The Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga

It's pretty hard to argue with comic books in trade paperback form. The price is good, and the convenience of having a bunch of stories or a whole story arc in one volume is unbeatable. Still, there's something to be said for having read the Legion of Super-Heroes' Great Darkness Saga back in the '80s, when the mystery gradually unfolded of a super-villain who seemed to be able to take the best of what the 30th-century megagroup had to offer and give it back with spades. Back then, you could devour each issue then agonize for a month while waiting for the next clue of the identity of the mysterious and powerful master. In trade paperback, however, there's no waiting, and you can spoil the mystery just by taking a look at the cover. Regardless, this epic by Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen was the best of the modern Legion stories, and one of their best ever. It encompasses issues 287 and 290-294, plus the later Annual 3 that serves as an epilogue to the main story. If you're just picking it the Legion for the first time, not all the details of the characters will make sense (e.g., the problems of Chameleon Boy, the triangle of Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, and Timber Wolf), but the power of the main story is strong enough to carry the reader through. --David Horiuchi