Legion of Super-Heroes #291 (1982)
“…A Sign of Darkness Dawning”
by Paul Levitz & Keith Giffen
The second chapter of the Great Darkness Saga. I just realized that the cover is a very subtle hint about the real identity of the bad guy.
We begin with the Legion discovering that one of the Servants is actually a clone of Lydea Mallor, a 20th century ancestor of Shadow Lass.
We already knew Shadow Lass was the champion of Talok VIII, but we are now expanding the importance of her family to that world.
Lydea will make one pre-Crisis appearance and several post-Crisis ones…
…since she’s the daughter of prominent L.E.G.I.O.N. member, and all-around badass, Lyrissa Mallor.
Discussing what L.E.G.I.O.N. would be waaaay out of topic, but I think it’s cool that a seemingly throwaway character from the Legion time was later expanded in present-day lore. Then again, Lyrissa WAS created by Keith Giffen.
Back to the story, Shadow Lass is not taking this well for rather understandable reasons.
We then move to Avalon, which we last saw in the atrocious issue #276 that saw one of Mordru’s most embarrassing defeats.
The fact that the Big Bad Guy manages to ONE-SHOT FREAKING MORDRU should be be incredible, considering how stupidly overpowered Mordru has been… but we’re talking about the same Mordru that last time was defeated with a regular guy with a regular sword, so it’s not as epic as it should be.
On the Chameleon Boy subplot, he’s utterly screwed. On the upside, that is one creative alien design!
I really enjoyed the moment where we see Ultra Boy and Element Lad debate the Chameleon Boy situation, while the rest of the team is chatting about the various subplots. This makes the universe feel more alive.
There’s also room for a little levity. And of course Wildfire would be the one that doesn’t take Dream Girl’s candidacy seriously.
The Legion sure needs some levity right now, because THREE emergency show up simultaneously: a mass evasion at the prison planet Takron-Galtos, Mordru being set free, and Dream Girl having a vision about her sister being attacked by the Servants.
Speaking of Takron-Galtos, there’s a very effective dichotomy between the description of how it’s absolutely secure and what we actually see.
Good thing the Legion showed up the help, because apparently FREAKING GALACTUS is a prisoner on Takron-Galtos!!!
You’re not exactly doing a great job attracting votes, Ultra Boy.
The next victim of the Big Bad Guy is the Time Trapper. We’ll eventually learn this is not the REAL Time Trapper, but at the time this was huge: the latest threat just wiped out some of the Legion’s most powerful foes without breaking a sweat.
The latest Servant attacks, and he’s no minor player either, managing to knock around Mon-El.
The idea is that the Big Bad Guy replenished his powers by absorbing those of Mordru and Time Trapper. No idea of how he managed to do THAT, and the Legion is equally in the dark (pun intended).
We then touch on Superboy visiting the sick Lighting Lad. Disappointingly, the high-quality paperback reprint doesn’t fix a weird error!
Saturn Girl is supposed to say “Garth’s still out”, referring to the civilian name of Lightning Lad, but the original AND the reprint have her say “Earth’s still out”, which makes no sense.
Come on guys, even the first Italian print managed to fix that thirty years ago!
It is a touching moment, though, since Superboy is approaching Superman #161, the death of his adoptive parents.
During the mission to track down Mordru, Element Lad continues to be as much of an ass as Ultra Boy.
This is probably the in-universe reason why they both lose the election: the Legionnaires care about who gets to be their leader, but not THAT much.
Especially since they now have much, MUCH bigger problems.
The last part of the plot involves the rescue of Dream Girl’s sister, the White Witch. Who gets a much-needed COMPLETE redesign.
Adorably, Blok is instantly smitten!
The Servants attack but, as we all know, Blok is the best.
The last time this particular Servant showed up, the fact that he’s weak against yellow was not clear because of the coloring. At least this time Sun Boy spells it out for us.
Invisible Kid uses this opportunity to walk through one of the portals (he actually discussed this plan with the Legion last issue), and we get our biggest hint about the identity of the Big Bad Guy.
AMAZINGLY, he doesn’t die.
The Legion has lost yet another encounter with the Servants, but we end on a dire cliffhanger: things are only going to get worse.
Legion significance: 7/10
Probably the least significant chapter of the GDS proper we’ve seen so far, but it does establish the lineage of Shadow Lass.
Silver Age-ness: 6/10
It is a bit ridiculous that the Big Bad Guy can defeat both Mordru and Time Trapper THAT easily. Granted, Mordru has had a rough time and it’s not the real Time Trapper, but still.
Does it stand the test of time? 8/10
When taken on its own it’s a bit lacking in substance when compared to the other chapters… which, ironically, makes it more in line with modern decompressed storytelling.
Levitz’s strength continues to be giving space to every single Legionnaire.
We are legion
22 active Legionnaires
6 reserve members
1 honorary member (Rond Vidar)
1 on sick leave (Matter-Eater Lad)
Jacques literally earns his stripe(s) as a legionnaire this issue. The Master strikes enough fear into him that every incarnation of Jacques seen from this moment on, on parallel Earths or alternate timelines, are apparently born with that stripe. Yes, I know that the stripe became so associated with Jacques that it never occurred to later creators to leave it off other version of him, but I prefer to think that the Master is simply so OP that his fear struck all Jacques across the entire multiverse.
Good point. But now I wonder what would happen if the Master met X-Men ‘s Rogue.
I wonder how many readers at the time had guessed the identity of The Master by now? It seems patently obvious at this time in retrospect, but maybe it wasn’t back in 1982.
I haven’t read comics in a while, but Legion was one big fave. Always liked teams. I never noticed any DC characters have a power copying ability, like Rogue and Mimic. In fact, Mimic would be a good subject for an article; How do you defeat you?
Long-term Legion ally Duplicate Boy can duplicate almost anyone else’s powers. He couldn’t quite manage duplicating Validus.
Legion reject Absorbency Boy can duplicate powers by absorbing the original wielder’s residual energy. He joins the Legion during the retroboot era as Earth Man.
The question here was: if facing the Master is so frightening it puts a stripe in your hair, what happens to someone like Rogue, who already has striped hair? Does she break out in polka dots?