Analysis Notes
| Cover |
Non-representational, since no fight between the Legionnaires and Green Lantern occurs. |
| 1 |
Only seven of the eight Green Lantern Corps II members are seen here; Sparak is missing. |
| The off-panel dialogue is from Live Wire. |
| 2-3 |
The Legion role call appearances do not count in the Panels/Speaking tally. |
| 4:1 |
Although this panel seems to contradict page 2, where Leviathan II seemed to be seeing the Science Police officer falling below her, she was actually below the officer and grown to large size, so that Rokk was actually closer. |
| 4:2 |
For clarity, that is Ultra Boy and Live Wire being attacked by Tomar Ro. |
| 4:4 |
Flaay P’Kari is on the left edge of the panel. |
| 4:5 |
Renno and Nytoro Borin are behind Tomar Ro. |
| 5:1 |
All eight Green Lantern Corps II members can be seen here. |
| 5:4 |
Note that this is the replacement Eiffel Tower. The original (or an earlier version) was destroyed during the Daxamite attack in < >. |
| 5:6 |
“New London” would seem to indicate that a catastrophe befell the current city at some time in the next 1000 years. (Or perhaps the city was physically moved due to flooding from the River Thames.) |
| The Legionnaires are standing on Leviathan II’s shoulder. |
| 6:1 |
These are presumably directed force fields rather than any sort of destructive laser bars that would injure a prisoner. |
| Note that Kyle still has his ring on (not that the Science Police could remove it, probably). He could presumably use it to escape, but is using approved channels instead. (As an interesting side note: while we know dates like 1000 years in the future are interesting and convenient, Kyle was lucky that he didn’t arrive just a few years earlier, when the Legion didn’t exist yet. Another “interesting” time to appear would have been before Team 20 returned, when there would have been no knowledge of the 20th century Green Lantern by the available Legionnaires.) |
| 6:2 |
“Picadilly” (meaning Picadilly Circus) would be confirmation that “New London” indeed refers to London, England. |
| 6:4 |
The Science Police officer is wearing glasses with actual frames and temples; very old fashioned. |
| That the Science Police are willing to turn over a presumed dangerous criminal to the Legionnaires is a marked difference from how they were regarded by the law enforcement agency in the early days of the postboot. |
| 7:2 |
Kyle should have better cognizance as to who the particular Legionnaires were who were stuck in the 20th century, given that he worked with them during Final Night, Genesis, and the C.O.M.P.U.T.O. affair. It is tempting to make a crack about “The real Green Lantern would…” |
| 7:3 |
Kyle recognized the design of Live Wire’s outfit, rather than any familial similarity between Garth and Ayla. The “You were a girl then” comment, however, echoes back to assorted gender change situations the preboot Legion has faced, and in particular to the original introduction of Ayla, posing as Garth. |
| 8:1 |
Cosmic Boy is the welcoming committee because he was the leader of Team 20, and thus Green Lantern’s primary previous contact person. |
| 9:1 |
This panel gives a good sense that the Legion is a large group of heroes, as it should. |
| Leviathan II can be seen over Ultra Boy’s shoulder. |
| 9:2 |
Syd Mead is a futurist artist who did conceptual designs for movies like Bladerunner and Aliens. Kyle is an artist himself, so he makes comparisons to what he knows. |
| The opinions put forth by the three Triads seem at odd with their usual personalities, especially the “yummy” comment from the usually reserved Triad-Orange. |
| 9:4 |
Note that Cosmic Boy wears his flight ring on his left hand. Good attention to model on Banks’ part. |
| 10 |
All dialogue is from Cosmic Boy. |
| 10:1 |
Tomar Ro is presumably descended from Tomar Re, a noted 20th century Green Lantern assigned to Krypton’s space sector. He may thus consider being a Green Lantern to be his birthright. |
| 10:2 |
Probably no connection between Dalana Barr and Donna Barr, creator of The Desert Peach. |
| 10:8 |
Don’t these sole survivors who turn to crime usually prove to be the cause of their original home’s destruction? |
| The green hourglass on Sparak’s abdomen is akin to that of the black widow spider. Sparak is a curious amalgam of insect and arachnid. |
| 11:1 |
This reference to a Green Lantern legacy would seem to indicate that there were more Green Lanterns after Kyle (especially since 11:5 indicates that his existence isn’t even specifically known come the 30th century). A legacy with a 1000 year gap would be a bit much to believe. What this probably indicates is that more rings will be created sometime after this storyline concludes, in order that the concept of a Green Lantern Corps (i.e., more than a single ring wielder) can go forward. (Indeed, a few months after this story, Kyle obtained a second ring, which he gave to Jade, and this ring was capable of creating duplicates of itself.) |
| The two images behind Cosmic Boy are the Sklarian Raider Green Lantern and Sparak. Sparak is partially miscolored. |
| 11:2 |
A sculpture that is a great historical masterpiece, yet unrecognizable to 20th century readers? While there is ample time for such to be created in the next 1000 years, this has dramatic foreshadowing written all over it: Kyle will be the sculptor, in his future. |
| 11:3 |
Is there truly no Green Lantern in the 30th century? Or maybe just none known in United Planets space? Or perhaps even like in the preboot, none allowed on Earth? |
| Spark and Live Wire are in the foreground. |
| 11:4 |
Well, Kyle’s was the last ring, 1000 years prior. |
| 12:1 |
That is Ferro’s arm to the left side of the panel. |
| 12:1-2 |
Traditional DC continuity tags an event called the Great Disaster - probably nuclear war-related - occurring sometime in the 21st-23rd century, resulting in a massive loss of technology and information, probably including contact with the first wave of colony worlds. (See Hex, Time Masters, and Kamandi for views on the Great Disaster, some of which information may be invalid in the wake of Crisis on Infinite Earths and Zero Hour.) Earth apparently rebuilds itself to a large degree by the 25th century (see Booster Gold), although it is plagued by further setbacks between then and the Legion’s era; in the preboot, these were various World Wars. |
| As a result of the information loss during the Great Disaster, a great amount of information from the late 20th century onward is lost, probably due to in being stored in electronic formats which became outmoded by technology advances followed by unrepairable damage to the technology resulting in unretrievable data. The “hardcopy” information (books) from before the electronic age survived better, so information about Hal Jordan and other earlier 20th century heroes is more available to 30th century researchers. |
| Recall that Green Lantern wasn’t among the 20th century heroes seen in the holograms in Brande’s office in Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #0. The lack of memory of Kyle’s role fits in with this. Further, Martian Manhunter #1 Million indicates that Kyle leaves Earth for an extended period of time, which will further reduce his presence in Terran-based histories. |
| 12:4 |
Readers familiar with time travel stories and such can identify any number of non-tragic reasons why there is no Green Lantern presence in United Planets space in the 30th century. The most obvious is that the universe is a very big place, and if only a single Green Lantern ring exists, inheritors of it may have long ago focused on other parts of the universe than that nearest to Earth. |
| 13:4 |
“Donna” is Donna Troy, aka Wonder Girl, aka Troia, aka Darkstar. |
| This comment on the Time Institute is very peculiar. The Time Institute was shut down by President Chu as one of her ploys to maintain her power base. With Brande having replaced her as UP president, there is no reason for the Institute to remain closed, although it has not been seen to have been explicitly reopened. (And this story is clearly locatable between Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #100, when Team 20 returns to the 30th century, and Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #101, when Spark regains her lightning powers.) Rokk’s comment would also indicate that Rond Vidar’s time travel rescue attempt in Legionnaires #47 was illegal, but no such comment was made at the time. As a result, we will have to ignore Cosmic Boy’s comment, attributing it to an editorial oversight; instead, assume that he actually said something like “Time travel isn’t an easy thing to do.” |
| The mission referred to is an unrevealed story, despite this issue being published conincident with the investigation of the Fires of Creation space anomaly in the main Legion books. Brainiac 5’s appearance in the next issue proves that this mission is unrelated to the Fires of Creation. |
| 13:5 |
That would be a reasonable assumption. Hal Jordan was Green Lantern for a decade or so, but Kyle only has a fraction of that time under his belt. |
| 14:1 |
As in 9:4, note Invisible Kid’s left-handed flight ring wearing, also as per model sheets. |
| 14:3 |
Note that the line about Kyle’s genetic structure is further indication that Cary Wren is his descendant, although Ganthet could probably re-key the ring or adjust it to work for her as well as Kyle. |
| 15:1 |
This is of course the opening dialogue to Star Trek. Kyle is very clearly a product of a pop culture upbringing. |
| 15:2 |
There should be no problem reaching the former location of Oa: all Kyle has to do is use his will power, to believe (as it were). This inability to accept the sheer power of his ring is one of Kyle’s continual stumbling blocks. |
| 15:3 |
No debris after 1000 years? Doesn’t seem that out of bounds. Kyle is still thinking as though he destroyed the planet just last year. |
| 15:4 |
So XS was actually part of the team investigating Oa. Burp on the part of the writer. |
| The blue aura around XS is her transuit. Its band can be seen on her left arm, but the control pad belonging on the back of the right hand is missing. |
| 16:3 |
The long line of speedsters has been hinted at in places like The Life Story of the Flash. |
| 16:4 |
Is Jenni is in heat or something? She’s being mighty forward, unlike how she is shown in the main Legion books. |
| 16:5 |
“Young enough to be” my younger sister. Jenni is about 16; Kyle is in his early 20’s, probably. Although Jenni is an adult in 30th century terms, Kyle’s upbringing would preclude such a relationship. |
| 16:6 |
The ring apparently doesn’t protect Kyle from minor injuries, only major ones. (Which is perhaps for the best. Little hurts like banging your head and stubbing your toe are reminders to not be stupid as much as anything else.) |
| 17:3 |
While Kyle’s ring might be directed to leave an energy trail, Jenni’s transuit definitely does not. The blue trail is artistic license to show her motion. |
| 17:4 |
There is no evidence that the telepathic ear plugs transmit images, only words. Jenni’s reference to “seeing” is thus a query as to whether the stargater’s sensors have detected the ship now that Green Lantern has apparently disrupted the cloaking field. |
| 17:5 |
The blast comes from Din Collus. |
| 18:2 |
Man, Brande isn’t going to be happy about the big hole in the Stargater. |
| Note that Ultra Boy isn’t using both super-strength (lifting Renno) and invulnerability (dealing with Nytoro Borin’s grenades) at the same time. Spark is using her gravity powers to make Renno manageable. |
| 20:2 |
Renno is holding the sculpture “Sorrow.” |
| Note the other objects that the Green Lantern Corps II has apparently stolen: Aquaman’s hook, a helmet which might be Dr. Fate’s or the Ray’s (although Dr. Fate’s helmet was most recently seen transformed into a knife), and Thor’s hammer Mjolnir (from Marvel Comics), among other objects. |
| With his ring taken, Kyle’s costume has reverted to street clothes. |
| 20:3 |
The ring is keyed to Kyle and can only be used by him. |
| 21:2 |
Note that Ganthet originally found Kyle Rayner in an alley. Makes you wonder why homeless people make good Green Lanterns. |
| Big Ben is in the background. Recall that Kyle met Cary Wren briefly in Green Lantern v2 #97, and was arrested in New London. Whether this is the original clock tower, moved to New London, or a replacement built in the new city, is unknown. |
| 22 |
Note that the ring apparently creates a generic Green Lantern costume, similar to the one Hal Jordan wore. Kyle Rayner has designed his own, but Cary’s defaulted to the generic one. |
