Showcase ‘96 #11 (1996)
by Tom Peyer & Derec Donovan
cover by Steve Lightle
The Legion doesn’t just meet superheroes during their 20th century visit.
We begin with Brainiac 5 strolling in a secure area of S.T.A.R. Labs, unconcerned by its defenses.
What he IS concerned about, however, is finding that the original Brainiac is being kept there.
If you’re not aware, the post-Crisis version of Brainiac is back to him being biological and a direct ancestor of Brainiac 5; he won’t turn himself into a robot until much later.
He also has vast mental powers thanks to several mutations he gave himself.
Brainiac 5 infiltrated the labs to find useful components to return to the 30th century: he didn’t expect to find stuff originating in his century!
Brainy snooping around secure areas is a particularly dickish move because right now the Legion is staying at S.T.A.R. Labs.
Cosmic Boy calls for an emergency meeting. While Saturn Girl, Shvaughn and Inferno aren’t doing anything interesting…
…Spark is currently reading “Why I hate Saturn”, in a neat little acknowledgment of the subplot of the main series where she’s upset at Saturn Girl.
Given that the artwork of this storyline is… well let’s face it, it’s not good… I’m pretty sure Tom Peyer put this on the script.
And most confusingly, THIS is where Apparition disappears. The same exact scene will be in LSH #87, and I suppose this might be the cutoff point where to insert Ultra Boy’s baffling story from Showcase #10… except it makes no sense to place it before/during/after LSH #87 or before/during/after this one.
That story continues to completely baffle me.
Good thing that the Legion left a good impression during the Final Night crossover.
Brainiac 5 potentially has a point here. I don’t think Earth currently has the legal system to hold the original Brainiac in custody, not to mention that he might be too dangerous for S.T.A.R. Labs.
Cosmic Boy is understandably against the idea of asking the original Brainiac to help, but he’s bullied by the rest of the team into accepting.
This is a terrible panel on many levels: it undermines Cosmic Boy’s leadership, it has terrible artwork, and it doesn’t make much sense for most of the people complaining here.
I can definitely see Inferno agreeing to get Brainiac’s help, maybe Spark as well given how homesick she is, but I don’t buy for a second that Saturn Girl or Shvaughn would agree.
Especially Shvaughn! She’s a cop!
As you might have guessed, Brainiac’s brain isn’t a nice place to be.
Reboot Brainiac 5 is often criticized for being a jackass towards his teammates.
I find that criticism mostly overblown, and he goes through MASSIVE character development in this era, so I defend him quite often.
Sometimes, however, he really is as irritating as his worst reputation.
Turns out that Brainiac is a catatonic state because he absorbed too much information from Superman books.That’s
nothing buddy, try to squeeze 48 years of Superman comics into a single retrospective and then you can complain.
I am shocked, shocked I tell you, that getting into Brainiac’s brain turned out to be a terrible idea.
As if waking him up wasn’t bad enough already, Brainiac has also turned his cell into a new ship… SOMEHOW.
No, really, I have no idea if he’s doing this telekinetically (which should be FAR beyond his capabilities at this point) or if he had it prepared while he was brain-dead (if so, HOW???).
Brainiac also puts all the Legionnaires in stasis, except Brainiac 5.
This is all happening VERY quickly: this is the next page, the fact that he imprisoned the others AND that several hours have passed already (!!!) is just told through dialogue.
Because this version of Brainiac has telepathy, he already knows everything about Brainiac 5.
Unfortunately this ALSO gives him access to Brainy’s knowledge of 30th century technology.
Clearly, this is the brightest mind of Colu.
Brainiac’s ship is spotted by L.E.G.I.O.N., so of course Vril Dox II is called to help.
Which means this story is about to involve Brainiac, Brainiac 2 and Brainiac 5.
Showcase ‘96 #12 (1996)
by Tom Peyer & Derec Donovan
cover by Steve Lightle
Missed opportunity to have the cover say “Legion of Super-Heroes and Brainiac vs Brainiac”.
This isn’t exactly a crossover with L.E.G.I.O.N. since Vril Dox II currently isn’t a member, having retired with his baby mama Stealth.
Only Vril Dox II would manage to make “I retired to spend time with my plants” feel like the most dangerous thing in the galaxy.
Excluding future time travel sagas, is this the story with the most Brainiacs?
It features Brainiac, his son who never uses the name but who is technically Brainiac 2, and his son Lyrl who might have used the name Brainiac 3 once.
Unfortunately Lyrl never actually meets Brainiac 5 in this story (or in any other, I believe).
Being disappointed in your family is a Dox tradition, and Brainiac isn’t particularly impressed by his great-great-grandson.
Thanks to his information about the future, Brainiac is aware of Sleepnet™: the telepathic information-sharing of Colu.
I appreciate that FOR ONCE the gap between the development of a crucial technology isn’t exactly 1,000 years.
One of Brainiac’s underlings is in charge of guarding the Legion.
Leaving aside that it’s quite weird to have Brainiac rely on people… in this period he either works with robots or with brainwashed victims… this is a rare glimpse on the average Coluan.
Clearly we are dealing with the smartest race in the universe.
On one hand, this is an extremely rare occasion for Shvaughn to shine: OF COURSE a 30th century cop would be the one to know how to exploit a Coluan’s ego.
On the other hand, that was such a dumb stunt that I doubt even Bizarro would fall for it.
If you have read L.E.G.I.O.N, Vril Dox II returning to Colu should be a HUGE deal.
The comic seems to know it, but it won’t really exploit it.
Meanwhile, Brainiac 5 has connected his descendant to Sleepnet™.
Vril Dox II, in the meantime, has landed on the planet and is surrounded by people who want to kill him. Which is really a very typical day for him.
Thankfully for him, the Legion is close enough for Saturn Girl to pick up thoughts of extreme smugness.
If you guys find Vril Dox II annoying, consider yourselves lucky to be friends with Reboot Brainiac 5 instead of Threeboot Brainiac 5 because that one might as well be Vril’s clone.
Brainiac is not particularly fond of his son’s latest hobby.
Brainiac 5 awakes from Sleepnet™ to see the original Brainiac torture his son with a mind blast.
Are we supposed to interpret this journal entry as proof that BRAINIAC FREAKING FIVE has to struggle THIS much to oppose the original!?
Because if so… WOW is that a bad take for the character!!!
Brainiac is so busy monologuing that he allows his great-great-grandson to defeat with history’s greatest weapon…
…a piece of wood.
Yeah, Vril Dox II’s talk about his L.E.G.I.O.N. colleague being the key?
That was just so that he could use his branches to beat up his dad.
You know, this is actually the first time I read this story.
Up to this point, I had only seen references in the Legion and Superman books about Brainiac 5 meeting his ancestor.
I imagined my favorite DC supersmart character fighting one of Superman’s greatest villains in a battle of wits and technology, proving once and for all to be the greatest son of Colu.
We got multiple panels of three supposedly hyper-smart characters beating each other with sticks.
And I know, it’s part of the joke: Vril Dox II boasts that they did defeat Brainiac in a battle of wits and instead they just beat him with a stick.
I concede that you COULD turn this into a satisfying resolution, you know, in a “real intelligence is using what you can, not the best technology” kind of way.
It’s not what happens, AT ALL, but it’s conceivable it could happen in a better story.
And this whole affair has spooked Colu so much that it’s the reason why Brainiacs are not welcome anymore, plus the reason why they decide to dedicate themselves to pure research.
Brainiac 5 is particularly bummed by this whole adventure (join the club, buddy) because of what he just discovered: the technology of 20th century Colu isn’t much different from what he knows from his time, meaning they’re not going to make major inventions for the next 1,000 years.
I love that this also results in a bit of personal introspection, because he realizes that he’s not as immune to technological stagnation as he thought.
Don’t feel too bad, Brainiac 5.
Considering Colu has given us Brainiac, Brainiac 2, Brainiac 3 and Brainiac 4, you’re probably the ONLY good thing to ever come out of that planet.
And even THAT depends on the day!!!
Legion significance: 2/10
This does have SOME significance for the Legion’s relationship with S.T.A.R. Labs, and even more minor ones in the Superman books. Barely.
Silver Age-ness: 6/10
I still cannot believe Shvaughn’s plan actually worked. That’s some crap straight out of Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen.
Does it stand the test of time? 1/10
Oh boy. Talk about a disaster, where do I even begin?
This should really, REALLY have been tackled in the main Legion book! Whose idea was it to have them meet Brainiac in an anthology book? Besides that… deep breath…
The plot is incredibly weak, the artwork sucks, the entire Legion besides Brainiac 5 is wasted, the artwork sucks, Brainy himself fluctuates between being bland and being out of character, the artwork sucks, Vril Dox II is even blander, the artwork sucks, the original Brainiac is sniveling uninteresting stereotype, the artwork sucks, the resolution was woefully unsatisfying, and I didn’t like the artwork.
The only, and I do mean only positive thing I can say about it, is that the concept of Brainiac 5 discovering Colu has stagnated causing him some self-reflection IS a good idea that would’ve been worth exploring in a better story.
Well, that and this is going to utterly DOMINATE the “Worst Reaction Shot” category in the next Legion Awards!!!
Who did it better?
Believe it or not, but this is actually THE FIRST TIME that Brainiac and Brainiac 5 meet!!!
They came relatively close when Pulsar Stargrave was revealed to be the original Brainiac… but since that was retconned shortly afterwards, it doesn’t really count.
And yet I would STILL call that fake revelation a better version of the first meeting between them.
That’s right: this two-parter is so bad that I can point to the Pulsar Stargrave retcons as the superior version!!!
