Superman: Brainiac [Paperback]

When I was a kid I always loved the issues of Superman where the Man of Steel faced Lex Luthor and Brainiac. Each of those villains seemed powerful enough to take Superman down, but together they seemed unstoppable. One of my favorite issues was when they shrank Superman small enough to put into a bird cage. I just really liked the image and the threat of Superman being too tiny to handle the struggle.

I've been a fan of Geoff Johns's work for years. I love how he brings heroic action and a feeling of wonder back to strips that rival what I remember as a child when I first encountered those heroes. This time Johns creates a Brainiac the like of which I have never before seen.

Over the last few years we've had a few incarnations of Brainiac, but somehow they really missed the overall feeling of awesome evil and impending doom that I remembered from the stories I read as a kid. Granted, a lot of things were more terrifying to me when I was younger, but an emotionless, cold machine should be truly creepy. (Terminator really did it for me!) I remember those early stories of Brainiac showing him acting more or less human, laughing and mad and scared. But he had green skin long before Harvey Dent did.

The version of Brainiac that Johns treats the readers to made me feel uneasy at first, then tipped the scales over to a genuine worried state before the book ends. This Brainiac is loathsome and vile, a true villain with its own agenda. I like the fact that Brainiac is actually a giant ship that has various automatons it can send out as probes, sentries, and offensive units. This Brainiac is actually a rolling army when it wishes to be.

The early pages depicting Krypton and Kandor are really good, and the fear those people have of Brainiac is palpable. When I first saw Brainiac do the skull-injection bit, I knew Johns was going to deliver a rough ride for his readers. This wasn't going to be your daddy's Brainiac.

Not only did Johns succeed in breathing new life and fear into Brainiac, but he also pulls off the whole Kandor-in-a-bottle thing. When I was younger, I loved the idea of a bottle city, but as I grew older I became aware that it was impossible to put an alien city in basically what was a terrarium. But I still like the image. I'm glad that Johns was able to save that.

He also reintroduces Cat Grant to the Superman mythos. She has never looked better. Gary Frank's pencils took me a little while to get used to in earlier graphic novels, but I love what he does these days. Superman looks a little different to me, a little less bulky, but that's okay. I love what Frank does with the supporting characters, the panel layouts, and the world. His art is truly fantastic to look at.

Cat Grant is going to be a real problem for Supergirl, as she already has been in that strip's story line. Cat not only has a razor sharp wit loaded with plenty of sarcasm, but Frank draws her as pure eye candy.

Johns also loads the book with extra features as well. We get more of Supergirl's backstory, more Kryptonian history, several Lois Lane pieces, and an ending that is totally unexpected. When I reached the end of the book, I had to sit down and re-read it a couple of times. This story is just that powerful. And it leaves you wanting more, which is always a sign of a successful tale.

If you think you know Brainiac, think again. Now Geoff Johns, he knows Brainiac.

Wow. I must really be behind the times in the Superman continuity. Supergirl is alive again along with Ma and Pa Kent. Kandor remains in the hands of Brainiac whose entire history has been shuffled around. I take it this is a full reboot; I'm just not sure when the reboot happened. I was glad to see Brainiac back to his classic green form with electrodes in his bald head. It looks like artist Gary Frank may have been inspired by Alex Ross's version of Brainiac from Justice although he's dropped the surgical scrubs and added about 150 pounds of solid muscle. Superman's look most resembles Christopher Reeve and Brainiac's probes (his robot army) look like a cross between the Terminator and H.R. Giger's Alien.

The Brainiac arc has received a lot of positive reviews but I cannot in good conscience rate it anything higher than above average. My issue is the way that Brainiac is presented. Brainiac is described as a 12th level intellect meaning that his thinking is vastly superior to a humans and even well above Superman's. You might expect a 12th level intellect to possess some kind of high level planning and sophisticated dialogue. In fact I would think that Brainiac would be on a whole separate plane of thinking. Unfortunately most writers are unable to even approach creating a character with super high level intellect so they fall back on having them crank out powerful weapons. Brainiac's blathering and bragging feels like anything but the product of a superior mind as he drones on about his desire for universal conquest. Rather than create a battle of wits Geoff Johns just has Superman and Brainiac duke it out across several issues. Brainiac says to Superman, "It is incomprehensible you thought you could outthink me" and I had to reread the book to try and find any instance where Superman tried to outthink Brainiac. There are none. Oh, and did I mention that this iteration of Brainiac seems to be as physically strong if not stronger than Superman?

Geoff Johns writes big event stories but they don't have the depth of a writer like Alan Moore or Grant Morrison. Morrison's All-Star Superman showed a Superman who used his brains more than is brawn and this was one of the things that elevated All-Star above other Superman stories. I was a big fan of Infinite Crisis by Geoff Johns but I have to confess that he is a more limited writer than Moore or Morrison. I think of Geoff Johns stories as being sort of like summer blockbusters with a big bag of popcorn. The Sinestro Corps War struck a real cord with comic fans and Johns knows how to give the audience what it wants. I enjoyed the Sinestro Corps War but I prefer a more subtle touch like Morrison's Batman R.I.P.

Superman/Brainiac can actually be read though entirely in probably around an hour in other words Johns is not big into heavy dialogue. There are pages in a row without any dialogue at all and that's not necessarily a complaint. Done correctly, a minimum of dialogue can be very effective. The story is good and the art is well done it's just that I felt it could have been even more and this may be a case where I was let down by some high expectations.

It's been years since I collected comics. Superhero books have become so joyless and dark, they hold little appeal anymore. Sometime in the last twenty years, Marvel and DC quit marketing to kids altogether, focusing instead on the aging fanboys that make up the peer group of the industry's writers and artists. The tangled continuities and regular reboots that infect the characters and worlds of comic books are enough to keep casual readers away. Which makes it all the more enjoyable to find Superman: Braniac.

In my view, Superman is rarely done well, but writer Geoff Johns and penciler Gary Frank form a creative marriage that serves the Man of Steel well. As the title suggests, the story centers around the return of Braniac who sends his probes around the universe looking for civilized planets to steal knowledge from and promptly destroy, but only after shrinking and abducting a city from each one to keep as a specimen. As it turns out, these robotic probes are what Superman has been fighting all these years, not the real Braniac. One such robot comes to Earth and Superman promptly dispatches it, but not before analyzing the Kryptonian's blood and sending the information to the real Braniac. Turns out, Braniac doesn't like the idea of someone out there sharing Kryptonian culture and science, which he believes now belongs soley to him. So naturally, Superman must be eliminated. Fearing Braniac's probes will destroy other planets, Superman goes searching the galaxy for the creature. Only problem, Braniac captures him and sends another probe to destroy the Earth.

The narrative is intriguing and moves quickly. Johns is one the few guys who seems to have a solid grasp on the Superman mythos. He has respect for the character, and it shows here. Superman and his world are recognizable, and casual readers will have no problem jumping into the story. The Braniac portrayed here is sort of a technological boogeyman who terrorizes the galaxy. He is genuinely creepy, somewhat reminiscent of the Borg in Star Trek. My only quibble with the story was a less than epic feel given what was at stake with the plot. I think there was room to go farther with the story and characters.

The visuals are supplied by former Hulk artist Gary Frank, and it's his best work yet. Frank was born to draw Superman. His art has a clean, clear quality to it, despite fine details. He also does what few artists can, which is to give every character his or her own unique face. None better than Superman himself who Frank renders in a near perfect likeness to Christopher Reeve. Frank fails in only one area. The layout, particularly the fight scenes between Superman and Braniac, is at times boring and uninspired. This hurts the dramatic weight of a story that wasn't very deep in to begin with. All said however, Superman: Braniac is a satisfying read, and one of the better Superman stories.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 35 reviews  4.2 out of 5 stars