Spaceknights #1 Annotations
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.)
