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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Classic Legion Goodness, March 16, 2009
This review is from: Legion of Super-Heroes: The More Things Change (Paperback)
Legion of Superheroes: The More Things Change collects two storylines from the mid-eighties featuring Keith Giffen and Paul Levitz's seminal Legion. Even though Giffen only pencils one issue in this TPB, it was these two guys that made the Legion great for me as a kid. I was thrilled when I discovered that DC has been collecting some classic storylines featuring the original Legion team in these well-bound story-packed trades (The earlier trades were Legion of Superheroes: The Great Darkness Saga and Legion: An Eye For an Eye). After reading this trade my love for the Legion remains undiminished, but I felt as if something was missing from this volume. Giffen's art is notably absent in 90% of the book, but the stories featured within are solid and well-written. None of them were as mind-blowing or angst-ridden as those found in the earlier two trade paperbacks mentioned above, however. Another gripe I had with this volume (and probably the reason I gave it 3 stars instead of 4) is the inconsistent art throughout the book, but this does not really detract from the sheer boyish pleasure Paul Levitz seems to get out of writing the Legion. There are two main storylines that appear in this book, one chronicling the fate of four Legionnaires trapped in Limbo after an apocalyptic battle with the Legion of Supervillains, and another which concerns the departure of the 3 founding members (if you're a Legion fan at all, you'll know who they are) and the search for new members to boost the team's strength. Smaller tales also appear, and most of them are quite good. Timber Wolf goes on a mission to fulfill Karate Kid's final wish, while the rest of the Legionnaires have to foil the assassinations of all the candidates running for the office of President of Earth. Action and humor mix with a nice blend of superheroing and sci-fi to turn Legion: The More Things Change into a good read. Having said that, it was still not an extremely EXCITING read, but certainly whetted my appetite for more collections featuring the classic Legion in the future.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Quality 80s Legion stories, June 20, 2010
This review is from: Legion of Super-Heroes: The More Things Change (Paperback)
After their epic battle with the Legion of Super-Villains, both the Legion and their creative team take a break with some smaller stories that shed light on some unseen corners of the 30th Century.
First we have a 2 part story where a group of Legionnaires are lost in a limbo-like dimension. Then a reunion, Earth elects a new President, the Legion battles space pirates, the Legion elects a leader, and Timber Wolf fights a planet. Steve Lightle does most of the art with help from Ernie Colon and Keith Giffen. Long-time Legion writer (who returned to the book in 2010) Paul Levitz does the stories.
It's a real tribute to Levitz's talent that he can make small stories like an election work. In the Legion's future able candidates are chosen by computers and drafted into running, an interesting futuristic idea that Levitz spices up with some assassination attempts. The whole book is like that, driven more by characters and ideas than cosmic battles. Lightle's art is always a delight, it had the detail and realism of Geroge Perez but also a lot of imagination and energy in his designs. Around this time Levitz and Giffon invented the futuristic alphabet Interlac and artists started slipping all sorts of Interlac writing into the backgrounds. The book does not include a translation guide so I had fun trying to puzzle them out.
If you're a long-time Legion fan this is a good buy, great stories and art from the Legion's peak. If you're new to the team this can still be a good read, the smaller quieter stories make it easy to follow along while the previous volume was a bit too crowded.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Transitional Story Only for Legion Die-Hards, August 8, 2011
This review is from: Legion of Super-Heroes: The More Things Change (Paperback)
"The More Things Change" contains some "Legion of Superheroes" comics from the mid 80s by Paul Levitz who has been, for more than three decades, one of the premier writers behind that team. His usual collaborator--Keith Giffen--is not the main artist in this work and it shows. Steve Lightle does most of the art here and, while it is fine, it is a bit of a curveball compared to many Legion stories of the same era.
This book contains a number of important moments in the Legion's history and there are some excellent moments of character growth and development. There are no epic plots here--and there are a few holes which readers will have to chase down in comics that have been out of print for more than 25 years. There are many changes in this book ranging from resignations to a new leader. Die hard Legion fans will enjoy the book but it only has a limited appeal.
Levitz is usually a master of pulling the strings on an ensemble cast but here the Tolstoyian cast of characters seems a bit too much. Some of the characters get little in the way of screen time while others get a bit too much. Usually Levitz was able to offer a better balance but it's sorely lacking here. There are some strange asides (such as a tale focusing on Bouncing Boy) which do not help the book flow.
Legion fans will enjoy the book--if they are familiar with the other threads from this time period. But most readers can skip this work to focus on other Legion stories from the same period ("Great Darkness Saga" or "Eye for an Eye").
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