Comments | greenygal: LSH #7 has destroyed my brain.

greenygal

LSH #7 has destroyed my brain.

Jun 23, 2005 15:22

I’ve occasionally commented that nobody working in comics today knows how to punch my emotional buttons better than Mark Waid. And this, right here, is what I mean when I say it.

( Pointless Brainy babble )

legion of super-heroes

Comments 13

coniraya June 23 2005, 12:49:22 UTC

I am using superhuman strength to resist the urge to leave work right now and buy the 1-7 of LSH b/c I haven't been following it. Truthfully I probably lose this fight.

greenygal June 24 2005, 09:22:18 UTC

Not to get you in trouble at work, but--YES! I'm spreading the obsession! Everybody should read LEGION!

*koff* So that's good, then. *g*

unlovablehands June 24 2005, 20:46:38 UTC

I just wanted to let you know I'm adding this fantastic post to my memories.

greenygal June 24 2005, 22:13:15 UTC

Given that this was largely my attempt to express a reaction that involved repeating "Oh, Brainy" for about ten minutes straight, interspersed with ritual cursing of Mark Waid's name and lineage for messing with my head like this, I'm pleased that it was of interest to somebody but me. *g*

(Actually, now that the shock's worn off and I've read the issue another half dozen times, I'm starting to wonder if I'm actually right about any of this. I'm sure that's the conclusion Waid means us to be drawing, but...Brainy never actually says. Tease.)

unlovablehands June 24 2005, 22:20:36 UTC

I didn't read it that way the first time I read it. I just said, "Gosh, that sure is some extra compassion for his fellow Coluans Brainy has there" and assumed everyone got very quiet because Brainy flipping his shit is an uncomfortable situation. But I read your post, and thought "well, gee, did I miss something?" and went back through and re-read the issue, and your reading makes a lot of sense. And you're not the only one who read it that way. And I do think it's a fascinating reading even if it winds up to be a false one in the long run. Because I think it turns Brainy's character on its head in a way that still makes a lot of sense. I think in that case there would be a need to dumb down Colu as Waid has done/started to do here in #7 to establish Brainy as worthy of Legion membership, though.

greenygal June 24 2005, 22:48:37 UTC

I'm certain that that rant has some personal meaning for Brainy behind it; I just can't see Waid delivering dialogue that dramatic and over-the-top and having it only be about Coluan tradition. But it could involve someone other than Brainy--like, say, a sibling--or there could be some other sort of backstory attached that I haven't thought of yet.

And given this interpretation, he does seem surprisingly calm, even pleased, about going back to Colu. Now, I do think I probably also interpreted "you are an outcast" too literally; that could easily just mean "social outcast," not "leave this place and never return," so there's not necessarily anything stopping him. But I would have expected a little more stress over returning to a planet that labeled him as worthless, while surrounded by teammates who don't know that. That's the main thing that seems off, although granted it's Brainy and he's perfectly capable of boxing up his pain and hiding it under ten layers of snark.

Because I think it turns Brainy's character on its head in a ( ... )

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