adventures of Superboy, “but if I had to guess it might have been a result of Superman’s higher cary bates media profile after the resounding success of the first Superman film. As I recall, Superman II was about to be released around this time, so DC may have figured 1980 was a good year to relaunch Superboy in his own book.”

SIXTEEN IN THE ’60s When I finally saw an issue of The New Adventures of Superboy, which was issue #4 (Apr. 1980), I was excited to see quite a few of my favorite creators working on it. The book was edited of one of the Man of Steel’s greatest caretakers, Julius Schwartz. It was Schwartz who brought Bates onto the book. “It just sort of fell into my lap,” says Bates. “By that time I had been steadily writing various Superman family books since 1967. [That was] three years for Mort Weisinger and then about a decade with Julie Schwartz, so I suppose I was the logical choice. Back then, of course, I had no inkling the Superboy character was destined to play a much more pivotal role in my life later in the decade. In 1989 the Salkinds hired me to work on their syndicated Superboy TV series, which

The Boy is Back in Town Cover to The New Adventures of Superboy #1 (Jan. 1980). Art by Kurt Schaffenberger and Dick Giordano. TM & © DC Comics.

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double the fun. “[The name of the book would have been] DC Double Comics,” says Kupperberg. “It was going to be 40 pages of story, and one month Supergirl would get the 24-page lead and Superboy would get the 16page backup, and then we’d rotate it. I wrote the first couple of issues for both features. Carmine Infantino penciled the first Superboy story, and it was lettered.” Much like he did on The New Adventures of Superboy, Kupperberg intended to add some new elements that would have added new dimensions to Superboy’s life, as well as some new friends. “We did get that into production and Superboy was going to be joined by a group of superpowered teens from across time and space,” says Kupperberg. “He was going to get some superpowered pals to play with in the book. They would have been a bunch of aliens, one or two from the future. There were five aliens of various ages, but all teenagers in the eyes of their various peoples. Some have come to Earth independently, others are seeking sanctuary here. Each adopts a human identity using whatever methods [they have] to appear human and fit in with the humans here.” [Editor’s note: See BACK ISSUE #17 for the full story behind DC Double Comics.]

ALOHA, SUPERBOY!

Get Out of Town! Yes, that is a Frank Miller cover (signed, too!) gracing NAOSuperboy #51! According to its contributor, Heritage Comics Auctions, the illustration “has a jewellike quality—sinewy lines accentuated with bullets of pure ink—making for an artistic expression all Miller’s own.” TM & © DC Comics.

shopping mall from being built outside of Smallville and he winds up being framed for a murder, and the murder victim was Lisa’s father. After it is all cleared up, she and her family leave town, and that was how we were going to write her out.” As it turns out, Kupperberg and Schwartz had some plans in mind for Lisa down the road that might have added some new wrinkles to the Man of Steel’s life. “We were going to do an issue of Superman where Lisa returns to grownup Clark Kent in Metropolis and tells him that she needs Superman’s help. [When he says,] ‘Well, I can get in touch with him,’ she replies, ‘No, stop it, Clark. I know you’re Superman. I was your girlfriend, don’t be silly,’ and go from there. That whole Crisis thing arose, though, and we never got around to [doing that story].” Kupperberg reminded me that even though Superboy’s book had ended, DC had originally planned to continue his adventures. He and Supergirl, who had recently lost her own title as well, were going to get a new life in a book that would double the action, and

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The New Adventures of Superboy ended its run after four years. With little fanfare, a chapter in the history of the Man of Steel ended, not just for the time being, but for all time. Superboy adventures had always been the stories of Superman when he was a boy, and when he was just starting out on his career as the World’s Greatest Superhero. But in the DC Universe that arose in the wake of Crisis on Infinite Earths, there wasn’t a place for the Teen of Steel anymore. When John Byrne came in to revamp Superman after Schwartz had stepped down, and all his former writers and artists had been dismissed, one of DC’s first decisions was to get rid of Superboy and have Clark Kent be, and always have been, just Superman. Even though Superboy was no longer canon, the fans still fondly remember his stories. “That’s the thing that works against you when you try to revamp a character’s entire history,” says Rozakis.”The readers don’t forget everything and, in a lot of cases, neither do people working on books. So you find ways to worm things back in, somehow. Some of the ideas that got tossed were not quite as corny and useless as the powersthat-be were led to believe.” What is it about these tales of Superman’s youth that hold so much appeal? Cary Bates says it best: “For what it’s worth, when I first started reading comics back when I was eight or nine, I was primarily a Superman fan. And yet I was always fascinated by the Superboy concept, which in those days was neatly summed up for beginning readers with the blurb ‘The Adventures of Superman when he was a boy.’ I think the notion that every Superboy story was a secret untold flashback into Superman’s early life was always part of the character’s appeal, at least for me, as both a reader and later, a writer.” DAN “KID FLASHBACK” JOHNSON is a comics writer whose works include Herc and Thor for Antarctic Press and several books for Campfire Graphic Novels. He is also a gag writer for the Dennis the Menace comic strip and a contributing author to the short story anthology, With Great Power. Dan’s first job was stockboy at the Kent General Store in Smallville.

John Watson

[Editor’s note: Artist John Watson is best known for his work, in oils, as a cover artist for both Marvel and DC Comics on such titles as Hawkman, JSA, Son of M, Uncanny X-Men, and Silent War. He has always been a massive fan of the Legion, Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #258 being the first comic he ever bought. This gallery features a selection of fantasy Legion covers created by John as well as his recreations of pre-existing non-LSH covers, reimagined to feature the Legion while drawn in the style of their original artists. Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes and all characters depicted in this gallery are TM & © DC Comics.]

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More of John’s cover recreations can be seen in the book Covers That Never Were, available from the artist. Visit his website and blog at http://johnwatsoncomicart. blogspot.co.uk/ to find out more about John and how to commission work from him.

Lightning Lad, Triplicate Girl, Ferro Lad, Invisible Kid, Chemical King, Karate Kid, Kid Psycho, Supergirl, Superboy, Mon-El, Duo Damsel, and Magnetic Kid: the Roll Call of the Honored Dead of the Legion of Super-Heroes.

Jim “GHz Lad”

All died valiantly to protect time and space, save the galaxy, prevent a world war, or stop an alien invasion, but some of these heroes died because a creator did not like his superpower, or because someone had to die, or to make for a good cover, or to clean house, or perhaps to snub fandom. All the Honored Dead have their stories TM of nobility, but the creators behind those stories had agendas more pragmatic. This survey includes stories up until “The Magic Wars” in Legion of Super-Heroes (LSH) vol. 3 #63 (Aug. 1989). Take heart that each and every one of these heroes returned in an updated version. It’s hard to keep a good idea, or fan nostalgia, down. Lightning Lad was the first to die, struck down by Ford a freeze-ray from the starship of Zaryan the Conqueror in Adventure Comics #304 (Jan. 1963). To Paul Levitz, former DC Comics president and publisher and longtime Legion writer, this story, written by Superman creator Jerry Siegel, was revolutionary. “To my mind, I think [the superhero genre] changes with the death of Lightning Lad,” he explained at a convention panel at the New York Comic-Con on April 19, 2008. “I think that is the first incident where you have forward motion. Up until then, comics had really come out of the classic comicsstrip tradition of freeze-frame. jerry siegel Everybody is going to be, whatever photo by Alan Light it is … Charlie Brown will be in first grade or second grade until the end of time … and the Legion, four issues into its own series, just said, ‘Screw this stuff, we’re going to start changing things. We’re going to kill people. We’ll change relationships, and we’re going to start by killing one of the founding members in a group that had a tremendous amount of unformed characters, characters you hadn’t had a chance to have a great amount of affection for.’ This was as close as you were going to get to a stellar character and, he’s just gone … but they began the momentum of change, and that is where I really think the Legion declared its radical contribution to the business.” Triplicate Girl died next. She was ruthlessly murdered on the cover of Adventure Comics #340 (Jan. 1966) in the steely, tentacled grip of Computo the Conqueror. The image, drawn by Curt Swan and inked by

R.I.P. Ferro Lad Legionnaires honor the valiant Andrew Nolan on this Jim Mooney-drawn cover to 1987’s Legion of Super-Heroes Index #4, published with DC Comics’ permission by Independent Comics Group (through Eclipse Comics). TM & © DC Comics.

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While several writers have made significant marks upon Legion lore, none can match the contributions of THE Legion of Super-Heroes scribe, Paul Levitz. From realistic characterizations to gripping multi-part sagas to unmatchable multiple records for consecutive issues, Levitz—among his myriad achievements in the comics industry—has become so identified with the Legion that one wonders if the team’s “L” icon isn’t actually their writer’s monogram. Significant changes have occurred since Paul and I sat down for this chat in late June 2012, most notably the return (albeit brief) of Keith Giffen to the title and the unfortunate cancellation of Legion from the New 52 lineup. That knowledge certainly should not affect your appreciation of Mr. Levitz’s insight into the futuristic super-team provided on the pages that follow. – Michael Eury by

Michael “Editor Boy” Eury

conducted Saturday, June 23, 2012 at Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC transcribed by Brian K. Morris

MICHAEL EURY: My name’s Michael Eury. I’m the editorin-chief of BACK ISSUE magazine from TwoMorrows Publishing, and it’s my great privilege today to welcome to North Carolina a gentleman who’s here in our beautiful state for the first time. How many actual Tar Heels are there in the room? Not the college, but residents of the state? [audience chuckles, many raise their hands] Good… I want y’all to give Paul Levitz a big North Carolina welcome. [audience applauds] PAUL LEVITZ: Thank you, Michael. EURY: You’re welcome. Twenty years ago, I worked for this man. I edited a series you might have heard of called Legion of SuperHeroes. [applause] But 30 years ago—and I bring this up because it’s the 30th anniversary of this convention—I was buying comics here in Charlotte at Heroes Aren’t Hard To Find, and 30 years ago this week, one of those comics was Legion of Super-Heroes #291. That was the issue where Mordru got his butt kicked [audience chuckles] during “The Great Darkness Saga.” And I would like to start this conversation, Paul, by talking about that. That is probably the greatest Legion story of all time, and it’s one of the best comic stories of all time. So tell me how that idea came about to bring Jack Kirby’s Darkseid into the Legion as an adversary. LEVITZ: Well, I think there’s a couple of pieces to the puzzle. My memory on most of these things is pretty foggy, but one, I really liked—still do like—building stories that have a puzzle element to them. And one of my real regrets from my first run on the Legion in the mid-’70s—besides the fact that I regretted that I had overcommitted myself to too many different projects that it opened up to too many fill-ins—my other one was the Earthwar, which I thought was the best story

Darkseid Lives! One thousand years (continuity-wise) after plaguing the New Gods of New Genesis and the superheroes of Earth, creator Jack Kirby’s despot Darkseid brought the Legion to its knees, courtesy of writer Paul Levitz. Cover to Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga: The Deluxe Edition (2010). Cover art by Keith Giffen and Al Milgrom. TM & © DC Comics.

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I had plotted and designed to that point, ended up getting screwed up because it went through multiple artists. So it really just never, never held together as well as it should have as a story. And in coming back to The Legion, it was sort of on the checklist that one of the sins to make up for from last time was, “There’s not going to be one fill-in!” I don’t care what I have to do, I’m doing every issue of this book ’til I’m done. I want to do another long story, I want to hold all the parts, and I’m doing it in a way that it can all be held together. I was an enormous fan of Jack’s New Gods. That was some of the first work that I got to see in progress when I was doing the early fanzines and was wandering around the DC office. Jack was always both an enormous favorite artist and somebody that I personally liked a great deal when I got to know him. He and [his wife] Roz were very, always very kind, not just to me, but really, to everyone. And I’m a lousy villain creator. It’s not one of my strengths as a writer—Legion has some really good villains, but not a great deck of them, the same way Batman has. So the idea that I could borrow, really, one of the great villains of all time and bring him into the 30th Century—because he could be in any century … this was the god of evil, appealed to me in many ways. [“The Great Darkness Saga”] sort of came together very naturally. It may have been Keith’s suggestion, too, because Keith [Giffen] was an enormous Kirby fan and he, even in those days, would always be popping his head [in my office] and going, “Why don’t we do this?” “Why don’t we do that?” About a third of Keith’s suggestions, no one should ever listen to [audience chuckles], and about a third of them are really, really, really good … the others, they’re okay. You know, as good as anyone else’s that day. But he has an extraordinarily fertile mind, and in those years, he didn’t think of himself as a writer, but he already clearly showed that he was, and could be, and I’m so glad he’s gone on to be a writer for many, many of the years since. And that’s how that happened. We certainly didn’t realize that we were creating something anybody would talk about 30 years later. In looking back, I realize that it was the first time ever where DC had really—we talked about this at dinner the other night—only the second

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time in comics history that one of the mainstream publishers made an issue longer because of the story for that final chapter. Chris [Claremont] had pulled it off with the end of [X-Men’s] “The Phoenix Saga” about six months or a little more than half a year before, and it’s like, “Yeah, we could do that.” And that’s how we got to that extra-long final issue, too. EURY: I recently re-read it in the deluxe format and the mystery aspect holds up even though, of course, I knew who the mystery villain was. But do you remember the buzz it received? At that point, were fans playing a guessing game, or were they figuring out that it was Darkseid? LEVITZ: Yeah, we had one or two who figured it out. My goal as a mystery writer has always been to design the mystery novel so that the reader gets it a page before you reveal it. You want the reader who’s really working at it to be able to figure the puzzle out and to have sort of that joy of triumph over the writer, but not to insult them if they don’t get it, but when they turn the page, they feel stupid for not having figured it out. There should be kind of that glow of amusement, and we certainly had a fair amount of that going on. The issue of who the servants were—I remember there was an enormous amount of speculation about who the servants were early on, and one or two letter writers, early on, who’d guessed the first couple of servants, I don’t think there was anyone who got it all. EURY: Well, refresh our memory. Tell us, who the servants? LEVITZ: Oh, God. I gotta remember now? [audience chuckles] We had the Oan, we had Shadow Lass’ greatgreat-grandmother or whatever that was. We had Orion. We had Superman clones … [distracted by someone off-mic] … oh, Kalibak? Okay, it’s been a while. I mean, I’ve read it once in 30 years. I also, at this point, have a memory that’s used up too much of its knowledge on remembering home planets of Legionnaires and their real names. [audience laughs] That’s why I have to wear a Paddington Bear sign at the airport, “Please ship me back home…” EURY: “The Great Darkness Saga” was a very effective use of Darkseid, but that character had been dormant in print for a couple of years at that point, right? LEVITZ: Actually, the gap wasn’t really as long as we think it was. There was a JLA/JSA team-up in the year or two before that, and there was another run of New

Gods when I was editing it, so that was ’79, maybe, just three years or so before [“Great Darkness”]. So it wasn’t like he was dormant, but he certainly wasn’t as omnipresent as he would be. EURY: Good way of putting it. You wrote another of the great Legion mysteries, “Who is Sensor Girl?” Tell us about that. LEVITZ: Well, we were coming off of the Crisis stuff and for a while, we were debating, could we figure out a way to get Supergirl back in the Legion, somehow get around her death and her revision? Could she have survived in a period in her earlier life when she’d been there [in the 30th Century]? And we started to develop a storyline around that, and then got vetoed in some

Next Best Thing to Being There (bottom of spread) Levitz (photo left) and BI’s Eury. HeroesCon 2012 panel photographs by Robin Matthews. Courtesy of Randy Matthews. (opposite page) The merciless magician Mordru is wiped out in the Levitz classic “The Great Darkness Saga.” Original Keith Giffen/Larry Mahlstedt art from Legion of Super-Heroes #291. Courtesy of Anthony Snyder (www.anthonyscomicbookart.com). (this page) LSH #291 cover. TM & © DC Comics.

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Welcome to the 2980s Some of the many highlights in Legion lore published during the 1980s. (this page, left to right) Superboy says goodbye in Legion of Super-Heroes #259 (Jan. 1980; cover by Dick Giordano); Superboy returns in Legion #280 (Oct. 1981, cover by George Pérez); and Darkseid is revealed as the menace behind “The Great Darkness Saga” in Legion #294 (Dec. 1982, cover by Keith Giffen and Larry Mahlstedt). (opposite, left to right) DC’s second bestselling title becomes two: the deluxe-format Legion of Super-Heroes #1 (Aug. 1984, cover by Giffen and Mahlstedt) and the standard-format Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes #314 (Aug. 1984, cover by Terry Shoemaker and Giordano); and Legion #38 (Sept. 1987, cover by Bill Sienkiewicz), featuring the conclusion of the “Pocket Universe” Superboy saga. TM & © DC Comics.

The decade known as the 1980s began with a monumental event for Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes. The January 1980 issue (#259) of the long-running series was retitled Legion of Super-Heroes, displacing Superboy from the title in which he’d been starring since 1949. The explanation was that too many trips to the future had eroded the post–hypnotic suggestion that prevented Superboy from remembering details of his future. As a result, the Legion was forced to expel Superboy from its ranks.

THE GERRY CONWAY ERA At the time of Superboy’s departure, the title was edited by Jack C. Harris and written by seasoned scribe Gerry Conway. “I had a fairly good relationship with Paul Levitz and Paul had been the Legion guy for a number of years,” Conway says, suggesting Levitz recommended him. After a handful of stories, Conway had become the regular writer beginning with Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #252 (June 1979). Conway had been writing Justice League of America for several years, so he seemed the logical choice to take on another team book. “From my point of view, I just enjoyed writing groups,” he says. “I enjoyed the natural potential for conflict and the drama a group book can offer.” According to Conway, there’s almost an inherent conflict in having Superboy— a resident of DC’s past—appear side-by-side with a team of the 30th Century: “Superboy, whatever you want to say about his adventures in the Legion, when you come right down to it, he’s part of history rather than events that are occurring right now because he is from the past. Our past, but appearing in the future. So it’s kind of bizarre.” The Conway-suggested Superboy departure from the Legion may have been a move to create a more unified DC Universe. “The notion was, they wanted to try to integrate these characters in a way that their stories were ongoing and there was some sense of consequence between events,” he says. “That becomes difficult when you’re writing a character who appears in more than one title and may even have his or her own series. So I think the notion was that we really wanted to focus on characters who were not appearing elsewhere or didn’t have stories that we already knew.” The Boy of Steel would then relaunch his own title [see article beginning on page 17], featuring his adventures in 20th-Century Smallville, while the super-teens of the future embarked on a new series of adventures that would eventually make them one of the DC Comics’ bestselling titles of the 1980s.

50 • BACK ISSUE • Legion in the 1970s and 1980s Issue

Philip “Interview Lad” Schweier

“While I always loved the Neal Adams stuff, I enjoyed working TEEN BEAT Conway credits the Legion as an influence of his early career. Jim Shooter with the artists who were more cartoony,” says Conway. “[‘Cartoony’ was a teenager when he began writing Legion stories for Adventure is] probably the wrong word to use because it implies humor, but it’s Comics in 1966. “Shooter is my age, maybe a few months older, maybe a larger-than-life, detached-from-realism approach to storytelling, and I think that’s what somebody like Joe Staton has. He brings that a year older at the most,” says Conway. “He was writing Legion at to the table and it’s something I really enjoyed working on.” the age of 13, and I remember reading in some letters column Jimmy Janes followed Staton as the regular artist that this guy was writing these stories, and these were beginning with Legion of Super-Heroes #263 (May stories I was particularly excited by. Some pretty classic 1980). However, juggling the many characters stuff he’d been doing, with some emotion and feeling. proved a challenge, especially with the three-issue You never got that in a DC comic unless it was miniseries Secrets of the Legion of Super-Heroes written by Bob Kanigher. But Shooter managed to thrown into the mix, and the main Legion book get this sense that the story he was telling was eventually fell behind schedule. about people whose lives were actually in danger, A highpoint of Conway’s run on the Legion was people you could care about. I really liked that.” the Dark Man saga (Legion of Super-Heroes #270–273, To the teenage Conway, the Legionnaires were Dec. 1980–Mar. 1981), in which a mysterious evil young people. “[It was] the only real teen book at the mastermind manipulates the villainous Fatal Five. “The time, other than The X-Men, but you never got the idea of a mysterious figure in the background, the sense that the X-Men were actually teenagers. They Dark Man, that’s a trope that I used in a lot of stories seemed more like young adults. The Legion seemed gerry conway over the years,” says Conway. “It didn’t necessarily like kids, and that was because Shooter was a kid mean I had something in mind when I started it. and he was writing the way a kid would write.” When Conway’s tenure as Legion writer began, Joe Staton was the Sometimes I would force myself into a crisis situation that I would artist on deck. Staton was no stranger to the Legion, having inked several ultimately have to deal with. I would create a mastermind behind the issues of the short-lived Karate Kid series published in the late 1970s. scenes, and that would allow me to build up some suspense or tension “I loved working with Joe,” says Conway. “He was one of these in the stories. And in the process, I would figure out who it was.” Conway says that when he started on the Legion, Levitz gave him great cartoony artists that is able to convey emotion and drama. I always liked the way his stuff ended up looking; it looked great to me.” a binder full of his notes about the characters and their storylines. Conway believes there was a kind of division between artists “It was huge, at least 100 pages, maybe more, of very detailed whose work was more realistic, such as Neal Adams, and those whose material that Paul had extrapolated from the stories he had done, work was more cartoonish, such as Staton or Steve Ditko, the latter and that he intended to do himself in the future. It’s wonderful as a of whom drew Legion of Super-Heroes #268, 272, 274, and 276 writer to be coming onto a book and have that kind of material thrown in your lap. It’s terrific.” (Oct. 1980, Feb. 1981, Apr. 1981, and June 1981).

Legion in the 1970s and 1980s Issue

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