Last issue, Superman knelt before Brainiac, this issue starts off with Lois shouting out for Superman. Superman `78 #3 has a cover by Amy Reeder where Superman has his hand on a crystalline panel with Jor-El and Lara!, he is turning to see two hands holding each other! “Brainiac Chapter Three” is by Robert Venditti and Wilfredo Torres. Four of the Brainiac bots reach out for him. The people of Metropolis are not going to let them get away with taking away their hero, Superman II (1980) vibes!
Brainiac levitates above the crowd and says a Kryptonian does not belong on Earth. Very judgmental. The crowd roars that they are all from someplace else. Very cool for these times. Superman speaks out says that he agrees with Brainiac and asks the Metropolians to let him go. Kudos to Torres for the expression of the three citizens with downcast eyes while the others look on quietly. Lois gasps, we see Superman’s super hearing (very nice, I’m not certain if this shows up the comics), it pulses from Lois and back to Superman. He hears Lois’ heart beating. A very cinematic scene.
Superman and Lois say their goodbyes. He holds his hands before Brainiac and a drone places metal tubes to bind the Man of Steel. Superman starts to follow the drones to a hovering platform, but Lex Luthor stops them. He says he is there to congratulate Brainiac for defeating Superman and slaps the Last Son of Krypton on his back, a monitoring device? Luthor joins the crowd and says, “Brains over Brute Strength.” He obviously has some plan.
Luthor tries to offer Lois a cigar, but she just stares at the platform. The platform attaches to the skull ship and it leaves orbit. Superman has kept his promise and says that Brainiac’s part was to leave Earth unharmed. The Coluan says that Superman has to be preserved! He shows Superman several jars, he uses his Kryptonian vision to look closer, and sees the city of the Hawkman, Thanaldar?, that floats above this piece of Thanagar! Brainiac activates the preservation process. Superman screams in pain with the bursts of energy and red glow that covers everything, nice work by the colorist, Jordie Bellaire!
Then, white with red outlines as the number percentage rises! This turns into panels that dissolve into white. I like seeing this process and also that it is painful even to Superman. The platform Superman was on, only smokes as Brainiac holds one of the containers. Superman emerges with steam on the ground, he places his hands on a crystal wall, and then turns to see Lara and Jor-El!
This is an incredible back to Krypton story that reminds me of Superman #141 (1960), “Superman’s Return to Krypton!” by Jerry Seigel and Wayne Boring! Still, I never would have expected it in this comic, I guess because the movie actors, Marlon Brando and Susannah York, at least Brando didn’t appear in the other films. I think Vendetti and Torres give tribute to the actors and the films with this comic. Back at the Daily Planet, Jimmy asks Lois that Perry White could get another reporter, but Lois is driven. Other reporters could have written the story, but to see Lois write it considering her closeness to Superman shows her strength.
The headline reads “Goodbye Superman”, I also like the other headline, “Bat-Man Terrorizes Gotham.” They are in the same universe! In Superman #75, the polybagged issue comes with an issue of the Daily Planet, “Man of Steel Dies Defending City” by R. Lowell Stern. Roger Stern wrote part of The Death of Superman comics and also the novel, The Death and Life of Superman (1993), recommended! The Superman Returns movie had the headline page “Superman Returns!” There was also a faux newspaper for Superman and Lois.
We see the Superman suit in a tube and then Superman puts on the House of El robes. This is the Bottle City of Kandor, it appeared in Action Comics #242 (1958) and Superman had tried to restore it for years. The city was restored in the Superman: New Krypton storyline, but this didn’t last. Jor-El and Lara lived in Kryptonopolis, Kandor was another city on Krypton. Lara asks about his Earth parents and we flashback to scenes from the first Superman (1978). She says he belongs on Kandor, accepting their life in the bottle city held by Brainiac? The crystal structures of the city is seen with the background of the green container. This moves to Jor-El and Lara’s final days on Krypton.
Lara shows him the Planetary Zoo with an elephant with plates on its back, a hairy hippo and other creatures. Superman had put an alien zoo in the Fortress of Solitude. Kal-El reaches out for a large pangolin, a heavy plated mammal, called by Lara a Thought-Beast. They look more vicious in the other comics including its first appearance in Superboy #102 (1963). His mother knows that her son is in love with a woman and Kal-El admits her name is Lois. Lara worries about all of the times lost with her son.
Jor-El appears and explains that he has only discovered that Brainiac powers the bottle city with red radiation that negates Kai-El's powers. He poses to his son that he is tired and wants Kal-El to be leader of Krypton! Back to Metropolis, Jimmy shows Lois a package intended for her. This leads to a mystery that could be dangerous for Lois! She may be part of the means to get Superman back, but the question remains about the other Kryptonians including Superman’s parents. This is an issue that brings up the Superman movies and classic comics, while the biggest issue is not escaping the Bottle City of Kandor and defeating Brainiac, but resolving Kal-El’s Kryptonian people!
Five Drones out of Five!
#Superman78, #RobertVenditti, #WilfredoTorres, #Thanagar, #JorEl, #Lara, #BottleCityofKandor
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