Colourist: Ulises Arreola, Letterer: Becca Carey
Absolute Superman issue seven gives us our first real look at one of Superman's big villains as this issue is all about Brainiac. Well, Brainiac and body horror. This stand alone issue (would calling it a bottle issue be too on the nose?) takes some time away from the main story to focus on the origin of this new version of the iconic character, crafting perhaps the most disturbing and dangerous Brainiac we've ever had.
Brainiac has had a varied and somewhat odd history, and you can get very different versions of him depending on what era of Superman you're reading. Sometimes he's a machine, others he's a Coluan, and occasionally he's a psychic that takes over the mind of a human hypnotist. He's perhaps one of the most re-inventable Superman villains, so it would make sense that this new version of him would feel incredibly unique, whilst also feeling like he could easily step into the pages of Action Comics without too much of a shock.
The issue opens with a group of Omega Men infiltrating a Lazarus facility that they believe might be the location of the Brainiac algorithm. They're right in that Brainiac is located there, but they've vastly misunderstood just what it is. Not a computer algorithm or AI, Brainiac is revealed in all of his horrific glory as he uses his shrinking technology in some truly shocking new ways, shrinking a mans skin to rip it from his body, increasing another's limbs to giant sizes, and using to to shrink another's bones, resulting in him vomiting them out before dying as a soupy skin-bag. And this is perhaps some of the least horrifying moments of the book.
Taking one of the Omega Men captive, and vivisecting him, Brainiac begins to have something of a mental breakdown as he's unable to find answers for what Superman is, or how he's able to do the things he can. Speaking to his victim as if he's there to listen to his woes, Brainiac reveals a portion of his history, showing the reader his origins. It's interesting stuff, and feels very different from what we've had for the character before; and whilst it gives us a firm foundation for this interpretation of the character there's also a lot of unanswered questions as to what exactly Brainiac is, and how he came to work for Lazarus that leaves plenty of room for further stories in the future.
Carmine Di Giandomenico's art is absolutely spectacular, and some of the pages are so packed with horrific details that you can't help but stop reading and pour over every panel on the page. Brainiac is a terrifying mixture of machine and organic, a being who looks to be in near constant pain and on the verge of death. There are times where you feel a glint of sympathy for him, before he takes on an expression that sends a shudder down your spine. In some ways this Brainiac feels like a perfect fusion of Brainiac and the Joker. There are moments where he visually resembles the clownish villain in such a way that I wonder if perhaps it's intentional, that the books creators are going for that approach, especially as he seems much less stable and more manic in they way he speaks and acts.
Taking a break from the main story to focus on a villain can sometimes feel like a story is slowing down, and can interrupt the flow of things, but here it just makes me even more excited to see more. It also makes me incredibly excited to see this creative team present us with their takes on more classic villains. Although, saying that, I wonder if perhaps the experiments on Christopher Smith in the final pages might be Brainiac transforming him into a mixture of Peacemaker and Metallo, especially now that he has access to Kryptonite?
Absolute Superman has done a truly wonderful job at reinventing the character and mythos of the world's oldest and most beloved super hero in ways that I didn't expect, crafting something that feels fresh and new, yet manages to stay true to what's come before. It's a task that not many people would have been able to do this well, but Jason Aaron and his art team have done in spectacular fashion.
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