SpaceKnights #1 Annotations
by Lee K. Seitz
Version 1.4 - 13 Sep 2000
Copyright 2000 Lee K. Seitz
May be freely reproduced and distributed on the Internet as long as no charges
(membership fees, etc.) are required to access it and it is not altered in any
way. All other rights reserved.
Please send corrections and additions to lkseitz@hiwaay.net. And while
you're at it, visit Rom, Spaceknight Revisited at http://home.hiwaay.net/~lkseitz/comics/Rom/.
*** Spoilers ho! ***
All character listings are from left to right, top to bottom unless otherwise
indicated. Characters listed as [unknown] will be filled in as soon as the
needed issue is released. Identities of characters listed as [?] are
uncertain. (Help is welcome.) For brevity, all members of the new
generation of Spaceknights are *not* designated with their appropriate Roman
numeral.
A Guide to Spaceknights' Real Names:
------------------------------------
Firefall Tarn
Hammerhand Bron
Javelin Darin
Liberator Tristan
Pulsar
Lan
Scanner Rhanla
Sentry Val
Starshine Anarra
Terminator Balin
==========
Cover: Liberator is shown in full figure. The flying figures are
Hammerhand, Lightningbolt (miscolored as blue where he should be green),
Firefall, Scanner, Sentry, and [?]. The bust views at the bottom are
Terminator, Starshine, Pulsar, and Javelin.
General: This series was conceived of and proposed by Batista.
Starlin was brought in because Batista has no official previous plotting or
scripting experience. Batista did uncredited rescripting of some portions
of this issue after Starlin submitted his script. Not all of Batista's
revisions made the final cut.
Pages 1-3: Due to licensing restrictions, Rom's armored form cannot be
shown, so he is shown as an iconic figure with glowing red eyes and a halo.
His name is also taboo, so the Galadorian meaning of "first" (or in this case,
"first one") is used.
Page 1, panel 1: From front to back we have male Dire Wraiths, female Dire
Wraiths, a mysterious hooded figure, Hellhounds, and Deathwings.
Page 1, panel 2: From top to bottom: Terminator I, Rom, [?],
Rainbow, Starshine I, Javelin I, Trapper, Firefall I, Pulsar I, Gloriole, [?].
Page 2, panel 3: The renegade second generation Spaceknights shown in the
foreground are Heatwave, Dominor, and Lightningbolt. The renegade
Spaceknights were not tainted by the evil they fought, but by their greater lack
of humanity (compared to Rom's generation), power, and lack of foes to fight.
Page 3, panel 1: The capital of Galador, Galadoria, has never been named
before now. It was not just the city that was destroyed, but the entire
planet was devastated.
Page 3, panel 1: The first half of the third caption seems to be missing.
It was supposed to read "Once again he was forced to take up the cause...."
Page 3, panel 2: The three Spaceknights accompanying Rom (Seeker I,
Trapper, and Scanner) sacrificed themselves in the fight against the renegade
Spaceknights.
Page 3, panel 3: The man is Rom in human form. It's the first time
he's ever been depicted with beard and mustache. This is most likely to
both help avoid licensing issues and invoke the image of King Arthur.
Page 3, panel 3: Galador had many colony worlds, so contact must have been
re-established with them to help rebuild. Not just Galadoria, but the
entire world has been restored. Rom became Prime Director at the will of
the people, not of his own desire.
Page 4: The Angel Elite are a genetical engineered race designed to serve
as Galador's "home guard." To date, only male Angels have been shown.
Page 4: I'm not sure what GMV stands for. Perhaps "Galadorian
Military Vehicle"?
Page 5: No doubt we'll find out more about this as the series continues.
Page 6: Balin and Tristan are the sons of Rom and Brandy Clark, but
Batista did not intend for them to be princes. Both are named for knights
in King Arthur's court. In Arthurian legend, Balin unknowingly fought his
brother, Balan, killing him while also being mortally wounded in that fight.
Page 7: The woman sparring with the cadet is Starshine. The statue
in the background is of Rom (sans beard), as mentioned in caption 2 on page 6.
Page 8, panel 1: Director Artour refers to Rom. Apparently Artour,
meant to invoke "King Arthur", is Rom's previously undisclosed last name.
(This was Starlin's idea, not Batista's.) Prime Director is the title of
Galador's ruler.
Page 8, panel 2: Balin summons the entire Terminator armor from subspace,
much as Rom used to do with his weapons and tools. All of the new
Spaceknights have this ability.
Page 8, panel 3: Balin interrupted Tristan before he could finish his
"platitude," but I think the Terran word "Dad" in the previous panel is what set
Balin off.
Page 9, panel 3: I think Tristan meant "Lady Prime Brandy."
Page 9, panel 6: The woman is Brandy Clark, Rom's love from Earth who was
his main supporting character in his series. She is now his wife.
Page 10: Trion and the Trionians are, to the best of my knowledge, a
previously unknown alien race. The blue being is a male while the white is
a female.
Page 11: No doubt this evil "Spaceknight" is part of some plan to
discredit the real ones.
Page 15, panel 1: It was the force of the explosion that damaged Sentry
enough that he had to enter hyper-sleep and await rescue rather than returning
to Galador on his own power.
Page 15, panel 7: Batista's revision names him Regent Daithon, not
President Itoes. Note Brandy addresses him as Regent in subsequent panels.
Page 16: Trionian President Itoes incorrectly calls the _Praxis Six_the
_Excalibur_. Excalibur was the name of King Arthur's sword.
Page 16: Aside from Mentus and the renegade Spaceknights, Galador was
never shown as a divided people. They always seemed to live in peace.
Perhaps this was Rom's romantic image of it after being away for 200 years.
Page 16: Spaceknights visible here are Firefall (extreme left),
Terminator, Starshine, Scanner, and Liberator.
Page 17, panel 3: Where it originally said "Mister President," revisions
now give us the odd combination of "Mister Regent."
Page 17, panel 6: Spaceknights visible here, from top to bottom, are
Scanner, Liberator, Terminator, Firefall, and Starshine.
Page 18, panel 5: Spaceknights visible here are [?], Scanner, Liberator,
and [?].
Page 19: Axadar is a new name for Rom's neutralizer. According to
Batista, "It [has] been dismantled and rebuilt into into something so advanced
it achieved a form of sentience. An awareness nothing more." Also,
it now looks nothing like Rom's original weapon, probably due to licensing
issues. Acceptance by the Axadar is obviously meant to parallel pulling
Excalibur from its stone, by which Arthur became king of England.
Page 19: Many of those in attendance are presumably Spaceknights in dress
uniform, but none are identifiable.
General: Balin's Spaceknight armor, Terminator, is named after one of the
two Spaceknights Rom originally traveled with after defeating the Dire Wraiths
at Galador. The original Terminator had no humanity, as it had been
destroyed by a plague released by the Wraiths. Only his brain patterns
were grafted into his armor. He eventually killed an innocent being and
was to be put to death, but was secretly saved by an evil being called Mentus.
Two hundred years later, Terminator finally turned against his evil master.
Shortly thereafter he was killed helping Rom and the other Spaceknights attempt
to stop Galactus from consuming Galador.
General: There is no known original Spaceknight named after Tristan's
armor, Liberator, but the design is based in part on Rom's armor.
Originally it more closely resembled Rom's, but Marvel's lawyers had Batista
redesign the helmet (he also added some markings on the chest) to make it less
like Rom's.
General: It is unknown, what, if anything the difference between the white
and black Spaceknights uniforms are. It does appear, however, that their
collar pips denote rank.
==========
THANKS
Much thanks to Chris Batista for the previews of things to come and inside
information he provided both before the series began and after the first issue
was released.
Also, thanks to:
Jack Bohn (Suggested note on Angel Elite.)