Legion of Super-Heroes vol.2 Annual #3 (1984)
plot by Paul Levitz & Keith Giffen
pencils by Curt Swan (main story) and Keith Giffen (epilogue)
cover by Keith Giffen
This is a bit confusing. It’s catalogued as the third annual of Volume 2, despite the fact that Volume 3 had already started. Even more confusingly, Volume 3 will have its own set of annuals.
We’re already at the end of the plot about the pregnancy of Saturn Girl.
Weird coincidence: I just reviewed Invisible Woman’s second childbirth… two blonde pregnant superheroines in a row!
And deciding who has the weirdest plot is a challenge.
I have to disagree on that thought, Lightning Lad. This was one of the quickest superhero pregnancies.
The always awesome Doctor Gym’ll will naturally be the one handling the medical side of things, but Lighting Lad runs into Doctor Larsh, his wife’s obstetrician.
Since this isn’t a slice-of-life comic, the doctor ends up hypnotizing Lightning Lad…
…because he’s actually Starfinger in disguise! We haven’t seen him in ten years, since he was the villain in Superboy #200 during the marriage of Duo Damsel and Bouncing Boy.
You would think the plot of the Annual would be Lightning Lad having to break away from Starfinger’s control, but… NOPE!
This is great! I’m not entirely sure it holds to scrutiny, especially with Universo being a Legion villain… but at least it makes sense that the same exact way to mind control them wouldn’t work twice.
Nope, the main plot of the Annual truly begins with the Legionnaires inspecting Avalon, the OTHER medieval planet in the Legion universe.
This isn’t Orando, a.k.a. “Projectra’s planet”… no this is Avalon from issue #276, a.k.a. “the boring one” or “I can’t believe it’s not Orando”.
I don’t get the existence of Avalon. You already have Orando, which has a unique identity and some decent worldbuilding. This all makes Avalon feel very redundant.
At least there’s a reason the Legionnaires are here: it’s the last known location of Mordru thanks to the abismally crappy #276, and he’s a prime suspect of being behind the new Legion of Super-Villains.
Except not really: Darkseid freed Mordru in #291 and absorbed his powers. The last time we saw him in that story, Mordru was completely de-powered by Darkseid and presumably arrested by the Legionnaires.
But nope! Apparently after Darkseid was defeated, Mordru vanished and returned beneath the castle under which he was buried at the end of #276.
Not really sure it works, since Darkseid absorbed his magic AFTER freeing him, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
We also just learned that White Witch was a disciple of Mordru, so any chances that’s going to factor into the story? She could at least mention it!!!
I think setting this on the unbearably boring Avalon was a mistake. There are some evil sorcerers resurrecting Mordru to do their bidding and White Witch is in the team… why wouldn’t you set this on the FAR more interesting Sorcerers’ World!?
You might think it’s because Levitz wants to set this in a more grounded place instead of the fantastical Sorcers’ World, but… one of the magicians is a talking cat!!!
Also weird: we’re shown the Legionnaires protecting Earth from a meteor shower, but there’s no mention of the Legion of Super-Villains removing the planetary shield in volume 3 #2.
It makes some sense to mention Earthwar, since #245 is the last time Mordru was a decent threat, but it’s a bit risky since we’ve already mentioned the Great Darkness Saga.
Always troubling referencing better stories.
Back to the pregnancy plot. It’s kind of interesting that, in addition to not wanting to know the baby’s gender, the couple doesn’t want to know if it’s going to be twins… a legitimate point, since Lightning Lad comes from a planet where twin births are the norm.
But not wanting to know how the parents’ powers influence the baby? That’s a stretch.
If both came from planets where everyone has powers it would make some sense, but it’s only the case for Saturn Girl.
Kind of hard to disagree with Doctor Gym’ll here. That was a wildly stupid decision (especially since her telepathy works at a distance).
We move to the other Legionnaires, where SUDDEN TENTACLES!!!
Shadow Lass is kidnapped by the tentacles, and since the Legion has just been informed that Mordru might be free again they obviously make the connection.
Nobody draws pissed off Mon-El quite like Curt Swan.
At the same time, Shadow Kid (Shadow Lass’ cousin) decides to quit the Legion Academy, just when he’s also kidnapped by magic.
Without using tentacles, because I guess the Kinky Kidnapping spell doesn’t work on guys.
So why kidnap the Shadow Cousins? It’s a neat idea: we learned during the Gread Darkness Saga that their shadow powers have SOMETHING in common with Darkseid, so the sorcerers are using them as part of their spell.
In case you needed proof that cats are evil.
To answer my previous question: no, the fact that White Witch studied under Mordru is not a factor.
The spell tells the Legionnaires that Mordru is being resurrected on Sorcers’s World. What was even the point of starting the story on Avalon if you’re not going to do anything there?
Curt Swan is on fire this issue. I especially enjoyed the silent page showcasing the darkness emanating from Mordru’s statue to envelop the planet first and spread to the Galaxy later.
This is where the plots interact, because the darkness is so widespread that it reaches Earth… just when Saturn Girl is giving birth.
Uhm, I don’t think that’s actually a required qualification, Doctor Gym’ll. You just want to charge more for doing this in the dark, isn’t it?
Thanks to White Witch’s spell, the Legion is able to interrupt the ritual before Mordru’s resurrection is completed.
Yeah these sorcerors are definitely not Mordru material.
That takes care of the whole darkness plot… just when Saturn Girl is done delivering the baby.
And so we have reached our first epilogue: it was a single birth after all.
Or was it?
The truth is revealed to the reader with the second epilogue, with Keith Giffen artwork, courtesy of Darkseid: he has kidnapped the other twin.
That is a GREAT setup, but I’m not fond of what follows: Darkseid morphs the baby into something else and throws him into the past…
…because he actually turns into Validus. SERIOUSLY.
On one hand, this the fullfillment of the prophecy Darkeid made at the very end of the Great Darkness Saga: to strike at the Legion through “the purest of them”.
But on the other hand… what’s the point of making Validus the son of Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl!? Especially since none of them knows about it!
Validus will make a handful of appearances during the rest of Volume 3, after which he will effectively be retired in a 1987 annual when he’ll be restored to his baby form.
Considering that Validus is in my top three favorite Legion villains, you can imagine I’m not a fan of this retcon… giving him ANY origin is a mistake in my opinion, but this was an especially bad decision.
Legion significance: 7/10
Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad’s child has surprisingly little impact on anything. And the new Validus origin will basically be ignored until he turns back.
If I’m not mistaken, this is the last appearance of Avalon in this continuity.
Silver Age-ness: 3/10
The Curt Swan artwork helps the vibe. There’s some truly random stuff, but the fact that Lightning Lad explicitly doesn’t fall for the same trick twice lessens it.
Does it stand the test of time? 6/10
Even leaving aside my issues with the Validus retcon, this isn’t without problems.
A lot of stuff feels really forced. Why even go back to Avalon if you’re going to face the sorcerers elsewhere? Why is Shadow Kid resigning from the Academy just when he’s about to be kidnapped? Why isn’t White Witch’s relationship with Mordru ever addressed?
Not to mention that, considering how instrumental her powers are to the bad guys, Shadow Lass is incredibly passive here. You couldn’t give her ANYTHING to do against the sorcerers? Really!?
Still, it’s not all bad. All the scenes from the pregnancy plot are a delight, Curt Swan has the chance to draw the modern Legionnaires, and Mordru is treated as the major threat he once was.
We are legion
20 active Legionnaires
8 reserve members
1 honorary member (Rond Vidar)
41 people have been members
Darkseid creating Validus is badass regardless. Another example of Darkseid’s power, even a being like Validus is nothing to him.
Yeah but hyping up Darkseid at the expense of a Legion villain feels… off.
Darkseid doesn’t need it anyway, the DGS already positioned him at the top.
It’s not too much the fault of this story in particular, but the worst part is that Levitz doesn’t really do anything with the new Validus origin until he reverts him to a baby, and then he retires Validus as a villain for the rest of the series.
At least that story will have a badass Saturn Girl moment, but as a massive Validus fan this was a huge letdown.
I mean, yes, it’s true that the Great Darkness Saga had already hyped him enough, specially with him easily taking care of Mordru. Fair points.
Paul Levitz is not 100% responsible for Validus’ origin. During the Bates/Cockrum period a reader wrote in a letter stating the Validus’ mental lightning was a combination of Saturn Girl’s and Lightning Lad’s powers. Levitz remembered it and wrote it in years later.
Validus being the child of Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl came from a fan suggestion in a letters column, though I don’t remember the specifics. I guess the idea came from the fact that he shot lightning from his mind, so it seemed like a combination of those two, who were destined to be married.
This is like the epilogue of the Great Darkness Saga, and it kind of underscores why I don’t share most people’s love for that arc. The GDS is basically a simple prop up story. The storytelling is obviously well done (even though it is kind of a cheat with Darkseid dressed differently), but the plot…eh. It is like taking Wonder Woman villain Triangle Man into Batman comics and making TM a serious threat by him putting the Joker and the Penguin into the ICU. Darkseid is a mort. He is a pseudo Devil. He had just gotten his butt kicked by the tiny JLA and now he takes out Mordru & the Time Trapper & almost takes out the Legion. Hmmph. But then he is defeated at the end and turns into a wicked step mother cursing the Legion. ugh. And now the Payoff — the curse is two of their members’ baby becomes Validus! All done cursing. Darkseid retires. Meh.