Superman: World of New Krypton #1 Review

SUPERMAN: WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON #1 (OF 12)
Written by Greg Rucka & James Robinson
Art by Pete Woods

Okay, I know I said in the previews that I was kind of tired of the Superman titles with Johns and Frank gone and not really interested in the whole New Krypton arc up until now, but this issue finally delivered on all accounts and made me a believer in this storyline again.

For those out of the loop, Brainiac came back several months ago. This was the "real" Brainiac and all others we had seen up until now were labelled as robots or fakes. He had the real shrunken Kandor city on his ship. After Superman defeated Brainiac, Kandor was restored to it's rightful size. After some trials and tribulations on Earth, the Kryptonians moved the city off planet and created their own crystallized New Krypton planet, which now orbits opposite to Earth. World of New Krypton picks up after Earth has banned Kryptonians from Earth and Superman has left to join his people on New Krypton.

What immediately pleased me about this issue is that Superman was finally interacting with his fellow Kryptonians. Previously, he simply reacted to whatever crisis was going on at the time, whether Zod's followers killing some humans or Luthor and General Lane's sneak attack or what have you. This issue told me more about what the Kryptonians are like, what their society is currently like and gave that much needed attention to the people of New Krypton, who have mostly been treated as nameless, faceless cannonfodder up until now.

The only real complaint I have about the issue is that it took them so damn long to get to this point. Most of the things occuring in this issue should have happened in the first several issues of the New Krypton storyline. We have scenes with Kryptonians slamming into walls, having trouble flying and practicing using heat vision - all logical and things they should have been doing as soon as they found out they had powers.

My favourite part of the issue dealt with Superman's interactions with the General Zod lead Military Guild, which plays into the final page of the issue where Superman chooses his Kryptonian guild - the very same Zod controlled Military Guild. I was not expecting him to join up with the Kryptonian military nor was I expecting him to drop his Superman costume in favour of the imposing commander's military uniform he's shown sporting in the final page.

Verdict - Must Read. I'm not sure if I'll be following the other Superman titles, but I'm definitely sold on World of New Krypton. Excellent first issue that has sold me on the "world without Superman concept".

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