Analysis Notes
| General |
Only pages 1-5 and 10-18 are dealt with here. |
| There is no way to know if it was intentional or not, but Don and Dawn appear in exactly the same number of panels, and Don speaks in only one more than Dawn does. |
| 1:1 |
This is presumably 30th century (circa 2972) Central City. |
| 1:4 |
Although this looks like a gun of some sort, it is presumably a handheld scanner. |
| 2:6 |
“Rube” (on the box) refers to Ruben Diaz, the new associate editor on The Flash. |
| 4:3 |
The Tornado Twins initially appeared in Adventure Comics #373, revealed as descendants of Barry Allen who acquired superspeed for a day to celebrate Flash Day. After Barry and Iris moved to the 30th century in Flash Comics #350, it was presumed that Don and Dawn were actually Barry and Iris’ children or grandchildren. In Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #< >, part of the preboot continuity, the Tornado Twins were seen captured and executed by the Dominators. In the postboot, they are known to eventually marry Meloni Thawne and Jeven Ognats, become the parents of the kids who will become Impulse and XS, and will again give their lives fighting against the Dominators, as seen in Legion of Super-Heroes Annual v4 #<6>. |
| 4 |
Don and Dawn are drawn in this issue as in their late teens. They are apparently just at the beginning of their careers, and the scene that started this issue indicates that they are just starting to feel out the scope of their powers. |
| 4:6 |
Wally may be reluctant to mention Linda’s name because he is uncertain how much of his future the Twins know; their mother, Iris, travelled from a decade or so further in the future back to the 20th century, and has demonstrated significant exact future history knowledge. If he mentions Linda and the Twins recognize her name, they might slip and say something about Wally’s future. (Or worse, what if they don’t recognize her name?) |
| 5:5 |
Why? Well, because Barry was the salt of the earth (and saviour of the universe). The Twins have a major legacy to live up to. |
| 10 |
Throughout this page and the subsequent ones, no one seems to react to Wally wearing either a Flash costume or a facial mask. The former is of little concern, because the costume design dates to the (forgotten) 20th century; despite the Flash having lived in the 30th century for a while, that was for only a month or so, and 15 or more years prior to this story. The lack of reaction to his mask is somewhat more unusual, since although the Twins point out that clothing that Wally thinks of as “costumes” is normal in this era, facial masks do not seem to be common. |
| 10:1 |
“Hiding your light under a bushel” is a reference to Matthew 5:15, part of the Sermon on the Mount, where Christ tells people that they should display their faith for all to see rather than hiding it, like how a lamp should be place on a stand to brighten the room, not under a bushel (a container used to measure grain; some versions of the Bible use terms more clear to modern audiences, such as “bowl”). The phrase is captured for many people in the children’s song “This Little Light of Mine,” by Harry Dixon Loes. |
| Since Mark Waid has positioned Barry Allen and Wally West as being Jewish, this use of a Christian quote seems a little odd, but it certainly has its roots in Jewish heritage. (Christ was a Jew, after all.) It may well simply be a phrase that has worked its way into Wally’s (and by extension, Waid’s) subconscious without clear knowledge of the roots. |
| 10:3 |
Kids often have a tendency to overemphasize restrictions and comments made by their parents. It may well be that Iris’ “decree” was meant more for the Twins to not use their powers publicly until such time as the two were mature enough to use them wisely, and skilled enough to be able to use them well against whatever foes (government or otherwise) might arise. The current tenor of public opinion would have heightened the importance of their mother’s decree. |
| “United Planets”: while the use of this concept eventually comes into being in the 30th century, some 20 to 25 years after this story, later issues of Starman v2 will produce a 21st century “United Planets” involving the planet Rann. The name and concept for the 30th century version may well have been co-opted from that earlier one. |
| 10:4 |
The appearance is similar enough to name the blond male leader here as the future President Thawne (and Don’s future father-in-law). Since it may be a decade before Thawne becomes President and tries to have the Twins killed as part of his Cobalt Blue scheme, there should be no great concern than the Twins do not connect him with this small incident in their pasts. Thawne will have had several years to hide his true politics before the events seen in The Flash Secret Files #1. |
| “Hell, no! We won’t grow!” echoes the 1960s anti-draft chant, “Hell, no! We won’t go!” |
| This group has echoes of the xenophobic White Triangle which caused problems for the Legion, although it is probably not related to Roxxas and the other Daxamites. The full reach and origins of the White Triangle are still unknown. |
| These maps are presumably supposed to be of the Atlantic Ocean with the surrounding land, but are barely recognizable as such. While there may have been some significant changes to world topography in the future — and such is possible when superheroes and a few more world wars with attendant weaponry are considered — more likely is just bad art. |
| 11:1 |
Durlans and Coluans are of course known to Earth people all the way back to the 20th century, with the alien Invasion, Brainiac, and L.E.G.I.O.N. That there are still problems with Durlans by the Legion’s time seems to indicate some 30th century-specific event involving them, perhaps an assassination. |
| The map on Thawne’s overlay is missing here. It is perhaps a hologram of some sort and is not easily viewable from a wide angle. |
| 11:5 |
The man on the left side of the panel has a very Hitlerian moustache. |
| 12:1 |
Thawne probably made up “Scarlet Rigellian” on the spot, in an effort to whip up the crowd. |
| 12:3-13:1 |
There is probably a proscription against citizens carrying edged or projectile weapons, but not blunt clubs like these. |
| 12:4 |
As observed in 18:4, Wally is getting weaker with each time trip. At normal strength, he would have sensed this blow and avoided it. |
| 12:5 |
The first caption here really belonged in 12:1. |
| 13:2 |
Thawne appears possessed here. No idea why. |
| “Prime Directive” is a reference to Star Trek, the main rule of the Federation, intended to keep starships from interfering with emerging cultures. Captain Kirk violated it right and left, but probably the best example of the need for such is in the episode “A Piece of the Action,” where a culture visited by a previous starship focused their entire culture around 1920’s gangster Chicago based on a book left behind by the crew. |
| 13:3, 14:4 |
The woman here is wearing glasses with authentic frames, unlike the frameless ones seen on occasion in the Legion’s time. While she may be a Luddite or just prefers the nostalgia of framed glasses, this may indicate a small technological leap occurring in the twenty or so years between this story and the founding of the Legion. |
| 13:5 |
We’re apparently supposed to think the Twins are leaving Wally to his fate, but anyone who has read a few superhero stories would know right off that the Twins are just ducking for cover to come to the rescue a few seconds later. |
| 14:1 |
This rope was blue in 13:2-3. Maybe it has some sort of energy coursing through it. |
| 15:3 |
And thus their eventual codename, the Tornado Twins. |
| Note that Thawne ran away. |
| 16:1 |
This use of the powers to disguise their identities is an extension of the original Flash’s use of his powers to blur his maskless face. |
| There is no reason to believe that these manacles are power dampers of any sort. Wally could have just vibrated them apart with no trouble. Instead, he probably vibrated the left one apart to teach Dawn how, and she’s putting the theory into practice here. |
| 16:5 |
Wally held an internal jealousy of his own, seeing Dawn and Don as Barry’s true heirs with himself more of a pretender to the throne. |
| 16:6 |
Wally knows, of course, that XS and Impulse will be the eventually children of the Twins. Unfortunately, they both die when the kids are still infants, so there is not a lot of direct inspiration they provide. |
| 17:2-4 |
It isn’t easy to tell here, but Don and Dawn are wearing sunglasses to hide their identities. This is clearer in 17:4, where Don’s glasses blow off. |
| They chose this spaceport as an area with enough open flat space for the speedsters to be able to cut loose at top speed. |
| 17:3 |
The man next to Wally has lines drawn around his head to indicate some sort of a shock; compare this to the other people who are also watching the three prepare to run. He may be recognizing Wally’s outfit, something that the average person even in Central City does not do in the 30th century. This then would be someone with knowledge of the 20th century. From the hair color, this isn’t Max Mercury having time jumped, and based on build, it isn’t R.J. Brande; it could perhaps be Brande’s aide, Marla Latham. (The result of that would be that Wally and the Twins did help to inspire the Legion, and it would help to explain why Brande was involved in the lab where Impulse was raised.) |
| 18:1 |
This panel raises the question of why Wally ended up here rather than at some point later in the 30th century, when XS was around. Of course, the real answer to that is that it would be a continuity problem to insert such a meeting into either the Legion’s future or past, and at the “current” time, XS was still lost in time so far as the 30th century knew. |
| 18:5 |
Wally’s problem is presumably caused by John Fox distracting Linda from thinking about Wally and thus interfering with his “radar love” beacon. |
