Guy Gardner: Warrior #29 pg 15 (Featuring the Legion of Super-Heroes)

It was a stroke of luck that this lovely page wound up in my collection. The one week I was feeling bored enough to actually go searching through listings at Heritage Auctions, I found this page waiting for me! My "Brainiac" keyword matched with the listing's description, but not its title, so my wantlist alerts hadn't picked it up, and I would have completely missed it, otherwise. I figured it was a pretty good sign I should try for the page, and by some stroke of fortune, the auction stayed sensible and I was able to bring it home!

Here's a weird bit of context: in Legionnaires #29, there's a scene where Brainiac 5 is conducting some time-travel experiments. He materializes in his lab holding a big tankard of beer with a "W" on it, tries a sip, and promptly spits it out. I remember being so confused the first time I read it, having no idea what the writers were trying to imply or reference, but this page gives all the context fifteen-year-old me was missing! This issue sees Guy Gardner celebrating the grand opening of his bar, Warrior's, and though I haven't seen it explicitly confirmed anywhere, I think the idea was to feature characters from all of DC's titles and/or teams (L.E.G.I.O.N. even makes a brief one-page appearance earlier on!). On this page, the Legion of Super-Heroes gets their due representation, with one of Brainy's experimental time-travel jaunts landing him smack in the middle of Warrior's just long enough for someone to shove a beer into his hand (and of all the Legion crossover pages for me to stumble across, I love that this one is so unique, and basically just a one-off gag). Apart from Brainy, this page also features Hawkman, Obsidian, Nuklon, Rocket Red, Captain Marvel, Swamp Thing (I think?? In the top of panel two, there?), Green Lantern Kyle Rayner, and Arisia. I'm admittedly not very well-versed with Green Lantern lore from the mid-nineties, but I know enough to recognize that the conversation between Kyle and Arisia is a one that holds a lot of weight, and to appreciate that the writers included it.

Weightiness aside, we can all have a good laugh at how absolutely, utterly confused poor Brainy is (too confused to even get a word out, which is impressive, for him). And I love how several different conversations are woven throughout the panels. The art is absolutely gorgeous, too. Phil Jimenez would go on to do some work for various Legion titles, but as far as I can tell, this was his first time drawing a Legion character in a published comic! I love how beautifully detailed everything is, especially all the 30th-century machinery in the final panel, there. It feels as though every character here stands out and was given their due diligence by Jimenez (my personal favourite is how beautifully he drew Arisia's hair in panel seven). And overall, it's just pretty awesome to own a Legion crossover page starring only Brainy.

Also, I guess it's worth mentioning, I would love to own the page from Legionnaires #29 that correlates to this page here, with Brainy and his beer. Do reach out to me if you own it and are in the mood to sell!