Friday, January 23, 2015
Hot: A Night On The Town by Joe Staton
There is a period of the Legion where the writer was Gerry Conway and the artist was Joe Staton.
Now Staton has something of a cartoony style and I think he needs the right title and characters for his work to flourish. And frankly, for me, the Legion is not in his wheelhouse.
Still, he was able to raise the heat in Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #253! In this issue, the Legion are suffering some financial woes and the UP Government seems poised to turn their back on the team. Needing to decompress, a team of Legionnaires head for a night on the town.
Here are two of the more famous Legion couples - Ultra Boy and Phantom Girl, and Timber Wolf and Light Lass - dancing in a liquid crystal environment. And while dancing, they can remember 'pleasures far more private ....'
Colossal Boy and Superboy, painfully single, have to watch their friends dance and love. Look at Superboy watching from afar ... maybe jealous. Trust me, I have felt like that Superboy ... in fact that was probably all of High School.
And Timber Wolf and Light Lass will have a night to long treasure ...
All is not pure romance.
Brin takes Ayla back to his apartment ... maybe for private pleasures and a night to long treasure? But his place is pretty spartan and he decides to get all unemotional with her.
Still, I get the sense that Ayla's love would be able to melt away Wolf's cold exterior and get him to express his emotions.
Unfortunately, before anything can come to fruition, the League of Super-Assassins strikes.
Great stuff by Staton.
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ReplyDeleteCouldn't agree more - Joe Staton could be a phenomenal artist, given the right material. Early 80's Green Lantern stuff like this was definitely in his wheelhouse, whereas, you're right, some of his Legion stuff was not.
ReplyDeleteNo. For some reason his aliens and landscapes just seemed not to gel with the super hero angle of this book.
ReplyDeleteBut he knew how to design a syper-villain and The Assassins are a great looking team. Even if they only later seemed to find their place bulking out the roster of the LSV.
Also Blok. Can't say no to Blok.