10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best Legion story ever, April 6, 2004
This review is from: Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga (Paperback)
This was the storyline that made me start collecting The Legion of Super-Heroes comics back in 1982. I actually came on board in the middle of the Great Darkness Saga, but quickly scrounged back issues to get the whole story. Everything Levitz and Giffen did afterward was shadowed by this story. Heck, this was where Darkseid made his comeback after being virtually relegated to comic book oblivion in the '70s.
Even when Kirby was writing the Fourth World comics, Darkseid was not the major player in the DC Universe that he is now. But Levitz showed the potential for the character, making him a cosmic villain of universal proportions. Like one of the other reviewers here, Darkseid was new to me simply because I was too young to know about the New Gods. But Levitz used him as a mythic character whose legend would have been known to those who read their Encyclopedia Galactica.
In this story, Darkseid takes a while to reveal himself, working through his "servants of darkness" to procure vessels of power, including living beings he sucks dry of their power. When he does this to Mordru, the Legion know they've got a problem bigger than any they've faced. In one mind-blowing subplot, Darkseid transposes Apokolips with Daxam, giving a yellow sun and the power of Superman to three billion Daxamites he mind-controls.
It's difficult to know whether this remains an official part of Legion continuity because the group has endured so many revamps and rewrites. But it remains an outstanding story. As for Darkseid, this is just one of many possible futures for DC's #1 villain. John Ostrander also did a superb job writing a climactic battle between the Martian Manhunter and Darkseid thousands of years from now.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"I am suddenly very cold, my friends, and quite scared.", April 12, 2009
This review is from: Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga (Paperback)
The Legion of Super-Heroes had been pushed to the brink before, but things were never so dire as when Darkseid, the awesome God of Apokolips, came to the 30th Century and set out to invade the United Planets. This is the Great Darkness Saga, one of the most defining story arcs of the 1980s and in Legion history and, for most people's money, it's what established Paul Levitz as a truly relevant Legion writer.
In the far-flung future, in the 30th century, the United Planets have seen a time of great enlightenment and prosperity. But, even in this wondrous era, there are monsters. And so the Earth-based Legion of Super-Heroes, a group of youths endowed with incredible abilities, patrols the spaceways and planets, troubleshooting and working with the Science Police to keep the peace and safeguard the many alien inhabitants of the known universe.
Even though the Great Darkness Saga is now around three decades old, here comes the SPOILERS ALERT.
Ever since their first appearance in ADVENTURE COMICS #247, the Legion had successfully countered the fearsome villainy of the likes of the Dark Circle, Mordru, the Fatal Five, and the Time Trapper. But these young adventurers face their stiffest test in the shape of Darkseid, who has just woken from a millennium of sleep and now seeks to reclaim his birthright of conquest and destruction. The Great Darkness Saga starts ominously with a drifting dead planet which boasts defenses daunting enough to cow even Mon-El. Then the Legionnaires are confounded by mysterious creatures who end up stealing away with various mystical artifacts, including the legendary sword Excalibur. The Legionnaires learn that these formidable thieves are merely servants of a shadowy presence. So there's serious concern. And when that same presence easily dispatches Mordru and the Time Trapper and siphons off their powers, well, no one puts it better than the cold and analytical Brainiac 5, who somberly tells his fellow heroes: "I am suddenly very cold, my friends, and quite scared."
To balance the epic main storyline Paul Levitz allows various sub-plots to stew in the pot. Firstly, tension mounts as several Legionnaires throw their hats in for the upcomiing election of the new Legion leader. And, as Lightning Lad lies ill, questioning eyes are cast toward Saturn Girl and Timberwolf and that alleged thing going on between them. A disgraced Chameleon Boy is slated to go to trial on charges of treason and life endangerment. Meanwhile, new and French-talking Legionnaire Invisible Kid II is still feeling his way, and, on the Sorcerers' World, a potential Legionnaire is drawn into the fray.
But the side stories get swept away when Darkseid finally makes his big move. Fans of LoSH know that Mon-El, when exposed to a yellow sun, developed super powers to rival the Man of Steel's. Mon-El is from the planet Daxam. This becomes significant once Darkseid gains psychic control over the natives of Daxam and sends them to conquer the United Planets. And there's nothing quite as scary as three friggin' billion Daxamites on the warpath, each as powerful as Superman. With villainy on this scale, it'll take everyone who has ever been a Legionnaire to put up a good fight. Me being a fan of the pre-Crisis Supergirl and of Polar Boy and the Substitute Heroes, this turn of events comes as very cool news.
Salvation arrives, perhaps, embodied in a strange infant summoned forth by the mages on Sorcerers' World. But is that enough? How formidable is Darkseid? Because, even when the Legion and its allies bring their full power to bear, the God of Apokolips isn't defeated as much as temporarily stymied. Darkseid actually has the last laugh, his parting curse coming to fruition in the epilogue of Annual #3 (of which main plot centers on renegade sorcerers attempting to restore Mordru to full power).
I remember the palpable sense of excitement I felt when I read the Great Darkness Saga years and years ago. Re-reading these issues today, I think it's only natural that the story has lost some of its mojo, and for several reasons. First, it's thirty years old, far removed from what's currently going on with the Legion. Second, the revelations which dropped like a bag of hammers on the reader oh so many years ago are now pretty much old news. That sustained element of suspense which kept me so riveted isn't as present now. You look at the trade cover and you instantly identify the Big Bad. And who by now doesn't know Validus's origin? Third, there's some confusion as to whether this arc even falls into today's continuity, what with all the Crisis-y snafus.
But I look at this as a time capsule, to a time when Paul Levitz was just starting his second run at the LoSH. Levitz's strength is that he's able to nicely juggle such a vast assembly of characters, and into this futuristic setting, no less. Yet it doesn't feel claustrophobic or rushed. There's a sense of continuity and a solidity in time and place. Despite the big doings, Levitz throws in little character moments here and there which define each Legionnaire. Levitz writes these stories so that there's that sense of pre-existing history among the characters, that each one of the Legionnaires has a well-developed relationship with the others. That, even when we put down the comic book, the Legionnaires still move about and live their lives. Keith Giffen is key in maintaining a visual consistency in the 30th century. His artwork is very decent here, this being before he got all weird with his pencilling style.
This trade reprints LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #287 (the prologue segment only), #290-294 & Annual #3, as well as offering an intro by Paul Levitz and a 5-paged foldout featuring relevant characters in the LoSH universe up to around 1983 (when this humongous poster first came out), complete with an identification guide. When trying to think of the most memorable Legion of Super-Heroes arcs, the Great Darkness Saga is not only right up there but may be the first which springs to mind. I like the Legion, but I don't know that I'd call myself a fan, not having consistently followed this series. But I read the Great Darkness Saga when it came out in the early '80s, and back then it wowwed me, the scope of the story and the sheer sense of adventure and big, big peril which Levitz injected into it.
I've enjoyed other amazing Legion story arcs, of course, from the mystery of Sensor Girl to the Eye for an Eye storyline, from the Universo Project to the Legion Lost and Legion of 3 Worlds mini-series. Still, there's no arguing that, in the entire publishing history of the Legion of Super-Heroes and as an exercise in good storytelling, the Great Darkness Saga marks a seminal moment.
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