Brainiac is unquestionably one of Superman’s all-time greatest foes (we’re not going to sit here and rank them, but he’s only demonstrably behind Lex Luthor in my power rankings!), although the versions of the character through eight decades of comic book continuity can initially seem intimidating and dumbfounding. Don’t panic! This Comic Book Herald guide will walk you through the character’s history and all the Brainiac comics you should read to best enjoy and understand the classic DC villain.
Related Reading Orders:
If you want to read comics with Brainiac 5, the 30th century descendant of the original Brainiac trying to do right, check out Comic Book Herald’s Legion of Super-Heroes reading order!
For most readers in the 2000’s, you’ll probably want to jump straight to Superman: Brainiac by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. This is a prevailing modern take on the character, that more closely aligns Brainiac with versions seen in Superman: The Animated Series or Justice League Unlimited. Other good Brainiacs starting places include comics appearances in “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow” by Alan Moore and Curt Swan, or even the dark reimagining in Absolute Superman.
Otherwise, below you’ll find a complete Brainiac comics reading order. Enjoy the comics!
Brainiac Begins!
Superman: The Silver Age Omnibus Vol. 1
Collects: Action Comics #241-265 and Superman #122-137
Contained within the Silver Age Omnibus Vol. 1 above, Action Comics #242 marks the debut of Brainiac and the bottled city of Kandor.
Collects: Action Comics #242, #489-491, #544, #649, and #763, Superman #167, Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #17, Adventures of Superman #438, and Superman: Metropolis Secret Files #1
Note that Action Comics #242, 544, 649 are also included elsewhere in this guide.
Superman: The Silver Age Omnibus Vol. 2
Collects: Action Comics #266-288 and Superman #138-153
Batman & Superman in World’s Finest: The Silver Age Omnibus Vol. 2
Collects: World’s Finest Comics #117-158
Currently the only way to collect World’s Finest #144 “The 1,000 Tricks of Clayface and Brainiac!” Not in DC Universe Infinite as I write this in 2026!
Supergirl: The Silver Age Omnibus Vol. 2
Collects: Action Comics #308-333, #335-340, #342, #344-346, #348-350, #353-354, #356-359, #361-372, and #374-376
Includes Action Comics #339, where Brainiac captures Supergirl. This comic actually is in DC Universe Infinite as of 2026.
Bronze Age Brainiac
Superman: The Adventures of Nightwing and Flamebird
Collects: Superman Family #173 and #183-194
Includes Superman Family #183 where Brainiac tries to destroy Kandor.
Superman: The Bottle City of Kandor
Collects: Action Comics #242 and #245, Superman #158 and #338, Superman Family #194, Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #21, #76, and #78, Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #53 and #69, and World’s Finest Comics #143
In particular, includes Superman #338 with Kandor restored!
Adventures of Superman: Gil Kane
Collects: Superman #367, #372, and #375, Action Comics #539-541, #544-546, and #551-554, Superman Special #1-2, and DC Comics Presents Annual #3
Crisis on Infinite Earths: 35th Anniversary Deluxe Edition
Collects: Crisis on Infinite Earths #1-12 and History of the DC Universe #1-2
Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?
Collects: Superman #423, Action Comics #583, Superman Annual #11, and DC Comics Presents #85
Post-Crisis: Brainiac’s Mid-Life Crisis aka ‘Now That’s One Fiiiiine Milton’
Superman: The Man of Steel Vol. 3
Collects: Superman #12-15, Adventures of Superman #436-438, Action Comics #594-597, Superman: The Earth Stealers #1, Action Comics Annual #1, Superman Annual #1, Adventures of Superman Annual #1, and Booster Gold #23
Includes John Byrne’s post-Crisis reimagining of Brainiac in Adventures of Superman #438.
Superman: The Man of Steel Vol. 4
Collects: Doom Patrol #10, Superman #16-22, Adventures of Superman #439-444, Action Comics #598-600, and Superman Annual #2
Again, this will continue the Brainiac as Milton Fine build in the pages of Adventures of Superman prior to the “Exile” era.
75 issue series from the amazing Keith Giffen, Alan Grant and Barry Kitson. Starring a post-Crisis Vril Dox, ancestor of the Legion of Super-Heroes’ Brainiac 5. This series is on DC Universe Infinite, which is going to be the most affordable way to read all the comics.
Superman: Exile and Other Stories Omnibus
Collects: Adventures of Superman #445-459, Superman #23-27, Action Comics #643-646, and Action Comics Annual #2
Superman: Brainiac Reborn Omnibus
Collects: Superman #38-48, Adventures of Superman #461-471, Action Comics #647-658, Lex Luthor: The Unauthorized Biography #1, L.E.G.I.O.N. Annual #1, Superman Special #1, Adventures of Superman Annual #2, Superman: “Under a Yellow Sun” A Novel by Clark Kent #1, and Superman: Eradication! The Origin of the Eradicator #1
Triangle Era Superman vs. Brainiac
Collects: Action Comics #674-675, Superman: The Man of Steel #9-10, Adventures of Superman #488-489, and Superman #65-66
Collects: Original graphic novel by Alex Ross and Jim Krueger
Collects: Doomsday Wars #1 to #3
Superman: Dead Again
One of – if not the – most notable miss of essential Brainiac comics in DC’s current collections. These would likely be a part of the ongoing Superman Triangle Era Omnibus editions, perhaps in time for later 2027.
Reading Order:
- Superman: The Man of Steel #38
- Superman #94
- Adventures of Superman #517
- Action Comics #704
- Superman: The Man of Steel #39
- Superman #95
- Adventures of Superman #518
- Action Comics #705
- Superman: The Man of Steel #40
- Superman #96
- Adventures of Superman #519
Superman: City of Tomorrow Compendium
Collects: Superman #151-159, Adventures of Superman #573-581, Action Comics #760-768, Superman: The Man of Steel #95-103, and Superman Y2K #1
If you want to go completely all in on this era of Superman and Brainiac’s schemes in the Our Worlds at War event, there’s a larger (more expensive) Omnibus with these same issues: Superman: Our Worlds at War Omnibus Vol. 1 — Prelude to War!
Superman: Our Worlds at War Omnibus Vol. 2 — All-Out War!
Collects: Wonder Woman #172-173, Superman #64, Superman #172-175, Adventures of Superman #594-596, Action Comics #781-783, Superman: The Man of Steel #116-118, Batman #593-594, Superboy #90-91, Impulse #77-78, Supergirl #60-61, Young Justice #35-37, Harley Quinn: Our Worlds at War #1, Wonder Woman: Our Worlds at War #1, World’s Finest Comics: Our Worlds at War #1, Flash: Our Worlds at War #1, JLA: Our Worlds at War #1, JSA: Our Worlds at War #1, Nightwing: Our Worlds at War #1, and Superman/Batman #68-71
New Brainiac / New Krypton
Collects: Superman/Batman #27 to #36
Issues #34 to #36 include some Brainiac comics action!
Collects: Superman: Red Son #1-3
Collects: Action Comics (1938) #866-870, and Superman: New Krypton Special #1
This is the go-to starting place for most modern readers, in my opinion, some of the best DC work by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank.
Superman: New Krypton Saga Omnibus Vol. 1
Collects: Action Comics #866–879, Supergirl #35–43 and Annual #1, Superman #681–690 and Annual #14, Superman: New Krypton Special #1, Superman: World of New Krypton #1–5, World of New Krypton Special #1, Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen Special #1, Adventure Comics Special Featuring the Guardian #1, Manhunter #1 and #6, and The Flash #12
If you want to read all the fallout of Johns and Frank’s “Brainiac” storyline, it’s right here in the New Krypton Saga.
New 52 Brainiac Comics
Superman by Grant Morrison Omnibus
Collects: Action Comics (2011) #0-18 and Action Comics Annual #1
Grant Morrison gets to reimagine Brainiac for DC’s New 52!
Superman (2011-2016) #23.2: Featuring Brainiac
Collects: Superman #23.2
Collects: Superman: Doomed #1-2, Action Comics #30-35, Action Comics Annual #3, Superman #30-31, Superman/Wonder Woman #7-12, Superman/Wonder Woman Annual #1, Supergirl #34-35, and Batman/Superman #11
Superman/Wonder Woman #7
Superman #30
Superman: Doomed #1
Action Comics #31
Superman/Wonder Woman #8
Batman/Superman #11
Superman #31
Action Comics #32
Superman/Wonder Woman #9
Action Comics #33
Superman/Wonder Woman #10
Superman/Wonder Woman Annual #1
Action Comics Annual #3
Action Comics #34
Superman/Wonder Woman #11
Supergirl #34
Superman: Doomed #2
Action Comics #35
Superman/Wonder Woman #12
Supergirl #35
The New 52: Futures End Vol. 1
The New 52: Futures End Vol. 2
The New 52: Futures End Vol. 3
Collects: Convergence #0 to #8
Listen, I do not enjoy Convergence. BUT, it would be malpractice not to include the ride from Future’s End to Convergence in a Brainiac reading order. Mileage may vary!
Brainiac Comics of the Present Day
Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps Vol. 2: Bottled Light
Collects: Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #8 to #13
Collects: Justice League No Justice #1 to #4
Collects: Superman and the Authority (2021) #1-4
Collects: Superman ’78 #1 to #6
Out of continuity alternate take based on the universe of the first Superman movie!
The first annual in the Joshua Williamson written era of Superman sets the stage for a Brainiac crossover. It’s not strictly essential just for Brainiac, but the build to “House of Brainiac” will go down smoother if you also read Williamson’s first two volumes on the title:
Collects: Superman #1-12
Collects: Action Comics #1064-1066, Superman #13-15, and Superman: House of Brainiac Special #1
Action Comics #1064
Superman #13
Superman: House of Brainiac Special #1
Action Comics #1065
Superman #14
Action Comics #1066
Superman #15
Collects: Absolute Power: Ground Zero #1 and Absolute Power #1-4
Absolute Superman Vol. 2: Son of the Demon
Collects: Absolute Superman #7-14
Note that DC’s Absolute Universe is separate from the mainline continuity we’ve been reading so far. You can enjoy the full universe via Comic Book Herald’s Absolute Comics reading order.
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