My first one was parts of Levitz Eart War in the Legion title. I had the final two issues and some parts leading up to it. Loved the art and most of the members in it except Tyroc. It had layers to it with a surprise twist of who was behind it all. It ends with a big happy ending. Two favorite members return and there is peace at least for a little while for the galaxy. Joe Staton did the art for the last issue and while it was different from the rest of the art I liked it. Looking forward to the hard cover coming out this summer.
Yeah, the Legion across ADVENTURE, ACTION, SUPERBOY and SUPERBOY STARRING THE LEGION is the longest continuous run I have.
The art through the era you list (1977-1978) was hit and miss, but a lot of good art by Mike Nasser, Joe Rubinstein, Jim Sherman, Bob Mcleod,and Joe Staton, but no regular penciller on the series continuously.
To me, that earlier Levitz run was a warm-up for the great Levitz/Giffen run that followed it (285-306), particularly the "Great Darkness Saga"(LEGION 290-294) that brought Darkseid back to prominence in the DC universe after a long post-Kirby absence. One of my all-time favorite stories in comics.
One of my favorites by Levitz/Giffen is LEGION 296-297, in a story where nuclear terrorists set off a nuclear bomb in Metropolis in a nuclear blackmail incident and kill Cosmic Boy's parents. Then he goes out enraged looking for blood, with magnetic power rips open a police transport ship and pulls out the arrested terrorists. One of the terrorists screams: "We're not wearing any metal, how is he pulling us?!?"
To Which Cosmic Boy says: "I've got you by the iron in your blood, creep!"
Great stuff!
Also a favorite but had incomplete issues was the Avengers Korvac saga. That final battle with Korvac really wowed as at first the deaths seemed real. Once an A lister got it I figured the deaths were not real but I didn't see how they could undue all that. They did but what a ride! Also looking forward to the upcoming Masterworks!
Yeah, Byrne started on AVENGERS with issue 181, the Korvac storyline was right before that in 167-177. I really liked the issues with art by Dave Wenzel, mostly inked by Pablo Marcos. I don't know of any other series Wenzel has done, other than a one-shot THE HOBBIT adaptation that he did the full art himself on, and very different than his AVENGERS work. And a few scattered Solomon Kane stories in SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN.
Needless to say the Perez issues of the Korvac storyline were beautiful too.
I think that was the run where Jim Shooter really proved his ability as a writer. Shooter previously did roughly AVENGERS 151-166, and SUPERBOY/LEGION from about 209-224, but the Korvac story was the most complex and interesting of Shooter's stories at that time.
Shooter later (coupled with inferior art) came back after issue 200 and did more great stories on AVENGERS, would that the art were up to the same par as the stories.
There was a WHAT IF story that picked up the Korvac storyline, but since neither Shooter or Wenzel were involved, and it was a brief story without several issues to develop as the original storyline did, it was inevitably disappointing.
