109 Superboy And The Legion Of Super-Heroes Vol. 1

I've been waiting for this volume for a long, long time.  I have the full run of the Legion of Super-Heroes Archives.  I loved that series so much.  I just love the Legion so much.  This book picks right up where the Archive series ended.  I was particularly upset when the Archives stopped because of what was going to be printed in the next volume.  That volume is this volume!  And what I was waiting for was the tabloid that had the wedding of Lightning Lad & Saturn Girl.  About a year ago, I finally tracked it down, so it's in my collection now, but now I have it on really nice paper!  

This is the era when I first started reading the Legion.  My first issue was #238, which was a classic Legion reprint.  The cover is reprinted here, but not the story.  The rest of the book is wonderful and awful all at the same time.  I'm reliving a lot of this for the first time since the 70s.  And it's not as awesome as I remember it being.  Some of it is a little hard to read.  But it's still awesome to me.  This is when Paul Levitz jumped on the book to start his 700 year run on it.  If anything, this just makes me want volume 2 all the more.  We are finally into "my" Legion.  It just gets better from here.  Slowly. 

Superboy And The Legion Of Super-Heroes Vol. 1

Writer: Jack C. Harris, Gerry Conway, Paul Levitz, Paul Kupperberg, Jim Starlin

Artist: Juan Ortiz, Bob Smith, Mike Grel, Ric Estrada, Jack Abel, Vince Colletta, George Tuska, Joe Rubinstein, James Sherman, Bob McLeod, Mike Nasser, Rick Bryant, Walt Simonson, Jim Starlin, Howard Chaykin, Bob Wiacek

DC Comics

035 Cosmic Odyssey: The Deluxe Edition

I read this when it first came out in the late 80s.  I remember nothing about the book.  So this was a good test to see how it holds up thirty years later.

It holds up damn well.  I had a great time reading it.  Jim Starlin loves cosmic stories.  He's known for cosmic stories.  This was a cosmic story.  Mike Mignola draws so beautifully.  Each page here was a treat.  His take on a lot of these characters was a real joy.

I'm not big on the New Gods.  I'm sure that's sacrilegious to say, but they've never been my favorites.  Though two of my favorite New Gods are featured here.  I love Metron and Lightray.  I love how polar opposite they are.  I love how polar opposite they look.  Mignola drew them in his own style without ever losing the original Kirbyness of them.  Such a great job.  There were also some stunning full page illustrations.  I can't get over how beautiful this book is.

One thing I'd completely forgotten was the whole Xanshi storyline.  Well, I hadn't forgotten it because it's still mentioned often enough, but I'd forgotten that lasting plot point happened here. In this book.  These mini-series are usually self-contained stories that don't bleed over into the proper universe with lasting effects. But this one did.  Thirty or so years later.

This book is a great read.

Cosmic Odyssey: The Deluxe Edition

Writer: Jim Starlin

Artist: Mike Mignola, Carlos Garzon

DC Comics