Analysis Notes
| 1:1 |
This very long, red ship echoes the monstrous ship from
Red Dwarf. |
| “Hesperides”: In classical Greek mythology, the
Hesperides are the nymphs who help to guard the golden apples. |
| Role call images do not count as panel appearances. |
| 1:2-3 |
The captain’s outfit appears to be based on the designs
of Leiji Matsumoto, the Japanese creator of what Americans know as Star
Blazers and Captain Harlock. |
| 2:2 |
The Affiliated Planets is the remnants of the group that
broke off from the United Planets during “Dark Circle Rising.” |
| 2:4 |
Interlac translation: “a”; this is Hangar Bay
A. |
| 3:1 |
Monstress’ comments relate to a dropped plotline which
led into “Dark Circle Rising.” |
| No idea what the pink mist is. Possibly the object
is a super-cooled container. |
| 3:2 |
Unknown why Monstress “knows” A.P. space.
Perhaps this is a reference to her origin? |
| 4:1-4 |
Fans have observed that Jo and Tinya have a somewhat codependent
relationship, and this both acknowledges that and works toward solving
it. (Of course, the separation between the two in the upcoming “Legion
of the Damned” story and the Legion: Lost series may really
strain their marriage.) |
| 4:4 |
She won’t be back for more than a month, due to the
Blight. |
| 4:5 |
The other Legionnaires have also noticed the problems in
Jo and Tinya’s marriage, but they have probably refrained from commenting
on them. |
| 5:1-4, 6:1 |
While we are presumably meant to assume that Garth’s
proposal was accepted, observe that Imra’s answer was explicitly
not shown. It is possible that, especially in light of the observation
of Jo and Tinya, that Imra put off giving an answer. Although the
Legionnaires are legally adults, they are still teenagers (Garth should
be 16 now, and Imra, 17), and teenage weddings are controversial to 20th
century audiences. (Jo and Tinya were probably closing on 18 and
17 when they got married.) And besides, a Garth/Imra wedding not
in a tabloid-sized comic just seems so... wrong. |
| 5:4 |
This is a rather different view of the interior of a stargate
than seen in Legion of Super-Heroes: Secret Files #2, but this
is also seen from the outside rather than the inside. |
| “Borias Alpha Cusp” is a made up name, but could
easily refer to a group of star systems near a particular nebula or other
space feature. |
| 6:4 |
Dialogue is from Brainiac 5.1. |
| 7:1 |
Dialogue is from Cosmic Boy. |
| 7:2 |
Dialogue is from Cosmic Boy and Brainiac 5.1. |
| 7:3 |
It probably is a relatively simple landing procedure —
just direct the computer to do the job, and monitor it. Of course,
Brainy will do a better job at that than anyone else; it is odd to think
of him as one of the Legion’s best pilots, though. |
| 8:1 |
This bridge design is a flip-flop of the one on the Enterprise
NCC 1701-D: captain’s chair in the middle, two separate consoles
up behind (rather than down in front), and a long console down in front
(rather than up behind). |
| 8:4 |
Off-panel dialogue is from Monstress. |
| 8:5 |
Monstress should have been given pupils here (or at least
gray eyes, as elsewhere in the issue); she looks possessed. |
| Although not stated, Rokk and Tinya are probably remembering
the Legion’s mission facing Tangleweb, also on a derelict ship with
all the crew incapacitated; the first Kid Quantum died on that mission. |
| The crew was apparently frozen by the Emissary. Although
it seems willing to “expunge” (kill) the Legionnaires later
(and specifically “Brainiac”), it must have left these alive
in case it ended up needing information in order to reactivate the Ares
Series wardroids. |
| 9:2 |
We usually think of a wall with the edges curled like this
as something having burst through it, but what would have happened here
is that the Emissary punched a fairly small hole through, then reached
through to pull the wall out, enlarging the hole. |
| Rokk is holding one of the small “flashlight”
panels seen in Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #112. |
| 9:3 |
Adamite is obviously a play off “adamantine”
(known as “adamantium” in the Marvel universe), intended as
a building material largely impervious to the myriad abuses of general
space travel. |
| 10:2 |
Hmm. “Five centuries ago” might be the
late 25th century, where Booster Gold is from. |
| Brainy is touching one of the disks on his forehead, controlling
his internalized force-field. |
| 10:3 |
The “Asimov Circuit” refers to Isaac Asimov’s
Three Laws of Robotics:
1. A robot may
not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to
come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the
orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict
with the First Law.
3. A robot must
protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict
with the First or Second Laws.
Asimov also created a “Zeroth Law” that some robots followed:
“No robot may harm humanity, or through inaction, allow humanity
to come to harm,” which allowed robots to act against individual
humans for the greater good. |
| A “complete” override of this circuit would mean
not only that the robots could kill, but that they could commit warfare
(attack humanity), could refuse to acknowledge orders that conflict with
prior commands (you can’t tell them to stop), and could take self-preservation
steps (such as breaking off an attack to regroup). |
| 11:1 |
You’ve got to love how robots state the obvious. |
| 12:1 |
Off-panel dialogue is from Cosmic Boy. |
| 12:2 |
“They Came from the Ballast”: nah, makes for
a lousy B-movie title. |
| 12:3 |
In the preboot, Rokk was a scholar of earlier eras, but
primarily the 20th century. |
| The Metallo Virus is obviously a reference to Superman’s
foe, Metallo, a cyborg created by Lex Luthor and powered by kryptonite.
Metallo was later “upgraded” by Neron. |
| 12:4 |
Recognize that Brainy is saying that only the Ares Series
robots were affected by the virus, but presumably all robots were shut
down due to fear of the virus spreading. The Ares Series was then
permanently junked, and presumably the other robots were reactivated.
Continuing fear of the Metallo Virus coming back, though, probably led
to public dislike of robots, so few more were created and their gradual
attrition led to the state where there are few robots active in the 30th
century, mostly only in very narrow, service-oriented jobs (like the robot
waiters that have been seen). |
| 12:5 |
Although the material she is phasing through is colored
like an Ares Series wardroid, it is not one. This is the remains
of a cargo unit which the wardroids have blown up while trying to hit
her. |
| 13:2 |
Cosmic Boy is removing one of the Goldfarbian disks from
his chest. |
| 13:3 |
Coloring error: the Goldfarbian disk is colored the same
as what it is cutting through. |
| In the past, Cosmic Boy has used his chest disks as clubbing
weapons, not cutting ones. In order to himself from being cut by
the edges of the disk in 13:2, they must be made of a material that he
can finely adjust with his powers, to the point of being able to hone
the edge to molecular thinness. (We’ll sidestep the rest of
the “cutting” issues beyond that, just like with Wolverine’s
claws.) |
| 13:5-14:2 |
Tinya obviously needs to practice this sort of use of her
powers more. Saturn Girl should recommend such training on reading
the mission report. |
| 14:1 |
The exploding remnants of the Aries Series wardroid count
as a panel appearance. |
| 15:4-5 |
The references to Brainiac are probably to the original
(although they could be to Vril Dox II or Lyrl Dox, if they ever adopt
“Brainiac” codenames). This probably indicates a connection
between Brainiac and the Metallo Virus (or perhaps an earlier incarnation
of Metallo). |
| 16:1 |
Note that these “Asimov Applications” are all
variants of the First Law. Brainy may not have had time to remove
the overrides for the other Laws. |
| 16:3 |
Tinya and Rokk were both present when Brainy met Brainiac
and Vril Dox; they should be able to come up with the obvious answer.
(Although with Brainiac 4 still at large and fresher in their memories;
they may not be thinking temporally enough yet.) |
| 18:2 |
We don’t know: shall you answer? Is this
a rhetorical question, or is there an external database you are contacting? |
| Emissary One One Two One Two: 11212 is the zip code for
Brooklyn, NY, but that may be coincidence; the writers live in England. |
| 18:3 |
Among other real world uses of the term, “Robotica”
is a game for the SEGA system, and the former name of an annual robot
“death match,” where people design killer robots and pit them
against each other (now known as Battlebots, and available on Pay
Per View). As it will turn out, Robotica will be the machinery villain
in Legion Worlds. |
| 18:4 |
Second statement refers to exclamation, not questions. |
| 19 |
Maybe Brainy should include an Asimov circuit in the next
version of C.O.M.P.U.T.O. |
| 20:3 |
Please. “Centuries-old” plus “Brainiac”?
The answer would be obvious to Ferro. |
| 21:2 |
This is the first time we have seen a stargate with a four-digit
number. Perhaps the numbers are location indicators, and the others
have a presumed lead digit of “0”; other lead digits might then
relate to other spiral arms of the galaxy or mini-clusters outside of
the Earth-centered United Planets space. The term “Out-Throw”
attached to this location is support for that. |
| 21:4-5 |
But does the facility have a chance to get any sort of
a warning message sent? |
| “Kammal Hydrax”: in the preboot, there was a
species of seafaring camels seen in Legion of Super-Heroes v2 #277.
Their homeworld was called “Dromedan” but perhaps that should
apply as just the name of the species. |
| 22:1 |
The Emissary’s remains count as a panel appearance. |
| 22:2 |
This aurora that lights up the sky over Braal is probably
the result of the destruction of the Braalian stargate rather than a display
of the Blight themselves. |
| Braal is the homeworld of Cosmic Boy. |
| 22:3 |
Typo: “Aelph” should be “Aleph”. |
| Aleph is the homeworld of Kinetix. Winath is the
homeworld of Live Wire and Spark. Rimbor is the homeworld of Ultra
Boy. Korzon 5 and Loberzia are new names, possibly not even members
of the United Planets. |
