Secret Origins #8

Secret Origins (v3) #8 (November 1986)
title: "The Shadow of the Past"

writer: Paul Levitz

artist: Tom Mandrake

letterer: John Workman
colorist: Carl Gafford

editor: Robert Greenberger
cover: Steve Lightle

reviewer: Russell "Bilingual Boy" Burbage





Synopsis: 
On Talok VIII, the Yakka-Mahor mountain people have surrounded the City. The mayor introduces their new champion, the only known descendant of their recently lost hero, Sarven Mallor. However, Tasmia Mallor is only a young girl. She accepts the challenge to become the city's champion, which means heading into the hills to try to discern his magic.

Tasmia uses a "token" (really a makeshift compass) to lead her into the hills her grandfather loved. She hopes to find "the secret means" of how he worked his magic and become a true champion.

Passing through the desert she reaches the "dark" hills and meets a boy younger than her named Grev. She faints out of exhaustion and relief (she had thought he might have been a pack of wolves).

Grev is also Sarven's grand-son, so is Tasmia's cousin. They decide to share their grand-father's locket. Grev then shows her the "secret place," a cave that their grand-father had promised to one day show him. Tasmia and Grev go in together and are surrounded by shadows, which turn into their grand-father and other ancestors.

Sarven Mallor tells the two children of their ancestor generations ago who fought against "kings from the stars" who had arrived on their planet and had enslaved their people. This ancestor led a group of rebels into the aliens' castle and destroyed a power sphere. Although this killed all of the invading aliens, it also imbued Mallor with power over darkness. He became their planet's first champion. Now, Grev and Tasmia also have this power.

Grev stays in the hills as Tasmia goes back to the City. She uses her newly acquired powers to scare the mountain people away. She becomes the city's newest champion, calling herself Shadow Lass.

Later, while on a diplomatic mission off-planet, Shadow Lass learns that her planet has been enslaved again. She leads the Legion there and they fight off the Fatal Five. When she joins the Legion, she entrusts the safety of their home to her cousin, Grev.

Commentary: 
Shadow Lass has always been one of my favorite Legionnaires, so I really wanted to enjoy this issue. And although it was relatively interesting to read how Shadow Lass and Shadow Kid received their powers, the story as a whole was somewhat dull. Basically Tasmia took a hike into the woods, heard a story about an ancestor, and then was granted shadow powers. She was very much the acted upon instead of the actor of this tale.

I did like how the less sophisticated Mallor went up against alien invaders, not having any idea about robots or death rays or other Sci-Fi trappings. That was fun.

But I think I would have liked to have learned more about Tasmia's parents, and the whole hierarchy of the planet, and maybe even the city's name? (If it was mentioned, I couldn't find it.) Tasmia's mother appeared in an issue of Legion, but it sounds from reading this story that she is an orphan. Either way, the adults around her were okay with sending her out into the wilds alone? That's a story that could not have happened in the Sixties, when Shadow Lass made her actual debut.

No explanation as to why she liked Brainiac 5 in her first appearance, and then set her sights on Mon-El. I would have liked to have seen more about her personality.

Anyway, not a bad story, and in general the Tom Mandrake art was good (although some of his lips, like the page re-printed above, are kind of wonky). The Steve Lightle cover is awesome, and, oh, by the way, the Doll-Man story is also fun. This issue is defiitely worth picking up if you come across it.

As an extra added bonus, click on the link below to listen to Legion of Super-Blogger Kyle Benning talking to "Secret Origins Boy" Ryan Daly about this specific story!

http://fireandwaterpodcast.com/podcast/secret-origins-8/

Science Police Notes:  

• Shadow Lass and Talok VIII made their debuts in Adventure Comics #365-366 in the story arc mentioned at the end of this story.   
• The second story in this issue is the secret origin of Doll Man, illustrated by Murphy Anderson. Anderson, best known for his work in the Sixties inking Superman and Batman, and drawing Hawkman, drew this story out of a nostalgic love for this semi-obscure Golden Age character.