Johnson understood Superman incredibly well. The hero he is. The inspiration he is. The power of his symbols.
Johnson understood the assignment and leaned into his strengths. He loves world-building and mythology. From Warworld to Metallo and Earth Al Ghul, he built his own worlds and mythology. And he placed Superman in the middle, forcing change and inspiring.
And now we have Book Of El where Superman was pulled forward in time to stop Kryl-Ux from uniting the aspects of Olgrun and re-write reality. Superman has to save the universe. But he also has to unite his family to become the force of good needed in the universe.
The defeat of Kryl-Ux is quick but requires the whole squad (including Supergirl!). And the upshot of that is the ascension of the House of El even in the far-flung future.
Scotty Godlewski is on art and brings it. This is a big cast fighting a promethean giant and he does a great job. Every El has a unique look and costume. Kryl-Ux is enormous and scary. And the quiet moments at the end are charming.
I don't know if I understood the minutiae of the mythology. But I got the broad strokes. And this book again shows how well PKJ knows how to write Superman. Heroic. Kind. Inspiring.
I don't like to post whole pages in reviews but I had to given how PKJ is going away and it is such a great way to showcase him.
As the House of El organizes to fight Kryl-Ux we read an excerpt from the Book of El. Superman's return reminded the members of the House of what their S-shield means.
Truth in the service of Justice.
Strength wielded with humility.
Compassion for the defenseless and the courage to defend them.
That is what Superman is. That is what he means and what he inspires people to be.
And I love seeing all the Els wielding different powers as the spill into the battle. Check out a more mature Supergirl!
Superman tries to battle the enormous Kryl-Ux and realizes that the Promethean Giant version is a force construct. Kry-Ux's human body is inside surrounded by the physical manifestation of the Olgrun aspects.
It is Pyrrhos who wields his magic powers to crack the shell and fly in to remove the aspects and de-power Kryl-Ux.
The dreaded 'magic' solution. It can solve anything.
The thing to focus on here is the turnabout by Pyrrhos. He was ostracized from the family. He wanted to kill Kryl-Ux. He was, perhaps, a bad guy. But Superman has changed him, inspired him. Awesome.
And one day I'll reread and chart out the aspects and the magical weapon/item they are in.
With the all-powerful Kryl-Ux about to undo the universe, the Els fly in Pyrrhos' channel and grab an aspect. Or maybe it is better said that an aspect of Olgrun chooses a new master. Each of the El is now imbued with some sort of Olgrun god power.
All that is left is Superman to deliver a left hook to Kryl-Ux's jaw.
Kryl-Ux falls into the black hole he created with Superman flying in to save the Phaelosian.
Inside the black hole, Superman finds Kryl-Ux kneeling in a meadow. This is what new Phaelosia looked like. He somehow went from universal destroyer to being sent to nirvana.
Johnson gives us such a great little story twist here.
One of the questions in this story is how or why did Superman get shunted to this future. It turns out it was Olgrun's will. The Elder God did not want to see Kryl-Ux win. It didn't want Kryl-Ux to undo the universe. And so it was Olgrun who grabbed Superman and the twins and brought them here to stop Kryl-Ux. In every timeline, it is the Els and Superman who stop the devastation.
That is pretty cool.
All this time I have thought of Olgrun as an old god, a vengeful god, willing to have his powers be used in this way. And yet, here Johnson's flips the script. Olgrun didn't want destruction. Olgrun knew it was Superman who would be needed to unite the House and stop all this.
From within that paradise, Superman steps out into the past.
We are back in Smallville right before Kryl-Ux's attack from way back in issue #1.
So after some timey-wimey stuff in Kingdom of Zod this week I need to sort out more time shenanigans. It seems Kryl-Ux never attacked so the whole timeline where Earth is razed didn't happen. Did Kryl-Ux's galactic conquests happen? I don't think I know the timeline well enough to know.
Love seeing the Kents together and the twins with Superman.
Love seeing the Kents together and the twins with Superman.
The peace doesn't last.
Future Supergirl and Pyrrhos arrive and calls on the Super-Twins to travel with them on adventure.
Love this take on Supergirl, especially the fancy belt and gauntlets.
Superman let's them go saying how proud he is of them.
For sure we won't see these two again unless PKJ comes back to DC. And it is a shame. They could have slipped into the 'young hero' that is missing Jon's aging.
But I suppose this is better than them being killed or turning evil. Thank you DC.
Maybe something gold can stay.
After all the cosmic stuff, these farm pages were a nice exhale and Godlewski brings the feels.
We get a glimpse of this future which is now a golden time.
Even Kryl-Ux gets a second chance, a place where someone like him is needed.
We end with a team shot of the House of El. Nice splash by Godlewski.
Drink it in. I doubt we'll see any of these characters again any time soon.
This book grew on me over time. Some of that might be my meta-knowledge of PKJ's time ending and savoring the words and thoughts.
I will say that the storylines of the twins, from first appearance as scrappy kids in the arena to loving children and heroes. really sang to me. I am going to miss them.
Overall grade: B+
1 comment:
That was me!
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