Review: Superman- Krypton Returns

Quick Summary

Pros: The beginning of the book is good and delves into some interesting pieces of planet Krypton’s history.

Cons: The plot relies heavily on coincidence and flimsy, unexplained character motivation. The majority of the book’s second half is either boring or worse. H’el is simply a bad villain.

Overall: Though not as bad as its predecessor, Krypton Returns is not the story that Superman fans have been waiting for. It starts out alright and builds up some legitament excitement. However, any hope that this will be a good story is dashed as the book reaches the halfway point and nearly all aspects of the plot begin to deteriorate. Overall this is another messy crossover that gives readers little to celebrate.

Story

Superman: Krypton Returns sees the return of characters and story elements from one of the worst recent Superman stories, Superman: H’el on Earth (Review). Surprisingly, it ends up being a significant improvement on the earlier story; unsurprisingly, it still falls short of being a good comic book. This is a book that delves into some interesting lore and backstory behind the planet Krypton and its destruction. However, it is brought down by an uninteresting main storyline and a terrible villain. If you are one of the few who loved Superman: H’el on Earth (Review), then this story will be perfect for you. Everyone else should prepare to be underwhelmed.

(spoilers start here)

This book starts out with the #0 issues of the Superman, Superboy, and Supergirl series. These three issues each present a snapshot of a different point in the history of the planet Krypton. These specific snapshots are important later in the story as they become the setting for the heroes’ trips into the past.

For the most part, these #0 issues lean positive and are enjoyable to read. The lore behind Supergirl’s journey home, the Kryptonian clone war, and Superman’s parents is great. In particular, seeing Superman’s mom and dad as more well rounded and developed characters was a real treat. These issues are fun and get you excited for what is to come.

Unfortunately, this excitement dies quickly as the story quickly goes downhill. The next issues tells the story of H’el and how he came to be. H’el and the readers learn that his previous backstory was all a lie and that his existence was simply the result of a science experiment gone wrong. Instead of reacting to this in any meaningful way, H’el decides to kill his creator and conquer the planet Krypton. No only does this not make much sense, but the motivations behind it are never fully explained.

After this, Superman, Superboy, and Supergirl are assembled by a mysterious being known only as “the Oracle.” From here they are given missions and sent into moments of Krypton’s past to stop H’el from destroying time itself.

Superboy and Supergirl’s missions are both incredibly generic and mostly just involve them beating up the enemies who come out to fight them. Then, the pair have to fight H’el, who has somehow split his essence across the time stream in a way that does not entirely make sense. Both stories are below average, with Supergirl’s being made worse by the reminder of her previous romance with H’el (see our H’el on Earth review here to see why this is such a bad thing).

Superman’s story starts out interesting as he is able to interact with his mother before he is even born. Yet this meeting is cut short and is completely underdeveloped. However, he is still able to interact with an alternate timeline’s version of his father. This team-up ends up being alright and definitely has its moments.

The end of the story sees H’el defeated by Superman and his father. In addition to the ending being lackluster at best, it has Superman refuse to kill H’el as he has a rule against killing. Yet his solution for dealing with H’el is to trap him in a “perpetual loop of freezing and thawing for time immemorial.” To me, it seems like this may be actually be the more cruel and unusual punishment for Superman to dole out.

The only good part about the book’s conclusion is that Superboy is given a heroic and thematically justified ending. He dies saving Argo City and knowing that he is not the “living weapon” that he was designed to be. It is a sweet ending that honestly deserves more attention here, yet is overshadowed by the final showdown between Superman and H’el.

(spoilers end here)

Art

As is typical for crossover events, this book features a host of different artists all working together on one storyline. Some of these artists are great, with Kenneth Rocafort and Mahmud Asrar standing out specifically. However, some of them are either not good or average, with R.B. Silva and Paulo Siqueira being examples of this. Together this collage of art is jarring. Quality jumps despite the story being uninterrupted and makes the collection feel pieced together rather than a cohesive unit. Crossover events need to either maintain a single artist or match the style better, because this mismash of art leaves much to be desired.

Continuity

This is a crossover story which combines the backstories and plotlines from three different series: Superman, Superboy, and Supergirl. Thus readers should at least be somewhat familiar with these characters in order to understand where they are coming from as this collection begins. Put specifically, this story flows directly from the events of Superman Vol. 4: Psi War (Review), Supergirl Vol. 4: Out of the Past, and Superboy Vol. 4: Blood and Steel. However, these stories really only serve to explain each character’s situation at the very beginning of this crossover, as they quickly enter new situations as the story progresses.

This volume also references and continues the stories from many other comic books, all of which are detailed below.

• Many references are made to H’el’s last appearance in comics. This happens in Superman: H’el on Earth (Review).
• The ultimate fate of the Kryptonian city of Argo was shown in Supergirl Vol. 1: Last Daughter of Krypton (Review)