The Planet Collector
Page 3
ZAP! CRACKLE!
Red sparks of violent energy gathered like a storm in front of the Man of Steel.
“My systems have been infiltrated by an outside mind,” the intelligence said. “It calls itself Brainiac . . . and it claims that you are its ally!”
The red sparks grew into lightning. Giant red bolts of energy lashed out at the Man of Steel.
“No!” Superman protested.
KRAKOOOM!
Powerful energy bolts blasted the inside of the command sphere. Superman was forced to dodge them at super speed.
“Brainiac tricked us both!” Superman declared between dodges. “Search my memory about him, and you will learn the truth!”
A tendril of blue light struck the Man of Steel in the forehead. He felt his memories flow out of him and into the alien sentience. Every encounter with Brainiac streamed though his mind. It was very unpleasant.
FWAZIRRT!
Finally, the alien intelligence released him.“This Brainiac is a unique specimen,” the intelligence stated. “It requires more study.”
There was a quick flash of light from a teleportation beam. Suddenly Brainiac appeared next to Superman.
“I should have known you’d betray me,” Superman told Brainiac.
“Then you should not have agreed to our alliance,” Brainiac said flatly.
“Kryptonian, I will return Metropolis to its planet. You may depart with it,” the alien sentience proclaimed. “The Brainiac intelligence will remain.”
“Unacceptable,” Brainiac said.
“Appropriate,” Superman said. “Besides, both of you are collectors. I’m sure you’ll have plenty to talk about — for a long, long time to come.”
The Man of Steel said goodbye to the alien sentience and flew back up the tunnel to Metropolis. As soon as Superman arrived, the city began to lift away from the surface of the asteroid ship. The artificial sun started to dim. The great blue globe of Earth loomed overhead.
Superman flew to the upper reaches of Earth’s atmosphere and watched the asteroid-shaped ship leave Earth’s orbit.
Hovering in the air high above Metropolis, Superman searched with his super-vision to find anyone hurt by the city’s landing back on Earth.
“Brainiac brought a major menace to Earth to save himself,” Superman said as he looked over Metropolis. “I hope that’s the last cosmic menace I have to face. At least for a little while.”
REE-OOOOOO! REE-OOOOOO!
Suddenly Superman’s super-hearing caught the wail of police sirens and fire trucks. He aimed his super-vision down at Earth and scanned the surface for anything suspicious.
A moment later, Superman spotted smoke rising from a section of the city. It had been damaged from landing back on the planet.
WOOOOOOOOOOSH!
The Man of Steel leaped into the sky and flew to the rescue at super-speed.
“Back to normal!” Superman said.
BIOGRAPHIES
LAURIE SUTTON has read comics ever since she was a kid. She grew up to become an editor for Marvel, DC Comics, Starblaze, and Tekno Comix. She has written Adam Strange for DC Comics, Star Trek: Voyager for Marvel, plus Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Witch Hunter for Malibu Comics. There are long boxes of comics in her closet where there should be clothing and shoes. Laurie has lived all over the world and currently resides in Florida.
LUCIANO VECCHIO was born in 1982 and currently lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina. With experience in illustration, animation, and comics, his works have been published in the US, Spain, the UK, France, and Argentina. His credits include Ben 10 (DC Comics), Cruel Thing (Norma), Unseen Tribe (Zuda Comics), and Sentinels (Drumfish Productions).
SKETCHES & FINAL ART
COMICS TERMS
caption (KAP-shuhn)—words that appear in a box. Captions are often used to set the scene.
gutter (GUHT-er)—the space between panels or pages
motion lines (MOH-shuhn LINES)—illustrator-created marks that help show motion in art
panel (PAN-uhl)—a single drawing that has borders around it. Each panel is a separate scene on a spread.
SFX (ESS-EFF-EKS)—short for sound effects. Sound effects are words used to show sounds that occur in the art of a comic.
splash (SPLASH)—a large illustration that often covers a full page (or more)
spread (SPRED)—two side-by-side pages in a comic book
word balloon (WURD BUH-loon)—a speech indicator that includes a character’s dialogue or thoughts. A word balloon’s tail leads to the speaking character’s mouth.
GLOSSARY
analyze (AN-uh-lize)—to study something closely and carefully to learn its nature
ancestry (AN-sess-tree)—a person’s ancestors, or the people who were in their family in past times
atmosphere (AT-muhss-feer)—the mass of gases that surrounds a planet or star
cosmic (KOZ-mik)—of or relating to the universe, outer space, or very large or important things
deny (di-NYE)—to say that something is not true, or to refuse something or someone
drastic (DRASS-tik)—severe, serious, or extreme
drone (DROHN)—an unmanned aircraft, ship, or device
harvest (HARR-visst)—gather
perish (PARE-ish)—to die or end
sentimental (senn-tuh-MEN-tuhl)—appealing to the emotions, especially in an excessive way
Superman: Comic Chapter Books are published by Stone Arch Books,
A Capstone Imprint
1710 Roe Crest Drive
North Mankato, Minnesota 56003
www.capstoneyoungreaders.com
Copyright © 2014 DC Comics.
SUPERMAN and all characters and elements are trademarks of and © DC Comics. (S14)
Star33543
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on the Library of Congress website.
ISBN: 978-1-4342-9133-2 (library binding)
ISBN: 978-1-4342-9137-0 (paperback
ISBN: 978-1-4965-0095-3 (eBook PDF)
ISBN: 978-1-4965-0325-1 (eBook)
Summary: The super-villain known as Brainiac loves nothing more than adding new data about civilizations to his memory banks--and then destroying those civilizations so the data is more valuable. He has long coveted Metropolis and has sought to take it for himself, but the Man of Steel has always been able to repel the robotic villain. But this time, Brainiac has found a sentient ship that collects entire worlds...and led it directly to Earth! Can Superman stop two world-stealing intelligences at the same time?