Jim B. - To draw much too fine a point, the Imperial Guard was a copy of the Legion. So Gladiator is Superboy, not Superman*. Personally, I thought he was Mon-El, which would solve everything. And now that I've tried to make WAY too much soup out of this one bone.

*Okay, there were a couple stories with Superman in the Legion. I have officially finished polishing this turd. :)

Andrew B. - Perhaps I should have said, "Not yet." And of course, she would consume the star, not the planet. Thanks.

Steve Q. (and Mr. Byrne) - I think the best tension and action is when it's set up by the creator, but then left to us to imagine the actual event. My imagination is MUCH scarier than something someone else has thought of (although Mr. Byrne is pretty damned suspenseful!) For instance... "And now inside the Phoenix... something else stirs." Did she actually eat the Shrinking Violet cognate? That's what came to my mind.

The effects are like magic. It's something like the best movie special effects.. but in my head, I see entirely amazing series of explosions and weapons fire and the Phoenix, soaring like a bird of death, sowing destruction. One can only wonder what she will reap.

Heavens, I just hope it's not Captain Universe to the rescue...

--

Dave Cockrum apparently liked birds! He also designed Deathbird, who at first was not even Sh'iar.

This is what is also being achieved here with ELSEWHEN, and all good works of fiction. The story elements are Mythic and Mysterious. We glimpse them, but we never really understand all their mechanism. Over quantification would steal their magic and wonder. 

We don't need the details of how Phoenix defeats Gladiator...it enough that she simply does---in this one time, and this one place.

Epic.