Editing Brother Power the Geek

{{Infobox comics character<!--Wikipedia:WikiProject Comics-->
|image = Brother Power Issue 1 Cover.jpg
|real_name = Brother Power
|publisher = [[DC Comics]]/[[Vertigo (DC Comics)|Vertigo]]
|debut = ''Brother Power the Geek'' #1 (October 1968)
|creators = [[Joe Simon]]
|character_name = Brother Power the Geek
|alliances = Love Syndicate of Dreamworld
|aliases =
|powers = *'''Puppet Elemental''':
**Enhanced physical abilities
**Electricity absorption
*'''Vertigo''':
**Enhanced physical abilities
**Can possess any artificial figure resembling a human being
**Size manipulation
}}

'''Brother Power the Geek''' is a [[comic book]] character created in the late 1960s for [[DC Comics]] by [[Joe Simon]]. He first appeared in ''Brother Power the Geek'' #1 (October 1968).<ref name="dc-ency">{{Cite book|last= Wallace|first= Dan|contribution= Brother Power, the Geek|editor-last= Dougall|editor-first= Alastair|title= The DC Comics Encyclopedia|page= 62|publisher= [[Dorling Kindersley]]|year= 2008|location= London, United Kingdom|isbn= 978-0-7566-4119-1}}</ref><ref name="McAvennie">{{cite book|last1=McAvennie|first1= Michael|chapter= 1960s|title= DC Comics Year By Year: A Visual Chronicle|publisher=[[Dorling Kindersley]]|year= 2010|location= London, United Kingdom|isbn= 978-0-7566-6742-9|page= 131|quote= The medium didn't appear to be ready for Brother Power, the Geek, envisioned by writer Joe Simon and artist Al Bare. Simon's mod re-imagining of Frankenstein's monster...a mannequin turned reclusive hero-philosopher was a trip that lasted only two issues.}}</ref>

The concept behind Brother Power was derived heavily from [[Mary Shelley]]'s ''[[Frankenstein]]''<ref name="McAvennie" /> right down to reanimation with the use of lightning. At the same time, Simon was also attempting to capture the sort of "wandering outcast philosopher" characterization that made [[Marvel Comics]]' ''[[Silver Surfer (comic book)|Silver Surfer]]'' a cult hit among the college student readers of the period.<ref name="Shaw" />

According to [[Scott Shaw (artist)|Scott Shaw]], the character was originally supposed to be called ''The Freak'', but was renamed to ''The Geek'' due to concerns by DC Comics management over the possible drug reference "freak" implied at the time.<ref name="Shaw">{{cite web|url= http://www.oddball-comics.com/article.php?story=archive2003-09-29&query=Brother%2BPower|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120502021207/http://www.oddball-comics.com/article.php?story=archive2003-09-29&query=Brother+Power|url-status= dead|archive-date= May 2, 2012|title= Brother Power, The Geek|last= Shaw|first= Scott|date= September 28, 2003|work= Scott Shaw!'s Oddball Comics|accessdate= December 16, 2011|quote= Like Marvel's ''Silver Surfer'', Brother Power, the Geek was a peaceful superpowered philosopher, but unlike Norrin Radd, Brother Power never found his intended audience...Supposedly, "The Geek" was originally intended to be called "The Freak" but DC management was concerned that "freak" might be perceived as a drug reference!}}</ref>

==Original appearance==
The original series lasted only two issues. Brother Power was originally a [[mannequin]] abandoned in an empty tailor's shop. The shop was taken over by [[hippies]] Nick Cranston and Paul Cymbalist, who dressed up the dummy in Paul's wet and bloodied "hip threads" to keep them from shrinking, having been attacked by Hound Dawg and other [[war hawks]]. Forgotten for months, but eventually struck by lightning, Brother Power was brought to life and endowed with superpowers.<ref name="dc-ency"/>

Shortly after his creation, Brother Power was kidnapped by the "Psychedelic Circus". The freaks in the Freakshow at the "Psychedelic Circus" were based on the styles of [[Ed Roth]] and [[Harvey Kurtzman]], who were friends of Joe Simon. After escaping, he was fixed up and given a face by another hippie named Cindy, and attempted to run for the [[United States Congress]].<ref name=regrettable>{{cite book |last1=Morris |first1=Jon |title=The League of Regrettable Superheroes: Half Baked Heroes from Comic Book History |date=2015 |publisher=Quirk Books |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |isbn=978-1-59474-763-2 |pages=132–133}}</ref> His misadventures with the establishment led to finding work and encouraging other hippies to do so, eventually getting hired by the J.P. Acme Corporation just as it was taken over by the wicked Lord Sliderule. Brother Power's ingenuity still made the assembly line run more efficiently. Brother Power was last seen being shot into space on orders from Governor [[Ronald Reagan]], after trying to prevent the sabotage of a rocket launch by Hound Dawg and his gang, knowing it would be blamed on hippies.

While sales of the title were modest, Brother Power was not popular among the staff. Former DC Comics editorial director [[Carmine Infantino]] claimed in several interviews following his retirement from comics that [[Superman]] editor [[Mort Weisinger]] disliked the character, and petitioned DC publisher [[Jack Liebowitz]] to shut down the title. According to Infantino, Weisinger harbored an admitted dislike for the hippie subculture of the 1960s, and felt that Joe Simon portrayed them too sympathetically.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.toonopedia.com/geek.htm |title=Brother Power, the Geek |first=Don |last=Markstein |year=2007 |publisher=[[Don Markstein's Toonopedia]] |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6RBXgaVBK?url=http://www.toonopedia.com/geek.htm |archivedate=July 19, 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> It did not help that Hound Dawg and his cronies appeared with uniforms and gadgetry evocative of [[Nazis]] in the second issue. According to Simon, the third issue was canceled just before the finished artwork was to be set up for print duplication, and Simon would neither discuss the plot of this issue nor release any of the original art.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wells |first1=John |title=American Comic Book Chronicles: 1965-1969 |date=2014 |publisher=TwoMorrows Publishing |isbn=978-1605490557 |page=218}}</ref>

Despite Weisinger's concerns over the hippie subculture and the level of drug abuse it represented, drug, substance and alcohol intake are not depicted.

Simon was not the artist on the title's two issues. The artwork was by Al Bare,<ref name="McAvennie" /> who had been working with Simon at ''[[Sick (magazine)|Sick]]''. Simon had hired Bare to "ghost" the art, and was subsequently credited with the art.<ref>[http://www.comics.org/issue/22213/ ''Brother Power, the Geek'' #1] and [http://www.comics.org/issue/22367/ #2] at the [[Grand Comics Database]]</ref>

==Later appearances==
The character was revived briefly two decades later, first in a short story by [[Neil Gaiman]] in ''[[Swamp Thing (comic book)|Swamp Thing]] Annual'' #5 (1989) (reprinted in ''[[Neil Gaiman's Midnight Days]]''), and then in a [[Vertigo Comics|Vertigo]] [[One-shot (comics)|one-shot]] by [[Rachel Pollack]] and [[Mike Allred]] titled ''Vertigo Visions - The Geek''.<ref>{{gcdb series|id= 4666|title= ''Vertigo Visions - The Geek''}}</ref>

In Gaiman's story, Brother Power is revealed to be an imperfect [[elemental]], similar to the Swamp Thing, and he is connected to all human simulacra such as dolls, dummies, statues, etc.<ref name="dc-ency"/> The story resumes with the rocket's return to Earth, guided into [[Tampa Bay]] by [[Ronnie Raymond|Firestorm]] after an unsuccessful attempt to destroy it. His newfound ability to change his size leads to a call to [[Batman]], who defers to [[Abby Holland|Abigail Cable]]. Ultimately, an aging hippie named Chester calms him down.

Pollack's story featured a brief return of Brother Power's adversary, Lord Sliderule, now in a business suit, and depicted Brother Power being forced to perform as a circus [[geek]], eating live animals for the first time. Eventually, after more misadventures with the establishment, he is reunited with Cindy (the hippie who had given him his face), now a prostitute, and is destroyed in his original form while saving her life; however, he survives by possessing one of her dolls.

In [[Grant Morrison]]'s ''[[Animal Man (comic book)|Animal Man]]'', Brother Power is mentioned as having escaped [[Limbo (DC Comics)|Limbo]].<ref>{{cite comic | writer= [[Grant Morrison|Morrison, Grant]] | penciller= [[Chas Truog|Truog, Chas]] | inker= [[Mark Farmer (comics)|Farmer, Mark]] | story= Monkey Puzzles | title= [[Animal Man (comic book)|Animal Man]] | issue= #25 | date= July 1990}}</ref> He also appeared briefly in [[Tom Peyer]]'s ''Totems'' as a guest at [[John Constantine]]'s 1999 New Year's Eve party.<ref name="dc-ency" />

Brother Power made a return appearance in ''[[The Brave and the Bold]]'' vol. 3 #29 (January 2010).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dccomics.com/dcu/comics/?cm=13387 |title=''The Brave and the Bold'' #29 |publisher=DC Comics |date=November 18, 2009 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141005182837/http://www.dccomics.com/comics/the-brave-and-the-bold-2007/the-brave-and-the-bold-29 |archivedate=October 5, 2014 |url-status=live |accessdate=September 2, 2013}}</ref> This issue presents Cindy as having been a doctor at a free clinic, but after some tragedy, having opened a toy store that was burned before the story begins. The story also casts doubt over Brother Power's true origin, as conflicting urban legends are mentioned, some stating that Brother Power is a reanimated dummy and others saying he is an elemental. In addition, it is also established, retroactively, that the original series took place in [[Gotham City]], although they had previously been explicitly set in San Francisco, with "the governor" clearly drawn as Reagan. After awakening in 2009, Brother Power wanders throughout Gotham until he stumbles upon a burning building where several innocent people have been left tied up and gagged inside. Though Batman tries to convince Power to abandon the building and let him take care of the victims, he refuses, remarking that he does not belong in the modern world. The issue ends with the dazed and badly-injured Brother Power staggering through the sewers, where he collapses. In the closing narration, Batman finds comfort in the idea that Brother Power will eventually reawaken in a time when values have prevailed that are closer to his own.

The character played a role in the limited series ''[[Inferior Five]]'' as a guidance voice in Peacemaker's helmet as a way for him to get more notoriety by a team-up. This plan failed as the series ended on 6 issues which caused him to mope about how his plan could have worked.

==Other versions==
* Brother Power the Geek appears in the [[Elseworlds]] mini-series ''Conjurors''.
* Brother Power the Geek appears in the [[Tangent Comics]] title ''The Joker''.<ref>{{cite comic| writer= [[Karl Kesel|Kesel, Karl]]|penciller= [[Matt Haley|Haley, Matt]]|inker= [[Tom Simmons (comics)|Simmons, Tom]]|story= Laugh 'till It Hurts|title= Tangent Comics/The Joker|issue= #1|date= December 1997}}</ref>
* Brother Power the Geek appears in ''[[Kingdom Come (comics)|Kingdom Come]]''.
* Brother Power the Geek appears in ''[[Planetary (comics)|Planetary]]'' #7.
* Brother Power the Geek appears in ''[[Scooby-Doo Team-Up]]''.

==In other media==
===Television===
* A ''Brother Power the Geek'' comic appears in the ''[[Batman: The Brave and the Bold]]'' episode "Time Out For Vengeance!".
* A ''Brother Power the Geek'' comic appears in the ''[[Young Justice (TV series)|Young Justice]]'' episode "Away Mission".

=== Video games ===
Brother Power the Geek appears as a character summon in ''[[Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Eisen |first=Andrew |date=October 4, 2013 |title=DC Characters and Objects - Scribblenauts Unmasked Guide |url=https://www.ign.com/wikis/scribblenauts-unmasked/DC_Characters_and_Objects |access-date=June 1, 2024 |website=IGN}}</ref>

=== Miscellaneous ===
Brother Power the Geek appears in ''[[Batman: The Brave and the Bold (comics)|Batman: The Brave and the Bold]]'' #15.

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* {{comicbookdb|type=character|id=15661|title=Brother Power the Geek}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|first= Jeff|last= Rovin|authorlink= Jeff Rovin|year= 1985|title= The Encyclopedia of Superheroes|url= https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofsu0000rovi|url-access= registration|publisher= Facts on File|isbn= 0-8160-1168-0|page= [https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofsu0000rovi/page/122 122]}}

[[Category:1968 comics debuts]]
[[Category:Characters created by Joe Simon]]
[[Category:Comics characters introduced in 1968]]
[[Category:DC Comics characters with superhuman durability or invulnerability]]
[[Category:DC Comics characters with superhuman strength]]
[[Category:DC Comics male characters]]
[[Category:Fictional dolls and dummies]]
[[Category:Vertigo Comics titles]]