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Geoff Johns continues to re-invent key parts of the Superman mythos without ruining everything that came before him. His current take on Brainiac is borderline genius, and Gray Franks' artwork is some of the best in the industry. In short, if you've ever thought you might be a Superman fan, these are the comics that remind you that you are.
Brainiac has, at different points in Superman's history, been different characters. At times he's been a mentalist, a robot, an alien, and a cyborg mix of all the above. Different writers have taken a stab at explaining why he's been so different at times, but Johns has gone a step further and tackled the reason why these incarnations make him such a potent villain.
The opening pages of the story bring Supergirl to the Fortress of Solitude and she relates what Brainiac's original attack on Krypton was like. For those unfamiliar with the relatively new version of Superman's cousin, Kara was born and raised on Krypton where she lived to be a young adult. After Kal-El was rocketed off of the planet as an infant, Kara was sent in space to accompany him to Earth.
She was to be his mother-figure who would take car of him until he was old enough to learn the truth. Her rocket got lost in space, so to speak, and she landed on Earth long after Clark Kent had become an adult. Instead of taking care of him, he has become her father-figure. This leads to the emotional hook of this issue as she recalls the events on Krypton and Superman must comfort her.
p>Superman, being the man of action that he is, decides that he can no longer wait for Brainiac to find him and he devises a plan to find the villain himself. The encounter between the two in the climax of the issue parallels the nightmarish scenario described by Supergirl and shows how chilling and evil Brainiac can be. While Lex Luthor is most commonly associated with Superman as his arch nemesis, Brainiac is now on par with villainous heavyweight champion The Joker as the most vile and sinister in the DC Universe.
On top of the fact that the story is amongst the best in super-hero comics today, Gary Frank delivers another top-notch effort. Long time fans of Superman will be overjoyed by the effort he pours into maintaining the likenesses of Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder. Newer characters like Supergirl and the Daily Planet's massive jerk sports writer, Steve Lombard, blend right in and fell just as recognizable and familiar as their big-screen rendered associates.
There is almost nothing to complain about, except maybe the limitations of 20+ pages a month. If Johns and Frank could churn out 100 each week, then maybe my appetite for their work would be satiated.