Analysis Notes
| Cover |
Okay, who didn’t give Chris Sprouse the model sheets for the aliens in this issue? |
| 1:1 |
The sign being carried by the red-haired Wellurian says “U.P. Off Wellur”. |
| Note that the Wellurians have four digits per hand, two of them being opposable thumbs. |
| 1:2 |
All of the posters in this issue are of the three original Legionnaires, and the Legionnaire robots are also only of them. King Kradok’s plan must have been instituted at the very beginning of the Legion, even before the parade seen in Legionnaires #0. |
| 1:3 |
The dialogue balloons come from the L-Sphere, presumably in the voice of Saturn Girl, despite them pointing to Cosmic Boy and Live Wire’s robots. |
| Note that the Saturn Girl robot has it’s hand on its head here, but does not later on. They are thus not just mannequins but are capable of some limited movement. |
| 6:1 |
Interlac translation: “go!”; probably part of a slogan like “Legion is go!” |
| 6:2 |
Coloring error: top of the panel, between the word balloons. |
| 7:4 |
Recall the double opposable thumbs of the Wellurians. That’s why Sener Cul’s hand looks so odd, gripping his face. |
| 8:1 |
No idea which planet the Legion Outpost is orbiting. It presumably travels from system to system, since this is a different one than has been seen before. |
| 8:2-3 |
This is the first time we have seen a memory chip of any sort used to exchange information between Omnicoms. Presumably the 30th century should have an efficient form of direct communication between machines; the 20th century has infrared hot sync, after all. It is possible that this is literally what Spark says it is: “what’s left of his ship’s log,” salvaged it from the wreckage of Sener Cul’s starpod, and 30th century technology being what it is, an Omnicom is able to read the chip. However, Garth appears to have several such chips on his nightstand in 8:5, so presumably the sheer volume of information storable on such chips - using submolecular-level encoding, perhaps - is so large that it exceeds the bandwidth capabilities of any machine-to-machine transmission equipment. |
| 8:5 |
Note the 3-D holo image of Saturn Girl on Live Wire’s nightstand. |
| 9:1 |
It’s not quite clear why Spark thinks the situation is “sick”, but we’ll grant “unethical”. (In the preboot, Ayla ended up in a same-sex relationship, and she has shown to be protective of Imra in ways similar to her brother, possibly indicating a subconscious interest. It is possible that Ayla’s protestations here are as much from such interest on her part as any true offense at Garth’s intentions.) |
| 9:3 |
Regardless of her opinion of the situation, Ayla is loyal to her brother. |
| 9:4 |
This is the Legion leader’s office, unseen since the sting on President Chu. |
| It’s always a good question: what sort of a threat requires the full team, and what only requires part of the team? This case seems to be planetary in scope, but not threatening beyond the one planet. Being self-contained, it probably does not warrant the full Legion, but a team of more than three members would seem appropriate. |
| 10:1 |
He undermined Imra’s authority because she is overcompensating, intentionally avoiding Garth even when she should not. Rokk is subtly forcing the issue. |
| 10:3 |
Legion tryouts did not exist in the early days of the Legion. The first ones seen were in Legionnaires #43. King Kradok has apparently kept abreast of the Legion’s activities and modified his plans when the opportunity for more twisted exercises arose. |
| It is too late for the Kradok sympathizer; the L-Sphere has heard him, and he gets singled out of the crowd. (This is interesting, since King Kradok is behind the false Legion, yet he chooses to do away with some of the people who display exactly the response he wants to engender.) |
| 12:3 |
We will assume that the Legion just arrived and was not waiting to see what would happen and thus allowed the L-Sphere to fry the poor Wellurian. |
| 13:2 |
The Legionnaires can hit harder because the L-Sphere’s power discharges are limited by the mechanics involved and are based on two year old (Legion time) information. Rokk and Garth have improved the use of their powers since then. |
| 13:4 |
Keep yourself focused on the crisis at hand, Garth, not on chasing your girlfriend. |
| 14:7 |
Imra presumably could have forced the “soothing thoughts,” but perhaps not on such a large number of individuals. She would not want to force the issue, anyway, as that goes against her cultural upbringing. |
| 15:4 |
There’s that knowing look from Rokk. |
| 17:2 |
Peyer is playing King Kradok’s scenery chewing to the hilt here - “Help me up” equating to “Carry me”. It works much better with this character, presented as eccentric and buffoonish from the start, than it did with Lord Pernisius. |
| 17:4 |
“Philosophical effluvia”: you just don’t hear terms like that every day! |
| 17:6 |
Observe that King Kradok isn’t saying that he is evil, but that he set up an evil, twisted version of the Legion as a sort of funhouse mirror. By giving the Wellurians something that claimed to be what they wanted yet which came across negatively, he could put his position in a more favorable light and extend his rule accordingly. Quite a clever plan, if a bit twisted, eccentric, and buffoonish. |
| 18:3-4 |
Cosmic Boy’s powers are increasing, if he is now able to affect machinery he cannot see at a distance like this, and subtly enough to land the palace without damaging it. |
| 19:4 |
Indeed, after so much abuse at the hand of those in power and those claiming to be in power, the Wellurians probably don’t trust any symbols of authority they have known in the past. The Legionnaires will need to report this to the Science Police and the United Planets, who can then send in teams to help the populace set up a next form of government and otherwise relearn how to exist as a culture. It’s that or pure anarchy. |
| 20:2-3 |
“I suspect... the Wellurian in the throne room with the candlestick.” (Or was it Colonel Mustard in the Kitchen with the Lead Pipe?) |
| There are too many individuals present for Imra to sift thoughts and find the ones that are true threats. And in this case, the thrown item may have been at the four flying figures in general, rather than at Saturn Girl in particular, and thus that much harder to detect. |
| 20:6 |
Despite seeming to desert King Kradok, the Legionnaires undoubtedly stuck around nearby for the next several minutes, just to make sure that the mob didn’t stumble on the king and kill him before he had a chance to try to blend in and survive. To do otherwise might violate their code against killing. |
| 22 |
A little touch of hope amidst the anarchy. Don’t be surprised to see this girl show up in the Legion books again some day, a few years down the line. |
| Letters |
The response to Pat Easton’s letter indicates an upcoming story about robots. In Legionnaires #78, the characters encounter Emissary, a herald from the world Robotica. |
