Comic Book Review: Action Comics #873: New Krypton

The end of the New Krypton story is finally here. For the most part, The Revolution has enjoyed this story. Johns and Robinson have done an excellent job handling this multi-title story and making sure that the story is incredibly consistent no matter which writer was handling a specific issue.

Many multi-title stories tend to get a bit disjoined and schizophrenic. Not New Krypton. Johns and Robinson clearly spent the time and effort plotting out and drafting a story that would remain consistent between all of the titles impacted by the New Krypton story. I am confident that Johns will deliver a solid ending to the New Krypton story. Let’s do this review for Action Comics #873.

Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Pete Woods, Renato Guedes & Wilson Magalhaes

Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8.5 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: We begin with General Lane and Lex watching news reports of Supergirl turning on Superman. Lane smiles as he says that Kandor has officially declared war. Lex comments how Lane is happy that it has all gone the way Lane wanted it to. Lex says that is why Lane sent Doomsday and the men with the Kryptonite hearts after the Kryptonians.

Lane responds that what kills you makes you stronger. That is true in Doomsday’s case and in Lane’s case as well. Lex urges Lane to unchain him and allow Lex full access to the lab and the associates here in the facility so that he can help Lane defeat the Kryptonians. Lex says that he defeated Zod and that only Lex can save Earth now.

Lane rebuffs Lex’s offer. Lane says that Lex just wants to feed his ego and be the man who saved Earth so that they build a statue of him. Lane says that Lex’s first mistake is making this all about himself and his second mistake is his hurry. That Lex wants to destroy Superman so quickly. Lane states that he knows that to truly kill Superman that it must be done slowly.

We cut to outside Kandor where the combined forces of the JSA and the JLA are battling the Kandorians. Kara apologizes to Superman for hitting him. We see the magical based heroes (Zatanna, Captain Marvel, Thunderbolt, Zatarra and Dr. Fate) gathering and preparing their attack on the Kryptonians.

We cut to Allura deep inside Kandor activating some mysterious machine. We slide back to the magical based heroes. They form a circle and then Captain Marvel yells “Shazam!” and summons his magical lightning. The combined powers of the heroes in the circle channel and focus the magical lightning and use the lightning to blast all of the Kandorians.

The Kandorians fall to the ground. The remaining Kandorians quickly fly away. We then see Kandor suddenly rip free from the ground and rise up into the air. A massive engine lifts Kandor into the sky. Kandor is covered by a protective dome.

Supergirl remembers her father telling her to look after her mother. Supergirl tells Superman that she has to go. Allura opens up the dome enough for Supergirl to fly into Kandor. The dome is then sealed so Superman cannot enter the city.

Allura tells Superman that the Kryptonians are no longer welcome on Superman’s planet. And that Superman will not be welcome on the Kryptonians’ planet. We see the city of Kandor blast off into space. The city of Kandor then begins to form a brand new planet.

We then see New Krypton fully formed. New Krypton is in orbit directly opposite of Earth. That way when Earthlings look up into the sky they cannot see New Krypton because it is on the other side of the sun.

We then get narration between Lois and Lana summing up what happened next. They talk about how people of Earth first hoped that Kandor would mean thousands of Supermen protecting Earth. Now, the people of Earth are calling for a ban on Kryptonians with Superman as the only exception. That people are claiming that New Krypton is harboring super-powered terrorists. That people want Earth’s governments to prepare for another attack.

Lois says that Superman can still bring out the best in Kandor. That Superman can bring peace between the two worlds. Lois says that Supergirl will also help get humans and Kryptonians to live together in peace. Lana counters with the fact that humans cannot live with each other in peace. And humans never have. Lana says that Clark is a miracle worker not a god.

We see that Lois and Lana are with Ma Kent at the Kent farm in Smallville. We see Clark outside the house standing next to Jonathon Kent’s grave. Lois mentions that she should go be with Clark. Martha tells Lois to let Clark have some time alone with his father.

We cut to Clark remembering his father telling him “If there are people that need help, you do what you always do. Don’t let anyone or anything get in your way.” Clark looks at Jonathon’s grave and says “I won’t, Pa.” Clark rips off his cloths and blasts off. Superman says “No matter who it is.”

We shift to Agent Liberty sneaking into the government facility where Lane and Lex are working. Agent Liberty hears Lex say that he thinks he is beginning to understand General Lane about killing Superman slowly. General Lane says that they will kill Superman slowly from the inside out.

Suddenly, a shadowy figure appears behind Agent Liberty. We see two beams of heat vision blast Agent Liberty’s head. Agent Liberty falls to the ground dead. We see Superwoman standing there with her eyes glowing red. Superwoman says “Intruder alert.”

We zip over to New Krypton. Allura tells Kara that she will hear no more talk about Kal-El. Allura says that Kal-El is not like them. That Kal-El is human at his core. Allura says that Kara will bring honor back to the House of El. Supergirl flies off and then Allura enters a building.

Inside the building stands Zod, Non and Ursa. Zod says that he does not trust Supergirl. Allura says that Kara was under the influence of Kal-El. But, that Kara will listen now and that Kara will be a loyal soldier. Zod answers “Yes. And I will be her general.” End of issue.

The Good: Action Comics #873 was an exciting finish to the New Krypton story. Johns delivers his usual well crafted dialogue. The character work was quite enjoyable. I liked how Johns reveals General Lane to be such a cold and calculating villain even compared to Lex Luthor. Johns does a fine job contrasting the soldier mentality of Lane’s approach with the egotistical approach of Lex Luthor.

What is so interesting is that Lane is not seeking any personal gain at all in his desire to take down Superman. Lane truly believes that what he is doing is the for greater good of his country and for mankind. Luthor, on the other hand, clearly only wants to dispose of Superman for his own personal gratification. Lex may talk about how much he wants to help mankind and how Superman is detrimental to mankind since Superman makes humans irrelevant. But, the fact remains that Lex really is only obsessed with taking down Superman because of Lex’s ego.

Johns continues to nicely handle Supergirl’s struggle over which side of her family she should support. Supergirl’s mind tells her that she should be siding with Kal-El. However, Supergirl’s heart tells her that she should be siding with Allura.

Even though the reader knows that Allura is the clear villain and that Kara is making the wrong choice by siding with her mother, Johns manages to do it in a fashion that Kara does not look like a total villain. The reader understands that it is almost impossible to expect a child to turn their back on their parent.

I continue to be impressed with how Johns has handled the father and son relationship between Jonathon and Clark. Johns has absolutely nailed the important role that Jonathon has played in Clark’s life. The scene with Clark at Jonathon’s grave was quite touching.

Jonathon’s words serve as an anchor to ground Clark in these troubled times as well as inspiration to spur him on to do what he must do despite who he must cross. Clark squaring his jaw and renewing his commitment to his task after visiting his father’s grave was perfect. I loved Clark being a good son and dutifully following his father’s advice.

The moments when Clark is with his parents, and in particular his father, are when the reader truly realizes that Clark is not Kryptonian. Yes, biologically, Clark is alien. But, Clark’s heart and soul is 100% human.

Johns continues to show that this one critical differences is what makes Kal-El so special and why even though there may be an entire of city of Kryptonians back in the DCU, that there still can only ever be one Superman. No other Kryptonian is capable of being Superman.

Action Comics #873 was well plotted. Johns does a fine job seamlessly building off the prior story arcs. Johns takes the General Zod story arc and the Brainiac story arc and weaves them into the ending to the New Krypton story arc in order to serve as a strong foundation for the future of this title.

Action Comics #873 is a balanced issue. This issue is not all about character work. Johns treats the reader to an enjoyable brawl between the JLA/JSA and the Kryptonians. I enjoyed the use of the magical based heroes and their creative attack on the Kryptonians.

For me, the most jaw dropping part of this issue was when Kandor activated its city engines and blasted off into space. And then the even more exciting pat was when Kandor proceeded to re-create the planet Krypton. I loved it. I know that this was not a “swerve” or a “surprise.” I think that most readers saw the creation of New Krypton coming. After all, it is in the title of this story.

Still, even though this was a predictable plot development, it was still rather dramatic and served as a nicely climactic ending to this story. Johns pulled this momentous occasion off quite well. This is exactly the impressive return that Krypton deserved. Johns succeeded in getting the reader to fully realize what an amazing moment in the history of the DCU this was.

I liked that New Krypton is placed in direct orbit with Earth on the other side of the sun so that Earth cannot see New Krypton. This emphasizes the hostile relationship between the two planets. I am definitely curious to see what Johns has in store for New Krypton and its impact on the DCU.

Johns ends Action Comics #873 with an excellent double hook ending. First we got the shocking scene of Superwoman killing Agent Liberty. Now, we do not know if this is the real Superwoman or a clone or android designed to sow the seeds of mistrust among our heroes. However, I would not at all be surprised for this to be the real Superwoman and that she is merely a mole created by General Lane for the purpose of getting close to Kal-El and Kara and then hurting them.

Second, we got the stunning reveal that Allura has freed Zod, Non and Ursa from the Phantom Zone. And on top of it, Zod is once again the General of the Kryptonian military. And it is completely understandable that Allura would turn to Zod at what she perceives New Krypton’s time of need. After all, while the reader views Zod as a terrible villains, it must be remembered that to a Kryptonian Zod is one of their greatest heroes.

I am also interested in Allura’s statement to Zod that Supergirl will be a loyal soldier. I have a hard time seeing Kara following Zod’s command. This certainly shall be juicy plotline.

The Bad: I have to admit that I am a bit tired of Johns’ repetitive use of racist/xenophobic storylines. Johns makes a point of Lois going on about how she wishes that humans and Kryptonians could live together in peace. Johns also has the people of Earth calling for a ban on all Kryptonians.

We already got a racist/xenophobic storyline during the Legion of Super Heroes story arc on Action Comics. It looks like we are headed for another heaping helping of it once again with this current direction of Action Comics with the return of New Krypton.

Overall: Action Comics #873 was a nice dramatic and satisfying end to the New Krypton story arc. Johns also does a good job teasing the reader with a great double hook ending concerning the events that will spin our of New Krypton’s creation. If you missed out on the New Krypton story I would recommend picking up the trade paperback whenever DC publishes it. New Krypton was a solid super hero story that should appeal to most fans of the DCU.