Legion of Super-Heroes v3 Annual #2 (1986)
written by Paul Levitz
pencils by Keith Giffen & Curt Swan
cover by Steve Lighle
This is the last Validus story in this continuity. And considering he’s my second favorite Legion villain, I wasn’t exactly looking forward to it.
We begin with a brief recap of Validus’ retconned origin: he was kidnapped by Darkseid immediately after Saturn Girl gave birth to him, then transformed into a monster and sent into the past.
We then move to the part of the story penciled by Curt Swan, which sees Validus on a rampage.
I don’t really like the retcon that he’s the mutated son of Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad for a variety of reasons. Aside from feeling really forced and robbing Validus of the mystery that surrounded him… how can you root for the heroes to fight a mentally disabled child?
The Legion is actually surprised Validus is still alive, since he was on Takron-Galtos when the planet was destroyed. Although I’m not entirely sure he’s unable to leave a planet on his own… he could probably jump off one.
But no, Validus is indeed being controlled by a different villain… as usual.
You might remember Ol-Vir: he was the kid from Daxam that went nuts during the Great Darkness Saga and later joined the Legion of Super-Villains.
He’s even more deranged now, and if we go by the artwork puberty hit him very fast!
Also, good luck understanding how big Validus is. Sometimes he’s large enough to hold people in his hands, other times he’s just twice the height of a human.
Apparently there’s some kind of Darkseid cult going on in Rimbor (Ultra Boy’s planet). That’s never a good sign.
I really don’t get the logic here. Why exactly is the Legion skeptical of the idea that Darkseid is behind this? He wasn’t considered dead at the end of the Great Darkness Saga.
Also: Magnetic Kid doesn’t know Darkseid was real? REALLY!? You didn’t tell your recruits about the time you fought Darkseid!?
Heck, how does ANYONE not know what happened during the Great Darkness Saga!? An entire planet was destroyed AND turned into a huge statue of Darkseid’s face!!!
You’re not helping, Wildfire!!!
I’m not sure what these guys get out of worshipping Darkseid. Doesn’t seem to me of much help to Ol-Vir, who’s slowly turning into stone or something.
I’m kind of surprised you recognized Ol-Vir. Even more surprised that it’s Blok of all people to recognize him… maybe being turned to stone somehow makes him more recognizable to Blok?
Validus is WAY too much for this group of Legionnaires, especially after Wildfire’s suit is damaged by Ol-Vir. Interesting to see that Validus can see the invisible energy that makes Wildfire.
I thought this was thanks to his gigantic brain, but he can’t see Invisible Kid.
Sadly, the action is very underwhelming. Which is weird because I know Curt Swan can draw action scenes, but everyone is so stiff here.
Also, what did I tell you about Validus having inconsistent proportions?
The fight is inconclusive, allowing Ol-Vir to quietly take Validus through a Boom Tube©.
This does allow the Legion to make a connection between Validus and Darkseid, though.
Ol-Vir has taken Validus to Earth now, and you’ll never guess what he’s looking for.
His rampage allows a small moment for the Legionnaires to shine.
They don’t succeed in stopping Validus because… well he’s Validus… but they do find out what he was looking for.
Whether this is Validus’ or Ol-Vir’s plan, it doesn’t seem to make much sense.
But Validus was only here for his collection of Legion memorabilia.
Element Lad, I think you’re hyping yourself a little too much. There is simply NO WAY these Legionnaires could stop Validus on their own, lethal force or not.
We then move to Lightning Lad’s planet Winath, where he’s frolicking with his wife and child.
Their vacation is interrupted by Validus and Ol-Vir, with the latter being quickly identified (seriously, he looks nothing like he did before, why does everyone know who he is?).
Also NO S##T SHERLOCK GIRL, of course they’re after you!!!
Ol-Vir is soooo annoying. I really wish Validus would just step on him, now that he’s SOMEHOW back to being big enough to do just that.
Saturn Girl is the one to confront Validus.
It goes just about as you’d expect. Maybe she should’ve fought him when he was barely taller than Blok (no I’m not letting the size thing go).
Validus then kidnaps her son, something that pushes Lightning Lad over the edge… until she stops him.
Yes, FOR SOME REASON she managed to read the mind of Validus just enough to understand he’s her son. Granted she’s not the Legionnaire who has faced Validus the most, but COME ON! Why didn’t this happen years ago!?
She then pleads Darksed to let her son go…
…WHICH WORKS??? WHY?????
Then Ol-Vir is destroyed by Darkseid… for reasons, I guess?
And so we end with Saturn Girl leaving a flower at Darkseid’s altar in the cave (???), admitting that even SHE doesn’t know why he turned Validus back into her son.
I have to admit Saturn Girl saying to Darkseid “Thank you for kidnapping my son and turning him into a rage monster for years” was NOT WHAT I WAS EXPECTING.
Soooo… the entire reason why Darkseid created Validus was to gain Saturn Girl’s respect??? I know gods do the craziest things for the pettiest of reasons, but COME ON!!!
Legion significance: 4/10
This is effectively the last appearance of the original Validus. The kid will still be around, but there won’t be a “real” Validus for another 10 years.
The kid has almost no impact, except for one thing that happens in Volume 4 that MIGHT have been the true goal of Darkseid all along.
Silver Age-ness: 0/10
Not really.
Does it stand the test of time? 2/10
What happened? I usually really like both Levitz and Swan, but neither seemed to be at the top of their game.
Story-wise, it doesn’t seem to make much sense. Darkseid turned the kid into Validus to teach to the Legion the futility of fighting the darkness… and then he just gives up when the mother asks to please let her son go!? This could’ve made SOME sense if Saturn Girl just reached into Validus’ mind and proved that Darkseid didn’t destroy his innocence, or something like that… but no, apparently all you need to do to thwart Darkseid’s plans is to ask nicely!
The few Keith Giffen pages are fine, but Curt Swan is unrecognizable. Even late in his career, he was much better than this; but between everyone’s stiffness, a lack of backgrounds and the mentioned problem with Validus’ size… was this a rushed job?
Even with better artwork, I don’t think the fight scenes would’ve been much better: you need someone with dynamic powers to fight Validus, what are Invisible Kid and Phantom Girl going to do that’s visually interesting?
And then there’s the Validus in the room. We now have removed one of the most memorable Legion villains, but did we gain anything of value as readers? Both in this story and future ones?
We are legion
24 active Legionnaires
7 reserve members
11 deceased members
Not my favourite story either. A waste of some good antagonists in Validus and Ol-Vir.
I don’t buy Darkseid’s mercy in returning Validus to Imra. I suppose one could argue that Darkseid enjoyed seeing the proud Imra beg, but it doesn’t ring true.
I always believed that the Ol-Vir in this story was a Servant created by Darkseid after the original died from lead poisoning, since he didn’t have access to Brainiac 5’s serum and lead poisoning is permanent for Daxamites.
This is a good review, but I don’t see why Element Lad couldn’t kill Validus if he wanted to. Couldn’t he just turn Validus into oxygen?
Well, there is a matter that Legionnaires don’t kill . . .
You got me to questioning whether Jan could kill a living being with his powers. My knowledge of elements and biochemistry is next to nothing, but I did some quick research and found that organic matter (of which Validus is presumably composed) contains hydrogen atoms as well as oxygen, nitrogen, and others. So, Jan could conceivably change some of those elements in a person’s body, but I imagine it would be a horrendous and ghastly death. Then there’s the Legion Code . . .
I know that Legionnaires don’t kill, it’s just that the reviewer said that Element Lad was hyping himself too much and said that nobody in that group could stop Validus, even with lethal force.
I think it depends whether Element Lad’s power can get past Validus’ invulnerability. If it works like Superboy’s and Mon-El’s invulnerability, I don’t think he can. Otherwise he would have cured Mon-El by transmuting the lead in his blood. But since we know very little about Validus’ powers you’re right, it’s possible EL could kill him.
The general theory is that seeing Saturn Girl bend a knee to him was sufficient for Darkseid, so he let Validus go. Plus the follow-up plague in volume 4. Ol-Vir, on the other hand, seems like a complete waste.
Validus as the son of Garth and Imra was suggested back in the Adventure Comics days, so it doesn’t come entirely out of nowhere. A reader wrote in that a child of theirs might have mental lightning. The editorial reply was “Maybe they’d have electric brains”. But yes, Validus does work best as a mysterious and unstoppable force. Similarly, attempts to define the Emerald Eye and tie it to the Green Lantern Corps have been meh. Some mysteries work best unsolved.
Even worse have been the attempts to replace Validus. Swapping in some other monster into the Fatal Five fails every time.
I think the idea was to make the Legionnaires (or at least one of them) humbly acknowledge that Darkseid is a power beyond anything they can handle. When Saturn Girl (essentially) prayed to him for her son back, Darkseid felt that the arrogant mortals who dared defy him had learned their place.
That said, much of the issue was incomprehensible (why destroy a devoted servant like Ol-Vir?) and the art was awful, between the stiffness of the action and the inconsistency of Validus’s size (although that’s been a problem throughout Legion history)
Saturn Girl’s monologue at the end reminds me of certain interpretations of God–an almighty figure who shows mercy and who acts in mysterious ways. There is something unsettling about Imra thanking Darkseid and showing respect. In some ways, it’s a nice character moment for Imra, who makes the best of the situation. In other ways, it creates pseudo-religious implications to show that Darkseid is above our notions of good and evil, morality and amorality. There was a lot of that going on in the ’80s (Watchmen, Miracleman, and others).
As I was reading this review, I realized how little of the story I remembered. It should have been a very big thing when Garth and Imra realized their long-time Legion foe was really their son–and one who had killed a Legionnaire (which I don’t think even gets mentioned), but the whole thing is a big letdown. Darkseid’s mysterious motives serve the needs of the plot. Ol-Vir is indeed wasted (and such a caricature by now). Validus is a pawn, as always, and others make choices for him. While that’s a built-in character design, it prevented me from caring about him except in relation to Garth and Imra.
I thought the reveal at the end of the Great Darkness Saga about the twin being snatched away was so clever and dark. But re-reading this annual, I agree that the opportunity was kind of wasted. At least it’s a gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous Lightle cover!