Brainiac 5 by Mark Stegbauer

I've known about Mark Stegbauer's work for a while, because for the last few years, he's spent each November doing a "30 Days of the 30th Century" campaign, where he draws a different Legionnaire each day, and the proceeds of all his art sales go to benefit the Second Harvest food bank! Last year I finally decided to join in the action, and discovered that art claims are made based on a list of thirty Legion characters that Mark makes up at the start of the month, and it's first come first served to choose which characters you'd like to buy.

Well, you might wonder, did I use this fun and unique opportunity to claim some of the Legionnaires I don't have in my collection yet, to work towards my long-term collecting goal of owning a piece for every Legionnaire who's ever existed?

No. I very predictably went with my two favourite Legionnaires, Brainiac 5 and Andromeda! Maybe next year I'll diversify a bit, we'll have to see.

All that to say, I ended last year by posting a Brainiac 5 piece, and now I'm starting this year by posting another one! Mark had two available slots to claim each character on his list, but Brainy was was so popular (as he should be) that three people asked for him, and Mark accommodated them. I was the only one who requested the Reboot version of Brainy, which I thought would be fitting since I was also getting an Andromeda.

I'm very happy with how this one turned out, too! The pose and the expression are just perfect, very smug and self-satisfied. Mark often does space backgrounds for his pieces, but I like that he left this one blank, because it lets the outline of Brainy's forcefield really stand out. I definitely enjoy the colourwork here, too. The colour blocking is clear and strong, instead of being strongly blended, and it feels like it could have been lifted right out of an old comic, pre- computer colouring. I particularly enjoy the shades of teal used to do the highlights on Brainy's suit.