Monday, April 20, 2015

Brainaic is a crappy anthropolgist

I don't have the time and patience to read over 50 "Convergence", whose plots are all "hey our powers are back,  let's you and him fight."




But it does give me a lot of questions that maybe you, my readers, can answer:

Obviously, Brainiac/Telos maintains the basics (somehow) of water and power and waste.  But...

  1. Where does the food come from? Is it human food or space-zoo food?
  2. How do they re-purpose the airports?
  3. Is there telecommunication?  Because that doesn't really work with the national network, and satellites, 'n' stuff.
  4. Is there still TV and radio, and it's all local?  Gosh that must be not all that exciting. Except, what a great opportunity for local entertainers to become STARS!
  5. Do all the hotels shut down? Because without tourists, you don't need hotels.
  6. Do museums become really popular because there is nothing else to do, or really boring because the exhibits don't get refreshed?
  7. Do people still bother to go to work if all their needs are being taken care of?
  8. How are migratory birds affected?
  9. Do police (et al.) run out of ammo?
  10. Did Brainaic actually study any of what was going on in these cities? If so, what did he study and how?
  11. There are a lot of cities.  Just on Earth.  Did Brainaic really only choose ones with high-selling superheroes living/extremely-conveniently-visiting them?
  12. So, there's no....weather?  No rain?



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9 comments:

  1. Patrick C4/20/2015 12:31 PM

    1. Food is 'provided' for them, and it's at least an approximation of human food they're used to.
    2. No clue
    3. Yes, but unexplained how it works.
    4. Still TV somehow, I think I even saw Bethany Snow on a TV in week 1.
    5. Not sure
    6. I know Harley was caught robbing one when the dome went up, but can't remember if it was mentioned again.
    7. Yep, and one character even has a long like "Why am I still going to work every day? What's the point?" So no explanation but hanging a lampshade on it anyway.
    8. Well, the Hawks are still around anyway. Didn't notice any other birds.
    9. Not that's been mentioned, and Deadshot must have one heck of a storage unit filled with ammo.
    10. Nope, just a collection as far as I can tell. No outside involvement with the domes in the past year. People inside the domes don't even realize they're not on earth.
    11. I guess? Having so many heroes in each city is stretching even my incredulity, which is pretty forgiving to these plots.
    12. It's a beautiful day in every book I read.

    I'm also wondering how Brainiac have Zero Hour era Superboy x-ray vision and super breath, 2 things he didn't get until much, much later. Not to mention finding out his Kryptonian name while Superman is not in the dome to tell him.

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  2. John4/20/2015 1:46 PM

    There are enough problems there that they start to solve each other! For example, idle population, trapped migratory birds, and a need for food...hotel space and a big glass wall coming down at constant radius regardless of where the houses are...

    The media in the DCU does seem to skew locally, though. There's an occasional CNN spoof (owned by Luthor or something), but reporters especially all seem to cover local stories. I don't think we know a whole lot about entertainment, outside of Blue Devil, so who knows if they all watch low-budget stuff as local shows tend to be?

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  3. SallyP4/20/2015 4:09 PM

    What I can't figure out is that it only seems to be Gotham City and Metropolis that are involved in all these contests. So what happens to all the other cities and worlds? Are they doomed too?

    I don't really see the need to read all of these, since they all have the exact same plot.

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  4. Anonymous4/20/2015 4:43 PM

    Back when the Old Timer created the Mosaic world*, he hypnotized the inhabitants to not realize anything was out of the ordinary, and he used his powers to create the conditions required for survival in each region. Besides atmosphere and temperature and gravity, I assume it also meant food.

    Sad that Brainiac can't do better than a Guardian driven mad by loneliness.


    *: The early 1990s "Green Lantern" v.3 series. -- Annotating Anonymous

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  5. Bryan L4/21/2015 10:47 AM

    "I don't really see the need to read all of these, since they all have the exact same plot."

    Me, either, Sally. Particularly since the plot is incredibly stupid. "I'm a godlike being! You all have to fight! Only one can win!" That's the exact same plot my friend Greg and I used to enact in the backyard with my Mego action figures. But our execution was actually better. Because Mego.

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  6. SallyP4/21/2015 2:33 PM

    Bryan, I'm sure the dialogue was better too.

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  7. Unknown4/22/2015 7:57 PM

    Actually, I have a lot of the same questions about the town of Storybrooke on ABC's Once Upon A Time.

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  8. Steve Mitchell4/30/2015 5:41 AM

    "I'm a godlike being! You all have to fight! Only one can win!"

    Sounds a lot like Marvel's Secret Wars, now that I think about. This week we saw versions of Hub City, Moscow, and New York city under the dome, so it wasn't all Gotham or Metropolis.

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  9. Steve Mitchell5/01/2015 12:09 AM

    My son and I have also been wondering how Brainiac--no matter how powerful this particular version may be--was able to counter the magic of the Starheart, the Lords of Fate, and the Gods of Eternity, in the cases of Green Lantern Alan Scott, Dr. Fate, and Captain Marvel, respectively.

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