A little while ago we told you about Superman: New Krypton, a great superman adventure that brings the old school Superman mythos into the here and now. The old school story is that of Braniac and the bottled city of Kandor. For years I wondered that if Ray Palmer could shrink, how and the hell could they not fix Kandor. In all fairness I’m sure they had an explanation then, but that all went out of the window this year as the proverbial cat has been let out of the bag.
Geoff Johns takes on a big task in penning this story, mostly because the story seems downright hard to tell. What happens when the planet has thousands of inhabitants who all have the powers of Superman? That is the question that is being addressed by Johns which seemed to be the problem with having Kandor around in the first place; allowing that kind of plot device to sit there for so long was probably a mistake that DC is now attempting to address.
The story itself is breaking apart into two stand alone stories. Jimmy Olsen is following up on a lead that has immediate ramifications for the Man of Steel. His story is very interesting and another testament to the abilities of Geoff Johns. Jimmy has been the same age for years and has a huge history in DC comics, having to sort all of that out like it happened only a few years ago is tough but Johns does the job admirably.
Jimmy is busy following leads while Superman himself is burying his adoptive father. I really wish that DC had decided to include the issues concerning Braniac and the death of Jonathan Kent. I feel like the story makes more sense when you add in those events.
In fact the introduction of the Kryptonians seems to come out of nowhere when you consider that they are not freed from Braniac in this series, their just here already and Superman simply pays them a visit in the early parts of the story. While it’s a very good story, I can see it being a nightmare of ambiguity for a new reader.
Still, the story is a compelling one, with Jimmy Olsen coming of age right in front of you, Johns does a great job of setting up a new Jimmy for the future of DC comics. Sure nothing major changed about the character, but Johns does a good job of giving him a more adult identity within the story.
While I can’t in good conscience recommend this as a gift for new readers, this book is perfect for a Superman fan with a birthday coming up. The book is designed well and includes five issues to make volume one. If your just jumping on to the new World of New Krypton maxi-series then this series will help you get the story in its entirety.
Do yourself a favor and look up some back issues of Superman in order to get the complete New Krypton tale.
