DCU Comic Book Reviews

SUPERMAN: WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON #12

Part 12

April 2010

Written by Greg Rucka and James Robinson

Pencils by Pete Woods and Ron Randall

Inks by Pete Woods and Ron Randall

Covers by Dustin Nguyen and Will Moss

Synopsis

Commander Gor and Councilor Zo confront Kal-el, ready to kill him for protecting Tam-Or, the prime suspect in the murder of Councilor Mar-Li.  Just as Zor fires, Adam Strange uses the zeta beam to bring them to safety elsewhere on Krypton, but it is a little late as Tam-Or is shot and killed.  Gor immediately tracks Kal-el down. Before Gor can fire at Kal-el, General Zod appears.  Zod is angry at Gor for using lethal force and demotes him.  Zod then dismisses Adam Strange, who returns to Rann.  Then, Zod and Kal-el discuss the murder of Mar-Li and review the facts and clues.  Together they determine there is a small group attempting to weaken Krypton.  Based on the clues, Kal-el confronts Councilor Wri-Qin, who admits he was part of the group to weaken the planet so that when Krypton lost its war to Earth, they would be in power.  But Wri-Qin decided to take all of the power for himself by removing the others of the group.  Wri-Qin then decides to kill Kal-el, who calls in Red Shard to apprehend him.  Later, Zod tells Kal-el that the Councilors granted a seat to the Labor Guild.  Despite this, Kal-el is uncertain if he did much good on Krypton.  Zod disagrees.  Just then, Brainiac’s ship arrives, hovering over the planet. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

Except for the “monologuing” as the Incredibles likes to call it (or the Talking Killer Syndrome as movie critics refer to it) by Wri-Qin to reveal his dastardly plans, this was a great ending.  Not so much in the way it ended, but more in the way the loose ends from the series were wrapped up and explained, providing closure for most of the various plot threads.  From Gor’s comeuppance to Tyr-Van and the Labor Guild, and even to Zod’s respect and acceptance of Kal-el’s impact on the planet, it came together beautifully.  Plus, I thought the reasons for Wri-Qin’s actions made sense, both in aligning with Lane to begin with and then his decision to take down the others.  Greed is such an easy motive and it works.  I am not entirely sure everything is logical (was Lyra killed because she was part of the cabal and if so why her?), but the explanation made sense, including the way Superwoman was brought into the mix, helping to explain why Lane needed her.  As I said, it all comes together nicely, even if we needed on the characters to explain it to us. 

I think my favorite part of this series was the portrayal of Zod.  Granted, he was missing for a number of issues, but whenever he appeared, he would do and say things that were unexpected, but made sense.  Zod has been a great character, nominally a villain, but someone who is complicated yet simple.  Zod straddles that line between good and villainy. His ultimate goal is to prepare Krypton for war, but that doesn’t mean he is responsible for bad things or can’t see the good things that people do.  I loved the way he and Kal-el come to a grudging respect for each other at the end and the way Zod commends Kal-el for initiating the change to the Labor Guild on the Council.  He is a great character that I can easily see other writers failing to portray as Rucka and Robinson have done.  I hope that others will be able to do what they have done. 

The sequence where Zod and Kal-el piece together the facts and come up with the resolution was handled well and was a great piece of writing as it felt like tow people brainstorming rather then a writer telling us what is going on.  There are still some pieces of the mystery that are never quite explained (such as the closed door murder of Mar-Li or what the hell “no doctor” is supposed to mean), but the steps they take to get to the eventual criminal made sense. 

The dismissal of Adam Strange was rather abrupt and makes me wonder why the writers bothered to keep him around for the past couple of issues.  Yes, I was correct in that Adam would get Kal-el and others to safety, but only a page later they were back in the same position they were at the end of the last issue, so I am not sure what it accomplished.  Moreover, I can’t recall if Adam did or said anything that helped Kal-el in the investigation.  Maybe the writers needed a foil for Kal-el, someone to talk to as he investigated the murder.  Otherwise I am not sure what purpose Adam played in this story. 

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