Superman: World of New Krypton #9 – Review

by James Robinson and Greg Rucka (writers), Pete Woods and Ron Randall (artists), Nei Ruffino (colorist)

The Story: In New Krypton’s council chambers, General Kal-El and Dae, the Thanagarian admiral, face off against Jemm, Son of Saturn and his powerful followers who make punching bags out of the first few Kryptonian red shirts who try to stop them. In the meantime, a mysterious epidemic is striking the members of the dissatisfied workers guild. We get treated to a view of the Spartan militarism of New Kryptonian culture and how most of them seem quite comfortable with a growing thicket of enemies springing up on all sides. And in the middle of this comes Adam Strange, bringing a lethal touch from Rann into this simmering political mix.

What’s Good: I’m really enjoying the artwork of Woods, Randall and Ruffino. The lines and figures are becoming increasingly fluid. In part, this seems to be done with a lot less inking than normal and giving texture through gentle shading of colors. This fluid, organic character work doesn’t take away from the cityscapes or the images of the starkness of the treeless New Krypton. The sequence of the changing phases of Callisto was a cool effect, too.

On the story side, I’m enjoying it on the first pass. Robinson and Rucka keep us guessing, and lots of things are happening. The book feels full and includes a lot of good character moments, including an exploration of Kal-El’s relationship with Ursa, Gor and Non, his former enemies. I enjoyed the interesting look at Kal-El through the eyes of the Red Shard, his personal strike force.

What’s Not So Good: Don’t get me wrong – Superman: World of New Krypton is a fun ride and I think that this is the strongest issue since #3. However, I think that some plotting issues are becoming apparent. It may have to do with the scope of what Robinson and Rucka are trying to do. There are so many balls in the air in this series (for example: the suspicion and hostility from the Green Lantern Corps, Thanagar, Saturn, and Rann, the simmering class conflict, the unresolved political, ethical and possibly even physical conflict between Kal-El and Zod, the potential for romance, the unresolved betrayal of Kal-El’s worker sidekick, Kal-El’s adaptation and acceptance into Kryptonian society, the direction of the terraforming efforts, and finally this mysterious new illness) that while I’m ready to hold off on my judgment, I don’t see how Robinson and Rucka can give each plotline a satisfying conclusion in the last four issues. The very number of simultaneous plot questions and the way the problems burst in and out doesn’t let the reader know what the central thrust of the story is. As I said in a previous review, the writers might be trying to build a saga that won’t fit in 12 issues. I hope that the editors have this all figured out, otherwise issue 12 is going to be a bit inconclusive.

Conclusion: Despite the increasingly episodic nature of the story, this remains a fun, if mildly disorienting ride, well worth including in your pull list.

Grade: B

–DS Arsenault

Superman: World Of New Krypton #8 – Review

by Greg Rucka and James Robinson (writers), Pete Woods and Ron Randall (artists), Nei Ruffino (colorist)

The Story: Jupiter’s moon Callisto is on a collision course with New Krypton and is moving at a significant fraction of the speed of light. The Thanagarians are attacking the Kryptonians with weapons that can hurt them. Watch Kal-El try to pull this one out of the fire.

What’s Good: I love the space opera feel of this issue. My interest perked up big time last issue when the Kryptonians started moving Callisto out of Jupiter’s orbit and the tense, science fictional space battle in this issue only raises the stakes. The scales are not cosmic, but I can’t think of the last good solar-system level conflict I’ve seen. It works well and the arrival of some special solar system neighbors at the end changes the dynamic a lot. At the same time, the hand-waving used to explain the science fiction was better in this story than in many other comics. The Nth metal was obviously soft scifi, but the relativistic envelope around Callisto and the artificial gravity wells produced by the Thanagarians added layers of believability to the story.

Rucka and Robinson also did a first rate job on the speech patterns of the Thanagarians. They used weird terminology and used some words differently than we do, but the crisp dialogue was as fun to read as the art was to look at. The art team delivered some great action scenes, a sense of scale to the space battles and some real beauty in some strange aliens. Hat’s off to them.

What’s Not So Good: The New Krypton story is getting more and more interesting. My only problem with the storytelling is that there’s so much going on, that major events that would deserve an issue of story on their own, are wedged between scenes. Last issue, last page, the Thanagarians are suddenly attacking. Their motivation is not much clearer in this issue, unless a perfunctory ‘shoot first, finish first’ strategy can be called motivation. Kal-El’s actions, while classically Superman flavored, seem awfully sudden and overly trusting in this new, politically-gray world that DC has created on the opposite side of the sun. They don’t come across as wise so much as foolhardy or naïve and that’s not the aftertaste you want to leave your readers with when you’re talking about your flagship character. All this made this issue (and the last) feel a bit jumpy and abrupt. What’s the fix? Write the story onto a larger canvas (more than 12 issues) and have the political intrigue be part of the tension. Or do a smaller story that fits entirely within the 12 issues DC budgeted for this.

Conclusion: World of New Krypton continues to satisfy, but Rucka and Robinson may be trying to fit too much into one year of stories.

Grade: B-

DS Arsenault