The House of Brainiac event has been building up for several months across all the Superman series currently published by DC Comics. It has been teased that Brainiac had big plans for the Man of Steel and his loved ones. However, the exact scope of those plans and the true menace behind them is only now being made clear.
Action Comics #1064 by Joshua Williamson and Rafa Sandoval depicts the first phase of Brainiac’s assault on Earth. Previous issues of Superman revealed how Brainiac captured a city full of Czarnians. (Clearly, they were taken at some point before Lobo killed off the rest of his species.) Brainiac turns these Czarnians loose on Metropolis, along with an army of his drones.
At first Brainiac seemed to be trying to capture every member of the Superman family. However, it soon became apparent that his goal was capturing every being in Metropolis, metahuman or alien, that had powers. It also became clear that Brainiac was not working alone.
House of Brainiac is Counter to the Superman Family
The final pages of the issue showed Brainiac watching a distraught Lois Lane and Superman, musing on how their family would reveal “the universe’s greatest secret.” Brainiac also pondered how he had previously hoarded knowledge but now intended to share it. The comic closed with the reveal that Brainiac had his own found family. A House of Brainiac to stand against the House of El, made up of other versions of Brainiac.
It is unclear if these other Brainiacs are doppelgangers from elsewhere in the DC Multiverse. It is possible, based on their designs, that they might be earlier or future incarnations of the evil alien being, or his descendants. In any case, this House of Brainiac poses an incalculable challenge to Superman and his family.
Action Comics #1064 is now available online and at comic shops everywhere.
