For many years, I considered Paul Levitz one of the best writers the LEGION ever had. Especially after the AWFUL WRETCHED MESS the book became the moment he (and editor Karen Berger) left.

But in retrospect (and without ever once going back to re-read any of his issues), there was this slowly growing, nagging feeling that he kept needlessly making so many of the characters miserable. In only a couple of posts here, I've been reminded of that, in an almost painful way.

This may explain why, some years ago, I realized, MY #1 favorite era of the book was Jim Shooter, Curt Swan & George Klein. (And here and there, Jim Mooney! Wish he'd done more issues.)

After my mixed thoughts reviews above, wanted to shift gears and share a few cool things maybe of interest to fellow Legion fans! This is in the category of art, but thought this might still be a good category based on the theme.

While feelings may differ on the course the Baxter series later ran, no doubt it started off with a bang! I remember this promo poster back in the day and years ago I tracked one down and put it in a frame (I loved everything about it when I saw it, it felt like something really epic was coming not to mention the cool new logo):



Next, a Keith Giffen commission. It was actually bought for me by a family member, I just had to provide what theme I wanted. In addition to the Legion, I always liked the issues Giffen guest penciled in Nexus when the Badger would show up. My thought here was the Badger shows up in the 30th century, and somehow gets his hands on a Legion flight ring, to the annoyance of Brainiac 5 (and with Mon-El just standing there looking serious). Proty was thrown in by Giffen, which I thought was a cool touch!



Last, I posted this in another thread already, but since it fits the theme, a very nice tribute by Alex Ross to my favorite Legion era (definitely need to finally get it framed!):

Thanks, and no, actually in person pretty much that dark. Maybe he was "experimenting" again!

Possibly Color Kid's most memorable moment was in the Legion of Substitute-Heroes Special when "he" became a "she" by accident:

Yes, that was certainly CK's crowning moment! In Adventure #351 he accomplished what even Element Lad hadn't been able to do (in #350).  As has been often stated, that ending was hastily tacked on to placate the powers that be at DC, who didn't like the idea of headliner Superboy (and Supergirl) leaving the Legion. 

A few issues later, a reader questioned just how changing the color of the Green K dust cloud could be effective. Mort  & Bridwell's response:

I was just reminded how, just 4 months before Andy Helfer jumped ship from GREEN LANTERN (in mid-1992), professional science-fiction author Larry Niven guested in a story that was published as a prestige format graphic novel, "Ganthet's Tale". In there, the was a sequence in which the color of energy was changed due to its SPEED, allowing a Green Lantern to tackle something that was YELLOW, something that had, I believe, never been done before.

I was actually thinking about this a few weeks ago, while re-watching the 1973 STAR TREK cartoons. My favorite episode out of the 22 has always been "The Slaver Weapon", which Niven adapted from one of his own stories, "The Soft Weapon". It's the only Kirk-era episode of STAR TREK that does not feature either Kirk OR McCoy, but stars Spock, Sulu & Uhura.

What crossed my mind was, I'm not really familiar with most of Niven's work, but the 2 stories I had enjoyed by him, were both instances of his working on existing franchises (STAR TREK and GREEN LANTERN). Both stories wound up being so much better, so many levels above the norm from any other writers on those series, it makes me wish that science-fiction series like these would MORE OFTEN hire established sci-fi writers, instead of just overaged fanboys.

I think Gerard Jones did FAR-better work than the writers immediately before and after him... but compared to Larry Niven, he was revealed as barely keeping his head above water.


How might LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES fare if established sci-fi writers were recruited to contribute to its mythos?

Geoff Johns also did something similar where early on in his run, Hal found a way for his ring to overcome yellow and taught the other green lanterns how to do it as well. (Kyle didn't have this issue for some reason that I can't recall). The yellow impurity is dumb, yes (less dumb than Alan's weakness to wood), but it's a necessary fail-safe to prevent GLs from becoming total gods. Something I guess that wasn't thought about when Hal went crazy during Emerald Twilight



Well considering that early 70's Legion (what I'm reading now) already kind of feels like Star Trek, I guess it would feel like it even moreso?