Superman: Action Comics #1066 – Joshua Williamson, Writer; Rafa Sandoval, Miguel Mendonca, Laura Braga, Artists; Alejandro Sanchez, Pressy, Colorists
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: It’s the penultimate chapter of House of Brainiac, and all the plot threads are coming together as Brainiac successfully summons the Brainiac Queen. This horrific techno-specter wastes no time tearing her way through the Czarnian army. This is enough to horrify Lobo into doing the one thing no one would ever suspect he would do—admit he was wrong. The unlikely alliance reunited, they manage to turn the tide against the Brainiac Queen and start freeing the other prisoners on the shop—starting with the Super-Twins, but Superman isn’t stopping there. He’s determined to ensure Brainiac keeps no more captives—and he’s about to get an unlikely assist from some of Brainiac’s fellow Coluans.
The question of why exactly Brainiac has escalated to this level is very interesting, and it increasingly seems like he might not be in his right mind—even for him. The missing bit from his mind is finally explained, but it only seems to drive him further into madness. And in the middle of all this is the most compelling subplot of this run so far—the strange story of Lena Luthor, and how she’s tied to Brainiac. Her role is finally explained, and it drives the emotional stakes sky-high as we see that there is something Lex genuinely cares about—and he’s about to lose it. The visuals are stunning, but amid all the action, Williamson has managed to perfectly ground this tale in a very human battle for family.
And that feeling is elevated in the backup, which finally gives us the missing piece of the puzzle about what happened back in 2001 after Lena was returned to Lex. He quickly found out that she wasn’t completely back to human—and if Brainiac found out, he would stop at nothing to reclaim her. This story seems to have a lot of sympathy for Lex, as a father who loved his daughter but faced an impossible choice, but at the same time—it’s Lex and he always has wheels within wheels when he’s planning. I’m just hoping we have the chance to see a lot more of Lena once her role in this event is wrapped.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
