The other thing I cranked through in the last couple days was the entire V3 and V4 runs of the Legion of Super Heroes, the DC comic book series. That was the result of reading about Giffen below.

It's not quite accurate to say I went through the entire runs of both since I don't own them all. But near enough.

V3 was entirely written by Paul Levitz, and the consistency of quality is pretty stunning. The balance between straight action hero plot and the interaction between the characters made that series a comfortable community.

V4 -- for all of its groundbreaking qualities -- seems to be more hated than loved, unlike Watchmen or Dark Knight. Maybe because Watchmen didn't do anything to known characters, and Dark Knight was an approach not in any way out of line for Batman as he had been presented.

But V4 takes the characters who had lived in relatively static times throughout all of V3 and makes their times full of war and political instability. Then the characters get to show their true mettle (or not).

As an interview with Giffen makes clear, a lot of the inconsistency in V4 had as much to do with outside influences as plot problems. For example, the original concept of the LSH has Superboy as an inspiration. And as a member of the group! Supergirl, too. Then around the time the V4 series started, DC continuity decided that Superboy and Supergirl had never existed.

All sorts of things like that plagued the series.

Still and all, it's pretty amazing. The closest thing to Heinlein-style science fiction I've ever seen in comics. Which is to say: fantastic situations, but human choices.

And boy: reading all of these books in one extended setting, interrupted only by meetings and work, shows just how bloody they were. By the time V3 starts, the body count stands at Ferro Lad, Invisible Kid, and one of Triplicate Girl's bodies. Chemical King, too, I think. Lightning Lad, though he came back (sort of).

So, the continued body count:

(V3) Karate Kid. Mentalla. Superboy. Supergirl. Laurel Kent. Another one of Triplicate Girl’s (now Duo Damsel) bodies. Magnetic Kid. Mon El.

(V4) Wildfire (dead before the series starts). Phantom Lass (not really dead but sent back in time -- gone, anyway). Blok. Don and Dawn Allen. Jed. Clone Karate Kid; Clone Chameleon Lad; Clone Princess Projectra. Sun Boy. Laurel Gand.

Oh, right: plus the entire planet Earth and 2 billion people (even though 6 billion were saved).

And then the Zero Hour came along and killed EVERYONE.

That's not even counting the lost arms, legs, eyes. Bruises, burns, and brainwashing. And bystanders.

It's a pretty brutal series, even before V4 started. Since V4 took place in the middle of almost universal warfare and economic collapse, it's almost surprising the body count wasn't higher.

Except for Laurel Gand. I didn't even like the character, but that death seemed so out of character for the situation. Plus, the character is "nigh-invulnerable", so no matter how big the bomb was, it doesn't seem plausible it would kill her.