Parasite, the power-sucking menace who’s troubled Superman in best-selling stories like Kingdom Come and Superman Earth Two, Volume 2, heads up the next batch of Super-solicitations for DC’s Villains Month event in September at IGN.It’s arguably not that surprising, given the fact that Geoff Johns name-dropped the character yesterday, right along with other Superman villains like Lex Luthor, whose title was announced this morning, and H’El, who joins this group.Following what most are assuming will be a big summer at the box office for Man of Steel, DC is putting a lot on Superman’s shoulders, soliciting for him nearly as many Villains Month titles as Batman, whose rogues gallery is widely accepted as the best in comics.Bizarro returns to his post-Crisis on Infinite Earths origin as a mindless, soulless creature created by Lex Luthor in an attempt to use Superman’s DNA for evil, rather than a being from an alternate dimension as we’ve seen in the recent past. That story will appear in Superman #23.1, with a story by Scholly Fisch and art by Jeff Johnson and Andy Smith.We’ll also get Superman #23.2, a Tony Pedard/Pacal Alixe origin story for Brainiac, an odds-on favorite to be featured in any prospective after-credits sequence in Man of Steel.Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund return to Superman in #23.3, featuring H’El in a story written by Scott Lobdell and picking up where Lobdell’s H’El on Earth crossover ended. “H’el wakes up on Krypton years before it is destroyed! Can H’el manipulate the Science Counsel, soldiers and countless others including Jor-El, to save the planet? And what does it mean for the birth of Superman if he succeeds?” That’s an intriguing concept…And Aaron Kuder (our pick to take over one of the Superman titles full-time when Lobdell’s Action Comics fill-in arc is done) writes and draws a Parasite story with this cryptic solicitation: “Parasite: Noun. An organism that lives in or on another organism. Preferably Superman.” Of course, if Superman is missing, what’s that even mean for him? More existential angst, a la Black Manta and Grodd?
