Just a head's up for anyone who missed it here, I'm in this thread for the long haul now, intending to get at least as far as here by August:



Why? I consider this issue to be the unofficial start of the greatest Superman stretch ever written.


Heck, I had time and the desire to write three more reviews today, but I wanted to slow down and give anyone reading this time to absorb and keep pace

26 issues to go!

I don't believe this ever comes up again, sorry.

It at least explains why he's entertaining Superman's questions there and might also help to explain why Luthor doesn't just kill Supes tomorrow (which Superman #2 showed us he absolutely has the power to do).

Although I wouldn't return to comics for another few months, I date this era of Superman goodness to January 1990.

Superman's a bit shaky, but Action and Adventures are on a roll.

Action Comics #648



The Brainiac Trilogy, Part Two: "Body and Mind"

writer: Roger Stern
layouts: George Perez
finished art: Kerry Gammill
inks: Brett Breeding
letters: Bill Oakley
colors: Glenn Whitmore
assoc. editor: Jon Peterson
editor: Mike Carlin

grade: C+


If you love the first part of The Brainiac Trilogy, then get ready for Part Two...to disappoint. Once again, now across all three titles, we're seeing serious pacing issues. Whereas so much went down in the previous chapter, this issue really accomplishes nothing beyond providing nonsensical explanations for a bunch of things.

We get an explanation for how Metallo appeared to die in Superman #2 but really didn't:



Yeah, even if you can buy the rest of this (and they had all sorts of intricate state of the art machines hooked up to and probing him), Metallo just walks around Lexcorp unnoticed by the cameras and security systems and just happens to find some Uranium lying around?


We also get an explanation for how Metallo appeared to die in Superman #20 but really didn't:



Yep. Doesn't make much sense either. Why would Metallo's inventor program him to do this?


But my personal favorite is what happens when Brainiac is placed in a cryogenic freeze while they work on his new body. He goes under and then suddenly discovers his mind is more powerful than ever because



Riiiiiiiiight.


So, really, all that goes down in this issue is Brainiac's mind randomly getting more powerful and Brainiac and Metallo having a bunch of robots attack a Lexcorp bank. I still don't understand that second point -- if Brainiac already has total control over Lexcorp, why attack one of its banks? To draw Superman out? Clearly, they didn't have a plan for dealing with him once he got involved:



Okay, I have to admit, that was pretty cool.

But really, what was the point of this issue beyond offering lame explanations for how Metallo came back from the dead twice?


Important Details:

- Yup. Luthor is still concerned about being in Superman's debt after last issue:





Minor Details:

- I guess the flood is over now and utilities have been restored in Metropolis. Some mention of this would have been appreciated.

- This is really really nerdy/obsessive for me to note, but I'd never considered until seeing this panel



whether or not Superman needs to drink. We've been told he doesn't get hungry and yet can process 100% of anything he eats into pure muscle with no waste/byproduct, but does he need water? He didn't take a drink during most of the time he was wandering through space in The Exile storyline, but whereas he doesn't need food because the sun's energy provides his body with sustenance, doesn't he need moisture? Did his body just manufacture that stuff while he was in space or something?

Yeah, I know. Truly nitpicky stuff to wonder about. Clearly, he's getting the water in this panel less because of thirst and more because he needs a moment to think.


- This was a nice touch:



I enjoy a little ominous ambiguity in my comics. I also truly tire of the villain's assistant archtype who dreams of overthrowing their master just because they want the power for themselves. This was a nice deviation from that standard route.



plot synopsis in one sentence: We get Metallo's complete origin story across four pages, another two explaining how he didn't die twice, and then an army of Metallo look-alike robots are attacking a Lexcorp bank for no apparent reason, leading Superman to surmise that Brainiac/Metallo and Luthor are not on the same side. At this point, Metallo places a top scientist under Brainiac's control so that he can help build Brainiac a new body. It turns out this scientist is a founder of Project Cadmus (did Brainiac know this going in?) and leads Metallo and a mental projection of Brainiac there, where the two are quickly detected, leading to Superman's arrival and Metallo's capture and "dis-arming". Meanwhile, Luthor returns to Lexcorp only to finally be informed that Brainiac has been in charge for "some time" now.


Clumsy clumsy story that didn't really amount to much. Still, there's something endearing about Metallo's characterization here that I can't quite put my fingers on. Maybe it's those cartoony bulgy eyes Perez gives him that make him seem child-like somehow.