Analysis Notes
| General |
Only pages 1-2, 6, 12:1-3, 14-16:3, 18:1-3, and 20:2-5
are dealt with here. There are also dialogue balloons referring
to the Legion (8:3-4, 11:4), but those are not tracked for character appearances. |
| 1 |
“1925”: Superman first appeared in 1939, and
his Silver Age-mythology age was a fixed 29. Thus, in 1925, Superboy
was 14 or 15 years old. |
| The other two characters here are Lana Lang and Pete Ross. |
| Just where are Kryptonian arms attached to the body, Mr.
Byrne? |
| 2:3 |
Ah, a simpler time: we can just run around town and try
to flag down Superboy. Maybe he’s just hanging out down at
the soda shop. |
| 2:4 |
Pete Ross is an honorary member of the Legion, due to his
knowing and protecting Superboy’s secret identity. In the
pre-Crisis DC universe, Superboy didn’t know that Pete knew his
identity (except perhaps when he was in the 30th century, where a number
of post-hypnotic blocks got released, including his knowledge of Supergirl,
who wouldn’t arrive on 20th century Earth until Superboy grew up).
Here, unless the Superboy/Pete relationship in this continuity does not
have Pete hiding his knowledge from Superboy, then Saturn Girl must have
relieved that block from Superboy when she arrived, perhaps even automatically
rather than intentionally. |
| 6:3 |
The car stalled? Cars in the 1920s didn’t have
electronics to be disabled by an electromagnetic pulse. |
| 8:4 |
As will become evident as this series progresses, the Parademons
started in the 30th century and progressively smaller groups of them time-jumped
backwards, 100 years at a time, each time being defeated by Superman,
Batman, and their colleagues and descendants. This issue is thus
the first time Superboy/Superman encounters them, but the Parademons have
been fighting him continuously for some, er, “time”. |
| 12:1 |
The main DC universe Brainiac 5 expressed a similar attitude,
comparing 20th century medicine to the use of leeches. |
| 12:3 |
“He” would be Darkseid. |
| 14:5-15:4 |
This would be Saturn Girl’s Time Sphere. To
prevent them being seen by people in other time periods, time sphere’s
were rendered invisible. |
| 15:2 |
The sphere probably doesn’t open for just anyone.
Lois might be recognized by here DNA from records of Superman and his
descendants, and thus be deemed “safe”. |
| 15:4 |
In the main DC Universe, Lois’ father was a general
who served as Secretary of Defense under President Lex Luthor, dying in
the conflict with Imperiex. |
| 16:3 |
Jonathan Kent’s reaction to “alien” is
because of Superboy, his adopted son. |
| 20:2 |
Caption dialogue is from Saturn Girl. |
20:4 |
By wiping Superboy’s mind, Saturn Girl possibly causes
the understanding of the every-hundred-years invasions to not be understood
until later on, and thereby provoking the situation which lead to her
having to flee to the 20th century and wipe minds in the first place.
Ain’t temporal paradoxes fun? |
