Bride of Mordru

The story of the Legion’s greatest battle is finally told—a mere 30 years late!

by Andy Lee • COMBO #30 • July 1997

Roses are red
Violet’s possessed
Mordru is coming
You know the rest

The evil sorcerer Mordru is coming to the 30th century, and the Legion is the only thing that stands between him and total galactic domination. In the extra-sized Legionnaires #50, by Roger Stern and Jeff Moy, the Legion of Super-Heroes calls upon the resources of other super-powered groups, including the Work Force and the Uncanny Amazers, in an all-out effort to stop Mordru.

In the 29th century, Mordru once ruled a third of the galaxy, but was entombed and held inert on a small asteroid. A 30th-century mining operation has inadvertently freed Mordru, who has set out to rule the 30th century and the United Planets by acquiring powerful magical talismans.

Mordru has set his sights on Shrinking Violet and the Emerald Eye, the most powerful of these mystic objects—so the Legion is out to stop him. This is the Legion’s greatest battle. Two Legionnaires will die, and others will be injured.

Legionnaires, which has been a runaway hit since its reboot during 1994’s Zero Hour, has been gaining more fans every month due to the solid stories of Roger Stern and the light-hearted, fun art style of Jeff Moy. Moy is having fun with the Legion, despite the staggering number of characters that he has to maintain. Says Moy, “I like designing characters and revamping old characters. Juggling all those characters makes it fun. It keeps it fresh, because I’m not drawing the same characters on the same page over and over again.”

Stern summarizes what the new Legion is all about: “The Legion of Super-Heroes is a group of super-powered teenagers in the 30th century. There’s been a long period in which superheroes were looked upon with disfavor. The United Planets, this sort of galaxy-wide republic, has been formed due to the stargate technology of R.J. Brande, the financial backer of the Legion. This technology has made interstellar travel [affordable].

“Brande is a believer in heroes. He has saved artifacts of the great heroes of the 20th century: He has one of Superman’s old capes and the old eagle medallion from the Justice Society’s meeting room. He knows that heroes are needed. It’s his money and influence that’s behind the founding of the Legion of Super-Heroes. The Legion serves as a training ground for young heroes, since they don’t have any old heroes around as mentors.”

The storyline that started in Legionnaires #48 and concludes in #50 finds the Legion battling Mordru and the Emerald Eye to save one of their own teammates. Says Stern, “One of their members, Violet, has been possessed by the Emerald Eye, which is a quasi-artificial intelligence, with some mystical properties. The Eye has been around for about 1000 years, and it was in some 20th-century stories. The Eye has possessed Violet. Violet, through the Eye, was responsible for stranding part of the Legion in the 20th century [whose story is chronicled in Legionnaires’ sister title, Legion of Super-Heroes—ed.]. The Eye was used in the 29th century by Mordru to enslave worlds, and Mordru wants it back! Violet and the Eye have merged, but Mordru can get the Eye’s power by marrying Violet, which is why the 50th issue is called ‘The Bride of Mordru.’”

Jeff Moy rose to the task of redesigning Mordru with a more contemporary look. Says Moy, “I’ve been a Legion fan since I was a small kid, reading my uncle’s comics in the basement. I grew up with the Jim Shooter/Curt Swan [Legion stories in Adventure Comics]. I don’t really remember reading the first Mordru story. From what I hear, Mordru had this funny hat. I decided not to put a funny hat on him. I designed an outfit for him that made him look more like a warlord.”

There’s a reason why Moy can’t remember the first Mordru story. Roger Stern admits that he couldn’t find the first Mordru story either. Says Stern, “Thirty years ago, when I was a kid in the midwest reading Legion of Super-Heroes stories in Adventure Comics, and Jim Shooter was a kid in Pittsburgh, writing Legion of Super-Heroes stories, there was this story where Mordru got loose. [Adventure Comics #369-#370] There was this huge battle through space and time because Mordru was the Legion’s most dangerous villain. We saw this flashback of how they had to go all-out the first time to defeat him and that it was the greatest battle of their lives. I spent the next 15 years trying to find that early story. Finally, when Jim Shooter and I were both working at Marvel, we were sitting around chewing the fat one evening and I said, ‘You know, I’ve been looking for 15 years for that first Mordru story.’ Jim said, ‘Well, there wasn’t a first Mordru story. I just made that up.’ I said, ‘I’ve spent 15 years looking for that! Thanks a lot!’ So when I was asked to sign on to work on the new Legionnaires, I said, ‘Well, there’s one thing we’re going to do: We’re going to do the first Mordru story! It was the greatest battle of their careers, and we ought to see that.’”

“This is literally the biggest battle the Legion has to date,” says Legionnaires editor KC Carlson. “There are a lot of casualties. There are one or two who actually die. Many more have been injured. At least one character has been stripped of his or her powers. Some good things will come out of the battle too, but those are the things that we’ll keep secret, because we like to torment the fans!”

Carlson adds that issues #51-#53 are aftermath stories dealing with Violet, Magno, and a new Legion member. Carlson says, “We’re just getting started on the next big story arc. Let’s just say for now that it will have the Legion all over the galaxy. The words ‘alien invasion’ can probably be bandied about. You can bet on seeing a lot of previously established alien races. [Dominators!? Khunds?! The Dark Circle?!?—ed.] This story will lead to a major restructuring of how the Legion operates in the 30th century.”

As a result of this invasion, Carlson and Stern hint that the Legion will soon set up outposts to help them protect the ever-expanding United Planets.

Coming up are a few more crossovers before the 20th-century team finds its way home. Says Carlson, “We’re not fooling anybody by having the 20th-century team hanging around there forever. Sometime in the next 12 months, they finally figure out how to get some time-travel thing working, probably right darn smack in the middle of the next big story arc.”

According to Carlson, the Legion will probably run into Superboy again, and there’s talk of a Legion/Captain Marvel crossover. Also, the New Gods will be making an appearance in the Legion of Super-Heroes, and the Metal Men will be around for a few issues. “Brain­iac 5 needs the Metal Men. Brainy is desperately trying to get this time-travel thing working, because he’s sick of being in the 20th century. He’s like the fans. He needs a couple of well-known DC gadgets to get his time-travel machine working.”

Stern doesn’t seem too worried about getting the missing Legionnaires back. Stern jokes, “I don’t have to worry about the guys who are in the 20th century. That’s Tom Peyer’s problem. I have too many heroes in the 30th century. I’d like to kill off a few more of them…get this crew down to a manageable level! But they’re just too good. They keep on winning.”

If the return of Mordru isn’t enough to get you to pick up the book, Moy adds, “I think this whole storyline is a good jumping-on point. This book has something for everyone. We have characters that they can relate to. My favorite character is Spark. Pretty much everyone on the Internet knows that. If you don’t like one character though, there’s probably 20 other characters to choose from!”

Stern points out, “If you know anything about the old Legion, you’ll probably enjoy seeing some of the characters back. Although the characters are not all the same as they were before. If you like science fiction, if you like superheroes, if you like a lot of superheroes and a lot of interpersonal action and strange relationships and weird, bizarre, gonzo action—then you’re going to find it in this book!”