Review: Kneel Before Zod #5

Kneel Before Zod # 5 came out last week, another issue dominated by Zod mowing through people in a rather gruesome fashion. This seems to be a sort of pattern of the book. There are a few crumbs of plot and characterization among the pages of violence.

I understand this is a General Zod book. So I knew violence was going to happen. Writer Joe Casey is filling in some history of Zod, showing maybe how he became what he is. We continue to see the sort of Jor-El obsession Zod has. And Casey does a great job of including some Kryptonian lore and some DC alien races, giving this a bit of depth. But these feel like crumbs. Last issue was dominated by pages of Zod just killing Khunds. This issue is dominated by pages of Zod killing Kaffarians. I need a bit more.

This also starts the book on a whole new direction which means all the plots we started on New Kandor in the first 4 issues seem to be in the rear view mirror unless we get back there. 

It all means I kind of don't know what to make of this series so far, a mix of an interesting look at Zod in the midst of countless pages of gore.

Dan McDaid continues to bring a nice rough feel to the proceedings. Zod is monstrous in this, still devastated by the explosion last issue. McDaid adds some nice flourishes to panels, having the art add to the mood. I love his scenes on Krypton. And the long violent scenes are beautifully horrifying. 

But I do wish the issues had some more story in them.

On to the issue.

Bits Of Doomed Not Commented On Yet

One of the things that happens when you review a bunch of books and limit yourself to a maximum number of scans per issue is that things you really wanted to talk about get pushed to the side.

Superman:Doomed is big enough that there have been a couple of things that when I first read the issues I wanted to comment on but didn't or forgot or pushed aside.

There have also been a couple of things I hadn't noticed, which commenters on this site pointed out to me which I thought I would share more broadly. Thanks to everyone who chimes in here as I think it helps me see things from a different perspective or get a better grip of some finer points!

So some Bits of Doomed - never before discussed.

The first is the change in cover on Superman/Wonder Woman #9. The originally solicited cover is directly above. On this cover, it looks like Diana and Supergirl are working in tandem, chasing Superman to try to help.

The released cover is at the top of the post with Supergirl now shooting heat vision at Superman. The direction of the beams seems incongruous with Kara's head position and (I think) sully the composition of the cover. And I don't know why Kara needs to constantly be attacking her cousin.

I don't think this was an improvement.

I'd like to thank blog-friend Supertorresmo for pointing out something crucial in Superman/Wonder Woman #9 as well. With Superman pummeling Hessia, Wonder Woman feels compelled to stand up to him. Somehow she is able to match his power despite his being in full Super-Doom mode.

Supertorresmo pointed out that in this battle Diana has removed her gauntlets which makes unleashes her full god power. That explains the different coloring of Wonder Woman here. This is a nice touch as it shows continuity with the Azzarello main title.

I will admit I didn't notice it. An exposition balloon of some type would have been exceedingly helpful.

In Superman #31, we get a glimpse at some of the technology that Shay Veritas has stashed in The Block.

The red waterfall-like object on the far right caught my eye when I read the issue. Veritas talks about these items are from the 'omniverse'. Could this be some sort of small version of the Kryptonian Fire Falls?

As long time readers of this blog know, I am a huge fan of the Fire Falls.

I have covered appearances of the falls in the Silver, Bronze, Modern, and New 52 eras of DC comics. I even mentioned them in the Sterling Gates Man of Steel Prequel comic.

The Falls have been a plot device in the past, even curing Supergirl of a demonic possession. Could they be used here?

Lastly, in Action Comics #32, we see Krypto alive and seemingly well in the Arctic.

Remember, you heard it here first. Krypto surviving exposure to the Doomsday virus will be used in the finale of Doomed.

Okay, that's all the extra bits!

Man Of Steel Prequel Re-visited

I know that I just covered the Man of Steel prequel comic just a couple of days ago here but after reading it in its entirety I just had to cover a couple of things I didn't get to show closely the first time.

But before I get there, I had to thank everyone here who helped me actually get to see this thing from sending me unused codes from the early admission tickets (thanks Kent!) to sending me to websites where the book was already pulled down to finally getting me to see it all. I love the Supergirl community here and just want to thank everyone for helping me out!

Now I fervently hope that this ends up being in print and more widely distributed than just to those WalMart ticket buyers because this is truly an excellent Supergirl story. If this is the first exposure that someone has to Kara Zor-El, they are going to come away impressed because she is smart, strong, and determined throughout this story. It also has some hopeful moments ... things that make me think that maybe, if the stars align, we will again see Supergirl on the big screen.

I shouldn't be surprised when I see that the script was done by Sterling Gates. He always showed those traits in Supergirl during his run. Writing her again must have been a treat.

But look at the other credits! This story of Kara is by David Goyer, Geoff Johns, and Zack Snyder. They also must have that understanding of who Supergirl is. Just fantastic.

I know I shared some pages last time but here a few more panels that Supergirl fans need to see.

The story starts with some sort of military expedition in the wilderness, some sort of survival training to see who will pass and become a Kryptonian space pioneer. I guess it makes sense to make sure there is a sort of Bear Grylls 'Man versus Wild' ingenuity of these candidates if they are heading to a alien world. And Gates sprinkles lots of Easter Eggs in the story including a shot of the Fire Falls.

Since only four of these candidates will get picked, Dev-Em decides to move the odds in his favor by killing the other troops. That includes Kell-Ur, Kara's significant other. She watches him die while remembering how they talked of traveling the starways together.

Not only is Kara one of these trainees, she assumes to role of leader. And when she learns of Dev-Em's treachery, she takes matters into her own hands, beating him up and capturing him.

While Dev-Em gets sentenced to life imprisonment, Kara ends up graduating and being picked for space exploration.

On top of that she gets 'The Star of Rao', the highest distinction on Krypton for her impeccable scholastics and capturing Dev-Em. So Supergirl is a smart and strong hero on her own world.

Well, as we know, Dev-Em escapes somehow, gets on Kara's ship, and kills her crew while she remains in suspended animation.

While in suspended animation, Kara has a dream sequence where she is able to save Kell-Ur from falling to his death.

I find it absolutely fascinating that the script calls for her to dream of flying and saving him, under a yellow sun no less. This had the feeling of foreshadowing to me, as if this is to set up her heroics in the future. There is really no other reason for this to be there ... right?

She awakens from sleep to find that Dev-Em has killed the crew and taken to the ship to the Sol system. The two fight and it becomes apparent they have super powers in our galaxy. Punches dent walls. And the only thing that Kara can use to hurt Dev-Em is the sunstone her parents gave her.

The super-powered brawl destabilizes the ship such that it is forced to crash on Earth. Amazingly, Kara jumps into the pilot's seat and flies the thing to the northern area of Canada. Again, another nice moment of bravery and intestinal fortitude on her part. But, she crashes in what seems to be prehistoric time, cave dwellers painting the S-shield on their walls.

It is an ambiguous ending in terms of Dev-Em and Kara's fate. If they have powers, should they survive the crash? The ship says it is attempting self-repairs. Could Kara re-freeze herself? Or do we assume they die in the crash?

Regardless, the ship starts calling out to Clark.

What a fabulous Supergirl story! Kara is smart, strong, resourceful, and gutsy. She is a leader and a hero. I loved this! Kudos to Goyer, Johns, Snyder, and Sterling Gates.

Jerry Ordway does an excellent job on art here, no big surprise, handling the alien areas of Krypton and the interior of the ship perfectly.

I am not expecting much in the actual Man of Steel movie in terms of Supergirl. But if this is percolating in the back of the film creators' minds, we might have a nice surprise at some point!

Map Of Krypton

We have been seeing a bit more of Krypton this month what with Supergirl #0 and Superman #0 being primarily set on the planet. We also witnessed the clone uprising in Superboy #0 as well.

With that in mind I thought I would post a Silver Age map of Krypton.

I think it is pretty interesting to see how many of these Kryptonian landmarks and ideas have survived over time, having been utilized in the pre-Crisis world, the Modern Age of comics, and now the New 52.

My favorite landmark on Krypton has to be the Fire Falls. I covered some of the more memorable and recent Fire Fall stories over time on the blog. You can get to those posts here. The Falls have survived all the ages and were just seen in June in Supergirl #10.

Argo City also has had a pretty storied comic history. The concept of Zor-El encasing the city in a shield to survive Krypton's destruction has also survived the various reboots the DCU has gone through.

And even the shrunken city of Kandor in the end has been seen in the Silver Age, Modern Age, and DCnU.

Fort Rozz was seen last in the New Krypton story arc as being a citadel/jail that was flung into the Phantom Zone in its entirety. And the concept of 'weather control towers' was seen just a couple of weeks ago in Superboy #0.

I guess if I am a proud enough geek to have a favorite Kryptonian landmark then I should be proud enough to admit I have a second favorite too. There will always be a soft spot in my heart for the Scarlet Jungle, only because of the great Alan Moore story in DC Comics Presents #85.

I found this map in reprinted Superman Annual #1. The reprint was released in 1998. The original was published in 1960.

Will other parts of historical Krypton be seen in the DCnU?

Does anyone else have a favorite spot on Krypton?

Review: Supergirl #10

Supergirl #10 came out this week and for me was something of an up and down issue for me.

There was a lot of good stuff here, small nuggets that continue to build the foundation of this Supergirl's mysterious origin. Most of that is revealed in the opening scene of the comic. And Supergirl continues to show that her heart is in the right place, risking herself to fight the villain and save the innocent.

But the bulk of the issue takes place within the nightmare world inside the Black Banshee. And since we are in a dream world, basically all bets are off. Physical laws are somewhat meaningless. Thought can become a sort of reality. So the big battle lost some of its tension. The fight itself is inspiring, Kara using every skill she knows to try to get back to Earth. But I felt I simply needed to roll with whatever happened since this was a mutable place. Still, Kara definitely plays the hero here, showing some internal fortitude to keep her wits about her.

Michael Green and Mike Johnson continue to tease us with snippets of Kara's past which I continue to shuffle and reshuffle in my head to try to figure out just who this Kara is. Supergirl #0 is only three months away so things are building to a crescendo. I have to say slowly but surely this Supergirl is winning me over with her voice and actions.

And Mahmud Asrar continues to sparkle here. I have to praise colorist Dave McCaig as well for bringing the marker stylings of Asrar to life. In particular, the use of a dominant burnt orange on this cover, in contrast to the black of the dragon works wonderfully. It really stood out on the rack yesterday.

 Inside the nightmare world of the Banshee, Kara relives some memories from her time on Krypton.

First off, we see Kara being scanned by a gene-matcher on Krypton. It is implied that he somehow uses the information from the scan to pick an ideal mate for Kara, some sort of genetic match. This harkens back to a more sterile sort of Krypton, something more Byrne-like where there wasn't necessarily love or physical contact.

And I think you can glean a lot of information about how Kara feels about this by her reaction. She falls asleep. I don't think this was an important event for her. I doubt she is hoping for a computer-picked Prince Charming. She is more independent than that.

That memory swirls into a mother/daughter trip to the Fire Falls. Alura isn't happy with Kara's little nap.

So it is clear already that Kara's relationship with Alura is going to be complicated much as it was in the last Supergirl book. Zor-El  is training Kara to fight robots; Alura is arranging her marriage.

I am a big fan of the Fire Falls having written about them before. But here they are stunning cascades. Again, McCaig deserves a lot of the credit.

Kara  is angry about the whole thing. She didn't want to gene-scan to begin with and later states it is her choice.

But the more interesting part of this is Alura's comment above. She and Zor-El weren't gene-matched. They found each other ... uniquely. So what does that mean? Is it simply that Alura didn't abide to tradition that time but it was a one time thing. Therefore, Kara has to submit.

Or does it mean more? I keep worrying and wondering about Supergirl's origins. For example, is she made of 'world killer' tech. Could this 'unique' interaction be something more. That outside of the tradition, Zor and Alura were matched for potential super-gene offspring? It is all very Bene Gesserit/Kwisatz Haderach I know. I guess we'll see.

And yet, who knows if any of this conversation is real? This is a fever dream in the Banshee. Maybe these events didn't happen in this manner. In fact, Supergirl even realizes that these are warped memories remembering that she was absorbed.

And that leads to the arrival of the Banshee. He has taken the form of a flamedragon, a mythical monster from Kryptonian fairy tales.

This thing sort of has the feel of the Nightwing creature.

This whole opening memory scene is fantastic, adding another layer to the enigma of Kara's origins. I hope we see more of this mother/daughter relationship in the future. It speaks volumes that Kara's nightmare world is her spending time with Alura.

It does make me worry about one thing. I don't think I will be very happy if it turns out that Alura is the person who shot Zor-El, angered at Zor's plans for their daughter.

This is a dream world, so when faced with a dragon, Kara somehow thought-morphs her clothes into traditional armor. One thing I love about this panel ... it help explains those goofy boots of her current, more cermonial, outfit. The red coloration of the boot carries above the hinge of the joint but exposes another color when bent. That is a slick armor look and it mirrors her current open-kneed look.

Narrowly escaping this initial attack, Kara discovers another soul ... Thomas Smythe, Siobhan's brother.

Usually souls that the Banshee has absorbed don't manifest like Kara has; they are fully absorbed. And Thomas has been roaming around this nightmare world since he was also partially absorbed.

Supergirl realizes that she hasn't defeated the Banshee by overwhelming him with her power. He has to get out of this place to help Siobhan in the outside world.

Again, there isn't much explanation about why Kara or Thomas hasn't been fully subsumed. But I guess I can chalk it up to her power and his familial connection. 

 The Banshee tracks down both of the lost souls in his world, thrilled to find them both in one place so he can 'kill' them, taking them over completely. And, at least he explains why Thomas' sacrifice from last issue didn't work. The curse needed Black Banshee to absorb his kin who bore 'the mark', Siobhan.

In another one of those moments I have to simply accept, Supergirl uses some of her remaining 'yellow energy' to form a Kryptonian battle sword out of the air. And then she jumps to try to ride the dragon. It seems a bit crazy to think that she should be able to grab a dragon and stay seated on it while splitting her mind sword into two ... but she does it. And then she defeats the Banshee's dragon form, beheading it.

I suppose I should simply think that this shows how strong Kara is mentally, that she can bend this nightmare to her will, doing amazing things in the dream-Matrix. And again, the fact that she is willing to risk everything to help Thomas and Siobhan shows that this Supergirl is a hero.

The 'death' of the dragon affects the Black Banshee and Supergirl and Thomas are both spit out of his body.

And dazed, Siobhan takes advantage and uses her scream to absorb him.

Hmmmm ... do you think absorbing someone as evil as the Black Banshee is going to affect Siobhan in the future? Do you think that maybe she will veer towards super-villain now? Or at least struggle with those thoughts?

Great panel here by Asrar. You feel the effort behind that scream of the Silver Banshee.

But the reunion between friends and siblings has to be put on hold. Guess what happens!

The police/military show up and threaten Supergirl with 'lethal force'. It is enough to make me cry. Supergirl scoops up the Smythes and flies off.

So what have we learned. Kara has a strained relationship with her mother, perhaps one built on the conflict between societal expectations and personal dreams. Zor-El and Alura met in a unique way, which may portend nothing more than luck and love. And that Supergirl will continue to fight to protect people and to defeat evil. All of that was great.

The fight with the Black Banshee seemed a bit too easy and too short (perhaps because there were plenty of splashy pages limiting story telling). And I hope I can get through an issue without the police or the army threatening or attacking Supergirl.

Still, this Supergirl seems to be growing more and more into the sort of new hero I expect 'Supergirl' to be. Now if only she could communicate with people and stop being treated like a villain.

Overall grade: B/B+

Back Issue Box Review: Action #324 - The Fire Falls

I promised another peek back at the Kryptonian Fire Falls after my quick review a couple of weeks ago.

And so let's take a look at Action Comics #324. The story was written by Leo Dorfman and drawn by Supergirl legend Jim Mooney.



We saw the new Fire Falls earlier this month in the Superman:Secret Files 2009.

But I think that Action Comics #324 is the first appearance of this geographic area of Krypton.



The issue starts with Supergirl flying in India when she sees a snake charmer named Abdul who has been accidentally bitten by the poisonous serpent he was charming. Supergirl flies to his aid but she is too late to help him.

Just before dying he reveals to her a set of devil's horns under his turban. He gives her a ring, explaining that is how he obtained his magic powers. Of course, a small piece of the explanation of the ring falls off leading to some confusion later on.



Supergirl accepts the ring and flies off.

Before leaving, she sees his body placed on the funeral pyre, part of his land's customs.

Back in Midvale, Supergirl as Linda decides to investigate the ring she was given.

It is clear the ring is evil, forged in the likeness of the devil's face. There is even a cliched lightning strike as Linda opens the box.

But with great evil power comes great evil consequences. Should you use the ring three times, you will become a demon. The cure unfortunately was on the last line of the paper which blew away.

Supergirl resolves to simply not use the ring. No usage ... no possession.

But the best laid plans often go awry.

Almost immediately Supergirl has to use the powers of the ring to save Superman from a boulder of Kryptonite he stumbled upon in a cave.

The ring's powers manifest as skeletal hands which carry out the wish of the owner. Kara feels the chill of evil as she rescues her cousin.

Not much time passes before she is forced to use the ring again.

A violent rain storm has knocked out power in the town and washed out a bridge. Unfortunately, the governor was racing over the bridge to stop the prison execution of a man suddenly found innocent. Supergirl has her hands full fixing the bridge and therefore can't rush to the prison. With no phones and no bridge, the man is doomed.

Supergirl decides to use the power of the ring. I have to say this is a pretty creepy scene especially for the early 60's. As the man is being dragged to the chair, a death-like figure appears in the electric chair and receives the lethal voltage. The chair short-circuits. The man is spared until repairs can be made. Of course, before that happens, the Governor is able to cross the fixed bridge and exonerate the innocent man.

Still, that's two uses of the ring. The road to Hell is always paved with good intentions.

And, unfortunately for Supergirl, she once again needs to use the Satan ring to do good.

This time her father Fred Danvers suffers a massive traumatic brain injury when he gets in to a car accident. The neurosurgeons feel he is beyond help. But Supergirl wishes the ring to help the doctors and suddenly a miraculous and innovative life-saving surgery happens. Look at the doctor, eyes glazed and asking for instruments. Danvers is saved!

Alas, that is the third use. Supergirl is fated to become a demon.

Within the hour she sprouts devil horns and feels compelled to do 'fiendish deeds'.

Soon after, she is stirring a bubbling cauldron with a pitchfork. There is something so deliciously Silver Age about a devil-horned Supergirl making a witch's brew.

The brew will allow her to bring forth an evil super-demon. Before she can complete the spell, Superman arrives.

As much as Supergirl tries to fight the evil compulsions within her, she cannot.

She has the brew steal the sight of Superman, the scene represented on the cover.

Shaking off the evil influence for a short time, Kara tells Superman to stay in the Fortress of Solitude while she figures out a way to break the spell.

Temporarily in control of herself, Supergirl heads back to the site where she was given the ring. There she is able to find the last piece of the paper which says that only the purification of fire will cleanse her soul.

In fact, she finds Abdul alive and well! He has been cured and revived by the funeral pyre he was placed on!

Realizing there is a way to cure her, Supergirl stands in all manners of fire ... flames, a volcano ... all of which have no effect.

Flying into deep space, Kara comes across a small asteroid which has a blazing cascade of Kryptonite flames.

Unsure if she will survive the conflagration, Supergirl dives in. She falls unconscious from the heat and power. When she awakens, her horns have gone and she has been cured. After a quick flight back to Earth, Supergirl finds Superman has been returned to normal as well.

When Supergirl finally tells Superman the whole story, he realizes that Supergirl had bathed in the flames of the Fire Falls! Somehow the Fire Falls were flung from the exploding Krypton intact, their flames radioactively changed to a type of Kryptonite fire.

So the Fire Falls have had played a role in Supergirl's life throughout her history.

Even with the Fire Falls reference, this story doesn't have any major impact on Supergirl's history and therefore wouldn't be a crucial part of a Supergirl collection. That said, if (like me) you can't resist things like Supergirl stirring a cauldron with a pitchfork, it might be worth buying it if the price is right.

Overall grade: A (if nostalgic)

Review: Superman Secret Files 2009

Superman:Secret Files 2009 came out this week and sported a new red-colored triangle and numbered zero. Codename:Patriot is clearly being marketed by DC as a jumping-on point for the super-titles.

With plotlines weaving through 4 titles, Secret Files tried to tee things up for a new reader by mixing in Who's Who style pages, maps, and short stories to try to not only catch the new reader up to date but add something for the hard core reader.

I think the latter is a bit trickier for the creators. I don't necessarily need a Who's Who page to tell me who General Zod is. But a map of Metropolis and a Kara/Thara story might grab me.



Here is the Who's Who page for Supergirl. Her origin is reviewed with much of the text dedicated to the post New Krypton events. Remember, this is supposed to help out any new readers. One thing I did note was the fact that her 'Kryptonite poisoning' wasn't mentioned. I really think that we are looking at a new age for Supergirl. The early issues of the title have been acknowledged, dealt with, and probably won't need to be mentioned again.

I also wonder how an artist comes up with 'THE' pose for a character on one of these pages. You want the art to reflect who the character is at their core. Here it looks like Jamal Igle chose 'graceful' as the central feeling. Supergirl also looks happy, something else I like to see. That is really beautiful art.

But he easily could have chosen a more action-y pose, fists clenched, eyes glowing.

Similar pages are throughout the book including ones for the Science Police, Daily Planet staff, and Nightwing & Flamebird.



The main story for me in the book was the Kara/Thara Fire Falls story that was mentioned in the last issue of Supergirl. 'Blood Sisters' was written by Sterling Gates and Greg Rucka with art supplied by Fernando Dagnino.

It is something of a flashback story, taking place right after Zor-El's death. Remember, at that time Thara was head of Kandorian Security and therefore in charge of protecting Zor-El and Alura.

Clearly, Kara's would be an emotional wreck in that initial mourning period. She loved her father, thought he was dead, got reunited with him suddenly, only to have him die in her arms. I know I would be distraught and probably angry.

As a result, this initial lashing out at Thara makes some sense. Of course Kara would be looking to blame someone for her father's death and Thara is an easy target. Unfortunately, Thara can't explain why she wasn't right there to save Zor-El. I think she was on scene. Could she have been elsewhere in the guise of Flamebird and as a result not next to Zor?

While Supergirl storms off, Thara remembers a day from their past.



There are a lot of small flourishes in this story that I really liked.

For one, while I haven't been floored by Fernando Dagnino's art in the past, I thought this was his strongest effort. I especially liked how he was able to draw the younger versions of Kara and Thara while having them still resemble their older versions. I bet that is tougher that it seems. This isn't a generic kid; this is clearly a young Kara.

Second, I like how the future Guilds that each chose is foreshadowed in their actions here. I always assumed that Kara would pick the Artist's Guild. But in this story, Kara is clearly a scientist. We see her crack open her robot nanny and reprogram it, allowing the girls to slip off unsupervised to the Fire Falls.



And we have heard all along how devout Thara is as a person. She was part of the Religious Guild for a while and obviously is a holy enough vessel to house the Flamebird force. So it made sense to see her want to pray at the Fire Falls rather than immediately go exploring like Kara wants to.
Kara is overwhelmed by the geography and local fauna. Thara is overwhelmed by the grandeur.

I really liked how we are shown these early seeds and how they have blossomed in each young woman. Small touches like this really make for a satisfying product.



While Thara is meditating though, Kara gets into some trouble as she nearly gets eaten by a native giant bird. Luckily Thara is able to help rescue Kara. Thara douses the bird in some blood bloom juice, a known flammable liquid. Kara then ignites the bird while Thara lifts her to safety.

Hmmmm ... a flaming bird ... a Flamebird? Is there some importance to that for Thara's history? Or is it simply foreshadowing?

Safe at last, the two girls become literal blood sisters, holding their cut hands together and holding onto half of a blood crystal as a memento, a symbol of their friendship.

A friendship that appears over when Supergirl storms away from Thara after Zor-El's funeral.

I know that we have a couple of upcoming issues where Supergirl and Flamebird fight. I know that is coming. But I hope that there is more to their feud than just this rift. In the immediate aftermath of Zor-El's death I can understand Kara lashing out at everyone and everything. I would hope that with time that she would calm a bit, realizing that it really isn't Thara's fault.

Overall though, I thought this was a very good background story for both characters.

Just because I am an Ursa fan, I thought I would show some of her story written by Greg Rucka and pencilled by Pere Perez.

The story shows the Black Zero unit in their fight against Brainiac during the Kandor incident. There is a brutal two page spread showing the bloodshed and battle raging.

The story shows how that loss clearly that effected Ursa mentally. How that battle scarred her psychologically and made her lose her sense of self. With no internal compass she latched onto General Zod, defining herself through him. And with Zod near dead, Ursa wonders who she would be without him.

I don't know if I need all my villains to have some tragic background that made them the way they are. I actually don't mind having villains be villains simply because they are evil. But I thought this story helped soften some of the edges of Ursa just enough to make me feel a bit for her.

I went into this issue with no expectations. So I was pretty pleased with it, getting more out of it than I expected. The maps alone are worth perusing.

Overall grade: B+

Kryptonian Fire Falls

One of the more interesting panels from last week's Supergirl #43 was this one (cropped) where Kara, on her crest day, is seen giggling with Thara.

Kara then states that this was before the two of them went to the Fire Falls, before Thara saved her life. Certainly that sounds like an important event in the two friends' relationship. I have to assume we will see that story somewhere in the near future, maybe in the Secret Files issue?

Anyways, it got me to be thinking about the Fire Falls and Krypton and what I remember of them.

Here on this old (and most likely outdated) map of the 'New World' hemisphere of Krypton, we see the Fire Falls were located in the Scarlet Jungle in the middle of the continent of Lurvan.

This map was in 1981's Krypton Chronicles #2, written by E. Nelson Bridwell and drawn by Durt Swan. Chronicles was a 3 part miniseries in which Superman researched his family tree. The following story comes from the second issue as well and involves the Fire Falls.

One of Superman's ancestors was Hatu-El. He lived during the times when an alien race called the Vrangs had conquered Krypton.

A fellow slave aptly named Val-Lor stood up to the Vrangs and got executed for his insubordination. Inspired by Val-Lor, Hatu-El led a small rebellion. They killed their captors with stolen laser rifles from the Vrangs. Unfortunately, their weapons soon ran out of energy and it seemed that the rebellion was going to be squelched.

Hatu had the great idea to hide in the scarlet jungle near the Fire Falls, a place the Vrangs had not yet explored.

Jerry-rigging a small turbine, Hatu was able to use the energy of the Fire Falls to recharge the rebels weapons cache. If not for the Fire Falls, the rebellion would have failed.

Outnumbered and now outgunned by the Kryptonian rebels, the Vrangs where forced to flee the planet. Hatu-El had successfully freed all of Krypton! He deferred all congratulations saying that it was Val-Lor who was the real hero.

I will save my favorite Silver Age 'Fire Falls story' for a full review when we get the Thara/Kara story. But here is the cover for a tease.

Have there been any more recent depictions of the Fire Falls?
I have to say that I did not collect Superman titles for much of the early 2000's so I may have missed some.