"New Krypton" is a 2008–09 comic book

story arc A story arc (also narrative arc) is the chronological construction of plot in a novel or story. It can also mean an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, board games, vide ...

featuring character Superman, published by American company

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with their f ...

; it was written by

Geoff Johns Geoffrey Johns (born January 25, 1973) is an American comic book writer, screenwriter, and film and television producer. Johns's work on the DC Comics characters Green Lantern, Aquaman, Flash and Superman, has drawn critical acclaim. He se ...

, James Robinson and

Sterling Gates Sterling Gates (born March 1, 1981 in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is an American comic book and television writer. Early life Gates, whose father owned a used book store with a large selection of comics, became a comic book fan at a young age, describing hi ...

, with art by

Gary Frank Gary Frank may refer to: * Gary Frank (actor) (born 1950), American actor * Gary Frank (comics) Gary Frank (born 1969) is a British comics artist, notable for pencilling on ''Midnight Nation'' and '' Supreme Power'', both written by J. Mich ...

, Alex Ross, Renato Guedes,

Jamal Igle Jamal Yaseem Igle
. jamaligle.com. Retrieved November 28, 2012. is an American

Pete Woods Peter Woods is an American comic book artist, known for his work on titles such as '' Backlash'', ''Deadpool'', ''Robin'', ''Catwoman'', ''Amazons Attack'', and ''Action Comics''. Career Woods worked as an intern for Wildstorm comics in April 19 ...

. The arc is an inter-title

crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Albums and songs * ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album) * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album) * ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album) * ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...

, published in ''

Action Comics ''Action Comics'' is an American comic book/ magazine series that introduced Superman, one of the first major superhero characters. The publisher was originally known as National Allied Publications, and later as National Comics Publication ...

'', '' Superman'' and ''

Supergirl Supergirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original, current, and most well known Supergirl is Kara Zor-El, the cousin of superhero Superman. The character made her ...

''. The story features Superman coming to terms with the death of his

adoptive father Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...

while also dealing with 100,000

Kryptonian Kryptonians are a fictional extraterrestrial race within the DC Comics universe that originated on the planet Krypton. The term originated from the stories of DC Comics superhero, Superman. The stories also use "Kryptonian" as an adjective to ref ...

s now living on Earth as a result of the '' Brainiac'' story arc. This story begins a planned "link" on ''Action Comics'', ''Superman'', and ''Supergirl'' as part of their collective plans for Superman and his cast of characters through 2008 and beyond. The events of this story lead directly into the 12-part series '' Superman: World of New Krypton''.

Publication history

In the months before Johns started his ''Brainiac'' arc, and James Robinson took over writing duties on '' Superman'', both Johns and Robinson had made clear their plans for the ''Superman''-related titles following those arcs for the rest of

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...

onto the end of 2010. The plan was to link the three ''Super''-books (''

'', ''Superman'', and ''Supergirl''), allowing them to cross over more fluidly on a regular basis and also allowing the narratives to be tied together similar to a bi-weekly series. According to Johns, the plan was to make readers want to get the ''Super''-titles because they would not feel that "you HAVE to read, but that you WANT to read". Robinson also added that even though neither he nor Johns would be writing ''Supergirl'', they made it clear that they were still the advisors to the book's next ongoing writer,

. Gates, coming onto the ''Supergirl'' title with issue #34, has stated his intention of working with Johns and Robinson, stating:

Summary

Following the events of the "Brainiac" story arc, the entire city of Kandor now resides near the

Fortress of Solitude The Fortress of Solitude is a fictional fortress appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Superman. It is the place where Superman first learned about his true identity, heritage, and purpose on Ea ...

in the North Pole, populated by 100,000

Kryptonians Kryptonians are a fictional extraterrestrial race within the DC Comics universe that originated on the planet Krypton. The term originated from the stories of DC Comics superhero, Superman. The stories also use "Kryptonian" as an adjective to refe ...

. Although distracted by the recent death of Jonathan Kent, Superman attempts to aid the Kryptonians in their assimilation with the rest of the Earth, something very few Kryptonians seem interested in, including the city's leaders,

Zor-El Zor-El is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. A Kryptonian, he is the brother of Jor-El, husband of Alura, father of Supergirl, and paternal uncle of Superman. Traditional depictions of Zor-El in Go ...

and Alura, Supergirl's parents. After the first televised meeting between the

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...

and a delegation from Kandor is interrupted by a rampaging

Doomsday Doomsday may refer to: * Eschatology, a time period described in the eschatological writings in Abrahamic religions and in doomsday scenarios of non-Abrahamic religions. * Global catastrophic risk, a hypothetical event explored in science and fict ...

, Zor-El and Alura form a task force determined to preemptively end any future threat to Kandor by capturing Superman's worst villains and trapping them in the

Phantom Zone The Phantom Zone is a prison-like parallel dimension appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. It is mainly associated with stories featuring Superman. It first appeared in ''Adventure Comics'' #283 (April 1961), and was created by ...

. However, when several human police officers refuse to hand over the

Parasite Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted structurally to this way of lif ...

, they are killed by the task force, enraging Superman. At the same time,

Lex Luthor Alexander Joseph "Lex" Luthor () is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Lex Luthor originally appeared in '' Action Comics'' #23 (cover dated: ...

, who has been recruited by General Sam Lane to halt the Kryptonian "invasion", gains control of Brainiac and unleashes his robot army from within the depths of the alien's spaceship, currently being held in Kandor. During the fight,

Metallo Metallo () is a name used by multiple supervillains appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly as an adversary of Superman. Metallo is usually depicted as a cyborg with a kryptonite power source in his heart, which h ...

and

Reactron Reactron is a fictional supervillain who appears in comic books published by DC Comics, usually as an adversary of Supergirl. Publication history Reactron first appears in ''The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl'' #8 (June 1983), in a story writt ...

, who are working for Luthor and General Lane, are brought into Kandor as

Trojan horses The Trojan Horse was a wooden horse said to have been used by the Greeks during the Trojan War to enter the city of Troy and win the war. The Trojan Horse is not mentioned in Homer's ''Iliad'', with the poem ending before the war is concluded, ...

containing

kryptonite Kryptonite is a fictional material that appears primarily in Superman stories published by DC Comics. In its best-known form, it is a green, crystalline material originating from Superman's home world of Krypton that emits a unique, poisonous r ...

. Reactron manages to kill Supergirl's father, Zor-El. Alura's anger causes her to denounce humanity. Members of the

Justice League The Justice League (also known as The Justice League of America) are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). The team was conceived ...

and

Justice Society Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

arrive in Kandor, led by the

Guardian Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unite ...

demanding the city turn over those who murdered the police officers, and a large-scale battle erupts, with Superman in the middle. It only ends when Kryptonian scientists manage to use Brainiac's technology to lift Kandor off the Earth and grow an entirely new planet underneath it, called "New Krypton", on the other side of the solar system, directly opposite the Earth, and therefore hidden by the sun. Alura tells Superman that he is not welcome on New Krypton, although Supergirl takes up residence there with her mother. In the end, Alura frees

General Zod General Zod is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly known as an List of Superman enemies, adversary of the superhero Superman. The character, who first appeared in ''Adventure Comics'' #283 (April 1961 ...

from the Phantom Zone to help her lead their people.

New characters

''New Krypton'' introduced several new super-powered characters to the ''Superman'' universe. These characters are modern versions of older and, up until recently, mostly unused heroes. Nightwing and Flamebird A new

Nightwing Nightwing is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character has appeared in various incarnations; the identity was adopted by Dick Grayson when he left his role as Batman's vigilante partner Robin. Althoug ...

and

Flamebird Flamebird is the name used by six different fictional comic book characters who have appeared in books published by DC Comics, specifically from the '' Superman'' and ''Batman'' mythos. The primary character to use the Flamebird name is Bette Kane ...

first appeared in Superman's Fortress of Solitude guarding the Phantom Zone projector in order to prevent anyone loyal to General Zod from freeing the despot. Both Nightwing and Flamebird exhibit powers that are not inherent to normal Kryptonians: Flamebird shoots fireballs from her hand while Nightwing uses tactile

telekinesis Psychokinesis (from grc, ψυχή, , soul and grc, κίνησις, , movement, label=ㅤ), or telekinesis (from grc, τηλε, , far off and grc, κίνησις, , movement, label=ㅤ), is a hypothetical psychic ability allowing a person ...

. Unlike previous portrayals, Flamebird is female and is older than the teenage, male Nightwing. Starting with issue #875, they are the starring characters of ''

''. The origin of Nightwing and Flamebird was revealed in ''Action Comics Annual'' #12. Superwoman The mysterious, masked Superwoman demonstrates apparent Kryptonian abilities. She makes an effort to comfort Supergirl following her father's death. Although her true identity is initially unknown, her costume is similar to the

Kristin Wells Kristin Wells is a comic book character, the secret identity of one version of DC Comics Superwoman. Created by Superman comic writer Elliot S. Maggin, Wells first appeared in Maggin's novel ''Superman: Miracle Monday'' (1981); he later introduced ...

version of Superwoman. At the end of the New Krypton arc, Superwoman murders

Agent Liberty Agent Liberty (Benjamin Lockwood) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Dan Jurgens, he made his debut in ''Superman'' vol. 2 #60 (Oct. 1991), and was later given his own solo adventure in '' ...

, after catching him spying on General Sam Lane and Lex Luthor, calling out "Intruder Alert" as she does so. She is later revealed to be working for General Lane. Superwoman is the focus of the "Who is Superwoman?" arc in ''Supergirl''. She is revealed to be

Lucy Lane Lucy Lane is a fictional supporting character in DC Comics. She is the younger sister of Lois Lane, and one of several characters who have assumed the Superwoman identity. She was played by Maureen Teefy in the 1984 film ''Supergirl'' and Peyton ...

, Lois Lane's younger sister.

Planet New Krypton

The new Planet Krypton is created by Kryptonian scientists reportedly using Brainiac's technology along with Kryptonian crystal-growth technology to grow a planet underneath the city of Kandor, which resides under one of Brainiac's force-fields. The planet itself greatly resembles the Krypton of ''Superman the Movie'' in that it is a planet entirely covered in ice, with one lone city atop its North Pole. Its position, within our Solar System but opposite Earth, hidden by the sun, comes from the 1940s ''Superman'' radio show where the planet Krypton existed before its destruction. It is also inspired by the pre-Crisis Rokyn, which was likewise settled by the restored Kandorians. Unlike New Krypton, Rokyn orbited a red sun, so its inhabitants did not have superpowers.

Issue numbering

The story, ''New Krypton'', was featured as a crossover between the monthly '' Superman'', ''

'', and ''

'' titles. Each issue was branded with a green pentagon badge indicating what part of the story it was. The numbering continued after the series conclusion, until reaching number 35 with ''Superman'' issue number 690. The numbering was restarted, and the badge was made red, for the ''Codename: Patriot'' and '' Superman: Last Stand of New Krypton'' storylines. Rebadged with green badges: 0 – ''Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen Special'' #1 (set after ''Superman'' #680 but before ''Superman: New Krypton Special'' #1)
1 – ''New Krypton'' #1 (Also included in ''Superman: Brainiac'' TPB)
2 – ''Superman'' #681
3 – ''Guardian Special'' #1
4 – ''Action Comics'' #871
5 – ''Supergirl'' #35
6 – ''Superman'' #682
7 – ''Action Comics'' #872
8 – ''Supergirl'' #36
9 – ''Superman'' #683
10 – ''Action Comics'' #873
11 – ''Supergirl'' #37 (no shield number on cover)
12 – ''Superman'' #684
13 – ''Action Comics'' #874
14 – ''Supergirl'' #38
15 – ''Superman'' #685 (no shield number on cover)
16 – ''World of New Krypton'' #1
17 – ''Action Comics'' #875
18 – ''Supergirl'' #39
19 – ''Superman'' #686
20 – ''World of New Krypton'' #2
21 – ''Action Comics'' #876
22 – ''Supergirl'' #40
23 – ''Superman'' #687
24 – ''World of New Krypton'' #3
25 – ''Action Comics'' #877
26 – ''Supergirl'' #41
27 – ''Superman'' #688
28 – ''World of New Krypton'' #4
29 – ''Action Comics'' #878
30 – ''Supergirl'' #42
31 – ''Superman'' #689
32 – ''World of New Krypton'' #5
33 - ''Action Comics Annual'' #12 (no shield number on cover)
34 – ''Action Comics'' #879
35 – ''Supergirl'' #43
36 - ''Supergirl Annual'' #1 (no shield number on cover)
37 – ''Superman'' #690 Rebadged with red badges: 1 — ''Superman Secret Files and Origins 2009''
2 – ''World of New Krypton'' #6
3 – ''Action Comics'' #880
4 – ''Supergirl'' #44
5 – ''Superman'' #691
6 - ''Superman Annual'' #14
7 – ''Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen Special'' #2
8 – ''World of New Krypton'' #7
9 – ''Action Comics'' #881
10 – ''Supergirl'' #45
11 – ''Superman'' #692
12 – ''World of New Krypton'' #8
13 – ''Action Comics'' #882
14 – ''Supergirl'' #46
15 – ''Superman'' #693
16 – ''World of New Krypton'' #9
17 – ''Action Comics'' #883
18 – ''Supergirl'' #47
19 – ''Superman'' #694
20 – ''World of New Krypton'' #10
21 – ''Action Comics'' #884
22 – ''Supergirl'' #48
23 – ''Superman'' #695
24 – ''World of New Krypton'' #11
25 – ''Action Comics'' #885
26 – ''Supergirl'' #49
27 – ''Superman'' #696
28 – ''World of New Krypton'' #12
29 – ''Action Comics'' #886
30 – ''Supergirl'' #50
31 – ''Superman'' #697
32 – ''Adventure Comics'' #8
33 – ''Last Stand of New Krypton'' #1
34 – ''Action Comics'' #887
35 – ''Supergirl'' #51
36 – ''Superman'' #698
37 – ''Adventure Comics'' #9
38 – ''Last Stand of New Krypton'' #2
39 – ''Action Comics'' #888
40 – ''Adventure Comics'' #10
41 – ''Supergirl'' #52
42 – ''Superman'' #699
43 – ''Last Stand of New Krypton'' #3
44 – ''Action Comics'' #889
45 – ''Adventure Comics'' #11 War of the Supermen 0 - ''War of the Supermen'' #0 (FCBD)
1 - ''War of the Supermen'' #1
2 - ''War of the Supermen'' #2
3 - ''War of the Supermen'' #3
4 - ''War of the Supermen'' #4
5 - ''Superman'' #700 (aftermath)

Collected editions

The storyline will be collected into a number of volumes: *''Volume 1: Birth'' (176 pages, hardcover, May 2009, ) *''Volume 2'' (160 pages, hardcover, September 2009, )

Follow-up

A twelve-part maxi-series entitled '' Superman: World of New Krypton'' was produced from March 2009 to March 2010.Rucka & Robinson on Superman: World of New Krypton
February 24, 2009 The 12 issues run through the storylines of ''New Krypton'' and ''Codename: Patriot''. That was in turn followed by '' Superman: Last Stand of New Krypton'' from March to April 2010 and finally concluded in the five-issue (#0 issue and #1-4) epic '' Superman: War of the Supermen'' in May 2010. All other title books were not distributed during the culmination event.

Notes

References

* {{Superman publications Comics by Geoff Johns Counter-Earths