The Legion of Superheroes: The More Things Change by Paul Levitz and Steve Lightle

The Legion of Superheroes was my first big comics obsession back when I was growing up. Set in the 25th Century, the Legion comprised characters from many worlds where their powers were shared by everyone on their planet, and in the Legion, based on Earth, they used their powers for good. There were other characters who had gotten their powers in accidents or whose abilities were not shared by others on their planet, and they tended to dominate.

Characters like Colossal Boy- who was like Giant Man of Marvel- and from Earth, palled around with Timber Wolf- a futuristic version of Wolverine, minus the adamantium claws and super-healing, Brainiac Five, a super-smart scientist who didn't have any relation to the villain Brainiac, Dream Lass, a precognitive, her sister, the White Witch, who wielded magic, Element Lad- Last survivor of his planet who could transmute any element into any other, Wildfire, a character not unlike Firestorm, whose body was pure plasma energy in a containment suit and even Superboy, all featured prominently in the pages of the comic, among others.

Here are several stories. In the first, Ultra Boy, Chameleon Kid, Shrinking Violet, Element Lad and Phantom Girl discover a planet in the middle of Limbo- but they don't see any figures- just machines and factories. So what could it be doing? Investigation reveals that the machines are constructing Sun-Eaters, a sort of monster that survives by doing exactly what their name says. Aware that someone recently used a sun-eater to attack Earth, they decide to destroy the factory before it can be used to make more Sun-Eaters. But will the robots there allow that?

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Giant Boy's mother, the current president, is stepping down, and the new candidates are under threat from the Khunds, though why is unknown. Several Legion members are assigned to protect the new candidates, which are chosen by computer. Lightning Lass, Lightning Lad's sister, returns and wants to join the Legion again despite the fact that the Legion charter specifically prevents having more than one member with the same powers. But since Lightning Lad and his wife, Saturn Girl, are on leave to care for their new son, that's okay.

Timberwolf recieves a message from Val Armorr, Karate Kid's estate, asking him to perform a mission for his dead friend, and despite the fact that he and Ayla, Lightning Lass, have a history, she only wants to interact with him in a professional way now. So he takes a leave of absence and goes to infiltrate a planet of hardened killers.

The Legion, now short several members, opens up to look for new members from their training groups, and Bouncing Boy reveals how he met one of the students, Comet Queen, and how she got her powers. Another student, Laurel Gand, is shot with the only thing that can hurt her- a Kryptonite Bullet. But who would want to attack her?

The New Invisible Boy discovers new powers, including the ability to Warp Space, when in defending one of the new Presidential candidates from his Khund attacker, he inadvertantly warps them into outer space, where the Kund explodes under his own body pressure. This makes the Invisible Kid sick, and he still isn't sure how he did it exactly.

Meanwhile, the original three members of the Legion- Lightning Lad, Cosmic Boy and Saturn Girl, meet on Mars to set free the criminals from their first case together, when they attempted to protect R.J. Brand from assassins who wanted to kill him. The two men who were left alive are barely human any more from years of being held in the Science Police's toughest prison, and the three decide to leave active service in the Legion to become Advising Members, thus allowing Lightning Lass to stay in the Legion.

Meanwhile, Superboy returns to help the Legion with a bunch of raiders who can really disappear, and we find out the results of Timber Wolf's mission to the planet and discover what it is he was really asked to do and why.

Reading this book was like revisiting a much earlier time in my life. This was the first superteam that I really spent a lot of time following, and it was my favorite comic for many years- with the abundance of characters to follow, you alwaya had favorites, and while it was rare that the Legion were all fighting together at the same time, they were big enough that stories ran concurrently through many issues- some would take care of one mission, while two or three other teams did their same thing.

This makes their story like following many braided braids. I'm sad to say, but if you aren't familliar with the Legion, this graphic novel might be more confusing than interesting- all the characters are doing something different, and none of them get a lot of explanation or backstory here, but I found the stories interesting nonetheless, and reading this book brought me back to remembering the comics when I first read them.

I hope to see more Legion of Superheroes graphic novels, especially ones where you learn the histories and backgrounds of the characters. While some of the characters may seem especially chauvenistic or racist- Dawnstar is a Native American Indian character with Super Tracking Power?!- it's easy to forget that and just enjoy the stories. Recommended.