Friday, May 28, 2010

Sci-Fi Week! Bring On the Back-ups: "Brainiac 5's Secret Weakness!" by Bates and Grell

What's happening, Groove-ophiles! Back in the Groovy Age, DC tried really hard to be hip, especially with the Legion of Super-Heroes. Cary Bates worked hard to give each member a personality, Mike Grell's art just oozed far-out future all in an effort to grab some coins from hard-core FOOMers. Well, for Young Groove, it worked. Stories like "Brainiac 5's Secret Weakness!" from Superboy #204 (July 1974) punched (pardon the ol' pun) all the right buttons. Yeah, some folks are gonna think Brainy's method of handling his puppy-love for Supergirl is a bit...well, sick and twisted, but hey, over in the Avengers Scarlet Witch and the Vision were the romance of the century, so it was the times, baby. If you really want to toss eggs, toss 'em at the usually sweet and thoughtful Kara-El, who ever-so-casually jerks the love-rug right out from under poor ol' Brainy. But whether ya wanna look at this story through the eyes of youth or poke some friendly "now we're much more sophisticated" fun at it, you're still gonna dig this classic! Ol' Groove wouldn't jive ya!
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6 comments:

  1. AnonymousMay 28, 2010 at 5:54 AM

    Wow. Amazing how different a story reads when you're a teenager (1974) and when you're an old man (2010)! Any chance of seeing any of the Kurt Schaffenberger-penciled Supergirl back-up stories that ran in Action Comics in the late 1960s? I suspect that some of those would also read very differently right now ... :)

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  2. wmeiselMay 28, 2010 at 11:07 AM

    This was one of my favorite stories as a kid. (A close second was March of the Doomed Legionnaires)
    It seems to me that a natural follow-up story to post would be Future Shock for Superboy.

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  3. Chuck WellsMay 28, 2010 at 5:11 PM

    This is a terrific theme week, and so far all of the selections that you've chosen are among my very favorites.

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  4. RichardMay 28, 2010 at 7:10 PM

    "Cary Bates worked hard to give each member a personality..."

    I trust you don't mean to imply the Legionnaires lacked individual personalities before then. Were that your intent, I would have to ask you to step outside! (YMMV and all, but I think previous Legion writers Hamilton and Shooter did a spectacular job of giving each member his or her own identity.)

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  5. Tim TiptonMay 28, 2010 at 7:32 PM

    I loved the Supergirl of the
    1970's, she was so much more full
    dimensional than the one born in
    1959.

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  6. Mars Will Send No MoreJanuary 21, 2011 at 4:15 AM

    great pick, Groove. This story is all kinds of awesome!

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