Tales of the Legion #316 (Part 2)

Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes #316 (Part 2) (1984)
plot by Paul Levitz
dialogue by Mindy Newell
pencils by Joe Tuska

In this period DC Comics was hiring a lot of new talents, some of which ended up on the Legion. That’s how Steve Lightle landed a job as Volume 3’s artist, but it’s also where Mindy Newell came from. She’ll write a few Legion stories in the following years, before moving to Marvel as an editor in the early 90s and then retiring from comics not long after that.
We’ve actually already seen her on the site: she was the writer of the INCREDIBLY dark Lois Lane miniseries.
Here, she provides the dialogue in the last part of the White Witch origin story.

The last part ended with Mysa being transformed into an old woman by Mordru interfering with her spell, and she’s uncerimoniously shipped away from Sorcerers’s World.
Just in case you wondered if Mordru was the only a##hole living there.

That’s where she meets Prince Evillo, because this is the missing link to her first appearance way back in Adventure Comics #350.
The fact that she meets the supposed ruler of the underworld on what is essentially a bus ride is 100% in line with what Evillo is.

We learn that Mysa’s mentor sent a warning to Dream Girl about what happened to her sister.

In case you’ve forgotten, THIS is how Adventure Comics #351 handled the transformation of Mysa back into the White Witch.

Normally, I would ramble about how the way this issue retells that moment has absolutely nothing to do with what actually happened in Adventure Comics #351… but that story was so unbelievably stupid that I’m just glad we completely skipped the “Miss Terious” idiocy.

White Witch is also wondering if her magic powers are enough to qualify her for the Legion. This is a recurring theme for several members, but in her case it’s showed in a far more literal way thanks to a magical scale.

Back into the flashback, she refused Dream Girl’s invitation to join the Legion because she wanted to complete her magical training.

Most of the heavy lifting about the origins of White Witch is done, but there is one last bit of trivia.
I’m sure one of the biggest questions about her 80s redesign was… why exactly does she have such pale sking and antennae if NOBODY ELSE from her planet looks like that?

Well, apparently it’s something that happens if you study too much magic.

She got SO good at magic that she was asked to stay on Sorcerers’ World as one of the elders… but then the Great Darkness Saga happened.

And the rest is history.

---

Legion significance: 0/10
When the only new revelation is how she met Evillo and why she really, REALLY needs to get a suntan…

 Silver Age-ness: 6/10
Besides the magic scale coming out of nowhere, this has Prince Evillo and that automatically bumps up the score.

Does it stand the test of time? 4/10
It’s not a bad story… in fact it’s barely a story at all. Definitely a step down from the previous parts, which were far more complex and had something to tell. This one felt like “oh crap we forgot to talk about the antennae, let’s put something together”.

We are legion
20 active Legionnaires
8 reserve members
1 honorary member (Rond Vidar)
41 people have been members