Though a few hints setting up "The Great Darkness Saga" had appeared in a few issues prior to this, it's in Legion of Super-Heroes #290 (August 1982) that the story really took off.
Writer Paul Levitz and artists Keith Giffen (breakdowns) & Larry Mahlstedt (finished art) jump right into the action. Something had attacked the Museum of Mystic Arts in Metropolis, but had not found what it was looking for. When a team of legionaires investigate, the something (a "Servant of Darkness" whose origin and purpose are as yet unknow) returns. There's a fight, but the creature proves able to take on even the uber-powerful heroes such as Superboy and Wildfire.
The powers the Servant uses--super-strength and a freezing breath--will eventually turn out to be a hint to its origin. But for the moment, the important thing is that it curb stomps the Legionaires and makes a getaway through a space warp with a powerful magic artifact.
In fact, we learn that a number of magic artifacts have been stolen. The most powerful item NOT yet stolen would be King Arthur's sword Excaliber, which is stored in the Tower of London.
Yet another Servant of Darkness does indeed go after the sword. The Legion puts up a better fight this time, with brand-new member Invisible Kid making his own contribution. But, in the end, the bad guy still gets away with the sword.
We the readers get to find out a little more than the Legionaires know at the moment, as the scene flashes to an apparently dead world, where we see the two Servants we've met plus three others gathered around their as-yet-unidentified boss.
One of the fun elements of this issue is the effective way it drops in hints to whom the big boss might be and to the nature of his Servants. The main villain will, of course, turn out to be Darkseid. (Hey, it's been forty years! Spoiler bans have elapsed!) A reader nowadays who is familar with the DC Universe would probably guess this pretty quickly. This is especially true when (a few pages from now) we see one of the Servants using a flying devise just like Darkseid's son Orion and is even referred to as "My son" by the villain. Also, we do see Darkseid in silhouette a couple of times clearly enough to give it away.
A year or so before this story arc was published, Darkseid had been the bad guy in one of the JLA/JSA annual crossovers. He popped up in a few other places, but he had not yet racked up a lot of Frequent Villain Miles outside of Kirby's New Gods books. To quote a fellow member of the "DC Comics: When They Were Fun" Facebook group: Like his contemporary, Thanos, Darkseid was considered a
pretty major threat, but did not have the comparative prominence that say, Dr.
Doom or Luthor enjoyed. They were known, but not quite to the heights of apex
level villainy that they later acheived.
Another member of that group said: I guessed that it was Darkseid but it was not someone that many readers guessed. DC kept many villains compartmentalized then and the Legion really didn't utilize any 20th century villains/ characters outside Superboy and Supergirl. This was before company crossovers. Also this was before advance solicitations and the internet. So all in all, it was well done.
Perhaps this was the perfect time to make him a suprise villain, dropping a few hints first with confidence that it might not be too obvious.
More magic items are being stolen on the planet Talok VII, so the team heads there.
A female Servant shows up to steal a magic orb. When she gets into trouble, the Orion-like Servant warps in to help out.
The female is captured, but the other Servant escapes with the orb. The prisoner is brought back to Legion HQ, where she gives the computer fits when it tries to analyze her. Meanwhile, the main villain absorbs the magic from the various stolen artifacts and prepares to move on with the next phase of his plan.
Because I want to concentrate on the main plot, I'm giving short shrift to the various subplots involving different characters that carry over from previous issues. I will say, though, that these subplots were largely a strength of Levitz's run as writer--relationships form, characters grow, etc. Occasionally, these character arcs dripped just a little too much into soap opera territory, but 95.3% of the time they helped make the heroes likeable and relatable.
The storytelling is exciting and the art work is strong. I've already mentioned the hints dropped throughout the story about Darkseid and his Servants, which I consider another plus.
I always enjoy the casual way everyone accepts the existance of magic alongside all the super-science of the 30th Century. Of course, magic and science have always co-existed in the DC (and, for that matter, Marvel) universe. I always appreciate it when the characters who live in that universe simply accept this and move on with the story.
We'll discuss the second part of this story in two weeks. Next week, we'll look at another Scooby-Doo tale.
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