Thursday, May 23, 2013

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!

12 comments:

Manu said...

Waiting for this movie drives me crazy, I'm like a young collegian who goes to his first date ! I'm really excited !!! :) )

Diabolu Frank said...

Nice story! Hope it leads to something...

Anonymous said...

I think Warner Brother and DC Comics is so desperate to have a hit Superman movie that'd they'd happily run Kara Zor El thru a kryptonite wood chipper twice if it meant opening at $500M their first weekend. We are always gonna have these kind of problems with the two characters as long as DC-The WB conceive of Supergirl and Superman as being a Zero Sum Game.
I'm glad to see Sterling Gates back with The Girl of Steel even if it's a brief interlude and I think it a crime that Jerry Ordway doesn't draw SG more often...but all of this just makes me suspicious thats all.
The corporate watch word for 2013 is "Superman First" and so far, that is not always good news for Supergirl.

JF

Gustavo Delamarques said...

Sorry! but this históry is ridiculous and wrong too, Kara never lived in krypton, never was older than superman, I not like, is wrong.

Anonymous said...

I think Clark being close to the beacon or the beacon sensing him is what set it off because all these years it has been waiting for another kryptonian to find Kara.. since she has crashed on pre historic earth and earth was out of Kryptons jurisdiction = it took this long for it to be discovered.. no one on krypton would have known what happened to her since all of this is Dev-em doing... Jor-el most likely sent his only son to earth as its a planet where he thought no one would find him.. David Goyer, Geoff Johns, and Zack Snyder have all been rumored to be trying to create a shared DC world...
Wouldn't it be cool if Kara founded the Amazons, and in Greek Mythology (since humans were primitive at time) they referred to her and Dev-em as gods.. they are blonde and blue eyes which the Greeks thought was god like.. And with Kara being a scientist she creates an army of female warriors due to not wanting to fall in love again because she believes no one else can live up to Kell-ur.. I hope they won't make these two characters die I think that they are important for the universe they want to create

Anj said...

Thanks for all the comments!

While this is clearly a Superman event, I am glad the powers that be let Kara shine in this prequel.

Nice thought about it being Clark's proximity that triggers the ship to start up. I suppose that also might be the beacon that brings Zod to Earth.

Anonymous said...

I don't think that Karas story will stop in Man of Steel, they will obviously not focus too much on her since this is about Superman in the Man of Steel but I have a feeling that Kara and Dev-em are the central characters in the DC universe that David Goyer and co are trying to build for the Justice League Movie...
And for once its a Female super hero thats the core of this universe not a man.. Also Wonder Woman has always been portrayed as the lead Female super hero, who started it all.. maybe they are reversing the roles, that Kara is the one who started it all by being a predecessor of Wonder Woman.. they left what eventually happened to Kara and Dev-em blank on pre historic earth which makes room for all kinds of possibilities and lets not forget that they both have super powers which would make them indestructibly I don't think it would be possible for them to die in the crash... I guess we will all find out soon

Anonymous said...

I like this Kara and hope to see her again. I don't think she'll be active in prehistoric time that much because if she ages any more we'll lose Supergirl (we could get Superwoman, or an older Supergirl).

Could Daxam be a world Kryptonians colonised? I mean that daxamites are full blooded Kryptonians.

Also am I to take from this that baby Kal had a much slower ship or that he was born much later. I would expect that Jor and Lara would be there for their nice on such an important day so maybe they weren't even born yet, or they said their goodbyes earlier.

--Eki

Anonymous said...

This history is wrong, not exist.

Anonymous said...

I have an admiration for Zack Snyder, but I do not approve of this story, the origin of supergirl, after crisis infinite earth, supergirl origin turned an anomaly wrong.

elknight20 said...

Saw the movie, over the week & I loved it, for the most part. This is an interesting take on Kara, though. Looking forwards to what the folks have in store for her, if she returns to the big screen. :)

Airhym said...

Kara vivió en Krypton, pero ni solo era unos 17 años mayo y vivio en el mismo tiempo que Kal-El y era la prima, nunca vivió miles de años antes.