Legion of Super-Heroes #311 (1984)
written by Paul Levitz & Keith Giffen
pencils by Gene Colan
“A shared destiny”
This is a treat: a Gene Colan story featuring the Legion!
It’s also a rare opportunity to see more people from Dawnstar’s planet. They show up VERY rarely.
Understandably, Wildfire shows little interest in Dawnstar having to tour the universe to find her soulmate.
I guess you could see this as him being disrespectful of her culture, but come on… it IS kind of ridiculous, right?
Ah, I see Dawnstar takes after her mother.
This is supposed to be a heartwarming scene showcasing her parents really love each other despite being in what is essentially an arranged marriage… but it’s not exactly selling the idea that this “search for a soulmate” is the right thing to do.
I still can’t believe Dawnstar just turned eighteen. None of the Legionnaires is ever drawn the age he or she is supposed to be, sure, but I have a hard time with Dawnstar in particular.
Even Dawnstar is not sold on the idea of having to tour the universe to find her soulmate when she’s in love with Wildfire.
This is actually kind of neat: she’s named after Venus!
So she’s named after a planet that is associated with love but is actually a hellish nightmare?
Sounds legit.
(as if you couldn’t tell, I’m not the biggest Dawnstar fan)
Also: Dawnstar, you’ve been bragging about your powers the second you joined the Legion, it didn’t take you years to get confident.
Honestly I would’ve liked you more if it DID take you a while to grow into a stuck-up (Phantom Girl did it and she’s great!)
Dawnstar decides to end her journey into the clouds of Venus… which in case you don’t know is super dangerous… when she’s reached by Wildfire.
Wildfire is one of my favorite Legionnaires, so I guess one of the reasons I don’t like Dawnstar all that much is that she constantly treats him like crap.
As a huge astronomy nerd, Dawnstar’s comment that removing the clouds of Venus would make it overheat is just painful. The clouds are THE reason Venus is the closes thing to Hell we discovered!
You’d expect Wildfire to have come this far to interrupt her mission and declare his love, but… that’s not exactly what happened.
Good grief, Dawnstar, NOT EVERYTHING IS ABOUT YOU!!!
Wildfire, my man, you deserve better than her.
And so we end with Dawnstar realizing her search was kind of pointless… and while she recognizes Wildfire’s handicap SHE STILL MAKES IT ABOUT HER.
I look forward to her still treating Wildfire like crap again.
Legion significance: 0/10
Well that was pointless.
Silver Age-ness: 2/10
Not that other eras lack astronomical inaccuracy, but…
Does it stand the test of time? 6/10
As infuriating as I find Dawnstar, it’s fine. But it’s a missed opportunity: Wildfire actually shows some character growth here, being able to let her go if it makes her happy.
Dawnstar, on the other hand? Despite her words, she’s back exactly where she was.
Not that I wanted her to suddenly start an actual relationship with Wildfire, that would’ve been too much of a cliché, but still… you can’t start a “Will they or won’t they?” plot and then leave it as “Who knows?” forever.
This would’ve resulted in a lower score if it wasn’t for Gene Colan. While I don’t think he’d be a good match for the Legion as a regular artist… he’s better at moody scenes than science fiction… he does a great job here.
We are legion
22 active Legionnaires
6 reserve members
1 honorary member (Rond Vidar)
41 people have been members