BRONZE AGE MINUTE: The Legion of Super-Heroes #302

DC; August 1983
Cover by Keith Giffen and Larry Mahlstedt

Title: “Family Matters”
Synopsis: As the Legionnaires continue to recover from the “Great Darkness Saga,” Lightning Lord comes looking for his sister.

Writer: Paul Levitz
Penciler: Keith Giffen
Inker: Larry Mahlstedt

Review: After the Claremont/Byrne X-Men and the Wolfman/Pérez New Teen Titans, The Legion of Super-Heroes – under the guidance of Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen – was routinely the next best team book of the Bronze Age. And, really, it didn’t trail those other titles by much. This issue is a great example of how character-driven the book became during that creative team’s tenure; not a whole lot happens in this transitional issue, but readers can’t help but get sucked into Levitz and Giffen’s 30th century soap opera. And the art team of Giffen and Larry Mahlstedt always make the era look cool.

Grade: A

Cool factor: The total-body-lightning effect during the big fight scene is pretty cool, as is Giffen and Mahlstedt’s all-purple-and-yellow cover art.

Character quotable: “Hmmm … I suppose you could be lying. But you Legionnaires are so bad at lying.” – Lightning Lord, truth teller

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