Review: Superman: House of Brainiac Special #1

This issue is comprised of 3 mini-stories meant to provide insights on how the current Brainiac storyline is playing out across parts of the DC Universe we haven’t seen yet.

Superman scribe Joshua Williamson helms the 1st & 3rd stories & writes them as if they’re part of Brainiac’s mission log. The 1st story provides background on the villain’s past conquests on Krypton & Czarnia, giving readers some more explanation of why Lobo is involved. The 3rd story sheds more light on how Amanda Waller fits into Brainiac’s plans. It was easily my least favorite of the 3. Neither of these stories was groundbreaking or felt like they’ll have major payoffs later on, acting more as fillers for some event-specific world building.

Mark Russell joins the fray for the middle story & focuses on Perry White’s struggling mayoral campaign. This one gets an outsized amount of pages compared to Williamson’s, and it’s a not-so-subtle metaphor for the US’s current state of political discourse, using the anti-Supers fever spreading through Metropolis as a stand-in for the rise in hatred against almost any minority group over the past few years. This isn’t anything new for comics, though Russell executes it well here.

Even though the 3 stories weren’t home runs, the art teams nailed the visuals throughout the entire book. Artists Edwin Galmon, Steve Pugh, & Fico Ossio, & colorists Jordie Bellaire & Rex Lokus bring a level of life to all three stories that the scripts alone couldn’t achieve & deserve a lot of credit for making this book worthwhile.

Overall this was a fine, if unspectacular addition to the House of Brainiac arc. The main story has been great enough so far that I’m not mad that this was a short distraction, but I can defnitely say I’m ready to get back into the main plot.

Rating: 6.5/10