Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes #324 (1985)
by Paul Levitz (plot), Mindy Newell (dialogue) & Dan Jurgens (pencils)
The subplot about Dev-Em investigating a Dark Circle plot has been going on for a while; the last two “Tales” issues featuring new material will finish that story. After that, the series will go back to reprinting older material.
Speaking of Dev-Em, the Legion investigates the destruction of a planet and Science Police officer GiGi Cusimano thinks it was the Kryptonian.
Sounds legit.
Mon-El is particularly worried about the evidence against Dev-Em being flimsy. Because it means it might as well have been a Daxamite.
Maybe he’ll be able to take his frustrations own on the superpowered Dark Circle henchman.
White Witch proves her worth as a Legionnaire by being more concerned about saving civilians than figuring out the identity of the villain.
I think giving the villain thought bubbles was a mistake. The mystery would’ve been far more engaging if we were as much in the dark as the Legionnaires.
The guy manages to escape with the old “put civilians at risk and flee” trick.
I continue to enjoy the way White Witch’s magic follows a specific set of rules. I may not like Dawnstar as a character all that much, but if another Legionnaire had tracking power then Dawnstar would have little reason to be in the team.
Even without a tracking spell they do manage to find their target… and other superpowered agents.
We quickly discover one of them really IS Dev-Em after all.
Obligatory “the bad guys underestimate White Witch” scene.
After figuring out one of the agents is Dev-Em, the Legionnaires discover the rest are also Dev-Em.
And we close the story with the revelation that the Dark Circle has the real Dev-Em inside they ship, possibly dead.
How the heck do the Legionnaires know THAT is the real Dev-Em!?
In other plots, Dawnstar is still sad she’s not with the guy she unexplainably fell in love with during her awful storyline.
Persuader is being taken to his prison on Takron-Galtos, and he has a rather funny insult for the warden.
Legion significance: 3/10
You’d expect the Dark Circle would get more mileage out of several fully powered Kryptonian clones.
Silver Age-ness: 0/10
Not really.
Does it stand the test of time? 6/10
It’s fine, but VERY light on content. The opportunity to turn the investigation into a real mystery is completely lost, and as I said the choice to give the clones thought bubbles and making them talk was a bad decision. The fact that everything they say is a tired cliché doesn’t help.
There’s nothing truly “bad” in the story itself, but I expect better from Levitz.
We are legion
19 active Legionnaires
8 reserve members
10 deceased members