Comic Book Questions Answered – where I answer whatever questions you folks might have about comic books (feel free to they’re e-mail questions to me at [email protected]).

Reader j.b. wrote in to ask:

I always wondered what was in the sphere that was released from Brainiac’s space ship at the end of panic in the sky storyline.

“Panic in the Sky” was a Superman crossover event where Brainiac took control of Warworld and tried to conquer Earth. Superman put together the heroes of Earth to stop Brainiac. This was designed to set Superman up for his new role as the new leader of Justice League America (which was written/drawn by Superman writer/artist Dan Jurgens).

There’s a great pair of covers by Jurgens and Brett Breeding showing the heroes rallying behind Superman…

and then their skeletons the next issue…

Anyhow, in the end of the story, the heroes win and Maxima wipes Brainiac’s mind, but not before he unleashes a secret, final weapon…

As I noted in an Comic Book Legends a few years back (by “a few years,” of course, I mean somehow ELEVEN FREAKING YEARS AGO), there were later rumors that this weapon turned out to be Doomsday. It would have actually made a lot of sense if it WERE Doomsday, but no, it was explained the very next issue, Superman #67.

A swarm attacked Earth, which is described as a Warworld backup system, as it were…

And the device was the beacon that drew the swarm to Earth…

So there ya go!

Thanks for the question, j.b! If anyone else has a comic book related question that they’d like to see answered, drop me a line at [email protected]!