Legion of Super-Heroes #294 (December 1982) brings the epic Great Darkness Saga to an appropriately epic conclusion. It really is one of the best written and dramatically satisfying endings to a comic book story arc ever produced. Both Paul Levitz' script and Keith Giffen's art mesh perfectly, bringing together the various elements of the story into perfect dramatic harmony.
It's actually difficult to do justice to this issue with a straightforward summary, since there are so many individual "Wow, that's cool!" moments within the story. Basically, the mysterious baby turns out to be the Highfather re-born, who quickly reaches adulthood this issue. Though without the same level of power he had back in the 20th Century, he is able to give Darkseid a hard time, with his best move being turning the Servant clone of Orion into a "real" Orion, who promptly battles the villain.
Superboy and Supergirl, protected from red sun radiation by Brainiac 5-built devices, also pummel Darkseid. None of this is enough to take him down and, in fact, he regains the upper hand in the fight. But it distracts him enough to lose control of the billions of Daxamites he's been using. Knowing he can't win, Darkseid takes his planet and goes home--disappearing with Apokolips from the cosmos.
As I said, within this basic story, there are many, many individual cool moments, even beyond the appearance of a restored Orion or the Kryptonians' surprise attack. For instance, to prevent the Daxamites from rampaging across the galaxy, the Legion calls in other superpowered beings. This gives us cameos from characters such as the Wanderers, the Heroes of Lallor, the Legion of Substitute Heroes and a survivor of Krypton named Dev-em.
These cameos are presented in a series of vertical panels that effectively highlight the action, allow us to follow the complicated story without problem, and simply look cool. It's mentioned that the Daxamites, because they are being mind controlled and not used to superpowers, are fighting ineffectively. That allows those heroes on a lower power level (everyone except Dev-em and Lallor's Duplicate Boy) to be able to at least temporarily hold back the horde. It is, within the context of the rules of the DC Universe, reasonable. Though I will forever wonder what good Color Kid is doing shooting a beam of rainbow light at someone with Superboy-level powers.
Other cool moments include Chameleon Boy, without access to his shape-changing power, outsmarting a Daxamite who is out to get him; Light Lass and Shadow Lass desperately trying to defend Baby Highfather against Darkseid; and Darkseid's takedown of most of the Legion with one brutal burst of nigh-omnipotent power.
But, as I said, the good guys win in the end.
The Great Darkness Saga is a high point in the stories of the Pre-Crisis Legion--a title that was already filled with awesome moments. It seamlessly melds the Superhero and Space Opera genres into one of the best stories ever.
Next week, we return again to visit the Super Friends.
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