Review: Superman: World of New Krypton #2

The saddest part of Superman’s life is he truly is the last son of the Krypton as presented to him by his father.  As it stands, he doesn’t belong on Earth, and he certainly doesn’t fit in with the recently freed Kryptonians.  On the plus side, he is able to thrive in either environment.  Kal-El has joined his fellow Kryptonians on the new planet, and even though he’s trying to acclimate, it’s his method of getting things done that has General Zod most concerned.

Instead of being placed in the Science Guild, Kal-El has been assigned to General Zod’s Military Guild and been placed in command of a small contingent of troops.  While Zod is smart enough to know that Kal is on New Krypton to keep an eye on him, it also looks like Zod is playing the same game.

Readers have seen Superman as the leader of the Justice League, but this is the first time we get to see Kal-El as a military leader.  My take on the JLA is it is a guild of like minded individuals, whereas the Military Guild of New Krypton is there for only one thing – follow orders and kill.  This issue finds Kal presented with some very unique challenges, and he’s able to deal with each in his own way.

The first is reprimanding his grunts for hazing Non – recently assigned to the unit by Zod.  Once an enemy he fought tooth and nail, Kal ends up doing the right thing by putting an end to the shenanigans and tasking his underlings to shape up with the unique task of flying laps around the city.  Likewise, when his unit is ordered to take care of a herd of Thought Beasts by any means necessary, Kal takes the high road by using his farm boy skills to round the herd up in a safe manner, while still fulfilling his duties.

I like the head butting that is going on between the two enemies.  In one corner you have Zod who wants Kal-El to use extreme violence to solve the situation, while in the other corner is Kal-El who wants to accomplish his tasks in a more pacifistic way.

Likewise, I like how James Robinson is giving readers an inside look at how Kryptonian society works.  Instead of free will, citizens are assigned to guilds, with the Science and Military Guilds at the top of the heap.  At the bottom are those members of the Labor Guild, who are tasked with doing all the menial labor that needs to be done.  Essentially these are the servants of the society.  When these people inhabited their own planet, the caste society seems like a good socialist way of doing things, however, now that everyone has the same powers and abilities, there are rumblings among the lower guilds.

Readers also get to see the inner workings of the Military Guild.  While promotions appear to be given based on ones ability to follow Zod’s orders; those that take the more aggressive approach are those that move up the ranks more quickly.  This becomes really apparent when members of the Labor Guild take a group of Science Guild members hostage and demand equal rights.  Instead of following Kal’s recommendation to go the negotiation route, he allows Commander Gor to fire at will.

The layout of the pages in this issue are really well done, and I like how the double page spread is used to give the impression we’re seeing a movie play out.  It actually increases the pace of the story, while still giving plenty of visual information to move the story along.

While Kal may be part of the military now, I have a feeling we are seeing the beginnings of a much bigger revolution (on par with the October Revolution) that could see New Krypton turn from a military power bent on taking over the universe, to one of peace – providing they don’t blow themselves up first.  The issue actually opens with very ominous tones as the Guardians decide to dispatch Hal Jordan to check out the world and make sure the Kryptonians aren’t about to start world conquering again like they did  years ago.

James Robinson and Superman are like a certain peanut butter cup that has two tastes that taste great together.  When Robinson lays the groundwork for a story, he doesn’t just let it drop a few issues later, and that’s probably why the series has been given a three issue bump from 12 to 15 issues.  Superman: World of New Krypton #2 has some very interesting aspects to it and is good enough to earn 4 out of 5 Stars.