Superman: World of New Krypton #8 Preview & Eventual Discussion

[WorstThingUS]

So preview pages are up on newsarama:

http://www.newsarama.com/php/multimedia/album.php?aid=31110

And there's still nothing shown that leads me to believe one Kryptonian shouldn't wipe out a entire Thanagarian fleet, much less an army of Kryptonians. These guys don't have Superman's code against killing. Heat vision and super-speed means a lot of fried chicken floating in space, not even the brief battle that occurs here.

But I'm nonetheless interested in seeing Superman leading by example and not slaughtering them.

And the female Thanagarian dress code is hysterical. Men are fully clothed but the women must bare their mid-riffs. It's so silly it makes me laugh rather than be bothered by it.

[galactica]

So preview pages are up on newsarama:

http://www.newsarama.com/php/multimedia/album.php?aid=31110

And there's still nothing shown that leads me to believe one Kryptonian shouldn't wipe out a entire Thanagarian fleet, much less an army of Kryptonians. These guys don't have Superman's code against killing. Heat vision and super-speed means a lot of fried chicken floating in space, not even the brief battle that occurs here.

But I'm nonetheless interested in seeing Superman leading by example and not slaughtering them.

At least the fight ended almost immediately after Superman showed up. That;s something.

[Karl O'Neill]

Looks nice!

This is the first of the last four issues.

Should be hot!

[Will.S]

I miss Brad Anderson's colors.

Still, this maintains to be the best Superman book for my dollar as of current. Just one thing though, why does Superman need a breathing mask?

[WorstThingUS]

I miss Brad Anderson's colors.

Still, this maintains to be the best Superman book for my dollar as of current. Just one thing though, why does Superman need a breathing mask?

To speak to others in the vacuum of space.

[Retro315]

To speak to others in the vacuum of space.

To speak to others, yeah. Definitely. Not that he's ever needed that to talk in space before. He's flying from New Krypton to Mars, which, depending on the time of the year could be pretty close or could be really damn far away. But that pales in comparison to the distance between Earth/New Krypton rotation and Jupiter.

For "long" space treks, Superman can explore the Solar System, but his typical orbital escapades are him holding his breath. I'm not sure that he'd die from suffocating in space - especially in a star system with a big, fat, juicy yellow sun powering it ... but he could theoretically shut down and go all coma.

As for Superman traveling from one star system to another ... it seems out of the question. Somewhere, quite a ways beyond Pluto and the Kuiper Belt, etc ... the radiation of the Sun wears off, and Superman would be powerless in space ... back to normal Kryptonian (which is basically human) and with no powers, there's no ultra-cold endurance, no way to power his "flying" back home.

[Mat001]

To speak to others, yeah. Definitely. Not that he's ever needed that to talk in space before. He's flying from New Krypton to Mars, which, depending on the time of the year could be pretty close or could be really damn far away. But that pales in comparison to the distance between Earth/New Krypton rotation and Jupiter.

For "long" space treks, Superman can explore the Solar System, but his typical orbital escapades are him holding his breath. I'm not sure that he'd die from suffocating in space - especially in a star system with a big, fat, juicy yellow sun powering it ... but he could theoretically shut down and go all coma.

As for Superman traveling from one star system to another ... it seems out of the question. Somewhere, quite a ways beyond Pluto and the Kuiper Belt, etc ... the radiation of the Sun wears off, and Superman would be powerless in space ... back to normal Kryptonian (which is basically human) and with no powers, there's no ultra-cold endurance, no way to power his "flying" back home.

Superman can suffocate in space as he nearly did in Action Comics Annual #7, from 1995 and in Adventures Of Superman #480 from 1991. He needs oxygen to breathe. When his blood became oxygenated in Superman: The Man Of Steel #30, he didn't need a mask other than to talk to others during his journies. He was just talking to Hal Jordan with one last year in Superman #677. Granted, it was Hal's ring, but the point remained the same.

And there's still nothing shown that leads me to believe one Kryptonian shouldn't wipe out a entire Thanagarian fleet, much less an army of Kryptonians. These guys don't have Superman's code against killing. Heat vision and super-speed means a lot of fried chicken floating in space, not even the brief battle that occurs here.

They're not as experienced as Clark or Prime.

[bongoes]

As for Superman traveling from one star system to another ... it seems out of the question. Somewhere, quite a ways beyond Pluto and the Kuiper Belt, etc ... the radiation of the Sun wears off, and Superman would be powerless in space ... back to normal Kryptonian (which is basically human) and with no powers, there's no ultra-cold endurance, no way to power his "flying" back home.

I'm pretty sure he's a solar battery and can store excess solar energy for using his powers outside the range of a yellow sun for a period of time.

[Karl O'Neill]

Anyone read this issue yet?

Any good?

[Desaad]

I enjoyed it. Not a lot actually happened, and it's probably the weakest issue of the run for me, but I love that last page cliffhanger.

Pretty solid tale, not the best not the worst of the week, but a very quick read for me.

[Karl O'Neill]

Cliffhanger?

[Desaad]

Jemm, Son of Saturn, barges into a kryptonian diplomatic meeting, angrily demanding to talk to the Kryptonian council.

[Karl O'Neill]

Jemm, Son of Saturn, barges into a kryptonian diplomatic meeting, angrily demanding to talk to the Kryptonian council.

Oh should have known :-)

it's spoil!:biggrin:

[CBikle]

Spoiler.

I hope that Robinson remembers that Jemm and Superman have met before (Morrisson's JLA run).

[Desaad]

Have they really, though? Certainly Superman would recognize Jemm, but he was under Luthor's control, and then had a hole blasted in him. After that he was worked on by J'onn and Aztek, but I don't think we ever actually saw any J'emm/Kal interaction, did we?

[The Tall Man]

This issue underwhelmed me a little. IMO there was too much dealing with the moon and not enough politics between New Krypton and other planets, but the last page makes it look like next month will have a good amount of politicking.

Did love the spread of the Kryptonians flying to stop the moon.

[UltraMagnetic]

The only thing that's bugging me is that the Kryptonians (even Superman) seem kind of nerfed. If it was so easy to punk out Kryptonians, Superman should've been gone.

[dupersuper]

As for Superman traveling from one star system to another ... it seems out of the question. Somewhere, quite a ways beyond Pluto and the Kuiper Belt, etc ... the radiation of the Sun wears off, and Superman would be powerless in space ... back to normal Kryptonian (which is basically human) and with no powers, there's no ultra-cold endurance, no way to power his "flying" back home.

Unless forced out by kryptonite or red solar radiation, Superman can run without recharge for almost a week, and he lasted a few months bouncing through hyperspace back in his Exile days.

The only thing that's bugging me is that the Kryptonians (even Superman) seem kind of nerfed. If it was so easy to punk out Kryptonians, Superman should've been gone.

h, I remember him taking out a whol army of Thanagarian warriors in an Invasion crossover back in the day all by himself...and that was the supposedly "less powerful" version from the 80's...and he was hardly at the top of his game when they attacked...it seems that since writers have been writing Superman as at more of his silver age power level, they feel they really have to amp up his weaknesses to keep things interesting...

[WorstThingUS]

h, I remember him taking out a whol army of Thanagarian warriors in an Invasion crossover back in the day all by himself...and that was the supposedly "less powerful" version from the 80's...and he was hardly at the top of his game when they attacked...it seems that since writers have been writing Superman as at more of his silver age power level, they feel they really have to amp up his weaknesses to keep things interesting...

Him and his entire race. Wasn't the point of people not liking Kryptonians is that they were these unstoppable gods inflicting their will on the universe? They're hardly that going by this story. As I said before, this should have been one of the shortest battles in the universe. There's a problem when you have to violate your own premise to make a story work. Superman has also either forgotten or has chosen not to share with his people that they can super-charge themselves by diving into the sun, like he did when he single-handedly pushed Warworld, which was the size of a small moon. And what are Thanagarians doing in our solar system anyway? And how could Superman of all people "forget" sentient beings live on Saturn? Jem made an appearance in Morrison's run of JLA, so they have met.

This was a disappointing issue.

[G. Wayne]

Haven't read the issue, but maybe the Thanagarians got a powerup somewhere so that they're more than schmucks with an obsession with bird masks and metal wings? Hawkman did fight Black Adam one-on-one recently and lived to tell the tale. *shrug*

Him and his entire race. Wasn't the point of people not liking Kryptonians is that they were these unstoppable gods inflicting their will on the universe? They're hardly that going by this story. As I said before, this should have been one of the shortest battles in the universe. There's a problem when you have to violate your own premise to make a story work. Superman has also either forgotten or has chosen not to share with his people that they can super-charge themselves by diving into the sun, like he did when he single-handedly pushed Warworld, which was the size of a small moon. And what are Thanagarians doing in our solar system anyway? And how could Superman of all people "forget" sentient beings live on Saturn? Jem made an appearance in Morrison's run of JLA, so they have met.

This was a disappointing issue.

I actually hope Kal does -not- reveal all of his tricks to the other Kryptonians. To me at least, for as much as he's trying to relate to them, it still doesn't seem to be working as well as he'd like. Between Zod and Allura and for that matter, most of the Military Guild, I don't think he wants them to know everything he does about the powerset right off.

[Mat001]

Him and his entire race. Wasn't the point of people not liking Kryptonians is that they were these unstoppable gods inflicting their will on the universe? They're hardly that going by this story. As I said before, this should have been one of the shortest battles in the universe. There's a problem when you have to violate your own premise to make a story work. Superman has also either forgotten or has chosen not to share with his people that they can super-charge themselves by diving into the sun, like he did when he single-handedly pushed Warworld, which was the size of a small moon. And what are Thanagarians doing in our solar system anyway? And how could Superman of all people "forget" sentient beings live on Saturn? Jem made an appearance in Morrison's run of JLA, so they have met.

This was a disappointing issue.

Clark doesn't like to sun dip since it was risky and the last thing he wants to do is tell these people who do not have the same moral code as he does, to sun dip. That's like handling a nuclear weapon to the Taliban and hoping that they won't fire it off. As to the Thangarians being in our system, they've heard the rumors about New Krypton. It's not the world's worst kept secret. We know that the Thangarians have issues from the last time they fought the Kryptonians. As to Clark forgetting the people of Saturn, he's been rather busy the last few years. Yes, he saw Jem during "Rock Of Ages", but he's been through a lot the last few years.

Haven't read the issue, but maybe the Thanagarians got a powerup somewhere so that they're more than schmucks with an obsession with bird masks and metal wings? Hawkman did fight Black Adam one-on-one recently and lived to tell the tale. *shrug*

Right. Hell, he even put up a good fight against Superman in "Public Enemies". Remember, these Kryptonians don't have the experience that Superman has. So they don't know how to fight like Superboy-Prime.

[UltraMagnetic]

Clark doesn't like to sun dip since it was risky and the last thing he wants to do is tell these people who do not have the same moral code as he does, to sun dip. That's like handling a nuclear weapon to the Taliban and hoping that they won't fire it off. As to the Thangarians being in our system, they've heard the rumors about New Krypton. It's not the world's worst kept secret. We know that the Thangarians have issues from the last time they fought the Kryptonians. As to Clark forgetting the people of Saturn, he's been rather busy the last few years. Yes, he saw Jem during "Rock Of Ages", but he's been through a lot the last few years.

A sundip wasn't needed. Superman with Hal Jordan kept the Earth from being dragged into a gravity well by Starbreaker. Superman, WW, and Martian Manhunter have moved a moon together. A few punches from Superman can knock the moon out of it's orbit (without him really trying). With strength and might like that.....it shouldn't take a swarm of kryptonians to put a moon in place (I was actually surprised when they used a device to try and do it originally). As far as the Jem thing, I'll wait and see how they handle that next issue.


Right. Hell, he even put up a good fight against Superman in "Public Enemies". Remember, these Kryptonians don't have the experience that Superman has. So they don't know how to fight like Superboy-Prime.

In "Public Enemies" Superman treated Hawkman with kid gloves. He could've crushed him in an instant but instead opted to fly him above Earth's atmosphere hoping Carter would pass out.

Supergirl didn't have the experience that Superman has and that actually made her seem more powerful (since she didn't know how to hold back). So far, these Kryptonians seem like a joke.

[galactica]

I can understand why they would call more people to put the moon in place. You can't just drop a moon into orbit. You have to be very very precise.

The Thanagarians had very powerful weapons. But even with that the Kryptonians have speed and durability way way above them.

[NYGiants167]

This was an underwhelming issue and it didn't seem to have a strong narrative flow. The weakest issue so far in this maxiseries from the Rucka/Robinson tandem.

[Desaad]

The moon was moving at near relativistic speeds, wasn't it? That would make the force that you need to overcome it's momentum to be considerably greater than a planet normally in orbit.

[CBikle]

Have they really, though? Certainly Superman would recognize Jemm, but he was under Luthor's control, and then had a hole blasted in him. After that he was worked on by J'onn and Aztek, but I don't think we ever actually saw any J'emm/Kal interaction, did we?

I don't think so, but Wiki (which is pretty reliable for comics continuity stuff) says that Jemm recuperated in the JLA Watchtower for a couple months after that storyline, so you figure the two would have met.

Eh, I guess it's up to Robinson whether they'd met before.

[dupersuper]

Him and his entire race. Wasn't the point of people not liking Kryptonians is that they were these unstoppable gods inflicting their will on the universe? They're hardly that going by this story. As I said before, this should have been one of the shortest battles in the universe. There's a problem when you have to violate your own premise to make a story work.


True.


Superman has also either forgotten or has chosen not to share with his people that they can super-charge themselves by diving into the sun, like he did when he single-handedly pushed Warworld, which was the size of a small moon.


Bad enough they have normal Superman power; can you blame him for not telling 100,000 random people that they may exponentially increase their already godlike power if they can survive a sun-dip?
On the subject of large bodies headed toward planets, Superman also recently obliterated 1 headed for Earth in JLA, but in this case the issue was with the momentum and near infinite mass from transporting it at near light-speed.


And what are Thanagarians doing in our solar system anyway?


That may be a future plot point...we can hope...or maybe they just came to check on the romours of a reborn Kryptonian society...?


And how could Superman of all people "forget" sentient beings live on Saturn? Jem made an appearance in Morrison's run of JLA, so they have met.


I'm not sure they got a chance to chit-chat, though they may have off-panel, but either way, yes, he's aware of him. I doubt he forgot though, he just had a lot on his plate...


This was a disappointing issue.

Not the strongest, but I still liked it well enough.

[Captain Jim]

Not a lot actually happened, and it's probably the weakest issue of the run for me

Me too. Felt like we were just treading water.

[paulski]

Yeah, the last couple issues have just felt like the Kryptonians' tour of the solar system. Not enough focus on the big, blue boy scout for my liking.

[Will.S]

I enjoyed the issue enough but I do have to wonder why they decided to use up an issue of WoNK for a Thanagarian battle considering how this series has just a couple of issues left.

I did like the use of diplomacy by Superman in order to avoid further bloodshed and Rucka and Robinson added some nice little details about the Thanagarian language and depicting a chaotic space battle. But I'd also like to see this series move further along as I've only been buying this as my main Superman book for the last couple of months.

I'm looking forward to how it ends but I have a bad feeling that Superman is going back to the titles to only set up yet another big event for Superman which I think we've all heard about at this point. I'm honestly fed up with these triangle stories, Patriot was pretty decent but I wish the books retained the more self contained nature it had when Johns and Busiek were on the title.

Pete Woods layout style continues to confuse me in that he keeps using the horizontal form of storytelling rather than vertical at times and some of the action sequences in space were a little jarring but otherwise Pete's doing some really solid work.

7/10