By d. emerson eddy — Tomorrow, a new Crisis is going to descend upon the DC Universe. If you're a longtime reader, you'll know that DC Comics is fond of their crises, where heroes die as they go up against unstoppable forces and intense evil. Their current main event level antagonist has already taken out the Justice League before the crossover has even started, so what can the heroes who remain possibly do? Before the crises began to spread across infinite earths, though, a darkness appeared in the future in Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga from Paul Levitz, Keith Giffen, Larry Mahlstedt, Howard Bender, Rodin Rodriguez, Carl Gafford, John Costanza, Annette Kawecki, and Janice Chiang.

Spanning over Legion of Super-Heroes #290-294, The Great Darkness Saga was a bit different from the usual serial tales in the Legion book being branded as its own multi-part epic. In practice, though, it largely continues the serial nature of the series, blending in the ongoing plots of Chameleon Boy's trial, a campaign for a new leader, the interpersonal politics of various members, and the horrible affront to decency that was Saturn Girl and Timber Wolf embracing as they froze to death on an icy world. All while the Legion faces off against an ancient evil and its strangely familiar servants of darkness as they pillage magical artifacts and drain the energy from other Legion foes.

The story is chock full of the soap opera that this part of the Levitz era was known for, emphasizing the interpersonal drama of couples, playing up the seeming self-obsession of Dream Girl and further developing Element Lad as a complete jerk in the lead up to the election of a new leader. As well as the trials of recent Legion recruit, the second Invisible Kid. It gives the flow a never-a-dull-moment feel where there's a lot going on even on top of the main plot. Although you can follow along if you're only reading the core issues, thankfully most recent collection include the issues leading up to it for greater context (and some great Pat Broderick art).

Early Keith Giffen art on the Legion is a curious thing. It's not at all what you'd expect from what his style developed into—the blocky, thick-lined Kirby-inspired beauty filled with shadows—but more representative of who was inking him or providing finishes to his breakdowns at the moment. So, in the Great Darkness Saga we see more of Larry Mahlstedt in the line art. The characters here are fairly open, clean-lined without many solid shadows or extraneous lines. It's easy here to see how Giffen as finished by Mahlstedt could go on to influence styles ranging from extremes both Mike Mignola and Stuart Immonen. And it works beautifully for a bright superhero team thrust into a situation of defeat and darkness.

(What I found somewhat interesting is that there's a back-up feature in #291 that focuses on Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad-in-a-coma that has art seemingly mis-accredited to Giffen & Mahlstedt. In every other online listing, and original art sales, it's credited to Howard Bender and Rodin Rodriguez on art and Janice Chiang for letters. The art here, though, looks more like what some of Giffen's would become, also reminding me a bit of Mark Buckingham.)

That darkness is enhanced by Carl Gifford's colors. While the Legion themselves remain largely brightly-colored, the servants of darkness are bathed in black and purple. The purple itself adds an interesting disturbing quality to these characters as an almost sickly internal energy. This is further enriched with John Costanza and Annette Kawecki's lettering. The servants have their own unique word balloons, making even their voices feel unnerving.

Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga by Levitz, Giffen, Mahlstedt, Bender, Rodriguez, Gafford, Costanza, Kawecki, and Chiang remains a great read on its own as the Legion are faced with seemingly insurmountable odds from one of the backbones of DC's rogues gallery. But the darkness spreads. It reforms here in the future, but it plants the seeds for what's going to come in subsequent events, right until the present day. The Great Darkness Saga remains one of the pillars of DC Comics storytelling.

Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga

Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga
Writer: Paul Levitz with Keith Giffen (co-plotter)
Artists: Keith Giffen & Larry Mahlstedt and Howard Bender & Rodin Rodriguez
Colorist: Carl Gafford
Letterers: John Costanza, Annette Kawecki & Janice Chiang
Publisher: DC Comics
The godlike Darkseid emerges in the 30th century with an ingenious plot to finally conquer the universe in this Deluxe Edition hardcover of Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen's timeless Legion of Super-Heroes epic! Not only is THE GREAT DARKNESS SAGA collected here for the first time in hardcover, this edition also includes several LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES issues written by Levitz that have never before been collected in any format! Using his faithful minions to acquire all of the mystic artifacts of the time, Darkseid gains mental control over a race of three billion all-powerful beings. Now, as their universe teeters on the edge of Armageddon, the Legion of Super-Heroes amass their own army of every champion who ever held the status of Legionnaire to stand against the Dark Lord and his invincible soldiers. But as the Legion suffers defeat after defeat, they realize that salvation and victory rest in the hands of a mysterious baby that has aged into adulthood before their very eyes!This is the perfect edition of the classic Levitz storyline that was decades ahead of its time and still stands as one of DC's most enthralling superhero tales! Collects LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #284-296 and ANNUAL #1.
Release Date: November 17 2010 (Deluxe Edition)
Buy It Here: Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga

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d. emerson eddy is a student and writer of things. He fell in love with comics during Moore, Bissette, & Totleben's run on Swamp Thing and it has been a torrid affair ever since. His madness typically manifests itself on Twitter @93418.