ACTION COMICS #869
Review by: Tork
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This review contains spoilers, click here to read
With now only one issue between now and this story's end, I'm sort of reevaluating what this arc has been about. I realize Geoff Johns has said he wanted this to be the Sinestro Corps War for Superman. I thought he meant in terms of an unbelievably epic and intense war of the ages with cosmic forces clashing alongside the most human of characters, something that would become a watershed for the book at hand. While at first that was my hope (as you can see from my other reviews of the story) though I now see that was kind of silly and dumb to throw onto Johns. Sinestro Corps War was an epic with a cast of millions including more Galactus-level threats than you can shake a stick at over the span of at least five months over two books (not including the unofficial build-up preceding) and a handful of one-shots and tie-ins while "Brainiac" is a single-series arc that ends next month with a mere five issues and, frankly, only stars Superman, Supergirl, and Brainiac. The comparison between the two concerning scale and such now seems a tad unfair and unwarranted. So what DID Geoff mean by that statement?
With Sinestro Corps War, Geoff Johns took Sinestro, a character often mentioned yet whose characterization had often been either vague or outright stale in the past, and molded it into a more concrete and ultimately more intriguing version, becoming the "Brubaker Red Skull" of sorts of the DCU. In that regard, you can see this applied to Geoff's Brainiac arc. While a fairly well-known and somewhat respected villain, Brainiac has, in some ways been muddled by the fact that every creator seems to want to have their own version of the character, be it the golf-shirt and hot-pants version or the metal skeleton version or the green-skinned Ollie Queen version or the animated Borg-ish version or the giant Y2K version or the TV T-1000 version. Given the ambiguous and inhuman nature of Brainiac, he becomes very malleable to become whatever the writer and artist feel like doing though at the cost of consistency and the ability to invest in the character. Thus, it's hard to actually say you like Brainiac given the next time you see, all those attributes you like are probably going to be gone.
As such, it's clear Geoff wishes not to invalidate the versions of before outright but connect them stronger and then merge them into one big Brainiac with a concrete appearance, motivation, and methodology. Thus, every version becomes an extension of the genuine copy: Brainiac but also not Brainiac. His minions are the metal skeleton version and his ship the giant "honeycomb" head. His methods are of the golf-shirt diode version (as does his "main" body) yet his motivations become the animated version while his collective consciousness mimics the B-13 version. This might be simply yet another reboot but it hopefully is expansive and interesting enough to stay as the official Brainiac.
Another interesting development comes out of who exactly Brainiac is a foe for. While the entirety of this series so far sees Brainiac dealing with Superman, it's clear the true antagonism is felt between the Computer Tyrant and the Girl of Steel. While Superman is more or less Earthling first and Kryptonian second, Supergirl is the opposite, the memories of her homeland still vivid in her mind. As such, Brainiac's staus as the Kryptonian bogeyman, the abductor of Kandor, it makes perfect sense for Supergirl to hold more weight in this fight than even Kal. The realization that Kara's parents occupy his bottled Kandor only stresses that all the more.
With that in mind, I do believe that Geoff Johns has managed to deliver a good and interesting Brainiac with a backstory and power scale worthy of the Superman mythos. Between his ability to predict Clark's actions to his ability to blow up suns, Brainiac has become a truly frightening figure. With Metropolis now bottled alongside Kandor and nearly all threats neutralized for the moment, the final act now approaches. Ultimately, this story has been very good, the best of Superman I've seen since One Year Later (barring All-Star Superman). Like I said in earlier reviews, this feels very much like a movie: large scale, big moments, Chris Reeve, but also incredibly short and simple in a lot of regards. Between Johns' plot and Gary Frank's accomplished pencils, if this is to be the seminal Brainiac tale for the modern age, it's convincing me.
With Sinestro Corps War, Geoff Johns took Sinestro, a character often mentioned yet whose characterization had often been either vague or outright stale in the past, and molded it into a more concrete and ultimately more intriguing version, becoming the "Brubaker Red Skull" of sorts of the DCU. In that regard, you can see this applied to Geoff's Brainiac arc. While a fairly well-known and somewhat respected villain, Brainiac has, in some ways been muddled by the fact that every creator seems to want to have their own version of the character, be it the golf-shirt and hot-pants version or the metal skeleton version or the green-skinned Ollie Queen version or the animated Borg-ish version or the giant Y2K version or the TV T-1000 version. Given the ambiguous and inhuman nature of Brainiac, he becomes very malleable to become whatever the writer and artist feel like doing though at the cost of consistency and the ability to invest in the character. Thus, it's hard to actually say you like Brainiac given the next time you see, all those attributes you like are probably going to be gone.
As such, it's clear Geoff wishes not to invalidate the versions of before outright but connect them stronger and then merge them into one big Brainiac with a concrete appearance, motivation, and methodology. Thus, every version becomes an extension of the genuine copy: Brainiac but also not Brainiac. His minions are the metal skeleton version and his ship the giant "honeycomb" head. His methods are of the golf-shirt diode version (as does his "main" body) yet his motivations become the animated version while his collective consciousness mimics the B-13 version. This might be simply yet another reboot but it hopefully is expansive and interesting enough to stay as the official Brainiac.
Another interesting development comes out of who exactly Brainiac is a foe for. While the entirety of this series so far sees Brainiac dealing with Superman, it's clear the true antagonism is felt between the Computer Tyrant and the Girl of Steel. While Superman is more or less Earthling first and Kryptonian second, Supergirl is the opposite, the memories of her homeland still vivid in her mind. As such, Brainiac's staus as the Kryptonian bogeyman, the abductor of Kandor, it makes perfect sense for Supergirl to hold more weight in this fight than even Kal. The realization that Kara's parents occupy his bottled Kandor only stresses that all the more.
With that in mind, I do believe that Geoff Johns has managed to deliver a good and interesting Brainiac with a backstory and power scale worthy of the Superman mythos. Between his ability to predict Clark's actions to his ability to blow up suns, Brainiac has become a truly frightening figure. With Metropolis now bottled alongside Kandor and nearly all threats neutralized for the moment, the final act now approaches. Ultimately, this story has been very good, the best of Superman I've seen since One Year Later (barring All-Star Superman). Like I said in earlier reviews, this feels very much like a movie: large scale, big moments, Chris Reeve, but also incredibly short and simple in a lot of regards. Between Johns' plot and Gary Frank's accomplished pencils, if this is to be the seminal Brainiac tale for the modern age, it's convincing me.
Story: 4 - Very Good
Art: 5 - Excellent
Art: 5 - Excellent
Think of this as Act One in the greater story of New Krypton. I’ve actually seen later solicits reference "New Krypton part 7." For that number to work you need to include the Brainiac arc books into the New Krypton line. It’s all one big story. This is just the opening chapter.
I love the cover.
Sure. I’m not saying I hate this book at all, I love it, but after this issue I realized I was putting unneeded expectations on it and unfairly comparing it to SCW for the wrong reasons.
This was a good issue, and I think this whole New Krypton thing is going to be insane. I think Paul is right in that this is the opening salvo of the bigger arc, but it’s also good that you stopped piling such hefty expectations on it.
As a born again comic enthusiast ( I took a career sabbatical for a while from reading comics) I love Action Comics -especially the Brainiac arc. Its a simple story yet with its big moments. The art is awesome. There is humor. And there is a definitely empathy with Kal and Kara. Unlike the other event books I am reading where the story is so huge and convoluted and hard to tie together, this one is big yet very small. This rocks and I am hoping the New Krypton arc coming up takes off from this.
@Paul Unless it crosses over with Superman and Supergirl. It could be a cross-book arc.
@Paul – In November (I believe), Action, Superman, and Supergirl start receive the fun little triangles as they all cross-over. There is also a couple of one-shots that are part of the New Krypton story as well.