Saturday, August 17, 2019

LSH v4 #2 annotations: "Five Years Later" (part 2)

Annotations for Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #2

  • On sale date: October 7, 1989
  • It's OK, I'm a Senator: Issue 2 Recollections (March 28, 2009). This is Tom Bierbaum discussing all of the stuff going on behind the scenes that culminated in this issue.
  • Legion of Substitute Podcasters episode 551 (May 6, 2019)
  • Timeline: this issue takes place about October 25, 2994

Names in bold in this section are possibly Interlac or LSH fandom related, leave a comment if you know who or what is being referenced!
  • Page 1, story 1: Barretta West sounds like an homage to gossip columnist/TV host Rona Barrett. “Persistent reports that Jo and Tinya secretly tied the knot many years ago” is probably a reference to the fake weddings in ADV 337
  • Page 1, story 2: Tinya’s stepfather is named Khard Wlessey. Jo and Tinya plan to marry on the planet Deltwan, which is a world in the Andromeda Galaxy, to which Karate Kid was transported using a new experimental Warp Transport. Deltwan has vine-trees and diamond cliffs. (ACT 387)
  • Page 1, story 3: Tinya’s dress by Arn Strikl. “Arn” is for Arnie Starkey and “Strikl” is for Carol Strickland, who had an Interlac feature of designing costumes for the Legionnaires 
  • Page 2 panel 1: Kono ducks down Whittram’s Alley (named for part of Michael Forrester's address)
  • Page 3: The Khund’s name is Kakaqik.
  • Page 5 panel 5: Kono’s real name is Brita An’nan (named for Britt Daniels), of Sklar. Sklarian Raiders were first seen in SLSH 233 and 235.
  • Page 5 panel 8: Stig Ah Plaza, named for the the real name of the Rimborian who became Reflecto.
  • Page 6: two officers are named Dell and Sargenan Arar.
  • Page 7: Algronsk & Kaston are named for the ultra polite Alphonse and Gaston, comic strip characters from the early 1900s (“After you….” “No, after you!”) 
  • Page 8 panel 3: Klordny was first (and only) seen being celebrated in SLSH 232.
  • Page 8 panel 4: That’s Dartalon of the new and improved Wanderers (first seen in ADV 375, last seen in Wanderers 13)
  • Page 12: Lydda and Loomis are traveling in the Hotel Woodmere (named for the street of the Stamford, Conn. home of several Interlac members, a house that was known as "Yohet Manor") on their trip to Kathoon. They pass by the planet VanVlack IV (named for Mercy Van Vlack), which is a barren world where Khund Field Marshal Lorca forced a Legion Cruiser down (SBOY 217), and its moon Miranda (named for the title character of a naughty strip Mercy has drawn for many years). 
  • Page 12 panel 6: a Hrykanian (Tellus’ race) and a Protean (Proty’s race)
  • Page 19: Shvaughn Erin was last seen in LSH v3 62 during the Magic Wars
  • Page 20 panel 1: she’s from Duar, a world that rejected helping the Legion fight the Sun-Eater because they felt they couldn’t win. (ADV 352)
  • Page 20 panel 5: among Shvaughn’s known acquaintances are Feliz Alana (WAPAn Joe Filice's daughter Alana Filice), Leemac Allen (WAPAn David McLallen), Hass An (Interlacker Hassan Yusuf), Cat Anestopoulo (the literal name of an Interlacker of that era), Suzi Apczynski (Joe Filice's wife), Brek Bannin (aka Polar Boy), D. Spengler Bonita  (misspelled as “Benita”; Dee Spengler, sister of WAPAn Grace Spengler), Ral Benem (aka Chlorophyll Kid), and Ard Bensam (Interlacker Richard Bensam). Brek and Ral's names were supposed to be highlighted.
  • Page 20 panel 9: so Dirk has been hanging out with corrupt Science Police Earth chief Circe
  • Page 21: Jo goes back to get his shaving kit, a gift from Rokk
  • Page 22: based on the speech bubbles, there are at least 5 voices. This is the guy we saw at the end of last issue, just released from Labyrinth and talking to a Dominator. Here, all of the speech bubbles are coming from him, as if he has multiple personalities inside him.
  • Page 22 panel 9: first appearance of the “L with comet” symbol, although here it’s still the old-school serif L. 
  • Omnicom 1:
    • May 8, 2991, the search for the missing Tinya has been called off. She disappeared in a breakup of interdimensional space on 4/12/91.
    • Officer Roon Dvron handled the case, and Sun Boy was Legion leader at this time
    • Mentions Bgztl Premier Gigleo Whyka, UP Council President Krevoy Zaxton, and her father Byzjn Wazzo
    • Mentions that the Science Police Earth had splintered off of the SP Proper.
    • Refers to her stowing away on a freighter and helping to break up the Meglaro/Landro spy ring (as seen in Secret Origins vol 2 42, published just a few months prior)
    • We saw Tinya's arrival in the 20th century in L.E.G.I.O.N. 9 which came out just a couple weeks before this issue, but we don't know why yet. We (as readers) know that Tinya somehow disappeared from the 30th century in what appeared to be a dimensional rift and took the place of The Durlan in the 20th century (who we don't know what happened to yet), for reasons which will be made clear in the upcoming Annual. 

Here's what we know of the timeline to date. I'm color coding them based on whether the date appeared in the 2995 Sourcebook (yellow; text in yellow is as written in the Sourcebook), it's a confirmed date that was given in the comic (green), or an estimated date based on keeping track of events and days (cyan). Bold text is something new added this issue. Italics are unknown dates.
  • 6/23/89 – Magic Wars end (LSH v3 #63)
  • 10/89 – the Great Collapse
  • 4/13/90 – Communique from Earthgov President Wellington, trying to legally disband the Legion, with Imra, Rokk, and Cham “currently out of the picture” (LSH v4 #1).
  • 2/20/91 – Tinya accused of having a “torrid affair” with Thom before announcing her upcoming wedding to Jo (LSH v4 #2)
  • 3/23/91 – Tinya’s wedding dress announcement (LSH v4 #2)
  • 3/30/91 – Tinya and Jo wedding set for June 9 (LSH v4 #2)
  • 4/12/91 – Tinya goes missing (LSH v4 #2)
  • 5/8/91 – Search for Tinya called off; Sun Boy is leader (LSH v4 #2)
  • 6/9/91 – Planned date of wedding of Tinya and Jo (LSH v4 #2)
  • 1/21/92 – Rebirth Summit (LSH v4 #1)
  • 7/6/92 – LSH leader Polar Boy disbands the Legion, mentions Black Dawn which “cost” the Legion (LSH v4 #1).
  • Wed. 10/22/94 – Raid on anti-government terrorists, but ringleader Vidar (aka Universo) is not captured; Cham tells Marla he’s leaving (LSH v4 #1).
  • Thu. 10/23/94 – Cham begins to recruit members for the new Legion, first approaching Rokk; Vi leaves the Imsk army for Winath; Dominator agents help someone escape from Labyrinth (LSH v4 #1).
  • 10/25/94 – Attack on Jo and Kono on Rimbor; Loomis and Lydda en route to Kathoon (LSH v4 #2).
Unknown dates, presented in the order they were revealed in the comics:
  • Black Dawn: something big and bad happened. Polar Boy says “you know what that cost us”. Sun Boy was a previous leader. By the time it happened, Chameleon Boy had left the Legion and “watched everything fall to pieces” (LSH v4 #1). 
  • Rokk and Loomis are injured in the Braal/Imsk War at Venado Bay, and Rokk lost his powers. Salu was somehow involved on the Imsk side, which did some questionably legal things. Imsk won, as the army is occupying Braal. (LSH v4 #1)
  • At some point, the Science Police Earth splintered off from the main Science Police (referred to as Science Police Proper) (LSH v4 #2)

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