Analysis Notes
| 2:1 |
Note again Garth’s hothead personality. “Plan schman” will come back to haunt this story. |
| In the Legion of Super-Heroes: The Beginning of Tomorrow collection, the lettering on the robots’ shoulder was changed from “VH1” to “WH1”. |
| The floating platform robots appear to be similar in design to Crocus from Nexus. |
| 2:3 |
Mr. Ed is the horse, of course, of course. |
| 3:1 |
Horses are apparently extinct in the 30th century. If some a domesticated species was wiped out, how many wild animals no longer exist? |
| 3:2 |
This has long been observed by fandom: the boys in the Legion tend to have the “hard” (“attack”) powers — magnetism, lightning, growth, super-strength — while the girls have the “soft” (“defense”) powers — phasing, telepathy, shadow casting. There are exceptions (invisibility, super-speed), but Saturn Girl’s observation is correct: the girl’s powers have less certain application in a virtual reality environment. |
| Coloring error: Saturn Girl is not biting her lip and making a stupid face. |
| 3:5 |
The virtual reality combat trainer is still experimental. Its creation was bankrolled by Brande. (Given that Brainiac 5 was a Brande employee and he eventually created the Anywhere Machine, this could be thought of as a prototype for that later device.) |
| Some fans thought that the “bugs” Cosmic Boy mentioned might be a means for the introduction of Computo, but a different route was taken for that. |
| 4:1 |
Triad’s different selves sometimes exhibit different personality traits. |
| If this was an authentic crush on Cosmic Boy, Triad got over it. |
| 4:2 |
Cosmic Boy has a number of (female) fans lusting after him, more likely because of his sports star status than just because he is an exceptionally cute Legionnaire. |
| Live Wire is angry because of the interrupted VR session, not because Rokk has all the girls after him. |
| Note Data, Spock, and the Three Stooges in the crowd. |
| Apparition appears quite buff in this scene, and is also drawn as taller than her teammates; she would eventually settle to a more standard build and height, especially once Andromeda came on the scene. |
| 4:3 |
Triad-Purple is the extroverted one, giving her vidphone number to a fan; Triad-Orange is the introverted one. |
| 5:1-7:3 |
The new Legionnaires are all initially dressed in the dark blue/light blue costumes briefly sported by the three founders. President Chu still wants to exert what control she can over the Legionnaires. |
| 5:1 |
The United Planets assigned codenames to some of the draftee Legionnaires (although Kid Quantum is an exception). |
| Pronunciation: When the preboot Legionnaires were introduced, most of them had names that were similar to traditional 20th century given names, but just a little bit off (Tinya = Tina, Jo = Joe, Imra = Irma). Following this, the initial intent for “Gim Allon” was undoubtedly to invoke the name “Jim Allen.” However, Gim’s family was later shown to be Jewish — and this has been reaffirmed by the postboot creative team — so an argument can be made that “Gim” should be pronounced with a soft “G,” like the Hebrew letter “gimmel.” |
| Based on speech patterns and knowledge of pre-announcement Legion costumes, the second word balloon is probably Triad, and the third is Cosmic Boy. |
| 5:2 |
Someone needs a serious attitude adjustment. |
| 5:4 |
The sparkly effects are Kid Quantum’s stasis field in action. Note his hand on the controls. |
| Kid Quantum’s stasis field (enhanced by the belt) is strong enough to stop XS at this stage in her development. The field would perhaps be somewhat less effective as her control of her powers improves. |
| Notice Leviathan’s size in comparison to Kid Quantum’s, even though he is standing behind James. Leviathan used his growth powers as XS approached. |
| 5:5 |
XS’ has different skin coloring from Kid Quantum. Some people have assumed that the skin coloring and lack of traditional stereotyped black facial features indicate that she is of some non-African heritage, perhaps subcontinental Indian or Brazilian. Tom McCraw, however, has stated that her father is of African descent; her mother, as will be seen, was Caucasian. (Note that the additional 50 or so generations over the course of 1000 years will tend to lessen the prominence of stereotypical features as the genetic traits spread throughout the human populace.) |
| XS tends to speak very fast when she is excited, scared, or nervous. |
| Pronunciation: “XS” is pronounced like the individual letters (“ecks-ess”), to form the word “Excess.” (Some people apparently tried to pronounce her name as “Zzzzzzz.”) |
| 6:1 |
The traditional form for Durlans in the preboot, up until the mid 1908s, was the orange antennaed form seen here, with slight variations indicating different Durlan “tribes.” United Planets law required this standard form to be used by all Durlans when off-planet. After the mid-80’s, a second standard Durlan form was seen: the robed, tentacled form. Given that we have seen tentacled Durlans already, both on and off Durla, Reep was probably directed to take this more humanoid form to fit in better with the other Legionnaires, rather than for specific legal reasons. |
| 6:2 |
It is unknown at this time why Durlans are not allowed to roam free on Earth; it is highly unlikely that the proscription dates all the way back to the 20th century, as depicted in the Invasion! series. A more logical cause would be a Durlan involved in the assassination of a Terran dignitary (perhaps a predecessor of President Chu). |
| Gim’s comment implies that the Science Police attaches tracking devices and possibly regulating equipment to legal Durlans, and further, keeps close track of them at all times, possibly even accompanying them constantly. |
| 6:3 |
Chameleon apparently absorbs both his costume and his robe into himself as he shapeshifts. In fact, they may not even really be separate items of clothing, just shifted extensions of himself. |
| 7:1 |
Leviathan seems to have a particular dislike of Durlans. This is probably partly due to his Science Police training — although Saturn Girl’s attitudes don’t seem to be similar — but also has to do with his origin, as seen in Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #6. |
| 7:4 |
By having the United Planets members select representatives for the Legion, President Chu effectively created a “one member per planet” rule, in contrast to the preboot rule of “Each member must have one unique super-power.” |
| 8:2 |
Saturn Girl presumably only conducts a surface scan on Chameleon to detect his intentions. Deeper probing would have revealed his very alien nature (which causes her problems in Legionnaires #25), as well as whether he speaks Interlac at this point. |
| 8:3 |
Invisible Kid turns only his hands visible. As seen in Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #80, he can do this with any part of his body. |
| 8:4 |
Invisible Kid gives us a definite gender for Chameleon. (However, due to the alien nature of Durlans and the limitations of language, “he” may be merely an approximation, or a reflection of Chameleon’s current form. For all we know, Durlans could have numerous different genders.) |
| 8:5 |
Invisible Kid’s Durlan language skills are undoubtedly “just something he picked up” while doing a couple “favors” for EarthGov. It isn’t infeasible that these “favors” tie in to why Durlans aren’t allowed to roam free on Earth, although Leviathan’s reaction is strong enough that the anti-Durlan sentiment has probably existed for several years, predating most spy activities the teenage Invisible Kid would have been involved in. |
| Note that the five draftee members exactly equals the number of non-draftee members, giving President Chu’s draftees numeric parity with Brande’s founders. In Legionnaires #19, it appears that Chu may be responsible for drafting Brainiac 5; whether she thought this would give her an edge in controlling the Legion or just did it to tweak Brande is unclear. |
| Saturn Girl’s comment indicates that she knew Invisible Kid was present but unseen. Her mental powers should tell her of his presence automatically, if not his exact location. |
| 9:1 |
Gee, you would think someone would have been told. Of course, that would work counter to President Chu’s desire to have everyone answerable to her (although such won’t be seen clearly for many issues). |
| Despite Apparition and Live Wire’s comments, we have not seen the “right stuff” from the first five Legionnaires beyond their initial save of the United Planets Council. However, the group’s camaraderie and Garth’s comment in 14:2 indicate the passage of time between the formation of the Legion and this story, which might indicate an untold tale or two; indeed, one can be seen in Legion: Secret Files #1. |
| XS has a tendency toward crushes, with the first and longest being on Cosmic Boy. (She is a teenage girl, after all.) |
| 9:2 |
Despite being forward and excitable, XS can also be level-headed and straightforward when need be. |
| 9:3 |
Cosmic Boy is clearly a leader: he has diplomatic skills and his peers defer to him willingly. |
| 9:4 |
Kid Quantum’s negative attitude toward the “team” aspect shows that he must not have been a member of the Uncanny Amazers back on Xanthu, or at least not for very long. (It would not be unusual for such a personality type to have been booted from such a team and then later convince himself that he was too good for them, that he left of his own accord.) |
| 9:5 |
Leviathan’s past experience in the Science Police does make him the most logical choice as team leader, especially if the team is going to be acting in a law enforcement/combat role; Gim presumably may also have leadership training as part of his experience, given his Science Police rank. When the Legion was mostly aimed at United Planets vid-bite status, the charismatic and famous Cosmic Boy was the logical choice. |
| 10:1 |
Starsector 247-A is a reference to Adventure Comics #247, where the Legion premiered. |
| For a shipping route to travel through a star sector, there must be a physical component to hyperspatial travel, a lá Star Trek’s “warp bubble.” Compare to the teleportation-like stargate travel. |
| 10:2 |
It is unclear why vanishing ships would be an “easy” Science Police mission. Piracy of cargo, maybe, but freighter theft should be a more major deal. |
| Later in the issue, we will see that Tangleweb uses the ship crews as food. Since the freighters themselves vanish, Tangleweb presumably tows the ships with him and disposes of what he cannot use (“food” and technology both) later. |
| 10:3-4 |
Garth seems more jealous of Rokk’s loss of the lead role than Rokk does. This fits both of their personalties. |
| 10:5 |
“Earth Standard” recognizes that different “clocks” exist for different planets. This is only rarely brought up in the comics, where we assume a standard Terran day and calendar. |
| Miss Manners says: “Garth is apparently not happy with Gim’s more formal, rigid nature.” |
| 11:1 |
In the preboot, transuits were an automatic device that triggered when the user was exposed to a hostile environment (outer space, typically). That level of technology is not yet available. |
| It is unclear what the armband and hand devices are for on the transuits. One is presumably the environment maintenance equipment; the other could be a sensor. The hand device might also be a communicator of some sort. |
| Kid Quantum’s powers are natural, but they are enhanced by his belt to a usable level. In the preboot, the Legion required that a member’s powers be innate rather than dependent on a device; the death of the preboot Kid Quantum was apparently the reason for that rule. |
| Leviathan probably does not know for certain that the transuit and Kid Quantum’s belt will interfere with one another; it is just a standard precaution, placing all electronic devices outside the transuit’s environment field. |
| 11:4 |
For all his formality, Leviathan is certainly a team player when it comes down to it, even adopting the use of Rokk’s nickname so quickly. He has had leadership thrust upon him and accepts it because it is his duty more than because he actually wants the role. |
| 11:5 |
The Legionnaires are not reacting well to Gim’s military/police attitudes, and with good reason since — with the exception of Saturn Girl — none of them have such background. They generally seem to think Gim is taking things much too seriously. (Invisible Kid presumably also has an appropriate background to understand the “why” of Leviathan’s methods, but any spy work he has done would have been solo rather than working within a structured hierarchy.) |
| 12:1 |
Leviathan is probably not as clueless as he appears, here. By ignoring Garth’s snide remarks, he attempts to let such minor problems wash past him rather than affecting his leadership. Of course, if all the members are making such comments, he has a more serious problem. |
| Leviathan’s headgear is based on that used by wrestlers (of the Greco-Roman variety); it is made to protect the ears and the temples. The bare arms of his outfit also echo the wrestling motif, but to a lesser degree. |
| 12:2 |
Invisible Kid is really no more of a team player than Kid Quantum, at this point. |
| Kid Quantum is trying to puff up his ego. His claim of liking more “flair” in his costuming is probably false, given that his sister later is seen wearing a similar outfit. (Although it is possible that the Xanthu government gave Jazmin the Legion-style outfit when she replaced her brother, preferring it to whatever outlandish outfits James had tended to wear before. She might also have chose the Legion-style costume herself for similar reasons.) |
| 12:3 |
XS’ outfit, like Leviathan’s, diverges from the standard “full covering” style. In particular, her short leggings evoke athletic (especially cycling) shorts. |
| 12:4 |
All of Jenni’s previous experience has been in a laboratory setting, where she has only recently managed to get her powers under control. We will later find out that she is also one of the youngest Legionnaires, her powers are newer to her than for other members, and she has the legacy of the Flash and the Tornado Twins to live up to; she has plenty of reasons for fear and uncertainty. |
| 12:5 |
The design of the Legion cruiser (referred to here as a “stargater”) was used in the preboot; it is a Mark-459 cruiser, but presumably with adjustments made for the special needs of the Legion. It avoids the Star Trek-influenced “saucer at the front” design that plagued Legion cruisers for decades. |
| Smoke and steam do not act this way in a vacuum. |
| The appendage on the side of the freighter is probably the mast for a solar sail. It could also be a ramscoop, but those are usually spoken of as being in front of the ship, away from the thrusting engines. The device attached near the front of the ship is Tangleweb’s ship. |
| 13:1 |
While Saturn Girl says “human thoughts,” she presumably means something more along the lines of “humanoid,” given that the first being removed from one of Tangleweb’s pods is non-human. It is possible, though, that she may indeed only be scanning for human thoughts, if they are the majority of the freighters’s crew, or it could be that only humans have survived at this point. |
| First task: ensure the continued integrity of the ship, helping to preserve anyone who has survived this long. They wouldn’t last long in a vacuum. |
| 13:2 |
I would question splitting up into four subteams, but ten people (twelve, if Triad is split) tromping around in a single group doesn’t give very good broad coverage. Leviathan does presumably have experience in being part of a group action, be it attack or search-and-rescue. |
| 13:3 |
The “THOOM” is probably an echo from the fight on page 17. |
| 13:4 |
Triad’s comment here seems more like the writers talking to the readers than anything the character might actually say. It is meant to be a commentary on Cosmic Boy’s questioning of the dispersal of the team, by further fracturing the subteams that Leviathan set up. However, there is no follow-up to the event, so Cosmic Boy’s concerns were unfounded. |
| 14:2 |
We will later learn that Saturn Girl has extreme reactions when in contact with very alien minds, like Tangleweb’s. Additionally, Tangleweb feeds on the brains of its victims, absorbing their knowledge; this would make mental contact with Tangleweb even more jumbled and chaotic than with other aliens. Further, the physical contact of the webbing may have exacerbated the situation. |
| Garth’s comment that he’s never seen Imra so close to panicking before indicates the passage of at least a few weeks between Legionnaires #0 and this issue. |
| 14:3 |
We’ll use Garth’s term “goop” to describe Tangleweb’s cocooning substance. (It is tempting to call it “wrapstuff,” after Elfquest’s Preservers, but this “goop” looks and acts more like foam insulation than spider silk.) |
| 14:5 |
Leviathan has forgotten the first rule of horror films: “Never go anywhere alone.” (Or is that “Stay a virgin”?) By letting James and Garth chase after Tangleweb, he has almost guaranteed a casualty. |
| 15:1 |
Earlier in the issue, Invisible Kid spoke to Chameleon only in Durlan, but here — when they are alone — he uses Interlac. There is already duplicity occurring over what Chameleon can speak and understand. |
| 15:3 |
Chameleon’s dialogue is apparently something like “How can they still be alive in these cocoons?” |
| 15:4 |
Death was probably caused by suffocation. Presumably that doesn’t affect the value as a food source. |
| 15:5 |
Lyle is not completely fluent in Durlan. |
| 16:1 |
Ah, so this isn’t a pure riff on Alien. |
| Tangleweb presumably replaced parts of its body with cyborg parts after losing/damaging them in previous altercations. |
| 16:3 |
Invisible Kid fades between visibility and invisibility rather than switching from one state to the other; he might be able to stop partway. |
| Invisible Kid’s comment about being “too close” merely indicates that there is limited value in turning invisible directly in front of a foe. Tangleweb can still do a good job of guessing where Invisible Kid is for a few seconds. As well, however, the invisibility serum may not mask body heat or odors, either of which the insectoid Tangleweb may be close enough to sense; Tharok later uses mechanical means to detect Invisible Kid. |
| 17:1 |
Some of Tangleweb’s cybernetic parts are made by a company called Hitomi. Did Tangleweb steal the cybernetic arms, or were they made specially for him? |
| 17:4 |
Although Tangleweb’s “goop” came from the side, Apparition’s dialogue does not indicate that Tangleweb had snuck up on Kid Quantum. More likely, the stasis powers (at least as amplified by the belt) are limited to frontal assaults or to only a single assault at a time. Since he was already dealing with the debris in front of him, James was vulnerable to “goop” from the side. |
| 18:1 |
For a single creature, Tangleweb emitted an awful lot of cocooning “goop;” the substance must expand incredibly upon contact with the air. Of course, Tangleweb could have been on the freighter for several days, for all we know. |
| Despite the earlier trauma, Saturn Girl is still able to engage in limited telepathic contact with Tangleweb; she undoubtedly is limiting such contact to the minimum possible. |
| 18:2 |
It is unclear just where the “laser locusts” are emitted from; probably under Tangleweb’s wings. |
| 18-19 |
Given their launch system, their laser capabilities, and the metallic content allowing Cosmic Boy to sweep them up, the laser locusts are probably either robotic or cybernetic composites like Tangleweb. |
| 19:2 |
While in the process of running away and recovering, XS still managed to take out her opponents. |
| 19:3 |
XS isn’t the only one having a panic attack. This also shows that “hard” talents are not always the most efficient for dealing with a situation. |
| 19:5 |
The purple object in the doorway is Tangleweb’s wings as it escapes. |
| While Invisible Kid is right, his manner is still abrasive against Leviathan’s purported lead role. |
| 20:1 |
Kid Quantum has only used his belt once on the mission (twice if you include stopping XS back on Earth). It either has a very limited charge, or else he failed to recharge it before the mission. |
| 20:3 |
Tangleweb is making off with some lunch. He may have been surprised and forced to flee, but there’s no reason not to take some of his booty along if he can. |
Kid Quantum appears to be flying or travelling at super-speed here. This might be an aspect of the stasis powers, speeding up time instead of just slowing it down, thereby providing super-speed. Further, it may be an aspect that the belt cannot amplify. A reasonable analysis of the stasis powers would thus be that Kid Quantum can alter the “speed” that time flows at in the immediate presence of his own body, and the belt allows him to extend that field outward to a degree. Note that this sort of temporal acceleration to produce super-speed would also result in accelerated aging, exhaustion, and so on, making it far less practical than true super-speed.
When Jazmin comes along a few years later, she also exhibits time-related powers, but hers tend to be used in a more offensive manner than James’ defensive techniques. |
| 20:4 |
The off-panel word balloon is from Leviathan. |
| 21:1 |
Note the light-colored aura around Kid Quantum. While this may just be used to delineate the character from the black background, it is also how the characters are drawn when wearing transuits. Assuming that this is a transuit aura, note that the aura encompasses Kid Quantum’s belt, indicating that the belt is inside the transuit. Thus, it isn’t a low power charge that leads to Kid Quantum’s death, nor does Tangleweb’s size somehow overload the belt; James’ own intentional and repeated ignoring of Gim’s instructions kills him. |
| 21:4 |
A broken neck, presumably. We will find out in Legionnaires #<25> that 30th century medicine can repair spinal damage, but the Legion must not have access to such a level of care out in Starsector 247-A. The speed of Kid Quantum’s death implies damage more severe than the broken back which Shvaughn Erin will suffer. |
| 21:5 |
Even Tangleweb recognizes that Kid Quantum could have survived if he had acted as a teammate rather than an individual. |
| “You’re dead, Jim… er, James.” |
| 22:1 |
These survivors may well have been cocooned later than the victim that Invisible Kid and Chameleon found in 15:4. |
| 22:2 |
Titanians focus on the mind rather than the body; hence Saturn Girl’s reference to thoughts rather than taking a pulse. |
| 22:3 |
Tangleweb’s leaving was presumably via an airlock, since there was no decompression to endanger the de-cocooned crew, none of whom have transuits. |
| 22:4-5 |
Cosmic Boy’s leadership skills surface yet again. This is proof that the ability to truly lead comes from within; experience and education can only do so much. It is worth noting as well that Leviathan’s training enables him to realize this shortcoming in himself. |
| 22:5 |
There is no evidence of the cocoons Tangleweb was carrying in 20:3, but there is also no mention of them. Presumably Tangleweb abandoned all of his booty rather than risk jeopardizing his escape further. |
| 23:1 |
The item that looks like an asteroid is Tangleweb’s ship. The c craft’s hyperspace jump signature is similar to that used on Star Trek: The Next Generation. |
| Presumably ships can be tracked through hyperspace, but the Legion’s Stargater doesn’t have that capability. |
| 23:2 |
On one level, Leviathan is right: the leader is responsible for those he leads, even if they refuse to be led and thus endanger themselves or others unnecessarily. |
| 23:3 |
To answer Leviathan’s question: three times (11:3, 19:4, and 22:4); Cosmic Boy also expressed leader-type opinions on 13:2, 14:3, and 14:5 without actually correcting Leviathan. |
| 23:4 |
Consider Cosmic Boy to have been “deputy leader.” |
| 24:2 |
In the preboot, Cosmic Boy eventually became the Time Trapper, guiding (some would say manipulating) the Legion on the path from “dream to destiny,” and he made thousands of mistakes along the way, resulting in the eventual collapse of time. |
| Reprints |
This issue was reprinted in the Legion of Super-Heroes: The Beginning of Tomorrow trade paperback collection. |
