DCU Comic Book Reviews

SUPERMAN: WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON #1

Part One

May 2009

Written by Greg Rucka and James Robinson

Pencils by Pete Woods

Inks by Pete Woods

Covers by Gary Frank and Ladrönn

Synopsis

Kal-el (aka Superman) has left Earth to live on New Krypton.  When arrives, he is told that Zod wants to see him.  Instead, Kal decides to visit Alura.  The two agree to put their past behind them. Alura then asks which Guild Kal wants to join.  Kal is undecided.  Kal then visits Zod, who suggests Kal join the Military Guild in order to train the army on how to use their newfound powers under the yellow sun.  Kal declines.  When he returns to Alura he tells her he doesn’t want to join any guild; he finds the system to be wrong.  Alura tells him he is on New Krypton and he must follow Krypton laws.  So, she picks the guild.  Later, Zod welcomes Commander El to the Military Guild. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

There is something that doesn’t quite work in this issue, something that doesn’t quite click, that makes me reluctant to say it was good, although I definitely don’t think it is bad.  There are a lot of good ideas and interesting themes that the writers, Rucka and Robinson, explore in this issue, from the class system of Krypton, to the speed in which the populace accrues powers, and the basic intrigue of what Alura and Zod are up to.  Yet, these ideas, while not buried, don’t really seem to comes across clear enough to give New Krypton and its people depth.  It all feels superficial.  The people and the place (the milieu, if you will) seem to be glossed over in favor of getting across the various plot points in the story. 

I think the problem is that Rucka and Robinson are stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place:  between what has come before while at the same time trying to create a believable new world for Superman to inhabit.  So when Superman first comes to Krypton, we have to deal with prior events, such as the murdered police officers, Chris, Supergirl, the conflict with Alura, his suspicion of Zod, etc.  It is like a big push and pull as the writers try to balance everything.  To their credit, I think they do an exceptional effort to make it all work; the story was enjoyable.  But in a story in which we are learning about Kryptonian society for the first time, it doesn’t feel at all like a well-built society.  The world-building, as sci-fi geeks usually call it, is forced to take a back seat and as such we don’t get deep into this new world, which could become a problem as the writers start to built the conflict for the story.  You need to start from a strong base, which I don’t thinkwe get here because of all the extraneous plot points the writers needed to deal with. 

With Superman on New Krypton, what is the explanation for the absence of Clark Kent?

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