Legion of Super-Heroes Archives, Vol. 13

Legion of Super-Heroes Archives #13

by Paul Levitz, Jim Shooter, Gerry Conway

A New York Times Bestseller

In these newly collected LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES story, collected for the first time, the team of 30th Century teens battles some of their greatest foes, including Stargrave, The Fatal Five and the intergalactic conspiracy known as The Dark Circle.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book, Fiction, Superheroes, Dc Comics

240 pages, Hardcover

First published May 15, 2012

Reviews

[J]

This last (?) archive volume of the Legion contains stories that were transitional in nature for the Legion. Longer stories, better characterization, sub plots; the Legion was making its way into the modern (1977 or so) comics world.

We get the introduction of Pulsar Stargrave, more shenanigans from the Dark Circle, the death of a long underused Legionnaire, and the restoration of Bouncing Boy's powers. The new guy, Wildfire, gets elected Leader, and the comic goes double-sized.

This volume also includes the first Legion stories by Paul Levitz, who has had a long-running association with the team, and whose early 1980s version was one of DC's best selling comics. Some of his early stories were written when he was just 19, and have a few flaws, but overall they're pretty good, and give a hint of the type of stories Levitz will later be known for. There's an interesting subplot involving Shrinking Violet and her home world of Imsk in particular that will be a major plot point in the years to come.

Art is mostly by James Sherman, with a few backup art by Mike Nasser. Both of these guys had a realistic style similar to Neal Adams, but the choice of Jack Abel as inker for Sherman diminished that, somewhat. Either way, the art is nice to look at and provided some consistency in the book. Earlier Legion artist Mike Grell did a lot of the covers.

I wish DC would at least do a 14th Archive volume, at least up to issue #251, the Jim Starlin two parter that established Brainiac 5's bout with mental issues. After that, the book had a very poor period until Levitz became writer again, and which stories have been collected in a couple of duluxe editions. I'm not holding my breath, as the Archives line seems dead. Either way, I've enjoyed reading through all of these Legion Archives this year, revisiting some old favorites and reading some new ones I'd never laid eyes on before.

[David]

I've loved the Legion since the 60's but as the end of the 70's approached and Mike Grell left drawing chores on the title, I also left. I stopped picking up the title and comic books in general. Most of this book was new to me and what a splendid joy it was to finally read these stories!

I started reading comic books again in the late 90s and one of the first things I bought were the first 12 volumes of this book series. It's been 10 years since the Volume 12! I never thought DC would print anymore of these! But I'm hooked once again.

Like Oliver Twist, I can only beg DC to print more of these Legion Archive books! More please, sir! It's been 10 years since I feasted like this! I want another!

[Richard A Mccormick]

This is a great series, the Legion was one of the first comics I ever read and fell in love with back in the late 60's. Throughout it's history it's had many great writers and artists. This collection takes you into the Paul Levitz and James Sherman era. While I LOVE James line work I never cared for his inker during this particular time, Jack Abel. Jack is a good inker but never ads that certain spark to James pencils. Later, hopefully DC will release another Archive, that showcases James pencils with talents such as Bob Wiacek and Joe Rubinstein, both added great flare and excitement to James work and layouts. The stories are all great but as many have commented Paul Levitz work got better in time. This edition is a must have for my collection. Give it a whirl

[Little Timmy]

I am a huge LOSH fan. These collected volumes are prefect to be able to go back and read the older adventures of this Silver Age superhero team. Very recommended

[Norman Cook]

Collects Superboy (and the Legion of Super-Heroes) #225-230 and Superboy & the Legion of Super-Heroes #231-233, all from 1977. Paul Levitz does most of the writing (Gerry Conway fills in on #232), with James Sherman & Jack Abel doing the bulk of the artwork (Ric Estrada fills in for Sherman on #232). Mike Grell continues to do the covers. Dawnstar, the humanoid alien who presents as an Indigenous American (with wings) (presumably in an effort by DC to be more inclusive), makes her debut in #226. Another long-time, underused legionnaire is killed off in #228. The artwork comes close to Grell's standards, and the writing becomes a little more mature, with fewer twist endings and more relationship dynamics. It's still not great literature, but it is fun, entertaining space opera.

[David Smith]

What fun and nostalgia it was to read this. I was ten when I discovered the Legion and I started buying it every month at 7-11. Most of the stories were still good, especially the death of Chemical King and where the Legion was trying to save a planet and the Fatal Five was interfering.

A couple of years later I saved up enough to subscribe to the Legion. DC sent me four issues then stopped. I wrote them a letter, and they replied that they needed a photocopy of the check. Totally quit comics after that.

[Bob]

Gems include almost every issue: "When Stargrave Strikes!", "Who Shall Lead Them?", "Dazzling Debut of Dawnstar!", "War @ World's End!", "That a World Might Live... A Legionnaire Must Die!", "Hunt for a Hero-Killer!", "Creature Who Conned the Legion", "Day in the Death of a World!", & "Disease that Wouldn't Die!".

[Michael]

2025 reread - I've had on my to-read pile, for a while now, a two book LOSH: BEFORE DARKNESS set, which collects the years just prior to THE GREAT DARKNESS SAGA into hardcover books. I have never read those issues, so I finally pulled them out this week to read. And I figured, if I'm gonna read the stories leading into GREAT DARKNESS, I might as well reread GREAT DARKNESS. And then I grabbed THE CURSE hardcover as well, which follows DARKNESS. Then I looked at the other Legion hardcovers on my bookshelf - it turns out the two-book SUPERBOY AND THE LEGION hardcover set directly precedes BEFORE DARKNESS and I haven't read those in a while, so I added them to the pile. And then I looked and saw ARCHIVES 13 directly precedes the SUPERBOY/LEGION books, so I started the reading project here. (Good thing I don't own ARCHIVES 11 & 12! I might've gone back to my SILVER AGE OMNIBUSes and read the entire Legion history!)

So here I am, starting a run of Legion comics that's going to be a good decade of comics (more if I dig out the original Baxter series issues!). It doesn't start that well. Levitz hasn't really found his voice yet, and the art's choppy. (That issue with the Fatal Five and the Legion saving the short people? It looks like an issue drawn with not awareness of perspective!) Not terrible, mind you, but it's not really building effectively yet. It feels disjointed from issue to issue as it balances immediate threats against long-running threads. Levitz will get a better handle on that soon enough.
++++++++++++++++
Paul Levitz debuts as the Legion writer. Fortunately, he gets a lot better than he is in these stories. I'd like to go a half-star lower, but GoodReads won't allow that.

[Sean Brennan]

Fairly average, until the last comic featured No.232 which is far and away the best legion story so far, this tale with various sub plots probably led the way for a more adult approach for DC.