Analysis Notes
| General |
Only pages 1-12 are dealt with here. |
| 1 |
The captions here count as speaking for Starman. |
| 1:1 |
The reflection in Jack’s glasses is Green Lantern’s
flame. This does not count as an appearance for him, though. |
| 1:4 |
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable
from magick. (Arthur C. Clarke) |
| 1:5 |
Dialogue is from Mordru. |
| 2/3 |
“Ouroboros” is the serpent devouring its own
tail, symbolizing the eternal cycle of death and rebirth, which is appropriate
to the reincarnated Dr. Fate. In Norse mythology, it is Jörmungandr,
the world serpent, which plays a role in Ragnarok; the prior incarnation
of the Justice Society was trapped in Asgard for a few years, eternally
fighting in Ragnarok, although only Wildcat, of those pictured here, was
a member then. |
| “The Raven”: 1963 movie directed by Roger Corman,
starring Karloff, Price, and Peter Lorre. Interestingly, the villain
is named Scarabus, which is also the piece of the Scarab’s equipment
which the Star-Spangled Kid used in JSA #3 to help resurrect Dr.
Fate. |
| 4:1 |
Nabu is the Lord of Order residing in Fate’s artifacts. |
| 4:4 |
A Hawk and a black Canary. |
| 5:2 |
Roy Lichtenstein, noted for swiping comic book panels and
reproducing them as large pieces of wall art, with the color composed
of huge benday dots. (The color pattern imposed over the image here
doesn’t really do a good job of imitating that.) |
| This counts as an appearance for Atom-Smasher. |
| 5:2-5 |
Despite being colored like the earlier captions, these
are not dialogue from Starman. |
| 5:3 |
It feels familiar due to Sand having been transformed into
a silicone monster for several years. |
| It’s isn’t clearly stated, but Mordru’s
transforming spell apparently activates the latent ability of Sand to
transform his body, which then occurs on pages 20-21. |
| 6:2-4 |
These are presumably alternate realities
slipping through Hypertime. We will call them Earth-R (where the
heroes fight in the Revolutionary War) with Star Spangled Lass and Starman,
Earth-C-Minus (last seen in Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew
in the Oz-Wonderland War #< >) with Star Spangled Bunny and
Starfox (isn’t that a former member of the Avengers?), and Earth-M
(for Medieval) with the Star Spangled Lady Knight and Starry Knight. |
| These do not count as appearances for the Star-Spangled
Kid and Starman. |
| 8:1 |
As seen in 14:2, Jack’s Cosmic Rod gets restored,
either automatically when Mordru is defeated or explicitly by Dr. Fate. |
| 8:2 |
And thus we know that the new Dr. Fate is someone Atom-Smasher knew
but not someone Wildcat knew (at least very well). This would leave out
Al Pratt, but would point to a member of Infinity, Inc., or perhaps Extreme
Justice. |
| 8:4 |
No idea if this spell of “Onyx Hunger” was actually used by
Arion in his various comics appearances. |
| 9:3-4 |
Mordru’s efforts to track down agents of Order and Chaos and take
their power has rough echoes of Darkseid in “The Great Darkness Saga.” |
| 9:6 |
First reaction, given the white hair and the word “forever”:
“Oh, crap. It’s Hunter. The new Dr. Fate is a Linear Man.”
(Incorrect, fortunately.) |
| 10:3 |
The new hand Mordru created for himself after Starman burned the original
off is the last thing to go, curiously. |
| 11:1 |
Obviously, the details of Mordru’s eventual escape from Fate’s
amulet remain to be told. Since Nabu’s Vestments weren’t seen
among Mordru’s artifacts in Legionnaires #50, they may well get destroyed
when Mordru is freed. |
| 11:3 |
Much of his history is related on page 16-17, but omitted there is
any mention of Hector Hall’s wife, Lyta Trevor (aka Fury), or what
happened to him in the Dreaming: he took on the identity of Sandman III,
brought Lyta into the Dreaming, and fathered a son, Daniel, who took over
the role of Dream when Morpheus was killed by Fury, possessed by the Furies.
|
| Dialogue is from Kent Nelson. |
| 12:3 |
The Archmage was behind the “Magic Wars” arc that ended the
preboot Legion of Super-Heroes v3 series. |
| 12:4-5 |
Presumably contacting Kent doesn’t risk Mordru escaping. |
| General |
This issue was reprinted in the JSA: Justice Be Done trade paperback
collection. |
