What's Brainiac's best design? Out of all media.

[TheNewFiftyForum]

From a pure design standpoint I think Perez' nightmare robot with a brain has yet to be surpassed, although Superman: TAS cold android look is pretty rad as well. I guess that means I prefer robotic Brainiac over the classic green humanoid.

[manofsteel1979]

Perez's from the early 80s overhaul for the win,with Honorable mention going to the Timm verse animation version ( and his comics cousin Brainiac 2.5) and the off the wall Collector of Worlds from Morrison's Nuperman origin arc. The only two designs I completely dislike are the initial Milton Fine version from the early years of Post Crisis and Gary Frank's muscle bound bruiser from his and Geoff Johns Brainiac arc. Although,as someone else said that inital design of him in the cocoon was creepy as heck and if they had better translated that look it may have made the top 3.

[L.R Johansson]

I think, personally, I find the New Brainiac and the Brainiac-13 designs to be my favourites! = ) I'd have to include some elements from both, methinks.

All in all, there seems to be many different preferences among the fans here - hence the need to try to find some kind of consolidating design.

I just realized I should have made a poll out of this! However, there are SO many designs, that really, it would probably take SEVERAL polling-threads to really list all of the options, lol!


Small side-note - the New Brainiac wasn't designed by George Perez, as I recall it, but by Ed Hannigan, which appears to be a fairly obscure artist, but certainly not for a lack of skill.

[Jim Kelly]

- hence the need to try to find some kind of consolidating design.

Eh? Run that by me again?

Why does there have to be one design? I used to think that DC and Marvel had some legal necessity to define a character visually--I thought they were in danger of losing the trademark if they didn't keep one continuous design. But that's the kind of stuff I came up with as a kid when I didn't understand how the world worked. I've since realized that you can have multiple designs for a character and in fact this works to DC's advantage because they can sell more toy products.

For Brainiac, it's built into the concept to have multiple designs, so I don't see the need to have just one.

I think it was the animated series that established this clever symbol for Brainiac which helps to unify all the designs. That's really all you need.

[Kuwagaton]

I have somewhat of an affinity to the alien computer Brainiac of the New 52.

I like Brainiac having a "cool jacket." Did he ever actually have this look in a comic?

I just realized I should have made a poll out of this! However, there are SO many designs, that really, it would probably take SEVERAL polling-threads to really list all of the options, lol!

Counting up to the Morrison New 52 run, I have 10. That's not bad, is it?

[L.R Johansson]

Eh? Run that by me again?

Why does there have to be one design? I used to think that DC and Marvel had some legal necessity to define a character visually--I thought they were in danger of losing the trademark if they didn't keep one continuous design. But that's the kind of stuff I came up with as a kid when I didn't understand how the world worked. I've since realized that you can have multiple designs for a character and in fact this works to DC's advantage because they can sell more toy products.

For Brainiac, it's built into the concept to have multiple designs, so I don't see the need to have just one.

I think it was the animated series that established this clever symbol for Brainiac which helps to unify all the designs. That's really all you need.

All right, all right... I admit it, you're more or less right. ; )

My thinking is that for me personally, I would LOVE to create a version of Brainiac which the most fans possible would like! : D A winning design, so to speak.

I also definitely agree about the three-circle design! = ) That's iconic by now, and a great symbol for the Collector of Worlds!


Btw... you're one of the most scholarly and hardcore of all of the Super-fans on the net - what's your take on why Brainiac has changed SO MUCH through the years, in comparison to guys like Luthor, or even Parasite?

Darkseid is another great example of a guy who rarely change his iconic look.

[ironman2978]

I would personally chose Legion of Superheroes animated series Brainiac 1.0 design, followed by Geoff Johns redesign and the New 52 Action Comics design.

[Jim Kelly]

. . . what's your take on why Brainiac has changed SO MUCH through the years, . . .

The change from alien mastermind to computer Brainiac has already been explained, I think--if you want me to go over it again I will. But after that change on December 19th 1963, Brainiac stayed essentially the same until 1983 (if you don't count Pulsar Stargrave).

I guess in 1983, DC editiorial wasn't quite sure what to do with the Superman franchise. And by then some people might have felt Brainiac had become dated and needed a facelift. The alteration in ACTION COMICS 544 was visually stunning and got people to take notice. Also I think that skull design suited the style of Gil Kane.

Unfortunately, it wasn't long between then and Crisis and the reboot. So Byrne and Ordway brought in the Milton Fine story. That wouldn't have been so bad, but there were some things about the Milton Fine Brainiac that conflicted with the Coluan Brainiac continuity. It was a logical paradox--both couldn't be true. Either one or the other had to be augmented so both would fit together.

I think that's what motivated further changes to Brainiac as other writers tried to figure out a good compromise between those two visions of the character. With the result that more visions came to light. Thesis + Antithesis = Synthesis.

So, more or less by accident, Brainiac became defined by the fact that he keeps upgrading to a new iteration. The more things change, the more things change. Brainiac became DC's Ultron.

[Slaughter]

Personally I'm not a fan of robotic Brainiacs, even if B13 looks awesome. I think Brainiac should be cybernetic - cybernetics are far more horror than robotics.

Obligatory image:
http://www.foghornnews.com/wp-conten...over_final.jpg

[Kuwagaton]

I'd agree that at least a partially flesh Brainiac is most intense, had it not been for Whatever Happened. I also think Superman III had an awesome opportunity to rope Brainiac into the Webster computer plot and tie the character to that creepy Vera scene.

But clearly, if this did come to a poll, there would be no topping that Wormiac over the left shoulder of B13.

The change from alien mastermind to computer Brainiac has already been explained, I think--if you want me to go over it again I will. But after that change on December 19th 1963, Brainiac stayed essentially the same until 1983

Huh. So us east coasters just now missed a relevant anniversary and a Four Seasons reference in the process?

[Jim Kelly]

Huh. So us east coasters just now missed a relevant anniversary and a Four Seasons reference in the process?

Ha ha--its a weird thought that the Four Seasons were singing about a comic book. But yes, according to Mike's Amazing World, SUPERMAN No. 167 (February '64) went on sale December 19th, 1963. Spinning my head around and taking my body under. Oh what a night!

[Zero Hunter]

But isn't the original the computer intelligence itself? Any body is just a vessel for carrying that intelligence. I like to see Brainiac walking around and acting like a Coluan, but I understand that the real Brainiac is something you can't really see. He's not an organic lifeform.

That is where it gets messed up. He originally was a humanoid and then got retconned in a full on AI. Then latter it gets changed again and then latter changed again. It is like they can never make up their mind when it comes to him.

Personally I like the origin being Vril Dox being a genius of Colu who becomes obbsessed with collecting cities and updating his own form and power. The full on AI just makes him too "Ultron" like for my tastes and I prefer the more cyborg version who is a mix of tech and organic who is always updating himself without becoming a full on AI who can jump from body to body.

[Doctor Know]

You know what I never thought about, but just realized? I never quite worked out why Brainiac collects cities and destroys planets. It's always something I just accepted that he did. Seems an odd hobby for an android/cyborg and or an organic being to have.

[K. Jones]

I like the notion of the AI existing, but perhaps that the mad scientist fractured brain of Vril Dox corrupted the AI like a virulent infection, making "Brainiac" into a twisted AI and making Dox into an AI-twisted humanoid. After that, once the intelligence becomes its own thing, Dox losing his original body and cloning or cybernetically crafting new bodies for himself and blurring the lines between organic and machine is all fair game.

Personally I really dug Tony Bedard's Forever Evil Brainiac look. But then I also really liked the Ur-Brainiac of Convergence. I like him being a physical being with skeleton-drones, but don't really care for the muscular look - I'd like him to still at least be sort of skeletally skinny, tall, and Geigeresque, like an evil green space Dracula, all in black biorganic with pink neon ports, and I'd love it if they'd bring back the Dracula/Destroy collar full time to further emphasize that techno-magic-esque Space Dracula/Space Wizard look, as well as the notion of him sitting in a Controller throne and not really moving much, to contrast with Superman's "action" behavior.

Brainiac is such an OG sci-if concept, all the stuff that has come into pop culture after him like The Borg (particularly the Queen), that kind of stuff, should flow back into Brainiac's iconography.

[Doctor Know]

Brainiac the trophy hunter?




"Savior" of doomed worlds?