Alex Ross' New Krypton Art

A couple of days ago, Newsarama released the above sneak peek at Alex Ross' image for the New Krypton storyline starting in all the super-titles in October. The covers for November's issues of Action comics, Superman, and Supergirl will be able to be put together to form this image.

The news story also included a brief interview with Johns and Gates. Here is the link:

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080813-SupermanTeaser.html

Here is what I am guessing the cover for Supergirl #35 will look like (the last 1/3 of the Ross piece).

I don't know if Ross' style works with Supergirl. Most of his characters appear to be in their late 30's, even Kara here. That said, I think this piece is wildly fascinating. We see just about every version of Kryptonian that has been written: Silver Age, Byrne Age, Donner film-like, Birthright. An old-school Nightwing and Flamebird? Heck, next to Kara is someone who looks like Superwoman. Do you remember her from DC Comics Presents Annual #2?

In truth that Superwoman was an Earth woman from the future (I think Jimmy Olsen's great-great-great-great-something or other) who had tech based powers. So technically, as that Superwoman is not a Kryptonian, this must be someone else just dressed like her. Still nifty to throw in that imagery. I haven't read that DCCP issue in a dog's age.

And here are the Kara specific bits from the interview:

Sterling Gates, the new player on the Superbooks, will start on the Supergirl series with issue #34 in October with artist Jamal Igle.

"For Supergirl, who remembers life on Krypton, having 100,000 Kryptonians creates some unique conflicts," Gates said. "From that, Supergirl's relationships change as we get going. Her relationship with Superman is such right now that he's like a big brother to her, because he is her family. And through New Krypton, you're going to see that dynamic get turned on its ear and go through changes."

It is going to be very interesting to see how Kara responds to this discovery of Kandor. I can only imagine that her first instinct is going to be to live with the Kryptonians and go back to her original culture. I mean if for years I was living in a place I felt was strange and just could not get acclimated (much like Kara now), I would jump at the chance to go home. Remember, we learned in the Brainiac arc that she even had close friends who lived in Kandor, albiet 35 years ago. There was a hint back in Action #850 that her parents survived the destrution of Krypton (which of course they did in the Silver Age). Could they somehow be in Kandor? Methinks I will need to review pertinent bits of Action #850 on this blog, especially on rereading it in the recent Supergirl trade.

But even the scene with Cat Grant this month shows that Kara still hasn't adjusted to life on Earth and probably still feels like an outsider. My guess is she is going to be very conflicted during this arc.

More from the interview:

Johns said that Superman, Supergirl, 100,000 Kryptonians and Zod's soldiers are just the start -- the entire Superman universe will be involved in the story.

So maybe we will see all those different styles of Kryptonians from the Ross' pic in the arc. Strange.

"It's going to involve the entire cast and a lot of the villains. It's going to redefine a lot of villains, like Reactron and Metallo," Johns said.

I like the Reactron comment. Does this make him the first official member of this Supergirl's rogues gallery?

I do wish that the Gates/Igle team had a few issues under their belts before being thrust into a cross-over. Still, this should insure some healthy sales for the first issues of their run and might garner some long term readers.