Superman: House of Brainiac #1 review

Back in the Nineties Triangle Era of weekly Superman comics, an event storyline would most likely get a tie-in comic. Team Superman, Supergirl and Team Luthor, that kind of thing. So it seems appropriate that the latest big Superman story, which conspicuously calls back to the Triangle days, gets a bumper issue with three short stories linked to the storyline.

A quick reminder – Brainiac used Czarnians to cause havoc on Earth, alongside his drones. The Super Family stopped the worst of the devastation but, Superman apart, ended up being bottled and transported to his monstrous spacecraft.

None of the Supers appear in this issue beyond flashbacks, instead we get one story detailing Brainiac’s history with the people who gave us Lobo, a look at Perry White’s bid to become Mayor of Metropolis, and >sigh< a focus on Amanda Waller.

The opening story, ‘Secrets of Czarnia’, has Brainiac pondering how Czarnia, a world that conquered death, didn’t find the peace you might expect; a few bad apples led by one General Chacal began slaughtering their fellow citizens. But one woman stood against them.

Miss Tribb! Lobo’s old schoolteacher. Now there’s a character I never expected to see again, she’s from the original Lobo mini-series in 1990, a creation of Keith Giffen, Alan Grant and Simon Bisley. Writer Joshua Williamson provides a bridge from her role in the flashback to her later stint as a teacher, which isn’t necessary given all the Crises DC has been through since she last appeared, but I like that he makes the effort. I’m impressed that Williamson so elegantly places someone who was a straightforwardly comic character into a dramatic storyline. She’s spicy and I would love to see her tell Amanda Waller where to get off. With luck, one of the multiversal resets has brought her back from the state of death she was in last time we saw her.

The expressive, full-colour artwork of Edwin Galmon is outstanding – Brainiac’s cold intensity is right for his role, while the Czarnians are more than the knockabout warriors usually seen.

There’s also some violence which seems a little too much for a Superman book. Yeah, the cover rating is 13+, but still.

The letters of Dave Sharpe, as always, look great, comic book letterers don’t get enough credit.

The story closes with Brainiac revealing that he nowadays checks in on worlds that hosted cities he’s stolen, to see what he can learn from ‘those that were left behind’.

Cue a look at current events in Metropolis as the city recovers from his attack. Our second story, ‘Campaign headquarters’, focuses on Perry White’s bid to become Mayor of Metropolis, a plotline announced by Williamson at the beginning of the current Superman run which has been very much on the backburner. It’s a character piece centring on not just Perry, but bartender Bibbo Bibbowski, a star of the aforementioned Triangle Era who’s been popping up again of late. Superman’s biggest fan, Bibbo has set aside his trademark S-shirt to advertise Perry’s campaign, and is even using his bar as the Chief’s HQ.

I do enjoy Bibbo, his rough and tumble humanity adds a different colour to the Metropolis cast, and here he’s on great form. While Bibbo’s handling the phone, Perry is trying to get on the front foot against his rival candidate, who’s running on a platform against Earth-dwelling aliens. He’s also claiming Perry is out of touch with the man in the street.

This aspect of the story didn’t convince me – Perry White dragged himself up from the toughest streets of Metropolis via talent and grit, and he’s a well-known figure. Why are malcontents gravitating towards Garon Blake, someone we’ve never heard of before this issue who’s likely a bad guy – he looks a little like the Prankster, talks like G Gordon Godfrey and his name screams ‘anagram’. And while Perry has a fabulous exchange with one of Blake’s fans, the story’s overall presentation of him as an unpopular, unsophisticated schlub doesn’t gel with everything we’ve seen over eight decades. His campaign manager amuses, but at Perry’s expense.

Still, how cool is that kiddie’s bug-eyed hat? Russell’s regular collaborator Steve Pugh shows again what a fine storyteller he is, with clear compositions and splendid body language. His character designs are as distinctive as any you’ll find in comics.

Dave Sharpe is once again handling the lettering, while Jordie Bellaire’s thoughtful colouring helps keep things real.

In ‘Signal’, Brainiac catches up with Amanda Waller, currently stinking up every corner of the DC line. Her presence here helps set up the coming Absolute Power ‘event’ in which she’s teaming with Brainiac and some daft bat-robot. Directly connecting to the current storyline, though, is a revelation around the arrival of Brainiac’s army on Earth.

So that’s how Brainiac got past the UP’s barrier, currently a big story point in the Green Lantern series. As for who the members of the hidden committee she’s been dealing with are, it’s not a bunch of varied supervillains as expected.

It’s a brace of Brainiacs, presumably from across the Multiverse. Waller makes her displeasure at the reveal known, and threatens to destroy them. I’ve asked previously why, having irked so many DCU characters, good and bad, they’ve not brought their power to bear against her. And so, having survived peeing off literal devil Trigon recently in Titans, here’s Waller not getting blasted to smithereens by alien conquerors for whom she’s about as dangerous as a house spider is to us. Why would the Brainiacs keep her in play? It’s quite ridiculous.

Ongoing Waller stupidity aside, the craft on show is impressive. Williamson writes with assurance while Fico Ossio punches up the drama of a middle-aged woman staring at a blank white screen. And don’t those Brainiacs look great, even the one in the mauve baseball kit? Shifting perspectives tell us who has the power at any point, while dot screens for shading add to the visual interest. Rex Lokus brings his talent to bear in giving us a varied colour palette and lighting the pages with style.

Edited by Jillian Grant and Paul Kaminski, Superman: House of Brainiac #1 is an entertaining read, giving us useful background on characters and circumstances. I’d rather a Superman-centric character had been given the third strip, but at least it had plenty of evil green geniuses.

Jamal Campbell’s cover is good looking but entirely misleading in implying the stars of the show are Lobo, Lex and Mercy, and Lois and Jimmy… I’m assuming it was commissioned before the comic’s contents were finalised. It’s a bit off, but not unknown in comics.

I’d love to know what you thought of this issue – was there enough Brainiac? Too much? How about Perry’s political play? Who’s that heroically hopeful Czarnian chap? Answers on a postcard…