Art by Pete Woods and Ron Randall
Cover by Gary Frank
Variant cover by Joe Kubert
Plot: The moon of Jupiter is on a collision course with New Krypton! Superman and his military team fly in to avert this catastrophe. While this is going on, the Thanagarians observe how the Kryptonians behave and make some plans of attack against the residents of New Krypton. The last page of this issue brings in some unknown alien army ready to duke it out for what looks like ownership rights of New Krypton.
My Thoughts: a lot of good points, and a lot of bad points. To start off, I loved how reminiscent this issue was of the classic space operas. So much of it reminded me of the film Flash Gordon due to the winged Thanagarians and the cosmic battle happening outside an alien ship. Cleverly drawn fight scenes by woods and Randall also amplified the intensity and classic feel to the book. However, Giving it this space opera feel did not hurt the story either. Most space operas I’ve seen have been corny and poorly done, but Rucka and Robinson wrote the story with an elegance and artistry that made this issue stand apart from issue’s # 1 – 8.
I was also impressed by the intelligent level of scientific explanations that were given for the Nth metal in relation to Jupiter’s moon, Callisto. This not only gave it an interesting twist, but also added some realism and believability to the story.
Now, I found it odd how there was no real explanation for why the Thanagarians were attacking and what their motivation was. And the unique way the Thanagarians phrased their sentences was peculiar, which made them come off as unintelligent. It makes me wonder how the heck Hawkman’s as well spoken as he is! I’m not sure if I like the depiction of the Thanagarians and would hope that, if decided to use this race of aliens more extensively in future stories, DC would try a new approach to make the winged species more interesting and fun.
Overall: a fair issue. If the Thanagarian people didn’t seem to be pointless in the story, and more explanation was given as to why they were attacking Kryptonians, I think this issue could have been on the top ten list for comics this month. I do think however the idea of making it a space opera was genius and it makes me hope for a DC title that is nothing but a well-written space opera!
2 out of 5 stars
Next Month: Superman World of New Krypton #9 (of 12)
Humans and Kryptonians are the only two races in our solar system, right? Wrong! Jemm, Son of Saturn, ruler of the super-powered Saturnian race, arrives in Kandor demanding answers to New Krypton's recent actions – answers he intends to get even if he has to fight his way through Commander Kal-El and the entire Kryptonian army!
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