Inside Front Cover:
Lots of symbolism here in the text piece.
The first two Golden Age heroes mentioned are the first Human Torch and Namor the Sub-Mariner, followed by Captain America and the Whizzer. Interestingly, Cap is associated with Earth, and the Tarot suit associated with Earth is Pentacles/Shields. And the Whizzer has a yellow costume, which (while risible in some senses) ties him even closer to Air, as Yellow is the traditional color of that element.
The elemental associations of the FF have been mentioned before, but are reinforced here, although one might argue that, philosophically Reed is more air/intellect while Sue is more emotions/water.
The other tetrads reference some fairly obscure bits of continuity:
Eternity, Infinity, Death, Oblivion: An expansion of the Eternity/Death duality first created by Mark Gruenwald for his Quasar series.
(Silver) Surfer, (Air-) Walker, (Terrax the) Tamer, (Fire) Lord: Heralds of Galactus, each with fairly obvious elemental associations.
Four Elder Gods: Set, Cthon, Gaea, and (apparently) Oshtur, of which more later.
Four kinds of Magic: These terms are new to me, in this arrangement.
Four Cornerstones of Creation: Perhaps the most obscure reference of the bunch, these artifacts were the McGuffin of an arc in Marvel's Conan series, back in 1981.
Page 1:
The combination of the words Serpent, Sea, and Crown suggest that this is referencing the Serpent Crown of Set, last seen in the Atlantis Attacks crossover. (The fact that this is mentioned in upcoming solicits re-inforces the identification)
Oshtur, here identified as one of the "Four Forces", is usually part of the Vishanti trinity, along with Hoggoth and Agamotto. The feminine appearance is traditional. She appears to be holding scales (the symbol of Libra, an air sign) as well as a sword.
Note, also, that the shop itself is called "Cornerstone of Creation".
Page 9: The Sword of Bone, first seen in Secret Defenders #16, was the weapon of Cadaver , an undead hero in the service of the Vishanti. The identification as a Cornerstone is new, as the Conan version of the sword had a different name.
Page 17: Cadaver's Sword was one of his ribs, too.
Page 25-27: The equating of Oshtur with Maat and Ishtar is new. Indeed, Ishtar and Maat are not usually equated (Hathor is more often seen as Ishtar's equivalent).
I'll do more on the spread later. |
