Legion of Super-Heroes v3 #63 (1989)
by Paul Levitz & Keith Giffen
cover by Steve Lighle
All good things must come to an end. Including Volume 3.
We begin with the Legion above Sorcerers’ World, trying to fight the Archmage.
And I say “try” because the Archmage is WAY beyond their weight class: he’s basically immune to anything they can throw at him.
Which is not the first time for the Legion, but unlike the Mordru and the Time Trapper (at least in their glory days) he completely lacks any charisma. And unlike Infinite Man he doesn’t have an interesting origin or moral dilemma… he’s just chaotic evil.
This is so boring. The Legionnaires weren’t able to actually hurt Mordru, but at least it was a fight.
And OF COURSE he’s singling out Sensor Girl. She’s the only one allowed to be useful.
If the Archmage had ANY charisma this might actually be entertaining.
Ultra Boy, Dawnstar and Wildfire (who has already lost yet another suit) are the only other ones that can escape… and I wasn’t kidding about Sensor Girl being the only one who can be useful.
It does make SOME sense since she’s the only current Legionnaire with magic-based powers, and I could excuse it if this wasn’t the last issue… but this is sidelining the entire team!!!
Yeah, sure, we haven’t explained anything in this storyline, why start now?
But at least Levitz remembers one of the dangling plots that was left unresolved: Dream Girl leaving the team for Atmos.
It was heavily suggested before, but now it’s basically official that Atmos has used his vaguely defined powers to make Dream Girl his slave.
And I have to remind you that all of her teammates AND HER SISTER didn’t even notice that she was being mentally abused, if not worse.
One last visit to the theory for the Universo Project: Dream Girl is now convinced that all the heroes kidnapped were chosen because their abilities depend on willpower.
So you can see why the Legion fandom debates to this day which theory is correct: even the comic isn’t sure!
The Legion drop by to take her back, since they were actually after Star Boy and this is his planet too.
And the secret to freeing herself from mind control is to knock out Atmos before he’s fully awake.
I speculate this wouldn’t have worked before the whole “science doesn’t work anymore” nonsense, as maybe it’s affecting Atmos too.
Back to the Archmage, he may be powerful but he didn’t bother to study the Legion.
Not that it matters, even with the Legionnaires escaping.
Turns out that the Archmage DOES have a weakness after all: sunlight.
Time to rally all available Legionnaires, including some returns!
I am not adding anyone to the regular roster, though, considering we don’t know if they stay after this battle.
I think Brainiac 5 is being too harsh on himself. Yes he created a lot of problems by leaving without making sure someone would still be in charge of the tech, but considering what came afterwards I can’t blaming him for thinking the team was doomed to fail.
I really missed him. And true to character, the SECOND he comes back he’s ALREADY done more to figure out how to beat the villain than anyone else COMBINED.
Back on Earth, Cosmic Boy learns about his brother’s sacrifice. It’s a good little scene that hits you, even if Magnetic Kid never really amounted to anything.
Back to Sorcerers’ World, it’s a rush to get to the surface before the artwork gets even worse.
Once there they find the wizards are just… giving up.
Including White Witch, who I remind you is the person the Legion was hoping would save the Galaxy.
And who, completing her character assassination, is the reason for this entire mess. Kind of.
Okay, if I’m getting this… and it’s a BIG “if”…
All the magic from Earth was concentrated on Sorcerers’ World, until first Mordru and then White Witch left (the latter isn’t even from this world!!!).
So the Archmage is the embodiment of all the evil magic, and there isn’t enough good magic left to oppose it. Which is why the Archmage broke free and SOMEHOW made “science fail”.
Did I get it right? Do I even care at this point?
I mean THE COMIC doesn’t care, why should I?
OH COME ON!!!
You have the courage to blame Brainiac 5 for leaving the Legion???
You disagreed with his plan and left the team during a crisis, cutting all ties, and even ignoring the fact your sister was in a clearly abusive relationship!!! And since then you even complained that you weren’t REALLY a Legionnaire, just along for the ride!!!
I can respect disagreeing with Brainy’s plans and ideology, but this is just stupid.
I just can’t stand this sanctimonious holier-than-though passive aggressive bulls##t!!!
Even this Khund kid, who we have seen maybe a couple times so far, shows more courage and moral integrity than her!!!
Too little too late, White Witch. I’m rooting for the Archmage to get rid of this stupid magic world of yours.
Just let her go, Blok. You’re way too good for her.
Good news: we ARE getting rid of Sorcerers’ World.
Even Cosmic Boy shows up, looking for vengeance for his brother… who died FREEING the Archmage.
Now that White Witch has decided to fight, everyone else has figured out she shouldn’t.
Aren’t you glad we’re bringing up NOW the chance to have Blok talk to Gemworld itself?
As if this storyline wasn’t frustrating enough… we’re also linking it to the frustrating Gemworld retcon, so the ghost of Amethyst (or whatever she’s supposed to be at this point) shows up.
As a reminder, Amethyst started out as a fun fantasy adventure starring a kid.
Now she commits planetary suicide to rid the universe of magic and imagination.
God is this storyline depressing.
So after 4 issues of hardship, the way to save the galaxy is just giving up and allowing the Archmage to skrunchhh Sorcerers’ World / Gemworld.
Which in turn destroys the Archmage.
As if I needed more ways to detest the devolution of White Witch… WTF is she talking about???
What DID you base your decision to agree with Amethyst???
Yes it wasn’t logic that gave her insight on how to save the day, or her personal values on what’s worth fighting for, or her relationship with others, or the wisdom of their friends… it was basically a hunch.
HOW IS THIS ANY BETTER???
Are we supposed to think this is deep??? Because to me it’s just stupid.
And apparently this entire ordeal is what will cause the greatest societal upheaval in centuries across the galaxy.
Because SOME technology broke up for a few days. Last issue was just two days from the beginning of the saga, so it’s been three or four days AT MOST.
Look, I don’t doubt that Earth would go through a rough period if technology failed worldwide for three to four days… but I don’t even think OUR timeline would then fall to societal collapse!!!
And our timeline sucks!!!
And so we truly end the series with Sensor Girl vowing that, as long as the Legion of Super-Heroes exists, there is a bright future ahead.
Spoiler alert: the next series starts with the Legion having disbanded.
No wonder their timeline sucks even worse than ours.
Legion significance: 10/10
The Magic Wars are not the ONLY reason things are so bleak when the next volume starts, but it’s a major factor. And the treatment of White Witch is only destined to get worse, not even in Volume 4 but in the Retroboot too.
Silver Age-ness: 0/10
This doesn’t lean AS hard as the previous one on the “science is failing” nonsense, but it’s still almost the Anti Silver Age. 
Does it stand the test of time? 0/10
The idea of defeating the Archmage by letting him win is something you don’t see coming, and I did like Cosmic Boy’s reaction to the death of his brother… but this is crap.
The Archmage is boring, White Witch is detestable, every Legionnaire besides Sensor Girl is useless, the Dream Girl plot should have been resolved WAY earlier (what was even the point to recruit Star Boy? He doesn’t do anything!)… and the artwork continues to be bad.
Plus you have the unnecessary callback to the Gemworld absurdity!
Not to mention it’s basically the exact opposite of what issue 50 WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT.
I could have forgiven SOME of this if this was just a regular storyline. But to end a whole series on a plot that basically says “the world is doomed, don’t even try to fight back”???
That’s just insulting.
The Grid: 24 pages out of 27
no pages without a perfect grid (!!!)
3 splash pages
We are legion
The era ends with a rather brutal total count.
17 active Legionnaires
7 reserve members
7 resigned members
14 deceased members
45 people have been members
52 people have been rejected
And that’s the end of Volume 3. The retrospective WILL continue, but since Volume 4 is the “Five Years Later” era… I can’t miss the chance to cover it during the site’s fifth year, so the next volume will have to wait until January.
But there’s still plenty of material worth talking about since, as you might have noticed, there’s no limit to how much I can talk about the Legion!
So for the rest of the year we will talk about, in order:
1) the Legion Awards for this era, plus a secret bonus
2) an examination on the Legion’s membership changes from 1958 to 1989
3) my personal ranking of ALL the Legionnaires introduced up to this point
4) a look at how the crossover “Invasion” will influence the Legion universe
5) a look at how the series L.E.G.I.O.N. will influence the Legion universe
6) how and why the Five Years Later era will be covered in a slightly different way from the others
7) considerations on how the Five Years Later retcons influence the membership count
And only after ALL THAT we will tackle Volume 4.
What did I say about having a lot to say about the Legion?