Analysis Notes
| General |
This is an “Elseworlds” story. Such tales have as their ancestors Marvel’s What If…? series and the Silver Age “imaginary” stories (aren’t they all?). There are typically three sorts of Elseworlds stories: projecting a future based on the present (Batman: The Dark Knight Returns), placing the characters into another milieu (such as Camelot or Dracula), or using a history which diverges from some pivotal event. The latter is the case here, with some 20th century event which proved to be the end of that era’s superhero population, presumably due to Superman never having come to Earth in the 20th century; he would have either prevented the event or inspired his peers to keep fighting after it. |
| 1:2 |
One theory about preboot kryptonite was that its radioactivity had a higher wavelength which made it generally pass through humans without much damage but caused problems for the denser structures of Kryptonians. For postboot Kryptonians, who are not “denser” like preboot ones, it specifically affects the solar energy receptors and retention structures in Kryptonian cells. So has kryptonite’s radioactivity truly faded (and if completely so over a thousand years, then it had a pretty short half-life, maybe just a century or so), or is it only the lower-end wavelengths which are deemed harmful to humans which have faded? Barring further visits to this universe, we’ll never know if it may still prove to be a problem for Kryptonians. |
| 1:3 |
Will Superboy end up having problems with the Eradicator, too? Or will it have failed after a thousand years? |
| 2/3:1 |
Note that Universo is the most prominent preboot Legion foe to remain unintroduced in the current continuity. (It is curious, though, that they chose to use Universo for a computer name, rather than the obvious one: Computo.) |
| 2/3:2 |
There is an Athramite and a Vyrgan in the crowd, which definitively ties this as a branch from the current DC Universe continuity. Gates will be seen briefly in Superboy’s Legion #2, dressed the same as this Vyrgan, so this is presumably him. |
| This isn’t a very good drawing of an Athramite. Possibly Mark Farmer altered it during the inking stage to transform what Alan Davis drew into the current character. |
| 2/3:3 |
The floating ball is presumably an extension of the Universo computer. It is somewhat reminiscent of the floating ball Luke Skywalker trained with in Star Wars and probably has similar capabilities. The use of robot globe police also has echoes of the Law robots from Buck Godot. |
| In the preboot, all of Earth had only a couple dozen science police officers, with the bulk of the law enforcement work being done by robots and other automated means. There is a good chance that the same is true in this universe, that are a lot of automated Universo balls for every live officer. |
| 4:3 |
The red gems the Science Police officers wear are probably also extensions of Universo. |
| 4:4 |
Interesting thought, that all travelling (or flying) objects are required to adhere to the speed limits, although not so surprising when you remember that 21st century bicycles are required to do such. (The main universe Legionnaires are probably exempt from such regulations due to having limited law enforcement powers.) |
| 5:1 |
Unless the ice cream cones have technology to keep the contents at a particular temperature — which is entirely probable, actually — Brande Industries must be in Metropolis, else the ice cream would melt by the time Superboy arrived (and he must be both adhering to speed limits and going slow enough to prevent them from melting from friction). Well, unless he kept them frozen with his super breath, or his aura protects them like it does when he carries people. |
| 5:2 |
If Brande were to be cut off from the Terran power grid, might he not branch out into creating new sources of power? Entire stars, perhaps? |
| 5:3 |
Note that this Brande has a fascination with ancient cultures of Earth, just like the main universe one does, but the references to a tragic end for the superheroes of old may demonstrate why he has no particular apparent interest in that era. |
| Perhaps Brande had been married in this continuity because he didn’t have the fascination for the heroes of the 20th century to drive him to be as self-sufficient? |
| 5:4 |
“Talk of the devil”: the usual idiom is “Speak of the devil.” |
| 6:2 |
That has to be a trumped up threat, unless the Science Police have a massive amount of power and no route for appeals due to the purported infallibility of Universo. Despite laws which try to hold the parents accountable for the illegal actions of their children, surely they would try means of physically curtailing Kal’s extra-planteary jaunts before unplugging millions of jobs. More likely, this is a ploy on Brande’s part to get Kal to settle down, exaggerating the effects Kal will have if he doesn’t beyond all reason (to adults, if not to teenage boys); the ploy backfires. |
| 6:6 |
Close focus on a circular red object presumed to be the sensing device for a computer: well, this was published in 2001, after all. |
| Coloring error: the cloth around this gem should be white, not light blue, since this is the Universo gem on Leeto’s forehead. |
| 7:1 |
“Why’s ev’rybody always pickin’ on me?” Although it wasn’t the Charles Schulz character in that song, observe that both Superboy and Charlie Brown serve as reader identification points for their comics. |
| 7:3 |
Did Superboy use stargates and such off-panel to get here, or is he capable of trans-light speeds (which differs from the powers of the post-Crisis Superman)? |
| 7:4 |
“Cepheid”: pulsating stars whose light variations are related to their luminosities. |
| The pre-Crisis Superman had the ability to call up these sorts of memories. The current one, and by extension this Superboy, was launched from Krypton while still in a fetal state; he should have no such memories. Explanation: Superboy spent a thousand years in his rocket ship in this universe, and he grew slightly during that time, while the onboard computers fed him information. His memory of this region of space is thus sort of an implanted one. (That lengthy duration in the rocket ship also explains why Superboy has a full host of powers, more than his DC Universe counterpart did at that age: he had 1000 years to start absorbing solar energy, even if it was reduced by the rocket ship and perhaps the nearby kryptonite.) |
| 7:5 |
This does not count as an appearance for Talu-Katu. |
| 8:5 |
Tomar Re was the Green Lantern of Krypton’s space sector (Sector 2813) in the DC Universe’s 20th century. That doesn’t mean they all have to be Xudarians (although most of the known Green Lanterns from this sector have been). |
| 9:1 |
Talu-Katu’s comments about the Science Police here echo the preboot restriction which prohibited Green Lanterns from coming to Earth. In the main Legion continuity, there are no known authentic Green Lanterns left in the 30th and 31st centuries; whatever the fate of the 20th century heroes may have prevented Hal Jordan from destroying the Corps. |
| 9:2 |
On the other hand, the Sinestro War may well have involved Sinestro trying to do the same stunt Hal Jordan did, but he was foiled, possibly at a great cost to the Corps anyway. |
| 9:1-2 |
In one alternate universe, Superman would have become a Green Lantern. |
| 10:1 |
“Lystrata” is presumably a typo for “Lysistrata”, the titular heroine of a play by Aristophanes; she leads a women’s revolt in Athens, denying their husbands sex until peace is made with Sparta. The mention of the Minos System (Minos being the king of Crete who had the labyrinth built to house the Minotaur) adds weight to this interpretation. |
| This ship design owes a bit to Star Trek designs. |
| 10:2 |
The three-eyed man in the foreground is Nardo, the warden of the Super-Stalag of Space from Adventure Comics #344-45. He has not yet been seen in the postboot continuity. |
| There are two Dominators in this panel, in waiter roles. If whatever disaster befell Earth’s 20th century heroes occurred prior to Invasion, that event might never have occurred (or occurred differently), and the Dominators may have turned peaceful over the intervening millennium. (Or perhaps the disaster was the Gene Bomb from that event; just a little stronger, and it might have killed most of the powered heroes.) |
| Note that they have colored Saturn Girl’s boots white, unlike on both the PVC statuette and the action figure of the Silver Age character, which got the color wrong vs. what was in the original comics. |
| 10:3 |
Note that Imra isn’t wearing a Saturn shield on her dress. This universe obviously never had the Titan/Braal war, and may have never had whatever problems led to the use of the shield as a warning device. |
| Note that the collars on both Rokk and Imra’s outfits are the same. |
| 10:4 |
“Adventure”: the Legion first appeared in Adventure Comics #247. |
| 11:1 |
That would appear to be a Durlan in the lower right corner. |
| 12:3 |
This Saturn Girl doesn’t have qualms about dealing with alien lifeforms. She probably wasn’t as sequestered during her training as the DC Universe one was. |
| 12:5 |
These levitating security chairs are reminiscent of golf carts. |
| Based on their costume designs and the magnetic shield in 13:1 and 13:3, these are also Braalians. Braalians are probably real nice to have on spaceships in case of damage. |
| 13:5 |
In addition to the invitation in English, there are ones in binary (which seems to have a random placement of the digits, as even the characters corresponding to “O” are not the same), Symbol font, Interlac, Zapf Dingbats font, and probably Lucida Math font. |
| These are all this universe’s version of an Omnicom, connecting to the Omninet. People arewatching them like televisions on page 19, and Ultra Boy formally names them on page 31. |
| 14:1 |
Presumably a descendant of Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen. Wouldn’t it have been better to have a Lana Lang analogue in the picture for Superboy? |
“Y.O.O.F.” has echoes of Doonesbury’s
Roland Hedley, reporting for the Internet news channel YAP!.com.
Legion fan Gina Dee notes: “Yoof, in the context of visual
media, is a distinctly British (not to mention ironically loaded) designation
for the mid-adolescent lower-middle-class target demographic.
Talk like a teenaged John Constantine, [...] swagger a bit, and say
‘youth.’” (Creators Mark Farmer and Alan Davis
are British, of course.)
|
| In the crowd waiting to enter seems to be Infectious Lass (third from the left), Too-Much-Coffee Man (below Lois’ wrist; the pear-shaped physique is a defining point), The Blimp (presumably a descendant of the member of the Inferior Five), and Fire Lad, among others. |
| The building where the tryouts are being held is perhaps the Sensorium which Cosmic Boy mentioned earlier in the story. |
| 14:2 |
Seen here: Fire Lad, The Blimp (30th century version), Dream Girl, Wildfire, Night Girl, Kid Psycho (perhaps; he has the enlarged cranium), unknown, Stone Boy, Ferro Lad, Karate Kid, Bouncing Boy, Polar Boy, and Chlorophyll Kid. |
| In the preboot continuity, Wildfire gained his powers independent of the Legion, but in the postboot, he gained them by being two beings blasted into energy by Mordru. What the situation is here is unknown; both could be accurate |
| In the postboot, Ferro is native to 20th century Earth. Although the preboot one was from the 30th century, perhaps this one is a genetic relation (descendant or otherwise) of the 20th century character? |
| Aw, gee! No Fortress Lad! |
| 14:3 |
The general layout of this matches that from the cover of Adventure Comics #247, with Superboy in the Lightning Boy position. |
| Note the carafe and glasses of water. The three teens expect to be at this a while. |
| 15:1 |
Presumably it was their powers that brought Dirk and Gim together, as the son of a wealthy industrialist and the son of a college professor and a military officer would not tend to naturally run in the same circles. |
| 15:4 |
In addition to obviously being a counterpart to Jimmy Olsen’s Elastic Lad, “Lucy Lane” was the name of Jimmy’s blonde girlfriend. As well, her costume color are similar to those of the Fantastic Four’s Mr. Fantastic. (Alan Davis also drew Fantastic Four at one point.) |
| 16:1 |
Note the absence of any mention of Roxxas and the destruction or Trom. The Green Lantern whom Superboy met mentioned the destruction of Daxam, which would provide a reason why Trom has perhaps survived in this universe, since that is the postboot Roxxas’ homeworld. |
| 16:3 |
As has been observed, Bouncing Boy is basically a 200 pound brick which bounces into crooks and machines. His real power is as much being impervious to stunning as being super-elastic. |
| 17 |
Tasmia’s codename is not mentioned until 32:1. |
| 17:5 |
A weakness, yes, but it is magic or girls? |
| 18:1 |
This raises the question of why some of the other applicants were not accepted. In some cases, it is because they had inadequate control over their powers (Lucy Lastic, Polar Boy, Infectious Lass). In others, their powers were limited (Night Girl, Stone Boy). In most cases, the reasons why they were not accepted in the preboot or postboot continuities probably apply: Wildfire couldn’t show them his unique power, Kid Psycho weakened his life span when he used his power, Dream Girl is narcoleptic (despite her undoubted warning to Cosmic Boy about what would happen to him on their first mission). Ferro Lad’s masked state was part of his refusal, along with the fact that invulnerability and strength were already present on the team. Karate Kid has no actual powers. |
| 18:3-4 |
The Peyer/McCraw/Stern creative team had designs on R.J. Brande which had him being a disguise for someone else, and most signals point to that being J’Onn J’Onzz, the Martian Manhunter. (Other fans had Marla Latham pegged as possibly being a time-jumped Max Mercury.) If one or both of the men are survivors of whatever this unspoken tragedy was, that would make R.J.’s speech especially poignant. |
| 18:4 |
“Fatal” mistakes: foreshadowing of the Fatal Five’s upcoming appearance. |
| 19:3 |
“Lulu” is presumably a nickname. (But shouldn’t it be “Lululu”?) |
| Note that the Waltz is a dance in 3/4 time, most appropriate for Carggites. |
| 19:4 |
This is Lightning Lad, Light Lass, and Sensor. Putting Garth and Ayla into aristocrat roles is peculiar, probably just one of several minor divergences from the main continuity which cannot be easily traced to the 20th century superhero tragedy. |
| At least one fan assumed that Sensor was actually this universe’s version of Mekt Ranzz, with a switched gender! (The white hair was part of that identification.) |
| Ayla’s outfit differs significantly from Garth’s, which shows lighting bolts. As seen in Superboy’s Legion #2, she has the Light Lass powers at the current time. |
| As revealed in Superboy’s Legion #2, the other woman here is Sensor; she is costumed in the classic Princess Projectra outfit; she is presumably using a human illusion. (Another answer is the theory that the snake and raccoon inhabitants of Orando are ensorcelled from their real human shapes, perhaps by Mordru, and this then is both Projectra and Sensor, having been freed from or never having been under that spell. Perhaps Mordru remains trapped in Dr. Fate’s amulet or somehow otherwise never ensorcelled Orando.) |
| 19:5 |
If Lyle Norg goes by the codename Invisible Kid, it is never used in this issue; he uses his powers in 40:6-41:1, however. |
| 19:6 |
One of these is presumably Tellus. |
| 20:1 |
Cyclops is to the far right. |
| 20:2 |
Enter the Legion of Substitute Heroes. |
| 20:3 |
Matter-Eater Lad is to the left. The flying baby might be Winter from Miracleman, for which Alan Davis was one of the artists. |
| 20:4 |
Observe that Karate Kid is definitely part Asian. |
| 21:1 |
None of these feet are identifiable. |
| 21:4 |
No one questions why this asteroid suddenly changed course? |
| 22:1 |
The reptilian character is Ontiir. |
| The dark green creature in the foreground is a Resource Raider (Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #225). (<The coloration doesn’t match that seen in Who’s Who in the Legion of Super-Heroes #5; which color is correct?>) |
| The green alien in the pin-striped suit to the far right is Worldsmith (Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #236). |
| 22:3 |
The members of the Devilhawk Crew (as opposed to the main univer version, the Green Dragons) are wearing a variety of chest emblems, including that of Batman. The one holding the gun has a chest emblem matching that of Timber Wolf, and the postboot version was later introduced on Rimbor. |
| Ultra Boy got his powers when he was swallowed by a space whale or ultra energy beast or Imskian dragon (depending on the source) and its energies changed him, perhaps because he ate the creature’s flesh. |
| 23:3 |
This “I went down into the floor” bit is getting used a little too often. |
| 23:5 |
Man, Tinya, use a little more eye liner next time, okay? |
| 24:1 |
“Naz” as opposed to “nass”? |
| 24:4-6 |
Chameleon Boy disguised as a chair: speaking of overused bits (see Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #122). |
| 25:1 |
Nice to see Reep in a less human form than usual. Note that the standard Durlan form was the robe-and-tentacle one in the 20th century; possibly the more human form was a result of greater contact with humans, which did not occur in this timeline. |
| Winema Wazzo is a queen? In the main timeline, she was an ambassador and later Vice-President of the United Planets, so why not? Further, without the actions of the 20th century superheroes, L.E.G.I.O.N. might have never been formed and thus the time-displaced body of Apparition would have never had the chance to free the proto-Bgztlers from demonic control. Assuming they found some other means of gaining their freedom, perhaps a royalist society developed rather than a democratic one. |
| 26:2 |
“Trans-suits” is usually spelled “transuits”; with time and usage, it will probably reduce to that spelling. |
| Who created the flight ring technology? It was Mon-El in the preboot and Brainiac 5 and Invisible Kid in the postboot, none of which would have done the job here. |
| 26:6 |
Is this cloaking technology or Invisible Kid’s powers in action? |
| Dialogue is from Superboy. |
| 27:2 |
In the main DC Universe (preboot and postboot), Brainiac 5 was descended from a line of other Coluans with the “Brainiac” title. In this universe, with an aborted 20th century superhero environment, the early portions of that dynasty may have gone in other directions. Perhaps most notably, they may have never faced Neron, who thus would never have had a lien on Brainiac 4’s soul. |
| The main DC Universe Brainiac 5 has a “12th-level intelligence,” as opposed to Evolvo or a Kryptonian’s 10th level, or a normal human’s 6th level. This is generally taken to mean logarithmic growth, with each level being a multiple times greater than the one below (such as with the Richter scale, where a 7.0 earthquake is ten times as strong as a 6.0 [in amplitude; 31 times as strong in energy]). The “fifth-level” here is probably four levels above human baseline, making him “X-to-the-4th” times smarter: 16 times if the base is 2, 10000 times if the base is 10. |
| Brainiac 5 looks significantly younger than Invisible Kid here. In the preboot continuity, Coluans were said to have lifespans of several hundred years; this Brainiac 5 may be the same age as the Legionnaires, but appears younger because of the longer lifespan of his species. |
| 27:4 |
What the heck? Viable science, and in a Legion book?! Must be an Elseworlds! |
| 27:5 |
This provides another solution to Wildfire: since his postboot component selves were both from Xanthu, perhaps the destruction had an effect not unlike Mordru’s attack and the two eventually formed Wildfire. Another answer would be that the Uncanny Amazers were the only hero team around when Mordru was awakened and they fought him; the absence of any of the Amazers except Wildfire and Starboy (and Monstress, in Superboy’s Legion #2) does not bode well for the result of that battle. |
| Note that he is “Starboy” rather than “Star Boy.” This is not a typo, since it is done again in 41:5. Also, the advance press for Legion Worlds #4 referred to Thom Kallor as “Starboy”; it remains to be seen if that is intentional or not. (Note as well that Thom is destined to become Starman VIII, and “Starboy” flows into “Starman” better than “Star Boy” does.) |
| 28:1 |
Starboy’s powers came from a run-in with a comet (in the preboot) or from a transfusion of space whale blood after a run-in with a comet (postboot), which gave him Kryptonian-level powers in addition to his mass-oriented ones. When his extra powers go away, Starboy won’t be able to travel in space unaided any more. |
| Sun Boy and Shrinking Violet are on the right side of the panel. |
| 28:2 |
Versions of Rimbor seen before have been green with purple continents. Perhaps there is a great ocean on one side of the planet, or there is just major cloud cover here. |
| Dialogue is from Superboy and Invisible Kid. |
| 28:3 |
Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy, and Colossal Boy can be seen inside the cruiser, identifiable by hair and costume bits. |
| 29:2 |
“Crash” Kallor does it again. |
| The color trace counts as an appearance for Superboy. |
| 30/31:3 |
“Pivotal events”: this leads to the assumption that Coluans — specifically Brainiac or Vril Dox II — were involved (or explicitly not involved) in whatever happened to the 20th century superheroes, and again, Invasion rises up as a prominent possible event related to the tragedy. |
| 30/31:4 |
Bouncing Boy’s feel for trajectories ought to make him viable in the fragment diversion process. But this is foreshadowing; note that Bouncing Boy does absolutely nothing in either the rescue of Rimbor nor in the battle with the Fatal Five. In the second issue, Bouncing Boy will save the lives of several of his teammates and aid Superboy specifically. |
| 30/31:7 |
This “ship” is actually Chameleon Boy. Chameleon Boy has been known before to be spaceworthy, at least in a limited sense. |
| The lower bubble in the “ship” shows the bomb Ultra Boy was going to deliver. |
| 32:1 |
Shadow Lass is presumably creating a giant net with her powers. |
| 32:1-2 |
Caption dialogue is from Superboy. |
| 33 |
The damage here was caused by the panicked evacuation of the planet, and looting in the process, not by fragments of the asteroid being missed. |
| 33:2 |
This ship looks similar to the one in 24:2; did the Devilhawk Crew not escape Rimbor? |
| 33:3 |
Bouncing Boy is in the background of this panel. |
| 33:6 |
These three are fighting fires: Superboy is blowing them out, Shadow Lass is putting a lid on them, and Starboy is weighing down the smoke and ash to keep them from spreading. |
| 34:1 |
In silhouette, we can see Colossal Boy, Starboy (between Colossal Boy’s legs, with a cape), Cosmic Boy (based on the magnetism energy signature), Sun Boy (welding), Element Lad (holding the pole, identified by his sleeves), Chameleon Boy, Superboy (heat vision), Phantom Girl (with a cape), and Ultra Boy (using his flash vision). |
| 34:2 |
Starboy’s chest emblem is miscolored; he is behind Cosmic Boy. |
| 34:3-5 |
The dialogue is from the Lex Luthor hologram.. The red tint is what is displayed through his eye; the color of that tint is also a clue to his connection to Universo. |
| 34:3, 34:5 |
Invisible Kid’s shoulder is in these panels. |
| 34:5 |
Left to right, this is Validus, the Emerald Empress, Persuader, Tharok, and Mano. |
| 35:1 |
Element Lad is in the upper-left. |
| 35:2 |
The naming of the Science Police central computer as “Universo” certainly lends weight to this theory. |
| 35:5 |
Note that Invisible Kid and Brainiac 5 look over the heads of Ultra Boy and Phantom Girl, giving an oddly detached nature to their pronouncement. |
| 35:6 |
Apparently Starboy now considers himself a member of Superboy’s Legion, and since they spoke of joining, Invisible Kid and Brainiac 5 presumably do, too. Whether Ultra Boy, Phantom Girl, and Chameleon Boy consider themselves formal members or not isn’t clear; they will consider themselves such by the next issue. |
| The silhouettes are Phantom Girl, Ultra Boy, Invisible Kid, Brainiac 5, Starboy, and an unidentifiable figure. |
| 36:1 |
Note the rubbery nature of Mano’s body, as though he didn’t have a human body — or a solid one? — under his costume. This unstable depiction of him is even clearer in later scenes. |
| The Persuader’s mark, with the “teeth” at the bottom of it: inspired by The Maxx, or by Carol Lay’s “Story Minute” style? |
| 36:2 |
In other continuities, the Legion was responsible for the Fatal Five coming together. Since they are already a team here, that cannot have been the case; per 47:1, Luthor is responsible. |
| Invisible Kid is seen between Ultra Boy’s legs. |
| 37:2 |
Ultra Boy presumably switched to invulnerability in time. |
| 37:4-5 |
Superboy is in pain. The Silver Age Emerald Eye included some kryptonite; perhaps this one does, too, some which has not faded in power, in addition to its magic. |
| 38:1 |
Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, Brainiac 5, and Colossal Boy are in the background. |
| 38:2 |
“…if you’re captured”: foreshadowing. Could there also be a plan in the works here? |
| Shrinking Violet is on the right edge of the panel. |
| 39:1 |
“Kriz”: presumably a corruption of “Christ” (pronounce it with a long “i”). |
| 39:2 |
Note the “Eye” nomenclature: another tie-in (teye-in?) to the post-Crisis continuity. |
| 39:5-6 |
Scenes like this make me want to see a Legion/Avengers crossover: Vi can outdo the Wasp in fighting skills, but she’ll always lose on the fashion front, I’m afraid. |
| 40:1 |
Element Lad is catching Shrinking Violet in the background. |
| 40:2 |
Well, it’s all she can do to hold Superboy and fight off Shadow Lass and then stay in control when she gets kicked by Shrinking Violet. Or maybe she’s still reeling from that kick and that’s what her bluff is. |
| 40:5 |
It isn’t clear what good turning his force-field on at this point does. Perhaps it just surprises Mano and the Persuader, giving Invisible Kid the chance to act |
| 41:6 |
Now we know what destroyed Xanthu, and how Starboy knew the Fatal Five. |
| Starboy presumably means to kill Mano — and who can blame him, after Mano destroyed Starboy’s homeworld. The Legion perhaps has not yet instituted a ban on killing, nor has there been a formal induction of Invisible Kid, Brainiac 5, Starboy, Ultra Boy, Phantom Girl, and Chameleon Boy. |
| 41:7 |
Note Chameleon Boy, Ultra Boy, and a very un-princess-like butt shot from Phantom Girl. |
| 42:2 |
Ah, her chest symbol is a stylized “P” (as it should be). In retrospect, this can be seen in 30/31:7, if you look for it, but it isn’t very clear in the early shots. |
| 42:4 |
“Caress”: the Emerald Empress’ version of the Fatal Five included a villainess named Caress, although that is surely mere coincidence here. |
| Observe that Mano is apparently black. That may be caused by his powers, of course. |
| 42:4-5 |
Interesting that Mano has different power levels on different sides of his body. |
| 43:1 |
Validus must broadcast what few thoughts he has so strongly that Imra can’t help but pick them up. Unless, of course, she senses him extra well due to a closer genetic connection of some kind? |
| Cosmic Boy’s magnetic effect isn’t seen here. Has he turned it off, distracted by Saturn Girl’s comment, or did the colorist merely forget to put it in? |
| 43:6 |
It’s all fun and games until someone loses an arm. |
| Apparently someone in the Legion, perhaps even one of the founders, is always fated to lose a limb. On the other hand (ahem), if anyone has the power to simple will himself an arm made of metal, Cosmic Boy would be it. (Shades of Akira!) |
| 44:3 |
The blow seems to have knocked the Emerald Empress off her feet, too. |
| Shock? First decent Legion science, now decent medicine? This really is an Elseworlds! |
| 44:6 |
What happens if Validus hits Colossal Boy while holding the invulnerable Ultra Boy? Would it be the equivalent of holding a roll of quarters when hitting someone? |
| 45:4 |
Velocitoxin is presumably very fast acting. |
| 45:6 |
This has echoes of Radion’s face being blown off during the battle with Mordru, which itself has an antecedent in Marvel’s Chamber. |
| 46:1-2 |
Is it the Emerald Eye making this warp, or machinery on Luthor’s end, and the color just happens to match? The Eye hasn’t been seen to make space warps of this sort in other universes. (This question will remain throughout this series.) |
| 46:4 |
Colossal Boy apparently has to concentrate (or at least be conscious) to maintain his height. Compare to how Leviathan retained his height after he was killed. |
| Invisible Kid seems more interested in scanning the remnants of the teleportation gate used by the Fatal Five than in Colossal Boy’s fate. In part, this is just a detached, scientific nature, but Superboy’s Legion #2 will show that Invisible Kid is tracking Brainiac 5. |
| 46:5 |
We’ll see come the next variation on the Legion whether it is a truism that the biggest always fall. Certainly seems that way. |
| 47:1 |
Dialogue is from the Emerald Empress. |
| 47:2 |
“His contacts,” meaning Universo and Commissioner Leeto, presumably. |
| Are we just seeing the back of the Eye, or is it somehow “turned off”? |
| 47:4 |
“Catspaw”: one used as a tool by another. No relation to the preboot Legionnaire of the same name. |
| 48:2 |
Perhaps Lex Luthor had a direct hand in whatever caused the downfall of the 20th century superheroes? But what could he want enough to (presumably) instill his consciousness into a robot for a thousand or more years? (Superboy’s Legion #2 makes this all clear.) |
| The red eye on Luthor would seem to indicate he is a robot, and probably directly connected to Universo. In the next issue, he will be seen to be a hologram. |
| 48 |
Shall we dub this hologram “Urthlo”? Hate Superboy! Hate Legion of Super-Heroes! Hate! Hate! Hate! |
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