Review: Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, Volume Two by Paul Levitz, Gerry Conway, Joe Staton, et al.

Comic hardcover, 463 pages
Published 2018 (contents: 1978-80)
Acquired July 2018
Read July 2020

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, Volume Two

Writers: Paul Levitz, Paul Kupperberg, Len Wein, Gerry Conway, Steve Apollo 

Pencillers: James Sherman, Arvell Jones, Joe Staton, Steve Apollo, Dick Dillin, Steve Ditko
Inkers: Bob McLeod, Danny Bulanadi, Jack Abel, Joe Giella, Murphy Anderson, Dick Giordano, Dave Hunt, Joe Staton, Frank Chiaramonte, Vince Colletta, Dan Adkins
Colorists: Cory Adams, Gene D'Angelo, Glynis Wein, Adrienne Roy, Jerry Serpe
Letterers: Ben Oda, Shelly Leferman, Jean Simek, Todd Klein, Mike Stevens, Milt Snapinn

DC inches ever closer to plugging the gap between the last Legion of Super-Heroes Archive and The Great Darkness Saga with this, the second and final volume of Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes. (The just-annonced Before the Darkness series will continue from where this collection leaves off.) I'm glad this collection exists, but it's not the Legion's best material.

I don't know much behind-the-scenes information for this era, but the book gives every indication of being jerked around. First we have the five-part Earthwar saga scripted by Paul Levitz, where Earth is invaded by Khunds working for Mordru (to be honest, I don't remember who Mordru is). This is okay: it does nicely subvert your expectations at points, and the events are big... but they never feel big. When Levitz came back to the book for The Great Darkness Saga, he would do much better and more epic work than he did here, and it would feel meaningful to the characters in a way this sorely does not.

James Sherman, why couldn't you have stuck around for more than two issues?
from Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #241 (script by Paul Levitz, art by James Sherman & Bob McLeod)

Then we get a couple issues written or co-written by Len Wein that read like inventory stories to me, with small references to the recent big events shoehorned in. I did kind of like the idea of "Savage Sanctuary!", where the Fatal Five kind of go legit, though the actual story got a bit stupid. The rule forbidding married couples to be in the Legion is rescinded, and thus Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad rejoin, and Lightning Lad is elected to leadership in short order, replacing Wildfire.

Poor Emerald Empress.
from Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #247 (script by Len Wein, art by Joe Staton & Jack Abel)

Then we have a couple stories by Gerry Conway that more directly deal with the aftermath of Earthwar-- suddenly Earth is a wreck in need of repair. These are okay, nothing special. (Brainiac is extra jerk-like, which I assume is to set up the next story, though.)

That's uh, quite an outfit. (How does Reep having the hots for humanoid women fit with Invasion!'s revelation that the actual form of Durlans is a weird squid monster?)
from Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #249 (script by Paul Kupperberg, art by Joe Staton)

Then we have a couple stories by Steve Apollo (better known as Jim Starlin) that were clearly orignally written to slot in around the time of Earthwar, with some last-minute dialogue tweaks: lip service is given to the fact that Lightning Lad is leader, but he and Saturn Girl aren't in the story even though it supposedly features all active Legionnaires (even Tyroc turns up!); Wildfire is clearly in charge. In this story, Brainiac is revealed to be a murderer, having gone insane, and Matter-Eater Lad goes insane, too. Not a lot of it makes sense. I didn't really buy any of this, and why do we need another giant attack on Earth when we just had one?

Tall panel!
from Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #250 (plot & layouts by Steve Apollo, script by Paul Levitz, art by Dave Hunt)

Then Gerry Conway takes over permanently, dealing with the fallout of Apollo's story... but his stories are repetitive (three different ones are about people coming to take revenge on the Legion for slights, real or imagined) and contrived (the one where Superboy makes people think Legionnaires are dead by activating a latent chemical in their bloodstreams is particularly bad). Brainiac is healed in an entirely unconvincing way, and the Legion undertakes bizarre lengths to do it. The only thing I liked was the subplot about how R. J. Brande went bankrupt... but then realized he was a hoarder and gave away all his money.

If my dreams were like this, I wouldn't want to leave them, either.
from Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #252 (script by Gerry Conway, art by Joe Staton & Dave Hunt)

(There's also a couple issues of DC Comics Presents by Levitz included, where Superman gets told by the Legion that he has to let Pete Ross's son be kidnapped by aliens to preserve future history. I found this kind of gross.)

Shouldn't Saturn Girl know that Pete Ross knows Superboy's secret identity, because Pete was a Legionnaire himself?
from DC Comics Presents #13 (script by Paul Levitz, art by Dick Dillin & Dick Giordano)

Finally, the last issue writes out Superboy from the comic that used to bear his name (Superboy vol. 1 became Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes became Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 2). I liked how this was done, actually: Superboy finds out how his parents will die. The problem is that when he travels back to the 1950s, he loses his knowledge of future history only to regain it up returning to the 2970s. This means that every time he travels to the future from now on, he will be newly hit with the knowldge of how his parents die. Ouch! He promises to keep up his visits, but the Legion (okay, this part I like less) plant a telepathic block to stop him from doing so, so he flies off to the past for the last time.

Poor Clark.
from Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 2 #259 (script by Gerry Conway, art by Joe Staton & Dick Dillin)

Conway is often not a great writer (I found his run on All Star Comics around this same time pretty bleh), and Legion feels typical of his lesser output. Lots of bombast, not a lot of sense. Which you can kind of get away with in other comics, but Legion is trying to have an ongoing story with ongoing consequences, and those just don't play to Conway's strengths. There are some good artists on the book (e.g., Joe Staton, Jim Starlin), but it's no one's best work. James Sherman, who I really like, does the first couple issues but that's it. His characterful work could have kept this all a bit more grounded, I reckon.

I read a Legion of Super-Heroes collection every six months. Next up in sequence: Five Years Later Omnibus, Volume 1