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This mini fell apart around issue #6. And the ending was ridiculous. A 12 issue promo for the "real" Superman event, apparently.
In the final issue of World of New Krypton, Superman closes in on the architect behind the social and political unrest that has been causing major problems for the inhabitants and society of their new planet. The mystery plays out as to who has been behind it and all of the puzzle pieces are revealed. Even though the who and why behind the assassinations and manipulations now stand in the open, a threat that strikes fear into all Kryptonians now stands before them; setting the stage for the next Superman event that's coming our way.
And it really doesn't seem to matter.
When this title began, there was a huge amount of interest and excitement over the Superman books. Geoff Johns and Gary Frank delivered one hell of a run and for the first time in years people were rightfully paying attention to Metropolis' adopted son again. Strangely though, Superman was then removed from his books and replaced by supporting characters from his extended family, and if a reader wanted to see Superman then they needed to read this book: World of New Krypton. What followed was a story where Superman was known simply as Kal-El, and he was on the planet New Krypton which was created from the bottled city of Kandor (having been rescued and restored after defeating Braniac in the Johns/Frank run). Here on New Krypton, he has been surrounded by a society of Kryptonians, all of whom share his fantastic abilities, thus making The Man of Steel (essentially) just like everyone else. Trying to show that his powers aren't what make him Superman, this title has consistently done everything it could to prove that he doesn't need to wear the red "S" to be a hero.
And it's been a boring ride right through to this end.
This last arc has seen Kal-El playing the role of sleuth, even going so far as to have Adam Strange play the part of Watson to his Sherlock Holmes. Last time I checked, Batman kinda had the whole "Detective" thing down, making it painfully obvious that changing Superman up and taking him out of his element doesn't work for long. Well, it doesn't work for twelve issues in this case. With Greg Rucka and James Robinson sharing writing duties here, it begs the question of "what happened"? Both men are successful writers, each having renown runs on comic books, and the two of them together seemed like a can't miss to create a fun, entertaining series. This issue is the collective sum of that proving not to be the case and encapsulates everything about the series that didn't entertain.
What do you like about Superman, his powers? Well, at every turn they could in this story, his powers are not only made a non-issue (because everybody else here has those powers too), but they're even taken away due to the creation of a Red Sun Beam that's been developed to temporarily strip a Kryptonian of their super abilities. In fact, Superman sees this entire final issue of the story completely without his powers. At the issues climactic confrontation between Kal-El and the person he's been after, his foe says "You've been bombarded with a concentrated beam of Sunstone Crystal that's akin to synthesized Gold Kryptonite."
Know what that means? No powers.
Earlier in the story, while de-powered from the previously mentioned Red Sun Beam, Kal-El gets in an antagonistic military figure's face that's been giving him problems and says...
"You think because I don't have my powers right now, I'm no threat to you? Gor...I'm more dangerous now than ever."
You know what? He doesn't seem like he is. As a matter of fact, his "win" in this issue comes off the same way this whole series does: Ineffectual. This whole series has been relying on the hope that the next issue would be better. The hope that even though the issue you were reading didn't really go anywhere (or maybe just not anywhere you liked) that the next issue would turn it around. That there was something coming, a plot twist, a shocking moment...SOMETHING...but no, there never was. This kind of ineffectiveness comes to ultimate fruition on the last page, and it does it in a couple of different ways.
SPOILER ALERT!!!
SPOILER ALERT!!!
SPOILAGE AHEAD!!!
Cover art to SUPERMAN: WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON #12 by Gary Frank
As Kal-El and Zod stand talking to each other and having a pseudo heart-to heart... Yeah, that Zod. Like they have some sort of Batman/Ra's Al Ghul mutual respect thing going on between them now. In fact, that's a whole can of ass that would just take too long to open up, and frankly...well, just nevermind.
Anyway.
As the two are talking to each other about Kal's impact on the "foundation of our society", the last page reveal is that of Braniac's arrival. Remember all the way back at the start of this review where I mentioned the Geoff Johns/Gary Frank run? Well that run had Braniac in it and it was awesome. So, excitement is started with Braniac, built to a frenzy and then taken on a 12 issue, year long detour, only to come back to Braniac. What the hell did we take the detour for?! I'm really not trying to be mean but there's a certain amount of bitterness that has collected after spending the money on all 12 issues only to have it end up here. This issue is a bitter pill to swallow and showcases the disappointment of this series as a whole.
Stamp an F on it and thankfully call this one "done".
This mini fell apart around issue #6. And the ending was ridiculous. A 12 issue promo for the "real" Superman event, apparently.
Wow! AN F?!? True, its been a story that hasn't exactly inspired. I find The Kandorians some wack assed LOGANS RUN Wanna be-s..LOL! Still i thought there might be some improvement, i gave up when Zod caught a slug, something about it seemed so cliche!
While I thought the revelation of the mastermind was a bit anticlimatic since they threw in a new character to resolve things, overall I enjoyed the issue and the title as a whole. The thing I like most about the book is how Superman's powers are less important. This book has done an excellent job of showing that waht makes Superman "super", isn't just his powers, but Clark. I enjoyed seeing Clark face new kinds of situations that he couldn't get out of by using his abilities.
I also enjoyed the tension between Clark & Zod. Zod is a more believable character now. He isn't just some arrogant crazy bent on conquest. He wants HIS people to thrive and so he can respect Clark's actions that work to their benefit. This makes him a much more interesting character. We know Clark will eventually clash with Zod over what is best for New Krypton, but for now their uneasy alliance works well.
Overall, a fresh situation for Superman is always appreciated. I do hope they get a new artist for the continued story. Pete Woods used computer drawings for the buildings and it took me out of the story.