Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #63

Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #63 cover

Date:

December 1994

Title:

“Things at Hand!”
(Cover Title: “image enhancements!”)

Plot:

With the Legion chafing at their close quarters at Brande Industries, they are introduced to their new image consultants, the Athramites, and to their new headquarters.  Meanwhile, on the moon, Leland McCauley is being stalked by Mano.  The Legion is called in to stop Mano, running up against antagonistic Science Police engaged in the same action.  They fight Mano, only to end up having their foe shatter the dome holding in the atmosphere at McCauley’s base.  And out in space, White Triangle supermen express their disdain for species mingling with one another.

Credits:

Mark Waid / Tom McCraw (Story) • Lee Moder / Brain Apthorp / Scott Benefiel (Pencils) • Ron Boyd / Tom Simmons (Inks) • Bob Pinaha (Letters) • Tom McCraw (Colors) • Mike McAvennie (Assists [Assistant Editor] • KC Carlson (Edits) • Lee Moder / Ron Boyd (Cover [assumed; unsigned])


CHANGE HISTORY

Date of Change
Content of Change
09/04/98
Posted
10/01/98
Change history begun
02/25/00
Unified to a single file
03/03/00
Reprint status update
03/16/00
Tracking updates from Legionnaires #21
Name corrections
05/03/00
Change history corrected
05/04/00
Name correction
09/18/00
Name correction
03/28/01
Name correction
01/14/04
Added Appearance Counts
Notes additions/expansions to 3:2, 4:1, 4:4, 5:3, 9, 11:2, 12:1-2, 12:2, 13:3, 17:1-2, and Reprints
Tracking correction

Tinted cells and text indicate missing or incomplete information.

Character and Object Tracking

       

Name

Previous Appearance

Next Appearance

Heroes

Apparition (Tinya Wazzo) Legionnaires #19 Legionnaires #20
Chameleon (Reep Daggle) Legionnaires #19 Legionnaires #20
Live Wire (Garth Ranzz) Legionnaires #19 Legionnaires #20
Invisible Kid (Lyle Norg) Legionnaires #19 Legionnaires #20
Triad (Luornu Durgo) Legionnaires #19 Legionnaires #20
XS (Jenni Ognats) Legionnaires #19 Legionnaires #20
Cosmic Boy (Rokk Krinn) Legionnaires #19 Legionnaires #20
Saturn Girl (Imra Ardeen) Legionnaires #19 Legionnaires #57 (flashback)
Legionnaires #20
Leviathan (Lt. Gim Allon) Legionnaires #19 Legionnaires #20
Brainiac 5 (Querl Dox) Legionnaires #19 Legionnaires #20

Villains

Mano (real name unknown) Legionnaires #19 Legionnaires #20
 
Ral (Direct Action Cadre; redhead) None Legionnaires #27
“Ponytail” (Direct Action Cadre; <Fethro Jorn>) None Legionnaires #27
“Bald” (Direct Action Cadre; <Arns>) None Legionnaires #27
“Headband” (Direct Action Cadre; <Suggin>) None Legionnaires #27

Supporting Characters

Athramites (16) None Legionnaires Annual #2 (footnote #1)
R.J. Brande Legionnaires #19 Legionnaires #20
President Jeannie Chu Legionnaires #19 Legionnaires #20
Tenzil Kem (of Bismoll) Legion: Secret Files #1 (1st story) Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #67
Leland McCauley Inferno #1 Legionnaires #20
unnamed Science Police officer (survivor of Mano’s attack; first name is “Joe”) None Legionnaires #47
 
Chollie (McCauley employee) None None; dies in this issue
Stewie (McCauley employee) No appearance; already dead in this issue
 
Unnamed or One-shot Characters:
     unnamed McCauley employee on the moon (presumably dies this issue)
     unnamed Science Police officers on the moon (6)
     Bugs Bunny
     Oothmar (mention only; no actual appearance)

Locations

Luna (moon) None Legionnaires #20
 
Legion Headquarters, Weisinger Plaza, Metropolis, Earth None Legionnaires #20
Meeting room, Legion headquarters None Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #64
VR Trainer, Legion headquarters None < >
Apparition’s quarters, Legion headquarters None Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #<82>
Gymnasium, Legion headquarters None < >
Cafeteria, Legion headquarters None Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #<67>
Brainiac 5’s lab, Legion headquarters None Legionnaires #20
Mission Monitor Room, Legion headquarters None < >
McCauley Industries’ research base, Luna None Legionnaires #20
McCauley’s office, Luna None Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #64
 
One-shot Locations:
     unnamed planet

Technology

Levitating furniture Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #0 < >
Gravcars (Athramite design) None Legionnaires #21
Omnicoms None Legionnaires #21
Bgztlian Blue (an ice cream soda or similar concoction) None Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #<82>
Legion communicator None Legionnaires #20
Transuits Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #62 Legionnaires #21
Mark-459 cruiser Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #62 Legionnaires #21
Lunar moondome None Legionnaires #20
Force shield swimming pool None < >
Frameless glasses (footnote #2) Legionnaires #19 Legionnaires #21
Virtual reality combat trainer (footnote #3) Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #62 < >
 
Logos:
     Legionnaire icons (Cosmic Boy, Live Wire, Saturn Girl, Triad, Leviathan, XS, Chameleon, Invisible Kid, and Apparition)
     McCauley Industries

One-shot or Untracked Items:
     Miners caps
     Holovid “chalkboard”
     Levitating hanger (for clothes)
     Holo projection table
     Holo entertainment center
     Holovid “heads up” display (on McCauley’s desk)
     Lunar transport/mining vehicle
     Holovid cameras (personal size)
     Mano’s helmet (destroyed in this issue)


1. Athramites will be listed as Supporting Characters when the ones appearing are Legion support staff members.

2. Assumed as part of McCauley’s appearances in the future.

3. The virtual reality system at Legion headquarters is physically different from the one seen in Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #62, but the technology is the same.

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Analysis Notes

Cover “Not my type” refers to the typeface of the logo, presumably.
The “image enhancements!” subtitle is a dig at Image-style costuming methods (especially underclad, busty females); a lowercase “i” is the Image Comics logo.
The sample hairdo held up for Saturn Girl’s approval is a nod to Night Girl’s Silver Age bouffant.
“Wash! Rinse! Repeat!” is the instructions for shampooing hair.
Besides being “out” as a fabric pattern, plaid also hearkens to the joke character Plaid Lad from the preboot Legionnaires series.
“Unstable molecules” is the magic fabric used for many costumes in the Marvel Universe; it allows everything from resistance to tearing to transformability for shapechangers.  Given the way that superhero costumes show off musculature, W.C. Carani has theorized that the Legionnires’ outfits are made of a type of “breathable latex;” it would not be out of bounds to posit such as the basis for “unstable molecule” cloth, too.
1 The Legion Roll Call is a feature of unparalleled usefulness in helping new readers get up to speed on the Legion.
1:1 Uh-oh.  They’re alone in the sewers.  Somebody’s gonna die!
The McCauley Industries logo includes a partially eclipsed crescent moon.  The Luna base is thus McCauley’s primary base of operations.
2:1 It isn’t uncommon today for corporations to pay on salary and expect employees to work more than 40 hours per week yet collect no overtime compensation.
2:2 Interlac Translation: “pass;” second line is a number ending in “5.”  Probably an airlock door in a sublunar bypass corridor.
Mano has probably been plagued by these sewer crews since his arrival on Luna; he may have even been lost in the sewers themselves for several days.
2:4 McCauley’s employee badges apparently don’t trigger sensors (at least in the sewers) to enable the tracking of employees, or they would have tracked Mano’s wearing of the dead employee’s badge.  Some 20th century corporations go so far as to track the amount of time employees spend in the bathroom, and even whether they wash their hands, and it is easy to imagine McCauley operating this way, although it was perhaps not cost effective to put such sensors in places like the sewers, where employees are not expected to be on a regular basis.
2 It is unclear how Mano made his way from the destruction of Angtu to Luna.  Presumably he was picked up by a ship investigating the explosion and made his way to the Solar system, possibly leaving a trail of corpses behind him.
3:1-3 Interlac Translation: “apple,” “star,” “ball,” “cup,” and “hand.”
3:2 While we will later find out that Chameleon probably does speak Interlac (and certainly understands it, per previous issues), recall that the United Planets did not recruit him; his home planet drafted him.  Some fans have suggested that Chameleon’s duplicity about his knowledge of Interlac does not start until later, that he truly has no knowledge of the language at this point, but that raises the question of why Durla would send a high ranking individual (heir to the religious leadership of the planet) to serve in a high profile position like the Legion without equipping him to communicate properly.  Unless Durla was intentionally trying to subvert the United Planets, it seems more likely that Chameleon intentionally played close to the vest (possibly on his own initiative, possibly by direction from Durla) until such time as the true intentions behind the Legion could be ascertained.
3:3 “Brande’s basement” is probably an exaggeration, but it could be true.
4:1 The Legionnaire icons are attributed to the Athramites.  Except for the icon for XS — a new character — the icons are the same as for the preboot characters, with Triad’s an extrapolation of Duo Damsel’s.  Right to left, top to bottom, the icons are for Cosmic Boy, Live Wire, Saturn Girl, Triad, Leviathan, XS, Chameleon, Invisible Kid, and Apparition.
Note that the icon for Apparition is a half-faded “female” symbol, forming a “P;” the preboot codename for Tinya was Phantom Girl, and she wore a “P” on her costume for several years.
The reference to 18-to-25 year olds preferring more chrome is another dig at Image-style costuming and the age range at which many of those comics are ostensibly aimed.
“Perhaps jackets” refers to the Giffen/Bierbaum-era costumes, which were a uniform look featuring gray jackets.
That would probably be a miscolored Legion flag on a short flagpole behind Leviathan; while it is colored as per an Earth flag, there is little reason for the Legion to have one of those in storage.
4:4 The Athramites are named for DC staffer Martha Thomases (spell her first name backwards, more or less), who apparently went a little gonzo with coordinating the outfits worn by various DC staff members at a convention in 1994.
Forty-seven senses?  The mind boggles.
Based on Saturn Girl’s pose and the movement of the Athramite near her, she probably mentally told it “Get away from me.”  This would be a simple thought projection rather than any significant contact with the (alien) Athramite’s mind.
4:5 Those are apparently bolts of cloth that Rokk knocks over.
5:1 Imra really needs to lighten up!
5:3 Note the split of members among gravcars: the founders and Brande in one, the remaining girls in the second, and the other guys in the third.
It is unclear just what is so special about these particular gravcars.
While Lyle’s comment about Gim’s love of heights is somewhat sarcastic, it also points to a possible fear of heights on his own part (see also Legionnaires #22).
The Athramite’s reaction to Gim’s desire to fly will result in flying belts after a few issues.
5:4 The preboot Legion headquarters was situated at Weisinger Plaza.  It makes sense to refer to the site of the new headquarters in the same manner.
The aerial layout of the headquarters matches the “L*” belt buckle logo.
No characters are deemed to be appearing in this panel, despite being able to tell which black blob must be which based on the previous panel.
The first word balloon is from Leviathan.  The second will be attributed to Saturn Girl, since it matches her body language in 5:3.
6-7 The original preboot headquarters was an inverted rocketship (yellow, with red fins).  The building’s design echoes that while also upgrading it.
It is interesting that (a) the Legion did not know about the building being erected, since the media would have picked up on it the moment the “L*” logo over the door went up, if not as soon as the layout of the plaza was known, and (b) that President Chu did not have a raft of media paparazzi on hand to go along on the guided tour.
6-7:2 The black notch above the doors is a sensor; some modern hotels have automatic doors that open on a corner just like this.
6-7:3 Garth’s remark about “rocketships” is a nudge about the preboot original clubhouse from the writers; Chameleon and Invisible Kid are commenting about Garth’s remark.
6-7:4 In the foreground are Saturn Girl, R.J. Brande, and Cosmic Boy.
6-7:5 The Legionnaires in this panel are XS, Live Wire, Invisible Kid, Apparition, and Saturn Girl.
7:3 Yup: they’re definitely kids.
8:1 To answer XS’ question: it tells us that President Chu wants every United Planets member to send a representative.
8:2 Garth’s VR battle against a dragon echoes the Levitz/Giffen-era holographic “Dungeons & Dragons” games.
Lyle’s comment is right: the VR can do more than hone just the primary powers of the users; it can be used to do full body training.  (Of course, then it becomes a rip-off of the Danger Room.)
8:3 As will be seen later, Tinya’s mother’s apartments (note the plural) are quite nice, and probably are better than these, or at least equivalent.
8:4 The floating force field swimming pool is an artifact from the Levitz/Giffen-hera of the preboot.
8 Note that Triad split up to see as much of the building as possible: Triad-Orange is in the first panel, Triad-Neutral is in the third, and Triad-Purple is in the last one.
9:1 For a telepath, not being in control of her senses and what information her mind perceives would be unnerving.  See the Notes for Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #62, 3:5.
9:2 From the clock on the wall, it is still morning.
9:3 Tenzil Kem, of course, was a Legion member in the preboot: Matter-Eater Lad (Bismollians can eat any kind of matter).  His comic personality follows that set by Giffen and the Bierbaums in the preboot.  He does not really have a bad Brooklyn accent.
9:4 In the preboot Legion’s first meetings with both Superboy and Supergirl, the Nine Planets Ice Cream Parlor was featured.  This cafeteria scene nods to that.
9 Whether a Bismollian chef would really be a good idea is questionable.  After all, given what he can eat, do you really trust that he’ll make something that you can?  However, this matter is largely settled by Legion: Secret Files #1, where Tenzil’s status as a chef is established.
10:1 Lyle’s comment is probably meant facetiously, but given the unknown nature of his “favors” for EarthGov, time travel is a possibility.
Brande’s comment is our first indication that Lyle invented the process (presumably still a serum) by which he turns invisible, as he did preboot.
10:2 Brainiac 5’s muttering is a play on the song “Them’s the Workin’s of the Lord.”  (“De ankle bone connected to de… shin bone.  De shin bone connected to de… knee bone.”)
10:3 According to the preboot scale, Coluans were logarithmic level 10 while humans were level 6, making them about 1.3 times as smart as humans on the average.  If the IQ scale truly measures intelligence, human average is 100 and Coluan is 128 or so.  As we will find out later, Brainiac 5 is level 12, and a genius at that level, making him even smarter still.
Neither Cosmic Boy nor Invisible Kid has been told on-panel that another Legionnaire was pending, although either Brande or the spying Legionnaires from last issue probably told at least Cosmic Boy.
10:4 Lyle may have thought his role as team scientist and brain was already sewn up.
10:5 Ah, it would seem to be a “red” alert.
11:1 “Quadrant” should mean “4,” but typically is used to just mean “section.”  Thus, Apparition’s comment simply means that a call is coming in from one of the moondomes.
No one seems concerned about the quality of McCauley’s signal. McCauley probably uses a coded signal for unnecessary security reasons, and cheap equipment that results in a lower quality (yet still “adequate”) signal.
11:2 As we’ll later find out, McCauley probably already had a number of powered operatives in his employ — Inferno at the least, and probably much of the rest of the WorkForce — although not as a Legion-style team at this time.  They were undoubtedly not on Luna at this time, although it would not be unlike McCauley to call in Brande’s “pets” first, saving his own operatives until after the competition’s forces failed.
“Three lives” would seem to indicate that Chollie investigated his co-worker’s scream after 2:5 and also encountered Mano.
11:3 McCauley’s final words are probably frustration at Mano’s sabotage of equipment (see 15:1) rather than any direct threat to his life.
11:4 “Oothmar” is presumably a mythological immortal, a la Methuselah.
12:1 Interlac Translation: “odos bar.”  This may be a reference to Odo, the security chief on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.  The other sign is incomplete, but probably ends with “--e’s.”
12:1-2 None of the races seen here are identifiable; the planet is likewise unknown.  Some people have suggested the planet is Rimbor; others suggested Earth, and that this is a scouting mission rather than a destructive one.
12:2 This is our first view of the White Triangle’s Direct Action Cadre.  Their vision and flight powers mark them as probably being Daxamites, and the presence of transuits (which would protect from lead exposure) supports this.
At this point, the White Triangle still had not been named, but they acquired their name from the uniforms Lee Moder drew here.  There is an obvious connection to be drawn between “White Triangle” and “Dark Circle,” but the creators deny any intentional connection, and indeed none is apparent when the Dark Circle eventually appears in Legionnaires #56.
12:3 Concrete proof that the White Triangle was behind Doyle.  Since the editorial note lists Legionnaires #19, the bomb referred to here is the one in Kid Quantum’s coffin, although they may have supplied the one used in Legionnaires #0 also.
12:4 Dangler: Since from here on out, we see only Daxamite White Triangle members, what sort of “extreme agents” did these Direct Action Cadre members recruit, and are they still waiting in the wings?
13:1 The first word balloon here is from Cosmic Boy, as Legion leader.
13:2 More fodder for speculation about Brande’s “mysterious” history.
The other speaker here is XS.
13:3 Lettering on Door: “AIRLOCK”
Those are probably fusion powerspheres in the frontmost moondome.
In the preboot, in the Levitz/Giffen-hera, the entirety of Earth only had about a dozen Science Police assigned to it.  The group is a more significant presence in the current continuity.
It could be that the Science Police officer simply doesn’t recognize the Legionnaires — they are still pretty new — but this is almost certainly an intentional snub.
14:1-2 While it appears that Cosmic Boy simply stopped the last officer in the group in 14:1, the rest of them probably paused and came back; hence the extra bodies going past in 14:2.
14:2 Saturn Girl is standing behind Cosmic Boy.
14:3 Tangleweb was also an “easy S.P. mission.”  These Science Police guys are overrated.
14:5 Note that Leviathan and Saturn Girl are the two Science Police-trained members.  Leviathan has undoubtedly been in contact with Stu, Jai, and other former associates from Mars and heard what the Science Police in general think of the Legion; Gim’s friendship probably humanizes the Legion for the group on Mars to a degree, and Imra’s presence may well act similarly for native Titanian Science Police (although probably not for any simply stationed there).
15:1 Note the sheer size of McCauley’s office.  It is designed to make people visiting him there feel small and dwarfed by his possessions.
Mano isn’t out-and-out killing everyone, just those he needs to in order to either protect himself or get to McCauley.
15:3 No reputable businessman sells untested devices.
16:1 By disrupting the balance between atoms slowly, Mano can dissolve objects; by doing it quickly, he can cause them to explode.  He can also control where the energy takes effect, acting either on objects close at hand (hah!) or from some distance away (planetary distances, in the case of Angtu), through intervening materials.
This is the same Science Police officer detained by Cosmic Boy in 14:1.
16:1-3 As in 20th century cop shows, Science Police guns seem to be only for show, unable to be fired even in self-defense.  It doesn’t matter how much the cop threatens to shoot a felon, he never will (unless he’s a bad cop).
17:1-2 This grudge-bearing Science Police officer will not appear again for over two years, when he will meet Mordru under the name Evisceratronic in Legionnaires #47.
17:3 Putting Gim in charge of a subteam is partly to help rebuild his confidence, but mostly simple recognition that he does have leading experience.
The underground sewers and the Lunar surface would be the places McCauley has no (or few) sensors, and thus where Mano can lurk without being tracked.
18:1 “Zip.”  A joke on Jenni’s part?  (As in “fast.”)
18:5 Mano may be intentionally shielding himself from telepathic probes, or it may be a natural side effect of his powers (or even of the Angtuan race, although Imra would probably know about that).
19:3 Mano can sense telepathic presences, marking him as much more sensitive than the average person.  Another possibility (for both his shielding and his sensing) is training or equipment from his Angtuan military days.  With centuries of warfare and the purchase of off-planet weapons, Angtu may well have utilized psychic weaponry at some time, and thus Angtuan military would have training or equipment in their uniforms to detect and resist such attacks.
20:1 Mano’s sword has grown in length from it’s appearance on 2:3.  Artistic interpretation.
Mano’s pose seems very familiar; perhaps it was taken from some piece of Christian iconography?
20:2 This is a new design for holovid cameras, probably the equivalent of camcorders to the “television camera” size seen previously.
McCauley seems genuinely frightened for the Legionnaire’s lives.  Perhaps he isn’t complete scum.
20:3 Invisible Kid was wisely invisible while searching for Mano, giving him the opportunity to have the upper hand.  Note that he didn’t turn visible when stunned/knocked unconscious by Mano; he does not need to concentrate to remain invisible.
21:1 Mano must have turned Saturn Girl over for some reason.
21:2-3 Because we can make out a vague body shape, we’ll consider XS to appear in 21:3, but not in 21:2.
23:3 Cosmic Boy is to Leviathan’s left, and Mano is between Leviathan and the explosion.
23:4 Mano’s helmet is undoubtedly a rigid polymer plastic, not glass.
23:5-24:1 While Mano has not previously been seen to remove his helmet, and may not have realized that he can breathe in a non-Angtu environment, he doesn’t seem especially surprised, either.  The helmetless look, of course, matches the Bierbaum-era design for Mano.
24:1 Since there is no reason to believe that McCauley’s chemicals could have caused a mutation so specific as to make Mano’s destructive energy blockable by standard-issue Angtuan gloves, the destructive energy has probably been a facet of Mano’s makeup since birth.  The chemicals probably interacted with the energy to cause the black skin/dancing energy mutation, possibly in conjunction with the breathing helmet Mano wore in an apparent effort to survive the chemical vapors which he had tried to warn his people about.  (Thus any other Angtuans who heeded him and also wore breathing helmets would not have survived the vapors.)
25:1 Mano can apparently control the intensity of the destructive force released by his hand, reducing it to nothing at this point.  Since he typically wears protective gloves, he presumably must concentrate to negate the destructive force; this would be a problem when he sleeps, were it not for the gloves.
The moondome’s covering is probably a polymer plastic shield similar to that which encased the entire Earth during the preboot Levitz/Giffen-era.
25:2 Garth doesn’t realize that Mano has already blown up (and survived the explosion) of an entire planet; explosive decompression of a moondome is small potatoes.
Reprints This issue was reprinted in the Legion of Super-Heroes: The Beginning of Tomorrow trade paperback collection.
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Appearance Counts

Character Name

Cover

Panels / Speaking

Heroes
Apparition (Tinya Wazzo) X 24 / 15
Chameleon (Reep Daggle) 19 / 5
Live Wire (Garth Ranzz) X 24 / 8
Invisible Kid (Lyle Norg) 24 / 10
Triad (Luornu Durgo) 24 / 11
XS (Jenni Ognats) 18 / 6
Cosmic Boy (Rokk Krinn) X 33 / 20
Saturn Girl (Imra Ardeen) X 33 / 10
Leviathan (Lt. Gim Allon) X 24 / 10
Brainiac 5 (Querl Dox)
2 / 1
Villains
Mano 25 / 19
 
Ral (Direct Action Cadre; redhead) 3 / 2
“Ponytail” (Direct Action Cadre; <Fethro Jorn>) 2 / 2
“Bald” (Direct Action Cadre; <Arns>) 2 / 2
“Headband” (Direct Action Cadre; <Suggin>)
2 / 1
Supporting Characters
Athramites (16) X 8 / 4
R.J. Brande 21 / 15
President Jeannie Chu 3 / 3
Tenzil Kem (of Bismoll) 4 / 3
Leland McCauley 8 / 6
unnamed Science Police officer (survivor of Mano’s attack; first name is “Joe”) 10 / 7
 
Chollie (McCauley employee) < >
Stewie (McCauley employee)
< >
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