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160-479: " Future State " is a comic book storyline published by DC Comics in January and February 2021, consisting of multiple limited series released in place of DC's regular ongoing series during those months. The event is set in the aftermath of the " Dark Nights: Death Metal " storyline, and takes place in a "possible future" of the DC Universe . The conclusion of the event leads into DC's Infinite Frontier relaunch. DC Comics originally announced Generations as
320-406: A metahuman , which he frequently wielded against Superman. In 1990, Brainiac is able to take over the minds of several LexCorp staffers. He makes the scientists create a new version of the skull ship (saying he thought of the design "in a dream") and use advanced genetic science to grow a new body for himself, resembling Milton Fine's form but taller, more physically fit, and with the green skin of
480-471: A mythical realm. Since the 1940s, when Superman, Batman, and many of the company's other heroes began appearing in stories together, DC's characters have inhabited a shared continuity that was later dubbed the " DC Universe " by fans. With the story " Flash of Two Worlds ", in Flash No. 123 (September 1961), editor Schwartz (with writer Gardner Fox and artists Infantino and Joe Giella ) presented
640-483: A Coluan. He also has a new braincase helmet that resembles his Silver Age diodes. Now free of Fine's body and consciousness completely but still possessing the man's metahuman telepathic powers, Brainiac confronted Superman and then left Earth to plan another attack. Brainiac returned in the "Panic in the Sky" storyline after seizing control of the mobile planetary fortress Warworld and recruiting assistance from Maxima and
800-434: A March 1937 cover date. The themed anthology that revolved originally around fictional detective stories became in modern times the longest-running ongoing comic series. A notable debut in the first issue was Slam Bradley , created in a collaboration between Wheeler-Nicholson, Siegel and Shuster. In 1937, in debt to printing-plant owner and magazine distributor Harry Donenfeld —who also published pulp magazines and operated as
960-508: A Saturday morning live action TV adaptation and gained a prominent position in the mainstream continuity of the DC Universe . As the popularity of superheroes faded in the late 1940s, DC Comics focused on such genres as science fiction, Westerns , humor , and romance . The company also published crime and horror titles, although relatively tame contributions that avoided the mid-1950s backlash against such comic genres. A handful of
1120-476: A conceptual mechanism for slotting the 1930s and 1940s Golden Age heroes into this continuity using the explanation that they inhabited an other-dimensional "Earth 2", whilst the modern heroes exist on "Earth 1", consequently laying the foundations of what was later called the DC Multiverse . DC's introduction of the reimagined superheroes did not go unnoticed by their competitors. In 1961, with DC's JLA as
1280-488: A copy of Superman. This extended to DC suing Fawcett Comics over Captain Marvel , who was at the time the top-selling comic character (see National Comics Publications, Inc. v. Fawcett Publications, Inc. ). Faced with declining sales and the prospect of bankruptcy if it lost the lawsuit, Fawcett capitulated in 1953 and ceased publishing comics. Years later, Fawcett sold the rights for Captain Marvel to DC Comics, and in 1972
1440-503: A dead body matching the Kryptonian's appearance is found in his abandoned tomb, leading some to wonder if the hero's return was a deception. It is revealed that Brainiac is no longer on New Genesis but revived and returned to Earth, leaving behind an illusion that he remained in a coma. While hidden, he created more delusions to turn the public against Superman and make the hero question his own sanity. The two battle and Superman taunts
1600-568: A drug-fueled storyline in writer Dennis O'Neil and artist Neal Adams ' Green Lantern , beginning with the story " Snowbirds Don't Fly " in the retitled Green Lantern / Green Arrow No. 85 (September 1971), which depicted Speedy , the teen sidekick of superhero archer Green Arrow , as having become a heroin addict. Jenette Kahn , a former children's magazine publisher, replaced Infantino as editorial director in January 1976. As it happened, her first task even before being formally hired,
1760-457: A featured villain of the month. Brainiac's next appearance was mostly behind the scenes, when he tried to kill Lois Lane and Lana Lang , prompting Superman to give Lois and Lana superpowers. But the villain remained unseen except as a plot twist at the end of the story. Brainiac's next appearance was in "Superman's Return to Krypton" in Superman #141 (November 1960), in which the villain stole
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#17327809031391920-477: A few years, it yielded the popular animated series Static Shock . DC established Paradox Press to publish material such as the large-format Big Book of... series of multi-artist interpretations on individual themes, and such crime fiction as the graphic novel Road to Perdition . In 1998, DC purchased WildStorm Comics, Jim Lee 's imprint under the Image Comics banner, continuing it for many years as
2080-504: A handful of thematically-linked series he called collectively "The Fourth World" . In the existing series Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen and in his own, newly-launched series New Gods , Mister Miracle , and The Forever People , Kirby introduced such enduring characters and concepts as arch-villain Darkseid and the other-dimensional realm Apokolips . Furthermore, Kirby intended their stories to be reprinted in collected editions, in
2240-711: A laboratory on Earth two years later. In the Silver Age: JLA one-shot, the Injustice League discovered numerous shrunken alien cities found in Brainiac's abandoned spaceship. Brainiac later reappeared as a swarm of interlinked nanotechnological units . Its operation was to sabotage a Waynetech research facility accomplished by infecting Metallo with a computer virus and controlling him from orbit. Superman and Batman tracked Brainiac's signal to an orbital facility and attacked. Brainiac's nanoswarm body
2400-496: A large dose of concentrated yellow sun rays, successfully reviving him. Despite the loss of his powers, Zod is able to get the upper hand on the similarly powerless Brainiac and force him to his knees. Zod is about to shoot Brainiac when Superman intervenes. This causes a heated argument between Superman and Zod. Zod commands his soldiers to restrain Kal-El so Zod can proceed with the execution of Brainiac. Brainiac 5, sensing that this
2560-456: A major slump, while manufactured " collectables " numbering in the millions replaced quality with quantity until fans and speculators alike deserted the medium in droves. DC's Piranha Press and other imprints (including the mature readers' line Vertigo , and Helix , a short-lived science fiction imprint) were introduced to facilitate compartmentalized diversification and allow for specialized marketing of individual product lines. They increased
2720-529: A monument to this when he returns to Colu later on. King Kull later enlisted Brainiac and Mister Atom of Earth-S to attack the city of Tomorrow and speed up the rotation enough for the people of Earth to fly into the air. They are defeated by Green Lantern of Earth-Two , Green Lantern of Earth-One , Flash of Earth-Two , Flash of Earth-One , Mercury of Earth-S, and Ibis the Invincible of Earth-S. At some indeterminate point in time, Brainiac fled into
2880-416: A new shape, which is exciting. Death Metal is very tied into and hooks into everything happening on the other side—the whole DCU is working together, plus we have some surprises lined up later in the year". At the review aggregator website Comic Book Roundup, the storyline garnered an average score of 7.8 out of 10, based on 809 reviews. DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (later simply known as DC )
3040-528: A primer. They would get artists ... and they taught them the ABCs, which amounted to learning Jack Kirby ... Jack was like the Holy Scripture and they simply had to follow him without deviation. That's what was told to me ... It was how they taught everyone to reconcile all those opposing attitudes to one single master point of view. Given carte blanche to write and illustrate his own stories, he created
3200-416: A principal in the magazine distributorship Independent News —Wheeler-Nicholson had to enter into partnership with Donenfeld to publish Detective Comics No. 1, and Detective Comics, Inc. (which helped inspire the abbreviation DC) was formed, with Wheeler-Nicholson and Donenfeld's accountant Jack S. Liebowitz listed as owners. As the company continued to experience cash-flow problems, Wheeler-Nicholson
3360-415: A publishing format that was later called the trade paperback , which became a standard industry practice decades later. While sales were respectable, they did not meet DC management's initially high expectations, and also suffered from a lack of comprehension and internal support from Infantino. By 1973 the "Fourth World" was all cancelled, although Kirby's conceptions soon became integral to the broadening of
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#17327809031393520-601: A reference to Brainiac's first appearance in Action Comics #242, and to the many encounters between Brainiac and Superman. In the following issue, Supergirl reveals to Superman that Brainiac shrunk the Kryptonian city of Kandor and placed it in a bottle, and that all previous incarnations of Brainiac that Superman has encountered were just probes, clones, and nanite-controlled bodies. She notes that no one has ever actually seen Brainiac. Inspired by Supergirl's story, Superman attempts to find Brainiac and stop him. He heads to
3680-466: A renewed sense of purpose and dons a high-tech warsuit, while Brainiac is reimagined by writer Marv Wolfman and artist Gil Kane and given a new appearance designed by Ed Hannigan . In a previous story, Brainiac had constructed a giant, computer-controlled planet to destroy Superman only to then be defeated and trapped in the planet's core. In Wolfman and Kane's story "Rebirth", published in Action Comics #544, Brainiac attempts to free himself by causing
3840-549: A robotic being, some stories would end him seemingly being destroyed, only for him to appear again in a repaired body or having transmitted his consciousness into a new form. Since he was essentially a living computer program that could be housed in different forms if "killed", Brainiac was sometimes referred to on comic book covers as "the villain who won't die!". In the 1980s, DC Comics attempted to re-define several aspects of Superman's stories to boost sagging sales. In Action Comics #544-546 (June–August 1983), Lex Luthor acquires
4000-658: A romantic interest for Batman named Julie Madison , as well as the Batarang weapon that Batman commonly uses, and the fictional aircraft called the Batplane . The story of Batman's origin was first shown in Detective Comics No. 33 (November 1939), which depicted the death of Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne by a mugger . The origin story remained crucial for the fictional character after its inception. The Daily Planet (a common setting of Superman)
4160-427: A self-titled five-part story arc in Action Comics . In Action Comics #866 (August 2008), a Brainiac robot probe (resembling his skeleton-esque Pre- Crisis incarnation, and mistaken for the real Brainiac by Clark) arrives on Earth and battles Superman. After the probe is defeated, information about Superman's blood is sent to the original Brainiac. As Brainiac wakes up, his computer announces "Attempt #242 in progress",
4320-523: A subsidiary of Time Warner. In June, the first Tim Burton-directed Batman film was released, and DC began publishing its hardcover series of DC Archive Editions ; these were collections of many of their early, key comics series, featuring rare and expensive stories previously unseen by the majority of modern fans. Much of the restoration work was handled by Rick Keene, with colour restoration performed by DC's long-time resident colourist Bob LeRose . The Archive Editions attempted to retroactively credit many of
4480-469: A superhero origin story with the reveal of an unnamed planet, later known as Krypton , where he is said to have originated . The issue also contained the first essential supporting character and one of the earliest female characters in any comic, with Lois Lane as Superman's first depicted romantic interest . The Green Hornet -inspired character known as the Crimson Avenger by Jim Chamber
4640-569: A supporting character called James Gordon , the police commissioner of what would later become Gotham City Police Department . Despite being a parody, All-American Publications introduced the earliest female character who became the female superhero Red Tornado (though disguised as a male) in Ma Hunkel who first appeared in the "Scribbly" stories in All-American Comics No. 3 (June 1939). Another important Batman debut
4800-479: A third eye on the back of his head, forcing him to wear various hats to hide it. Superman soon defeated Brainiac and sent him off into the distant past. This was the first in-story appearance of Brainiac's iconic red diode/electrode-like objects atop his head, which had previously appeared on the cover of his first appearance in Action Comics #242 (July 1958), but were not shown in the actual story. In Superboy #106 (July 1963), an infant Superman meets Brainiac, and it
4960-503: A twelfth-level one. He also implants a device to temporarily disable him or destroy him if necessary. The two join forces, but Brainiac later removes the device and blocks out Luthor's memory of his inner workings and the fact that he is a machine. This story becomes the first of many Brainiac/Luthor team-ups. Meanwhile, Vril Dox leads a revolt against the Computer Tyrants, eventually destroying them and freeing Colu. Brainiac sees
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5120-640: A weapon called Pulsar Stargrave. What then occurs is an all-out battle for Colu between all three present-day Brainiacs. Vril Dox even calls in Lobo for help. Brainac breaks out of his prison and, after causing much damage on Colu, escapes with Pulsar Stargrave in tow for parts unknown. Brainiac's origin in " The New 52 " is revealed in Superman #23.2. Vril Dox was acknowledged as the greatest scientist on his homeworld, Yod-Colu, given his advances in force field technology and miniaturization. He developed an artificial intelligence, C.O.M.P.U.T.O., allowing him to discover
5280-501: A wholly separate imprint (and fictional universe) with its own unique style and audience. As part of this purchase, DC also began to publish titles under the fledgling WildStorm sub-imprint America's Best Comics (ABC), a series of titles created by Alan Moore which included The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen , Tom Strong , and Promethea . Moore strongly opposed this move, and DC eventually stopped publishing ABC. In March 2003, DC acquired publishing and merchandising rights to
5440-457: A window of opportunity as he prepares for the impending war with New Krypton. Lex receives a Presidential pardon for his efforts. The story ends with Zod rallying his people as he declares war on the planet Earth. The story concludes in the next miniseries, Superman: War of the Supermen . Mon-El plants the many bottled cities that Brainiac has captured over the years on various planets across
5600-405: A world under attack by Brainiac just in time to be caught in a supernova as Brainiac destroys the system's star and the populated world along with it. The supernova knocks Superman out, and he is caught and brought onto Brainiac's ship. Superman escapes from his imprisonment and sees Brainiac emerging from his "bio-shell". This version of Brainiac resembles a much larger and more muscular version of
5760-569: Is a rim world found on the approach to the Magellanic Clouds . In Superman #167 (February 1964), it was retconned that Brainiac was a robot created by the Computer Tyrants of Colu to spy on and invade other worlds. Brainiac's distinctive forehead diodes are explained as "electric terminals of his sensory nerves" necessary for him to function. To explain the 1961 introduction of the villain's living descendant Brainiac 5,
5920-460: Is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment , a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery . DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book series first published in 1937. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, the first comic under the DC banner being published in 1937. The majority of its publications are set in
6080-427: Is eager for a final showdown with Brainiac, who calls Zod a coward for confronting Brainiac with his powers intact and an army of super-powered Kryptonians at his back. In response, Zod fires the red sun radiation from an Archer rifle at himself, to remove his powers and thus supposedly level the playing field as he prepares to take Brainiac down. Brainiac 5 gives Superman a transfusion of Conner's blood and exposes him to
6240-424: Is explained that Brainiac looks the same due to his 200-year life span. In Superman #93, Brainiac regenerates himself. It is revealed that he came from a planet called Bryak and, after a voyage in space, he returned to find everybody dead from a plague. He intended to get people from other planets (in shrunken cities to be enlarged with his growth ray) to repopulate Bryak, where he would rule them. Brainiac's legacy
6400-574: Is having a dream of Krypton's final moments in which an artificial intelligence that controls the planet wakes up robots in an attempt to preserve the Kryptonian culture. Later, while Clark conducts an interview in a robotic factory, the same harvester robots appear. John Corben (the soon-to-be supervillain Metallo ) is suddenly possessed by the artificial intelligence. It demands Superman. The robots create havoc throughout Metropolis, but Superman soon realizes that they are really after him. Superman fights
6560-512: Is held in a bottle onboard Brainiac's ship, other planets' cities are also imprisoned, and, therefore, Zod cannot destroy Brainiac's ship until the cities can be rescued. Zod sends Supergirl off and then arrests the Legionnaires, branding them terrorists. Meanwhile, Superman is about to face off against Brainiac when he is knocked down by a kryptonite energy blast fired by Lex Luthor and subsequently captured. Brainiac locks him in captivity with
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6720-506: Is his moment of destiny, steps in and teleports himself and Brainiac off of New Krypton. It is revealed that Lex used a Luthor robot, supplied by the Toyman , to accomplish his mission on New Krypton, and that Brainiac killed the robot instead. Lex discusses with General Lane how his objective, to bring chaos to New Krypton, was achieved. Lex has been working as an agent of General Lane all along. The disarray that Lex caused provides Lane with
6880-511: Is now trapped in this form. At the turn of the millennium , Brainiac 2.5 revealed that he had placed a sleeper virus in LexCorp 's Y2K bug safeguards. This virus was intended to dramatically boost his abilities. However, the virus instead allowed his upgraded future self, Brainiac 13 (or " B-13 "), to travel from the 64th century to the present day and take control of Brainiac 2.5's body. Brainiac 13 then began transforming Metropolis into
7040-557: Is overtly robotic with a skull-like face and a reflective, iridescent honeycomb -patterned "braincase." He also creates a starship shaped like his new skull and adorned by metal tendrils, often referred to by fans and comic creators as the "skull ship." The ship acts as an extension of Brainiac himself. Brainiac retains this robotic appearance until after the Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries ends in 1986, rebooting DC Comics continuity. This incarnation of Brainiac meets his final end in
7200-516: Is still being used. The company created a second recurring title called New Comics , first released in December 1935, which was the start of the long-running Adventure Comics series that also featured many anthology titles. By 1936, the group had became Nicholson Publishing. Wheeler-Nicholson's next and final title, Detective Comics , was advertised with a cover illustration dated December 1936 but eventually premiered three months late with
7360-705: Is still growing, now putting Kandor at risk. As Brainiac 5 works on the problem, Supergirl is shocked to discover Superman impaled by pieces of Brainiac's ship as a result of the explosion. Superman appears to have been fatally stricken. Luthor, though reeling from the explosion, is pleased with all the destruction he has caused. Brainiac confronts Luthor in the ruins of the ship and is furious that Lex sabotaged his ship. Luthor mocks him and spits in his eye before Brainiac angrily snaps Luthor's neck, killing him. Now deprived of his ship and technology, and seemingly depowered by his ship's destruction, Brainiac finds himself faced by an entire city of angry, solar-powered Kryptonians. Zod
7520-522: Is the second largest publisher of comic books, after Viz Media ; and Marvel is third. In 1934, entrepreneur Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson founded National Allied Publications , intended as an American comic book publishing company. Its debut publication was the tabloid -sized New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine #1 (the first of a comic series later called More Fun Comics ) with a February 1935 cover date . An anthology title, essentially for original stories not reprinted from newspaper strips , it
7680-418: Is transporting to a Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit, the newborn child of Pete Ross and Lana Lang . Brainiac sees this as an opportunity for revenge, correctly concluding that Ross and Lang are close to him. Using a 'psi-blocker' device, Superman thwarts Brianiac's plans and the villain is forced to house his consciousness within a completely robotic body. Dubbing his new form Brainiac 2.5 , the villain fears he
7840-539: The Infinite Crisis limited series. Immediately after this event, DC's ongoing series jumped forward a full year in their in-story continuity, as DC launched a weekly series, 52 , to gradually fill in the missing time. Concurrently, DC lost the copyright to "Superboy" (while retaining the trademark) when the heirs of Jerry Siegel used a provision of the 1976 revision to the copyright law to regain ownership. In 2005, DC launched its " All-Star " line (evoking
8000-530: The Eradicator (who was attempting to 'hijack' the B13 virus and use it for its own ends), Superman discovered that Brainiac 13 could not cope with Kryptonian technology, due to incompatibility issues. This gave Superman a plan to stop Brainiac 13's scheme. With the aid of the rebuilt Kelex , Superman tricked Luthor into connecting a Kryptonian battlesuit to one of Brainiac 13's power conduits. Kelex then reactivated
8160-667: The Green Lantern character, the introduction of the modern all-star team Justice League of America (JLA), and many more superheroes, heralding what historians and fans call the Silver Age of Comic Books . National radically overhauled its continuing characters—primarily Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman—rather than just reimagining them. The Superman family of titles, under editor Mort Weisinger , introduced such enduring characters as Supergirl , Bizarro , and Brainiac . The Batman titles, under editor Jack Schiff , introduced
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#17327809031398320-690: The Joker , Lex Luthor , Deathstroke , the Reverse-Flash , Brainiac , and Darkseid . The company has published non-DC Universe-related material, including Watchmen , V for Vendetta , Fables , and many other titles, under the alternative imprint Vertigo and DC Black Label . Originally at 432 Fourth Avenue in Manhattan , New York City, the company offices have been located at 480 and later 575 Lexington Avenue , 909 Third Avenue , 75 Rockefeller Plaza , 666 Fifth Avenue , and 1325 Avenue of
8480-483: The Phantom Stranger ) rose from art director to become DC's editorial director. With the growing popularity of upstart rival Marvel Comics threatening to topple DC from its longtime number-one position in the comics industry, he tried to direct DC's focus towards marketing new and existing titles and characters with more adult sensibilities, aimed at an emerging older age group of superhero comic book fans; this
8640-795: The Silver Age , the comics of the 1970s and 1980s became known as the Bronze Age, as fantasy gave way to more naturalistic and sometimes darker themes. Illegal drug use, banned by the Comics Code Authority , explicitly appeared in comics for the first time in Marvel Comics' story " Green Goblin Reborn! " in The Amazing Spider-Man No. 96 (May 1971), and after the Code's updating in response, DC offered
8800-579: The Spirit which it then used, along with some DC heroes, as part of the First Wave comics line launched in 2010 and lasting through fall 2011. In May 2011, DC announced it would begin releasing digital versions of their comics on the same day as paper versions. Brainiac (character) Brainiac is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics . The character
8960-557: The line further, increasing the number of titles and story pages, and raising the price from 35 cents to 50 cents. Most series received eight-page back-up features while some had full-length twenty-five-page stories. This was a move the company called the "DC Explosion". The move was not successful, however, and corporate parent Warner dramatically cut back on these largely unsuccessful titles, firing many staffers in what industry watchers dubbed "the DC Implosion ". In September 1978,
9120-622: The " Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? " storyline that ended the Pre- Crisis Silver/Bronze Age Superman chronology. Lex Luthor finds Brainiac's robotic head unit, with barely any power left. He hopes to team up with the evil living program again, only to become an unwilling host body for Brainiac instead. Fighting Brainiac's control, Luthor begs a superpowered Lana Lang to kill him, who complies by breaking his neck. Luthor dies and Brainiac retains control of
9280-461: The 30th century. Developing the ability to absorb and manipulate stellar energy, he remade himself as " Pulsar Stargrave ". He became a powerful enemy of the Legion of Super-Heroes, and once masqueraded as Brainiac 5's biological father. In current continuity, Brainiac's connection to Pulsar Stargrave remains an open question, one even Brainiac 5 has yet to resolve. After Brainiac was revealed to be
9440-470: The 64th-century version of the city, which he controlled, and also began upgrading Metallo into a giant-sized version of himself. Brainiac 13 then took control of several android superheroes, such as the Red Tornado and Hourman , and used them against Superman. The Metal Men 's responsometers were able to protect them from his programming, and allowed them to help defeat Metallo. During a fight with
9600-510: The Amazons, Superman was able to destroy Brainiac 13 and Imperiex by sending them through a temporal Boom tube where they were annihilated in the Big Bang. Brainiac 13 had his body disintegrated and the remnants of his mind scattered across sixty trillion light years, finally killing the chronologically last known version of Brainiac. After the death of Brainiac 13, Superman discovered that
9760-706: The Americas . DC Comics was located at 1700 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan until April 2015, when DC Entertainment transferred its headquarters to Burbank, California . DC Comics books are distributed to the bookstore market by Penguin Random House Publisher Services . The comics shop direct market was supplied by Diamond Comic Distributors until June 2020, when Lunar Distribution and UCS Comic Distributors (who were by then dominating direct market distribution on account of
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#17327809031399920-490: The Bible as the foundation of his own new company, EC Comics . At that point, "Liebowitz promptly orchestrated the merger of All-American and Detective Comics into National Comics... Next he took charge of organizing National Comics, [the self-distributorship] Independent News, and their affiliated firms into a single corporate entity, National Periodical Publications ". National Periodical Publications became publicly traded on
10080-472: The Changing Man , as well as an increasing array of non-superhero titles, in an attempt to recapture the pre- Wertham days of post-War comicdom. In 1977, the company officially changed its name to DC Comics . It had used the brand "Superman-DC" since the 1950s, and was colloquially known as DC Comics for years. In June 1978, five months before the release of the first Superman film , Kahn expanded
10240-400: The Computer Tyrants of Colu, was sentenced to death. In his last moments before disintegration, his consciousness was attracted light years away to Milton Moses Fine , a human sideshow mentalist who worked under the alias "The Amazing Brainiac". Needing cranial fluid to maintain his possession of Fine, Dox went on a murder spree. He discovered that Fine had genuine psychic powers and was thus
10400-544: The DC Universe, especially after the major toy-company, Kenner Products , judged them ideal for their action-figure adaptation of the DC Universe , the Super Powers Collection . Obligated by his contract, Kirby created other unrelated series for DC, including Kamandi , The Demon , and OMAC , before ultimately returning to Marvel Comics in 1976. Following the science-fiction innovations of
10560-405: The Man of Steel before restraining him with the help of his ship's internal systems. Brainiac inserts the subdued Superman into a machine that allows him to read the Kryptonian's mind, with the intent of assimilating his brain. Brainiac's ship then travels to Earth and prepares to abduct the city of Metropolis. Brainiac successfully steals Metropolis, and prepares to fire a missile that will destroy
10720-580: The Multitude, becoming known as the Collector of Worlds. One of these robots attacked Krypton. Dox became fascinated by Jor-El, a Kryptonian scientist who actually saved his homeworld from the Multitude. Upon returning to Krypton, however, Dox discovered Krypton had been destroyed. Referred to at first as 'The Collector of Worlds', Brainiac is first seen as the mysterious informant that supplies Lex Luthor information of Superman and his alien nature. Clark
10880-523: The Post- Crisis character's history prior to his possession of Milton Fine and his first encounter with Superman. The citizens of Kandor recall that Brainiac stole their city from Krypton, and not the alien wizard Tolos. History of the DC Universe mentions his defeat by the Omega Men , although this is not seen in Crisis on Infinite Earths itself, and noted a second Brainiac was created in
11040-474: The Red Tornado to help Superman break Brainiac 13 down into his respective nanobots and trap him in the suit. Brainiac 13 was able to work with Brainiac 2.5—now transferred into the aged body of Lena Luthor —and prepared a tactic against Imperiex for the upcoming Imperiex War . The Brainiacs successfully engineered Imperiex's defeat, allowing Brainiac 13 to absorb Imperiex's power and use it to overpower
11200-556: The Silver Age Teen Titans led DC's editors to seek the same for the wider DC Universe . The result, the Wolfman/Pérez 12-issue limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths , gave the company an opportunity to realign and jettison some of the characters' complicated backstory and continuity discrepancies. A companion publication, two volumes entitled The History of the DC Universe , set out the revised history of
11360-599: The Sun and the Earth itself. Supergirl ends up captured along with the rest of Metropolis, but Superman breaks out of his restraints again and frees her. Supergirl stops the missile, while Superman battles Brainiac. Brainiac appears to have the advantage in physical combat yet again, but Superman knocks Brainiac out of his ship and into a swamp, where Brainiac is overwhelmed by the microscopic organisms covering his body. Superman uses this distraction to defeat Brainiac. While Superman frees
11520-697: The TV series. This change in tone coincided with the prominent "Go-Go Checks" cover-dress that featured a black-and-white checkered strip at the top of each DC comic (all cover dates between February 1966 and August 1967), a misguided attempt by then-managing editor Irwin Donenfeld to make DC's output "stand out on the newsracks". In particular, DC artist Carmine Infantino complained that the distinctive cover made it easier for readers to spot DC's titles and avoid them in favor of Marvel's titles. In 1967, Infantino (who had designed popular Silver Age characters Batgirl and
11680-457: The alien warrior Draaga . Discovering a lost and confused Matrix (an artificial life form who at this time operates as Supergirl ), Brainiac brainwashes her into becoming his soldier. He clashes with the New Gods and then launches a pre-emptive strike on Earth. Rather than wait for an invasion, Superman gathers a large group of superheroes and allies, one team attacking Warworld directly while
11840-587: The antihero. These titles helped pave the way for comics to be more widely accepted in literary-criticism circles and to make inroads into the book industry, with collected editions of these series as commercially successful trade paperbacks . The mid-1980s also saw the end of many long-running DC war comics , including series that had been in print since the 1960s. These titles, all with over 100 issues, included Sgt. Rock , G.I. Combat , The Unknown Soldier , and Weird War Tales . In March 1989, Warner Communications merged with Time Inc. , making DC Comics
12000-399: The armor (which changes instantly into the current Superman costume design). Brainiac sends Metallo to attack Superman, but due to Superman reasoning with him over his feelings for Lois Lane, he breaks free of Brainiac's control and joins Superman in his attack. Superman then uses his rocket from Krypton which had also been miniaturized with Metropolis to attack Brainiac's mind, which the rocket
12160-400: The battle between the two Kryptonians and the villain can continue, Brainiac's ship starts to destabilize and descend towards the planet. It is revealed that Lex Luthor sabotaged the ship and re-sized one of the cities while inside. Luthor's intervention causes the ship to crash into New Krypton, destroying it while Supergirl and the Legion re-size Kandor. However, the city that Luthor expanded
12320-484: The body for a short time until rigor mortis sets in. "Propelled by sheer malice", Brainiac's head unit leaves Luthor's corpse and crawls a few inches before finally running out of power for good. In the Post- Crisis DC Universe , Brainiac's history was completely rewritten. The Post- Crisis version of Brainiac was now a radical Coluan scientist called Vril Dox who, having attempted to overthrow
12480-401: The bottle city of Kandor, the only city on Krypton that believes Jor-El's warning of doom for the planet, and which had already built a space ark within the city to save the population. Brainiac's next present-day appearance was in Action Comics #275 (April 1961), which showed the villain planning to defeat Superman by exposing him to red-green kryptonite , which he had created, giving Superman
12640-413: The brand's popularity, like the presence of the color red or word balloons on the cover, or that the perceived crudeness of the interior art was somehow more appealing to readers. When Lee learned about DC's subsequent experimental attempts to imitate these perceived details, he amused himself by arranging direct defiance of those assumptions in Marvel's publications as sales strengthened further to frustrate
12800-561: The change in the characterization of Brainiac was "in deference" to the "Brainiac Computer Kit", a toy computer created by Edmund Berkeley (and based on the Geniac ) that predated the creation of the comic book character. In this same story, Lex Luthor discovers the Computer Tyrants could have given their robot villain a twelfth-level intellect but only gave him a tenth-level, the same as them, so he would not dominate them. Luthor frees Brainiac from imprisonment and increases his intellect to
12960-424: The character was revived in DC's new title Shazam! , which featured artwork by Captain Marvel's creator C. C. Beck . In the meantime, the abandoned 'Marvel' trademark had been seized by Marvel Comics in 1967, with the creation of their Captain Marvel , preventing DC from using the name in the title of their own comic series. While DC's Captain Marvel failed to recapture his earlier popularity, he later appeared in
13120-487: The character's voice in animation and video games. The first Brainiac/Kandor comic book story in Action Comics #242 (July 1958) was based on a story arc in the Superman comic strip from April through August 1958. In the comic strip story, Superman's foe was named Romado, who traveled the cosmos with a white alien monkey named Koko, shrinking major cities and keeping them in glass jars. The strip's Kryptonian bottled city
13280-549: The cities of Metropolis and Kandor, the villain launches a missile to the Kent farm in an act of spite. The farm is destroyed, and Jonathan Kent suffers a fatal heart attack because of it. Brainiac is brought to a top-secret military base, where the imprisoned Lex Luthor is assigned to discover his secrets. Luthor eventually manages to use Brainiac's connection to his ship to kill the soldiers assigned to watch him. Brainiac manages to free himself from Luthor's control, forcing him on board
13440-471: The combined heroes and villains of the universe while simultaneously devastating both Earth and Apokolips. Brainiac 13 planned to use the power he stole from Imperiex to conquer the universe and reshape it in his image, and is made so powerful by the absorption that none of the heroes, not even Superman, can hope to damage him. However, with help from Lex's temporal displacement technology and Darkseid's Boom Tube technology boosted by magic supplied by Tempest and
13600-429: The comic book limited series . This publishing format allowed for the deliberate creation of finite storylines within a more flexible publishing format that could showcase creations without forcing the talent into unsustainable open-ended commitments. The first such title was World of Krypton in 1979, and its positive results led to subsequent similar titles and later more ambitious productions like Camelot 3000 for
13760-482: The company. The resulting influx of sophisticated horror-fantasy material led to DC in 1993 establishing the Vertigo mature-readers imprint, which did not subscribe to the Comics Code Authority . Two DC limited series, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller and Watchmen by Moore and artist Dave Gibbons , drew attention in the mainstream press for their dark psychological complexity and promotion of
13920-488: The competition. However, this ignorance of Marvel's true appeal did not extend to some of the writing talent during this period, and attempts were made to emulate Marvel's narrative approach. For instance, there was the Doom Patrol series by Arnold Drake (who had previously warned DC's management about Marvel's strength), a superhero team of outsiders who resented their freakish powers, which Drake later speculated
14080-547: The direct market in 1982. These changes in policy shaped the future of the medium as a whole, and in the short term allowed DC to entice creators away from rival Marvel, and encourage stability on individual titles. In November 1980 DC launched the ongoing series The New Teen Titans , by writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez , two popular talents with a history of success. Their superhero-team comic, superficially similar to Marvel's ensemble series X-Men , but rooted in DC history, earned significant sales in part due to
14240-583: The disruption to Diamond caused by the COVID-19 pandemic ) replaced Diamond as the direct market distributor. In 2017, approximately 70% of the American comic book market was shared by DC Comics and its long-time major competitor Marvel Comics (acquired in 2009 by Warner Bros. Discovery's main competitor, The Walt Disney Company ), though this figure may be distorted by the fact that sales of graphic novels are excluded. When all book sales are included, DC
14400-512: The distribution of NPP's shows. A 1966 Batman TV show on the ABC network sparked a temporary spike in comic book sales and a brief fad for superheroes in Saturday morning animation ( Filmation produced most of DC's initial cartoons) and other media. DC significantly lightened the tone of many of its comics—particularly Batman and Detective Comics —to better complement the "camp" tone of
14560-723: The end of 2009. By 2007, DC was licensing characters from the Archie Comics imprint Red Circle Comics . They appeared in the Red Circle line, based in the DC Universe, with a series of one-shots followed by a miniseries that led into two ongoing titles that each lasted for ten issues. In 2011, DC rebooted all of its running titles following the Flashpoint storyline. The reboot called The New 52 gave new origin stories and costume designs to many of DC's characters. DC licensed pulp characters including Doc Savage and
14720-461: The event that would unite all eras in the history of the DC Universe , starting with Generation Zero: Gods Among Us , which was scheduled to release during Free Comic Book Day on May 2, 2020. However, following the firing of publisher Dan DiDio from DC Entertainment in February and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the comics industry, the series was delayed. Writer Scott Snyder stated
14880-484: The event. He responded that "it's hooked into everything. We're building the DCU plan together with editors and other writers and artists. I'm really excited about it. Death Metal ends in January, and then January and February is "Future State", which is going to give glimpses of possible DC futures. That was built while we were doing Death Metal to lead into some stuff which isn’t happening anymore, but those plans have taken
15040-450: The example of Atlas/Seaboard Comics and such independent companies as Eclipse Comics —DC began to offer royalties in place of the industry-standard work-for-hire agreement in which creators worked for a flat fee and signed away all rights, giving talent a financial incentive tied to the success of their work. As it happened, the implementation of these incentives proved opportune considering Marvel Comics' Editor-in-Chief, Jim Shooter ,
15200-606: The fate of Colu. Indigo then infiltrated the Outsiders until she attacked the team, along with Brainiac 6 and his allies, Lex Luthor, and a brainwashed Superboy , who had attacked the Teen Titans . In the ensuing battle, Indigo died and Superboy broke away from the brainwashing, while Luthor escaped. While his ship was destroyed, Brainiac's condition and whereabouts after the battle are unknown. Later stories revealed that elements of Brainiac's Pre- Crisis history occurred in
15360-648: The fictional DC Universe and feature numerous culturally iconic heroic characters , such as Superman , Batman , Wonder Woman , Green Lantern , the Flash , Cyborg , and Aquaman ; as well as famous fictional teams, including the Justice League , the Justice Society of America , the Teen Titans , and the Suicide Squad . The universe contains an assortment of well-known supervillains , such as
15520-465: The fifth dimension. Dox discovered the fifth dimension was in a state of war, and a group of its inhabitants, the Multitude, had entered their dimension and destroyed over a hundred planets. Realizing Yod-Colu was next in the Multitude's path, Dox tried to find a way to save his planet, even performing experiments on his son. The magistrates of Yod-Colu sentenced Dox to exile, but Dox used C.O.M.P.U.T.O. to take control of Yod-Colu's computer networks. Copying
15680-463: The first comic book to feature the character archetype later known as the "superhero", Action Comics was a sales hit that brought to life a new age of comic books, now affectionately termed the "Golden Age" . Action Comics #1 is credited as featuring the first appearance of Superman, both on the cover illustration and inside the issue, and is now one of the most valuable and sought-after comic book issues of all time. The first Superman tale included
15840-686: The first mention of Batman's utility belt by Gardner Fox . Outside of DC's publishing, a character later integrated as DC was introduced by Fox Feature Syndicate named the Blue Beetle released in August 1939. Fictional cities were a common theme of DC; the first revealed city was Superman's home city of Metropolis , originally named in Action Comics No. 16 (September 1939). Detective Comics No. 31 (September 1939) by Gardner Fox, Bob Kane and Sheldon Moldoff introduced
16000-639: The first recurring Superman enemy referred to as the Ultra-Humanite ; created by Siegel and Shuster, this is commonly cited as one of the earliest supervillains in comic books. The Superman character had another breakthrough when he was given his own comic book series , which was previously unheard of. The first issue, published in June 1939, helped directly introduce Superman's adoptive parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent , also created by Siegel and Shuster. Detective Comics No. 29 (July 1939) included
16160-546: The future and battled Brainiac 12 . He learned that everything Brainiac 13 did in the past was designed to ensure things reached the point where Brainiac 13 would be created. Brainiac 12's defeat before his upgrade apparently reversed the advances Brainiac 13 had made to Metropolis. Around the time of the Graduation Day event, a future version of Brainiac, called Brainiac 6 , used his "granddaughter", Brainiac 8 (also known as Indigo ), to kill Donna Troy to ensure
16320-477: The galaxy. These cities will one day become the United Planets by the 31st century, the same planets that will produce the members of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Brainiac 5 takes Brainiac to their homeworld of Colu where he hands him over to Vril Dox, a.k.a. Brainiac 2. Vril Dox happily turns his "father" over to his people for his crimes. However Lyrl Dox, a.k.a. Brainiac 3, releases his "grandfather" with
16480-503: The groundwork for a full continuity-reshuffling sequel to Crisis on Infinite Earths , promising substantial changes to the DC Universe (and side-stepping the 1994 Zero Hour event which similarly tried to ret-con the history of the DCU). In 2005, the critically lauded Batman Begins film was released; also, the company published several limited series establishing increasingly escalating conflicts among DC's heroes, with events climaxing in
16640-416: The intent of using them to restore the then-unnamed planet he ruled. He was originally notable only for having shrunk the bottle city of Kandor with his shrinking ray and for using a force field. In his initial story, he also traveled with a white alien monkey named Koko; the monkey also appears in a 1960 Superman story retelling the story of Kandor's disappearance ( Superman #141 (November 1960)). Koko
16800-421: The intent to experiment on him, but Superman escapes and meets up with the rest of the superheroes and Zod on a separate section of the ship. Zod enters the scene and engages Brainiac in combat while Supergirl, Superboy, and the Legion recover the bottled cities on Brainiac's ship, including Kandor. Zod seems to be losing his fight with Brainiac, when suddenly Superman gets up and tackles Brainiac from behind. Before
16960-434: The known universe. He travels the galaxy and shrinks cities to bottle size for preservation on his skull-shaped spaceship before destroying their source planets, believing the knowledge he acquires to be most valuable if he alone possesses it. Among these shrunken cities is Kandor , the capital of Superman's home planet Krypton , and Brainiac is even responsible for Krypton's destruction in some continuities. His attempts to do
17120-410: The line and going for that really short term spike in sales, we just naturally gravitated to the story ideas and concepts we love and building them into the mythology, the ongoing mythology, in a very organic way". In September, DC announced "Future State" to be scheduled for January and February 2021. In October, Snyder has also assured the ending of Dark Nights: Death Metal will be tied directly to
17280-446: The line was dramatically reduced and standard-size books returned to 17-page stories but for a still increased 40 cents. By 1980, the books returned to 50 cents with a 25-page story count but the story pages replaced house ads in the books. Seeking new ways to boost market share , the new team of publisher Kahn, vice president Paul Levitz , and managing editor Giordano addressed the issue of talent instability. To that end—and following
17440-547: The long-running fantasy series Elfquest , previously self-published by creators Wendy and Richard Pini under their WaRP Graphics publication banner. This series then followed another non-DC title, Tower Comics ' series T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents , in collection into DC Archive Editions. In 2004, DC temporarily acquired the North American publishing rights to graphic novels from European publishers 2000 AD and Humanoids . It also rebranded its younger-audience titles with
17600-562: The major DC characters. Crisis featured many key deaths that shaped the DC Universe for the following decades, and it separated the timeline of DC publications into pre- and post-"Crisis". Meanwhile, a parallel update had started in the non-superhero and horror titles. Since early 1984, the work of British writer Alan Moore had revitalized the horror series The Saga of the Swamp Thing , and soon numerous British writers, including Neil Gaiman and Grant Morrison , began freelancing for
17760-449: The mascot Johnny DC and established the CMX imprint to reprint translated manga . In 2006, CMX took over from Dark Horse Comics ' publication of the webcomic Megatokyo in print form. DC also took advantage of the demise of Kitchen Sink Press and acquired the rights to much of the work of Will Eisner , such as his The Spirit series and his graphic novels. In 2004, DC began laying
17920-478: The monster that seemingly killed Superman before, and uses him as a new host body. Now a cunning psychic with a super-strong, near-indestructible body, Brainiac attacks the Justice League. But Doomsday's own raging mind fights back and Brainiac realizes he still needs a suitable host. Hoping to create a clone Doomsday form by manipulating human DNA, Brainiac attempts to steal a prematurely born baby Superman
18080-408: The most popular superhero titles continued publication, including Action Comics and Detective Comics , the medium's two longest-running titles. In the mid-1950s, editorial director Irwin Donenfeld and publisher Liebowitz directed editor Julius Schwartz (whose roots lay in the science-fiction book market) to produce a one-shot Flash story in the try-out title Showcase . Instead of reviving
18240-447: The nearby star, Epsilon 4, to go nova and utilize its energy. Instead, his body is converted into energy; his living program, his consciousness, experiences a strange journey before returning to his technology, where a new body is created for him over the next few months. As Brainiac recollects, during his journey he saw a great hand reach out from a void, ensnaring him briefly before releasing him. He also remembers seeing Superman's face at
18400-418: The newly created planet of New Krypton , and the Kryptonian citizens rise up to fight the drones. General Zod's army proves totally unable to fend them off, as the Brainiac's ship's force fields are seemingly invulnerable and his drones are equipped with red sunray guns, allowing them to kill tens of thousands of Kryptonians. Superman, being the only one who knows how to penetrate his force fields (having learned
18560-526: The old character, Schwartz had writers Robert Kanigher and John Broome , penciler Carmine Infantino , and inker Joe Kubert create an entirely new super-speedster, updating and modernizing the Flash's civilian identity, costume, and origin with a science-fiction bent. The Flash's reimagining in Showcase No. 4 (October 1956) proved sufficiently popular that it soon led to a similar revamping of
18720-520: The original, Pre- Crisis Brainiac, and has motives similar to the Superman: The Animated Series incarnation of the character in that he travels the universe and steals the knowledge of various alien cultures, abducting and shrinking cities from each planet as samples, and then destroys the planet so that the value of the destroyed civilization's knowledge is increased. Superman attacks Brainiac, but Brainiac manages to overpower
18880-469: The other imprints was Impact Comics from 1991 to 1992 in which the Archie Comics superheroes were licensed and revamped. The stories in the line were part of its own shared universe. DC entered into a publishing agreement with Milestone Media that gave DC a line of comics featuring a culturally and racially diverse range of superhero characters. Although the Milestone line ceased publication after
19040-406: The other remains on Earth to counter further attacks. Through duplicates of his braincase, Brainiac briefly takes control of some of Earth's heroes, but ultimately he fails. Supergirl and the other heroes are freed from mental control and the villain is rendered catatonic. His vegetative body is taken back to New Genesis for observation. A year after the seeming death and then return of Superman,
19200-421: The planet's database, Dox constructed an army of robot servants called Terminauts and miniaturized the city his wife and son lived on and bottled it in a force field, while the rest of Yod-Colu was destroyed by the Multitude. After the destruction of Yod-Colu, Dox constructed an army of starships and distributed his consciousness across a series of robots that would each travel the universe to preserve planets from
19360-464: The plans for Generations had become more "fluid", and in June, Generation Zero was not part of DC's plans for the revised Free Comic Book Day. As well, DC Comics publisher and chief creative officer Jim Lee stated that the 5G initiative, which would have occurred at the end of the original plan for Generations was no longer happening: "We had a lot of great ideas that we were floating around. And rather than dumping it all in one month and renumbering
19520-407: The possessed Corben with the help of John Henry Irons . Although they managed to defeat him, the alien sentience had already miniaturized and bottled the city of Metropolis and took it to his ship in space. Superman travels to the ship to find many alien bottled cities, Kandor included. The alien identifies himself as a being from the planet Colu where he was known as C.O.M.P.U.T.O and on Krypton he
19680-489: The query, neither confirming or denying his responsibility, though he does heavily imply it ("In fifty-seven minutes, my solar aggressor will reach your sun. It will flare up, and the Earth will be incinerated. Just like Krypton."). Superman still believes Brainiac had a part in Krypton's destruction after the end of this story arc. Following this, Brainiac, now in possession of his ship again, unleashes his robot army against
19840-535: The same time. Reborn in a new body, the villain believes he has seen the Master Programmer, the divine force behind the universe's creation, and that this entity created Superman as an "angel of death" to destroy Brainiac. More determined than ever to kill and study Superman, Brainiac now has a colder, more merciless, and robot-like personality than before (he claims he is without emotions, yet shows signs of hatred and fear in regards to Superman). His new body
20000-639: The same to Earth have brought him into repeated conflict with Superman. Though stories often end in Brainiac's apparent destruction, the character's artificial consciousness is resurrected in new physical forms, some robotic and others more organic-based in appearance. Brainiac has been adapted in various media incarnations, having been portrayed in live-action by James Marsters in Smallville and Blake Ritson in Krypton . Corey Burton , John Noble , Jeffrey Combs , Jason Isaacs , and others have provided
20160-434: The ship, and the two make their escape. Notably, upon learning of Brainiac's modus operandi of destroying planets by destabilizing nearby stars when he is done collecting cities and knowledge from said planets, Superman openly speculates that Brainiac destroyed Krypton, which was destroyed when its sun went nova soon after Brainiac abducted Kandor and Argo. He also asks the alien what he did to Krypton's sun. Brainiac ignores
20320-449: The specific inducement, Marvel Comics' writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby ushered in the sub-Silver Age "Marvel Age" of comics with the debut issue of The Fantastic Four . Reportedly, DC dismissed the initial success of Marvel's editorial change until its consistently strengthening sales—albeit also benefiting DC's parent company Independent News, as Marvel's distributor—made it impossible to ignore. This commercial situation
20480-511: The stability of the creative team, who both continued with the title for six full years. In addition, Wolfman and Pérez took advantage of the limited-series option to create a spin-off title, Tales of the New Teen Titans , to present origin stories of their original characters without having to break the narrative flow of the main series or oblige them to double their work load with another ongoing title. This successful revitalization of
20640-490: The stock market in 1961. Despite the official names "National Comics" and "National Periodical Publications", the company began branding itself as "Superman-DC" as early as 1940 and became known colloquially as DC Comics for years before the official adoption of that name in 1977. DC Comics began to move aggressively against what it saw as copyright-violating imitations from other companies, such as Fox Comics ' Wonder Man , which (according to court testimony) Fox started as
20800-417: The story reveals the Computer Tyrants provided the villain with an assistant, a young Coluan boy named Vril Dox tasked with masquerading as his "son" so others would believe Brainiac to be a trustworthy organic alien scientist with a family rather than a deadly robot. The young boy Vril Dox was designated " Brainiac 2 ". In the same issue, the letter column contained a "special announcement" explaining that
20960-498: The successful Batwoman , Bat-Girl , Ace the Bat-Hound , and Bat-Mite in an attempt to modernize the strip with non-science-fiction elements. Schwartz and Infantino then revitalized Batman in what the company promoted as the "New Look", with relatively down-to-earth stories re-emphasizing Batman as a detective. Meanwhile, editor Kanigher successfully introduced a whole family of Wonder Woman characters having fantastic adventures in
21120-471: The title of the 1940s publication ), designed to feature some of the company's best-known characters in stories that eschewed the long and convoluted continuity of the DC Universe. The line began with All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder and All-Star Superman , and All-Star Wonder Woman and All-Star Batgirl was announced in 2006, but neither of these stories had been released or scheduled as of
21280-692: The trick in the previous story arc), manages to enter Brainiac's ship. Supergirl leads the Kryptonians against the drones, but is attacked by an anti-Kryptonian Brainiac probe. Superboy , Mon-El , and the Legion of Super-Heroes join the fight and save Supergirl. After this, Brainiac shrinks Kandor again and re-bottles it, including a miniature red sun to de-power all the Kryptonians inside. The Legion, Supergirl, Superboy, Zod, and Superman all make it on to Brainiac's ship, thanks to Brainiac 5 hacking his ancestor's force fields and allowing them entry. The Legion explains to Zod that, just as Krypton's city of Kandor
21440-422: The use of non-traditional contractual arrangements, including the dramatic rise of creator-owned projects, leading to a significant increase in critically lauded work (much of it for Vertigo) and the licensing of material from other companies. DC also increased publication of book-store friendly formats, including trade paperback collections of individual serial comics, as well as original graphic novels . One of
21600-540: The version of Krypton he previously visited via the Phantom Zone was, in fact, a trap created by Brainiac 13. Having been defeated by Kryptonian technology, Brainiac 13 had traveled back in time to the real Krypton prior to its destruction. There, he stole the Eradicator matrix and Jor-El 's diaries, and created a false Krypton based on Jor-El's favorite period in history. Sometime later, Superman traveled into
21760-461: The villain by insisting he is just Milton Fine, a cheap entertainer. Fine's personality seemingly emerges and shuts down the Brainiac persona. Fine was then escorted off to a psychiatric facility. During a later skirmish with Superman, Fine's body is irreparably damaged, leaving Brainiac with only a short time to live. With help from a new Coluan assistant named Prin Vnok, Brainiac retrieves Doomsday ,
21920-401: The writers and artists who had worked for DC without receiving much recognition during the early age of comic books when individual credits were rare. The comics industry experienced a brief boom in the early 1990s, thanks to a combination of speculative purchasing—mass purchase of the books as collectible items, with the intention to resell at a higher value (as the rising value of older issues
22080-498: Was able to do since its primary mission was to protect Kal-El. In doing so, Metropolis was returned to Earth and Superman took possession of Brainiac's ship and made it his new super citadel. Notably, the ship Clark was placed into as a child was described as having "Brainiac AI", leaving the identity of the Collector of Worlds in doubt. The Colony of the Collector of Worlds told Superman that its AI technology went by different names, beginning on Yod-Colu as C.O.M.P.U.T.O. On Noma, he
22240-412: Was alienating much of his company's creative staff with his authoritarian manner and major talents there went to DC like Roy Thomas , Gene Colan , Marv Wolfman , and George Pérez . In addition, emulating the era's new television form, the miniseries while addressing the matter of an excessive number of ongoing titles fizzling out within a few issues of their start, DC created the industry concept of
22400-473: Was called Brainiac 1.0. He claims that, without Superman and the ship that brought him to Earth, his Kryptonian collection is incomplete. The alien intelligence demands Superman make a choice: the intelligence will disable life support in both the Kandor and Metropolis bottles, and Superman must choose which city to save using indestructible Kryptonian armor found on the ship. Superman decides on neither and wears
22560-528: Was called Pneumenoid; on Bryak it was Mind2; on Krypton he was called Brainiac 1.0; and, finally on Earth, he is the Internet. After this defeat, Brainiac retreated to deeper parts of the cosmos, and eventually came across the planet Tolerance, the setting of a bounty hunting glimmernet game show called The Hunted . Striking a deal with Lady Styx , overlord of the Tenebrian Dominion, he bottles
22720-444: Was charging fifteen cents. At this time, the senior DC staff were reportedly unable to explain how this small publishing house was achieving its increasingly threatening commercial strength. For instance, when Marvel's product was examined in a meeting, the emphasis on more sophisticated character-based narrative and artist-driven visual storytelling was apparently overlooked. Instead, superficial reasons were put forward to account for
22880-498: Was created by writer Otto Binder and artist Al Plastino , and debuted in Action Comics #242 (July 10, 1958). He has since endured as one of Superman 's greatest enemies . The character's name is a portmanteau of the words brain and maniac . In his comic book appearances, Brainiac is commonly depicted as a superintelligent android or cyborg from the planet Colu who is obsessed with collecting all knowledge in
23040-653: Was destroyed, though he had infected the Metal Men during their previous encounter with Metallo. Brainiac proceeded to use them to acquire a prototype OMAC unit , which Bruce Wayne had developed through the use of Brainiac 13 nanotechnology. Superman and Batman destroyed the OMAC body with the aid of the Metal Men, after the Metal Men overcame Brainiac's control. Following revisions to Superman's continuity in Infinite Crisis and Action Comics #850, Brainiac reappeared in
23200-628: Was featured in Detective Comics No. 20 (October 1938). This character is known to be the first masked vigilante published by DC. An unnamed "office boy", retconned as Jimmy Olsen 's first appearance, was revealed in a Superman story by Siegel and Shuster in Action Comics No. 6 (November 1938). Starting in 1939, Siegel and Shuster's Superman was the first comic-derived character to appear in other formats, later featuring in his own newspaper comic strip , which first introduced his biological parents Jor-El and Lara . All-American Publications' debut comic series, All-American Comics ,
23360-740: Was first named in a Superman newspaper strip around November 1939. Doll Man was the first superhero to be produced by Quality Comics , which DC now owns. Fawcett Comics was formed around 1939 and became DC's original competitor company over the next decade. At the end of 1944, All-American titles began using its own logo to distinguish it from the National comics. All-American Publications , an affiliate concern co-owned by Gaines and Liebowitz, merged with Detective Comics, Inc. on September 30, 1946, forming National Comics Publications . The previous year, in June 1945, Gaines had allowed Liebowitz to buy him out and had retained only Picture Stories from
23520-573: Was first published in April 1939. The series Detective Comics made history as being the first to feature Batman —a Bob Kane and Bill Finger creation—in issue No.27 (March 1939) with the request of more superhero titles. Batman was depicted as a masked vigilante who wore a caped suit known as the Batsuit and drove a car that was later referred to as the Batmobile . The Batman story also included
23680-581: Was forced out after the first year. Shortly afterwards, Detective Comics, Inc. purchased the remains of National Allied (also known as Nicholson Publishing) at a bankruptcy auction and absorbed it. Meanwhile, Max Gaines formed the sister company All-American Publications in 1939. Detective Comics, Inc. soon launched a new anthology title called Action Comics ; the first issue , cover dated June 1938, featured new characters such as Superman by Siegel and Shuster, Zatara by Fred Guardineer , and Tex Thompson by Ken Finch and Bernard Baily . Considered as
23840-418: Was highlighted by Marvel's superior sell-through percentage numbers which were typically 70% to DC's roughly 50%, meaning that DC's publications were barely making a profit after returns from the distributors were factored in, while Marvel was making a healthy profit by comparison. Also in 1961, both DC and Marvel increased their cover price from ten cents to twelve cents, while the rival publisher Dell Comics
24000-457: Was in response to Marvel's efforts to market their superhero line to college-aged adults. Infantino also recruited major talents such as ex-Marvel artist and Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko , and promising newcomers Neal Adams and Denny O'Neil , and he replaced some existing DC editors with artist-editors, including Joe Kubert and Dick Giordano , to give DC's output a more artistic critical eye. In 1967, National Periodical Publications
24160-405: Was named Dur-El-Va. This cross-continuity conflict was not unprecedented; in 1958 and '59, editor Mort Weisinger used the comic strip to prototype a number of concepts that he planned to introduce in the book, including Bizarro and Red Kryptonite . Brainiac is a bald, green-skinned humanoid who arrives on Earth and shrinks various cities, including Metropolis , storing them in bottles with
24320-470: Was plagiarized by Stan Lee to create The X-Men . There was also the young Jim Shooter who purposely emulated Marvel's writing when he wrote for DC after studying both companies' styles, such as for the Legion of Super-Heroes feature. In 1966, National Periodical Publications established its own television arm, led by Allen Ducovny, to develop and produce TV projects, with Superman TV Corporation handling
24480-456: Was purchased by Kinney National Company , which purchased Warner Bros.-Seven Arts in 1969. Kinney National spun off its non-entertainment assets in 1972 (as National Kinney Corporation ) and changed its name to Warner Communications Inc. In 1970, Jack Kirby moved from Marvel Comics to DC, at the end of the Silver Age of Comics , in which Kirby's contributions to Marvel played a large, integral role. As artist Gil Kane described: Jack
24640-411: Was quickly dropped from Brainiac's stories, but a version of the character has made sporadic appearances as the villain's pet in the series Justice and the 2008 storyline "Brainiac" in Action Comics . The villain's descendant Brainiac 5 also had a pet named Koko for several stories in the 1990s. In subsequent appearances in this early period, Brainiac was used mostly as a plot device rather than as
24800-445: Was revealed in Action Comics #276 (May 1961), in a Legion of Super-Heroes back-up story. This story introduced Brainiac 5, who claimed to be Brainiac's 30th-century descendant. Unlike his ancestor, Brainiac 5 used his "twelfth-level intellect" for the forces of good and joined the Legion alongside Supergirl , with whom he fell in love. His home planet was given variously as Bryak, Yod, Yod-Colu, or simply Colu. 20th century Colu
24960-475: Was the introduction of the fictional mansion known as Wayne Manor first seen in Detective Comics No. 28 (June 1939). The series Adventure Comics followed in the footsteps of Action Comics and Detective Comics by featuring a new recurring superhero called Sandman who first appeared in Adventure Comics No. 40 (July 1939). Action Comics No. 13 (June 1939) introduced
25120-417: Was the single most influential figure in the turnaround in Marvel's fortunes from the time he rejoined the company ... It wasn't merely that Jack conceived most of the characters that are being done, but ... Jack's point of view and philosophy of drawing became the governing philosophy of the entire publishing company and, beyond the publishing company, of the entire field ... [Marvel took] Jack and use[d] him as
25280-464: Was thought to imply that all comics would rise dramatically in price)—and several storylines gaining attention from the mainstream media. DC's extended storylines in which Superman was killed , Batman was crippled , and Green Lantern turned into the supervillain Parallax , resulted in dramatically increased sales. However, the increases were temporary, and sales dropped off as the industry went into
25440-421: Was to convince Bill Sarnoff, the head of Warner Publishing, to keep DC as a publishing concern, as opposed to simply managing their licensing of their properties. With that established, DC had attempted to compete with the now-surging Marvel by dramatically increasing its output and attempting to win the market by flooding it. This included launching series featuring such new characters as Firestorm and Shade,
25600-449: Was unlike many comic book series before it. While DC Comics is now primarily associated with superhero comics , the genres in the first anthology titles consisted of funnies , Western comics , and adventure-related stories. The character Doctor Occult —created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in December 1935 and included in issue No. 6 of New Fun Comics —is considered to be the earliest recurring superhero created by DC that
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