SUPERMAN: WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON #8

Part 8

December 2009

Written by Greg Rucka and James Robinson

Pencils by Pete Woods

Inks by Pete Woods

Covers by Gary Frank and Bryan Talbot

Synopsis

In space, Thanagarians are fighting Kryptonians.  During battle, the Kryptonian ship guiding Callisto, the Jovian moon, has been disabled.  The moon is now on a collision course towards the planet.  A Kryptonian strike on the Thanagarian’s ship sets off a chain reaction that will destroy the ship.  General Kal-el boards the ship with his team cool the reactor, saving the ship.  Then Kal-el negotiates with Thanagarian leader Wing-Master Vetalla Dae for peace.  Meanwhile, Callisto hurtles towards Kyrpton.  Kal-el and his team attempt to slow it down by force, but it doesn’t work, until the Thanagarians using nth metal energy to help.  However, it is not enough.  Kal-el heads back to Krypton and returns with every single inhabitant.  With 100,000 Kryptonians they are able to push Callisto into orbit around New Krypton.  Later, Wing-Master Dae appears before the council and overtures for establishing diplomatic relations begin.  Just then another someone else appeared who is angry at the presence of New Krypton:  Jemm, Son Of Saturn.   

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

Sometimes creators will take a risk, producing an issue that attempts to do something different with the story being told .  This is one of those issues.  Rucka and Robinson decided to not only present the first part of the issue from the point of view of the Thanagarians, but they also decided to write the scene using Thanagarian jargon.  As such, some of the sentences on the first read-through seemingly made no sense (Jammy Meat!).  After a second reading, it started to make some sense (Run away opponent or Flee Kryptonian) as I was able to decipher and translate what they were saying.  So, I understand what the writers were going for and in some way I applaud the effort.  However, the execution just didn’t work for me.  The first part of this issue made very little sense; it took a long time for me to a grasp of what was going on. 

After the battle scenes, when the Kryptonians finally enter the story, the issue gets back on track.  The plot and the story quickly settles into the usual conflicts that Kal-el needs to deal with.  I liked the way he handles the Thanagarian leader, ending the fight with sheer diplomacy.  That is something that Superman would do, find a peaceful solution rather than just duke it out.  And I like the way the Thanagarians realize what they did to cause the moon to spiral out of control and their willingness to help.  The ending is also well handled as Council admits the Kryptonian past, but resolves to be better than their past. 

I think my favorite part of the issue was the splash page showing the inhabitants of the planet flying up to Callisto.  When Kal-el left the others I had a feeling that he was going to get everyone else, but even guessing what was going to happen didn’t dilute the power of the particular moment.

One other problem I had with this issue is that the reason for the battle is never stated or explained.  In the story, Kal-el has his suspicions, but those aren’t related to the reader.  I don’t mind not knowing; I like a good mystery every now or then.  What I do mind is the way the characters talk around the start of the battle.  When he first meets with the Thanagarians, why doesn’t Kal-el ask what happened?  Instead he talks around it, saying it wasn’t intended and they have more important things to do.  It reads as if the characters know what happened or could easily find, but they can’t say it because then we the readers would know and we shan’t have any of that (if that makes sense). 

Overall, this is still a very good issue and I think this is still the best of the Superman titles.  This issue started out bumpy, but I like the effort and the idea, and I think the writers have proven they can take the risk, whether it works or not. 

ïPREVIOUS	Main		Page	NEXTð