Who's This? A glittery fantasy world.
The facts: The fantasy world created by Dan Mishkin, Gary Cohn and Ernie Colon for Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld, it imagines a mystical realm ruled by houses named after gemstones. I'm kind of disappointed with the map in the Who's Who entry given that THIS is what it looked like in the series
Amethyst would eventually merge with the Gemworld, and its legacy go right up to the Legion of Super-Heroes' 30th Century (see example story, below). In addition to Amethyst, Gemworld also appeared in Hunter: The Age of Magic, the early 2000s' JSA series, and other places, including Amethyst's appearances in the New52.
How you could have heard of it: Gemworld most recently appeared in the Flash series (in several 2022 issues) and an Amethyst animated project.
Example story: Amethyst #4 (February 1989) "After the Fall" by Keith Giffen, Mindy Newell and Esteban Maroto
We're coming in "after the fall". at the very end of things, but it's worth noting Gemworld remains very much on brand. I've enlarged the captions to make sure they are readable at this size, next to an enormous "Diamond Vatican", though perhaps, that alone sets the mood:
Wait... Mordru was the Prince of Turquoise before becoming possibly the Legion's most powerful villain?! Well, to catch us up on this mini-series, Mordru is responsible for levelling the House of Garnet, making the desert reclaim Sardonyx and the sea Aquamarine... in fact, all the clans have suffered. He's also guilty of fratricide and breaking his parents' hearts (aw). He offers no defense and is found guilty by a council made up of the lords and ladies of each house. It's unanimous. Even his dad agrees. Some call for his execution, but they don't have the votes. He's to be condemned to the Outer Realms (crap, is that us?). From this, we get that Gemworld is a collection of kingdoms organized around some kind of Magna Carta, overseeing global affairs democratically (though aristocrats hold all the votes).
The other striking thing about Gemworld as presented by Newell, at least, is the color scheme. To be part of Gemworld is to choose a color palette. Here's a collection of pages that prove the point:
But isn't this an Amethyst series? Where is she in all this? She's all grown up and taking responsibility for what happened to her pocket dimension. And her speech patterns really aren't those of Earth's Amy Winston anymore.
She teleports into Mordru's cell for that reckoning (it seems to quiet the spirit of his dead brother) and she makes him melt into the very soil of Gemworld. Quite the opposite of exile, he is to feel everything Gemworld feels, forever.
Every worm, every shovel, etc. etc. But Amthyst herself is also heading for a merging with Gemworld, as its soul.
And so a balance between Order and Chaos, between Gemworld and Earth, is struck. Also, the first time I've ever seen Gemworld represented as an orb. How big IS that planet? She can still walk around in a physical body, kind of like the Goddess Gaea, I suppose, but it's more or less to say goodbye to old friends before she rejoins the Mauve (my term). Amethyst as... gem elemental?
Cut to a thousand years later! Gemworld is still around, but it's joined the main universe. Is that what the orb shot suggests? That Amethyst made her world a PLANET? And as part of the Prime Universe, not in play for the Lords of Chaos like it used to be as a purely magical realm? And AS a planet, it needs a planet-like name. It has become Zerox, the Photocopy Plan--no, I mean "Sorcerer's World"!
Home of the Legion's White Witch, and from which ground Mordru one day escaped to threaten the universe! There was a Giffen Grand Plan, wasn't there? His Dr. Fate Chaos/Order stuff and his Legion stuff mix and connect in this Amethyst conclusion. Indeed, his 5YL Legion would have the White Witch turn violet as she joined with Amethyst/Gemworld's soul!
Who's Next? A older than old dictator.
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