Legion of Super-Heroes #291 (September 1982)

Back in February 2018, I took a look at Legion of Super-Heroes #290 (August 1982), the first part of one of my personal favorite Legion stories: The Great Darkness Saga. In that issue, the far-future superteam found themselves under attack from a new threat: A group of mysterious beings encountering an equally-mysterious master. This "master" attacked various sources of great magical power, clearly planning to become quite the threat. 

Last issue, the Legion dealt with the first waves of attacks from these mysterious servants of darkness. It left the Legion utterly clueless as to who was their master. However they did manage to capture one of the servants, and maybe they might finally get to the bottom of who their master was...and what their goal is. So, with that out of the way, let's join the Legion as they continue their battle against the servants in Legion of Super-Heroes #291!

The cover is a Keith Giffen and Romeo Tanghal piece. I like it. It depicts the Servants of Darkness' mysterious master making a triumphant pose. And in the tradition of anime, his pose puts out an aura that has got the Legion making JoJo poses. And I think Mordru on the bottom there just got his mid utterly blown.

"Great Darkness Saga, Chapter Two: ...a Sign of Darkness Dawning"
Writer: Paul Levitz
Penciler: Keith Giffen
Inker: Larry Mahlstedt
Colorist: Carl Gafford
Letterer: Annette Kawecki
Editor: Laurie Sutton
Executive Editor: Joe Orlando

The story begins with the Legion examining one of the mysterious servants of darkness that they managed to capture in the last issue.

"Well, we at least know Sun Boy is not the father."

The examination had revealed something rather shocking. This servant appears to have been made from the DNA of one Lydea Mallor, a member of the 20th/21st century era intergalactic police force known as L.E.G.I.O.N. Lydea was also the ancestor of the Legion's very own Tasmia Mallor, aka Shadow Lass. Despite the advanced tech of the future, the Legion still has no idea of who sent this servant. And Shadow Lass is understandably shaken up. Element Lad summons the two to a Legion meeting, but Shadow Lass doesn't feel up to attending. Mon-El agrees to skip it with her.

We next look in on a planet called Avalon. It's a primitive world, largely unchartered. It's located on the borders of United Planets territory...and it's the last known location of the villainous sorcerer Mordru. The mysterious villain arrives there and frees the magician from his earthy prison.

"Aw COME ON, MAN! I just got free! This is some bull!"

However, the villain is not there to propose an alliance (even thought Mordru clearly wouldn't be interested in one anyway), he there for the malicious magician's power. Back on Earth, Chameleon Boy is talking to his lawyer. In the past, the Durlan Detective had gathered a group of Legionnaires to act on growing tensions with an alien race known as the Khunds. The mission was a disaster, and the shapeshifter was arrested for treason. But his lawyer has bad news: He's basically screwed.

Meanwhile, in the Legion's HQ, the Lydea Mallor-esque servant stirs. Uh oh...

We then head to the meeting room of the HQ, where the Legion are debating whether they should hold the Legion leader's election, consider Chameleon Boy's...situation. 

The Legion are major gossips, based on the word balloons here. Ultra Boy wants to lead the team again, but he wants the election postponed out of respect for Chameleon Boy. But Element Lad (the current Legion leader) basically tells him "He got himself into this mess, the election goes on". Then Dream Girl announces that she's in the running for Legion leadership, too. Yeah, keep this in mind. Dream Girl's power is precognition. You can guess why she's choosing now to run for Legion leadership.

Speaking of her precognition, she gets a vision. It's of her sister Mysa on their homeworld of Naltor, and she'll be attacked by the mysterious servants of darkness that the Legion encountered last issue. Two more crises have popped up as well: A massive breakout on the prison planet of Takron-Galtos, and the liberation of Mordru. 

Mon-El, Shadow Lass, Phantom Girl, and Ultra Boy go deal with the breakout on Takron-Galtos. They corral up the prisoners, and find the center of the destruction: The Time Trapper's cell. The villain's special cell is busted up...and the Trapper himself looks like he's taken quite a thrashing. They realized that he's not responsible for this. So who is? Well, a dark warp in space reveals who.

"Hello, Legion! I'm the conductor for your ride on the PAIN TRAIN!"

The servant wrecks the four Legionnaires. Ultra Boy and Mon-El try to pursue the creature, but he manages to escape them. They realize that the servants' master must have come here to get the Trapper's power. We then look back on the Legion's HQ. Superboy is visiting Saturn Girl. She's watching over Lightning Lad, who is ill. He's got some strange electrical fever in his brain. Superboy remarks that he's going back to his home century to celebrate his parents' wedding anniversary.

This sends Saturn Girl into tears. She tells the Boy of Steel to leave. You see, being from the future, she knows that eventually, Jonathan and Martha Kent will die of a fever similar to the one that's inflicting Lightning Lad right now. This was established in Superman #161 (May 1963). 

On Avalon, a team of Legionnaires (Dawnstar, Wildfire, Brainiac 5, Timber Wolf, Element Lad, and Star Boy) find Mordru, but he's not in great shape. He's normally a threat that requires the entire team to face, but now he's a babbling mess, ranting about the dark and the cold. 

On Naltor, we join a third group of Legionnaires (Dream Girl, Light Lass, Invisible Kid, Sun Boy, and Blok) to meet Dream Girl's sister. And Mysa Nal makes her entrance in style.

"My name is Mysa, and I am the baddest witch."

Blok is entranced by the almost-spectral beauty before him. Sun Boy notices the crowd around them has dispersed. Most people on Naltor have some sort of precognitive ability, so they wouldn't do this unless there's a big communal vision of something really bad going down. Mysa Nal didn't have this power, so she studied sorcery instead. And true to the Naltorians' prediction, something bad is happening.

"Gaze upon my gloriously-sized head, Legion! GAZE UPON MY HEAD!"

The Legion engage Big-Head here, while the Invisible Kid tries to follow one of the portals the servants used to travel to learn their source. The servants' master is amused to see him. Yes, Invisible Kid's power is useless here. The master lets the rookie Legionnaire gaze upon him, and then gives him a taste of eye beams. 

Sun Boy blasts Big-Head, and notices that the large-craniumed servant really seems to dislike it when his flames turn yellow. Big-Head's master calls for him, deciding that the White Witch isn't worth it after all. Blok and Light Lass find Invisible Kid, shuddering like he had just seeing the scariest horror movie in the history of the universe.

The newbie Legionnaire needs a doctor...or five. Physically he's fine but his mind...not so much. The story ends with Dream Girl getting another vision: The Legion battling the servants of darkness on a place called Sorcerer's World...and losing. Badly.

There's also a little back-up tale! Let's take a look at that, too!

"Of Leaders and Lovers"
Writer: Paul Levitz
Penciler: Keith Giffen, Larry Mahlstedt
Inker: Unknown
Colorist: Unknown
Letterer: John Costanza
Editor: Laurie Sutton
Executive Editor: Joe Orlando

The story begins with Saturn Girl sitting at Lightning Lad's bedside, She's trying to use her telepathy to soothe her electrokinetic husband's fevered mind. She gets a call from Cosmic Boy. The far-future master of magnetism is conducting the vote for a new Legion leader over a remote hookup as due to all the chaos, it can't be done in person. Huh, election chaos. How timely... Anyway, Cosmic Boy gets ambushed.

"Outta my way! There's a sale at Bloomingdale's!"

It's the Lydea Mallor-based servant of darkness that the Legion had captured and examined earlier. The two try to fight her off, but it's no good. Thankfully, Lightning Lad is able to come to the rescue, by frying her with lightning.

"Oh nass, I need a drink..."

Later, Lightning Lad is resting. His fever has broken, and it looks like he may be finally on the road to recovery. Saturn Girl theorized that the stress of his time as Legion leader may have caused his powers to go bonkers, but now it's seemingly corrected itself. She and Cosmic Boy briefly discuss being Legion leaders, until Cosmic Boy gets some news. A new Legion leader has been elected, and it's Dream Girl. Because of course it was. She can see the future, after all.

This was an enjoyable issue. There are plenty of nice character moments here, like Blok being spellbound by the White Witch. Their romance is not talked about very much in my experience. I don't know why. We also get some further advancing of the main story, as we discover that one of the servants was made from the DNA of an ancestor of a Legionnaire, and we get another possible hint of another of the servants' potential DNA donors. We also still don't have any actual idea of who the servant is, which is also rather nice. 

My one question is...why Lydea Mallor? I get she's an ancestor of a Legionnaire, but Lydea Mallor wasn't exactly a major heroine. Why didn't the master use someone like Wonder Woman, or the Flash? It certainly would not be beyond their ability to get the DNA to do so. Maybe because those two heroes tend to not have any major connections to the Legion? I mean there's the Tornado Twins and all for the Flash, but did the Legion stories ever establish what happened to the Amazons? Just a thought.

The art here is rather well done. The backup tale's art does feel a bit jarring, despite the art being drawn by the same artist that did the main story. This is where Giffen's art started to evolve into the more Jose Munoz-esque style he would use for the rest of his Legion tenure, with the stocky figures and the shadowy faces at times. It never really "clicked" with me personally, but I never really was overly bothered by it, either. 

All in all, I liked the issue. If you want to read it for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2002 trade paperback Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga. Yeah, I own a very old trade. They did a reprint in 2013, though. You may have an easier time getting that one. 

Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you enjoyed it, show it off! Take care of yourselves, and each other! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home, wash your hands often, and wear a mask! Join me next time when we finally take a look at the last of Wonder Woman's Twelve Labors...