Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes #314 (Part 2) (1984)
by Paul Levitz & George Tuska
Despite being the cover story, the White Witch origin is actually the second part of the book.
The framing device is Blok learning all of this while he’s recovering from the injuries he received during the Omen storyline.
It’s also some worldbuilding for Naltor, which is always neat.
Perhaps because we’ve always seen this planet through the lens of Dream Girl, it’s not entirely a surprise that it is a matriarchal society.
At least it’s not Femnaz.
Dream Girl inherited her mother’s gift of prophecy, even more so than other Naltorians…
…but the future White Witch didn’t get ANY power.
This is an interesting backstory. Typically this would result in the powerless sibling to be resentful and turn into a supervillain, so the fact this is not even on the radar feels kind of refreshing.
By far the most important lore that we learn is that Naltor was settled by the inhabitants of Sorcerers’ World, something that will have important implications in future White Witch stories (for better and worse!).
Also, before this story did we already know Naltorians can’t prophecize their own death?
It makes sense from a storytelling perspective, otherwise Dream Girl would be a nightmare for drama.
This makes Blok sad, which Phantom Girl takes as an opportunity to either tease him or flirt with him.
The position of High Seer is not hereditary, but Dream Girl will become the student of her mother’s successor. Her attempt to be protective of her sister kind of backfires, though.
All this does, however, is have the future White Witch to vow to master magic.
Again, this FEELS like the origin of a supervillain, doesn’t it?
And that’s how we’re ending this part of the origin story. I’m sure Blok will appreciate hearing the rest from White Witch next issue!
Legion significance: 4/10
The Sorcerers’ World link will get much more significant later.
Silver Age-ness: 0/10
Not really
Does it stand the test of time? 7/10
If this was combined with the second part and was given better artwork, this could’ve been a classic. As it is it’s just fine, and as I said it’s refreshing that there’s basically no resentment between the two sisters.
We are legion
20 active Legionnaires
8 reserve members
1 honorary member (Rond Vidar)
41 people have been members
I hadn’t thought of it, but Mysa’ s story is a good setup for a supervillain. The fact that it isn’t–that the story turns in a different direction–shows how Levitz was aware of these tropes but also willing to break with them.