Spring Road Super Review: Elvo: premiere swordsman of the 30th century

Source: https://loshreference.tumblr.com/post/129435225595/elvo-aka-elvar-comic-vine-entry

This week's OW (Original Wanderer) is the master swordsman Elvo. Despite having a less-than inspiring name and head gear, I still thought Elvo was a decent character.

According to a Legionworld discussion board post from 2003:

The yellow-and-purple clad Elvo carried a super-charged sword. Whether its powers came from science or from magic was never revealed, but either way, the master swordsman could con[s]truct force-shields and discharge energy blasts at his command, making him a formidable opponent.

And, honestly...that's pretty much it. There's just not much you can find online about the original Elvo...and what there is is in conflict. For example, the above-quote indicates that Elvo's blade always had some sort of energy-discharge capabilities. Comicvine's entry on Elvar, however, indicates that the energy element of the blade was a post-resurrection feature:

When he died and was brought back as a clone he took on the new name Elvar...He also gained the ability to energize his power sword to enable it to cut through almost anything.

While I haven't been able to determine with certainty when Elvo/Elvar first manifested energy capabilities, I feel like I remember running across a panel depicting him creating an energy shield during the Wanderers' first fight with the Legionnaires. Oh well, in any case, this week we feature the next chronological appearance of the Wanderers. This took place in pages of:

Legion of Superheroes #294 (DEC 1982)
This was the wrap up to what I would argue is most-epic Legion story ever--"The Great Darkness Saga." The Legion faces the galactic threat of a resurrected Darkseid, who had managed to mentally enslave the population of Daxam. (If you're not up on LSH universe, let me briefly explain why that's a big deal: the Daxamites were essentially genetic cousins to the Kryptonians. In other words, Darkseid has more or less got an army of Supermen enslaved to his will!)

Meeting the threat requires--as Dream Girl notes--"every warm superpowered body." Our old friends the Heroes of Lallor, the Legion of Substitute Heroes, and of course the Wanderers respond, ready to give the last full measure of devotion.