Legion Of Super-Heroes: The More Things Change by Paul Levitz and Steve Lightle (graphic novel review).
This volume, Legion Of Super-Heroes: The More Things Change, continues with the next seven issues from the 1985 direct-market series. Writer Paul Levitz took advantage of the extra pages to show more of the Legionnaires’ social and home lives. Well, when they weren’t in the middle of a fight or, as with five missing Legionnaires, trapped in another dimension on a planet where a Controller is manufacturing baby Sun-Eaters. One odd thought about that is why they didn’t devise a timed device to destroy the operation.
Element Lad also has a nasty habit of turning things into mercury. Presumably, the Legionnaires’ micro-thin transuits protect them from mercury poisoning, but you do have to wonder about everyone else. Then again, LSH writers rarely understood the sciences. Ultra Boy also seems to have become a little more foolish about using his powers one at a time and has developed a fear of radiation, which is odd because that’s how he got his powers in the first place. Looking at this now, I’m surprised he can tolerate being around Wildfire, who is composed of anti-energy.
The election of the new Earth President isn’t exactly democratic, as the winner is selected by computer. Even so, the Legion is assigned to protect the candidates. The team also has the problem of being reduced to only nineteen active members, with another three becoming reservists, while once again having to vote for its own leader. Oddly, the Legionnaires get to see who voted for whom. So much for the secret ballot in their future.
Even though the Legion’s headquarters is based in the future Americas, you do have to wonder about the changes to the voting process. It sounds as though the authorities don’t trust the population to make its own selection. Maybe that’s prescient after all.
In many respects, the Legion works in tandem with the Science Police. It is also a creation of the United Worlds, with members drawn from various planets whose inhabitants have developed super-powers.
As a DC comic, it was one of the few series, at least until modern times and the proliferation of divergent realities, to maintain its own lengthy continuity and dedicated fanbase. This was stretched by the move into the comic-book shop market, hence the limited run of this particular format.
For the record, if you’ve become hooked on these tales, the third and final book is called Legion Of Super-Heroes: The Fatal Five, which I reviewed some time ago. There are still some copies out there.
GF Willmetts
July 2026
(pub: DC Comics, 2008. 176-page graphic novel. Price: varies. ISBN: 978-1-4012-1944-4)
check out website: www.dc.com
