Superman: The Last Family of Krypton

[Molly]

SUPERMAN: THE LAST FAMILY OF KRYPTON #1

Written by CARY BATES

Art by RENATO ARLEM

Cover by FELIPE MASSAFERA

Returning to a character he's long been associated with, legendary writer Cary Bates explores a different side to Superman's legend in an Elseworlds tale that hinges on the fact that while baby Kal-el has rocketed to the distant planet Earth from his doomed homeworld of Krypton, he was not alone. How does a world handle the emergence of the Last Family of Krypton as Jor-El, Lara and Kal-El make Earth their adopted home?

On sale AUGUST 4 * 1 of 3 * 56 pg, FC $4.99 US

I'm fricking pumped.

[SuaveStar]

I'm more interested in the fact that Elseworlds is back.

[Dread]

Yay-uh!

[Stavros]

I'm surprised that cover isn't an Alex Ross, it looks like something from Kingdom Come.

[Missy]

Yeah, that's a very Alex Ross-like cover.

I just Googled the guy, and found this interview where he calls Alex Ross his "main influence."

[Stavros]

I mean, its sounds daft to accuse someone of photo-referencing Alex Ross considering that's all he does, but man, that's Superman and Wonder Woman from Kingdom Come. I mean almost exactly, especially Wonder Woman. If I was that guy I'd want to use my prodigious talent to try and become well known form my own shit, not ripping off one of the the best known comic book artists going.

[TDK_theBatmaN]

that's Superman and Wonder Woman from Kingdom Come. I mean almost exactly, especially Wonder Woman.

I thought the same thing. Before reading the description and just seeing the cover I thought it was going to be a story about Superman, Wonder Woman and

their child from Kingdom Come.

Either way, definitely gonna get the first issue on this one.

[KnightWing]

Man, this looks great.

I'm always a sucker for a good story about Kryptonians, so bring it on.

[SuaveStar]

Man, this looks great.

I'm always a sucker for a good story about Kryptonians, so bring it on.

You must have hated the last two years of the comics

[ShaunKL]

I've always been wondering about this scenario, it'll be interesting to see it play out.

[KnightWing]

You must have hated the last two years of the comics

Ha!

Yeah, I heard really terrible things about the New Krypton stuff (post-Johns, that is), so I've skipped it. Hopefully JMS can turn it around again.

[SuaveStar]

Preview on the Source

[KnightWing]

Wow, that looks really cool.

[thebatisblu]

This is an interesting premise. The cover was painted, my guess would be with gouache water color. This makes it look a bit like Alex Ross. He is most known for this style of art work. I looked over the link above. I agree with one of the comments on the preview page. When I first saw it, I got kind of excited. I thought for a moment that Diana and Kal-EL had hooked up. Oh, well... still interesting.

[TDK_theBatmaN]

EXCELLENT first issue. It's parts 1 and 2, maybe part of 2 or the whole thing? All I know is, great issue. Really pulled on my heartstrings as the what could have been for our favorite big blue boyscout. My favorite part, as with other Elseworlds, like Red Son, is how they incorporate characters from the original mythos, yet still keeping the core of the characters. Very interested to see where the story goes from here.

I thought the cameo of Thomas and Martha Wayne's names was cool, especially within the context they are used in. And Dan DiDio's little cameo gave me a laugh.

[TDK_theBatmaN]

Is anybody else besides me LOVING this book???

[KnightWing]

*raises hand*

[Stavros]

Yeah, it's a lot more in depth than your usual elseworlds, and a lot less clear cut too. There's a lot to be determined in the final issue.

[TDK_theBatmaN]

Yeah, it's a lot more in depth than your usual elseworlds, and a lot less clear cut too. There's a lot to be determined in the final issue.

I agree. It feels like after issue two, it needs about 2 more issues left to resolve all the plot threads. I'm just waiting for B aka Brainiac to snap into evil mode. Altogether though, I love all the characters and their interactions. Maybe the final issue will be an oversized in comparison to the previous two.

[KnightWing]

I wonder if they think they're fooling anyone by referring to him as "B". I mean, really?

[Stavros]

I wonder if they think they're fooling anyone by referring to him as "B". I mean, really?

No, but at this point its completely unclear who the villain might be or if indeed there is a proper villain at all. Most of them are all shades of grey, but I somehow doubt that they'll go with an old fall-back like Luthor or Brainiac. Even the doomsdayers seem for the most part to be tea-partiers/sometime extremists. I'd just rather see this book play out as it has, the sudden reveal of someone as an actual villain would be way too comic-booky considering what they've done so far.

It's awesome how Lex just basically feels pity for Kal and Kal is jealous of Lex. It's a complete reversal of the norm, although not to the usual extremes.

[TDK_theBatmaN]

So the issue has been out. It's a solid work and I think it was ended fittingly with the plot lines all concluded but with the sense that this world will still go on with plenty of adventures for Superman, not that I want more stories from this universe. I have found that with Elseworlds I much more enjoy the establishment of the differences in the particular universe that contrast with the in-continuity DCU. The ending of Last Family of Krypton felt very similar to that of Red Son, in regards to the decisions that Jor-El and Soviet Superman make at the end of each story.

The knowledge of the Guardians of the Universe concerning how things would turn out on specific issues such as the emergence of certain heroes seemed kind of lame; Jor-El addresses this as much though in questioning their powers to do so. I learned Green Arrow's origin from this book which I had never known before, so that was an interesting bonus.

I had been waiting for Luthor to turn on the El's. I didn't catch his double meaning response to the Lex-gel incident until I went back after finishing the story.

I figured Brainiac wouldn't become "evil" because Jor-El had been with B the entire time, but once I read Luthor gave B the 13th level upgrade, I knew shit was gonna go down.