Superman: Last Son of Earth #1

[lordultimus]

17 out of 51 pages.

Comments

[cricharddavies]

I think that this can only be read as Steve Gerber's gigantic F-U to post-Crisis Krypton, just as his last Phantom Zone story was a gigantic F-U to the continuity reboot in general. I approve!

[thatnickguy]

What was his Phantom Zone story? I don't think I'm familiar with it.

[cricharddavies]

He wrote two, of which the first was one of the first mini-series ever published by DC, The Phantom Zone (1982), which explored the origins and nature of the titular region as well as making the Phantom Zone villains genuinely terrifying. The sequel to that was published in 1986 in the last issue of DC Comics Presents, the last pre-Crisis Superman story.

[tcampbell1000]

Not sure this is an F-U to the *concept,* because IIRC, this Krypton's sterility was never shown as something to aspire to.

[cricharddavies]

Consider how easily Krypton's doom is averted.

[tcampbell1000]

Sure? I mean, here's what John Byrne had Jor-El say in MAN OF STEEL #1, which introduced this new Krypton to the world, shortly after he says "We about to go boom":

"Perhaps it is fitting, Lara. As you say, we control the planet. We have filled every nook and cranny, conquered and harnessed every force of nature, and in the end, what have we achieved? Sterility. A cold and heartless society, stripped of all human feeling, all human passion and life." There's not really a lot of room in the story to disagree with him, either.

Having this Kal-El save the planet because of his curiosity and passion, leaving Jor-El to reflect on how it probably would have died if Kal hadn't gone off "wasting his time," actually seems pretty faithful to Byrne's concept to me.

[lamashtar]

The solution Kal-El uses is precisely the solution that Green Lantern Tomar Re realized would have saved Krypton in the normal universe. Its an elegant point to create a universe where someone actually used the idea in time, instead of fate constantly getting in the way.

[michaelsaint]

I really liked this story too. It gets even better in the second issue when Kal-El returns to Earth.

The Green Lantern ring was a nice plot device too.

[wizardru]

I was totally unaware this even existed. This is one the cleverest Elseworld inversions of the Superman concept that I've seen. But how will he go to Earth? Didn't it get destroyed at the start?

[locuatico]

Spoilers for the next one.

It wasn't.
The meteor DID hit Earth, but the end result was your classic post-apocalyptic setting rather than the end of all life on earth.

[byc]

And then he met Mad Max...

It'd be silly fun, but nowadays I think prefer silly fun.

[tcampbell1000]

Yeah, this has just about everything that other story didn't. Though it's still a pretty big leap to turn Jonathan and Martha into astrophysicists.

[erikred]

Plenty of fictional precedent for the rural hobbyist rocketeer, including Salvage 1, with Andy Griffith:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvage_1

https://youtu.be/xHUWlEB6N1s

(Warning: the latter link is a series of clips of the pilot, scored with NSYNC's Space Cowboys.)

[bradygirl_12]

Ah, the Byrne version of Krypton. Reminds you of Vulcan.

I always thought the Silver/Bronze Age version made you mourn the loss of Krypton with its vibrant civilization, Jewel Mountains, Scarlet Jungle, and all the rest, but this sterile Krypton...meh! :)

For all the Silver Age's flaws, they did make Krypton a fascinating place.

[lamashtar]

I agree. Krypton becomes a source of supervillainy plot arcs post-Crisis. Which is convenient for superheroism, but degrades the sense of tragedy of Superman's origin. You end up thinking "you know, he's probably better off."