Random Back Issues #171 - R.E.B.E.L.S. #21

I didn't even remember I had a "rebels" tag.

This is a transition issue, as Bedard wraps up loose ends from his "War of the Brainiacs" story and segues into the Green Lantern Corps becoming more hostile towards Vril Dox's L.E.G.I.O.N. The events are related via flashback, as two rookie Lanterns, Altin Admos (the blue guy) and Gorius Karkum (the lady with the tail), relate how their attempt to arrest Dox for not keeping Brainiac in custody backfired horribly.

They told Dox he was under arrest, he told them they had no authority, then Lobo attacked Gorius. Altin admits that because Okaarans love fighting, Lobo's a legendary figure. Gorius tries a containment bubble and Lobo just pushes through, but Altin clocks him in the face and then impales him with a, it can't be a trident, it has 4 points.

Whatever, he impales him, which is just gonna annoy Lobo, but impresses Dox enough he has his son Lyrl give us Altin's backstory. He's a fighting prodigy, who the Okaarans thought would lead them to new glory. Except he joined the GLC, and Dox thinks it's because the guy wanted a challenge. (How we're getting that narration when the Lanterns are the ones telling this story, I have no idea.)

Back to Altin, who's ducking and weaving, but Lobo eventually hits him. Then hits him a bunch more times. Gorius creates a bunch of chains, with apparently enough will behind them Lobo can't break free. So he grabs the chains and swing her into a wall. Altin wants to keep going, but Dox intercedes. From the safety of his force field bubble, because the man's not stupid enough to interrupt one of Lobo's fights otherwise. Dox explains Lobo's working for him to earn money to pay off debts incurred as an Archbishop in the church of the Triple-Fish God. Which I think was part of that storyline with Adam Strange, Starfire and Animal Man in 52? 

The Lanterns are unimpressed with Lobo's commitment to maintaining his credit rating, but now an entire L.E.G.I.O.N. task force showed up, along with news crews. At which point Dox makes the pitch how much better his company is than the Corps. L.E.G.I.O.N. will help rebuild a government, and they work for people who hire them, while respecting those planets' laws, unlike a certain group of blue assholes we all know, who hand out rings to brain-damaged fighter jocks and say "Go nuts!" Oooh, maybe that's a bad turn of phrase, given Hal Jordan's whole, ya know.

Eh, screw him. If he who is without the sin of trying to erase the entire timeline because he's too sad his city got blown may cast the first stone, then I'm set to start pitching.

Vril also takes some creative license by stating Lyrl helped him defeat Brainiac and Brainiac's weapon, Pulsar Stargrave. When really, Stargrave was an actual star Lyrl turned into some kind of super-computer weapon intending to steal all of Colu's super-computer information, only for Lyrl to get outflanked by Brainiac. But who's alive to say different? Not much of anyone that cares to, certainly, and the sales pitch worked, as Altin admits Vril got a dozen more client worlds in the week since the broadcast.

The Guardians state they would have handled Dox in their own way - frown disapprovingly? create a mechanized corps of robo-enforcers? oh wait, they already did that - but now they have a P.R. problem. Honestly hard for me to believe the Guardians even know what P.R. is, let alone care about it. But they're even angrier about what Gorius did to her own people, the Psions! Which was detailed the next issue, and involved Starfire, who had her own bad history with the Psions. 

{8th longbox, 234th comic. R.E.B.E.L.S. #21, by Tony Bedard (writer), Claude St. Aubin (penciler), Scott Hanna (inker), Rich and Tanya Horie (colorists), Travis Lanham (letterer)}

Saturday Splash Page #218

"Conqueror," in R.E.B.E.L.S. (vol. 2) #5, by Tony Bedard (writer), Claude St. Aubin (penciler), Scott Hanna (inker), Jose Villarrubia (colorist), Swanos (letterer)

There was another DC series by this name that ran for a year-and-a-half in the '90s. For the record, and before I forget, the acronym stands for "Revolutionary Elite Brigade to Eliminate L.E.G.I.O.N.  Supremacy." Yes, Vril Dox II put an acronym inside an acronym. 11th-level intellect can't substitute for style. In this case, L.E.G.I.O.N. was a for-hire peacekeeping force Dox created, that was subsequently usurped by his kid, who was smarter than Vril from birth, but also insane.

I don't know if Dox was the offspring of the original Brainiac back then, DC continuity being what it was, but in the late-2000s, he is. He'd been a sort of lab assistant Brainiac created, and was ostracized by the Coluans for it. Dox seemed to take the approach, if he can't make people love him, make himself indispensable, then charge out the nose for his services. Except someone takes control of his robot peacekeeping force. Someone using mind-control starfish. Someone who wants to attach one of those echinoderms to Dox.

The first 14 issues are Dox avoiding capture, while trying to assemble a force to take said enemy down. He gets an assist from Brainiac 5, out to ensure his own existence by sending info back inside Supergirl's mind (from that stretch post-Infinite Crisis where she was in the Waid/Kitson Legion of Superheroes title), about how to build a team like the Legion. Dox, being a controlling dickhead with a superiority complex and little use for social niceties, takes his own spin on things. Rather than recruit Supergirl, he seizes control of a powerful, but near mindless, creature that was part of the force hunting him, because he wants power that won't buck his commands.

The big deal of this title was Bedard presenting a Starro the Conqueror who is actually an alien that managed, through force of will, to assert control over the Starros when they tried to control him. He's conquered entire galaxies, and can draw on the strength of every being controlled by the starfish. I recall the reception to this not being positive, but I look at it as a temporary thing. There were Starros as generally presented before this, and once this guy was dealt with, the Starros went back to that. A big starfish that controls people with little starfish, for some reason or another.

I started buying this after the Starro storyline was already over. I'd dropped Power Girl due to not liking the direction Winick was going, and the ongoings I was buying from Marvel were canceled or would be soon, so my pull list wasn't exactly stuffed. And Bedard was adding Starfire to the cast, and I was curious to see her away from the Teen Titans. Plus, Bedard had earned some credit with me for his Exiles' run.

By that point, the book shifted to Vril Dox playing a public relations game. He got credit for defeating "Starro," was getting all sorts of new client worlds, and was trying to get people to regard him more favorably. And stop referring to him as "Brainiac-2." His methods left something to be desired, as he's morally flexible to an extent at least parts of the cast questioned whether they could really trust his judgment or continue to follow him. 

The book was one of a handful canceled before the New 52 was even announced, I believe to make space for various Flashpoint tie-in mini-series. Probably not a surprise, since Starfire and Lobo were likely the two most popular characters, and they both showed up in the last 10 issues. Green Lanterns are involved, but mostly rookies rather than the established characters, and they're antagonists, because Dox questions the validity of a police force that appointed itself. He has a point. At least the worlds he protects hired him. Nobody asked the Guardians to create so many fuck-ups.

Still, Dox is a tough protagonist to root for, so willing to sacrifice others for what he deems the greater good, which typically involves ensuring his survival. But aside from himself, he doesn't play favorites. He'll sacrifice anyone, including his son, if he thinks it's the best option statistically. And even if things ultimately work out for Dox, Bedard has enough things go wrong, and lets the rest of the cast push back against Dox enough, that it maybe keeps him from being too insufferable. It's at least fun when he cancels a contract with the Psions because it's better than dealing with a pissed-off Starfire, or Lobo makes him drink some hideous concoction because he knows Dox is desperate enough for his help to do it.

How Smart Do You Need To Be To Make Power Rings?

I've been going through my comic collection, trying to clear out stuff as I do from time to time. I was up to Tony Bedard's R.E.B.E.L.S. run, and I was rereading the Blackest Night tie-ins, when something struck me. At that point, Vril Dox' kid, Lyrl, has his 12th-level intellect back, and has thrown in with Starro the Conqueror. Vril has figured the best way to get rid of the Undead Lanterns that were coming after him was to sic them on Starro, and Starro's quite enjoying fighting an enemy he can't manage to kill. Meanwhile, Lyrl's trying to come up with some weapon that can mimic that particular energy emitted by a Lantern's ring, since that's all that can destroy these things. But nothing he builds works.

So, like the title of the post says. Coluans are supposed to be about the smartest species in the universe, and Lyrl is exceptionally smart even by their standards (Brainiac 5 is listed as a 12th level, so the only one I know for sure as being smarter is the original Braniac, who was listed as being some degree greater than 12th-level, meaning they can't accurately gauge it, I guess). It's not like one has to come up with a power source, the rings run off the emotional spectrum or whatever, the ring just has to tap into that. I know, I make it sound easier than it is, but come on, the Guardians managed it.

OK, they're a really ancient race (of little twits), they had a long time to study the emotional spectrum, figure out how to build something you can control mentally that runs off willpower, and they don't share their work. So unless a Coluan is brought into the Corps (which must have happened at some point), Colu doesn't get to study a ring, so they have to work off whatever they can observe at a distance. Even so, the Qwardians were able to cook a yellow ring up for Sinestro, and it didn't seem inferior to a GL ring. So they're smarter than the Coluans? Or is this a case where they're "Weaponeers", so they possess some limited brilliance that only expresses itself when they make weapons? Still, I wouldn't think that would somehow restrict the Coluans from figuring it out. They certainly possess sufficient understanding of the universe to make all sorts of interesting weapons.

Maybe it's supposed to be the emotional aspect that escapes them. They can't figure how to measure or quantify emotions, so they can't devise a weapon that absorbs and controls an energy they don't understand. Except the Guardians divorced themselves from emotions, didn't they? I guess it's a question of whether they did that before or after they made the rings, or maybe the Manhunters, since they ran on the same power source as the rings. Though the Guardians don't have to use the rings, so it wouldn't matter if they can't or won't feel anything, because they find others to handle that part. The Coluans would have to rely on themselves (I can't see them making power rings, then being dumb enough to hand them to some other species to use), and maybe that won't work. So it's considered a dead end field. Which doesn't explain Lyrl's failures, except if it was strictly a matter of time. He only had a couple of days.

Sometimes The Hero's Greatest Challenge Is Themselves

We haven't, as far as I know, seen Vril Dox (second Brainiac, founder of L.E.G.I.O.N. and later R.E.B.E.L.S.) in the new 52 DC. Frankly, given the current low level of support and trust the Green Lantern Corps has among the various advanced species of the universe, it seems like the perfect time for a smart, ruthless person to emerge offering his own brand of security and troubleshooting for people who want some say in how and when they're protected, as well as who does it, rather than it happening at the whim of a bunch of little blue twerps handing out wishing rings to any brain-addled person able to 'overcome fear'.

But that's not what this post is about. I was thinking about why I like Vril Dox. I mean, he's arrogant, pushy, indifferent to other's feelings, a grandstander, entirely too impressed with himself, and pretty callous. It's most of Tony Stark's worst personality traits, save the alcoholism and womanizing.

The key is, Dox behaving that way actually has consequences. Stark can make himself God-Emperor of the Super-Hero community, going around getting Captain America killed, using nanites to take powers away, and while everyone will yell at him and punch him for a time, eventually they all welcome him back into the Avengers, bygones be bygones (conveniently ignoring that Stark has shown no remorse for any of his actions, and is, in fact, still convinced he was completely in the right).

Dox, though, nobody wants to work with Vril Dox. They recognize he is probably the smartest guy in any given room, but also that he'll throw their lives away in a second if he thinks it'll improve his odds of winning. He'll make deals with rulers like Despero or Kanjar Ro because they aren't despots, they're potential customers and powerful allies. Emotional ties are irrelevant, which isn't necessarily a bad approach when an entire galaxy is in danger, but isn't going to win you a lot of friends. So people are reluctant to work with him. When he calls for help, most people hang up the phone, and that's assuming they don't try to kill him because they think he's behind whatever went wrong. He ends up having to plead or bargain for help, make grand speeches everyone pretty much knows are garbage, but have just enough truth in them, people go along with it, or manipulate people by an appeal to their nobler sentiments. Which works in the short-term, but produces more bad feelings (the people doing it to save lives don't like working with despots, the despots fear betrayal because that's what they'd do, etc.), and represents, if not more bridges burned, at least badly damaged.

Vril Dox, by his nature, kind of stacks the deck against himself. Which means half the challenge for him is the hurdles his own difficulty dealing with others causes him. And so we get to watch him think his way out of these problems. If there are people who stick around because they want to keep an eye on him, Dox will use that. See how committed he is to transparency, keeping around people who will question his motives and actions. Ignore the fact Dox would never actually let that person's qualms stop him, but he does have to find a way around it. It's one of the reasons his portrayal as sort of a diplomatic facilitator between the Tamaraneans, Rannians, and Thanagarians worked pretty well. He has a real knack for keeping each side just happy enough they don't walk away. Or kill him.

Ultimately, I enjoy that Dox succeeds (since he's better than the people he's fighting), but the less than stellar way he treats the people he uses actually creates problems for him. It isn't like Thor and Captain America ignoring Stark's latest attempt at imposing his ideas on the world to welcome him into the fold because he gave them his cheesy grin. At a certain point, treating everyone else like tools there for your use ought to have repercussions. With Dox it does, and it's fun to watch him navigate through it, especially with how frustrated he gets with everyone else's inability to see things like he does. Difference being he can't force people to help, so he has to find other ways to save the day.

For No Particular Reason, A Brainiac Versus A Lantern

This question came out of reading the Blackest Night tie-ins for R.E.B.E.L.S., where Vril Dox found himself inducted into the Sinestro Corps, only to ultimately be dismissed because he wouldn't follow orders. Head-to-head, who is more dangerous, Sinestro or Vril Dox?

Sinestro has the power ring, obviously, though which version varies, but Vril has the intellect. Sinestro is no idiot, though, and Vril's more than capable of coming up with some dangerous weapon, given time to think. They're both arrogant enough to regard basically everyone else as expendable, though I'm not sure it's for the same reasons. With Dox, he tends to view things from a logical standpoint. If you have to sacrifice one person - or a whole planet - to stop someone who's conquered 9 galaxies, so be it. He's confident he's devised the best plan. With Sinestro, I think it's simple arrogance. He thinks he's better than everyone else, so they're less important than he is. Not that Dox isn't arrogant, but he's not going to throw away lives unless he has to. A person who is dead now is one who can't help him later, so better to avoid suicide strategies if possible.

At the same time, Dox is a little more ruthless. He'll do just about anything to win, including pleading with his son for help, making deals with interstellar despots, go drinking with Lobo, or hamming it up to the media*. Sinestro will do things he finds mildly distasteful - teaming up with Hal Jordan, for one - but I think he has too much pride. There are certain things he wouldn't do to win, because he'd consider them too humiliating. I don't think he'd play servile to encourage a foe to drop their guard, or to gain assistance. He'd be more likely to brashly demand submission, which isn't always going to work.

* After he captured Braniac (with a little help from Brainiac 5, slumming it in the 21st Century), he told the media he pulled it off because it's a law of nature, the good guys always win. Which is the sort of thing he'd normally sneer at, but it plays well with his potential clients.

Not Good Employee Benefits

I was rereading some R.E.B.E.L.S. issues from earlier this year and I hit the point where Starro's making his Big Gloating Speech to Vril Dox. Starro tells of how Dox paralyzed the Starro this conqueror wears on his chest, which freed all of Starro's minions, and there went Starro's army. Except for Smite and Stormdaughter, who saved him from execution at Despero's hands because they were never controlled by Starro. They served him willingly.

What occurred to me was Starro wasn't smart enough to see the importance of that. He notes it was a remarkable realization for them, but it doesn't seem to have taught him anything. He didn't care that Storm-daughter might be pushing her luck trying the same trick on Lobo twice. Didn't care that the trick didn't work a second time and she was killed. When Smite made the suggestion that they use to Lobo Clone Army to stop Lobo, Starro called him a coward and insisted the clones were too valuable to waste. Which lead to Smite breaking ties with Starro, going off to fight Lobo himself, but then switching allegiances.

It's a typical villain mistake, to take things like loyalty for granted, but you'd think Starro might have learned something from his earlier defeat. There are ways to incapacitate his little starfish, and if they're the only thing keeping his army together, then he can lose it in the blink of an eye. Having people who follow him willingly, even after a crushing defeat, is a pretty rare thing. Too bad he values an army of clones that he can't control (or even simply unleash like a one-time natural disaster) more.