Great Darkness Saga

The Great Darkness Saga is a Legion of Super-Heroes storyline written by Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen, with illustrations by Giffen. It was published in the Legion of Super-Heroes series and leads into the next series called ‘The The Curse”.

The Great Darkness Saga deals with Darkseid in the 30th Century, chronicling the fight between the Legion of Super-Heroes against the newly-risen Darkseid, the New God of Apokolips.

Legion of Super-Heroes #287 (May 1, 1982)
"Prologue to Darkness"
 * Mon-El and Shadow Lass are assigned by the United Planets  to investigate a planet filled with hidden defenses, harboring an evil they cannot suspect.

Legion of Super-Heroes, #290 (December, 1982)
Chapter One: "And the Servant Shall be a Sign..."
 * The Legionnaires face dark and powerful beings stealing potent artifacts from around the universe on behalf of their unseen master.

Legion of Super-Heroes, #29 (September, 1982)
Chapter Two: " ... A Sign of Darkness Dawning"
 * After capturing one of the thieves, the Legion run tests to discover what kind of creature it is. The DNA reveals it is a native of Talok VII and not only that, its Shadow Lass' dead ancestor Lydea Mallor. Mordru becomes the latest victim in the hunt for magic. Dream Girl takes the team to meet her sister, Mysa, The White Witch when a servant of the darkness attempts to abduct her. It fails and Dream Girl gets a vision of the Legion's final battle.

Legion of Super-Heroes, #292 (October, 1982)
Chapter Three: "Darkness Transcendent"
 * As the Legionnaires battle the minions of darkness on Sorcerers' World (aka Zerox), Mon-El discovers the Master's identity. By invading Mon-el's mind, the master learns of Daxam. The Council of Teachers casts a spell to defeat the Darkness, and a mysterious child appears.

Legion of Super-Heroes, #293 (November, 1982)
Chapter Four: "Within the Darkness..."
 * While the Legion fights his clone-minions, Darkseid takes mental control of the populace of Daxam and unleashes them on the universe as his warriors.

Legion of Super-Heroes, #294 (December, 1982)
Conclusion: "Darkseid"
 * Darkseid's army of the entire population of Daxam, runs rampant throughout the universe, each of them with powers equivalent to Superman's. The Legion calls in all of its members, including 20th century Superboy and reservist Supergirlto aid in the battle. It also calls on the aid of Dev-Em, the Legion of Substitute Heroes, the Wanderers, and the Super-Heroes of Lallor.  Finally, Element Lad defeats the Daxamites by altering part of the atmosphere to lead, and the White Witch teleports them back to Daxam and removes Darkseid's spell, with the help of the child who has rapidly evolved into Highfather.   Highfather converts Darkseid's dark Orion-clone into a duplicate of Orion himself, who fights Darkseid and is killed. Highfather also empowers Superboy and Supergirl to lead the fight against Darkseid, which they wage valiantly. But the villain's incredible power cannot be matched by the Legionnaires.  Just as they are on the brink of defeat, the Daxamites approach Earth en masse, ready to attack Darkseid with powers even he cannot match. Darkseid breaks off the battle, tells the Legionnaires they have won for the moment, and teleports away.   In the aftermath, the White Witch joins the Legion, Light Lass quits, and Brainiac 5 tells Supergirl he is finally over his crush on her. Kara, before she leaves for the 20th Century, remarks that that is a pity, since she was beginning to notice how cute he was.