Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Who's Who: Dream Girl

Dream Girl
by Russell & Siskoid

Real Name: Nura Nal
Super-Power(s): Precognitive dreams
Planet of Origin: Naltor
Legion Seniority: Dream Girl joined immediately after Lightning Lass, making her Legionnaire #21. She was elected as Legion Leader during Year 12, and also served as Temporary Leader during the absence of Element Lad during Year 13. 

Legion Log 
Dream Girl made her debut in Adventure Comics #317 as an applicant for membership. As the daughter of the High Seer of the planet Naltor her precognitive abilities were among the best. She impressed all of the boys, garnishing all of their votes (without getting a single girl's vote!). However, she had only joined because she had foreseen that seven Legionnaires would be killed, and she wanted to prevent it. After it is revealed that she had seen android replicas destroyed and not actual Legionnaires, she resigned to continue to perfect her powers. She eventually joined the Legion of Substitute-Heroes. 

During her first Legion tenure, Dream Girl met and fell in love with Star Boy. They were an item when a spurned suitor of hers named Kenz Nuhor ambushed him. He was killed by Star Boy in self-defense; Dream Girl witnessed the whole incident and provided testimony to clear him. When Star Boy was later expelled from the Legion for using lethal force, he joined Dream Girl in the Legion of Substitute-Heroes. 

When Superboy and Supergirl were forced to resign from the Legion due to a green kryptonite cloud surrounding Earth's atmosphere, they named their own replacements: masked characters calling themselves Sir Prize and Miss Terious. After two issues, these were revealed to be Star Boy and Dream Girl, who were allowed to officially rejoin. During this time, it was revealed that Nura had a younger sister, Mysa, the White Witch, but was otherwise an orphan.

Dream Girl's membership for the next few years was uneventful. She worked on improving her powers, on scientific experiments with Brainiac 5, and on reading and revising the Legion Constitution. When she was attacked by common muggers and was unable to protect herself, she pushed for mandatory hand-to-hand combat training for all Legionnaires, which she then mastered. In year 12 she was elected Leader in the midst of The Great Darkness Saga. Her term was successful in that she served as Deputy Leader or Temporary Leader thereafter, notably as adviser to Polar Boy during his tenure as Leader. 

Dream Girl was respected for her expert knowledge in bio-technology by the more scientific members, such as Invisible Kid, Brainiac 5, and Mon-El. She was able to use Brainiac 5's force-field belt when required, for example. Her leadership qualities and strength of character also put her on friendly terms with similar "small power" members such as Karate Kid, Princess Projectra, Chameleon Boy, Saturn Girl, and Polar Boy. Her closest friend, however, was probably her sister, the White Witch. And irregardless of her love affair with Star Boy, she enjoyed flirting with all of the men.

After Star Boy left the Legion to serve his home-planet Xanthu, Dream Girl flitted through various men until she met up with Atmos, the man Star Boy had replaced. She then found herself being subtly controlled by him. He convinced her to join him on Xanthu, and for a time she, Atmos, and Star Boy were all living on that planet. Eventually she broke free of his control, and she and Star Boy rejoined the Legion just in time to help them win the Magic Wars.

During and after the five-year gap following the Magic Wars, Dream Girl returned to Naltor and became High Seer after her relationship with Star Boy - and the galactic economy - had deteriorated. She steered her homeworld to prosperity and lived a life of hedonism until called back into action by Zero Hour, just before the time line collapsed. Star Boy got one last kiss in before it was too late.

During the Zero Hour crisis, a Batch SW6 Dream Girl appeared out of nowhere and the temporal anomaly made everyone believe she was a member of the team all along. She merged with her older self as continuity was reset.

After the Reboot, Nura Nal née Schappin is the first Naltorian born with precognitive dreams in generations (in this continuity, she is not White Witch's sister). Though she applied for membership as Dreamer, she was rejected because of her narcolepsy. Nevertheless, she and Star Boy started going out and she became a regular visitor (as did her prophecies) to Legion HQ. Instrumental in defeating Universo, she was finally awarded Legion membership.

After the Threeboot, Dream Girl is a particularly skilled Naltorian who always see 30 seconds in the future. Haunted by dreams of nothingness, their reason was revealed when she was apparently killed by suicide bombers. Obsessed with a prophecy that he and Dream Girl would be married, Brainiac 5 wouldn't let her go, though on the team she was replaced by Dream Boy. His plans to resurrect her failed, but then her body disappeared, and her "ghost" started visiting him in his dreams. For a while, they dated thanks to a medium called Meander serving as Nura's host. Vulnerable in this form, she fell prey to an attack by a vengeful Projectra who needed her powers out of the way. Dream Girl was blinded, losing both her sight and foresight. Later revived by Brainiac 5 by transferring her consciousness back in a renewed, cloned version of her original body, she regains her sight and powers, and they get married.

After Infinite Crisis, Dream Girl's original history has more or less been re-established, though it is now implied her powers are connected to the Dreaming. During a mission to the 21st century, she was captured by Dr. Destiny and held prisoner in Arkham Asylum, where he used her powers as his new "dreamstone". It is further revealed she has somehow passed on her prophetic abilities to Star Boy. After his apparent death, however, she returns to Naltor once more to take her place as High Seer, but not only are both back with the Legion by Justice League United Annual #1, Dream Girl has also been elected (re-elected?) its leader.

Dream Girl had a non-speaking cameo on the Superman Animated Series in the episode New Kids in Town. She is one of the main characters in The Legion of Super-Heroes animated series, where she is voiced by Tara Platt.

Important Dream Girl Stories: 

Adventure Comics #317
 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 2)
Dream Girl joins in order to save certain Legionnaires' lives; 
after changing Lightning Lass into Light Lass, she quits

Adventure Comics #342
 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 5)
Dream Girl becomes Star Boy's girlfriend


Adventure Comics #350-351
 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 6)
Dream Girl rejoins the Legion

Adventure Comics #356
 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 6)
Dream Girl is an orphan

Adventure Comics #362-363
 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 7)
Dream Girl leads a mission to her home planet of Naltor

Adventure Comics #374
 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 8)
Dream Girl participates in the take-down of the Taurus Gang

Action Comics #384
 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 9)
 Dream Girl sees the death of Mon-El 

Superboy/Legion of Super-Heroes #199
 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 10)
Dream Girl's Dave Cockrum designed uniform makes its debut

Superboy/Legion of Super-Heroes #201
 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 10)
Dream Girl saves Karate Kid's life 

Superboy/Legion of Super-Heroes #220
 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 12)
Dream Girl sees a political assassination 

Superboy/Legion of Super-Heroes #230
 (reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 13)
Dream Girl outwits an alien thief 

Legion of Super-Heroes (v2) #268
 (reprinted in Steve Ditko Omnibus Vol. 2)
Dream Girl defeats Dr. Mayavale

Legion of Super-Heroes (v2) #285
(reprinted in The Great Darkness Saga HC)
Dream Girl's first solo adventure

Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #1 (1982)
(reprinted in The Great Darkness Saga HC)
Dream Girl helps Brainiac 5 in his laboratory

 Legion of Super-Heroes (v2) #290-294
(reprinted in The Great Darkness Saga TPB)
Dream Girl is elected Leader 
and leads the Legion against Darkseid and his minions

Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #4-8
(reprinted in An Eye For An Eye TPB)
Dream Girl steps up as Leader in Element Lad's absence

Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #9
(reprinted in The More Things Change TPB)
Dream Girl steps down as temporary Leader upon Element Lad's return

Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #32-35
Dream Girl is an important part of the assault against Universo

Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #4 (1988)
Dream Girl resigns from the Legion to be with Atmos

Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #55
Dream Girl is in a love-triangle with Atmos and Star Boy

Legion of Super-Heroes (v3) #63
Dream Girl breaks free of Atmos' control to rejoin the Legion 

Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) #37
Nura Nal becomes High Seer during the Five Year Gap

 Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) #61
Star Boy gets one last kiss in before the Reboot

Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) #84
Reboot Nura Nal tries to warn the Legion of danger, but is shrugged off
by Martha Latham

Legionnaires #43
Nura takes the codename Dreamer and is rejected by the Legion

Legionnaires #45
Dreamer and Star Boy start a long love affair

Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) #121
Dreamer has visions of the coming Blight

The Legion #18-22
Dreamer helps defeat Universo and is rewarded with Legion membership

Legion of Super-Heroes (v5) #2
Threeboot Dream Girl helps uncover a plot on her homeworld

Legion of Super-Heroes (v5) #10
Dream Girl is killed in a terrorist explosion

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #21
Dream Girl has survived on the Astral plane and starts visiting Brainiac 5

Legion of Super-Heroes (v5) #47
Dream Girl is blinded and neutralized by Projectra, and
gets engaged to Brainiac 5

Legion of Super-Heroes (v5) #50
Dream Girl's soul is given a clone body, cementing plans for her and Brainy's wedding

Justice Society of America (v3) #5
After Infinite Crisis, Dream Girl is Dr. Destiny's prisoner in the 21st century

Legion of Super-Heroes (v6) #8
Dream Girl is still a badass, after all these years, beating the crud out of a Durlan

Legion of Super-Heroes (v7) #9-12
Dream Girl is among the Legionnaires taken prisoner by the Dominators

Legion of Super-Heroes (v7) #18
Dream Girl witnesses Star Boy's apparent death

Legion of Super-Heroes (v7) #23
A grieving Dream Girl returns to Naltor


Justice League United #8
Dream Girl, as leader of the Legion, brings the team to the 21st century
based on an apocalyptic premonition

Legion of Super-Heroes animated series
Dream Girl, voiced by Tara Platt

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