Action Comics #871 (2009)
Action Comics #871 (January, 2009)
“New Krypton, Part 2: Beyond Doomsday”
Writer – Geoff Johns
Artist – Pete Woods
Colorist – Brad Anderson
Letterer – Rob Leigh
Editor – Matt Idelson
Cover Price: $2.99
Today we’re going to pick up where we left off… late last Summer. For a bit of context on just what New Krypton is, go ‘head and check out our discussion on the Superman: New Krypton Special #1 (2008). For even more table-setting, check out our (more recent) chat on the Brainiac storyline.
Let’s get ready to meet our new stars of Action Comics: Nightwing (not that one) and Flamebird?!
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We open with a pair of drabbly-dressed Kryptonians (Gor and Mur) walking the streets of New York. They appear angry, and feel as though Krypton requires a measure of vengeance… from the Earth? They’re irritated that Kal-El would rather play diplomat than warrior… and consider how much different this would be if Zod were around.
We shift scenes to Lex Luthor’s holding cell… where he is greeted by General Sam Lane. He escorts Lex out of his cell, and tells him all about the Kryptonian “invasion”. He questions him about his knowledge of Kandor… which, being Lex Luthor… of course he knows about that! We get a bit of a quick and dirty to explain that this Kandor is the real one, and it’s the first time Superman has dealt with it.
Luthor is then led to where they have been holding Brainiac. Lex asks to be unshackled… but Lane doesn’t oblige. They begin a pretty fun passive-aggressive back and forth about how both of them work so hard to gain Lois’ favor… and the person she holds most dear is the “naive spellchecker” Clark Kent.
Lane responds by… well, shooting Lex in the shoulder. Just a slight overreaction there, no? Lex agrees to help Sam “break open” Brainiac’s mind… but warns that that likely won’t stop the “invasion”. Sam’s all “that’s okay…”, after all he has more “bullets” at his disposal, such as…
Doomsday?! Okay, we head to Metropolis where Superman is getting ready to fight… Doomsday?! Just like that? Just like that.
Supergirl rushes in to give her cousin a hand. Her folks look on for a moment before deciding to get involved. Elsewhere, the Guardian… or is that Agent Liberty… or is that Codename: Assassin… whoever he is, he’s leading the President of the United States safely onto a helicopter.
The fight pours into Centennial Park, where Doomsday rips the Kon-El Memorial out of the ground and hurls it toward the Supers.
Superman manages to catch it… then decides, enough it enough… he plows into Doomsday and takes him into orbit. The Kryptonians then dog-pile the poor murdering monster…
… until he cannot continue to fight. Wow, y’almost feel bad for him here.
We rejoin Gor and Mur at the Fortress of Solitude. They scan the Fortress and seem annoyed to see that Kal-El collects “trinkets” from his “terrestrial experiences”. I just wish they got a closer look at ’em! Love seeing that stuff!
Unimpressed by their visit, Gor and Mur deduce that they’re going to need General Zod… and proceed toward the Phantom Zone Projector. Well, not so fast, kemo sabe(s)… first you’re going to have to go through… Nightwing and Flamebird?!
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This was pretty fun… and a neat way to introduce the “stars” of this title moving forward (that’s Nightwing and Flamebird, by the way). I know precious little about these two, besides that they are basically the Batman and Robin of Kandor… and Dick Grayson took his post-Robin codename from the former.
I’m sure I’ve said this before, but I didn’t stick around with New Krypton the first time through… I was out of work, and any “fun” money had to be wisely spent. So with what little dosh I was able to get my hands on, I probably bought X-Men comics (jokes on me!). That being said… I’m not sure if I’m supposed to, but every time I dip my toe into this New Krypton mishegoss I find myself walking away intrigued… and even entertained!
The very idea that they’d remove Superman from his two “home” titles shows how strongly DC felt about getting this concept “over”… they were going to go as “all in” as they could. Guess that shows some guts… perhaps poor business sense, but guts nonetheless! Gotta give’em that.
Now the baton hasn’t been officially handed over to the Kandorian Dynamic Duo just yet, but it’s coming… and with how they’ve been eased into the story, it doesn’t feel terribly forced (at least not yet!). I’m looking forward to spending some time with these two, and getting to know them better. Really dig their designs too!
Speaking of design, this is a very good lookin’ book! Looking at it quickly, I’d have sworn this was Scott Kolins… though, that might have to do with the more pastel-y color palette. Still… really nice looking book!
Can’t say I’m a fan of jobbing old Doomsday out… but, I guess if you’re going to do it… this is as good a way as any. I mean, if Superman alone can (eventually) take him down, what hope does the monster have against a gaggle of Kryptonians? The fight scene looked great too… awesome action, and a real feeling of destruction.
If I had to pick a favorite scene, I’d probably go with the Lane/Luthor back-and-forth. These two are pretty great together. You can tell they’re both sickened being together in the same room… but decide to work together anyway. The passive-aggressive mentions of Lois were pretty spectacular too. Lex is pretty good when it comes to “pushing buttons” and he ain’t shy about showing that off.
Overall… I quite enjoyed this! Not sure I’m ready to go “all-in” on a New Krypton read-through, but I’ll admit to being quite tempted! This issue has been collected, and is available digitally.
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