Analysis Notes
| General |
This story demonstrates a strong level of “celebrity” status for the Legionnaires, more than has been displayed in other stories. It makes for an interesting counterpoint to the anti-Legion backlash which would occur two years later, after the Blight invasion. The public is fickle. |
| Mark Farmer, the writer/inker of this story (and inker for much of Alan Davis’ work) is a Legion fan, and was supposedly the reason that Davis did covers for Legion of Super-Heroes for a couple years. |
| The stories in this issue are generally presumed to occur in the sequence presented. However, Salu’s use of the “Leviathan” codename in the third story but “Violet” in the flashback in this one, and Ferro’s amazement at being in space in the third story place it prior to the flashback in this story. |
| 39:1 |
The kids are wearing outfits inspired by Live Wire, Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy, and Chameleon. More subtly, the fourth kid is eating a popsicle-like treat shaped like a Legion cruiser. |
| 39:2 |
“Legion Day”: this is probably the anniversary of the founding of the Legion (which would mark it as the two year anniversary, presumably, and the Legionnaires’ ages can be guessed at accordingly). It could be just a celebration to recognize the return of the Team 20 members from their “secret mission,” but acknowledging that return without revealing what the alleged missing was seems like a public relations faux pas. |
| In the crowd is an Athramite, Tenzil Kem at the Triad Triple Burger booth (the burgers are made with vegetable protein, of course), Czu (from Matt Howarth’s Konny & Czu), the four kids from 39:1, two more kids in LegionWear (Star Boy and Triad shirts), and Adam Strange. We can also theorize that the Skytours ships are run by Oli-3 Queen. |
| Although Adam Strange isn’t usually associated with the 30th century, there have been strange effects related to the zeta beam in the past. We will assume this is really him. |
| The “Legion Day”, “Skytours”, and “Heavy” text should be in Interlac rather than English, of course. |
| Dialogue captions are from Ferro. |
| 40:2 |
There are the kids from 39:1 again. |
| 40:3 |
We’ll call the aliens in this panel “Kangarooni”. |
| 40:6 |
The Legion probably doesn’t have any particular proscription against revealing that they have done time travelling — President Chu’s motives for her crimes are widely known, so the existence of time travel technology is presumably known to the general public — but since Ferro knew that they were not telling 20th century people of their 30th century origins, he may be trying to maintain the same situation in the 30th century. Alternately, since he came back with Team 20 from its “secret mission,” perhaps they have requested that he not reveal the time travel nature of that mission yet. |
| 41:1 |
The image of Ferro’s head is a separate panel from the Legion cruiser. |
| 41:2 |
There is no reason to believe that the Trojan Swarm is part of the solar system’s asteroid belt. |
| 41:3 |
2.53 minutes is the nice round number of 2 minutes, 31.8 seconds. “2.5 minutes” wouldn’t have sufficed? |
| This is probably Ferro’s first or second time getting into a transuit. |
| Notice that Ferro and Element Lad have their Legion belts off while getting into the suits. It is known that transuits can play havoc with electronics, per the problems that led to the death of the first Kid Quantum. There may be some electronics in the Legion belt buckles, but the real reason for this removal is so that belt pouch contents will be accessible while using a transuit. |
| 41:4 |
Note the reference to Chameleon as a “big gun.” That is a clue as to who the bystander actually is. |
| The large silhouette is Ferro’s shadow. This implies that the Trojan Swarm system’s sun (or an artificial light source) is reasonably close to this research station (that is, maybe about the same distance from that sun as Earth is from Sol). |
| Curious that Ferro is leading the way, since he is the least experienced. Perhaps he is either just eager or exhibiting less control over his flight ring (note how the others are gliding toward the station while Ferro is not). |
| Note the skull and crossbones on the docked ship. It must be Stheno and Rarb’s pirate ship. |
| 42:2 |
Violet is team leader, apparently, despite the directions Triad was giving in 41:3. |
| Oxygen really isn’t the best choice, being flammable. Nitrogen would be better. |
| 43:1 |
Rarb is Tyrazzi. |
| Rarb is wearing a curious pair of goggles. These must allow him to view Stheno without being subject to her powers. |
| 43:2 |
Note that Jo is leaping from the correct side, based on Rarb coming from behind and thus everyone turning around after 42:4. |
| 44:2 |
Vi is quick on the uptake to connect a sight-directed attack to the petrification effect. A gas effect might have been a possibility, but she probably noted Rarb’s goggles and deduced from there. |
| Ferro was merely the closest person to her. |
| 44:3 |
It has been theorized that Ultra Boy’s powers will activate his invulnerability automatically to protect him against deadly threats. That they did not here may mark the petrification as not deadly; 45:5 indicates that it was temporary. |
| 44:4 |
Coloring error: based on the rest of the story, Stheno’s legging should be pink, not red. |
| “Stheno” is the name of one of the Gorgons, Medusa’s sisters. |
| 45:1 |
Ancient Imsk legends? It is known from Justice League International #<22> that Imsk was already settled in the late 20th century and thus not a Gandian world. This would seem to indicate that Imsk was settled from Terran stock, though, sometime between ancient Greece and the 20th century. |
| 45:2 |
Note that the isotopes carrier is on the correct side of Stheno’s body for a reflection. Good attention to detail. |
| 46:1 |
And perhaps most important, Ferro followed the instructions of the team leader. |
| One kid is wearing an Ultra Boy shirt. |
| 46:2 |
The newscaster in the lower left is Brad Majors. |
| Coloring error: the dialogue caption is from Ferro, and thus should be blue like the ones at the start of the story. |
| Coloring error: Umbra’s arms should be blue. |
| 47:1 |
There is a kid wearing an Invisible Kid shirt here. Of extra interest is that he is black, as was Jacques Foccart, who became the second Invisible Kid in the preboot, and who was introduced a few months after this story with direct connections to Lyle Norg; this is not Jacques, however. |
| The green woman could be a postboot version of Legion academy member Lamprey, based on her skin color, but it probably isn’t her. |
| 47:2 |
The flying Legionnaires here are M’Onel, Element Lad, Gates, Triad, Brainiac 5 (with Koko), Invisible Kid, and Spark. |
| Adam Strange is to the right in this panel, but slightly miscolored. R2-D2 is to the left, between the “bystander” and Ferro. The green creature to the right of Ferro is probably a miscolored Polarian (purple aliens with a single large eyestalk). |
| 47:3 |
Here are the kids dressed as Chameleon and Live Wire again. |
| 47:4-5 |
The feet and cape in front of Ferro are M’Onel. |
