The Legion of Super-Heroes - The Curse Deluxe Edition Hardcover – August 31, 2011

The Legion of Superheroes is unique among superhero teams. They truly are legion boasting what must be the largest roster of heroes ever. What really sets them apart is the style of writing and the relationships giving the series a feel like a soap opera with super powered characters. The cover of issue 300 featured a group shot with 27 members, over a third of which are female. With such a huge cast and high ratio of women you have a lot of opportunity for concurrent storylines and romantic relationships. By contrast the JLA has only had three long term female members; Wonder Woman, Black Canary and Zatanna and only Black Canary had a romantic relationship with another member. The JLA also tends to have one storyline going at a time which is standard for superhero team comics. If you can keep track of all the characters and who’s dating who or who is married to who it’s quite a bit of fun and keeps a reader invested in the stories. I found myself getting sucked into the storylines and I believe that is what fans find most appealing.In my opinion Paul Levitz is not a great writer. He uses way to much expository text and the stories are more often than not unmemorable but in this case he was the right writer at the right time and although he wrote for a lot of other DC franchises it is the LoSH for which he is most known. That’s not to say everything is perfect. Splitting up the huge Legion roster into smaller storylines made for compelling reading but when you analyzed an individual storyline they were often pretty weak. For example in one storyline a Khundan warrior attacks a group of Legionnaires. Wildfire’s containment suit is blasted and Invisible Kid goes to look for him by going invisible but ends up teleporting to some alternative reality. In this reality Wildfire’s body appears to be restored to his delight but Invisible Kid insists (using his fist) that they return but not before they end up in an altercation with the original Invisible Kid who died years previous. So they are either in some heavenly realm or hell. The new Invisible Kid manages to teleport again into the kingdom of Princess Projectra. All in all the storyline made little sense and was pretty much pointless but when it gets spread across multiple issues it’s harder to notice how silly it is.The issues in this collection were published after Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan was released and while Star Trek: The Search for Spock was in theaters. It’s hard for me to imagine that there wasn’t some heavy influence because there is a serious Star Trek vibe going on. I saw the two Star Trek movies in the theaters when they were first released so I knew the feeling going on at the time. If you’re going to emulate a sci-fi franchise you could hardly do better so I don’t fault Levitz, in fact I would commend him. There is the optimistic future with cooperative and sometimes uncooperative alien life forms. The Khunds, in particular, are so similar in attitude and treatment to the Klingons that it was this that really made me believe there was an influence. I realize that the Khunds actually predated the Klingons and I’ve read the older LoSH to know that many of the comparisons existed prior to Star Trek but just because one franchise exists before another doesn’t mean it can’t be influenced. Seriously, read this collection and tell me you don’t feel a strong 1980’s Star Trek influence.This collection represents a transitional period for artist Keith Giffen. Giffen starts the book as a superior but unspectacular artist but by the end of this lengthy book he really comes into his own. I absolutely fell in love with Giffen’s art. Unfortunately he got in some trouble for “swiping” the artistic style of cartoonist Jose Munoz. I have never seen the side by side comparison of the two but Giffen has acknowledged the influence and apologized. In my opinion every single artist has borrowed from other artists and unless you are literally taking the exact images there is nothing wrong with emulating a style. Sadly, Giffen backed off from this style which is a shame because he was producing some magnificent art. In my mind Keith Giffen will always be THE definitive LoSH artist.When I bought this collection I wasn’t aware that I had owned most if not all these comics when they were first published. I’m not going to say that these are the most well written comics in history but for me rereading them all these years later was like rediscovering an old friend. What I found most curious was the fact that this collection managed to get a Deluxe Edition. Not that I’m complaining at all but I wonder how much mass appeal it has. Although the volume has the subtitle ‘The Curse’ that is only the name of the story from the last issue in this collection and we don’t see the actual Curse until the final page. There is no overarching storyline with the longest story being a three parter with a pair of characters called Prophet and Omen. The story had a disappointing Deus Ex Machina ending. The only thing I can figure is that DC did well with The Darkness Saga and decided to continue the series in Deluxe format but found the Curse not as lucrative. In my opinion the storyline that follows, An Eye for an Eye, is more befitting of the Deluxe treatment. Having said that I’m thrilled that The Curse managed to get a Deluxe version because for me it’s a great trip down memory lane and a great series of comics.

Great book. I've recently purchased also the Great Darkness Saga TPB, of which this is a direct continuation. Unlike TGDS, this book doesn't grow around any major storyline. The Title of the TPB makes reference to the last tale of the book, an annual that ties in to TGDS. Perhaps the largest storyline, The Comming of Omen, is merely four issues long, and half of theses issues aren't even full-sized. Still, there are many one or two parters that really advance the develpoment of the many characters that compose the LSH. My favorites were the Webers World / Emerald Empress two parter and the resolution of the spy in the Legion storyline. Still, Starboy, Dawnstar, Collosal Boy, Wildfire, Blok, Invisible Kid, White Witch and many others get ample screen time here. However, what is most interesting in the book is to follow the evolution of Keith Giffen's art. He slowly experiments a lot with different textures, shadowing and effects, until the Omen story, when he seems to give a quantum leap in storytelling, and really goes crazy with the page panels using them as integral part of the storytelling process. IMHO, however, his figurework sufferd in the process. His general line became heavier and less detailed. Still, Giffen continued to change and evole throughout his carreer, but this phase of the LSH certainly was a landmark for him. This book is an bexcellent read and serves as a bridge between the TGDS and Levitz and Giffen's next great saga of the Legion, An Eye For An Eye.

Massive chunk of 1980s Legion anyone know if they're a response to Marvel's success with 'team' books? This is a late bronze age collection with a strong solid storyline that goes very well with the Legion Great Darkness trade paperback- fine art and quite a lot of story under 4 covers but I've always wondered if the Legion and the Justice League and the Legion were DC responses to books like the Avengers and Fantastic Four and the two companies borrowed concepts from each other in the silver age based on what was popular for the other company of if they operated in their own creative bubbles independent of each other. Regardless the Legion has stood the test of time and several reboots and a what seems like a constantly changing roster of character- and in that decades long run this is one of the strongest stories they've told and the art really carries you along. Recommend the Great Darkness story also as it's somewhat related to this if you like the bronze age period. There's a reason this team has lasted so long- pick this up and find out for yourself.

A must read collection for any 'old school' fans of the Legion. These are some of the definitive stories from a period of greatness from Levitz and Giffen (though Giffen's usual spectacular pencils are blunted somewhat by the inking style)

This was an amazing book. It's a HUGE book for starters. Much bigger than the other Legion books I've purchased so great value for money. It's also printed on a nice magazine quality glossy paper and the colours are bright and pop. One thing I do recommend is that you purchase Legion of Super-Heroes: Eye for an Eye at the same time and read the first 3 issues of that before reading the final issue of the Curse which is the Annual. The events in the Annual seem to take place after about the first 2 to 3 issues in Eye for an Eye. To prevent spoilers, I won't say what those events are but I regret not reading it in this order now. LOL. I read the Curse and then read a few other comics before going ahead with Eye for an Eye so when I saw certain things in it that I could have sworn had already taken place in the Curse, I was extremely confused at first.

Comecei a colecionar quadrinhos nos anos 80, e a Legião era meu segundo super grupo predileto.Como essa equipe não esta em alta nos dias de hoje, e dificilmente alguma editora nacional irá lançar um encadernado, comprei esse volume gringo mesmo.Ponto negativo: Estão faltando histórias desenhadas pelo Keith Giffen, e não estou me referindo à Saga das Trevas Eternas, que também não tem, mas enfim ... devem estar numa outra compilação.No geral o produto é muito bom, principalmente pra quem, assim como eu, foi fanático por essa fase Paul Levitz / Keith Giffen.

Aqui levitz y Giffen continuan con su trabajo mas que bueno en la Legion, libro super recomendado para cuelquier fan del comic,desde que ellos dejaron la legion no se han visto otros mejores

A collection of one of the best Legion of Super-Heroes run in history.Anyone who owns the Great Darkness Saga needs to own this comics as well.Great stuff.