We’re back for another batch of Levitz’s Legion comics. Before we get to “The Great Darkness Saga” I have decided to go back in time to Levitz’s previous run on “Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes.” Particularly, I’ll be looking at the “Earthwar” arc, regarding as the most noteworthy and ambitious of Levitz’s earlier run. How did Levitz’s style change or improve over the years? How does this earlier story inform expectations for the stories that would come later? These are the things I hope to examine this week.
Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes
Written by Paul Levitz
Illustrated by James Sherman, Bob McLeod, Joe Staton, Jack Abel, Joe Giella and Murphy Anderson
Colored by Cory Adams
Lettered by Ben Oda and Jean Simek
Comprising “Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes” #241 through #245, “Earthwar” is a story arc written in 1978, four years before “The Great Darkness Saga.” It is an ambitious story in scope and scale, dealing with political machinations on a galactic scale and a war fought on three fronts. It features several key groups in DC’s galactic pantheon, such as the Dominators and the Khund. The mastermind behind the plot is revealed as one of the Legion’s greatest foes. Despite all of this, “Earthwar” is a bit of a bore.
As with Levitz’s later Legion stories, this story begins by breaking up the Legion into various factions. We open with a group of Legionnaires, Wildfire, Dawnstar, Ultra Boy, and Mon-El, leaving Earth for Weber’s world, an artificial planetoid that acts as a home to the thousands of bureaucrats that make up the United Planets. There are to be negotiations of peace with the Domniators and the Legion has been called on to offer security to the proceedings. Meanwhile, SP officer Schvaughn Erin (who Levitz will eventually bring back in the first Legion Annual) brings a message of importance to the remaining legionnaires. Unfortunately the Legion is called away before the message is delivered. This group, comprised of Braniac 5, Element Lad, Phantom Girl, Shrinking Violet, and Sun Boy, responds to an attack by a group of space bandits known as the Resource Raiders. Finally, we learn that four Legionnaires; Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Duo Damsel and Bouncing Boy, have left the Legion due to their recent respective nuptials and Karate Kid is in the past, starring in his own Levitz penned series.
Levitz moves the pieces around the board deftly enough, but the scenarios themselves aren’t particularly compelling. The fact that the Legion are separated is routinely undermined by their ability to transport to each point of interest, seemingly in an instance. Furthermore, while the stakes are high, the antagonistic characters are telegraphed quite earlier, with only a few red herrings to throw readers off the trail. Finally, while the true identity of the plot’s mastermind is actually a good surprise, the character lacks any menace following the reveal, deflating the final chapter of the story.
The Legionnaires flit across the galaxy with astounding ease and their interchangeability becomes a bit of an issue as the plot progresses. Arguably, the four newlywed Legionnaires have the strongest voice and sense of purpose in the story, though they only play a significant role towards the story’s climax.
Regarding the story’s villains, the coalition of the Khund, the Resource Raiders, and the Dark Circle under the control of Mordru is a compelling idea. However, in execution, the Khund are the only threat that feels significant. The battle between the Khund and the Substitute Legion is perhaps the highlight of the chapter, capturing the brutal nature of the Khund and selfless heroism of these outcast heroes. I know that Levitz deals with the Substitute Legion later in his run, several of them becoming full fledged Legionnaires, and I look forward to spending more time with these characters.
I greatly appreciate the subversion of expectations with the Dominators cast as innocent bystanders in this attack. While I’m not sure of their reputation at this point, my experience with the Dominators in DC History is purely antagonistic. I appreciated this alternative take in which an alien race that is typically cast as the evil oppressor actually sues for peace in the midst of total war. The resolution is, however, a little saccharine and premature in its finality, considering the stories that Levitz and his frequent partner Keith Giffen would go on to write.
Continued belowArtistically, “Earthwar” starts off quite impressively with James Sherman’s pencils. His work feels considerably more modern than the work I associate with this era. The opening pages of “Prologue to Earthwar” are very well composed, action-packed, and feature characters with a distinct style and feel. Sherman passes the baton to penciller Joe Staton in the third issue of the arc. While his work is technically good, very much so in certain cases (see the previously mentioned sequence with the Substitute Legion), he lacks the distinctive “pop” that Sherman lent to the title. An interesting side note; Sherman’s issues both feature an unrelated back-up story, while Staton’s issues are the only ones to have chapter breaks. This leads me to speculate about the working relationship Levitz has with his artists and how that did or did not affect the structure of the individual issues.
Aside from some good art and a few surprises, “Earthwar” left me wanting. While it did not necessarily live up to expectations, I am impressed at just how much Levitz improved as a Legion writer in just a few years. I feel slightly vindicated in not revisiting this earlier run in full and am even more excited to dig in to “The Great Darkness Saga” in the weeks to come.
