Cover Cavalcade

 

July is Adventure Comics month. This Curt Swan cover is from 1966.

Great Darkness Saga--Part 5

 

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. 

The Great Darkness Saga, Part 4

 

Legion of Super-Heroes #293 (November 1982, w: Paul Levitz; a: Keith Giffen) brings us to the fourth part of The Great Darkness Saga and, boy, it's a dozy.

After the events of the last issue, The Legion has spread out across the galaxy in teams, trying to find a trace of the Masters or his Servants. In addition to this, we return to Legion HQ a few times, where Mon-el is still in a coma and the mysterious baby is being kept. On top of that, we see the Master carrying out the next (very important) part of his plan.  All this is weaved together throughout, with our point-of-view switching rapidly between characters. 

I mentioned in our look at Part 3 that the story as a whole is expertly constructed. This chapter is arguably the best representation of that. Despite the rapid changes of perspective (used to advance the story, remind us of important plot points and advance the plot as a whole), we never lose track of what's going on. 

For simplicity's sake, I'll talk about this issue one plot point at a time. At Legion HQ, we are reminded that Mon-el is out of action, but also that the mysterious baby--somehow meant to be who defeats the Master, The kid is getting rapidly older and, when no one is looking, there's a definite hint that he might have impressive powers.

In the meantime, one team of Legionaires is searching a devestated planet that is supposed to be Daxam. But the Master has alread used his enormous power to switch Daxam's position with his own, burnt-out home planet. Daxam is now revolving around a yellow sun. We'll get back to this in a moment.

On the not-Daxam world revolving around a red sun, the Legion team is ambushed by the Servants. More Legionairs show up and a battle royale ensues. And it's a great battle--well-choreographed and with the various characters using their powers in intelligent ways.

Remember that the Legion now knows the nature of two of the Servants. One of them is a clone of a Guardian, who are susceptable to the color yellow. Wildfire destroys this Servant with a burst of yellow radiation.

Another Servant is a clone of Superman. Superboy joins the fight, protected from the red sun by a Braniac Five-invented device. The Servant manages to destroy this and Superboy is soon in trouble. But Element Lad encases Superboy in a lead shield to protect him from Kryptonite radiation, then turns some of the surrounding landscape into gold Kryotonite, which strips the clone of its powers. Timber Wolf is then able to destroy it.

The remaining Servants flee. The Legion has won an important battle, but they haven't won the war.

The Master has mind-controlled the entire population of Daxam. And, since he's transferred their planet to an orbit around a yellow sun, they all have Superman-level powers.

If you don't know about Daxamites, then turn in your geek card. Daxamites are just like Kryptonians, gaining super powers under a yellow sun. But their weakness is lead, which affects them the way Kryptonite affects Krytonians. Since lead is a common substance throughout the universe, it means that Daxamites must stick to their lead-free planet. (Mon-el has a lead poisoning antidote provided to him by Braniac Five, which is why he can travel about as a Legionaire.)

The Master orders his army of three billion Daxamites to fry the surface of their own planet with their heat vision, obliterating his civilization. Then, before sending out his army (three billion Supermen, Superboys and Supergirls), he has them reshape the planet into the shape of his own head--a monument to himself. It's here we finally find out who the Master is:

It's the perfect dramatic moment for this reveal. To keep the mystery going longer might have gotten a little tiresome and its now more effective to raise tension for us to know who he is and what his plan is. 

There's still unsolved mysteries--most importantly the identify of the baby back at Legion HQ. And, as we've discussed in the past, at least a few attentive readers with a good knowledge of the DC Universe would have deduced Darkseid's identity already. But the final panel in this issue is still one of the best surprise reveals in the history of comics.

Next week, we'll stay in the DC Univese. Well, sort of. We'll visit a version of that Universe when we look in on the Super Friends. 

The Great Darkness Saga, Part 3

 

Legion of Super-Heroes #292 (October 1982--w: Paul Levitz; a: Keith Giffen/Larry Mahlstedt) brings us to the third part of the Great Darkness Saga. And I have to say that as I re-read this story with the intent of writing about it, I'm more and more impressed with just how expertly it's constructed in terms of its relatively complex plot.

Dream Girl, newly elected as head of the Legion, has had one of her predictive visions. In this one, the Legion fights the as-yet-unidentified bad guy on the magical Sorcerer's World, where the Legion will lose. Dream Girl hopes to prove her vision wrong--something that has never happened before.

The ensuing action is expertly presented. Various factions of the Legion are arriving seperately, so it's a ship containing Ultra Boy, Mon-el, Phantom Girl and Shadow Lass that first encounters the Servants of Darkness before they can hook up with the others. Later on, Wildfire will have his own encounter with the Servants (and lose another containment suit) before the Legionaires are able to gang up on them.

During this extended melee, Mon-el flies into the space warp used by the servants, hoping to go one-on-one with their Master. In an issue full of great moments, this might be the best one. Mon-el recognizes the Master, but--despite having Superboy-level powers--Mon-el is zapped into a coma. But not before the Master draws an important bit of information out of the hero's mind.

It's a very dramatic moment--both in terms of writing and art. A few attentive readers may have guessed by now that the villain is Darkseid, but all we know for certain is that he is a known villain and someone who's identity is a true shock to Mon-el. 

Several other plot threads are advanced as well. Back at Legion HQ, the computer has deduced the identity of two more of the Servants--clones of a Guardian of the Universe and Superman. Again, we are presented with dramatic new information in an effectively dramatic fashion. Soon after this, Lightning Lad decides to put out a general alarm for all available Legionaires to report for duty. Whomever the Master is, all hands will need to be on deck to deal with him.

Back on Sorcerer's World, the Legionaires are forced to retreat back to Teacher's Island, where the most powerful sorcerer's hang out. Those guys are trying to create a spell to defeat the Master and they pour so much power into the effort that two them die. The results of that spell? A baby pops up through a space warp.

The Master easily smashes through a force field and seems about to finish everyone off. But that bit of information he got from Mon-el convinces him to change his mind. He leaves the Legion and the sorcerers alive to witness his eventual triumph as he disappears to carry out his revised plan.

So the story feeds us more information about the Master without giving too much away, while introducing the idea that yet another bit of information as become relevant--without telling us yet what that might be. And what the heck is a baby supposed to do to help beat the Master? He's cute enough, but pure cuteness is rarely enough to win a fight.

The Great Darkness Saga really is an expertly constructed story, gradually giving us enough information to keep us sort-of satisfying while ramping up the tension regarding what we don't know yet.

Next week, we'll look at a TV adaptation of a show I've never seen.

The Great Darkness Saga, Part 2

 

Legion of Super-Heroes #291 (September 1982) picks up right where the last issue took place. That previous issue ended with the capture of one of the Servants of Darkness. Brought back to Legion HQ, the Servant is examined and discovered to be a clone of an ancestor of Shadow Lass.

It's an effective way of bringing us back into the story after waiting a month for the next issue. We are finally fed a little bit of information about the bad guys, but its only enough to be intriguing and a little creepy without giving away too much. 

Writer Paul Levitz and artists Keith Giffen (breakdowns) & Larry Mahlstedt (finished art) then continue to pile more stuff on, with examples of just how powerful the villain is. He releases Mordru, the evil wizard who is described as being equal in power to the entire Federation civilization. But then he almost casually zaps Mordru, draining the wizard of his power.

The same thing happens to another villain with god-like powers when the Time Trapper is also drained of power.

Dream Girl gets a premonition that her sister, White Witch, is also going to attacked. Forewarned, the Legion manages to save her.

It's during this battle that Invisible Kid tries to slip through one of the space warps that the Servants use to see who the Big Bad is. And it's here that we get a visual clue to his identity. As I mentioned last time, Darkseid isn't yet as well-known as he will eventually become, but he has been around. For attentive readers familiar with him, the panel below is probably the best clue yet to his identity.

Invisible Kid takes an Omega Beam blast and is injured. The Servant gets away and for the time being Darkseid's identity is still unknown to the Legion and probably also to many of the original readers of the book.

While all this is going on, the captured Servant comes out of her coma and nearly takes down Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy. Lightning Lad, who has been ill himself, pulls himself together enough to put the Servant down again.

It's a great issue. It's fast-paced, full of great action, doles out just enough information about the villains to leave us wanting more, and moves the overall story arc along enough to be satisfying. 

As with the last issue, I'm giving short shrift to many of the continuing story arcs--there's an election for the new Legion leader (Dream Girl wins) and Chameleon Boy is on trial for something incredibly dumb he did a few issues earlier. I want to concentrate my review on the main story, but I should say again that these ongoing arcs gave depth to the characters and made them relatable. 

That's it for now. We'll be back in two weeks with the next part of the Great Darkness Saga. Next week, we'll jump back a little over a thousand years to discuss a war-time team up between Sgt. Fury and Captain America.

The Great Darkness Saga, Part 1

 

cover art by Keith Giffen

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. 

The Super-Stalag of Space

This is one of the hardest reviews I've ever written. Why? Because this story is crammed with so many cool and imaginative moments that I had difficulty in deciding what images to use. Blog posts need to be short, because many of you are reading them while you should be working or paying attention to your families!--so I can't ramble on too long. "Daddy, my leg is stuck in a bear trap and a hungry mountain lion is stalking me!" "Just a minute, honey, I need to finish reading about Blockade Boy!" So no matter what images I choose to use here, I'm leaving out several that are equally cool.

It's a two-part tale, running through Adventure Comics #344 & 345 (May & June 1966), with a script by Edmond Hamilton and art by Curt Swan. The story begins when the Legion receives an emergency signal from Brainiac 5, who has been taken prisoner on a remote planet. A team flies off to help and discovers a large prison camp, with android guards and surrounded by a jungle filled with deadly flora and fauna, located on that planet.

They all end up getting captured, with the guys put in one section of the camp and the gals in another. For most of the story, we are focused on the guy prisoners.

We find out the camp is run by an alien named Nardo, who was exiled from his home by lawmen, so has declared war on all good guys everywhere. Aside from the Legionaires, the camp is populated by superheroes from many other worlds. Nardo's guards wield enough raw power to keep everyone in line despite their powers.

What follows is a story line overtly based on the movie Stalag 17. With Brainiac 5 as escape officer, the prisoners start coming up with schemes to break out. But everytime they try something, Nardo is waiting for them. A shapechanging alien locked in the form of Superboy is the first to die trying to escape. Later, Matter Eater Lad chews a tunnel to freedom, followed by a hero called Blockade Boy. But once again, Nardo is waiting. In a single panel that contains an astonishing level of emotional impact, Blockade Boy sacrifices himself to save Matter Eater Lad.

Another hero, Plant Boy, falls when he loses his temper over brutal treatment and gets gunned down.

In Stalag 17, when the prisoners find out who has been feeding the Germans escape information, they set him up to get killed by the guards. That M.O. doesn't fit the Legion, though, so when a "hero" named Weight Wizard is fingered as the stool pigeon, he has an attack of conscience and makes a break for it. That doesn't end well for him.

Meanwhile, the girls are doing better than the guys. Duo Damsel and Light Lass come up with a clever combination of their powers, allowign Duo Damsel to getaway and start a stampede of jungle monsters into the camp. This jump-starts a series of action vignettes, which ends with Matter Eater Lad about to be executed when Superboy, Mon-El and Ultra Boy show up in the nick of time to finally capture Nardo.

Matter Eater Lad, by the way, is stunned by an atomic ray during all this, which has the side-effect of making him super-fat. This would be re-set a few issues later, but poor M.E.L. would have to endure some pretty lame fat jokes for a short time.

I've raved about Edmond Hamilton's incredible imagination many times in the past. This might be the Ur-example of just how much cool stuff he could inject into a story (backed up in this case by Curt Swan's equally cool art, of course). "The Super-Stalag of Space" drips with fun and imagination in every panel.

That's it for now. Next week, we'll return to prehistoric Earth for another visit with Tragg.

Substitute Heroes

cover art by Curt Swan

The Legion of Substitute Heroes don't get no respect. Heck, in their first appearance (Adventure Comics #306--March 1963), they didn't even rate a cover appearance (though they did at least get a blurb along the bottom).

The Substitutes are made up of five people with superpowers who tried out for the Legion of Superheroes. Because their individual powers were not quite up to snuff (or--though no one is mean enough to say it--kind of dumb), all were rejected. But they still admire the Legion and want help, so they secretly form the Substitute Legion, waiting for a chance to step in and save the day when the real Legion is on the ropes.

The Substitutes are led by Polar Boy, who can generate cold. Over in the Marvel Universe, the X-Men's Iceman was demonstrating that this is indeed a useful power, but Polar Boy doesn't have proper control over his ability yet. He's joined by Night Girl (super-strength when not exposed to sunlight), Fire Lad (literally breaths fire), Chlorophyll Kid (can accelerate plant growth) and Stone Boy (turns into a statue).

Though they are eager to help, the Substitutes don't get an opportunity to do so. They start to jump in whenever there's an emergency, but the real Legion is always there before them and always has the situation well in hand.

But then the Legion is lured into space by an alien race that intends to use mobile, man-like plants as an army to conquer Earth. The Substitutes finally get a chance to show their stuff, destroying the plant army on Earth, then back-tracking the aliens to their home planet. The heroes use their powers in clever combinations to defeat the aliens.

John Forte did the art and Edmond Hamilton was the regular writer for the LSH at the time. Long-time readers of my blog will know that Hamilton is one of my favorite pulp/comic book writers and this story really demonstrates why. The idea of idealistic young people determined to do good--while remaining in the background and taking no credit--is by itself an awesome concept. Hamilton skillfully constructs a situation in which their powers--despite their limitations--can be used effectively. I have to say that Hamilton's use of Stone Boy does come across as contrived. But Stone Boy may have the world's most useless superpower, so making him useful probably can't help but be contrived. Despite this, the story is a fine example of Hamilton's skill at clever plot construction. 

cover art by Curt Swan

The Legion's second appearance is also an impressive story. Adventure Comics #311 (August 1963) finally earned the Substitutes a cover appearance, but the story itself brought them trouble. The real Legion apparently finds out about them, but it also appears that the Legion has betrayed Earth and is soon tracking down the Substitutes with the intent to kill them. In fact, it briefly appears that they succeed in killing Stone Boy.

It turns out that the real Legion was trapped in a space warp by yet another alien race bent on conquest. (One wonders why aliens don't concentrate on conquering planets that don't have a Legion of Super Heroes based on it.)

The Substitutes figure out what's going on, stop the bad guys and free the Legion from the warp--all while still keeping their existence a secret.

Both stories clearly show that the Substitutes do indeed have limited powers or are as yet undisciplined in using them. (Polar Boy did eventually become a member of the real Legion.) But all five are shown as eager to be heroes for the right reasons, to be able to think their way out of dangerous situations and to keep going when things get tough. Their powers might be limited (or even just plain dumb), but they are indeed heroes.

That's it for now. Next week, we'll jump back to the Civil War and ride with a Union cavalry officer.