FSC: LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #294

First State Comics

This issue of LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES was the culmination of the Great Darkness Saga, a storyline that had been building in the tile over the preceding couple of months. It was the storyline that really put the Legion on the map in terms of becoming an enormously popular fan favorite series. Prior to this, the Legion had always had a strong and vocal fan base, but it wasn’t seen as a huge mainstream success. This storyline changes all that, and put the book on a footing with NEW TEEN TITANS as a step towards a more modernized and Marvel-like DC. It was also the other half of the one-two punch with UNCANNY X-MEN & NEW TEEN TITANS that really established Jack Kirby’s Darkseid as the biggest villain within the DC Universe. Up to this point, while he’d fought mainstream heroes on occasion, most of Darkseid’s activities had been limited to stories of the New Gods, and so he wasn’t yet considered a larger DC threat. But 1982 changed all that.

Writer Paul Levitz had helmed the Legion once before, where among other stories he wrote the well-remembered “Earthwar” saga. But he’d been rotated off of the assignment before hie could really become associated with it. Levitz was a huge fan of the Legion from his fan days, and he brought an energy and enthusiasm to the series, expanding out its lore and embracing even the sillier aspects of its history. He was joined in this venture by Keith Giffen, an incredibly imaginative creator who came up with a million ideas a minute and whose artwork at this time was tight and fan-pleasing, evoking some of the hallmarks of Jack Kirby but inked with the finesse of a Terry Austin. Levitz and Giffen worked hand-in-hand, with each contributor balancing out the rough edges of the other. It was a strong combination, one that left both men forever after associated with the Legion. They’d return to the characters again and again over the years.

Diving right into this massive 41page story, we open on Brainiac 5 having worked out who the architect of the galaxy’s recent troubles is: Darkseid, the legendary ruler of Apokolips. Long thought simply a legend, it turns out that Darkseid is real, and is somehow back to bedevil the universe once more. His rocklike servants appear to be reanimated champions from the past, and he’s been able to take control of the entire population of the planet Daxam, each one of whom possesses powers on the scale of Superman. Thus, Darkseid has created an unstoppable army and pointed it directly at the Earth. Faced with this threat, the Legion calls up everybody on their reserve list, including my old favorites in the Legion of Substitute Heroes.

But Darkseid has another objective, and that’s to get his hands onto a strange child that the Legion had found, one that appears to be developing at a staggering rate. Darkseid dispatches his servants to retrieve the child, but they are fought off by the Legionnaires. Ultimately, though, the Legion members are overrun by Daxamite soldiers and the lead Servant is able to make off with the mystery child, returning to Darkseid. But the White Witch is somehow able to open a space warp in their wake, a Boom Tube, carrying the assembled Legionnaires to Darkseid for a final climactic fight. But they aren’t much of a match for Darkseid and his forces–the only thing that slows down Darkseid’s servants is Shadow Lass’s shadow-casting power, which resembles Darkseid’s own energy signature. As a last ditch effort, Shady enshrouds herself and the child in darkness, and the lead servant dives in at Darkseid’s command–and then the steady ping-ping-ping of a Mother Box is heard…

..and when Darkseid dispels Shadow Lass’s darkness, he finds himself confronted by his old foes, Highfather and Orion. The child, it turns out, had been Highfather reborn just as Darkseid had been reincarnated, and he was the one who had enabled the white Witch to carry the Legion there. Orion, meanwhile, was Darkseid’s lead servant, now restored to some essence of himself and ready to play out the final New Gods prophesy that states that the son will kill the father. It is an awesome moment, and one that feels earned given the clues that had been set up in previous chapters. But it turns out that, despite the fact that its spirit is willing, this simulacrum of Orion isn’t up to the task of killing Darkseid, and is ultimately destroyed by him, though not before causing the master of Apokolips grave injuries.

Highfather, too, is spent by this point, but he uses the last of his energies to heal and protect the Legion members, so they can carry the battle from here–this is their comic, after all, despite the fact that it took a sharp left turn into being an issue of NEW GODS for a bunch of pages there. Superboy and Supergirl leap to the fore, protected from the diminishing properties of a red son and hammering away at Darkseid without restraint. But even the two Kryptonians can’t quite seem to put Darkseid down, though he’s showing the wear of the constant attacks against him. And as they reach their limit, the erst of the Legion shows up, and Darkseid is now facing a bevy of fresh foes.

What’s more, the need to call upon his own reserves of energy have let slip is control over his Daxamite army, and now an entire planet’s worth of supermen is heading his way with the intent of stomping him into goo. It’s at this point, with dignity, that Darkseid relents. He leaves the battlefield after giving the Legion a dire warning–though he pops back up unexpectedly for a moment in response to Wildfire arrogantly cheering about having made Darkseid run–bad move to antagonize so mighty a foe, Wildfire! In departing, Darkseid leaves the Legion with a curse, a curse of darkness growing within the most innocent among them. This left an interesting loose end that Levitz would pick up on and develop issues later.

In the aftermath, the Legion inducts the White Witch as a bonafide Legionnaire after decades as something of a hanger on. And Light Lass has had enough, and announces that she’s leaving the team. She tells her boyfriend Timber Wolf this, facing him with the choice of either going with her or staying. And Supergirl departs, but not before stirring up Brainiac 5, who has had a longtime doomed-by-fate-and-time crush on her. It was these bits of soap opera character interaction that helped make LEGION a fan favorite for so many years, and which compared favorably to the character-building that was then taking place in UNCANNY X-MEN and NEW TEEN TITANS. Massive stakes coupled with inter-personal emotional trauma was what the new audience of the Direct Market was craving, and with this issue, LEGION OF SUPER HEROES proved that it could deliver the goods, becoming at once another top-flight title for the New DC in this new distribution chain.

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23 thoughts on “FSC: LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #294”

  1. I have to say I enjoyed The Great Darkness Saga a lot, and just like Jason Wyndgarde’s shadow on the wall from the X-Men’s car headlights on the last page of X-Men#130 ( February 1980 ) failed to inform me who he really was so too did 2 of the Servants of Darkness failed to inform me who their master was because I knew very little about the New Gods. I never try to compare stories, but it either for me equals Crisis on Infinite Earths for me or comes 99.99999% close.

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    1. While I had already seen the Legion of Substitute Heroes before [ Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes#243 ( September 1978 )], The Great Darkness Saga had a number of firsts for me: Like the Matter Master’s mentachem wand ( didn’t know it associated with him until Who’s Who )[ LSH#290 ( August 1982 ) Computo in Danielle Foccart body having a nightmare as the Lydea Mallor clone was carried past her, letting us know just how much of a big bad the mystery master was ], Mordru & Time Trapper ( who I would later in Who’s Who in the LSH would find out was a Controller and not the true Time Trapper ) were new to me [ LSH#291( September 1982 ) the Mystery Master stealing their powers added to what kind of threat he was — that was a Doctor Doom move only he did without using technology ], White Witch as new to me [ LSH#292(October 1982 )] and in the final chapter[ LSH#294 ( December 1982 ) a number of firsts for me ( Heroes of Lallor, the Wanders, Dev-Em ( who like the Heroes of Lallor’s Duplicate Boy that were cool, very cool ) and Highfather ( plus in his true form the Orion clone ).

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  2. Love this!!!

    Michael Fiffe Just finished a 10 hour YouTube doc on the work of Keith Giffen: Highly Recommended!

    Thanks for what you do!

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  3. A high point in a long and enjoyable run. Though the later reveal about the origin of Validus didn’t work for me at all.

    Though rereading the Fourth World since made me realize Darkseid is much more about Order than he is Darkness. However that’s not a dealbreaker.

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  4. I did not wet myself with joy over this comic book. To say so is simply an insulting and immature assumption.

    What’s that? Did I have to buy another copy because I salivated all over my first copy? No comment.

    Truthfully, thanks to that damned X-Men-New Teen Titans crossover the previous year, this issue forced me back to the Legion for the first time since Mike Grell had departed their pages. But yeah, pretty every page – every panel – is an absolute treat. Giffen’s Kirby flourishes simply won’t allow my eyeballs to gaze anywhere else until I completed this remarkably engaging story.

    I stuck with the Legion for a few months after this, but despite impressive work from Levitz and Giffen, they simply couldn’t achieve the stellar heights of this issue.

    Several decades later, this one still absolutely rocks!

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  5. There’s an appropriately large amount of “Kirby krackles” on these pages. 😉 Keith Giffen was brilliant. The LoSH was fortunate he liked them so much as to turn his talents to them for so many years. His varying art styles weren’t among my absolute favorites. Especially his later, more “European-inspired” phases. I don’t think he ever drew outright “swipes” like Rick Bucker did of Kirby and others. But Keith’s wilder influences could be obvious at times. To me, the faces and figures here still resemble much of his Marvel stuff that preceded it. The layouts were more progressive and varied. But he could really tell a story, and his stories were often very rewarding to read.

    I thought Larry Mahlstedt’s inks were a better fit over Keith’s drawings than the more masterfully delicate and naturalistic Steve Lightle’s. And Tom’s comparison of Larry’s inks to Terry Austin’s was pretty spot on. Larry’s right up there in the higher echelon of inkers. I just think his inks, like almost all inkers, looked better over some artists’ work than others. I stilled like the Lightle/Mahlstedt stuff. I’d just prefer Steve inking himself, or if he had a slicker finish, like Al Gordon’s. I wonder what Bob Wiacek’s inks would’ve looked over Steve’s work. Or Mark Farmer’s, John Dell’s, or Drew Geraci’s.

    Nice to see work by stalwarts like Carl Gafford and John Costanza. I don’t remember Laurie Sutton. (Any relation to artist Tom Sutton?) Obviously, Karen Berger became a major force at DC, especially with Vertigo. Paul Levitz, of course, rose to the highest levels DC had. Helping to guide DC to it’s greatest successes since before the 1970’s. I liked this period of the LoSH. But as young as I was back then, I could sense these “kids” were sort like in “13th Grade”, or I guess college freshman to sophomore age. I mean, were Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl already parents by this point? Maybe not.

    My personal fave LoSH period started in 1989 or 1990, with the “5-years later” phase. And there was a “sequel” to this “Great Darkness”; the “Quiet Darkness”. Good stuff. Any, Paul and Keith’s LoSH was good. Steve Lightle’s work was often breath takingly great, especially the covers he inked himself. I think the huge blowout with the Legion of Super-Villains was as equally epic, and maybe even more brutally savage (Karate Kid vs. Nemesis Kid).

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    1. I failed to include Keith’s leading role in the “5 Years Later” LoSH. And he made it less spotlessly optimistic, but still hopeful without being delusional, in light of contemporary society’s inevitable and less idealistic impact on the future.

      And my peeve of drawing irises in Darkseid’s eyes. Please, no. He looks even more like a force of nature without them, especially if his eyes are colored red. Like Batman with his cowl, no isrises, please.

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    2. “I don’t think he ever drew outright ‘swipes'”

      Giffen did just that. The Comics Journal ran an article about Giffen’s extensive swiping from Argentinian cartoonist Jose Munoz (Alack Sinner, Joe’s Bar) in 1986. The author counted dozens of swipes across multiple comics. The side-by-side comparisons shown were egregious. Munoz commented later that he could recognize friends and family members who posed for him in Giffen’s panels. According to Dick Giordano, he afterwards ordered Giffen to show him everything Giffen had done that had been “inspired” by Munoz, and even made him completely redraw at least one comic that seemed too close to Munoz’s work.

      It was a shame. Giffen was otherwise one of the more inventive adventure cartoonists working. That episode was a huge black mark on his career.

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      1. I forgot Jose Munoz’s name. I do remember reading an article about it, with panels of Jose’s art as reference. I dont know if it was that Comics Journal piece.

        What did Dick Giordano do with the pages he had Keith redraw?

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      3. 1986. Then in 1987 Keith had what was arguably his biggest success, “Justice League”. The timing would be interesting to suss out, but there’d be no point.

        I followed “The Heckler” while it was out. And “Vext”. I wasn’t into his and Dan DiDio”s “OMAc”. I liked his, JM’s, & Kevin’s humorous “Defenders”, except for how thin and just goofy Kev drew Namor.

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      5. Giffen’s early influences, Kirby and Starlin, were obvious to all, and Giffen soon developed a separate look. What makes his Munoz stuff different (and much worse) is not only the outright swiping, but Giffen’s deliberate choice of a Latin American artist barely known in English-language comics, whose distinctive but unfamiliar style Giffen could appropriate without fear. How many 80s kids reading ‘Son of Ambush Bug’ were also going to be reading Fantagraphics’ translated ‘Alack Sinner’ stories?

        (Well, all right, *I* was reading both, but I was an exception…)

        As an equivalent, consider the case of Joe Staton, who drew a few pages for ‘2000AD’ in the early 80s when he was in England. Suppose instead Staton had been there in 1977 when 2000AD launched, and started swiping Bolland and Gibbons for his US work, knowing full well that 2000AD’s early distribution in the States was virtually non-existent?

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    3. I’ve never been a Legion fan. Just couldn’t get into it. But I read the first half of the Five Years Later last year (the first volume of the omnibus collection) for the first time and really, really liked it. I know that run gets a lot of flack from old school LSH fans, but like a lot of the 1980s post-Crisis DC reboots, it was a perfect entry point for new readers like me.

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      1. i thought it was great. Still do. Heartfelt, sincere, smart. All the dense background with articles from within the story, explaining events & characters, often from opposing views. Like the battle of Venado Bay between Violet’s Imsk and, jeez, I can’t think of Rok’s planet’s name.

        I was really impressed with the late great (R.I.P.) Jason Pearson’s art. He quickly became a personal favorite. And so did inker Karl Story. The series sputtered out after the split with a spinoff of the younger LoSH. Keith wasn’t on the book with the adult cast (though drawn really well by Stuart Immonen), and it suffered for it. I lost interest. And just in my early 20’s, I wasn’t into following the young cast.

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  6. I loved the concept of the Legion from my first Cockrum drawn exposure and have fund something to love in every iteration of the original timeline but this is the arc that cemented it beyond belief.

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  9. I read the Legion back with the silly stories till about 84/85 when I stopped reading comics.

    I never could understand how Giffen’s art could go from great to terrible from page to page.

    There is swiping but there is also decision making. I’m not saying that Giffen didn’t swipe. I am saying that at one point DC was all about Plastino’s Superman head. I don’t take issue with having a house style and demanding that say Superman look the same or close to the same even when artists change.

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  10. I was a big LSH reader during the Bates-Shooter/Cockrum-Grell period, but my local comic book source stopped comicing. I picked up a few scattered issues here and there (not very familiar with James Sherman, but those issues were pretty good), but was fortunate enough to pick back up during this run, actually with the prelude issues. This was a wonderful arc to me. I was always sort of hit and miss with Giffen, but really locked in with these issues and the prior artist….Pat Broderick, maybe, can’t recall….was also great.

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  11. For me the Legion series is a feast of imagination. Astonishing characters, some of which are the best superheroes ever invented. Saturn Girl, Phantom Girl, Karate Kid etc. Dan Abnett and Chris Batista did a brilliant take I think in the early 2000s. And of course Geoff John’s Legion is great too. Very much enjoyed Tom’s look at the Great Darkness Saga. A high point for the book. Long live the Legion!

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  12. I began reading Legion smack in the middle of The Great Darkness Saga, and it threw me for a loop!! The last time I had read a random issue of the Legion of Superheroes was way back in the late funky 1970s when they still sported afros and bellbottoms (remember Tyrok?), so I didn’t recognize anybody except Wildfire and Dawnstar. The title felt more adult, more melodramatic, and the subplots of who was dating whom or breaking up with whom ran deep so I was lost but intrigued. It felt just like The New Teen Titans and the All Star Squadron but with deeper lore that would take me longer to catch up to speed.

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  13. I started reading the Legion just after this story, but picked it up in back issues and loved it. The Legion is still my all-time favorite DC book, though I’ve never been able to get into any of the reboot series. Levitz is an awesome writer and Giffen was perfect for Legion, though there are many other artists who have drawn them well.

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