In this blog, I briefly review books I've read.
The Last Days of Krypton
When people think superheroes, Superman is one that comes to mind for many. Created in 1938, while he was by no means the first superhero, he is certainly one of the most iconic. Like many things in comics, his home planet of Krypton has been subject to numerous changes and retcons. This take by Kevin J. Anderson is one of them.
Anderson's Krypton is anything but idealistic. The eleven member ruling council of Krypton, based out of the capitol of Kandor, has banned all space exploration and contact with space. Due to a would-be warlord in the past named Jax-Ur, science and culture are stagnant, the former subject to review and potential confiscation by one Commissioner Zod. One day, a scientist named Jor-El accidentally invents a pocket dimension he names the Phantom Zone. He accidentally traps himself and is only freed by an artist named Lara. His brother Zor-El, discovers the planet is at risk of the core collapsing. The council refuses to do anything.
Then one day, Kandor is stolen by a certain alien, throwing Kryptonian society into chaos. Zod, who survived since he was officiating Jor-El's wedding, is witness to this, and twists the situation and society's paralysis to his advantage. But is what he has planned for Krypton the right way to move forward?
Mm. Mixed feelings about this one. There was a lot that bothered me about it. One of the biggest things is the complete absence of Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl. This was at a point where she was in canon, and the book points out several times Zor-El has no childrens. But J'onn J'onzz, aka Martian Manhunter, gets a cameo. Used in a neat way, but still. Ursa and Non, Zod's famous cronies, are gone. In their place are Aethyr, who serves as a sort of Lady Macbeth type character, and Nam-Ek, who's basically an expy, who share names with some Smallville character. To be fair though, Aethyr has a more flesh-out personality. The book's pacing was off at times. Like I could tell things were slow-burn until Brainiac (dubbed as such by Zod) showed up. Speaking of Zod, he goes from interesting borderline anti-villain to insane dictator pretty fast; AFAIK modern Zod in comics is more of a complex character. His would-be collapses pretty quickly when it comes time, too. Then I'm not sure what the themes of the book were supposed to be. Zod is defeated when Jor-El has enough betrays him, capturing him in a force-field while the rebel forces led by his brother defeat his armies. A new council is formed, but with majority votes instead of unanimous. The old guard votes to abolish technology with its majority, and throws the Phantom Zone into Krypton's core, leading to its destruction. Like, what? The ending dealing with this after Zod's defeat also drags for a while.
Still some good to be said, though. Probably the most interesting was the dynamic between Jor-El and Zod. The latter for all his negative traits acknowledges the former's genius and wants him on his side, but while the former is initially excited he gradually starts to grow doubts and finds ways to subtly rebel. It's good seeing Lara as an actual character, same for Aethyr rather than them just being satellite.And it is an interesting take on the world of Krypton, with vivid descriptions and doing a lot to build its culture.
I've seen reviews of this that are all over the place. My opinion is in the middle, I'd say this one is simply so-so. Nothing bad that would make you want to throw it in the trash unless you're like mega caustic critic, but there's nothing amazing either.
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