Tales of the Legion of Super-heroes #315
September 1984
Cover art by: Terry Shoemaker & Karl Kesel
Story: Judgement!
Writer: Paul Levitz
Pencils: Terry Shoemaker
Inks: Karl Kesel
A trio of Legionnaires are hot on the trail of Ontiir in Dark Circle space. He was whisked away by the Dark Circle during his trial by the UP to be tried by them as a spy. He is a spy, that much he admits. In the end who is he spying for? Where do his loyalties lie? That we never do find the answer to. A much shorter mystery is how and where did the Dark Circle go. The entirety of the planet's population is teleported away, and Brainiac 5 pretty quickly deduced where they went, and the energy source they used to accomplish it.
Before either the Legion or the Dark Circle can get the answers they seek the Science Police come crashing in to help, and Chief Zendak kills Ontiir. Which was great for the story. To me it leaves it open as to which master Zendak serves as well. It is left wide open to interpretation.
Which brings me to the art by Mr Shoemaker and Kesel which was just terrific. They do a real good with the action and showing us that Ontiir could have have been leaning either way. We just never know.
By the end of the story Supergirl believes it has been a mistake on her part to come back to the 30th century, and flies off, maybe not angry, but definitely frustrated.
A sublot is also explored with the return of the original Invisible Kid, and the second one wanting to go back to whatever dimension Lyle came from to see what the heck is going on. Also a nice little bit with Dr. Gym'll. Who refuses to even look at the original since he knows he is dead. There is no other condition he could be in.
There is also a back-up (first of two) that gets into the White Witch's origin as she explains it to Blok. It was fun as we see her arrival on Sorcerer’s World and scenes showing her years of training there. How she got crosswise with Mordru, and how he got his revenge. It was deftly drawn by George Tuska who I always just associate with Marvel. It was neat to see his work on something so different from what I remember him for.
A ton was packed into this comic, and it is highly recommended.
Replies
This is from the same period when they started the Deluxe Baxter, direct sales only books (New Titans, Infinity, Inc. and Omega Men) so these issues never seemed as important as what was going on there.
I chuckle when I think about Ontiir's defense at both his trials: claiming to be a double agent for both sides and no one being able to prove otherwise!
The return of the first Invisible Kid really intrigued me as his death in Superboy and the Legion #203 was the first Legion book I ever read. Sadly, I do remember it's denouement as being very anti-climatic.
As for Supergirl appearing in Tales of the Legion, 1984 was a big year for her as she also teamed with the JLA/JSA in JUSTICE LEAGUE #231-232 (O-N'84) at the same time. This was because in November 1984, the world saw SUPERGIRL: THE MOVIE, much to its regret! The funny thing was that Supergirl (the comic) was cancelled with #23 (S'84) which was on sale in June thus leaving the Girl of Steel homeless! Luckily DC published Supergirl Movie Special #1 in November with Gray Marrow artwork!
Talk about making the best of a bad situation!
I came in late on the Baxter series of the Legion, so I actually bought the Tales reprints for a little while. When I was buying these I borrowed my shop's copy of Overstreet, so I knew when the reprints started.
I thought Ontiir was pretty genius with his defense myself. The return of Invisible Kid and the resolution was an okay story I thought, of course his death didn't have any impact on me. He had been dead for years before I picked up any comic. If memory serves I skip that story and go to another one in my reviews.
The question on the Supergirl: The Movie adaptation is it worth it even with the Gray Morrow art?
The plot, dialogue and the characters of Supergirl: The Movie are banal, clichéd and make no sense but it's Gray Marrow art!
Just look at the pretty pictures! ;-)
BTW, I take no pleasure in trashing this film. Kara deserved better and it led to her demise in Crisis On Infinite Earths.
Believe it or not, I just reread this comic last week! I'd picked up The Curse in hardcover at NYCC (for just $20!), and when I finished that, I decided to move on through the Tales of the LSH series instead of going straight to the Baxter series. I'm glad I did -- not only did it reacquaint me with some great LSH stories on a somewhat smaller stage, but it gave me another look at some great art. Karl Kesel was a really strong inker for the series, tying together styles as disparate as Terry Shoemaker, Dan Jurgens, and George Tuska -- he really gave some unity to the look. (I've got to admit, I was really sorry when Shoemaker left the book; I don't think he work has ever looked as good again as under Kesel's inks, though.)
That's a great point about the Supergirl movie prompting Kara's appearance everywhere that year, Philip. It hadn't occurred to me, but it makes perfect sense.
I loved the Ontir defense, too. You never could tell with that guy.
As for the return of Lyle Norg -- you're right, Philip, the end of that story was a disappointment. (I'd totally forgotten about it, only remembering his earlier appearance in issue 299.) And Levitz's recent callback to that dimension didn't make a lot of sense, either.