Legion Of Super-Heroes: An Eye For An Eye by Paul Levitz, Keith Giffin, Steve Lightle and Joe Orlando (graphic novel review).
Checking to see whether I had missed any of the Legion Of Super-Heroes runs, I came across this one, An Eye For An Eye, and found myself back at square one. I already have the original issues from both series.
In his introduction, writer Paul Levitz explains that, with the comic-book shop market opening up in 1984, DC Comics opted to produce prestige-format editions of the Legion Of Super-Heroes and Teen Titans, then its top-selling titles. These were printed on better-quality paper without adverts and were set twelve issues ahead of the regular monthly editions. You therefore had to read both versions for a year, or avoid the new ones until the original series had caught up.
There was a significant gap in the timeline, by the way, as the LSH had one of the longest-running continuities in the DC Universe. Having followed both series, it became a sort of catch-up exercise between the two titles before the original comic eventually became a reprint edition. Oddly, this graphic-novel collection isn’t printed on the same fancy paper as the prestige series, but on stock closer to that used for the original comic. Ironic, huh?
Anyway, what we have here is the Legion going about its normal life, with a few missions thrown in, before discovering that the Legion Of Super-Villains is not only reforming but recruiting many more members for a particular purpose. If you need a team scorecard, there are four pages at the back of the book showing everyone, although they are all named within the six issues collected here.
The LSH is run ragged, largely because its members are spread across a wide area. Some are then captured, while the planet Orando is flung into another dimension. If this story were produced today, it would probably be classed as a mini-series.
Some of the events in these six issues fulfil Dream Girl’s premonition, although why she didn’t pick up on what Queen Projectra did next beats me. Her power was always a little fickle. Dreamy’s, that is, not Projectra’s.
Instead, I want to pick up on a couple of topics. The Legion supposedly can’t have members with identical powers, yet it had several powerhouses with similar abilities in Superboy, Supergirl, Mon-El and even Ultra Boy. So why the qualms about the Winath twins and their lightning powers? You want powerful Legionnaires, not to kick them out into the wilderness. If you look at the standards applied to applicants rejected during the 1960s, there were several, such as Animal Lad, who deserved a second chance.
The other issue is the rule that Legionnaires are not allowed to kill. Star Boy did and was expelled from the Legion, although he later returned. Surely there have to be circumstances where killing to save lives is regarded as an extraordinary but necessary act. As with modern police forces, anyone involved should receive therapy because it goes against their normal mindset, but the possibility shouldn’t be excluded when they are facing an enemy who has no such qualms.
GF Willmetts
July 2026
(pub: DC Comics, 2007. 160-page graphic novel. Price: varies. ISBN: 978-1-4012-1569-9)
check out website: www.dc.com
