I'll start by saying Joshua Williamson is really crafting an excellent event here. There is still a lot of mystery around what Brainiac is doing here. What are his goals and motivations? He isn't acting quite like the cold collector of knowledge. The gathering of Brainiac doppelgangers is fascinating. And what is this 'missing knowledge' in his mind that is shorting him out.
I like seeing a more proactive and frankly more physical Superman. His family is missing. Brainiac is a threat. He needs to find the villain and he'll use most any means possible. I like seeing Lobo as a sort of dark mirror of Superman, dealing with his own General Zod. Even Lex is intriguing as I try to understand his motivations and goals here.
But this is a Supergirl site and she dominates a lot of the issues. There was plenty I loved. She is smart and calculating. She is brave and pretty fierce in her determination to defeat Brainiac. Heroes and villains respect her and her leadership as she leads her team through the Brainiac ship. That's all great.
She wields a gun and a knife in this issue. (Conner wields an axe.) I guess given the situation, that makes sense but isn't my favorite image.
She literally spits in the face of Brainiac. That seems a little bit childish and crass for my take on Kara.
She does something foolish and possibly suicidal at the end of the issue. That sort undermines the intelligence and leadership she showed before. Maybe not the best.
I am trying to see all that through the lens of her facing down her own personal boogie-man in Brainiac. I suppose she can veer towards the unhinged.
Still, for Supergirl, this has to overall be a positive. She is a main character, a hero, and proactive.
The art in the main story is done by Rafa Sandoval and Miguel Mendonca and really shines. I love Sandoval's barrel-chested Superman, a sort of modern Wayne Boring! And Mendonca somehow makes the jacket Supergirl costume look good! Mirko Colak brings a dark, heavily shadowed art in the back-up, a perfect style for the story itself.
Okay, enough prologue. On to the book.