World of Krypton #1 (December 1987)
World of Krypton #1 (December 1987)
A tale of Superman’s great great great granddaddy, Van-L. Back in Man of Steel #1 we saw Krypton as a desolate planet populated by cold scientists dressed in futuristic nun habits – thousands of years earlier, however, it was a vibrant world full of bare-chested people flying around in purple ships. At this point in history Kryptonians had perfected a method of renewing their organs, becoming practically immortal. The only problem was that this was achieved by harvesting organs from clones who spent their entire lives trapped in pods, waiting for the day when someone would come to steal their esophagus.
Obviously, not everyone in Krypton was cool with clones being used for spare parts, leading to huge protests in the world’s capital, the non-bottled city of Kandor. The issue ends when a grisly discovery (see the WTF section below) elevates the tensions and leads to a full-on war for the rights of the clones.
Character-Watch:
Introducing two members of Superman’s family album: Van-L and his father Ran-L (the family later changed the last name to “El” to sound less ethnic). Van is a family name, apparently, because that’s what Superman’s son was named in Alan Moore’s classic For the Man Who Has Everything.
Plotline-Watch:
World of Krypton is the first of three miniseries fleshing out different aspects of the Superman mythology. This is the best of the three minis for two reasons: 1) that sweet, sweet Mike Mignola art and 2) the backstory told here will actually have an impact in present-day plotlines. For instance:
You Can’t Clone a Kryptonian: In MoS #5 an attempt to clone Superman results in a deformed Bizarro atrocity because of his alien physiology. This issue establishes that you can clone a Kryptonian, which will become relevant once Superman kicks the bucket and people start looking into a replacement.
WTF-Watch:
The thing that causes the Kryptonian war? A mother taking her own clone out of its pod and tricking her son into dating it. I mean, her. I mean, herself. This proves that clones do have minds (and civil rights), and also that John Byrne’s imagination is a scary place.
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