Analysis Notes
| Cover |
“Widening Rifts” refers to several things in
this story arc: separating the Legion from being a direct part of the
United Planets government, separations between the characters (such as
with Star Boy, Umbra, and Winema Wazzo), the tainted stargate, and the
impending break into the Legion Lost series. |
| Note that the cover colorist has changed, the latest in
a string of creative staff changes since McAvennie took the editorial
reins. |
| 1 |
“Childhood’s End” is the title of a 1953
Arthur C. Clarke novel. In it, humanity is on the verge of destroying
itself via nuclear weapons, so aliens move in and take over. Here,
the title doesn’t seem to connect to the novel, but rather to the
need for the Legion to move away from being seen as non-adults. |
| 1-4:1 |
This is a dream sequence. |
| 2:5 |
Live Wire, Invisible Kid, Magno, and Sensor were all seen
coming out of the ruins of the Stem in Legionnaires #80, so Garth’s
dream is reasonably accurate. |
| 4:3 |
Live Wire’s mechanical arm did look a little bedraggled
in Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #122. A month without the materials
to care for it, plus occasional damage, would have taken their toll. |
| 4:5 |
This counts as an appearance for Dreamer. |
| 4:5-5:1 |
In other words, Nura is already off and dreaming about
the next big threat to the Legion: cancellation of both titles.
Um, er, half the team being lost in space (rather than time, this time).
Um, er, a whole year of Coipel’s art on the Legion. |
| 5:2-3 |
Savvy fans have observed that in the preboot, Star Boy
got kicked out of the Legion and Dream Girl resigned, and both then joined
the Legion of Substitute Heroes for a while before returning to the main
team. This departure has strong echoes of the earlier one. |
| 6:1-2 |
That is presumably Metropolis outside. Based on Legionnaires
#81, this is inside Legion headquarters. |
| Observe that Umbra is apparently projecting her shadows
around her, but for whatever reason, they aren’t hiding her very
much. Perhaps the shadows are leaking out subconsciously, just a
little bit, to cause this effect. |
| 6:4 |
As indicated more clearly in Legionnaires #81, being
Blighted was like being on a drug high. |
| 7:1 |
Always a sign of quality, when the perspective angle of
the text doesn’t match that of the art it is attached to. |
| 7:2 |
The shadow is from Cosmic Boy, and counts as an appearance
for him. |
| 7:3 |
Note the extreme formality here, with Brande and Winema
referring to each other by their titles. Winema’s comments
here and in Legionnaires #81 to the contrary, she has no reservations
about the impeachment actions she is going to take. |
| 7:4 |
Six of the other seven worlds are presumably the ones mentioned
as experiencing the Blight effect in Legionnaires #78: Braal, Aleph,
Winath, Rimbor, Korzon 5, and Loberzia. The seventh one is unknown.
Alternately, it could be just the solar system that is being quarantined,
since it was probably all affected by the Blight: we know Earth, Luna,
Mars, and Titan are inhabited, with Mars and Titan being United Planets
members, and there are undoubtedly people living on Venus, Io, and Ganymede,
too. The fact that none of the Legionnaires attached to the planets
mentioned in Legionnaires #78 are concerned about their homes lends
strength to the affected ones not being those. |
| 8:2 |
Winema needs a new line. The Legion has been in existence
for more than two years, their time. While many of the members were
14 to 16 when the team started, they are now 16 to 18 — much more
mature — and have proven their value time and again. (Like
against insane Daxamites, for example. Or against the malignant
founders of the Associated Planets.) |
| 8:3 |
The shadow against the right wall is Triad, and counts
as an appearance for her. |
| 8:5 |
It is said that civilization is always only a few days
away from starvation or barbarism. The more dependent we are on
the continuation of exchange with those far away for our day-to-day necessities,
the worse trouble we are in if disaster strikes. In the 30th century,
with interplanetary trade necessary to maintain colony worlds and such,
the problems are magnified. |
| 8:6 |
Does Winema think that Brande actually controls the Legionnaires? |
| 9:2 |
The United Planets sure works fast, and secretively.
(Or perhaps Brande has been ignoring his Presidential duties for the past
several days, eschewing politics in favor of getting Earth running again?
Heaven forbid.) What this also says is that the power of the President
was probably significantly reduced in the wake of Chu’s tenure, perhaps
even at the request of Brande, in order to prevent such excesses from
recurring. |
| 9:6 |
This is another space station of the same class as the
destroyed Legion Outpost (aka Outpost Allon). Given that the prior
one was named after one deceased Legionnaire, we’ll dub this one
Outpost Cullen, after the other dead one. |
| That is presumably Luna they are passing. |
| 10:1 |
Observe that the team Brande sent is the Legion’s
top scientists, the one person who can produce more tarnium for the stargate,
and Brande’s top engineer/architect: exactly the right team for the
job. |
| Brainy’s comment is a reference to the multiply meaninged
sentence “Time flies like an arrow.” |
| 10:2 |
Outpost Allon was probably also in similar shape, originally.
It’s just that Brande’s people did a retrofit before the Legion
got it. |
| 11:2-3 |
The lump on Lori’s shoulder is Proty. |
| 11:3 |
Typo: “Amelia Crugg”, not “Amilia”. |
| 11:4 |
While Evolvo and Spider Girl are undoubtedly under age,
are Piston, Catspaw, and Lupine, the three potential members seen in Legionnaires
#69? |
| 12:1 |
The “stationary freight traffic” is ships waiting
to use the stargate to leave the solar system. Some of them can
be seen in the upper half of the panel. |
| 12:1 |
The phrase “station keeping” doesn’t scan
well. Lyle presumably means for Chuck to use the station’s
thrusters to hold position. |
| 13:2 |
Coloring error: the space between the balloons at the bottoms
should have been colored the same as the floor. |
| 13:3-4 |
Brande is obviously on trial here without any charges being
given to him. This is a kangaroo court of the worst sort.
(It would not be surprising to find that Wazzo and the anti-Brande contingent
have even “adjusted” the “crippled” communications
web to their advantage, preventing the presence of some ambassadors more
apt to be sympathetic to Brande and the Legion. There is probably
only barely a quorum present.) |
| 13:4 |
But not until we’ve ripped every shred of political
power and dignity from you. (You see, Winema Wazzo is really Trent
Lott reincarnated.) |
| 14:2 |
This appears to be a Dominator, but is probably not intended
to be one. (Note the absence of a caste disk, for example.) |
| 14:4-5 |
Even if no one suggested such restrictions, someone
must have thought about them. Unfortunately, we cut to a scene change
before Brande can explain why such limits were not imposed. |
| 15:2 |
There must not be adequate fuel cells available for the
ship due to depletions by the Blight. |
| One Triad, colored correctly, is on the rocks in the lower
right. The other two Triads, colored wrong, are near the puddle
by Saturn Girl’s knee, and on the sidewalk in the lower center. |
| 15:4 |
Triad, being Brande’s adopted daughter and former
personal assistant, is probably the only one who would have been reasonable
accompaniment (and then only out of costume), but she is assisting in
this effort. |
| 16:1-2 |
The missing girl was apparently right nearby. The
mother had merely lost her for a few seconds, but was reacting as though
she had been lost for days, which is how Thunder read the situation. |
| 16:3 |
The Wisdom of Solomon should have come into play here.
Between the Blight and the separation from her family in the 90th century,
Thunder may be starting to doubt her role and becoming ineffective as
a result, unable to focus and use the subtleties of her powers.
The anti-Legion stuff in Legionnaires #81 then becomes the final
straw in her decision to resign. |
| 16:5 |
You’ll get more supplies if you get all six kids in
line with you, sir. Since you didn’t, you’re probably
lying. |
| 17:4-5 |
Saturn Girl’s dialog only makes sense here if you
understand that M’Onel’s way of “warning” them off
would be the standard superhero method: a show of force. |
| 18:2 |
Coloring error: Chuck Taine should be Caucasian. |
| 19:3 |
And then I’m going to get plastic surgery to fix the
horrible art job on my face in this panel. |
| 19:4 |
McCauley’s statement about removing WorkForce members
under 21 would seem to be at odds with 11:3’s statement that Lori
remains on the payroll. On the other hand, check out her birth certificate,
and you’ll find that she is really about 10 years old. Alternately,
she has been (forcibly) deaged since she first came to the 30th century;
at that time, her physical age was over 21. Either of these are
sufficient loopholes to keep Lori active in the WorkForce. |
| One wonders where McCauley got these “experienced”
adult operatives from, and whether they have trained separately or as
a group. Knowing McCauley, he’s exaggerating. |
| 19:5 |
This is presumably a holographic PDA — a 30th century
Palm Pilot, with specific functionality that differs from the more broadly
used Omnicom — probably a prototype device that McCauley is working
on. |
| 20:3 |
Repulse appears to be the leader of the WorkForce; attribute
this dialogue to him. |
| 21:1 |
None of these shadows seem to be obvious matches to the
new WorkForce members seen in Legionnaires #81. This will
count as an appearance for each, though. Credit the dialog to Repulse
and Meta. |
| 21:3 |
Oooh. How Dick Tracy. |
| 22 |
I’m Mighty Mouse! (“Here I come to save
the day!”) |
| Why would Brainy need the space suit? Wouldn’t
a transuit be sufficient? Several possible answers arise.
The most likely is simply that the suit has a number of sensors in it,
more than he could otherwise carry himself. It is also possible
that there aren’t any transuits available on board Outpost Cullen;
since Outpost Allon, Legion headquarters, and the last Legion cruiser
were all destroyed, the Legion may not have access to any transuits at
the moment. A third possibility is that the suit’s thrusters
give him better speed than his flight ring would alone. |
| Letters |
The letter from Tsarin requests that Brainiac 5.1 revert
to being just Brainiac 5, and Abnett and Lanning have agreed that they
would like to see that, also; the name change occurs during Legion
Lost. On the other hand, the Brainiac 5-to-5.1 upgrade is arguably
what launched the Brainiac 2.0/2.5/13 upgrade path in the Superman
titles, so Brainy may not be able to downgrade until that story runs its
course. |
| The response to the Tsarin letter observes that the Anywhere
Machine is presumably destroyed. That’s a good thing; unfortunately,
Brainy could probably recreate it again if he needed to. |
| “Tsarin” is the name of the memorial crystals
that the preboot Element Lad created on Trom, one per Trommite killed
by Roxxas. |
