Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 5 #12 pg 10 - Prelim

Here's another fantastic prelim by Barry Kitson, and thankfully one with a slightly more optimistic tone, as Brainiac 5 hatches a plan to put a stop to the rampaging super-villain who killed Dream Girl. It's left purposely vague at this point in the story (with Brainy seemingly having a conversation with a rock), but in due time it's revealed that Legionnaire Atom Girl is on that rock, and her shrinking powers will be the key to winning the day.

This prelim is interesting. We get gorgeous, fully-rendered inks in the top three panels, and some in the middle panel, but the whole bottom of the page is left as bluelines. Considering Barry was the penciller for this issue, and not the inker, I'm a little curious why he would fully ink out a prelim that was presumably just going to be inked over again when it was translated to the final page. I'm sure not complaining, though, because Barry's inks are just out of this world. I saw that first panel with Brainy and knew this piece was bound for my collection. I love how much of the characters' faces Barry was willing to keep in shadow, which is one of my favourite techniques that he uses. Very moody and dramatic.

I've also included another version of this scan with the contrast dialed up so the bluelines are a bit more visible.