Bechdel Test: V6 Retroboot

Again, I am working backwards here.  After doing Secret Origin, I was not looking forward to V6.  So I am just going to rip off the band-aid here.  How did Levitz do?

There are 5 out of 17 issues (16 plus the annual) that pass the Bechdel test, and I'm being generous here.  That is an abysmal 

So some observations about this volume. While this builds off of what Geoff Johns had wrote, we have Night Girl shipped off to the Academy and XS in Limbo. There are 27 Legionnaires we see in this volume; only 9 are female and some don't last the whole way through (Saturn Girl, Lightning Lass, Shrinking Violet, Phantom Girl, Dawnstar, Sensor Girl, Shadow Lass, Dream Girl, Chameleon Girl).  Saturn Girl is in the first arc, but she is remanded back to reserve status after.  Now, I haven't read the Geoff Johns "Superman & LSH" story in a while so I can't remember if he was writing her as an active member or just came out of retirement.  If we remember V3, Imra and Garth both gave up active membership but Imra returned.  Sensor Girl goes inactive after the events of the annual which is about halfway through this volume.  Chameleon Girl is largely ignored as an active member.  Harmonia and GiGi are 2 female supporting characters but that barely helps.  

Despite the fight for representation, the other part of this is Levitz really doesn't write his female characters well.  Cham, Tinya and Yera are standing outside in the rain for a mission, no transuits which would keep them dry, but Tinya could go intangible to stay dry.  I know that seems really nitpicky but it makes total sense and is a fun visual.  Cham also has to tell Tinya to stay intangible while infiltrating.  This should be second nature for Tinya.  It's silly how she gets knocked out by a rock in issue 2.  Ayla is not written very well even though she is a big gun.  Shady barely uses her powers throughout.  Vi doesn't really get any spotlight until the Annual.  

When we do see two females interact, there are 4 times they are discussing a man.  Dawnstar and Nura are on a mission together with Gates in issue 2 but there really isn't any interaction between them.  The standout issue for passing the Bechdel test is the annual which shares a writing credit with Giffen.  Now, it helps that Ayla and Vi are the focus of the issue and that their antagonist is the Emerald Empress.  Also, because of location of Orando, Sensor Girl is involved too.  Is it because of Giffen's involvement that this issue passes?  It's not clear, but between V6 and V7, there are 3 issues with writing credit to Giffen/Levitz and 2 of those pass the Bechdel test.  Issue 6 also has the Legion Academy backup but Levitz is credited as Writer.  Jiminez is only listed as artist.

If anyone has any thoughts about Giffen/Levitz being parsed out separately, let me know.  It's often hard to know how much Giffen contributed to a story when he is only credited as artist.  Steve Lightle even contributed to plot in some of his issues back in the day even though not credited as such.  

The next will be the Adventure run.  That is tricky as not all the issues are Legion focused, with some just as backup stories.