Analysis Notes
| Cover |
The events on the cover of this issue seem to occur between Legionnaires #20 and Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #64, but Triad has on the revised outfit that she started wearing in < > (compare the chest symbols between the cover and page 44). By that point, Live Wire had an artificial arm, so there is no continuity placement for this image. |
| The tagline on this collection — “The Beginning of Tomorrow” — is the same one that was used to promote the “Zero Month” issues which spun out of Zero Hour (which most notably included Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #0 and Legionnaires #0, of course). |
| General |
This collected volume reprints Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #0 and #62-65 and Legionnaires #0 and #19-22. It also includes a two-page introduction and a three-page cover gallery; only the introductory material is analyzed here. |
| Some minor editing of the content of the individual issues reprinted has been done, presumably mostly to correct errors. Where pertinent, the analyses of the individual issues have been updated to note the differences. |
| The two issues following the contents of this issue added three more Legionnaires (Kinetix, Andromeda, and Shrinking Violet) and set the stage for the White Triangle saga that would conclude in Legionnaires Annual #2. While some fans felt that including those issues would make for a better (or at least bigger) package, this set of issues focuses just on the initial eleven Legionnaires, and it caps the story of Live Wire. A White Triangle collection, if one is ever released, would properly need to start and end with Andromeda. |
| 3-4 |
These pages are done in emulation of an Omnicom, the ubiquitous reading, computing, and communication device of the 30th century. First seen in Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #1, and undoubtedly inspired heavily by devices seen in Star Trek, the Omnicom also has a direct connection to items like the Apple Newton, the Palm Pilot, and SoftBook Reader and RocketBook eBook hardware devices. |
| The Daily Planet is, of course, a direct descendant of the newspaper which Clark Kent worked for in the 20th century. In the 30th century, it is Earth’s primary news source. In the preboot continuity, both Iris Allen and Devlin O’Ryan were reporters for the Daily Planet. |
| 3: The Universe |
The “Vyrgan filibuster” is seen in Legion: Secret Files #1 (first story). Vyrga is the home planet of Gates. |
| Ambassador Wazzo is Legionnaire Apparition’s mother. Bgztl is a dimensionally displaced world, all of whose inhabitants can “phase” like phantoms. |
| Braal is the homeworld of Cosmic Boy. Titan is the homeworld of Saturn Girl. Dr. Aven is Saturn Girl’s mentor. Braal and Titan had been at war in the years prior to the founding of the Legion and the United Planets; the reasons for the conflict have not been revealed. |
| Versions of Interlac have been in use since the 20th century and even earlier. As seen in Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #0, it is the de facto standard language for much of United Planets space. |
| Telepathic earplugs were used abundantly in the preboot continuity. McCauley’s companies have a reputation for producing shoddy, knock-off work. Universal translators were built into the Legion flight rings in the postboot, possibly due to this reputation for poor workmanship. |
| Brande’s tour, including the stop on Winath, are seen in Legion: Secret Files #1 (first story), with the culmination of the tour occurring in Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #0. |
| Takron-Galtos is a prison world which has been in use in various forms for over a thousand years. The unnamed donated planet is the so-called “Planet Hell,” a prison at the center of a star, created by the Wakeets and maintained via Coluan engineering. It has been “donated” because the technology is failing and the Wakeets don’t want to maintain it. Planet Hell is featured in Legionnaires #21, Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #65, and Legionnaires #22, and again later as Andromeda’s self-imposed prison. |
| 3: Earthside |
The Science Police only take the best and the brightest as recruits. The “officer candidate” information here is questionable, in light of the reference to Gim Allon (soon to be Leviathan) as a lieutenant when his Legion draft notice arrives. All three may be officers already, if they are being featured in a recruitment holo. |
| The recruitment holo was probably never produced. Instead, the foiled attempt on Brande’s life allowed President Chu to redirect funding from this Science Police project into one focused on Legionnaire recruitment, better serving the needs of the United Planets and avoiding the paramilitary aspects of the Science Police, which could have had a negative effect on some outlying worlds’ governments. |
| The Titan cadet is Saturn Girl, of course. |
| Typo: “Cuisimano” should be “Cusimano”; she was named for a DC staffer in the late 70s/early 80s. |
| 3: The Law |
Typo: “Angu” should be “Angtu” |
| 3: Business |
“Norg” is presumably Lyle Norg, aka Invisible Kid, although a public role such as “Patent Chair” would seem to be at odds with his prior undercover service with Black Hole. This could be a relative in that role. |
| It is unknown how this trademark suit came out. In the preboot, the McCauley devices all bore the name “Omnicom”, so it probably went against Brande. (Meaning that he failed to protect the trademark.) |
| Patents are different pieces of intellectual property than trademarks, so it is not clear why a “Patent Chair” would be commenting on the matter. Perhaps there is an organization of overall intellectual property rights, and the chair of the Patent committee is able to make these comments, expressing opinion but having no weight from the correct portion of the organization behind them. |
| Other majorly wealthy sentients include Pernisius of Rimbor and Rhysson of Summer World. |
| 4: Tech |
While it would be nice to believe “infallible”, such a description of stargate technology is undoubtedly hyperbole, although they do seem to be incredibly stable and reliable, barring external interference. (The hyperbole would come to light a couple years later, when the Blight used the stargate network to invade Earth, and in doing so, tainted its future use.) |
| Earlier versions of transuits were bulkier and even opaque. |
| Observe that the environment needs under water are mostly atmosphere related (plus some temperature concerns), while those for space are much more significant. The “24 hours” refers only to the atmosphere matters; given refreshed oxygen abilities, a transuit should protect an individual in an underwater environment for much longer than a single day. |
| “Vidar” is Rond Vidar; in the preboot, Rond was the inventor of the Time Cube and the son of Legion foe Universo. Time travel research runs in the Vidar family, with an ancestor known in the 27th century. |
| Time travel is high on President Chu’s agenda because it gives the opportunity to uncover her deception in coming to power and dealing with the Braal/Titan war, and possibly the chance to rewrite history and take her out of the picture altogether. |
| 4: People |
People Querl Dox is Brainiac 5. He is an employee of Brande Industries doing all sorts of esoteric experimentation. He is also a direct descendant of archvillain Brainiac and of L.E.G.I.O.N. founder Vril Dox II. |
| Luornu Durgo is Triad, and is Brande’s adoptive daughter. The “odds” referred to are that she has a personality quirk (an institutionalizable defect on her home world of Cargg) which gives her three selves independent and dissimilar personalities. |
| 4: Sports |
Rokk Krinn is Cosmic Boy. |
| 4: Fashion |
Fashion Athramites are insect-like creatures with 47 senses, making them ideal as fashion designers. They are named for DC staffer Martha Thomases. |
| Plaid: see the cover of Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #63. |
| 4: Lifestyle |
Lifestyle Silverale is a recreational beverage popular on Rimbor. The non-addictive version was presumably required to move it into more mainstream markets. Both Ultra Boy and Inferno enjoy Silverale. |
| 236-238 |
In order to get a consistent three covers per page, they decided to not reprint the cover of Legionnaires #0. Shame. |
