Analysis Notes
| Cover |
The February 2002 covers from DC Comics were part of an
event dubbed “Full Coverage,” where the usual logos were replaced
by prominent placement of the book’s title in the actual cover art.
Here, the title has been transformed into Interlac, which reads “the
legion / abnett / lanning / coipel”; done correctly, there should
have been vertical bars before each letter which is typically capitalized.
“Full Coverage” worked well
for some comics, less so for others. In this case, while the use
of Interlac makes it very cool for the readers in-the-know, it is hard
to decipher for casual readers — and hence the title printed in
English at the top of the cover. Also, the embedded title is at
the bottom of the cover, which means it can’t be seen at all in
many comic shops racking systems, where either a shelf lip or comics on
lower shelves will cover the bottom third or half of the cover. |
| For an unknown reason, the initial released image of the
cover had the creator credits as junk, rather than what was presumably
already known to be Abnett, Lanning, and Coipel. The original cover
text said “the legion / jvdwsdu / kdnyoko / ujmoaz3”; perhaps
they were in a hurry to release it and just slammed on the keys to get
some text in the fields? |
| While the hand holding the Omnicom on the cover could be
basically anyone, one person is seen using an Omnicom in this issue.
We will therefore credit M’Onel as the hand on the cover. |
| 1:1 |
The ship is the Bouncing Boy, piloted by Chuck Taine.
Note that the color scheme matches that of the preboot Bouncing Boy character. |
| 1:2 |
Why, oh why, does Vi always have to be a giant these days,
especially in cramped quarters like this? |
| Observe the all-in-one design of Triad’s pants and
boots. Note also that Triad-Neutral’s tailcloth is split in
color, but counterchanged from that of her top. |
| 2/3:1 |
Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy are still close friends, having
founded the Legion together. She is still reeling from Live Wire’s
death, of course, while he has had a year to come to grips with all them
being believed dead. |
| The grunge on the boots of some of the Legionnaires is
from walking through the sewers in the previous issue. |
| Triad-Purple, the more aggressive one, is making the “The
Legion is back!” comment. |
| Shikari seems shy. She actually met Cosmic Boy’s
group behind the scenes in the previous issue, after Triad rescued her,
but she doesn’t yet feel a part of them, perhaps. |
| At no time does anyone ask for details on Wildfire and
Shikari. It’s likely that the reporters in The Legion
#1 sussed out that Wildfire was formerly ERG-1; perhaps he even gave a
mini-interview before McCauley’s folk whisked the Legionnaires away.
Even if the general public didn’t know, Invisible Kid would have
figured it out, and Saturn Girl could quickly let everyone know the details. |
| 2/3:2 |
Typo: “Footship” should be “Footstep”. |
| 2/3:3 |
Fortunately, Lyle and Querl won’t have to examine
it too far before finding out the details, and will thus be spared some
of the horrors they would find. Hopefully it was only the presence
of a half-Carggite (Apparition) with some exposure to both telepathy and
teleportation (or perhaps the baby) in The Legion #9 which brought
the poor creature at the heart of that ship’s drive to anything
close to sentience |
| 4:2 |
This is presumably a temporary polymer shield atmosphere
space set up just for the launch. |
| “McCauley” cannot be identified here, so no
panel appearance is counted. |
| 4:3 |
This is Twine, Mr. Venge, and Ra’s al Ghul as McCauley. |
| 4:4 |
“McCauley” doesn’t want to see the Orandan
delegate because Orandans are illusionists. Since McCauley is actually
Ra’s al Ghul using an image inducer, he fears that the Orandan might
see through the disguise, or might at least become suspicious. |
| Note that the “war room briefing” contradicts
what “McCauley” publicly said about Robotica in Secret
Files & Origins Guide to the DC Universe 2001-2002 (story #5). |
| No panel appearance is counted for “McCauley”
or Venge since we can’t see their bodies. |
| 5:1 |
Dialogue is from Chuck Taine. |
| 5:2 |
“Zatar Nebula”: There was a “Zetar Nebula”
used in the Star Trek (original series) episode “The Lights
of Zetar”. |
| 5:4 |
“Pol” is the name of Cosmic Boy’s younger
brother. |
| 6 |
Based on the interiors of Legion World we see later, only
a handful of the planetary zones have been completed. The green
is Earth; the pink is unknown, perhaps to be Xanthu; the white is arctic,
perhaps Terran or perhaps a prototype for some world like Wondil IX; the
purple must be Rimbor, since that’s the right color for it and the
world is mentioned as already done; no idea about the brown and pale blue
zones. It’s possible that there are other completed zones
on the other pole of the world. |
| Dialogue is from Cosmic Boy. Note that the caption
colors are those of his costume. |
| 7:1 |
Wouldn’t it be more sensible to construct it on the
core of an already existing, lifeless world? |
| Off-panel dialogue is from Cosmic Boy. |
| 7:2 |
First dialogue balloon is from Cosmic Boy, and we’ll
attribute the second to Kid Quantum; it sounds like something she would
say, of all the Lost Legionnaires. |
| 7:3 |
Dialogue is from Cosmic Boy. Other than Umbra, in
the cape, the Legionnaires cannot be individually identified; however,
there are 13 bodies and 13 individuals on board the Bouncing Boy (assuming
Triad joined her bodies), so this counts as a panel appearance for each
of them. |
| 7:4 |
Recall that R.J. Brande made his fortune in the preboot
by creating artificial stars. Creating artificial worlds is right
in line with that. |
| This is the merged Triad. |
| 8:3 |
The Lost Legionnaires’ flight rings’ flight
capabilities stopped working when they were pulled through the Rift.
Brande wouldn’t know that detail, but the fact that only the Legionnaires
with native flight powers were flying in The Legion #1 would have
made it evident. |
| Identifiable in this panel are (left to right): Chuck Taine,
Cosmic Boy, Brainiac 5, Ultra Boy, Shikari, Brande, Leviathan, Saturn
Girl, Chameleon, Wildfire, and Umbra. Individual bodies for only
two of the other three can be made out, so this doesn’t count as
a panel appearance for Kid Quantum, Invisible Kid, or Triad. (Unless
Lyle is invisible here?) |
| 9:1 |
It has long been believed that R.J. Brande isn’t
just Brande, but that he is a survivor of the 20th century. (And
why not, since the preboot Brande was actually a Durlan, and later the
Durlan from L.E.G.I.O.N.?) Green Lantern: Mosaic featured
a world composed of chunks of different worlds. (Then again, so
did Secret Wars, but that doesn’t make Brande the Beyonder.) |
| 9:2 |
None of the characters are separately identifiable in this
panel. |
| 9:3 |
Identifiable here are Umbra (cape), Saturn Girl (ponytail),
Shikari (wings), and Brande (platform.) |
| 9:4 |
Sensor brought Gear back from Kprkrn in Legion of Super-Heroes
v4 #117. How he survived the Blight (or on what side) isn’t
known. |
| Only twelve of the thirteen characters (plus Brande) are
seen here. Only the following are identifiable: Brainiac 5, Umbra,
Ultra Boy, Wildfire, Kid Quantum, Chameleon, Brande, Invisible Kid, Saturn
Girl, and Shikari. |
| 10:1 |
Brainy, Lyle, and Gear could make an impressive team: Brainy
can invent something, Lyle can find a use for it, and Gear can implement
it on the spot. |
| No idea who the third dialogue balloon is from. Brainiac
5 is in silhouette. |
| 10:2 |
Kid Quantum appears a bit unnerved by Gear, but given that
she came from the Uncanny Amazers, with teammates the likes of Insect
Queen and Konk, it can hardly be his semi-robotic appearance. Do
I smell romance in the air? |
| 10:4 |
Recall that Triad is Brande’s adopted daughter; in
his absence, she would naturally assume control of his corporation. |
| “Subterfuge Squad,” aka “Subs”,
aka a nod to the Legion of Substitute Heroes (of which Cosmic Boy lead
one version of in the preboot). |
| 10:5 |
Character placements in the panel are: Saturn Girl, Cosmic
Boy, Invisible Kid, and Chuck Taine in the lower left; Brande, Leviathan,
and the three Triads to their right; Wildfire and Shikari to their right;
Brainiac 5 and Gear in the center; Ultra Boy, Chameleon, and Sensor in
the upper right; and Kid Quantum and Umbra in the lower right. The
speakers are Brainiac 5, Gear, and Invisible Kid. |
| 11:4 |
How huge does Brande want it to be? Will it include
the Amazers, the Heroes of Lallor, Polar Boy’s team, remnants of
the WorkForce, and so on? How many Legionnaires can Abnett and Lanning
really write? (Past creative teams have had difficulty juggling
the huge cast.) And will United Planets tax law let them have more
that 25 members? |
| None of the characters are identifiable here, nor can we
account for everyone who should be there, so no panel appearances count
here other than Brande’s dialogue. |
| 12-13 |
For lack of a better name, we’ll call these “interdimensional
inviso-snakes.” |
| The blue-tinged captions here count as dialogue for M’Onel. |
| 12:1 |
Did the inviso-snakes cause the storm, were they attracted
to it, or did it create a dimensional rift and they came through? |
| 13:2 |
It appears that a bolt of energy from an inviso-snake (like
a dragon’s breath, perhaps) is passing through M’Onel, rather
than an inviso-snake itself. |
| 13:3 |
Titanet is the network of Titan adepts who are providing
one-to-one communication across interstellar distances since the Stargate
network shut down. |
| Is it wise for the Legion to be calling M’Onel on
what appears to be an open frequency? Of, course, Brainy would be
able to encrypt the signal to prevent it being traced back to Legion World. |
| It’s impossible to attribute the dialogue from the
Omnicom to any given Legionnaire. |
| 14:1 |
Note the twin pluberry pickers; standard for Winath.
While they appear to be awfully big, 14:4 shows the space between pluberry
rows. |
| 14:2 |
“Falcon”: Ayla’s hat is from Falcon Studios,
which is a gay porn video producer. (Check it out here.
No question about that logo; it ain’t the Atlanta Falcons.)
Does this tell us something about either Coipel or Lanning? (Coipel
had a kid a few months before this was published.) |
| 14:6 |
If it draws too much power, they’ll have to find
a way to power it. Maybe solar fusion? Brande could create
a star to power it. (Or maybe M’Onel could just bring in a
dwarf star for Brainy to analyze.) |
| 15:2 |
Among other reasons to start with Ayla, she was an early
member and the sister of a founder. She, Apparition, and XS are
the only early members not accounted for; Tinya’s locale is unknown,
and Winath is probably easier to reach than Xanthu (and it isn’t
in the middle of an invasion). |
| 15:5 |
This is Mekt Ranzz, aka Lightning Lord. |
| 16:2 |
They are apparently travelling at a fair clip — note
Brande’s jacket fluttering in the breeze — but Brande has
no problem keeping his balance. Perhaps this is the 31st century
version of the Segway? |
| 16:5-6 |
Cosmic Boy won’t have to wait that long; Gates gets
found next issue. |
| 17:1 |
This is the new Mission Monitor Board. Pictured are all
the former Legionnaires who have not yet been brought back into the fold:
Spark, Andromeda, XS, Karate Kid, Thunder, Gates, Ferro, Apparition, and
Star Boy. In the Board area are Kid Quantum, Wildfire, Leviathan,
Triad, Chuck Taine (since no one else is unaccounted for), Sensor (next
to Umbra’s head, in the glow of the Board), Gear, Brainiac 5, and
Ultra Boy. |
| 17:1-2 |
Umbra is keeping to herself, brooding on her loss of powers. |
| 17:2 |
Cosmic Boy is next to Triad. |
| Jazmin’s reaction to Gear in 10:2 is what makes the
hairstyle change more notable. |
| 18:2 |
“Fair Legion” is Saturn Girl. (“Fair”
means “blonde”.) |
| 18:5 |
Note the new outfit for Shikari, the one seen on the cover.
The coloring of the cover version makes it look less like she’s
wearing just straps than this one does. |
| 19:1 |
Recall that the Rosette was a solar system-size ring of
plants joined together. It’s actually likely that most of
the Rosette survived the events of Legion Lost #12, although
gravity stresses will probably cause the destruction to spread throughout
the ring over time (months, years, millennia?). |
| Dialogue is from Spark and Saturn Girl. |
| 19:2-3 |
Here’s Ayla, stripping naked in front of her teammates
(or behind them; she checked to see if they were looking in 18:5).
Of course, the 31st century probably has less nudity taboos than the 21st
century anyway, and the preboot Winath apparently had fewer than the rest
of the United Planets (although there’s no evidence that’s
true in the postboot continuity). Add to this that the Legion is
a group of people working very closely together in all sorts of situations,
so as occurs with performing groups and the like, changing clothes happens
where it needs to happen. In addition, consider the others on the
ship: her brother’s fiancée, a reconstituted bag of energy,
and by some accounts, a gay teammate; Ayla might be less at ease with
the costume change in the same space as Ultra Boy. |
| 19:4 |
That is Invisible Kid’s head next to Spark. |
| 19:5 |
Cue the dramatic music. |
| 20:5 |
Of course he has. Ra’s al Ghul has past experience
nearly with overpowered aliens like M’Onel, although it’s
been a few years. |
| 21 |
Red solar lights: they instantly sap the powers of Daxamites,
much as the did to pre-Crisis Kryptonians. (They don’t
affect post-Crisis Kryptonians nearly so quickly.) |
| 22 |
This is the only page of a comic to make me drop it (in
surprise) like I’ve been burned. Impressive shock that Abnett
and Lanning pulled off. |
The issue is raised as to when Ra’s al Ghul replaced
McCauley. Assuming that the corpse seen in The Legion #2
actually was McCauley (and Crugg next to him), which would preclude McCauley
from having always been Ra’s al Ghul, the switch probably
occurred some time after Legionnaires #77 (the beach issue).
The easiest answer is to place it during the unseen interval during the
Blight attack on Earth; McCauley and company were not seen at all in those
issues, so it’s easy to imagine that McCauley found Ra’s al
Ghul’s tomb/prison while hiding from the Blight, freed him, and
was killed and replaced for his trouble. This would put all the
appearance of McCauley as President, including disbarring and disbanding
the Legion, as actually acts of Ra’s al Ghul (and they would be
quite consistent with him).
The presence of Amelia Crugg and Lori Morning
with McCauley after the Blight invasion are problematic, but he probably
simply waited to dispose of them (Crugg was killed; Lori’s fate
is unknown) until a convenient time, so as to not draw attention to himself.
Mr. Venge only showed up as his advisor after the Blight and after Crugg’s
last appearance; in The Legion #11, Venge’s own true role
becomes clear. |
