Legion of Super-Heroes #287 (Part 2)

Legion of Super-Heroes #287 (1982)
by Paul Levitz & Pat Broderick 

The appropriately titled “Prelude to darkness” is, well, the prelude of the Great Darkness Saga after Part 1.
And it begins with Mon-El investigating a mysterious planet.
Almost as mysterious as how can Shadow Lass survive with a waist that small! I know she’s an alien, but that’s kind of ridiculous!

We won’t learn what planet that is until much later in the storyline, so just in case any reader doesn’t know I’ll leave the review as spoiler-free as possible.
It is interesting that, according to the lore, that planet should NOT be in the same galaxy of the United Planets, since it’s supposed to be in another dimension. But from Mon-El’s dialogue I gather that it wandered into the regular universe.

Shadow Lass gets some serious spooky vibes from this planet…

…while Mon-El gets into a fight with the automated defenses of the planet, which are powerful enough to give him some trouble.

 Good thing Shadow Lass came along for the ride, because it seems the local defenses are scared of her shadows!

And that’s all the two Legionnaires get to do, because they’re called by Projectra to join her own plot that follows the previous issue into the next.

But as they leave, something awakens on this planet. Something cold and dark.

Here’s the bad guy for our event. Again, in the unlikely event that you don’t know who this is, I’ll leave it spoiler-free… but man am I glad he’s in the shadows because I really DO NOT want to see him naked!!!

Mon-El decides he’s going to keep the United Planets away from this planet… but they’re going to learn about it in the worst way.

So… food for thought: if Mon-El went to this planet alone instead of taking Shadow Lass and therefore unwillingly instigating the resurrection of the bad guy… would the Legion have skipped the entire Great Darkness Saga?

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Legion significance: 6/10
The whole reason the Great Darkness Saga starts… and yet it’s kind of unnecessary. Seriously, the first time I read the saga I didn’t read this one, but everything was still perfectly clear.

Silver Age-ness: 0/10
All things considered, not really.

Does it stand the test of time? 8/10
A though call, since this is barely a story. Honestly it would’ve been best to treat this as just a sub-plot of the main story… just have a cutaway scene showing us what Mon-El is doing. Keeping it separate just highlights the fact that, well, almost nothing of substance happens here!
Still… Mon-El and Shadow Lass continue to have great chemistry, the narration is suitably ominous, and the artwork is serviceable… Pat Broderick is no Giffen, but he gets the job done.

We are legion
23 active Legionnaires
4 reserve members
1 honorary member (Rond Vidar)
1 on sick leave (Matter-Eater Lad)

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Interesting letters: I kind of have to agree about Blok. He’s the best and I wouldn’t want to miss him, but the reasoning behind his admission never made all that much sense.
Plus giving the Native American (kinda, I know) the power of being a super-tracker IS kind of a bad ethnic joke.