Action Comics #866

In "Brainiac Part 1 First Contact," Geoff Johns and Gary Frank kick off a major arc with a chilling flashback revealing how Brainiac first stole Kandor from Krypton. At the Daily Planet, Perry White welcomes back Catherine Grant and introduces Steve Lombard as the new sports editor, unaware that a mysterious probe has just entered Earth’s atmosphere—only for Superman to intercept it, only to have it analyze him before shutting down. The moment sets the stage for an invasion that begins not with force, but with cold, calculating observation. The cover, by Gary Frank, captures the probe’s eerie arrival in stark, striking detail.