Legion of Super-Heroes v3 #45 (1988)
by Paul Levitz & Greg LaRoque
“guest artists”: Kurt Shaffenberger, Curt Swan, Dave Cockrum, Mike Grell, Keith Giffen, Dick Giordano
cover by Ken Steacy
It’s the Legion’s 30th anniversary, and the spotlight is on one of the founders.
The framing device is that the Luck Lords (remember those creepy guys?) are looking at Lightning Lad’s very unlucky history.
They have predicted that one guy will certainly die in this story. Keep that in mind.
We also return to Labyrinth, the prison planet that has replaced the far more iconic Takron-Galtos.
That’s where the villain of the story is being held: Lightning Lord, who is as mentally stable as always.
He manages to break free, thanks to the interference of the Luck Lords.
That’s the excuse to give a recap of the origin story of the lightning siblings.
Which is easy for them because apparently the Luck Lords were the whole reason the siblings ended up with superpowers.
Except maybe it’s not their design and it was an accident? What’s even the point of adding the Luck Lords to the origin?
Nothing really new is added to the rest of the origin. Even the Lightning Beasts are in their original design.
Yeah I really can’t stand these guys. Incredible design, but they’re so vague about everything that their mystery is not captivating for me.
Back to the Legion, it makes sense to focus on the founders for the anniversary. Even if currently Saturn Girl is the only active member.
The Luck Lords then discuss one of Lightning Lad’s unluckiest days: when he died.
Too bad John Forte died in 1965, he’s one of the few historically significant Legion pencilers who doesn’t draw anything in this issue.
Also, apparently there’s a statue in Earth’s orbit to memorialize Lightning Lad’s death.
Wait, Lightning Lad’s death was supposed to “ensure science’s reign would end”?
WHAT ARE YOU TALKIN ABOUT???
Also Lightning Lad was eventually resurrected using science, so… does this have anything to do with luck? AT ALL?
So let me get this straight. The Luck Lords manipulated Lightning Lad’s personal history and are responsible for all the bad stuff that happened to it… but at the same time they couldn’t keep him dead AND they didn’t even intend to give him powers???
Sounds legit.
Lightning Lad tracks down his escaped brother and… oh come on, why are we doing this AGAIN???
Either Lightning Lad or his sister keep fighting Lightning Lord one-on-one for “the final battle” and IT NEVER WORKS!!!
At least when she defeated him at the beginning of Volume 3, it was the first time she was victorious on her own. Why revisit this plot for like the seventh time???
There’s something about Lightning Lad’s attitude that rubs me the wrong way.
Everyone on his planet is born a twin, but his brother is one of the extremely rare exceptions.
And I really don’t like the implication that he’s evil BECAUSE he was different from everyone else.
They don’t even have a proper fight: they just exchange a few lightning bolts, and then Lightning Lord just flees.
Yay?
You guys are just full of crap, aren’t you?
WORST.
MYSTERIOUS ALIENS.
EVER.
Just admit you’ve been following Lightning Lad just to peep on his wedding night.
Saturn Girl, I think you should most definitely use more sunscreen.
We continue our decades old tradition of Lightning Lad being completely incapable of cooking.
Weird to see Validus keeping his name even now that he’s gone back to being a normal child!
It’s great to see a bit of the civilian life, especially when it doesn’t involve only active Legionnaires.
Here we are at the last act, folks: remember we were promised a death.
Which means it’s time for *sigh* Unimpressive Lightning Lord Fight #8.
To be fair, it’s SLIGHTLY more interesting than usual because he’s cheating… but not by much.
WILL YOU THREE SHUT UP???
Aaaaand Lightning Lord goes down in a couple of pages, what are the odds?
This whole thing amounted to freaking nothing! YOU GUYS SUCK!!!
You have no idea what a slog this was to get through. It’s FIFTY-SEVEN PAGES of this “once, twice, thrice” crap!!!
You know what would’ve been a better celebration of the Legion’s 30 years of history?
Giving ANYTHING TO DO to the current team!!!
The final dedication to the fans is a good heartfelt gesture, though.
In other plots, the Legion is still evaluating Atmos for Legion membership.
All while he’s sleeping with Dream Girl. Trust me, you’re going to LOATHE Atmos by the time his storyline is over.
Dawnstar is as interested in Quislet’s origin as you think she would be.
I know it’s the 80s and we’re not SUPPOSED to pick up on it, but come on, you’re not fooling anybody at pretending you’re just friends.
A very rare case of Levits giving some members of the team a minor mission that we don’t get to see. He typically spares a couple of pages for the most minor things.
Most importantly, we’re about to enter one of my favorite Legion storylines ever. Just hang on a little more, Brainiac 5, the rush to issue 50 is around the corner.
Legion significance: 0/10
Does Lightning Lad ever discover the Luck Lords were interested in him?
Silver Age-ness: 10/10
Lightning Lad’s personal luck is related to the triumph of chance against science? WHAT!?
Does it stand the test of time? 3/10
I think I’ve made my disdain for the Luck Lords pretty clear. I just hate their pseudo-philosophical talk that sounds profound for exactly half a second, then you realize they’re not saying anything.
They have an amazing design and they’re a potentially cool concept, but they’re used in the worst possible way.
This is ALSO yet another disappointing Lightning Lord story! How many of those do we really need, it’s exhausting at this point!!!
Which is a fitting description for this story: exhausting. It has absolutely no reason to be this long AND it has absolutely no reason to be the anniversary issue.
It was neat seeing the return of some classic pencilers and to get a glimpse of the domestic life of the main Legion couple, but overall it’s a colossal letdown.
We are legion
24 active Legionnaires
6 reserve members
12 deceased members
I’ve always thought the Luck Lords’ appearance was inspired by The Residents, a rock band/art collective: https://pitchfork.com/features/underscore/8785-the-residents/
I agree that this story is nothing special, and it should have been. I think the Luck Lords were trying to interpret certain events through their own philosophical lens, as they did somewhat in their first appearance back in Adventure 343. In that story, they were portrayed as con artists. Here, they seem to actually believe their vague musings. It’s a shame nothing deeper was done with them. They could have been this era’s version of the Dark Circle.
Oversized anniversary issues should never be this skippable…
I wish we could have gotten the Luck Lords versus (at this time rejected) legionnaire Calamity King. That could have been comedy gold.
I think it’s notable that this issue is the only time Lightning Lad’s and Saturn Girl’s wedding is depicted as it happened in continuity. Remember that in the issue in which it “happened”, it was in a timeline changed by the Time Trapper.