Sales Review: April 2010

The market analysis for comic sales in April 2010 are up over on ICv2.com and it looks as though there was a slight dip in sales in all comics from the prior month. I always enjoy looking at these monthly reports to get a sense of comic trends. And as always, I like looking at the super-titles and Supergirl to see how sales are holding up.

Here is the link to the list of the top 300 comics for April: http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/17449.html

That month, there were 2 issues of Last Stand of New Krypton as well as the last Mon-El-centric issue of Superman and the last 2 Nightwing/Flamebird issues of Action Comics. The Supergirl issue was also the "first" meeting of Brainiac 5 and Supergirl and a Last Stand tie-in. As has been the trend, sales for these books landed them in the middle of the top 100. In fact, the best selling Superman based book was Secret Origin #5 which came in at #32.


As for Supergirl #52, it came in as the 63rd best-selling comic selling just under 30K (29490). This was down a smidge (1%) from the 29,845 that Supergirl #51 sold. It is still a nice little rebound from Supergirl #49 which dipped to 27,726 in sales.

Supergirl remains the best selling female hero in the DC stable. She also was only outsold by 2 other solo female books, Buffy The Vampire Slayer and the first issue of the new Black Widow series.

I guess I will need to see where sales drift after the War of the Supermen story ends. After that, my guess is there won't be as tight a crossover feel to the book and Supergirl will be flying on her own merits. Hopefully her strong presence in Last Stand and War will draw in readers.


And what about R.E.B.E.L.S. #15 which sported the very fetching Starfire on the cover.

Not much to say. The book sold just under 100 less copies than last month. I am proud to say I am one of the smart 11K fans out there reading this book. It is an inch below Jonah Hex, so I am hoping some of Hex's 'cancellation invulnerability' will rub off on Dox and his crew. I thought for sure that the 'Kory Cheesecake sale' in the book would bring in some readers.

R.E.B.E.L.S. remains a consistently great book. In what has become a monthly mantra, I will hope that DC doesn't pull the plug.

Review: Superman:Last Stand Of New Krypton #3

Superman:Last Stand of New Krypton #3 came out last Wednesday, ushering in War of the Supermen. I was interested in seeing just how this long ongoing storyline was going to be set up for the next big event. We have known about that series for some time. So far Last Stand's story has been moving ahead at a great pace. Would this last chapter continue the trend?

Another big question I had was whether James Robinson and Sterling Gates were going to finish this Brainiac-centered storyline both satisfactorily and in a way that would naturally lead into War.

There were a couple of things I assumed would happen in this issue. One, after all the talk about guild prejudices and the need for a leader, I assumed Superman would step up and unify the different sects. I thought he would be that leader. Second, I thought New Krypton was going to explode setting up the reason for the war. How did I do with my guesses? We'll see.

But let's start out with the fantastic Ryan Sook cover. I can't get enough of Sook so I was glad to see his work on this title. It is a dynamic piece; you can almost feel Brainiac's fist coming out of the page. Hey ... how about Ryan Sook as the regular Supergirl cover artist?

The issue picks up right where Superman #699 left off. Luthor has begun enlarging an alien city on Brainiac's ship, causing it to plummet to the surface of New Krypton. Mon-El has left with the Legion having rescued the bottled cities. Zod is brawling with Brainiac.

That leaves Superman, Supergirl, and Superboy with the job of slowing down the ship so it doesn't crash and demolish Kandor. We are treated to 10 (!) pages of splashes and giant panels like above ... large action shots of the the three heroes and eventually the population of the city all pushing against the bulk of the ship.

Big moments deserve big art. This felt right .. the progression of the main panels on each 2 page spread is great as the focus moves from a wide shot to an up close view. We go from Superman being a small red streak on the first pages to this close-up of the heroes's faces. You can really see the strain on Superman and Supergirl.

Luckily the ship is able to be brought down slowly enough to keep most of the city intact ... most of the city. Kandor is devastated, a huge crater smoldering in the center. And that alien city is still growing!


I love how Brainy's first thoughts are of Kara as he flies over the wreckage. And I love how Supergirl is still working hard to hold back the expanding city. This growing city will destroy Kandor too. I was glad to see Supergirl not be satisfied with the small victory of landing the ship and instead keeping her eyes on the big picture.

Luckily Brainiac 5 is able to reverse the tech and re-bottle the city, stopping te damage.


Stopping the ship wasn't easy.

Superman literally gets skewered.


And Luthor looks a little worse for wear after riding inside the crashing ship.

But not as bad as he looks afterwards when Brainiac punishes him for his treachery.

Brainiac couldn't have really just snapped Luthor's neck ... could he?


But Brainiac outside his ship is a weakened Brainiac. And you are pretty weak when you are on a planet full of super-powered people who loathe you. The Kryptonian citizens are about to massacre him when Zod shows up.

In a surprising move ... I mean an almost unbelievable move ... Zod tells his people that Brainiac is his alone. He then uses a red sun rifle on himself to deprive himself of his powers and squares off against the beefy Coluan.

Okay, I can see how taking on Brainiac alone would make Zod the hero of New Krypton, the defeater of their cultural boogey man. And I can see that defeating Brainiac without powers would make Zod's victory even more legendary. But we have seen this Brainiac stand toe-to-toe with Superman. Does Zod stand a chance here, no matter what his training? Seems like it is high risk. Seems foolish.


Superman is able to get back into the fight after a quick dose of synthesized yellow sun rays and a blood transfusion from Conner.

There is something so Silver Age-y about this transfusion. I can remember reading comics as a kid where it seemed everyone was either getting a direct transfusion from or giving one to Batman.


Somehow ... somehow ... Zod defeats Brainiac. In front of the gathered masses, he prepares to execute Brainiac with a bullet to the head.

Superman won't stand for it. He flies in, blocking the shot. He's Superman; he can't watch a helpless being be killed.

I have to say Zod has a decent point. Brainiac is a destroyer of worlds. What does Superman want? A trial? I guess it just shows how tough it is to be Superman, to stand up for your convictions 100% of the time. It can't be easy.


Before Zod can take matters into his own hands again, Brainiac 5 walks up and teleports away with his ancestor.

Before he goes, he has another quiet moment with Kara. He tells her to watch out for Alura. He isn't the first one to give Kara this advice. Her own father did as he died in her arms. Alura has been a complicated character over the year but she has been her most supportive of Supergirl recently. Is that going to change?


And with that, the last stand against Brainiac comes to an end and we see the fallout.

Luthor was working with General Lane all along. The Luthor on the ship was a Toyman created robot. We have seen these super-cloaked robots recently in the World's Finest mini-series. For his cooperation against the Kryptonians he earns a pardon.

But here is where we see the uncertainties of war. Lane is off the mark with his assumptions about the results of his attacks. Lane thinks there will be panic on New Krypton, a period where they are disorganized. In fact, this attack does the exact opposite.


After his victory over Brainiac, Zod's popularity soars. He is given total power. So Zod is the Kryptonian who can unite all the guilds under one banner! Nice twist.

He removes Alura from power.

I love this panel. Alura is all alone in the council chamber, the only surviving member. You can sense her isolation here. And putting her off center adds to the effect. We not only see the empty council seats but we also see that Alura is not the center of things any more.


With evidence that Earth was an accomplice in the attack on New Krypton, with his people united behind him, Zod declares war. There's my girl Ursa in the background.

So no New Krypton explosion ... yet.

A lot happened in this Last Stand arc. Kandor got shrunk and re-enlarged. Mon-El is saved, joins the Legion, and saves the future. Brainiac is defeated. And Zod grabs power and declares war. Not bad for 3 issues and some cross-overs.

Unfortunately, the climax of the series was Zod declaring war and we knew that was happening. There wasn't really a 'Krypton shattering conclusion' as promised on the cover. Well, maybe it was shattering ... but we knew the conclusion going in.

I think James Robinson and Sterling Gates really did a great job on this mini. Many of the plot threads from New Krypton are tied up here. The pace and action was incredible. But there is so much story left to say ... so much to wrap up. Is it possible to finish this year long story in 4 issues? I really hope so.

And I think Pete Woods' art is stunning here. I am glad he is staying on as the artist of Action Comics.

Overall grade: B+/B

Review: Superman #699

War of the Supermen #0 comes out in a couple of hours, one of the offerings at Free Comic Book Day. That means the Last Stand of New Krypton storyline needs to be wrapped up and pretty quickly.

Superman #699 is the penultimate chapter of the Last Stand arc and also represented the end of the Mon-El era in the book. The action comes fast and furious here, the whole issue taking place in the catacombs of Brainiac's ship. Like much of the Last Stand story, an effort is made to differentiate Superman from Zod. In World of New Krypton, you got the sense that the two men were trying to work together. Now, under the stress of the Brainiac attack, their true natures are exposed.

As seen at the end of Supergirl #52, Zod and a cadre of his soldiers were able to enlarge and are gunning for Brainiac.

When Superman joins the battle, he questions Zod's priorities. Shouldn't the 'Brainiac Revenge Squad' have grabbed Kandor and removed it from the ship? Shouldn't the safety of the citizens of Kandor be paramount? Zod dismisses the thought. The city is safe on the ship. He is out for revenge.

I don't know. Couldn't one of the soldiers grabbed the city and left? Couldn't the soldiers just rip through the ship's framework forcing it to land? Is this room by room exploration looking for Brainiac the most expedient way of fighting this war?

Again, it shows the different approaches to a problem that Superman and Zod have. One thinks of others first. The other thinks with his fist.

Rather than get bogged down fighting robots, Superman flies off to do the right thing and rescue Kandor. As he flies off, Brainiac arrives and Zod and the Coluan square off.

In the meantime, Mon-El remains captured and trussed up. While under, he recalls some of his conversations with General Lane's goons when he was captured before.

Now some interesting information is implied here. Most of the scenes show that Project 7734 knew a lot about Daxamites despite Mon-El supposedly being the only one on Earth. It also seems that Mon-El being a male Daxamite is exciting to them. I guess the implication is that Project 7734 has a female Daxamite they have been experimenting on. Is she working with them? Or a captive like Mon was? Did he want his rocket so that he could send whoever this Daxamite is back home?

Who is this female Daxamite? Now that is an interesting wrinkle.

I guess we'll find out in the next issue of Adventure Comics.


The Legion shows up trying to complete their mission and rescue Mon-El and the bottled cities.

But why would Element Lad have to ask Projectra where she learned her martial arts skills? He was at her wedding. He has worked with her as Sensor Girl. Of course he would know that she learned it from her husband Karate Kid (although she says she learned some new moves from The Guardian). So why would he ask that? I can understand Robinson wanting to pass along that information to readers who don't know it ... but there has to be a more natural way to get that across.

During the fight, Mon-El is able to shake off his shackles. He's back.

Nice splash page.

Superman meanwhile has found Kandor and meets up with Supergirl.

In a nice moment, Superman turns over the city to Supergirl, trusting that she will protect it and re-enlarge it. It shows just how much respect and confidence he has in her these days. He knows she can do it, freeing him up to stay on the ship and battle Brainiac.

It also sounds like he is saying goodbye to her a little ... like Kandor is her home, not his. Interesting.

I don't know if he would have trusted her like this 2 years ago. I love how close the super-cousins have grown recently.

Despite the battles rocking the ship, the Legion advises Mon-El not to join the fray.

His destiny is to save the cities and save the future. He has to leave Superman behind.

I wish more time could be spent showing Mon-El being conflicted about this. Wouldn't he feel that he could do both. Don't the Legion look tough enough to save the cities themselves? Why should he trust them so implicitly? And yet, they come from the future with that information; surely they must know what they are talking about.

You sense that Mon-El has issues with it ... he wants to help Superman and the Legion. I just wish a little more time was spent showing it.

Supergirl and Brainy head back to New Krypton's surface to try to re-enlarge Kandor.

In another great character moment, Brainy admits to Kara that he cannot guarantee that he can enlarge the city safely. I can't imagine Vril Dox admitting something like that. Nor can I imagine Querl admitting that to everyone. I think it shows his love and trust of Supergirl too.

I really like that these two are together in a comic again. It just sort of feels right.

And luckily, Brainy is able to re-size the city safely. Kandor is big once more.

So it seems like everyone who guessed on the recent poll here that Kandor would stay shrunk (I was one of them) were wrong.


With Kandor safe, Superman joins Zod in fighting Brainiac. I really liked this kinetic panel by Bernard Chang.

I still don't know if I like Brainiac wading in like a bruiser here. He should be cerebral and not want to sully his hands.

And with Mon-El leaving Earth and Superman, he decides he isn't worthy of the S-shield any more. He opts to go back to his original costume. He also decides to return to his shag haircut rather than the spiky style he had before.

I'm glad ... this is Mon-El. That other look didn't feel right.

But in the biggest turn of events, Luthor decides to expand the bottled city he grabbed in Supergirl #52 inside Brainiac's ship! With a city expanding inside, buildings bursting from the roof, Brainiac's ship starts to fall.

You have to love Luthor. He is on his own side. He has been 'teaming up' with Brainiac for some time now. There is no reason to do this if you are working with Brainiac. I guess there is no honor among super-villains.

One thing I have to say about Last Stand of New Krypton ... you barely have time to catch your breath. One of my bigger complaints about this 'Year Without Superman' was that at time things seemed to slow down to a crawl. Not here. Kandor was shrunk and re-enlarged over a couple of weeks. Mon-El is fighting then captured then fighting again within 2 weeks. Last Stand has felt like a summer blockbuster movie.

This issue continues that trend. There is a lot of action here. But not brainless brawling. The action drives the plot. And Robinson even sneaks in a new plot thread ... the female Daxamite.

That said, while I have enjoyed Last Stand, I still can't help but go back to the numerous subplots started here in Superman as well as in World of New Krypton over the last 14 months that I think might simply go unanswered. Once Superman returns, will we see The Guardian anywhere? What about his niece? His romance with Dr. Light? Prince Ra-Man? The power source of the multi-colored laser satellite? What about those silver pelts in WONK? And those are just the ones I can remember off the top of my head.

But that is all background noise. This was another good issue. After seeing Bernard Chang's work on this title and Wonder Woman, I was glad to finally see his take on Supergirl. Unlike Ivan Rodriguez' recent take, Chang really seems to draw her as a teenage girl. His work on these battle-filled issues really shines.

Overall grade: B+/A

Review: Superman #698

Superman #698 was just released and marked the 3rd part of the Superman:Last Stand of New Krypton story arc. While Supergirl #51 looked at the war from the perspective of New Krypton, this issue takes place almost exclusive on the second 'front' of this war, Brainiac's ship.

It's hard to believe, but there is basically one issue left on James Robinson's run on the title and only one more issue 'starring' Mon-El. This issue seemed to showcase the upcoming transition with both Mon-El and Kal-El having some big moments. While I have, at times, been a critic of Robinson's work here, one thing I have appreciated has been his handling of Mon-El. He really felt like a fully realized three-dimensional character.

Javier Pina and Bernard Chang split the art duties for the issue, with Pina handling the Superman heavy pages and Chang working on the Mon-El pages. Unfortunately, it distracted a bit from the flow of the issue, especially at the end when the two characters finally team up. But on to that in a bit.


The issue starts on the ground with the shocking announcement that 10,000 Kryptonians have been killed in the first few hours of the war. The population of New Krypton has literally been decimated.

It rightfully frightens General Zod who knows that Brainiac would have anticipated the results of this battle. If this is only the first volley, what is coming next?

You know what I keep thinking ... that feeling in my gut that New Krypton is going bye-bye. That the planet is going to explode. That would be something 'worse'.


On the ship, Superman remains trussed up by a Green K powered Brainiac drone while Brainiac and Luthor gloat over their victory.

Superman doesn't quite understand what Luthor hopes to gain out of this battle and asks him outright what it is he wants.

I love Luthor's response. It is creepy and malicious as he tries to use his poker face on Superman. Now I don't know if there is anything tangible that Luthor hopes to procure from his agreement with Brainiac. But at the very least, isn't slaughtering Kryptonians and emotionally injuring Superman it's own reward?


In the meantime, Mon-El has broken onto Brainiac's ship the same way Superman did. As he scours the ship to find and rescue Superman, he is contacted by a telepathic race captured in a Brainiac bottle.

He also has to fight against Brainiac's organic defense systems ... giant white baboon like creatures called Koko. Comic historians will recall that way back in the early Silver Age, Brainiac had a cute little pet white monkey called Koko. Clearly these are the 21st century upgraded models.

One thing that has worked well in the first chapters of 'Last Stand' have been the use of splash pages when appropriate. This one works well as we see a small Mon-El facing off against the masses of Koko's climbing into the room. The background even works here, giving this part of Brainiac's ship and arena-like feeling.


As if fighting off all those baboons weren't tough enough, the next line of Brainiac's defense shows up, alien races which have sworn allegiance to Brainiac in return for being freed from the bottle. You might recognize these races as the components of Ultra the Multi-Alien.

During these fights, the telepathic race continues to contact Mon-El imploring the Daxamite to save them. They are the Lanothians. I don't know that race off the top of my head. Are these new to the DCU? Or a race I don't know about?

Still wrapped up by the Brainiac drone, and weakened by the nearby Green K, Superman shows the villains why he is who he is. He never stops trying ... and actually overcomes his imprisonment, breaking free.

Again, a semi-big moment given a splash page for emphasis. Big moments deserve big art. Frankly, I am still giddy just from Superman being in his costume. But this moment, with Superman showing his toughness and temporarily wiping the smile of the faces of Brainiac and Luthor, was good to see.


Despite this bold moment, Luthor reacts quickly and with malevolence. He stops Superman in his tracks by threatening to simply blow away a whole race simply by aiming his sidearm at a bottled city.

Luthor is such a wonderfully evil character. I absolutely have no doubt that he would do it. He has such clarity in his thought ... able to turn most situations to his advantage, with no depth he won't go lower himself to.



In true heroic fashion, Mon-El flies in, wresting the city from Luthor's grasp and saving the Lanothians.

Here we have yet another splash page. And here is another moment I think will end up deserving it. Mon-El says to himself that somehow he knows that saving this city, this world, was part of his destiny on Earth.

With his bargaining chip out of his hands, Luthor slips away.


And Brainiac calls out his army to combat the Supermen. Nice double splash page here.

So, overall I would say that I enjoyed this issue, although maybe just a smidge less than the prior two issues. While this issue did progress Mon-El's story, it did not necessarily move the whole Last Stand story forward that much. That's okay, there are 2 more months to get to the finale. It's just that the Last Stand #1 and Supergirl #51 had such a fast pace.

I have talked about the duality of splash pages here before. They can be spectacular ways to focus on an event in the story. Unfortunately, they cut down on the space for story-telling. Think of how much story you can fit into 6 panels instead of one. As this is such an important storyline, the culmination of two years of Superman stories, I have a little bit more mental leeway towards creators use. (For example, the moments here where a splash page was used just feel more important than let's say the double page splash of Quislet shooting lasers or the Chameleon Boy reveal from last issue.)

Bernard Chang is slowly becoming one of my favorite artists, especially for fight scenes or post-fight scenes. That shot of Mon-El holding the city, his uniform ripped and wrinkled, his expression focused and angry ... that's good stuff. Javier Pina's pages looked like a mix of Jim Starlin and Pete Woods and didn't have the 'ooomph' of the Chang pages. The back and forth art styles did distract a bit as I read this.

Still, Last Stand has yet to disappoint.

Overall grade: B+

Review: Supergirl #51

If the first two parts of 'Last Stand of New Krypton' are any indication, I am going to be very happy with it.

Supergirl #51 came out this week and marked the second part of the Last Stand story arc. It definitely felt like a second chapter, like it flowed straight from Superman:Last Stand of New Krypton #1. But it also maintained a definite Supergirl focus. And it continued to move the overall story forward while maintaining some small moments that gives the plot some human gravitas.

I was hoping that the Last Stand issues would begin a renumbering in the S-shield on the covers. While I haven't always felt that the cover numbering has added much, here I think it would have. This should be #2 in this Last Stand arc ... not #33 of the bigger arc.

But that is a quibble when you look at the content of the issue.


I have talked about the small moments in comics before and this issue starts out with a good one.

A couple of Kryptonian teachers are having a field trip away from Kandor while Brainiac attacks. The teachers, scared of Brainiac themselves, are hopeful that their distance from the city will keep them unnoticed. They also try to keep the children from looking at the fiery carnage raining down on the city.

Unfortunately when you have super-hearing, nothing is ever too far away. As is usual, Jamal Igle does a great job on the art here. The expression on this young Kryptonian's face says it all ... the sheer terror she is feeling as the planet's boogey man comes back to reclaim his prize.

Just like in the first issue, big moments get big art. Here is a great double page spread of Supergirl and Mon-El wading into battle with the Brainiac probes.

You would think super-powered beings would laugh at an attack from Terminators, but these robots are built for Kryptonian combat. And we see quite clearly the damage they can do to the Kandorians with their red sun blasts. It is a pretty brutal display of the citizens being perforated and eviscerated by the drones.

Again, it is refreshing to see Supergirl so strong and brave as she battles. This isn't the frightened girl on Argo whose best friend was kidnapped by Brainiac. This is a mature young woman defending her people.

During the fight, Mon-El gets a telepathic overload from Tellus. Suddenly Mon-El is not only aware that the Legion is being arrested by Zod, he also knows that Superman has been captured by Brainiac.

Now I don't know why Tellus' message would be so painful, but I thought the layout here with a montage of the ongoing action was nice.

Another recurring plot point in the book (and even Last Stand #1) has been Supergirl's growing status among her people. Whether she knows it or not, Kara has grown to be an important person in the New Krypton culture. I can remember when New Krypton first started that Gates and Igle said that Supergirl was sort of a princess on her homeworld.

It is one thing to have that stature simply because her mother is head of the council. It is quite another to earn it. Being on the front lines here, bringing home Reactron, ... it's all made Supergirl a leader on the planet. It is interesting that she doesn't realize it herself. So I like that Mon-El recognizes her growth and potential and tells her so.

Her response is swift, charming, and somewhat unexpected. A kiss for luck? I suppose she could be overcome with such happiness that Mon regards her as a leader that she needed to express herself.

But I wonder if this was thrown in to reflect the kiss we saw in the 'Origins and Omens' piece so long ago. I thought it was going to be Freddy Freeman all this time, but that kiss never happened in Cry For Justice. Maybe Gates realized he needed to show a kiss to cross that premonition off of a 'to do' list.

While Mon-El flies off to help Superman in Brainiac's ship, Supergirl does her best to rally the Kryptonians.

Unfortunately, the prejudices of the guilds don't let them work together as a fighting unit. Each guild does their own thing, leaving the city with a disorganized and shoddy defense.

Supergirl realizes that New Krypton needs a true leader, someone who can rise above the Guilds. She thinks that person is her mother Alura. I think we know that person is Superman.

Supergirl rushes to her mother's aid, assuming that Alura has been threatened by Brainiac probes. Instead Kara finds Alura fighting with Superboy.

Alura knows that Zod has branded Conner and the Legion as outlaws. She also knows the last human to wear the S-shield was Superwoman. Assuming the worse, Alura attacks him.

And when Kara runs in on their fight, she decides to end it.

I love this panel, Conner flying out of the building after being on the receiving end of Supergirl's right hook. It is the point of view I like, the buildings below Conner as he rockets away.

While I am usually tired of seeing Supergirl fight other heroes, I thought this sequence made a bit of sense. Kara was defending her mother after all. But after this punch, she immediately defends Conner and the Legion to her mother. It's almost she knows that punch was the quickest way to end the stand-off.

For the second straight issue though, Supergirl needs a last second rescue. Subjected to the red sun rays again, Kara and Alura are about to be killed when Superboy returns and dismantles the marauding robots.

I like how Supergirl is willing to try most anything in the heat of battle, even picking up a nearby rifle. It reminded me a bit of her fighting Reactron when powerless and she picked up a piece of rebar.


Once safe, Supergirl tells Alura of the Legion's mission and challenges her to stand up to General Zod. It is a very strong moment for Kara. And it is fruitful. Alura pardons the Legionnaires and sends Supergirl off with them to take the fight to Brainiac.

It is a good moment for many reasons, but it certainly shows how much the mother and daughter's relationship has changed recently. It actually seems to be a relationship! Gone, it seems, are the days where Alura yelled and Kara cried. It again shows how much Kara has matured recently.

Alura's pardons do not please Zod, setting up a confrontation between the two leaders of the planet.

I thought this was a very good issue pushing the plot of Last Stand forward but having Supergirl as the star and not one of a cast of many. The interactions with Mon-El, Superboy, and Alura showcased the character nicely. Gates has such a great handle on these characters. Their lines just seem so natural.

And Jamal Igle continues to produce great work on this book. This issue really lets him shine with a number of splash pages and near splash pages throughout. I wish I could have posted them all.

It'll be nice to see Supergirl leading the Legion again.

Overall grade: A

Poll Results: What Will Happen To New Krypton?

I'd like to thank everybody who took the time to cast a vote in my recent poll 'What Will Happen To New Krypton?'

This was my second most popular poll on the blog, getting 57 votes!

The most popular single idea was that Kandor will again be bottled by Brainiac. As I said before, in some ways that makes the most sense and is the easiest answer. It allows the creators to keep characters like Alura around for further stories. It keeps 'The Bottled City of Kandor' an active part of the Superman mythos, and it is nudge back to the Silver Age, something we have seen DC doing recently.

The idea that garnered the most votes was that there would be a mix of some of the options. Certainly I can see some of the people heading into the Phantom Zone while the planet gets shifted into another dimension.

As for me ...



I just can't get away from the idea that the planet explodes.

Who knows what effect that would have in our solar system. Anyways, I think there would be just too much potential with that idea. Imagine Kal-El feeling the same feelings his father did ... being unable to save Krypton. Plus there would be some 'cosmic karma' if it exploded again. Krypton should not exist in any form ... it is destined for destruction.

We will soon find out New Krypton's fate. Thanks again everyone for voting.

Bits Of Supergirl Business

I have been unbelievably busy at work and so felt I need to clean the deck with all the great stuff recently revealed on the web about the future of the Super-titles. Some of these may have warranted a post all on their own, but I am drowning a bit so everything gets shoved in here.

On to the links! As always, the entire links are great reads and I advise going to them for the full story, but I have pulled a quite here or there that I really liked. Lots of links ... so this is a long post.


First off , Comic Book Resources has two interviews with James Robinson and Sterling Gates regarding Superman:Last Stand of New Krypton. There is some interesting chatter about General Zod and how he compares to both Superman and Brainiac, about what is happening in the book, about the Legion, and of course about Supergirl.

Here is the link to part one and my favorite part of the interview:
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=25173


From the solicitations and what's been building all along, the Legion of Super-Heroes plays a role, as well, in "Last Stand of New Krypton." The team is massive. Do you focus on a core few?

SG: It's funny, but I never really liked Tellus and Quislet. They were Legionnaires I just never really got into. Which is fine, that's one of the brilliant things about the Legion, there are so many characters to like, there are bound to be a couple you don't like.

When we sat down to figure out this story, I looked at the fact that James and Geoff had been using Tellus a lot - whether it was "Adventure Comics" or "Superman" or "Guardian Special" - and I set out to use Tellus in such a way that would make me like him. And I wanted to use Quislet in such a way that would get me to enjoy Quislet, so that was my goal.

Between the scenes I did with Tellus in "Adventure Comics" #9 and the scene I did with Quislet in "Adventure Comics" #10, I really grew to enjoy those two, and now I want to use those characters even more.

Brainiac 5 was another character that I was very interested in, but very nervous to write. He's a character that whoever writes him falls in love with writing him, and with good reason. He's a blast to write. He's an extremely smart man, and his snide, know-it-all attitude sings out from the page. I've known some exceptionally smart people in my life, and all of them struggled with their emotions from time to time, so that's how I'm approaching Brainiac 5. Especially in regards to how he is around Supergirl in "Supergirl" #52.

Fans of Supergirl and fans of the Legion know there's something there between them, and it's gonna be a lot of fun to see the rapport between those two. We're not reestablishing their relationship that issue, per se, but instead, we're going to...

JR: You're giving too much away.
SG: Oh. Yeah, you're probably right. Well, uh, Supergirl/Brainiac 5 fans, give "Supergirl" #52 a read!

I can remember that 'admission class' to the Legion. Five new members joined, Sensor Girl, Polar Boy, Magnetic Kid, Tellus, and Quislet. I think there was a push to get away from 'humanoid' members only on the book. I never quite enjoyed Tellus either. In some ways he was stepping into Saturn Girl's spot and he was never going to win me over. So I look forward to seeing what Gates does with him.

And, of course, I am very interested in seeing the Brainy/Supergirl storyline as well!


The second part of the interview has lots of interesting info as well, but refreshingly there is a lot of Supergirl talk in it. Here is the link:
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=25193

And I guess with Superman, Supergirl and Superboy facing off against Zod, Ursa and Non, not to mention another 100,000 revved up Kryptonians, there is not going to be a lot of time for quiet moments and pages and pages of solitary self-reflection?

James Robinson: Well, it's war. There are emotional beats to be had, absolutely, in terms of loss and humanity. But the fact is, with it being a 100-minute war and the reason why this works so well, is that if it were a monthly book, it would be a terrible thing. You'd have too much time between issues. So for May, there is no "Superman," there is no "Supergirl," there's no "Action," there is just this book, every week. So there is a momentum that we can establish so quickly that you don't have time for walks on the beach of New Krypton.

SG: And where some of the power of the story comes from is its immediacy. War is hell. This story is brutal, and it's savage and it's war - all-out war - in a way that the DCU hasn't seen before. That's what I think is so cool about this story. We've never seen Earth go to war with Krypton like this in the history of the DCU, so for me, that's what makes the story exciting. Making it a weekly story makes it feel huge. Every week you're going to get slammed upside the head with 25 minutes of hell.

JR: And plus the one thing, as Sterling said earlier, we've planning for this war for two years. So we're trying to set thing ups with General Lane and the 7734 and the Human Defense Corps so that, although it is 100 minutes, it isn't like Earth is without the ways and means to combat Kryptonians. It's a real battle. It's not just the Kryptonians overwhelming Earth. There will be battles won and lost on both sides in the course of 100 minutes.

SG: And I also want to take this opportunity to emphasize the fact that everything we've done has been part of a grander plan. As you're starting to see pieces in "Last Stand" fall into place, know that nothing we've done has been random or without forethought. Everything has been
building towards the story. So people that have stuck with us all along, it's going to pay out in a big way for them.

That said, the zero issue on Free Comic Book Day is still a really clean place to come on board. We tried really to make the zero issue an easily accessible story that sets up our main players and gets people interested right off the bat and sets the story in motion. And it has some phenomenal art. Eddy Barrows is drawing the main story and he's phenomenal, and there are a whole slew of amazing artists are drawing the backup story.

One thing I really hope is going to happen is that all the threads over the last 2 years are going to come together in this book. And that is a daunting task given that they have 4 issues and '100 minutes' to wrap it all up. So I hope to see all of Lane's tricks, some Mirabai back story, what are the silver pelts on New Krypton, Atlas, the Guardian, Zatara, etc etc etc. Most of what I have read about this comic sounds like the creative team has everything lined up just right. I have confidence that they mean it when they say 'everything will fall into place'.

Sterling, you're sticking around with "Supergirl," and I understand there is some big news coming this weekend out of Emerald City Con, but James, you're leaving "Superman" after #700, handing off to JMS. I know you are a huge fan of the Man of Steel - is it difficult to be leaving?

JR: I'm very excited he's coming on. I'm sure he'll do a great job. And I can't wait to be a fan and a reader of "Superman" again and not the writer.

It's strange for me that I'm the writer that never really wrote Superman for any length of time and I'm more known as the writer of Mon-El. But I think history will show that's kind of a cool thing. I was always completely into the idea of Mon-El, and with "Adventure" #11, we'll see the end of it. And hopefully, the readers and the fans will appreciate everything that I've done.

I'll still be staying in the world of Super-characters as Supergirl will be the Super-character in "Justice League of America" for the foreseeable future.

I wasn't sure if Supergirl was only a guest star or an ongoing member in the book. So it looks like I will be collecting JLA in the near future. Hmmm ... so what book should I drop?

And Sterling, anything else for you beyond "Supergirl"?

SG: There are, but unfortunately I can't say anything. If you like what I've done on "Supergirl," you'll be interested in what I do next. I'll tell you that.

JR: I know what Sterling has planned for Supergirl after "War of the Supermen" and I think, as good as it has been so far, he and Jamal are going to make it 100 times better."Supergirl" is the DC book of 2010 going into 2011.

SG: Wow.

Now that sound great! I can't wait to see what happens post New Krypton in the main book. Despite last month's ending, I hope Lana remains a big part of the book.


Over on the DC Source blog, we are treated to the first 5 pages of Supergirl #51. Here is the link:
http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2010/03/10/the-last-stand-of-new-krypton-continues-in-supergirl-51/

How absolutely phenomenal is it to see Supergirl just laying waste to Brainiac probes! I also like the opening few pages, bringing a touch of humanity to the action scenes as a young Kryptonian deals with the horror of war. As I said in my Last Stand review, small moments amidst the action resonate and add depth to stories.

And Jamal Igle just continues to rock on this book.


Also on the DC blog, it was announced that Pete Woods is the new artist on Action Comics when Marc Guggenheim takes over. Here is that link:
http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2010/03/11/new-action-art-team-in-june-woods-on-interiors-finch-on-covers/

And, starting in June, Mr. Woods will be joining new writer Marc Guggenheim as the regular artist on ACTION COMICS. Pete’s done a spectacular job chronicling Kal-El’s adventures on New Krypton, so it was a no-brainer to have him swing on over to one of the ongoing titles. But what does he have to say about it all? Take it away, Pete:

“I am absolutely thrilled to be working with Marc on Action Comics. I also feel incredibly blessed to have David Finch doing covers- I have been a fan for years. Marc and I have some fun plans for this book and intend for it to live up to it’s name!”

We are treated with a great page from Superman:Last Stand of New Krypton, a nice splash page of Supergirl leading the Legion into battle.

I have said all along I like Woods' style and I am glad he is sticking around. He does a great Superman and a great Supergirl.

And David Finch on covers! That alone will probably boost sales. There better be one with the cousins on it. I want to see Finch's take on Kara ... hoping it won't veer towards the Psylocke/Aphrodite IX end of the spectrum.



Last on this links tour is an interview with both Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle on the Adam DeChanel blog. Here is the link:
http://adamdechanel.blogspot.com/2010/03/interview-with-supergirl-team-sterling.html

Conner has Krypto, Kara has Streaky, but the little kitty is powerless... Wednesday's Comics teased us with the Powerful Pets...She'll be able to give Krypto a run for his money right?

SG: Oh, man. I have a killer Streaky story to tell. Maybe someday. Maybe someday.
JI: I think it could be fun, actually.

It's clear that DeChanel is a Supergirl fan as he asks about Linda Danvers, Xenon, Ariella, and even Streaky. I'd love to see Streaky come back.

I also love the behind the scenes stuff from comics, so to see this concept art of the Lana Insect Queen was a real treat.