Review: World of Krypton #1 (of 6)

I love my wife to bits. When it comes to comic books, writers, artist and characters she does a great job of remembering who is on my favourite list. Hence a few years back Mrs. H bought me the DC Hardcover celebrating the Art of Mike Mignola. Regular readers of my reviews and listeners of the various pods I am on, will know how much of a Mignola fan I am. Imagine my disappointment then that said hardcover features a World of Krypton story of which he doesn’t even provide the full pencils? With such disappointment lingering, what hope has the new World of Krypton mini series really got?

When is comes to comic book characters three are three major events; the Waynes going down the alley, Spidey not stopping the burglar and probably the biggest of them all, the destruction of Krypton. Take a ride back to the giddy times of high brow society on a far flung plane that is destined to be destroyed in the book which looks to add further texture and context to that which we all know is going to happen.

Robert Venditti is no stranger to digging back in time. After all, it wasn’t that long ago he took Hawkman through the paces of his own lives and reincarnations in a barnstorming fashion, it must be said and is currently soaking up the 70’s in the Superman ’78 book. There are a couple of tricks needed when going back to an all ready happened event. One the existing players need to be interesting, especially given as there will “only be two” survivors, one of which we barely meet in this issue. The other trick is to make us care about new characters, for exactly the same reason. It’s hard to care about a character when you know that down the line they are going to be Kryptonian worm food. Venditti though gives a good go. We get a new scientist who looks to send Jor-El on his way to “the major’ discovery and it always fun seeing the El’s and the Zod’s and in this case the El’s and the El’s square off in a not quite Game of Thrones manner. The dialogue works well, keeping things moving at a fair pace.

The art from Michael Avon Oeming shows a totally different Krypton that you may seen in the recent Superman ’78 book, in place of the crystal structures there are dark themes for sure, though not as dark as the Man of Steel movie. The characters themselves are rather stylised and I fear it may be love ‘e or hate ’em kind of thing. For me, I love the character and background as they both serve to show us that we are on a different planet. This is a good time to also remind readers that the book is set nearly 11 or 12 years before the big event, so it will be interesting to see if this world evolves into their movie counterparts down the line. The colors from Nick Filardi are a bold affair, eschewing formal whites for a more urban scheme; even the fields look like an urban jungle rather than an actual jungle. Letters are provided by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou who uses an interesting word bubble to possibly evoke the scientifically advanced nature of Krypton. Finally, a quick shout out to cover artists Mico Suayan and Annette Kwok who bring regality to Jor-El and Lara in cover A.

It’s an interesting time to be a super-fan, with changes across the board and DC welcoming alternative interpretations of their character, including the excellent Supergirl mini series. All thats left is a Power Girl return and all will be right in the DCU! Whilst I wait patiently for that, World of Krypton achieves all that it sets out to do.

Writing – 5 Stars

Art – 4 Stars

Colors – 4 Stars

Overall – 4.5 Stars

Written by; Robert Venditti
Art by; Michael Avon Oeming
Colors by; Nick Filardi
Letters by; Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Cover (A) by; Mico Suayan and Annette Kwok
Published by; DC Comics

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network