Sorry so late on this. There's actually not a lot to annotate this issue, despite the amount of on-panel chaos, and the Legion blog has already gotten to a lot of it... so let's get to the rest:
Pp. 6-7:
Tyr, created by Cary Bates and Dave Cockrum, first appeared in SUPERBOY #197. Neutrax, created by Gerry Conway and Joe Staton, first appeared in SUPERBOY AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #253. Ol-Vir, created by Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen, first appeared in LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #294.
Pg. 10:
Yeah, Karate Kids don't have much luck. Tusker, created by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney, first appeared in ADVENTURE COMICS #331.
Pg. 16:
Valor is an alternate version of Mon-El whose backstory makes my sinuses flare up. Andromeda, here, is the L(II) variation on L(I)'s Laurel Gand--created by Mark Waid, Tom McCraw and Lee Moder, she first appeared in LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #66 in 1995, but the original Laurel was created by Tom and Mary Bierbaum, Keith Giffen and Al Gordon, and first appeared five years earlier in LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #5.
Andromeda hasn't seen Kal-El on panel before; this has to be a reference to Johns' "untold first meeting of the three Legions" thing.
Apparition is the L(II) version of Phantom Girl.
Pg. 19:
Luthor lived in Smallville (and started losing his hair in his teenage years) per ADVENTURE COMICS #271, as well as SUPERMAN: BIRTHRIGHT.
Luthor's father is Lionel Luthor on the Smallville TV series; was he ever given a name in pre-Smallville comics? Anyway, showing him from the back and leaving him unnamed here gets around the problem.
Which sister? Not Lena Thorul? Or is it? I imagine we'll be seeing more of this stuff in Johns' forthcoming history-of-Superman mini.
Pg. 20:
Only one brain in a jar!
Pg. 21:
The Legion Omnicom has a pretty comprehensive rundown of what's in the trophy room, so I won't repeat it here.
Earth-247 out of... 52? We saw it before in INFINITE CRISIS #6.
"The keystone to the multiverse"? Earth-0, then? The Flash connection to Keystone City is appropriate, I suppose.
Pp. 22-23:
Okay, this is all fairly baffling, so let's try to debaffle:
Don and Dawn Allen, the original Tornado Twins, were created by Jim Shooter and Win Mortimer, and first appeared in ADVENTURE COMICS #373. (...In a story that's now out-of-continuity post-Crisis, but does have a fine Neal Adams cover.) Don Allen and Meloni Thawne are the parents of Bart Allen, a.k.a. Impulse/Flash IV/Kid Flash. (Meloni and Digger Harkness are also the parents of Owen Mercer, the new Captain Boomerang.) Dawn Allen and Jeven Ognats are the parents of Jenni Ognats, a.k.a. XS.
The whole business with Professor Zoom, his "25th century speed soldiers," Starman's uniform as a map to the multiverse, etc.--the first Lo3W story--is all being mentioned for the first time here.
Pg. 26:
Tharok, created by Jim Shooter and Curt Swan, first appeared in ADVENTURE COMICS #352.
Pg. 30:
Bart Allen/Kid Flash here, created by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo, first appeared in 1994's FLASH #91.
And that's it until the last two issues come out, which I gather is going to be a while--#4 is currently scheduled for Mar. 25 and #5 for May 13, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them later than that...
Also, in reply to a couple of queries, I don't think I'm going to be dealing with the FINAL CRISIS AFTERMATH books here. But I look forward to seeing what other people have to say about them.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Starman's uniform as a map to the multi-verse was introduced in the recent JSA vs Gog story that just ended. That was also where it revealed that it was part of the unseen first Lo3W adventure. Personally, I am loving these teasers for the first Lo3W adventure. I wonder when (or if) we will ever see it.
Regarding Earth-247: My theory is that there are still an infinite number of universes, but the current 52 are the only ones connected via the Bleed--all the others are still there (and have been there all along), but are currently inaccesable due to the Bleed barrier.
Valor's backstory isn't so tough. At least, from what I can recall (possibly incorrectly):
Post-Zero Hour (and a little pre-), Valor was some Daxamite who hung out with L.E.G.I.O.N. and Vril Dox aka Brainiac II. At some point, he took a bunch of genetically altered humans, victims of Dominator manipulation from "Invasion!", and seeded a ton of planets with them, creating the precursor Legionnaire planets.
Then Valor loses his memory and is sent to Earth as "Champion", where he hangs out for a bit and fights Superboy (Kon-El). Superboy figures out Valor's deal, and before he dies of Lead Poisoning (originally cured by Brainiac II), he puts him into a Phantom Zone. S-Boy got the Phantom Zone access by putting together some tech used by a Phantom-Zone-jumping villain.
Meanwhile, in LSH/Legionnaires, it is revealed that Valor is worshipped the universe-over by the planets he seeded. The Legionnaires (with help from Superboy, who they abduct from our time), rescue Valor from the Phantom Zone and B5 gives him a lead cure. In order to disguise him from his mad worshippers, R.J. Brande keeps Valor on Mars and gives him the name "M'Onel", which is Martian for something. This is one of the first few hints that R.J. is Martian Manhunter.
And there you go.
Post a Comment