The Man Who Chained the Earth
Grimbor returned to fufill his vow of vengeance against the Legion in issue 278. He had escaped from jail without anyone's knowledge having left a hologram to take his place. Using the freedom afforded by the Legion and the Science Police unaware he was at large he had spent months carefully preparing to strike. He had learned from his mistakes and wouldn't act prematurely again. However his desire for revenge had taken on apocalyptic proportions and he had decide that if he couldn't destroy the Legion he would destroy the Earth. On that thought he used Power Crystals concealed in satellites to surround the Earth with an unbreakable web of massive energy chains. He then appeared before the World Government and told the president that with Earth now cut off from the food producing colony worlds mass starvation would begin within days and in a few weeks famine would have wiped out most of the population. Needless to say he had her attention. Asked his price for averting catastrophe he told he wanted amnesty from all past crimes, the title of Dictator of Earth and, the most important point of all, the Legion of Superheroes turned over to him for disposal. Telling her she had twenty-four hours to decide Grimbor settled down to wait. It's barely possible that the Earth Government would have given in rather than risk billions of dead but there was another factor neither they nor Grimbor had allowed for. Grimbor's desire for vengance had blossomed into fullblown psychosis and waiting was becoming intolerable. Meanwhile the Legion had been puzzling over a mystery man. A new superhero named Reflecto had appeared who seemed insanely protective of Phantom Girl. More so than the supposedly late Ultra Boy and since they never found a body and this new guy only seemed to use one superpower at a time maybe it was him but why the charade. Then again Dream Girl and Star Boy had snuck into the Legion after being rejected under the armoured aliases of Miss Terious and Sir Prize so why should they be surprised at these kinds of wacky superhero antics? Anyway the call came from Earth Government about Grimbor's ulimatum and a delegation of Legionaires went to meet the President while the rest got to work trying to break the chains. This turned out to be a big mistake as the sight of the Legionaires infuriated Grimbor beyond rationality. His holo-image reappeared in the President's office to say that on second thoughts twenty-four hours was too long and he wasn't waiting weeks for his revenge to take effect if they refused. Therefore they had one hour to fufill his demands and to encourage them he was making the world encircling chains contract. In an hour the pressure from the chains energy field would compress the Earth's atmosphere to the point that breathing would become impossible. Meanwhile the Legionaires trying to break the chains had realised they weren't strong enough to smash them but Saturn Girl had caught a telepthic hint of Grimbor's location. So the Legion headed to the North Pole to take out Grimbor's headquarters and shut down the chains. Of course their arrival was far from unexpected.
Maybe I'm misremembering my highschool physics but isn't it perfectly natural for metals to conduct electricity? So why is Lightning Lad so surprised that zapping the chains shocks his wife? Guess all those futuristic alloys he normally blasts are non-conductive, clever of Grimbor to use good old fashioned steel.
I don't know about playing games but Grimbor seems to enjoy a good gag. He also manages to ruin one of the few times Light Lass's power would have actually been useful.
Not long after that Timber Wolf fell leaving Lightning Lad as the last free Legionaire at the North Pole.
Grimbor was right, it didn't take him long to trap Lightning Lad but reinforcements were on the way. Though the Legion was really scraping the bottom of the barrel if they had to send Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel into action. Team leader Cosmic Boy challenged Grimbor to face them personally and he surprised the newly arrived Legionaires by telling them that he would let them into his castle so he could crush them. With armaggedon just round the corner he must have decided it was his last shot at personal vengeance and what could it hurt at this point.
So the Legionares entered the castle with Reflecto tagging along as Phantom Girl was on the strike team. Blok and Cosmic Boy were easily captured, as was Bouncing Boy leaving Duo Damsel, Phantom Girl and Reflecto to try and save the day.
Charma was actually Phantom Girl hidden behind an illusion Princess Projector was casting via cybernetic enhancement of her powers. Tricking the traditional vulnerable point on the space chains out of him she passed the info to Karate Kid who managed to save the day by destroying the key satellite. Back at the North Pole Grimbor saw through the illusion but Reflecto broke free and defeated him using two powers at the same time. He turned out to be former member Superboy except after Grimbor blasted him his amnesia was gone, problem was the memories he had regained were actually the late Ultra Boy's memories. I'll pass over the rather convuluted storyline that followed, check out Legion of Superheroes 280 to 284 for the whole story. Grimbor went back to jail, if he reappeared outside of flashbacks I have no idea. If anyone knows please let me know. The next Legion pages turn the spotlight on individual Legionaires
"The Perils of Light Lass!"
Dawnstar in Trouble!"
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