Superboy and the LSH #240 (1978)
“The Man Who Manacled The Legion” by Paul Levitz & Howard Chaykin
“Dawnstar Rising” by Paul Levitz & Jim Sherman
cover by Mike Grell
The return of the Legion’s NSFW villain Grimbor, a.k.a. “S&M Reed Richards”.
We begin with the Legion fixing the bridge that connects America to Europe. I’m pretty sure we’ve seen flying cars in the 30th century, so I’m not entirely sure about its purpose.
Still, it’s cool to see Superboy is still awestruck by future technology.
The rule against Legionnaires wedding has always felt out of place, but at this time it’s blatantly a relic.
The emergency is that Grimbor has imprisoned the President of Earth, and he wastes no time doing exactly the same to the Legion.
He’s out for revenge because his sidekick-slash-lover Charma has been murdered OFF SCREEN, and he blames the Legion for putting her in jail.
That’s the canon end of Charma, by the way… outside of flashbacks, she doesn’t appear again in this continuity. Which is pretty lame, she was an interesting character!
Unfortunately for him, Grimbor thought of a way to chain up a phantom… but not a regular girl.
That’s a cool moment for Phantom Girl, but… come on Grimbor, SERIOUSLY!?
The Legion is freed, and because we have to fill some pages, Grimbor unleashes his army of robotic medieval knights. Kind of out of theme for him, isn’t it?
When Superboy tries to stop him from leaving SUDDEN EXPLOSION!
Is Grimbor dead as well? Nah, just kidding!
When the Legion goes back to rescue the President of Earth (who is still chained up)…
…HE EXPLODES.
That’s ALSO a robot: Grimbor never actually chained up the real President, but only set up a trap that would kill all the Legionnaires trying to rescue him.
Now the Legion is free to arrest Grimbor and rescue the President, even if he’s not very popular with them.
Let’s move on to the second story, which is the origin of Dawnstar.
As such, the story begins during her time at Legion Academy, where she’s seen training with some of the other not-quite-ready-for-the-Legion.
The other students of the Legion Academy are:
-Shadow Lad, cousin to Shadow Lass (even though he’s called her brother here), already seen in Adventure Comics #344, with the same powers she has
-Laurel Kent, descendant of Superman, already seen in Superboy #217, with the powers of invulnerability and fanservice
-Power Boy, who we have never seen before, who is very strong and durable
I’m not counting them among the rejects, since we never see them try joining the Legion.
They do manage to defeat the training robot, with a bit of effort.
Wildfire is not impressed.
He’s not a bad teacher. Other than the fact that he’s hitting on his student (who is also supposed to be about 16 at this point).
To be fair to Wildfire, Dawnstar has jumped to conclusions there… we know he’s into her from future stories, but he wasn’t doing anything questionable.
You have to love the fact that Laurel goes to sleep wearing more clothes than when she’s working.
This is the framing device so that Dawnstar can narrate her own origin story… which begins with Native Americans going into space to find the perfect spot for inbreeding.
Yeah, uhm… I think Levitz probably regretted his choice of words there.
He does turn this awkward opportunity into a chance for some worldbuilding, though.
Her job put her in contact with R.J.Brande, who naturally pushed for her to join the Legion.
Of interest is that Dawnstar is interested in the Legion purely for monetary reasons (despite the fact that she doesn’t keep any of the money for herself).
Dawnstar will obviously go through massive character development over the years, but in my opinion she’s never truly shaken off her insufferable side.
Also kind of impressive she can out-fanservice Laurel Kent, a.k.a. “Wardrobe Malfunction Lass”.
Her criticism of the Legion, that they’re only interested in showing off, is shown to be hypocritical when Dawnstar herself keeps trying to show off once they get a mission (round up some escaped alien zoo animals).
Fantastic job on the panel off Wildfire’s reflection: the thought bubbles are technically from Shadow Lad, but it works both ways.
Insisting to work alone ends up biting Dawnstar.
However it turns out the rest of the students HAVE figured out the whole teamwork thing.
And this teaches Dawnstar to be less of an a##hole.
Legion significance
Grimbor story: 4/10
The revelation that Charma is dead. It’s what makes Grimbor’s relationship with the Legion a personal one… but he’s a second class Legion villain at best.
Dawnstar story: 2/10
Dawnstar’s origin lasts barely a page, and it’s not like it’s super interesting.
Silver Age-ness
Grimbor story: 0/10
Nothing that particularly stands out.
Dawnstar story: 6/10
Those are some weird aliens!!!
Does it stand the test of time?
Grimbor story: 6/10
The story is fine, and there’s some good character interaction. Killing off Charma was a very bad idea, she had a lot of potential. Also if Grimbor has a trap that can kill of so many Legionnaires at once… why not use it immediately, without resorting to capturing them?
Dawnstar story: 7/10
The artwork is just GORGEOUS here, and not just for the fanservice, plus I always welcome any chance to expand the Legion universe. The story itself isn’t bad and the Dawnstar characterization is solid… but she’s just too unlikeable to really make us root for her. Honestly this story makes me wish Laurel and Shadow Kid had joined the Legion instead!
We are legion
21 Legionnaires
8 reserve members