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R.E.B.E.L.S.
R.E.B.E.L.S. Vol. 4: Sons of Brainiac
Chart the DCU spaceways as the most effective space police in the universe continue their galactic adventures. While super-genius Vril Dox begins rebuilding his interplanetary police squad L.E.G.I.O.N., Starfire joins the series as a new team member! Also, Dox confronts his father – the Superman villain Brainiac – while his own son, Lyrl, tries destroying their home planet of Colu.
144 pages, Paperback
First published February 8, 2011
25 people want to read
About the author
Tony Bedard
791 books24 followersAntony J. L. Bedard is an American writer and editor who has worked in the comic book industry from the early 1990s through the present. He is best known for his work at CrossGen Comics, where he was under exclusive contract, and for his run writing Marvel Comics X-Men spin-off Exiles.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 5, 2014
There's this great little scene toward the end of Sons of Brainiac where Lobo, the last Czarnian, sends Pulsar Stargrave, the sentient cyborg star, crashing into a building by swinging him/it on a chain and a meathook.
"I possess stellar mass. You lack leverage. This is illogical!" protests Stargrave.
"Get a clue, fragwit," sneers Lobo. "I don't do logical!"
This, folks, is why we read comics -- at least why I read comics, and frag you for thinking different. Sadly, it's one of the book's few standout moments. By volume 4, the art team's running out of steam and Bedard is running out of ideas. With the Starro invasion of the first three volumes on its last legs, things fall to the trusted standbys of the L.E.G.I.O.N narrative: the re-introduction of Brainiac as the Big Bad/Unstoppable Force, and Lobo as the Sort-of Good/Immovable Object.
Which isn't the worst thing. After a pretty meh opening story featuring some of the supporting cast and the lovelorn Starfire, everyone's favorite "half-naked alien supermodel" (and props to this book for finally calling out her ridiculous character design 30 years too late), R.E.B.E.L.S shifts without explanation to the main event, a direct followup to Superman: Last Stand of New Krypton. Here, Vril Dox shows up having imprisoned his own father, the villainous Braniac. But Vril has only recently regained control of the L.E.G.I.O.N police force, and made even more enemies than usual in the process. What could pooooossibly go wrong?
As mentioned, it's all a little blah at this point -- despite the series' magic at the outset, it hasn't taken long for the tide to shift. The Superman tie-in doesn't work nearly as well as last volume's Green Lantern tie-in did (and continues to, as the boundaries between GL and L.E.G.I.O.N are fleshed out more fully here.)
But I look forward to seeing how this wraps up, sort of. Because Lobo.
"I possess stellar mass. You lack leverage. This is illogical!" protests Stargrave.
"Get a clue, fragwit," sneers Lobo. "I don't do logical!"
This, folks, is why we read comics -- at least why I read comics, and frag you for thinking different. Sadly, it's one of the book's few standout moments. By volume 4, the art team's running out of steam and Bedard is running out of ideas. With the Starro invasion of the first three volumes on its last legs, things fall to the trusted standbys of the L.E.G.I.O.N narrative: the re-introduction of Brainiac as the Big Bad/Unstoppable Force, and Lobo as the Sort-of Good/Immovable Object.
Which isn't the worst thing. After a pretty meh opening story featuring some of the supporting cast and the lovelorn Starfire, everyone's favorite "half-naked alien supermodel" (and props to this book for finally calling out her ridiculous character design 30 years too late), R.E.B.E.L.S shifts without explanation to the main event, a direct followup to Superman: Last Stand of New Krypton. Here, Vril Dox shows up having imprisoned his own father, the villainous Braniac. But Vril has only recently regained control of the L.E.G.I.O.N police force, and made even more enemies than usual in the process. What could pooooossibly go wrong?
As mentioned, it's all a little blah at this point -- despite the series' magic at the outset, it hasn't taken long for the tide to shift. The Superman tie-in doesn't work nearly as well as last volume's Green Lantern tie-in did (and continues to, as the boundaries between GL and L.E.G.I.O.N are fleshed out more fully here.)
But I look forward to seeing how this wraps up, sort of. Because Lobo.
June 25, 2018
A good ending to this series, as we see Vril Dox try to take on his father, the original Brainiac, as Vril's son, Brainiac 3, creates Pulsar Stargrave (who I assume will become Brainiac 4 and the father of the Legion's Brainiac 5; this was unclear, and I don't remember all the particulars from the LSH series.) The addition of Starfire to the cast is really nice, as is her relationship with Captain Comet.
Blackfire shows up, and the story seems to rely on events that happened in the Rann-Thanagar War, which I'm not familiar with, so I was a bit confused with what was going on. But the overall story didn't suffer and Bedard makes good use of exposition to fill in some of the blanks.
Blackfire shows up, and the story seems to rely on events that happened in the Rann-Thanagar War, which I'm not familiar with, so I was a bit confused with what was going on. But the overall story didn't suffer and Bedard makes good use of exposition to fill in some of the blanks.
April 24, 2020
This is a fun volume as there are three different Brainiacs fighting each other. The only bad part is it ends on a cliff hanger and the title was canceled.
February 28, 2011
Dox remains my favorite anti-hero (at least for the moment). He is selfish, out to make a profit providing police services, and really doesn't seem to care about others. His own biological son (Dox himself is a clone) calls them the most dysfunctional family in the galaxy and why not? Brainiac is Dox's "father". All four (yes Dox's son creates his own "Brainiac") try to kill each other. Dox pulls a a couple surprises to eventually win the day, but it is only the day. Both the planets Colu and Rann remain unstable, and Dox is threatened with arrest at the end of this volume.
July 16, 2012
Another enjoyable volume of R.E.B.E.L.S. Its best element is its attention to continuity, especially in the latter half of the book’s battle between three Brainiacs and … Pulsar Stargrave!! The setup of L.E.G.I.O.N. on a new home planet also offers a nice foundation for the future.
A shame DC doesn’t care enough about its readers to publish the final volume of this series, despite publishing this one with a cliffhanger.
A shame DC doesn’t care enough about its readers to publish the final volume of this series, despite publishing this one with a cliffhanger.
July 2, 2012
You would think that Brainiac clashing with his hero son would be more climactic.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews