Issue 0
Page 1:
Panel 1: The founder of Opal City is Burnley Ellsworth. Jack Burnley was the original artist for Sandman in Adventure Comics and Whitney Ellsworth was the editor. The name of Burnley Ellsworth is an homage to these two men.
The quote: "In times past" is a lead-in to the "Time Past" issues, where James Robinson explores the past of the Starman legend.
Remember that Chest'rfield Tobacco billboard... you'll see it again in #26 when the souls from Merritt's poster are released into Opal City.
Page 2:
Panel 1: First appearance of Starman VI, David Knight. David Knight's costume is different from the original Starman costume as worn by Ted Knight. The hood is green, not red. The costume itself has suspenders, which disappear by Page 3.
Panel 2: David references Will Payton, the fifth Starman, who was (at this point) killed by Eclipso.
Page 3:
Panel 1: Notice that David's suspenders are gone.
Page 5:
Panel 1: This is the observatory near Opal City, where Ted Knight used to headquarter himself when he was Starman. Symbolic of the change in Starmen that we will see later in the book.
Big Little Books were a series of pocket-sized novels that covered a wide range of popular heroes - the Lone Ranger, Batman, Terry and the Pirates, some of the classics in an abridged form, all sorts of things. They were first published in 1932, and there still exists a strong collectors' market for them.
Panel 2: First appearance of Jack Knight, Starman VII.
Interesting to note that the two brothers are squabbling, and only because it's an argument that interferes with his work does Ted Knight intervene. Shows the pattern in the family of the boys being ignored while Ted does his research.
Panel 3: First appearance in the series of Starman I, Theodore Knight.
David refers to some of the items that Jack is trying to buy from him. Major Matt Mason was an astronaut action figure series, not unlike GI-Joe or something of that nature. They were produced by Mattel from 1967-70. Lemmy Caution was a spy character in books and movies, notably Jean-Luc Goddard's Alphaville.
Page 7:
Panel 3: The tattoo artist, Morris, makes his first appearance in the series. Though not a major character, he does appear as a character for Jack to talk to in scenes where Robinson wishes to give Jack an outlet for monologues and to explore the characters relationships to each other. This is noticed in Secret Files and Origins #1 and #39, the beginning of the Lightning and Stars story.
True-Vue slides are another form of View-Master slides.
Panel 5: Charity's shop, Fortunes, is first noticed. Fortunes will provide a breather spot for Jack during his flight from the Mist's goons in #2.
Page 10:
Panel 2: Sylvester Pemberton is referenced. Pemberton was the golden age hero Star-Spangled Kid, and changed his name to Skyman when given a Cosmic Belt by Starman. Pemberton was killed by Solomon Grundy and this causes some problems for Ted when Jack, not realizing this, brings Grundy home for Ted to look after. The belt is now being used by the new Star-Spangled Kid in her own title. She is also a member of the new JSA along with Jack Knight.
Page 12:
Panel 4: First appearance of Nash, AKA Mist II.Page 13:
Panel 1: The gun that killed David Knight. Nash uses it to kill Bill Delaney, retired pathologist, in #12, the "Sins of the Child" storyline (Page 10, panel 6).
Panel 2: First appearance of Kyle, son of The Mist. Kyle is wearing the sunglasses that have become the trademark uniform of Nash, the Mist II.
Panel 3: Bakelite is an early plastic, created by accident by Dr. Leo Baekeland in 1910, and was very prevalent in the 1920s-40s. It is the combination of carbolic acid and formaldehyde. It was called "The Material of a Thousand Uses," and was used to make jewelry, radios, and many other products.
Page 14:
Panel 3: Jack is being shot at, but we see either a Raggedy Ann doll or a reproduction of Starman I's villain the Rag Doll falling next to him.
Page 15:
Panel 1: The first reference to Jack's Martial Arts training is made. Jack took jiu-jitsu during his martial arts movie kick.
Page 17:
Panels 1-3: Kyle steals the Cosmic Belt of Skyman.
Page 19:
Panel 1: J. Allen St. John was an artist. He did a lot of work in fantasy/adventure painting, including a series of works for Edgar Rice Burroughs novels.
Panel 2: Salvador Dali is the famous artist who was one of the founders of the surrealist movement.
Panel 3: Thorne Smith is an author. He wrote about the well-known character Topper, and numerous other humorous fantasies.
Sax Rohmer is an author as well, he created the famous villain Dr. Fu Manchu.
Panel 4: Robert Ryan was an actor, and made movies from 1940-80. He was mostly in action movies, war movies, and westerns.
Nat Nast was a brand of bowling shirts.
Starburst Franciscan Ware is a pottery/dinnerware style that was was first made in 1934. Franciscan was the name of the company, Starburst was one of their patterns that was especially popular in the 1950s.
Panel 5: Lee (of Lee Jeans fame) also made railroad worker jackets, back when one of the primary consumers of denim the wasrailroad industry.
Panel 6: Kamehameha is a clothing company in Hawaii that is named for King Kamehameha of the Hawaiian Islands. The company opened for business in 1936.
This Island Earth was a science fiction movie made in 1954.
Colliers magazine was published for nearly 50 years. Its content was basically the same as the Saturday Evening Post.
Captain Action was a toy in the same vein as the original GI Joe dolls, but instead of limiting itself to the military genre, Captain Action had costumes that allowed him to be transformed into a number of fictional characters: The Lone Ranger, Captain America, Batman, Buck Rogers, etc. He was created in 1966.
Page 20:
Panel 1: Good price for gum, huh?
Page 22:
Panel 1: First series appearance of the Mist I.
Page 23:
Panel 2: Notice the Ragdoll graffitti on the right side of the panel.
Page 24:
Panel 1: View-Masters were a collection of pictures set into a round cardboard frame. One could use the View-Master viewer to see the pictures in 3D.
Scott Walker is a singer known for his brooding songs and baritone voice.
Notice an error: Jack calls his brother Danny in the last narrative box. Jack's brother's name is David.