^Nah bro.
It's been like 2 years since I read OWAW but from what I can recall:
1) All Braniac did was create a few drones.
2) Said drones didn't even tag Superman IIRC.
3) Braniac's thrusters didn't seem any more powerful than the regular ones and he didn't realize what was happening until he was like half way into the boom tube. That is not to say that visual representation is the be all end all but it does weigh in on my opinion.
Based on that, I think it's somewhat illogical to come to the conclusion that Superman was fighting the totality of Imperiex's power.
I mean, wouldn't using even a quarter of his energy destroy the neighboring systems?
Well, whatever.