Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #77 (1996)
written by Tom Peyer & Tom McCraw
pencils by Lee Moder
cover by Alan Davis
While the rest of the Legion is busy with Starfinger, let’s catch up with Brainiac 5 after his arrest.
We get a relatively rare entry on the Encyclopedia Galactica, which claims that Takron-Galtos is in Earth’s solar system.
Not only I’m pretty sure that this it the first time it’s treated as being THAT close to Earth, but it definitely won’t be kept in continuity since we will see on other DC books that Takron-Galtos is already an interstellar prison in the 20th century.
The warden overseeing Brainiac 5 has summoned a sketchy telepath to read his mind.
We are introduced to Nara, who is a new character that won’t show up again.
Weird decision… I understand why they wouldn’t want to waste Saturn Queen for a quick role like this, but personally I would have gone with Esper Lass.
The warden is a piece of work too. Then again, it’s abundantly clear at this point that everything connected to the President of the United Planets is involved in a conspiracy.
Nara is here because the warden wants to know more about Brainiac 5’s involvement with time travel, but Brainy has just been sitting there thinking.
I’m not too surprised that all Coluan minds are difficult to read…
…but Brainiac 5 is something else.
Brainiac 5 is so smart that his mind has multiple simultaneous thought patterns!
Well, it’s either because he’s smart or because he’s nuts.
Probably a bit of both.
Nara manages to get into Brainy’s mind by concentrating on his childhood memories.
In a nice bit of characterization, while Nara is a criminal with little concern for the law she’s not a complete monster.
Brainiac 5 also provides his own commentary.
This is why my favorite version of the original Brainiac is the alien version: there’s something delightfully creepy about a guy who sells out his own planet to the robot apocalypse just to become smarter.
Get more of Brainy’s family history by brining up his L.E.G.I.O.N. ancestor, Vril Dox II, as well as his infant son Lyrl.
Neither Vril Dox II or Lyrl are formally acknowledged as Brainiac 2 and Brainiac 3 respectively. Definitely not here, but also I don’t think that happened in the L.E.G.I.O.N. books.
Adding to the fac that it took “several years” for the family to return to Colu, this makes me wonder… was Lyrl actually Brainiac 3, or even Brainy’s direct ancestor?
We are absolutely certain that Vril Dox II is his direct ancestor, but nothing concrete about Lyrl.
Lyrl being born in the 20th century is also sketchy if he’s supposed to be Brainiac 3: Coluans live long, but not long enough for Brainiac 5’s grandfather to be born that early.
I think it’s more likely that Vril Dox II fathered another child a century or two later.
Especially since Brainiac 4… well we’re about to find out.
You would expect a society that values intelligence above everything else would be quite fond of Brainiac 5.
But turns out he’s still ostracized because he’s TOO smart.
Even for his own good.
Attempting to delve deeper into his childhood trauma, however, Nara is kicked out by a vision of a statuesque woman.
Nara is willing to go the extra step to get to the bottom of this…
…by using some EXTREMELY illegal technology.
Consider just how dangerous this thing might be if Titan law has (effectively) the death penalty for using it.
Brainiac 5’s life prior to joining the Legion is pretty sad.
Perhaps my favorite bit of this story is that Brainiac 5 sees the rest of his people as apes.
Brainiac 5 must be a Star Trek fan if he likes exploding consoles this much.
He most definitely has a sociopathic streak if THIS is expression at witnessing the death caused by his equipment, even if it wasn’t entirely his fault.
No wonder he sees the other Coluans as apes if they never have any clue about what he’s doing.
Don’t be too hard on Brainiac 5. He can be difficult to deal with, but always remember that by the standards of his species he’s the most sociable person ever.
If Colu doesn’t want the smartest kid in the universe, R.J.Brande is more than happy to take him.
Eventually Brainy was sent to work at the Time Institute, which is where we first met him in the Reboot.
Brainiac 5’s first impression of the Legion was a massive disappointment.
Yeah we didn’t need a telepath to tell us that Brainy was jealous of the attention received by Invisible Kid or that he had a crush on Andromeda.
Speaking of Andromeda, she IS related to time travel because Brainiac 5 (who still believes she’s dead) built the time machine after her death.
And this is when Nara discovers Brainiac 5’s greatest secret: the fact that the last time he was happy…
…was the day he was BORN.
A day that Brainiac 5 remembers perfectly, because of course he does.
Remember I said we were going to learn about Brainiac 4?
Well, in this continuity, that was Brainiac 5’s mother, not his father (who we never meet in this continuity by the way).
And if you thought the OTHER Coluans were cold… well…
…Brainiac 4 is utterly devoid of any empathy whatsoever.
Or other emotions for that matter.
Is it any wonder that Brainiac 5 has some serious issues?
In fact, the whole reason why he invented time travel in the first place… was just to see his mother again.
Brainiac 5’s mind is not a nice place to be.
Nara has to give back the memory she extracted…
…and even gets herself arrested.
Well at least someone in that prison is having fun!
Legion significance: 10/10
Essential to understand Reboot Brainy, plus Brainiac 4 will eventually be a very important figure.
Silver Age-ness: 0/10
Not really.
Does it stand the test of time? 10/10
I fully admit this is my Brainiac 5 bias: he’s my favorite Legionnaire and this continuity has my favorite version of him.
And this does everything right, at least for a Brainy early in his career (his opinion of the Legion will DEFINITELY improve soon).
It would have been way too easy to go the obvious way of Brainiac 5 building the time machine to save Andromeda, but it’s more complex: it’s almost stated outright that the reason why he had a crush on her is that she reminded him of his mother, and after her death the closest thing to actually seeing his mother again was breaking the laws of physics!
And having the mother be Brainiac 4 is both a surprise and natural, because why would only males be the ones to inherit the title?
While we don’t know enough about the lifespan of Coluans to be certain, the fact that Brainiac 4 is Brainiac 5’s mother leads me to believe that Lyrl was not her father.
Labs exploded by Brainiac 5: 6
We see Brainy blowing up one of Brande’s labs. But I’m not adding that one to the list: Brande had previously mentioned that Brainy had exploded 5 labs before he joined the Legion, so this might be one of the five.
I am, however, counting the lab he destroyed on Colu.
“By damn!”: 8
Who did it better?
Technically speaking there IS a Brainiac 4 in previous continuities, but he was such a non-factor that he’s not even worth bringing up.
We are legion
- 12 active Legionnaires (3 volunteers, 9 drafted)
- 2 expelled members (Live Wire, Brainiac 5)
- 1 resigned member (Andromeda)
- 1 honorary member (Superboy)
- 2 deceased members (Kid Quantum, Apparition)
- 18 people have been members
- 2 Legion leaders (Leviathan, Cosmic Boy)
- 2 members have been rejected
Interesting letters: yep, in a good way but it’s an appropriate reaction.
If this was Jeff’s reaction to the death of Apparition, I wonder how he felt during 5YL.
This is a good point: it’s a constant of the Reboot, even when the quality goes down a bit, that they never do a 100% recreation of a pre-Reboot death.
McDonald might appreciate that *spoiler alert* none of his favorite Legionnaires die in the Reboot.
A rogue telepath exploring Brainy’s mind is a massive improvement over commandeering an amusement park to do it!
In Justice League 3000/3001, Takron-Galtos is revealed to have been Earth itself before being repurposed into a prison planet. There are analogues of legionnaires in that continuity, so those books will need reviewing someday far down the road.
Lyrl has been identified as Brainiac 3. He built a tyrant sun that he named Pulsar Stargrave, who considered Lyrl his father. Stargrave has since transitioned into humanoid form and looks identical to the Pulsar Stargrave who claimed to be Brainy’s father, only to be revealed as Brainiac I. Of course, Brainiac I was upgraded for a while to Brainiac 13, and indigo (Brainiac 8) has nothing to do with the lineage numbering.
“Adventures of Superman: House of El” also features a Brainiac 4, built by the House of El.
“Future State” Bry Dox was also Brainiac 4, and the father of Brainiac 7.
It would have made so much more sense if Querl were Brainiac 50.
I’m fairly certain that Justice League 3000 (and 3001) are not meant to be part of the core continuity, nor can they really be made to fit.
I mean, it is just not possible to explain how come such similar characters just turn up a thousand years later and decide to emulate so closely what happened in what by rights was a very alien culture of their past of a time several dozen generations back.
Apparently Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis disagree, but come on.
IIRC, the whole project was announced around the time the New 52 Legion was cancelled and started being published just four months after LSH #23. I don’t know if they said outright that it was meant to occupy (and therefore retcon) the continuity slot where the Legion used to exist, but the suggestion was certainly there. Of course, that did not last; around the time of “Justice League 3000 #10” the Legion was brought back as guest-stars in “Justice League United #5”, joined in short order by the cast of the New 52 Legion Lost.
Yes, I know that a similar and intensified premise was the basis of the “DC One Million” event back in 1998. My take is that it was cute as four-issue series with several optional tie-in one-shots to be taken with a healthy dosage of suspension of disbelief. As an ongoing it doesn’t really work unless the plot quickly confronts the paradox of its own premise and how it can’t be reconciled with the Legion.
“It is just not possible to explain how come such similar characters just turn up a thousand years later.” The whole premise was that scientists imposed the power sets and memories of Justice Leaguers over volunteers whose true personalities were overwhelmed. The historical records were faulty and the personalities were skewed.
After the cancellation of Justice League 3001, the story continued in the pages of Blue Beetle, which was very much part of core continuity. Blue Beetle left the Legion analogues in a position where they could become that continuity’s Legion.
Remember, Infinite Frontier means all stories are valid.
Nara feels like she could be a good character to bring back. She could have some interesting conversations with other characters.
This was an interesting story. I don’t think Brainiac 5 ever had nearly as elaborated a background before.