Analysis Notes
| Credits |
Carmela Merlo is Roger Stern’s wife,
and does a lot of plotting/scripting work with (or for) him. |
| 1:1 |
Roundrock Prison is supposed to evoke Alcatraz. In
that event, the city seen here is Sanfrangopolis (or so it was known
in the preboot), the 30th century megacity encompassing the entire California
coast from San Francisco to Los Angeles (and beyond). The bridge
in the background would be the 30th century version of the Golden Gate
Bridge. |
| The reference to the California Archipelago indicates
that a massive earthquake (the real Big One) occurred at some point,
destroying much of the coastline. The logical event to cause this
would be the nuclear exchange (or similar event) known as the Great Disaster
(see Kamandi, Hex, and Time Masters for more information),
although it could also be the result of a superhero battle (such as the
ones which destroyed Coast City and Santa Marta in the 20th century -
both of which were on the California coast - but on a larger scale). |
| As an interesting aside, the design for the new Golden
Gate Bridge seen here has a degree of similarity to ones proposed for
the construction of a replacement for the Bay Bridge in the late 1990’s. |
| It is unclear how long ago “four months” would
be in terms of published comics; between two and three times as long,
probably. For lack of any better time, assume that this occurred
while Cosmic Boy was trapped in the 20th century, which would ensure
he had no opportunity to react to Cuspin’s release. |
| 1:2 |
This is the first time we have known Crispin’s first
name. |
| “Warden Sur” could have indicated a descendant
or relative of Abin Sur, Hal Jordan’s predecessor as Green Lantern
of Space Sector 2816. His appearance here is Terran, though, so
perhaps it is a California reference to Big Sur (about 2-3 hours south
of San Francisco). |
| 1:3 |
Recall that Saturn Girl had indicated that Cuspin’s
embezzlement should earn him several years time on Takron-Galtos, but
instead he got away with perhaps two years in a Terran prison. Assuming
Imra was not exaggerating for effect, this probably means that Cuspin
had a good lawyer. |
| Recovery of some of the embezzled funds or a good word
from Rokk Krinn might have also contributed to a lessened sentence. |
| “Time”? While the Time Trapper has expressed
an interest in Rokk Krinn, specifically, there is no evidence of his
hand in this. |
| 1:4 |
Cosmic Boy only adopted that costume after Cuspin had
been arrested, which explains why the outfit is incomplete in his mental
image. In particular, note the concept of the flight ring being
something held onto rather than worn as jewelry |
| 1:5 |
Curious that the 30th century doesn’t
do any sort of psychic probing of prisoners who are paroled, or even
who had served out their entire sentence as may be the case here. (This
is doubly odd when the presence of telepaths is added to the equation.) Perhaps
this is deemed a violation of rights in the postboot. Or it might
be reserved only for violent crimes, which embezzlement does not fall
under. Or perhaps different prisons have different systems, and
Cuspin’s lawyers got him into Roundrock because of its relative
laxness in this area. |
| 2 |
The “word balloons” from the acolytes on this
page are presumably “magical telepathy” of some sort. |
| 2:1 |
In the preboot, Sorcerers’ World was
the 30th century name for Gemworld (see Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld). The
ruling houses of Gemworld were focused around twelve giant gemstones,
each of which corresponded to the birthstones familiar to Western culture. The
focal pattern Dragonmage is sitting in appears to have eight gemstones
embedded in it; in the Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld series,
eight houses were on one side, four on the other. The eight “good” houses
were Topaz, Emerald, Turquoise, Aquamarine, Garnet, Ruby, Diamond, and
Amethyst; the “evil” ones were Sardonyx, Opal, Moonstone, and
Sapphire. With the exception of Aquamarine, which should be very
pale blue, the eight stones here correspond to the eight “good” houses
in Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld; assume a coloring error on
the purple stone in the upper right |
| There are twelve unreadable symbols in the outer symbol,
between the gemstone, triangle, and circle protrusions. |
| The purpose of the gold monoliths in the pattern is unclear. |
| Observe the “crescent and dot” symbol in the
triangles in front of and behind Dragonmage. These are the same
as Kinetix’ symbol. |
| 2:2 |
The candle appears to merely be a focus object for Dragonmage,
rather than an object of power. |
| 2:2-6 |
Observe that this indicates that Xao’s powers are
merely damaged, that his ability to control them is weak and if he loses
his concentration, they flare out of control. Compare to Magno,
whose powers were stripped away in the same battle. |
| 3:1 |
Three weeks ago is probably shortly after the Dark Circle
Rising story completed. |
| “Carnival” is the big Mardi Gras-related party
in Brazil. As will be seen on Legionnaires #71, this café is
probably in São Paulo. |
| We’ll call the tortoise-like aliens “Tortoisians.” |
| The poster of the green woman with the feathered outfit
is typical of a Carnival costume, except for the skin color. From
4:3, she can be seen to be an alien, although not Coluan. She could
be the same race as President Chu’s bodyguards were. |
| Interlac translation (poster of woman): “andrea”. This
is pieced together from 3:1 and 4:3-5, with most of the name readable
in 4:5. Here, there is a coloring error in the portion of the “d” beneath
the drink umbrella; the red and green areas are reversed. |
| Interlac translation (vidscreen to the right): “omn” or “omm”. Best
guess would be “Omnicaster,” as an indicator of what the screen
is for (news broadcast), although the bottoms of the letters in 3:2 do
not match that word. |
| The screen to the right appears to be displaying a water-based
ship of some sort, probably a cruise ship. |
| 3:2 |
Interlac translation: the green text says “magnob”[all]. The
red text says “tokyo” and “9 pm”. |
| The white and red object is a magnoball. The visual
design of it is based on the pokéball from the Pokémon anime. |
| 3:3 |
This flashback probably occurs when Rokk was about age
10. |
| Cuspin was apparently scouting talent when he discovered
Rokk. He was at least already established as a coach at the time,
and this continues to support the idea that he is a former magnoball
champion himself who was injured and had to retire from active play. |
| 3:4 |
This flashback probably occurs when Rokk was about age
12. For lack of other information, assume it occurs on Braal. |
| Note the similarity to the magnoball practice court Rokk
used in Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #0. |
| Cuspin’s comments here further indicate that he is
a somewhat disgruntled former athlete. |
| 3:5 |
This flashback probably occurs shortly before Legion
of Super-Heroes v4 #0, and is where Rokk gained the “Cosmic
Boy” nickname. |
| The green robed being is a Luck Lord. They run the
gambling casinos on Ventura. |
| Interlac translation: “39”, obviously a stadium
gate number. |
| 4:1 |
This is a flashback to Legion of Super-Heroes v4
#0. |
| Cuspin may try to revenge on Saturn Girl at some point,
also. |
| 4:2 |
This is a flashback to < >. (The
characters are wearing flight rings, which puts it after < >, yet
before Legionnaires #31, where Garth lost his arm.) |
| 4:4 |
The transparent umbrella is presumably polarized to reduce
the glare from the sun over head. |
| 4:5 |
Domain appears to always appear through
a rectangular defined area, such as this poster. Some teleporters
have a sort of “door” limitation, such as < > from Fallen
Angels and the Doormen from Siren. |
| 5:1 |
Based on one of the women in 3:1, the man in the brown
jacket is a waiter. |
| 5:4 |
The design of 30th century Tokyo seems to owe a debt to
Katushiro Otomo’s Akira anime. |
| 5:5 |
In the preboot, Cosmic Boy and Magnetic Kid’s parents
were Hu and Ewa Krinn. As seen in Legionnaires #71, those
names are still accurate. |
| The yellow alien behind Mrs. Krinn is
an Enwan. The green one resembles the Creature from the Black Lagoon;
call it a “Black Lagooni”. |
| 6:1 |
Magnoball has been shown as both a solo sport (a lá tennis)
and a team sport (like basketball or hockey). All evidence points
to Rokk as having been a solo magnoball star, rather than part of a team. (Although
he may have been that, too.) |
| 6:2 |
Interlac translation (overhead sign): “rs vs. ores”. Based
on the color schemes and such, these are the names of the magnoball teams. The
one on the left (blue and red) is the Braalian Meteors, but the other
one should be Lodestones, not “Ores”. |
| One spectator if holding a sign that starts with “W”;
another has one that says “NDY”; a third has a picture of a
deep sea fish on it. No idea what these refer to. |
| Interlac translation (sign with magnoball): “pokémon”,
referring to the anime/manga series and video game, which feature a host
of pocket-sized “monsters” that are captured, trained, and
pitted against one another in battle. The anime series is notorious
for the video effects in one episode having induced epileptic seizures
in some viewers in Japan. |
| Interlac translation (yellow sign): “sl???” Possibly “Slice”,
a reference to the 7-Up clone soda, since many arena signs will advertise
food and drink. |
| There are five members of each magnoball team shown, reinforcing
the basketball analogue. |
| No one in the crowd is recognizable, although the white-haired
man on the right side could be a Science Police officer or Hunter from
the Linear Men. (Doubtful, though, so the character isn’t
tracked.) |
| 7:1 |
The blond man is presumably a sportscaster, like the seated
woman, while the blue-skinned man (who is not a Talokian; too light)
is team management (as will be seen in Legionnaires #71), like
Giselle King. |
| Ah, so the Terran team uses Braalian immigrants rather
than technological magnetism producers. Of course, this makes sense,
as introducing tech into the equation introduces an easy avenue for cheating. |
| 7:3 |
No idea what the sign in the crowd is supposed to be. |
| 7:4 |
They seem to be tracking both the individuals and the
team. Although statistics are kept on individuals in 20th century
team sports, there isn’t usually any real competition within the
team for best statistics (with the exception of cases where a record
of some sort is being strived for). This would make magnoball truly
unique. |
| 7:5 |
Saturn Girl must have pulled Xotar’s identity from
his head before he escaped. Cosmic Boy had no other way to know
his identity. |
| Cosmic Boy’s head shot is part of this panel. |
| 8:1 |
The presumed sportscaster wearing the magnoball jacket
has a bald head and odd shaped ears; this would be Khfeurb Chee Bez,
the preboot Antenna Boy. He was last seen in the preboot as a newscaster,
so this is in line for the character. |
| The blue-colored man will be seen to be the coach of the Braalian
Mteors in the next issue. |
| Dirk Morgna was Sun Boy in the preboot, and longtime member
of the Legion. This time around, the Emerald Eye took his powers
away during a battle with Dr. Regulus. |
| 8:2 |
“Running in the red” would be appropriate for
a redhead. |
| It is nice to see Dirk being given a supporting character
role after having been ignored for the past two years. |
| 8:5 |
Coloring error: the Terran player here should be Caucasian,
as in 8:4 and based on the other players seen in 6:2. |
| Is the collision between Pol and the other player a foul
of any sort? It would be in basketball, but probably not in hockey. |
| 9:1-2 |
The girl with the white suspenders is based on Misty from Pokémon:
The Tale of Electric Pikachu. Her name here is Kuniko. |
| 9:1 |
The reporter in the green dress is holding what must be
a miniature holo-recorder, not unlike 20th century dictaphones. |
| 9:3 |
Interlac translation: “silver ale”, a popular
30th century drink holding a market position similar to Coca-Cola does
today. It is unclear whether it is alcoholic or not. |
| 9:5 |
Observe that Domain’s powers involve a white mist
or light. He was stated to be a dimension traveller earlier; his
powers do not seem to involve time travel, at least at this point, as
that effect would color his power effect. |
| 10:1 |
The setting is based on Salvador Dali’s painting “The
Persistence of Memory.” |
| Kuniko’s autographed magnoball disappeared. Perhaps
Domain’s powers and its tech are incompatible? |
| Domain’s transparent body counts as a panel appearance. |
| 10:2 |
The setting is based on Edvard Munch’s painting “The
Scream.” |
| 10:3 |
The yellow creature is Pikachu (an electric mouse) from Pokémon,
in its powered-up form. The rabbit creature is Ryo-Ohki, from Tenchi
Muyo, another anime. The gray and red spiral is unidentified. |
| 10:4 |
The setting is based on Jack Kirby’s work. |
| Domain’s eyes count as a panel appearance. |
| “Perspective” refers to the final setting, in
11:1. |
| 11:1 |
The setting is based on the works of M.C. Escher, especially “Relativity” (but
also “Belvedere,” “Convex and Concave,” “House
of Stairs,” and “Waterfall”). |
| Despite the thick black edge on the stairs, everything
above the lower-right corner is a single panel. |
| Domain’s transparent head counts as a panel appearance. |
| 11:2 |
Star Boy has been grounded until his powers stabilize
and is on long-term monitor duty. |
| Legion flight rings include communicators. |
| 12:2 |
Dyrk Magz used to be Magno, but he lost his powers fighting
Mordru, just like Dragonmage did. He is now the permanent staff
member at the Legion Outpost. |
| “Outpost Allon” is the formal name of the Legion
Outpost, named for Gim Allon, the deceased Legionnaire Leviathan I. |
| Although Dyrk and Dreamer have never been seen to have
met, they probably encountered each other while he was still on Earth. They
may well have met during the Legion tryouts in Legionnaires #43. |
| 12:3 |
Interlac translation: “[???]ction [???]in?ted” -
must be “Connection Terminated”. |
| “Bizarre” referring to Bizarro. |
| Dreamer is precognitive, getting glimpses of the future
when she sleeps. The dreams are said to always be true, but they
can often be misinterpreted. |
| 12:5 |
We have been told Thom will survive to become Starman
VIII under the name “Danny Blaine,” according to Starman v2
#50. The truth of that remains to be seen, of course. And
it is not clear yet where that issue falls into Legion continuity. |
| 12:6 |
It is unclear how far ahead these “tough times” are. Probably
to Legionnaires #72, where he faces the Elementals of Disaster
alone. |
| 13:2 |
“Danger, Xao Jin! Danger!” It looks new
because it “wants” you to pick it up and read it. |
| Coloring error: the semi-shaved hair on the side of Dragonmage’s
head should be blue-black, not flesh colored. |
| 13:5 |
It is unclear why the steps crumbled. Perhaps simply
to get across why Kuniko is tumbling to a different staircase. |
| 14:4 |
They were steps going up, until about halfway up,
when they became steps going down to the next platform. |
| The risk in using the flight ring would presumably be
that the conflicting gravitational fields in this setting might change
to quickly for Rokk to react. Any significant speed could end up
sending him hurtling head first into one of the staircases or platforms. |
| 15:3 |
Peculiarly, the size of Domain’s legs below the platform
that Rokk and Kuniko is on doesn’t seem to match what is seen above
the platform. |
| 16:2 |
“The fabric of infinity”? Could Domain
be the postboot analogue of the Infinite Man? Certain aspects of
his costume design echo that. |
| 16:3 |
The setting within Domain is based on Vincent Van Gogh’s
painting “The Starry Night.” |
| 16:4 |
Rokk broke any magnoball contracts and promotional deals
he had signed to found the Legion. Presumably such was done legally,
with the help of R.J. Brande’s lawyers (and funds). |
| 17:1 |
Cosmic Boy’s uniform disks are detachable, giving
him a weapon to use at a distance. David Goldfarb was responsible
for suggesting this innovation. |
| 17:3 |
Domain doesn’t play fair, changing the setting in
the middle of the game. |
| 17:4 |
Cosmic Boy twisted his body to take the impact himself,
sparing Kuniko. |
| 18:1 |
Ah, teamwork! |
| 18:2 |
More teamwork. |
| From the blue lines indicating magnetic fields, it appears
that the reporter is also Braalian, exerting a field to anchor herself
while Pol flips from his platform to hers. |
| 18:3 |
In other words, he is using Pol as a gravitational source
to bounce his powers off for flight purposes. Gravity is a reasonably
weak force; with Pol close enough and projecting strong enough, Rokk
is able to largely ignore the gravity of the Escher setting. |
| 18:4 |
Very curious that Domain should use the same wording that
Kuniko did - “moving so easily now.” This might indicate
a connection between the two of them, but it’s probably just a dialoguing
gaffe. |
| 19:3 |
Like Cuspin’s unhappiness would be a surprise? Rokk’s
departure for the Legion destroyed his lucrative livelihood and sent
him to prison for a couple years. |
| 20:3-4 |
It is unclear why the giant balls suddenly converged on
this position. There is no evidence that they were acting other
than randomly before. The answer obviously lies in the field Rokk
was projecting. Although most materials are not ferromagnetic and
thus difficult for Rokk to manipulate, perhaps with the strength of his
field, he was able to affect the balls slightly, enough to mimic gravity
and draw them toward him. (Magnetism is one of the universal forces,
along with gravity and the strong and weak nuclear forces.) How
he was able to limit this to the balls without affecting Domain, the
other people in the setting, or the setting itself is unclear. (Bad
Legion Science™, perhaps.) |
| 21:2 |
The explosion appears to have shredded Domain himself
and not just his costume. This indicates that the settings are
either creations of his or pre-existing locales (parts of Hypertime,
perhaps?) which he accesses, rather than somehow being part of him. |
| 21:4-5 |
Raise your hand, anyone who thinks Domain is dead. |
| And once again, Cosmic Boy earns the eternal enmity of
an unimaginably powerful foe. First the Time Trapper, now Domain. Talk
about your overachievers! |
| 21:7 |
It would appear that the foursome was gone for at least
several minutes their time, but probably only a few seconds in the real
world. Otherwise, people would not have still been in their seats. |
| 22:3 |
Dragonmage’s display here supports the idea that
it is his level of control and focus that is gone. He can do big,
destructive magic, but not subtle, constructive tasks. |
| 22:4 |
This guardian is probably a ghost, but could be an astral
projection of some sort. |
