Secrets of the Legion of Superheroes

[ubermanx]

Heh heh, I have number 3 of Secrets of the Legion and always thought I should find the rest to finish the set but I either never found them in the bins at shows or forgot.

Got off my butt and ordered them off eBay thanks to you Sam.

- Marty

[Earth 2 Chris]

The difference with Fox and Thomas, though, was that Thomas was working "Marvel Style" where the artist paced the story. Thomas had so much he was attempting to say in each issue that he did not let the art help guide him, sometimes to the detriment at times of the story. It was almost like he decided I don't care what's going on with the art, I'm going to get my 3,000 words in. To me Fox's stories worked better because the artists were illustrating the script.

But, I never felt cheated on story by Thomas, and he did some truly great work, particularly on the Avengers, Conan and All Star Squadron.

Good points. But then you have John Byrne, and his "info dumps" at the end of the issue. I remember many of his Superman tales ended in a a page wide panel with Superman's head crammed over to the left side, and word balloons filled to the brim with words trying to explain the plot of the issue. Not exactly the best way to relate the info.

Chris

[madmarva]

You're absolutely right. Thomas wasn't the only writer to do that. A lot of them did; more at Marvel in the 70s because of a looser and younger editorial staff and "The Marvel Style." I forgot how wordy Byrne could be until I started reading his FF omnibus. I had not re-read his FF run since I got it off the stands, but he could be verbose.

Miller is the first creator that I noticed the art and script really meshing, of course he did both. I remember reading his What if issue with Elektra and Dare Devil. I thought it seemed short reading it timewise. I even went back and counted the pages. But even though it took me about half the time to read as other comics, it was a complete story and a good one.

I think there is a fine line between too much and too sparse. But I do miss the sub plots that simmered before bubbling up to be the main story. They gave writers a chance to finish a story but also have some connective tissue to keep the reader coming back. Roger Stern and Marv Wolfman both mastered that craft. Claremont was great at it too before he started spinning too many subplots for him ever to tie up.

[Earth 2 Chris]

^I loved the post-Byrne, post-Crisis Superman for these reasons. The subplots were often times the real meat of the comics, who Superman was fighting was just gravy, much like classic Lee/Ditko/Romita Spider-Man. Roger Stern, Jerry Ordway and Dan Jurgens really meshed well together and gave the books a cohesive feel advancing all sub-plots.

Chris

[The Toyroom]

I wanted so much to like Camelot 3000, but the story really didn't go anywhere to me and the delays were terrible, but again Bolland's art was fantastic. But I guess it was a maxi series.

Love the series but good god they took their sweet time...

Issues #1-5 ran from December '82 to April '83
Skip 3 months to July '83 for issue #6
#7-8 following in August & September '83
Skip 3 months again to December '83 for #9 (The series should have been concluded by this point)
Skip 3 months again to March '84 for #10
Skip 4 months to July '84 for #11
Skip 9 months to April '85 for #12

That's almost 2 years of delays!

[samurainoir]

This is why Bolland only really does covers now.