| 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! |
