I would have to agree with you that Levitz did expand the personalities of the LSH members you mentioned; I just feel that another writer could have done it better... and written more interesting story lines.
I am a die hard Legion fan, though, Wonder Boy .. and I did read nearly all Legion issues Levitz wrote.. I just did not enjoy them as much as say, the issues just preceding Levitz' return : 368 - through 380.. the " Ultraboy is missing " saga..
Roy Thomas wrote the LSH but only very briefly.. wish he'd stayed on a bit longer. Having written many 1960's Avengers issues. he was used to using several characters per issue.
John Buscema drew many of those old Avengers issues.. he, too, has died.. I can only imagine how great a Legion with his artwork and Shooter's writing might have been.
Well, don't get me wrong, I like the Shooter-era stories too (ADVENTURE 346-380, and ACTION 378-384, combined running from 1966-1970).
There was a charming innocence to those stories, of teen legionnaires having fun space-faring adventures in a near-utopian future.
A far cry from the dark war-torn apocalyptic future of the "five year gap" storyline (fourth series, issues 1-61), despite a few enjoyable elements, like the SW-6 young teen clones of the early Legion, meeting their adult counterparts.
The Swan art is actually pretty nice in many of these issues. I especially like the Swan/Klein art team. They worked together on ADVENTURE 293, 340, 342-345, 346-347, 349-357, 359-360, and 365-368 (spanning 1962-1968).
And also Legion stories in:
SUPERBOY 98 (7/1962)
and
JIMMY OLSEN 72 (10/1963)
Swan is, for my money, the best Superman artist, with the single possible exception of Neal Adams.
I liked Swan's collaboration with Alan Moore, in SUPERMAN 423 and ACTION 583. The small collected trade of it, SUPERMAN: WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO THE MAN OF TOMORROW, has photos of Swan, editor Schwartz, and Byrne together at a convention. It was a great conclusion to 30 years of Swan's run on the Superman line of titles.
