Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Re-Reading the Legion: Archives Volume 25

Projectra dying would have been a lot more impactful! Pol's motivation wasn't clear; he'd already proved himself as a Legionnaire, unless he was going to forever feel inferior to his brother. It felt more like a suicide than a heroic death. I was thinking Wildfire might have been an alternative, since he had no future with Dawnstar and wasn't happy as energy, but that wouldn't have felt too heroic either. Projectra would have taken the hit as leader, the one to understand what was at stake and as atonement for her part in Sarya's death, which clearly troubled her.

Legion v3 #60

Lightle gets to the heart of the story, and actually offers a different approach to the undertaking. Creatures of the hidden worlds of legend are viewing a strange artefact from another, now lost, world. One that was full of that strange logic called science. In it’s way this cover is a precursor to the snowglobe artefact in v4’s Mordruverse.

But imagine this story with a more coherent look at magic and folklore (say Books of Magic) taking over the galaxy. With the will of the villain being finally defeated because magic could be a science in its own way, and the two may not be incompatible.

Oh, it’s my fav Violet outfit.

Superboy’s death and the Trapper’s revelations cost the Legion it’s dreams. The Conspiracy cost the team its trust. Ethical differences resulted in the departure of Mysa (conveniently took her off the table for the Sarya tale and most of this one), and in his way, Querl.

With this story, the very reality of the Legion is shaken too.

Legion traditions are now burdens to be carried, as Jeckie is a reluctant leader, while Brek pines of what he feels he still has to offer. It’s a team that has lost a lot, not to mention the members who are on extended leave such as Shady and Lar.

It’s Brin’s instinct of knowing what to get started that brings her round, and also tidies up the Armorr will subplot. I like the little alarms segue. Levitz points given.

Brin, Imra, Tellus and Tinya tackle a Hydra. Everyone plays their part, knowing each other’s strengths. Imra helps with crowd control. That gives so extra focus on Tellus to help Birn and contact the creature. Tinya is snarky and goes to rescue the trapped. She’s clearly senior to Tellus and probably feels she’s putting up with Brin. Levitz uses Imra’s powers to inspire Tellus and gets Brin to capture the critter. A nice combination all round. Ever instinctively right, Brin notices that it’s something from out of a book.

The Big Villain is introduced. He’s a prisoner, shackled beneath Sorcerers World. Something else has changed beyond his prison. Something else that allows the bonds to move under his straining just a little. My memory forgets what the external change was. It’s suggested that it’s something form a couple of lifetimes ago. So, it’s unlikely to be the loss of Sarya, unless the eye had been taking her over for a lot longer than we think. She did crumble to dust, I guess. His gradual success in gaining freedom is affecting the galaxy around him.

Page 10 gives us the classic “screw you” panel from Computo as Vi put him in his place.

Wildfire returns to his antimatter blob form. It’s odd that he never learned how to keep his humanoid form. It seems that Quislet was needed to do it for him. He considers himself a monster and Jeckie knows to leave him in peace.

Weather control would become one of the unsustainable things in the 5YG. They were found to be huge liabilities, requiring ever increasing amounts of energy to keep control. There’s a foreshadow, and causal factor, of that here as demons infest one of the satellites, causing widespread weather chaos.

The demons are elemental in nature, and v4 readers won’t fail to notice the similarity they have to Grinn. Like so much of v4, the circumstances behind Grinn weren’t explained, but they did come from this story (as per 2995 Sourcebook probably)

Brekk’s heroism doesn’t quite work leading to a comedy moment a la some Subs stories. Yet, he’s the one looking for a source to the problem. Levitz knows how to balance out his characters. Jan is calm and powerful here. Vi is direct in solving the crisis at hand. There’s a little slip here. Levitz wasn’t sure what Giffen had drawn (it’s not in shadow or anything Paul!) and calls it a specimen bottle. But it’s really a spare transuit.

Back in the Villain’s prison, we’re told that “each time one [chain] moves, the laws of reality are shaken too.” The mythical anti-force reshaping things from its prison realm. Between the direct things for the Legion to fight and the meta-switch between science and magic, this reshaping is hidden in the background.

It’s also a heck of a lot better than watching Superboy punching a Plot Wall.

We get a nod to another of the team’s great adventures: The Great Darkness Saga. As we see from the final page in this issue, where the power fails, there’s *is* a new darkness sweeping the galaxy. We’re reminded that the Museum of Mystic Arts is on the site of Disney World. We’re also now told that there was a war with Daxam at some point. A hint at Invasion?

In the GDS the Servants of Darkness were seeking artefacts of power. One was the Mentachem wand. It makes a reappearance (post crisis reboot version? ) here, where it falls into the wrong hands, causing some trouble until Jacques retrieves it. Energy itself seems changed as magic reasserts itself, resulting in an out of control Dirk and Ayla.

The GDS scene (in #390) also had Doctor Fates’s outfit and helmet. Giffen is a big Doctor Fate fan, and it was revealed that he had lobbied to have a Doctor Fate nod in the Magic Wars. I wonder if it would have been in this scene. Perhaps the emissary form the Sorcerers World was replaced by the ominous foretelling from the Helm of Nabu?

It’s something to think about with the Fate character in Bendis’ v8 Legion.

Gim was injured by the Emerald Empress, Starfinger then the Empress again and now the Mentachem wand. He would be practically the last Legionnaire left later on. That’s due to his tremendous loyalty. But I always thought injury would have forced him to retire earlier, rather than seemingly be a way to prevent his active return.

DC’s Doctor Strange sets everything right at the museum, with powers he didn’t know he possessed, and hadn’t, until the rise of magic.

Some of the dialogue seems a little stilted this issue. There’s a lot of “peculiar” and “odd” and “curious.” No one’s finishing the sentence of another (take note Mr Bendis!), but it’s not quite Levitz’s normal standard.

The names having power speech of the bird was a nice touch of old magic to proceedings. The bird offers the aid *of* Sorcerers World even as Jeckie thinks it is asking for aid *from it* That change of balance around Jeckie is very similar to that of the Empress tale. She seems almost predestined to stay in place until the right moment presents itself. As the message arrives too late to be of much use, I used to wonder if there was supposed to be a little bit more of a ramp up into this story.

The 9 panel grid is interesting in this issue. The script is a little more leisurely than Levitz/ Giffen in their early days, with a couple of extended scenes. It’s also a more relaxed version of the grid and story density of v4.

Bear in mind that Giffen had done a 16 panel grid graphic novel thing. For him, this was *loads* of space to work with.

Giffen always used to add lots of panels to a Levitz story in their earlier collaborations. There are still nods to those designs, as well as hints of what’s to come. It is a 9 panel grid, *except* for the pages with the villain which are 9-6-4. The villain’s pages are threatening to become splash pages… and then what as it breaks into our reality?!

We also still get a splash page, and importantly full pages where the story needs the visual emphasis, such as the cliffhanger here.

In the letter column, Levitz says “ The height of a triumph is sometimes in proportion to the depth of the situation that precedes it.” That was what was supposed to be underpinning v4 and by extension the build up to that in the last year of v3.

Legion v3 #61

As with last issue, the splash page is the opening part of the scene, as Tellus and Jo look down upon a panicked Metropolis.

Unlike Imra last issue, Tellus can’t calm the crowds (nice touch of difference). He also notes the relative simplicity of his own world. This would be one reason it would fall under the sway of the Dark Circle in the 5YG.

Jo is likewise foreshadowing his next chapter. He looks to act against the Science Police, only to be stopped by Chuck. This helps set up Jo’s anti-authoritarian credentials for the years ahead. The two look at a pan figure notes of discord, but there’s no confrontation shown (see Lightle cover from last issue for more of what might have been)

We get an update on the more natural technologies working while more science based ones don’t. Equipment similar to ancient scrying devices still work, while Computo blows a fuse.

Jeckie doesn’t hesitate further. She activates the alarm on her ring. In my head, I thought this act was one when things looked bleak and that the next scenes would summon the reinforcements. Instead, Jeckie does it wisely, and early. The next scene is Vi opening an aquafer. It’s a little throw away where we learn that the Legion are trying to get back basic services, and that Vi thinks Jeckie might not like her much.

We begin an extended sequence at the Museum, where the bulk of the issue is set. The initial team there, still don’t believe that magic has returned at the expense of science. The baying mob at the steps seem to have a better grasp of the situation. They are met with reinforcements. Ayla gets in some snark at Polar Boy’s “subtle touch” and at Jeckie “we could have handled the situation.” Ayla has progressed nicely to be a field leader, but might be picking up a bit much of Vi’s approach along the way.

Jeckie looks to use the magic, restoring science through sorcery. Their first attempt fails, and we get our first glimpse of the Villain this issue, pause in pain at their work. It has lost its human guise and at one point resembles the demons from last issue.

Jeckie tries again, this time using Imra as a telepathic bridge to bring the concepts of science to the minds of the active sorcerers.

Jacques is fundamentally opposed to such ideas. Others like Element Lad and Ayla think she’s crazy. It’s not a united Legion front here. Sun Boy is needed as he’s the team’s most prominent scientist. It’s supposedly in the absence of Brainy. However, Lar and Nura were also noted in the labs during the Levitz era, emphasising how odd it is to see Dirk in this role, despite his credentials.

The attempt has more success, and GiGi makes sure that emergency equipment is charged first in case of another failure. She’s settled into her new role really well.

Jo and Tinya view the devastation. It’s a plot that Giffen would be returning to in v4 and notably at the end of v7. Tinya being hidden behind Jo’s shoulder was an early disliked panel of the Giffen approach. Below them, showing their usual unheralded heroism, the Subs get on with their work.

Jeckie has used her powers to give us the dramatic plot point that their trouble is far from over. Back with the villain, who is carving his way up through his world, and we learn that he’s originally from Earth and he’s not happy that it has evaded him. It’s not explicitly stated, but it seems that Jeckie’s warning and the Villain’s annoyance about Earth indicate that Earth is the only world that hasn’t fallen.

And that means that anything dependent of technology is in trouble. We do get to Webers World and Colu later, but Mon El’s life support fails first. After all the searching for a cure, Lar succumbs to the injuries sustained fighting the Time Trapper. The use of the flatline across the grid and the bridging sound effect is well done. Shady’s grief is raw and sharp. The Legion’s strongest has fallen. Not directly in battle, but during the recovery from it.

It’s about that point I wonder, since there’s no power at all, what exactly is providing the flatline and “breep” noises.

I look forward to rading the other comments to see what impact this scene had on Shady and Lar (particularly if HWW pops back.)

On earth, Tinya points out to Jo that “with Mon-El away and Superboy gone, you’re the strongest Legionnaire.” It’s a position that Tinya feels extra pride in Jo about. Not that she would wish harm for Kal or Lar, but having Jo as the top jock and her as a senior Legionnaire is pretty much where they’d want to be as a couple.

Looking closely the “away” seems to be slightly differently lettered. I wonder if it originally said “dead” before someone realised they wouldn’t know yet.

Jo and Tinya’s closeness and hug, like Jo’s near attack on the Police, is a forerunner to the fate that befalls the couple in the 5 year gap. The scene, like Jo’s comment about it taking years to rebuild, is an early taste of GIffen’s Legion redux. Everything gets harder. Technology can’t be depended on; Kryptonians and Daxamites are gone and the UP infrastructure begins to fail, adding society to the list of lost dreams, hopes etc at the start of last issue’s review.

The group join the others at the museum. Jeckie looks uses her Orakill powers to peer into the Plot ahead. Instead she meets fallen Legionnaires. Are these illusions; projections of her own mind on the magical forces she seeks to control? Or is the afterlife for the Legion a bleak, terrible place? Val, Lyle, Andrew and Condo all appear before the Emerald Eye gets it’s revenge and blocks any other revelations. Giffen breaks with the grid for that. Which seems a little out of place since we get a full page cliffhanger only a couple of pages later.

I initially thought Condo was French but he’s actually starting to say “Zerox” Handily , the Legion decide that they could do with the White Witch’s help. She lives on the Sorcerers World, or Zerox. Funny how things turn out. The Villain has escaped to the surface of that planet. But we see no confrontation between it and the sorcerers.

In the letter column, Levitz looks to Blok’s future. “…we regret that we didn’t have the chance to do more with him. Still, after he gets over his adolescence, who knows what may happen to him next?”

On Mon-El’s future “Mon-El’s story isn’t finished…. But we’re afraid you’ll have to wait until the end of our current storyline for the resolution. What happened to him in #50 involves more than meets the eye…”

I wonder if that letter was added to give readers of Lar’s death in the issue a life line? Having the genesis of this storyline established so early on would have an impact on the v4 team’s chances of dealing with a behind the scenes crisis (Crisis in Infinite Cubicles! )

One of my big problems with the final bunch of Levitz/Giffen issues is that I find them *too* relaxed. Gods know that the Baxter run tended toward pokiness no matter who was penciling, but I find the Post-Conspiracy issues particularly turgid. Except, of course, issue 56, where Eduardo Barreto varies the pacing far more than Giffen does in any of the issues bookending that one. In my opinion.



The very thought of that is the stuff that Annfie's nightmares are made of! Thanks, Thoth. (Only joking, only joking.)



Whenever Giffen would go "the more the merrier" panel-crazy in his early Legion issues, it turned me off. Especially the issues inked by Larry Mahlstedt. Somehow, those issues -- to my eyes, at least -- look over-basic and over-busy at the same time.



I'll have to force myself to have another look at this issue. I don't remember the panels varying that much. But first, I'll have to step out to the chemist for some stomach medicine...

Legion v3 #62

Along with the grid comments over the last two issues, it should be mentioned that we’re also getting other stylistic trends within it. For example, last issue’s splash page showed the backs of our characters and we had Tinya blocked behind Jo’s shoulder.

This issue starts with a dialogue box coming form off page, because Giffen didn’t draw any characters at all. It’s worth tracking these things, particularly as it’s a joint Levitz/ Giffen work. Every design choice Giffen makes has an impact on Levitz’s dialogue. It also says something about the pair’s strength. I wonder if a neophyte artist would have been allowed to try these things (successful or not as per your opinion) by an editor.

Giffen was only a layout artist on this issue. I remember reading that he wished The Magic Wars had gone better. I wonder if it was workload or planning for the next volume or something more personal that got in the way. But I recall he was quite disappointed.

Webers World has survived into part 3 before being fully evacuated. It’s notable that Brin is acting as a team strong man (The absence of Kal and Lar allows panel time for Jo and Brin in this role) and Dirk is the scientist (in the absence of Querl, Nura and Lar). Dirk mentions bad memories. These stem from the Mutiny in Space mission (ADV 318), which was another occasion where he had to evacuate a planet. Webers World has to leave a lot of data, behind showing just how far we’ve come in the days since this was written. Giffen would have to work a bit harder to break down society these days.

Brin is also getting a little more panel time as Deputy Leader (this is a good way of rotating the characters into the spotlight) and he picks up that Relnic is scared. As Relnic is a career diplomat and we’ve seen him face off against the Khunds, I think it’s partly Brin’s instincts that are telling him this. It would have been interesting to see him continue in the deputy role. I think he’d have been a lot better at it than some people (including some of his colleagues) think.

On Lallor, the Heroes are trying to help their people. It’s an indication of the extent of the trouble and that heroes across the galaxy will be doing their bit to help. Ord fails to stop a creature using Superboy’s power and then White Witch’s. Life Lass and Gas girl exchange some snark about it. Ord seems to be affected by what happened with Vi. His team mates put it down to losing her and pining. Personally, I think it’s guilt. He knew something was wrong and he let his jealousy stop him doing anything about it. I think that it’s *this* failure that’s plaguing him.

All roads lead to the Sorcerers World in this linear plot. The bird and handler come from there; Jeckie senses, as the galaxy goes cold, that the Sorcerers World is affected; The handler suggests the Legion go there to get help. Not to mention that it’s a magical threat, and the Legionnaire best suited to help lives there. In this issue, Sensro Girl is now sure the whole team have to go there. Jeckie’s sensory powers can now handily break the forth wall and determine the writer’s intent. Very handy. She even knows that something powerful now dwells there.

Meanwhile, the Villain has freed himself from the heart of that world, has clawed his way to its surface and is now standing there among some flaming debris.

Before the team can get there, they have to get past some literal plot padding, in the shape of some webbing and space spiders. They don’t seem to be particularly magical. They are just there. There’s no suggestion of a web of fate or anything like that. They aren’t even paid up members of the Spider Guild.

It’s three pages where we get to see some Legionnaires use their powers, and I think that’s what it was there to do. As well as fill up some space before the cliffhanger. We get to see Wildfire and Dawny on point, which I always like. Element Lad takes decisive action. He did so last issue, and now this… could he be building towards another decisive action later on?

The Legion question the reality of what they’ve just encountered. It seems like a tag on to fill a few more panels rather than being at the heart of them solving the problem.

Another, even less well defined, problem now faces them. Space Gloop. For centuries space cruisers have been flying the galaxy. All of them with canteens, and all of them dumping cooking fat into the void. Now it has joined together as Gloop! The Monster From The Vat! and… no wait… this is just a little plot padding and an obfuscation to hide that… Sorcerers World is encased in metal!

In the gloop, Dawny and Wildfire nearly get fried from their own team. Even Wildfire points this out, to a not too bothered Jeckie. I can’t say she strikes me a particularly sensitive leader, being led more by what her senses are telling her from beyond. Perhaps this ended up having an impact in morale after the end of this story. She might have the right idea of what needs to be done, and where help is needed, but perhaps not the ability to see people as more than pieces to be moved into positions.

Oddly, ship blaster fire didn’t do much first time, but blows it all away with a bit more effort on a second attempt. Not terribly convincing.

We’ve had two welcome asides while all this has been going on. On Colu, society has crumbled. Magic and science seem to be very binary in this universe. If you’re smart enough to understand science then you’ve little chance of adapting to magic. Querl makes the significant gesture of calling the Legion. Just as Jeckie did last issue, there’s that moment of the team getting back together.

On Earth, Chuck & Lu hold down the fort at the HQ, converted into helping the injured. As with the end of v7, they are a welcome sight towards the end of v3. Certainly, their selfless nature and human qualities shine through with every reread.

Remember: Magic beats Phantoms! Tinya is unable to sneak through the barrier, and is rescued by Jo.

Pol and Ayla have confirmed to the reader that the source of the magic that’s beating science across the galaxy is coming from there. No one has actually determined this. Jeckie has just led them there by the Space Nose.

Jeckie even knows that an important part of the metal planetary shell (like Earth’s Polymer Shield, but twisted – not that this analogy is mentioned) is still to come into view. Not that she tells them this *before* Tinya risks herself. A lock appears. They try blasting it. It doesn’t work, although I need to hear them say it as the art isn’t at all clear.

Jeckie uses her powers to sense the true nature of the lock. Her past is one foot in a feudal society and the other in mysticism. With her expanded powers, she’s the key Legionnaire in this story Having discovered the lock’s secret, her Sensor Girl illusion fades, leaving a tearful Jeckie. the doorbell to Sorcerer’s World doesn’t chime, it leaves a message. If they want to access the world, they’re going to have to make a sacrifice.

At no point does the team reflect on their situation. The Villain has imprisoned itself. We saw that at the Museum of Mystic arts that magicians could now flourish and do tremendous things. We’ve been told in this story that Jeckie’s people came from he Sorcerers world. There are alternate Lost Legion plots here:

1 The UP gather all of the available magic artefacts and resources they have and reshape reality across the UP saving lives. It’s a different place to live, but it functions. This may be a short-term ruse by the humans because…

2 As 1, but the Villain, realising that the humans are coping due to the vast powers presented to them, breaks it’s own prison to attack them… resulting in the end we see next issue.

3. The UP gather all of the available magic artefacts and resources they have and manage to pierce the barrier themselves. They draw the villains wish for magic to succeed to their own ends and break the prison.
4. There’s at least *some* resistance form the people of Sorcerers World. We see precious little of this in this story.

I’m not knocking the old school magic of the blood sacrifice It’s ominous enough. But the story ahs been dragged along a narrow plot corridor to get to this point, with no options given. It comes across as a shallow predetermined death. But who will make the sacrifice?

As the team discuss it and Element Lad volunteers (see Element Lad being decisive earlier on) Magnetic Kid goes for the lock. Yes, that flight ring is powered by will (Green Lanterns aren’t allowed on Earth, because Querl obsessively captures them, and their rings, to use on the Legion flight rings). Yes, Pol is determined and Brek catches him due to an equal sense of responsibility for him.

But there’s faster fliers on the team than those with the flight rings. Right from the start of his tenure, Levitz has put Dawny and Wildfire on point *because* of their speed. Jo’s speed likewise gets him those missions. All three are present and could have stopped Pol. Dawny for one, is shown in the chase.

Pol’s sacrifice is heroic. He talks about the quality of what you do with your life, rather than the length of it. He also tells them to tell Rokk, he finally proved himself. He also asks Brek if he would try and stop his brother form making such a sacrifice. It’s worrying that he felt that he needed to kill himself to move away form someone’s shadow. Perhaps the use of legacy heroes is something the Legion should look at and be a little surer about in future.

It’s a decent chat and still no one else gets to catch up and stop him. Ayla is close behind Brek, possibly because of Ayla testing the boundaries of their relationship in earlier stories.

With Pol turned skeletal and vaporised, the shield around the world (a whole planet) clanks free (fortunately even comic book physics has been replaced by magic) and the grinning giant demon is released.
Pol’s death would be part of the background of Rokk in v4 and he’d later name his son after him.

It’s not a good issue, by any of the creative teams’ usual standards. There’s plenty of padding, a forced death and a nine-panel grid that looks dull when Giffen isn’t taking full control of it.

Legion v3 #63

It’s an ominous, blood red cover to the finale of the series. There’s no triumphant send off, showing a united team. Instead, we see several of them in silhouette and the return of Mysa.

The opening scene shows the Legion confront the giant shadow demon above Sorcerers World. With magic back they can all chat in the vacuum of space.

We learn that the Villain is called the Archmage. He also immediately blabs that he doesn’t want any of them to reach the surface, as it could compromise his freedom.

Gim is injured again. We don’t get to see if there’s any lasting effect from being absorbed into a magical being. In another version, Gim could have become a magical Leviathan. We get some movement of action across a couple of the panels in the 9 panel grid which adds a welcome change.

The Archmage releases magical coils to trap the Legion. The team’s three fastest (but not fast enough to save Pol, of course ) escape. There they meet Jeckie who has also escaped, using some of the magic that has made her central to this story. The Archmage even senses her power now.

Jeckie sends them to fetch lost Legionnaires. Wildfire tried to blast the Archmage and left his suit to do so. For some reason, he didn’t re-enter it, even though it was right beside him. Levitz has to have Jeckie tell us that another containment suit is in the shuttle to get things to join up with later art.

Thom and Dawny collect Nura. We learn that Universo took those with the strongest will to his prison planet, not the smartest. It’s a great belated twist. Nura realises, because Atmos is asleep, that he has powers that dominate will. He’s been keeping her as a dominated slave, despite everything going to ruin around them.

His “oh” when he realises that Nura is free of him, removes the chance that this power of his works inadvertently or without his knowledge. He *knows* what an utter scumbag he is. In a horrible decision after this story, TMK have him on the team in the 5YG. Bleh! Someone may have had a word about that, considering what then happens to him.

Back in the Sorcerers World, The Archmage has switched places with the Leigon. Now, they are trapped within a shell around the world. The espionage Squad (yay!) all escape. Strangely, Tinya doesn’t suffer any issues breaking through this barrier. Hmmm.

Gim now seems to be able to grow to the size of a planet as the art loses any sense of scale in this storyline. The archmage grows further still, and all of the Legion’s technology dies. Notice, that despite proximity to the source of the Magic over science power in the last few issues, their ships all outlasted Mon-El and Shady’s. Another plot Hmmmm.

Dirk gets a nice 7! panel solo where he hurts the Archmage. It can’t abide light (where’s the star that illuminates Sorcerers World?) and Wildfire soon chips in, having returned with Brainiac 5.

Querl directs the team to the surface of the world itself. He surmises that the Archmage has been trying to keep them away from it. Unfortunately, the opening scene had the Archmage trap them in the sky of the world, and closer to its surface than he was. Plot Hmmm.

Another tip off was, of course, the villain *telling* the team all this on the opening page. No wonder Brainy left.

Jo has to break the news about Pol’s death to Rokk as he returns to Earth to collect him. Garth chooses to stay with his kids and we get a last peek at Chuck, Lu and the new Subs team form the annual.

The team fight some Plot-Padding Creatures through the skies above Sorcerers World, before finding Mysa and those left alive going through a portal. They intend to leave their magic behind and leave with their lives. We then get, what sketchy information there is on what’s going on.

It seems that when magic left Earth, it travelled here, where it was kept. It was kept in balance with gemstones (revealing that the world is that of Amethyst. Giffen also tied Doctor Fate into Amethyst during Crisis – see note about him wanting Fate in this story).

As magic left the world, through Mordru and then Mysa the balance was slowly destroyed. What’s kept in balance isn’t really thought through. Mordru, presumably containing “bad” magic left, yet that weakened things allowing “bad Archmage” magic to escape anyway. Perhaps *all* the magic form Earth was bad, and they’ve just tried to contain it.

In one of the opening chapters, the Archmage felt that the shift allowing him freedom had been gradual, over lifetimes. Yet now Mysa’s departure is being blamed for the final shift. That was only a few years prior to this story.

There’s also no mention of the effect Darkseid would have had on magic. He went through the galaxy specifically for magical items, removed Mordru’s power (specifically mentioned here), and laid siege to the Sorcerers World. No mention of the dying teachers at that point upsetting the balance either. Or their actions in removing conquering ambitions of Mordru.

It’s very messy in achieving the thing it seems set up to do – lump planet sized guilt on Mysa ahead of the next volume. It’s pretty forced. Mysa does rally to combat the Archmage, including what seems to be a body throw at one point. It does beg the question what were all the sorcerer’s *doing* on the world when the Archmage was gaining its freedom? No resitance? Did it not work and they were feleing? We never find out.

Rokk arrives to accuse The Archmage of murder. He’s quickly blasted away. Like Gim, we never find out if this has any long term impact on him. It also makes me wonder why Jeckie sent for them. Rokk is swatted, Brainy tells them something that the villain told them on page one and any one of them could have picked up. Nura pops up to tell Mysa that her world doesn’t survive (a little nod to that effect would have been a nice hint a few issues ago, rather than a belated plot point here). Nura’s warning is ignored by her sister.

There’s a moment where a traditional comics joing of hands might be the reason they are all there. Their will used to power Mysa in beating the villain. I’ll give Levitz some points for the bait and switch. As it claws its own world apart, Imra and then Blok are contacted. It’s fitting that its Blok that hears the soul of the world. That’s a lovely touch. It’s what convinces Mysa, and she then hears Amethyst telling them that it’s time to let her world die.

It seems strange that the villain would have chosen this moment to destroy the world. It had plenty of opportunity to destroy it as soon as it was free. Amethyst didn’t pop up then either.

Having destroyed the world, the Archmage realises too late that he was bound to it and has essentially destroyed himself. So, he was free to transform the whole galaxy around him. He was free to leave the world. He hovered in space above it earlier in the story, without feeling weakened. It just seems that he could have done anything, if he left it intact. He does hint that all of magic has been destroyed with him. That’s another thing off the Giffen checklist to prevent a quick super-fix to what he has in store.

Knowing what the premise of the next volume is, you can see that a fair amount of dismantling was done in preparation of it. As a result, you can begin to understand why some readers, who had detected the changes, were worried about the purpose and outcome. As we’ll see, a lot of that can be fairly argued.

The ending is all a bit muddled and the Archmage ends up being a pretty stupid villain, up there with all the mad scientists with giant red self-destruct buttons in their labs. I wonder if he was this dim in Amethyst or wherever he originally appeared. I’m not even convinced he was more than a myth in that series. Giffen, being involved in Amethyst and Doctor Fate, may have plucked it out of background there. If Giffen’s involvement in this closing story was more limited than intended, perhaps that explains some of the messiness of it all.

Jeckie closes the volume with a set up for the next series.

“And I see terrible things out there, waiting----wounds in upheaval, caused by the Archmage’s upset of natural law. Civilization is fragile and much of it has fallen these past days.
But we live and are reunited, and as long as there is a Legion of Super Heroes, all else can surely be made right.”

The last sentence is deliberate, as Giffen knew that the Legion wouldn’t survive the days ahead. It’s also an early hint as to the purpose of v4. That with the re-emergence of the Legion, things will take a turn for the better.

We end with a splash page of the reunited Legion. But like the cover, it’s not a real group shot. Just a few, with some silhouettes behind them. I remember being quite disappointed with that as a finishing page.

I happen to be going through the Justice Society and Justice League versions of “When Magic usurped Science“ It’s far from a new idea, even for DC. But this is one Legion story that really doesn’t get a grip of it’s momentum resulting in an unevenness to the plot, padding that could have been far better utilised and a muddled and unsatisfying ending, that doubles as a prologue for v4.

That still doesn't excuse the ugly 'tache. Sometimes I think Giffen gave male characters facial hair (Star Boy, Bouncing Boy, Duplicate Boy) precisely because it looked unflattering. It's exactly his kind of mischief.

Poor Tex Avery was spinning in his grave. (This Obscure Reference to the Golden Age of Animation (specifically, "King Size Canary") has been brought to you by the state of Texas, where everything's big (Tex, whose real name was Fred, was actually rather heavy-set himself.)








Agreed.



I half expected the Road Runner to show up and stick his tongue out before going "Meep Meep" and running off.

Just where is Mordru when all this is going on? Although I recognized the resemblance of Grinn to these little demons, it didn't occur to me that Mordru might have salvaged some of the Archmage's toys in the developing chaos.


A couple of AA batteries?



Jacques does stand apart quite firmly on some issues, a very quiet resistance or holding his ground despite his meekness. It looked as if Dirk himself found it odd to be in the role of prominent scientist: he's set himself up more as the playboy and grandstander than the scientist he initially was.



Curious! They did know he was very ill and unable to join the action, but "dead" would have been a bit of a blooper.



Dogs smell fear, supposedly, so Brin must be picking it up as well. Agree he could have made a very good deputy - or grown into leader.



Good point. That's her royal self showing through perhaps, the peasants are dispensable and replaceable. I'll back off a bit on my opinion that she's a good leader for this junket.



Valid options, at least for the Legion to have contemplated. The capitulation of the Sorcerers is particularly troubling and unexplained. They would have had a warning that things were amiss, since they sent the messenger to Projectra - but that was like, we're out of here, it's your problem now. They might have appealed to Mordru - better the devil you know.



Another sticking point. It made no sense that the fast ones weren't even close to Brek. Worn out? Distracted? Who knows?



Agreed, it was a mish-mash, all of which undermined the death/sacrifice of Pol.



This is where one of those TMK text pages would come in handy, to better explain what went on with the Sorcerers' World. Of course, the writers would have to sort it out in their own heads first and, as you point out, all we got was some musings that didn't cohere.



Silly Archmage. If he had understood science, he might have understood deductive reasoning.



Can't disagree with the many faults and missed opportunities of this story, but I admit to still liking it for its potential. The muddle does make sense, however, to explain the disintegration of the Legion over the ensuing five years. That wasn't the intention of the creators, I'm sure, but it sort of works for me.



Perfect! That would be a real JLI ending, if Booster and Beetle were also in there trying to catch the Road Runner.



Hah! Now we know what to get Annfie for Christmas.

Now it all makes sense -- the ACME Corporation was one of Booster and Beetle's get-rich-quick schemes! Poor Wile E. Coyote, how was he supposed to know? OTOH, there is that old saying, "Let the buyer beware."



ROTFLMAO

thoth lad:



Lar was incapacitated since the Time Trapper battle, and Nura ran off with Atmos and had not yet returned at that point in the story. I thought I recalled their unavailability, like Querl's, was specifically mentioned when Dirk was tapped as "top scientist".