On legacy and responsibility

[arbre_rieur]

The original Golden Age Starman meets the 853rd century Starman.



That's future Starman's citadel. It orbits the solar system's artificial second sun, Solaris. That's the one-eyed thing in the back.



Citadel's feeling down because Starman is currently visiting the...

...twentieth century, where he's just met Ted Knight, the original Starman.





His great-grandfather had been stranded on an asteroid when the weapon mysteriously fell from the sky and landed near his location.





They talk, and Ted learns that Jack Knight has been pretty much completely forgotten by the 853rd century.



"Edison." Cue dozens of Tesla fans screaming in rage.



Future Starman says he requires a certain ore sample that Ted found and kept years ago, but he won't say why.



He and Solaris are conspiring to kill Superman. The ore sample, unbeknownst to Ted, is kryptonite.







We don't find out in the issue itself, but later comics reveal that he left without killing him.

Comments

[blackruzsa]

oooh.

[misterbug]

Jack has balls of steel, doesn't he? A crazy future-man points a giant lasermajigger in his face, and he doesn't even break into a sweat.

[thelazyreader]

Um, that's Ted Knight. Jack is his son. I think OP should have added a little more explanation.

[misterbug]

No, my own brainslip...sorry about that.

[lonewolf23k]

Well, look at it from Ted's perspective... He's had a long, good life, has his descendence ensured, has written down the notes from his research for others to continue...

He's not afraid to die.

[icon_uk]

As we would eventually discover when he has a rather impressive demise.

[icon_uk]

I like the Quarvat... Cosmic Rod... "No, call it what it is" moment. That's what a scientist SHOULD be.

[tacobob]

Can we please have this James Robinson back? >:D

[icon_uk]

I think we saw a glimpse of him again in the Starman/Congorilla one-shot, so he's out there somewhere.

[kd_the_movie]

I was always glad that this was collected in JLA One Million. And while it isn't among the scanned pages, i loved how (at the time) Archie legion Invisible Kid was going to go down as one of Earth's greatest scientists.

[grazzt]

I love how the panel fills with mist when he says "I might have been great." Not very subtle, perhaps, but still a nice touch.

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign.

[recognitions]

A nice one. And nice touch that Jack's forgotten. Hell, he's practically forgotten now.

One thing that bugged me about this series; was it ever explained why everyone in the 853rd century spoke 20th century English?

And is it me or does Future Starman look a little like Elrod in some of those panels?

Re: Sign, sign, everywhere a sign.

[darkblade]

They all have universal translators for the sake of the originals?

Re: Sign, sign, everywhere a sign.

[stolisomancer]

I wondered about that too, but there's a line in one of the books, maybe Superman 1,000,000, about how "language barriers no longer exist."

Re: Sign, sign, everywhere a sign.

[arbre_rieur]

I know that was the explanation they gave in Green Lantern 1,000,000, though it wouldn't surprise me if other issues mentioned it as well.

Re: Sign, sign, everywhere a sign.

[featheredserpent]

Not forgotten by Shade, who will apparently be telling stories of him (and the other Starmen) to children for many centuries to come.

Re: Sign, sign, everywhere a sign.

[icon_uk]

Thing about Jack is, he's probably quite happy to be forgotten. He did choose to retire and settle down to be a husband (well, partner at least) and father, and that's rather admirable.

[icon_uk]

I suppose my only issue is the notion that in the 853 century, we'd still be using surnames, and that anyone can claim to be a descendent of a single person like this. Allowing for a 25 year generational gap, we're talking well over 3000 generations from now. Anyone want to work out how many ancestors you have 3000 generations ago? 6.15x10 to the power of 902

[psychopathicus_rex]

There's another issue here, of course. Farris CAN'T kill Ted, because he's Ted's descendant - if he kills him, he himself will no longer exist. Classic time-travel paradox.

[pyrotwilight]

Well, not really, Jack Knight was already his fully grown son at that point so whether Ted lived or died Farris wouldn't have been affected.

[psychopathicus_rex]

...Oh. Right. Whoops. Still, wiping him out when his revolutionary technology was still in the nascent stages (presumably, anyway; I don't see the current DCU being fueled by cosmic rays) would probably cause pretty severe repercussions.

[arbre_rieur]

That's even mentioned in the final scan. :)

[ejne7]

I love the effect of the colours in his cape, when the rest of the effects are so flat and primary-coloured. Really beautiful.

[icon_uk]

Quasar has the same effect on his cape too.