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Dec. 4th, 2007 08:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greenygalI am not a happy comics fan at present. If you've read COUNTDOWN #22, you can make a pretty accurate guess at why. DC, making me really not enjoy your comics is not a winning market strategy.
On the other hand, I was cheered up no end by the latest episode of LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES. I nearly missed it, thinking it would be a repeat; so glad I checked!
I was pretty much guaranteed to like this episode, because it focused on the relationship between Brainiac 5 and Superman, and that's unquestionably my favorite part of the show. (I like a lot of other things about the cartoon, mind you, but...well, it's Brainy. I own my obsessions.) It's especially cute when Brainy is standing there staring at Superman with hearts in his (very pretty) eyes. Which he does kind of a lot, although not as much as last season. But I also like when there's tension and unanswered questions between them; I think this is the first time they've been in open conflict since Brainy pitched a fit about Clark having a girlfriend, so it was probably about time for another, more serious fight, and here it is!
Poor Brainy. "I was worried if you knew my ancestor destroyed your planet, you wouldn't like me any more!" This isn't the first time Brainy has withheld important information from Clark, citing timestream complications, but I don't think it's ever occurred to Clark that it might be personal. The audience has an advantage over him in that respect, of course, since most of us at least know who the original Brainiac was and can guess that there are things Brainy might prefer not to tell him. I can see where it's kind of a bad moment for Clark; he's always known that Brainy was keeping secrets from him--sometimes really important, life-threatening secrets, e.g. the existence of Kryptonite. That's a very discomforting thing in a friend, and it's really only justifiable because of the "can't wreck the timeline" thing. Okay, yes, we will pause to raise an eyebrow at any version of Superman getting upset because someone kept important secrets from him. And possibly mock. A lot. But I can rationalize that this is actually making things worse--the 30th century is the only place where Clark doesn't have to worry about secrets, he can just relax and be honest and straightforward with his friends...except they're not being honest back. So yeah, Clark has some reason to go "you were keeping this stuff from me so you wouldn't look bad?" It's not the most mature he's ever been--the fact that Brainy had an extra motivation in this particular case doesn't mean the whole principle of not explaining these things is wrong--but in any case Brainy tops him with ease: "Yeah, well, it's all your fault because you let down this whole city, so there!" Oh Brainy. Interpersonal relations: not your strong suit.
Of course, this is obviously a big sore spot for Brainy to begin with. I have occasionally wondered, in my Legion reading, why Brainy would feel deep, personal shame over the actions of an ancestor who existed a thousand years ago. Even allowing for longer Coluan lifespans, it seemed a bit of a stretch, which may be why the idea mostly went away after the early years of the Legion. But here, Brainy's computer nature allows for a new twist on the situation: the first Brainiac is quite literally a part of Brainy, and one he can access with relative ease. No surprise that it's something Brainy worries about. (It also raises interesting questions about Coluan reproduction; do they create children by taking their own programming and adding things on?) He's certainly worried about Clark's reaction, but it seems clear that this is a deep, long-standing fear that Clark's presence is only exacerbating. So why didn't any of this show up in last season's greatest-fears episode? Er...because they hadn't thought about it yet. :) Alternately, the mechanism in that episode just didn't work very well on a living computer, hence Brainy's ease in resisting what it showed him. I do wonder if anyone's keeping track of Brainy's issues; there's his alienation from his people, his secret stash of Kryptonite, his frequently drama-queeny relationship with Clark (regardless of whether one thinks it's romantic, he's clearly got an extremely strong fixation, and it sometimes manifests in odd ways), and now this complex about his ancestor.
...oh, and then there's that other thing. *smiles in evil glee* I was really, really hoping they'd go there. Because accepting yourself is one thing when it means, say, admitting you've got a nasty temper, and another thing entirely when it means giving yourself an upgrade with code you got from your world-destroying ancestor. It's such a very, very B5 screwup (and yet done for all the right reasons, again as per usual), and I'm dying to see how this iteration of Brainy-as-Villain plays out. The Legion is in so much trouble, and they don't even know it yet.
Clark, meanwhile, spends much of the episode struggling with his greatest fear, the thing Brainy actually did call him on last season: he can't save everyone all the time, and he hates it. That, after all, is the core of why he's Superman: people need help, he helps them, end of story. The explanation of how he'd saved the Kandorians from themselves was a little oversimplified, maybe, but he spent a good portion of this episode demonstrating why he might have inspired a city to heroism. (Not intelligence, mind you, but heroism.) Note that he never actually starts comparing B5 to Brainiac until Brainy essentially says, we have to destroy this whole city, and if we can maybe keep our friends and some of the Kandorians from getting killed, well, that'd be nice. Brainy's right that Clark's inability to fulfill his promise is making him really, really unhappy (and as unhelpful as it mostly was, I really do have to admire Clark for his ready acceptance of a responsibility he hadn't even taken on yet), but Brainy should probably also have paid attention to what he'd just said, because that was never going to be anything Clark would listen to. And, hey, I'm not saying Brainy was wrong. On a practical, ends-justify-the-means level, he was totally right. The lives of every single person in Kandor would have been well-spent keeping the Messenger out of Imperiex's hands. But Superman just doesn't do those calculations, and Brainy knows that--it was really not the time to start squabbling. Of course, Clark was the one who started the personal attacks, and Clark was the one who stormed off, and Clark was the one whose big plan was, basically, "I'm going to die nobly and uselessly and let somebody else worry about what to do then." Boys, you are so much more effective when you don't get stubborn and start blaming things on each other; work together!
Except that it's never going to be that simple, because...well, mainly because Brainy is Brainy. I'm mostly okay with the flashy-thing; I generally agree with Brainy that it's a bad idea for Clark to know stuff about his future, and in this case it's going to be both a torment and an almighty temptation, going through his life knowing that he's never going to be able to fix Kandor but that he could if it weren't for the timestream. That said, it seems like this is a perfectly reasonable argument that could have been made to Clark, instead of springing a mindwipe on him. It's worth noting that Clark was aware of and gave at least tacit consent to the comics version of this plot device, a hypnotic command to forget everything about his future once he returned to the past. (And then remembering it again when he came back, so he didn't have to be reintroduced to Supergirl every single time.) The fact that Brainy immediately went for the assault option is more than a little creepy--basically, he responds to Clark telling him he's not a bad person by acting like a bad person. (And maybe that's intentional, and the mindwipe is meant to show creeping Brainiac-ism. I await further developments.) But the thing is, the fact that he's screwing with Clark's mind doesn't mean that he doesn't love him. There was more genuine pain in that apology than in the entire rest of the episode, including the part where he wanted to let Imperiex destroy Kandor. He's just...being Brainy. Oh, honey, you are so screwed up.
Other comments:
--Obviously this was the Silver Age Superman show. The Fortress of Solitude, a Superman robot, Kandor, Brainiac--even the Super-Pets! Actually, my favorite moment of homage was probably Clark petting "Krypto," it was so cute and casual.
--Y'know, Lightning Lad, there's a time and place for impetuous bravery. And, sure, racing to rescue your powerless teammate from a bunch of bad guys, that's one of those times! Still...if I were one of your teammates, I might have paused to briefly raise the question of how we were going to get out of that bottle before diving in. I'm just saying.
--I really like Clark's moment of "oh shit" when he realizes he's got no powers and is about to get pounded. Oooops.
--"Certain information about Kandorian history was lost in the great Crisis." Heh. Now...which Crisis would that be, again...?
--Liked Brainy's pained reaction to Clark saying he's the greatest; it's obvious foreshadowing (even if you didn't know who shrunk Kandor in the comics, Brainy's connection to "the Great Terror" was lit up in neon), but Clark's so cutely enthusiastic, and poor Brainy looks so guilty.
--Given Violet's various histories in the comics, there's a certain resonance to having her give advice on accepting yourself. It doesn't have any particular application to the cartoon, where she hasn't shown any of those struggles with insecurity or guilt, but I like to pretend they thought about it.
--That moment when all the Kandorians take flight and look ominously at Imperiex? So unbelievably cool. Run away. Run away fast. (Really good moment for Brainy, too, making one very smart move for maximum tactical effect.)
--I don't really have much emotional connection to Kandor, but I have to admit, seeing them get their planet back was a Neat Moment. Of course, they did have to wait a thousand years, but in fairness, there wasn't anything to be done about it by then--Brainy couldn't hand Clark the fix and send him back home without altering history. It's a shame Clark won't be able to visit, since he's forgotten all about the whole thing.
On the other hand, I was cheered up no end by the latest episode of LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES. I nearly missed it, thinking it would be a repeat; so glad I checked!
I was pretty much guaranteed to like this episode, because it focused on the relationship between Brainiac 5 and Superman, and that's unquestionably my favorite part of the show. (I like a lot of other things about the cartoon, mind you, but...well, it's Brainy. I own my obsessions.) It's especially cute when Brainy is standing there staring at Superman with hearts in his (very pretty) eyes. Which he does kind of a lot, although not as much as last season. But I also like when there's tension and unanswered questions between them; I think this is the first time they've been in open conflict since Brainy pitched a fit about Clark having a girlfriend, so it was probably about time for another, more serious fight, and here it is!
Poor Brainy. "I was worried if you knew my ancestor destroyed your planet, you wouldn't like me any more!" This isn't the first time Brainy has withheld important information from Clark, citing timestream complications, but I don't think it's ever occurred to Clark that it might be personal. The audience has an advantage over him in that respect, of course, since most of us at least know who the original Brainiac was and can guess that there are things Brainy might prefer not to tell him. I can see where it's kind of a bad moment for Clark; he's always known that Brainy was keeping secrets from him--sometimes really important, life-threatening secrets, e.g. the existence of Kryptonite. That's a very discomforting thing in a friend, and it's really only justifiable because of the "can't wreck the timeline" thing. Okay, yes, we will pause to raise an eyebrow at any version of Superman getting upset because someone kept important secrets from him. And possibly mock. A lot. But I can rationalize that this is actually making things worse--the 30th century is the only place where Clark doesn't have to worry about secrets, he can just relax and be honest and straightforward with his friends...except they're not being honest back. So yeah, Clark has some reason to go "you were keeping this stuff from me so you wouldn't look bad?" It's not the most mature he's ever been--the fact that Brainy had an extra motivation in this particular case doesn't mean the whole principle of not explaining these things is wrong--but in any case Brainy tops him with ease: "Yeah, well, it's all your fault because you let down this whole city, so there!" Oh Brainy. Interpersonal relations: not your strong suit.
Of course, this is obviously a big sore spot for Brainy to begin with. I have occasionally wondered, in my Legion reading, why Brainy would feel deep, personal shame over the actions of an ancestor who existed a thousand years ago. Even allowing for longer Coluan lifespans, it seemed a bit of a stretch, which may be why the idea mostly went away after the early years of the Legion. But here, Brainy's computer nature allows for a new twist on the situation: the first Brainiac is quite literally a part of Brainy, and one he can access with relative ease. No surprise that it's something Brainy worries about. (It also raises interesting questions about Coluan reproduction; do they create children by taking their own programming and adding things on?) He's certainly worried about Clark's reaction, but it seems clear that this is a deep, long-standing fear that Clark's presence is only exacerbating. So why didn't any of this show up in last season's greatest-fears episode? Er...because they hadn't thought about it yet. :) Alternately, the mechanism in that episode just didn't work very well on a living computer, hence Brainy's ease in resisting what it showed him. I do wonder if anyone's keeping track of Brainy's issues; there's his alienation from his people, his secret stash of Kryptonite, his frequently drama-queeny relationship with Clark (regardless of whether one thinks it's romantic, he's clearly got an extremely strong fixation, and it sometimes manifests in odd ways), and now this complex about his ancestor.
...oh, and then there's that other thing. *smiles in evil glee* I was really, really hoping they'd go there. Because accepting yourself is one thing when it means, say, admitting you've got a nasty temper, and another thing entirely when it means giving yourself an upgrade with code you got from your world-destroying ancestor. It's such a very, very B5 screwup (and yet done for all the right reasons, again as per usual), and I'm dying to see how this iteration of Brainy-as-Villain plays out. The Legion is in so much trouble, and they don't even know it yet.
Clark, meanwhile, spends much of the episode struggling with his greatest fear, the thing Brainy actually did call him on last season: he can't save everyone all the time, and he hates it. That, after all, is the core of why he's Superman: people need help, he helps them, end of story. The explanation of how he'd saved the Kandorians from themselves was a little oversimplified, maybe, but he spent a good portion of this episode demonstrating why he might have inspired a city to heroism. (Not intelligence, mind you, but heroism.) Note that he never actually starts comparing B5 to Brainiac until Brainy essentially says, we have to destroy this whole city, and if we can maybe keep our friends and some of the Kandorians from getting killed, well, that'd be nice. Brainy's right that Clark's inability to fulfill his promise is making him really, really unhappy (and as unhelpful as it mostly was, I really do have to admire Clark for his ready acceptance of a responsibility he hadn't even taken on yet), but Brainy should probably also have paid attention to what he'd just said, because that was never going to be anything Clark would listen to. And, hey, I'm not saying Brainy was wrong. On a practical, ends-justify-the-means level, he was totally right. The lives of every single person in Kandor would have been well-spent keeping the Messenger out of Imperiex's hands. But Superman just doesn't do those calculations, and Brainy knows that--it was really not the time to start squabbling. Of course, Clark was the one who started the personal attacks, and Clark was the one who stormed off, and Clark was the one whose big plan was, basically, "I'm going to die nobly and uselessly and let somebody else worry about what to do then." Boys, you are so much more effective when you don't get stubborn and start blaming things on each other; work together!
Except that it's never going to be that simple, because...well, mainly because Brainy is Brainy. I'm mostly okay with the flashy-thing; I generally agree with Brainy that it's a bad idea for Clark to know stuff about his future, and in this case it's going to be both a torment and an almighty temptation, going through his life knowing that he's never going to be able to fix Kandor but that he could if it weren't for the timestream. That said, it seems like this is a perfectly reasonable argument that could have been made to Clark, instead of springing a mindwipe on him. It's worth noting that Clark was aware of and gave at least tacit consent to the comics version of this plot device, a hypnotic command to forget everything about his future once he returned to the past. (And then remembering it again when he came back, so he didn't have to be reintroduced to Supergirl every single time.) The fact that Brainy immediately went for the assault option is more than a little creepy--basically, he responds to Clark telling him he's not a bad person by acting like a bad person. (And maybe that's intentional, and the mindwipe is meant to show creeping Brainiac-ism. I await further developments.) But the thing is, the fact that he's screwing with Clark's mind doesn't mean that he doesn't love him. There was more genuine pain in that apology than in the entire rest of the episode, including the part where he wanted to let Imperiex destroy Kandor. He's just...being Brainy. Oh, honey, you are so screwed up.
Other comments:
--Obviously this was the Silver Age Superman show. The Fortress of Solitude, a Superman robot, Kandor, Brainiac--even the Super-Pets! Actually, my favorite moment of homage was probably Clark petting "Krypto," it was so cute and casual.
--Y'know, Lightning Lad, there's a time and place for impetuous bravery. And, sure, racing to rescue your powerless teammate from a bunch of bad guys, that's one of those times! Still...if I were one of your teammates, I might have paused to briefly raise the question of how we were going to get out of that bottle before diving in. I'm just saying.
--I really like Clark's moment of "oh shit" when he realizes he's got no powers and is about to get pounded. Oooops.
--"Certain information about Kandorian history was lost in the great Crisis." Heh. Now...which Crisis would that be, again...?
--Liked Brainy's pained reaction to Clark saying he's the greatest; it's obvious foreshadowing (even if you didn't know who shrunk Kandor in the comics, Brainy's connection to "the Great Terror" was lit up in neon), but Clark's so cutely enthusiastic, and poor Brainy looks so guilty.
--Given Violet's various histories in the comics, there's a certain resonance to having her give advice on accepting yourself. It doesn't have any particular application to the cartoon, where she hasn't shown any of those struggles with insecurity or guilt, but I like to pretend they thought about it.
--That moment when all the Kandorians take flight and look ominously at Imperiex? So unbelievably cool. Run away. Run away fast. (Really good moment for Brainy, too, making one very smart move for maximum tactical effect.)
--I don't really have much emotional connection to Kandor, but I have to admit, seeing them get their planet back was a Neat Moment. Of course, they did have to wait a thousand years, but in fairness, there wasn't anything to be done about it by then--Brainy couldn't hand Clark the fix and send him back home without altering history. It's a shame Clark won't be able to visit, since he's forgotten all about the whole thing.
