Editor's note: Jess Nevins has been writing and compiling annotations of some of the most hailed comics in recent years, from Kingdom Come to Kurt Busiek's Astro City to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. For more information about these annotations and Jess Nevins, see the bottom of this page.
(The images here are copyright 2003 Marvel Characters, Inc. The text here, except where otherwise credited, is copyright 2003 Jess Nevins, and may not be duplicated, in part or in whole, without my permission.)
Cover. This is a hedge maze. In the 17th century English kings and queens began building them as amusement parks; a notable one is at Hampton Court Palace, the royal palace on the Thames to the west of London. I'm sure I've seen an image quite look this, and that this cover is an homage, but I don't recall to what, exactly.
Bill Stiteler says, “This is, of course, a Labyrinth, which in the Greek mythos, had a monster, the Minotaur, in the middle. This cover has Virginia Dare in the center.”
Page 1. “By the grace of God” is the traditional postscript to the names of England’s kings and queens.
Page 2, Panel 3. “Omnia mutantur,nos et mutamur in illis” is an actual Latin quote, often attributed to Ovid. The ever-useful Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable attributes the saying to Nicholas Borbonius, a 16th century Latin poet.
“Master Carolus Javier’s Select College for the Sons of Gentlefolk” is an analogue for Charles Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, which in the Marvel Universe is the school where Professor Xavier teaches mutant children and which also serves as the headquarters for the X-Men.
Panel 4. This figure is an analogue for Henry McCoy. In the Marvel Universe Henry McCoy is the blue-furred and brutish-looking Beast, a mutant and member of the X-Men.
Panel 5. McCoy’s volubility here is a reference to the Marvel Universe’s Beast, who is equally talkative.
Page 3, Panel 1. There is a recurring X motif in this room, which is fitting considering that these are analogues for the X-Men.
Page 4, Panel 2. “The last man to tell me that was King James of Scotland.”
King James was famous for his opposition to tobacco, as his 1604 essay “A Counterblaste to Tobacco” shows.
Page 5, Panel 1. Bill Stiteler says, “Of whom is this statue in the garden... a cloaked figure extending a hand. The
Inquisitor, perhaps, reflecting a former partnership between him and Javier?”
Panel 2. “Sometimes I dream of building a room in which dangers would come from nowhere. Can you imagine? An intelligent place, in which a hundred perils hide, to teach them to fight as a team.”
Javier here is dreaming of a version of the Danger Room, which in the Marvel Universe is the training room, full of hidden dangers, for the X-Men.
Page 6, Panel 1. There is a Bleeding Heart Inn in London, on Greville Street.
Note that the feathers of Rojhaz’s head almost form a star, similar to the one on the Captain America’s chest and shield.
Page 8, Panel 1. Lombardy is a region in northern Italy.
The song Matthew is singing is obviously part of the Ballad of the Fantastick mentioned in issue #1.
Panel 2. “Natasha” is the 1602 analogue for Natasha Romanov, the Black Widow, a former Soviet/Russian spy now turned heroine.
Page 10. In the Marvel Universe Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil, got his enhanced senses (and was rendered blind) when he was struck in the face by a cylinder of radioactive materia. (This happened when he was a child and threw himself in the road to shove an old man out of the way of a speeding truck).
Page 11, Panels 1-3. Natasha is knitting a pattern in the shape of a spider’s web.
Panel 2. “And besides, with my husband dead....”
In the Marvel Universe Natasha Romanov’s husband was a test pilot; the KGB told Natasha that he was dead, and so she went to work for the KGB as the Black Widow.
Panel 4. “Latveria,” in the Marvel Universe, is a made-up country which is the home of Dr. Doom. Latveria borders on Hungary and Serbia.
Page 12, Panel 3. Rocket Robin Hood points out that von Doom takes responsibility here for whatever happened to the 1602 analogues of the Fantastic Four.
Panels 3-4. The over-inflated rhetoric of Count Otto von Doom is quite similar to his Marvel counterpart’s.
Page 13, Panel 2. King James of Scotland was gay; he was involved with George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham, among others. (I should note that this is a contentious issue, with the deniers/revisionists making up in volume what they generally lack in historical accuracy).
Panel 4. “I ran very fast.”
The Marvel Universe analogue of Petros, Pietro Maximoff (a.k.a. Quicksilver) is a superspeedster.
Pages 14, Panel 2. “But if my dream is true, then she would need to die very soon. If Providence destroyed the Isles of Britain before I could be King, that would be a terribly bad thing.”
This may or may not be coincidental or unintended by Mr. Gaiman, but this put me in mind of King Henry II’s comment about Thomas Becket, “Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?” Four knights, hoping to please the king, killed Becket, who opposed Henry’s proposed changes to the church courts. Henry could then disclaim any responsibility for the murder while still getting what he wanted.
Pages 15, Panel 1 “He found us that first winter, when we were starving, and he hunted game for us, and fed us. We would have died...”
This is an accurate summation of the history of the first English colonies in the Americas; without the help of the native peoples, the colonies would have died during the first winter.
Panel 3. “My mother and father...also passed away. I lived with my Aunt and Uncle. On my last birthday Sir Nicholas Fury came to the door.He had known my parents. He said it was time that I entered his service, and that it was what my father would have wished.”
In the Marvel Universe Peter Parker (who Peter, here, is an analogue of) was raised by his Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Peter’s parents, Richard and Mary Parker, were agents of an unnamed American spy agency before they died. (I don’t know whether any link was ever established between Richard & Mary Parker and Nick Fury).
Page 16, Panel 3. This sequence with Virginia and Peter, and her reaction to him, made me think of Gwen Stacy, Peter’s first love and the best woman who ever loved him. (Unlike that hussy MJ). In the Marvel Universe Gwen Stacy was The Woman for Peter pined in the early years, but she died while Peter, as Spider-Man, fought the Green Goblin.
Page 20, Panel 5. The idea that the Welsh discovered America long before the Spanish was one current in the late 16th and early 17th century. Supposedly Prince Madoc sailed to America in 1170 and founded a colony. Queen Elizabeth used this legend to claim British possession of America during the English war with Spain.
Page 21, Panel 2. This is the analogue for the Marvel Universe villain the Vulture, who is the enemy of Spider-Man.
Panels 5-6. The platter Rojhaz grabs and throws is circular and similar in shape to the shield which Captain America uses.
Page 22, Panel 4. Presumably this is the shape Virginia was afraid she’d turn into. If she is the analogue of Gwen Stacy, there is no account of Gwen having superpowers. Perhaps Virginia is a kind of analogue for the Marvel Universe villain The Owl? (It is very doubtful that Virginia Dare is an analogue for the Marvel Universe superheroine Snowbird, because Snowbird was created after 1969, which is the cutoff date Neil Gaiman is using for characters).
Thanks to: Alicia, a treasure beyond rubies; Rocket Robin Hood, Bill Stiteler, Brian.
