Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #100 (story #5)

Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #100Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #100 cover

Date:

January 1998

Title:

“The Fires of Creation”

Plot:

Exploring a barren sector of space outside the galaxy, Sister Andromeda encounters a space anomaly with a geometric center which she dubs the Fires of Creation.  Inside the anomaly, a voice speaks her name, and she collapses.  On Earth, XS rushes Invisible Kid out of Legion headquarters to see a giant glowing image of Sister Andromeda.  Neither Invisible Kid nor Brainiac 5 can deduce anything about it outside its continual request to see M’Onel.  When he arrives, it asks him to come with it, and they leave, heading to the Fires of Creation.  Brainiac 5 assembles a team to follow them.

Credits:

Paul Levitz (Writer) • Walter Simonson (Penciller) • Bob Wiacek (Inker) • John E. Workman, Jr. (Letterer) • Tom McCraw (Colorist)


CHANGE HISTORY

Date of Change
Content of Change
12/14/00
Posted
12/07/01
Tracking format change
01/08/02
Notes additions to 92:1
01/08/04
Tracking updates and corrections to 1998Q1 issues
Tracking updates from Legends of the Legion #4
01/09/04
Tracking updates from Legends of the Legion #1

Tinted cells and text indicate missing or incomplete information.


Character and Object Tracking

         

Name

Previous Appearance

Next Appearance

Heroes

M’Onel (Lar Gand) Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #100 (story #3) < >
Brainiac 5 (Querl Dox) Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #100 (story #4) < >
Invisible Kid (Lyle Norg) Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #100 (story #4) < >
XS (Jenni Ognats) Adventures in the DC Universe #10 < >
Umbra (Tasmia Mallor) Legends of the Legion #4 < >
Element Lad (Jan Arrah) Adventures in the DC Universe #10 < >
Sensor (Princess Jeka Wynzorr) Adventures in the DC Universe #10 < >
Gates (Ti’julk Mr’asz) Adventures in the DC Universe #10 < >
 
Sister Andromeda (Laurel Gand)
     (also appears as a projected image)
Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #100 (story #3) < >

Villains

Time Trapper (voice only) Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #100 (story #4) < >

Supporting Characters

Sisters of the Eternal Cosmos No appearance; mention only
Koko Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #100 (story #4) < >

Locations

Fires of Creation None < >
Stasis Zone No appearance; mention only
 
Metropolis Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #100 (story #2) < >
Legion headquarters (exterior) Legends of the Legion #1 < >
Mission Monitor Room, Legion headquarters Adventures in the DC Universe #10 < >
Weisinger Plaza, Metropolis Legends of the Legion #1 < >
 
One-shot or Untracked Locations:
     unnamed sector of space outside the Milky Way galaxy

Alien Races and Creatures

Athramites (at least 3) Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #100 (story #3) < >

Technology

Legion flight ring No appearance; mention only
 
One-shot or Untracked Items:
     spectra-scanner
     unspecified scanning equipment
     remote tracker
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Credits Paul Levitz, of course, wrote Legion of Super-Heroes for more than a decade, bringing the title and its characters to perhaps their highest peak.  Nearly every Legion fan regards the second Levitz run as some of the best superhero comics ever and something of a blueprint for how to write a large-cast book to give all the characters time in the spotlight.

Analysis Notes

General Since Umbra leaves immediately following this story, we will place this following the Legends of the Legion mini-series.
82:2 A “white hole” is the theorized opposite of a black hole, spewing out matter and energy (despite the violation of conservation laws that would seem to imply).  Assuming that white holes have not been disproved by the 30th century, this must not look/behave like one.
We will refer to this space anomaly as the Fires of Creation, due to Sister Andromeda’s comment and the title of the story.
82:3 That is probably not kryptonite.
“Valor” is the name M’Onel used in the 20th century.  Sister Andromeda is descended from Lar Gand’s 20th century brother and reveres Valor as a saint or savior.
84:3 Although we only see the Fires as a flat disk, that is probably a weakness imposed by the printing technology.
Note that the Fires displays a replication of the number 12, with the outermost ring of circles numbering 36 (and with an odd coloring scheme: ABABBA).
84:5 As will be eventually revealed, these pentagon-shaped word balloons are from the Time Trapper.  The purple tinge is a clue right off the bat; some fans assumed that they were connected to Glorith.
85:1 Invisible Kid gave out the flight rings in < >.
85:2 What in particular does Lyle need to think about?  While this could relate to dealing with the enlarged team, as commented on in 63:4, there is also the matter of the note from “C.” which he will get in Legionnaires #59, speaking of “continuing” something.  (The creators eventually revealed that they intended Invisible Kid to be gay, and “C.” to be reporter Condo Arlik.  While Levitz probably did not intend for this to be related to that unfinished plotline, the connection fits well, even moreso with the cartridge Lyle appears to be removing in 85:4 — perhaps it contains personal files of some sort?)
85:7 That’s twice in this issue that Jenni has carried or otherwise propelled Lyle around.
86:1 Those must be Element Lad’s legs in front of Umbra’s.
“The Plaza”: this is strong supporting evidence for referring to the area around Legion headquarters by its preboot name, Weisinger Plaza.
86:2 Note that the projection of Sister Andromeda is referring to Lar by his chosen codename, despite that the real Laurel uses “Valor”, at least internally.
86:3 That hair style is simply wrong from Umbra.
Note that XS is in sufficient awe of the projection that her speech patterns are something close to normal at the moment.
87:1 In other words, the image is not powered by an external source, nor does it seem to have a local physical source: it generates itself.
87:3 So Brainy is still working on time travel research.
87:4 The “+” and “-” on the object in Brainy’s right hand indicate it is probably a battery pack.
88:1 So what is the difference between this, an illusion, and a projected hologram?
88:2 “Empirical”: relying on experience or observation alone, often without due regard for system and theory.
88:5 Or if not magic, sufficiently advanced technology.  Or maybe just a primal force of the universe (since the Time Trapper is the source of this projection).
89:4 “Impossible?  I do not think that word means what you think that word means.”
90 “M’Onel” is ancient Martian for “he who wanders.”  M’Onel is an explorer.
91:4-5 Note the tense/grammar errors between the dialogue balloons in these two panels.
The team will be Brainiac 5 (without Koko), Gates, Umbra, and Kinetix, three of whom were present to see M’Onel and the projection leave.  Brainy probably would have preferred to take XS or Element Lad rather than Kinetix, but Invisible Kid wanted some of the witnesses to stay behind, and to have some non-witnesses on Brainy’s team.
92:1 Man joins woman?  Sounds like an “Adam and Eve” thing in the works (but that wasn’t the case, in the end.)
White captioned dialogue is from Brainiac 5.
The image of Sister Andromeda here counts for her, not for the projection.
92:2 A leading theory here was that they were going to do another reboot of the Legion universe!
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