The fallout from Titans: Beast World echoes across the DC Universe. Trust in metahumans is at an alltime low, and Amanda Waller has been moving piece after piece into place for grand plan.
Soon, all the heroes of the DCU with have to reckon with the threat of Absolute Power, but in the meantime it’s the Man of Steel and the House of Kent that have a bold new enemy to deal with. That’s right, the DC Spring event is right around the corner: Superman and the rest of the Super-family are set to star in the status-quo altering event House of Brainiac.
Table of Contents
What is Superman: House of Brainiac?
Teed up in Joshua Williamson’s first year on the main Superman title, House of Brainiac is a story that’s been a longtime coming. Since the Superman 2023 Annual, we’ve known that Brainiac (whose been out of the spotlight for quite some time now) has been plotting something heinous, and it centres on Superman himself.
House of Brainiac is a classic comics crossover event, taking place primarily over alternating issues of Superman and Action Comics. It sees Clark Kent, plus his extended family, responding to the return of the Coluan mastermind as he deploys an army of Czarnians upon the Earth!
The crossover spans six main issues, as well as a small handful of tie-ins that take place in other ongoing series. There are no dedicated tie-in mini-series or one-shots, outside of the House of Brainiac Special #1 that serves to help kick off the event and provide important context for a lot of its key players.
House of Brainiac Reading Order
Given that this storyline isn’t a DCU-encompassing mega-event like Knight Terrors or Titans: Beast World, the number of issues to track down for the full story is decidedly more contained.
As it stands, this is the full list of issues included in the storyline, in the recommended reading order (note: issues highlighted in bold are the core chapters of the story, others are tie-ins):
- Action Comics #1064
- Superman #13
- Superman: House of Brainiac Special #1
- Green Lantern #10 (Guy Gardner & Lobo back-up story, by Jeremy Adams and Kevin Maguire)
- Power Girl #8
- Action Comics #1065
- Superman #14
- Power Girl #9
- Green Lantern #11 (Guy Gardner & Lobo pt.2)
- Action Comics #1066
- Superman #15
- Power Girl #10
- Green Lantern #12 (Guy Gardner & Lobo pt.3)
Is there anything I should read before House of Brainiac?
Unlike other events in the Dawn of DC era, House of Brainiac doesn’t have quite as extensive a backlog of titles that fall under the “recommended reading” banner.
In fact, outside of a general familiarity with Superman under Joshua Williamson (which equates to issues #1-12 and the 2023 Annual), there isn’t a lot else to point you in the direction of.
There will undoubtedly be connective tissue between this story and the preceding event Titans: Beast World, but only in a macro-narrative sense. If you’re acquainted with the idea that Amanda Waller currently has it out for metahumans and is doing every vaguely evil thing she can think of to set them up for a fall, then you probably know as much as you need to in order to appreciate where this story sits in the wider DC canon.
Just know, if Peacemaker or Peacewrecker, or Failsafe and Doctor Hate are mentioned, this is all added texture that is derived from the above.
Furthermore, we know going into House of Brainiac that the event will introduce new character Queen Brainiac, who has already been teased as a major player in the next event, Absolute Power – seemingly the culmination of the Amanda Waller plotline. In that sense, this crossover event serves both as Williamson’s next exciting arc in his ongoing Superman plans, and a key stepping stone in the overall DC narrative.
If you enjoyed this Making Comics Simple guide, please consider signing up to our newsletter! We publish informational articles like this on comics frequently, and we also produce highly detailed critical essays on the very best of what comics have to offer.
