Comic book review: "Last Dust of Krypton" by Aaron/Sandoval
Absolute Superman, volume 1
I goofed up on the channel last month when I did a summary of ABSOLUTE SUPERMAN, thinking that each volume would have five issues. Shortly after I made that, the sixth issue of ABSOLUTE BATMAN dropped, and I learned the truth. (There are some comics that wrap up each volume in multiples of five, and I got it mixed up as to what the Absolutes were doing.) Ergo, my summary video is incomplete, not just by the count, but because issue 6 really brings it home.
Literally.
We finally see the moment when Kal-El showed up on the Kent Farm. That one hit like a hammer. I thought it was a very strong ending to an arc that I’ve enjoyed exploring over the last six months. They set it up well and the execution was great. As I said on Twitter, this is one of those stories that is obviously written by a guy with lefty sensibilities, but he puts the story first and doesn’t beat you over the head with any programming. By all means, put your fingerprints on it as a creator, but put the art first.
So now that volume one is done, let’s go ahead and explore the details before the trade paperback comes out. (Also, check out my writeup of Absolute Batman vol. 1: The Zoo)
The Premise
The following is in chronological order, but it was not revealed to the reader in this order.
Kal-El is a teenager on Krypton when his working-class parents discover that the planet is about to explode. Since the Science League won’t listen to dumb grunt workers, Jor-El and Lara decide to build their own ship for the inevitable moment of escape. The ship consists of nanoparticles that can expand, solidify, transform, and become a wide array of different implements. It also has a built-in AI. Think of it like an Iron Man suit that talks to Kal-El and performs a few functions that his own powers can’t do for him.
When Krypton finally goes up, the El family tries to take in a bunch of other refugees, but the ship gets blown apart in the debris. Literally only Kal-El survives, with his allotment of the nano-particles forming a small ship around him. He spends days, then weeks, then months in space, zipping around a super-light-speed trying to find another planet to land on, but habitable worlds are extremely rare. He spends a year and a half in solitary confinement aboard the ship, mourning his family and his home, wishing to die, when the ship discovers Earth and he crash-lands in the Kent field.
As he adjusts to life on the Kent Farm—which is surrounded by corporate farms, snatched from generational families by the Lazarus Corporation—he sees parallels between Earth and pre-downfall Krypton: technology creeps into everything, mankind is able to control parts of the climate and weather patterns, wealth becomes centralized among a detached elite, and the middle class is utterly obliterated. As the poor are left to fight over the scraps in overcrowded cities, the planet starts to show signs of material exhaustion.
Having lived through this once already, Kal-El is determined not to see it happen again, and so he begins his crusade—aided by his newly discovered powers—to change it.
The Good Guys
The Absolute books are simultaneously an exercise in honoring canon and doing something different with it. We may not end up with Clark Kent and Lois Lane working at the Daily Planet, but we do still get the Last Son of Krypton raised by farmers on Earth, and the daughter of a general taking up an interest in writing—though she can’t spell very well.
The difference with Lois Lane? She’s a member of the Peacemaker Corps, the military arm of Lazarus Corp. She’s working with them during her first encounter with Superman and they briefly spend time cuffed together at the wrist. The encounter sets her on a path to discover why he’s on Earth and what he intends to do.
One issue had a brief cameo from Jimmy Olsen, a photographer embedded with a rebel group. Martha Kent is in a rest home, the Kent farm is derelict and abandoned, and at present we don’t know what’s become of Jonathan. In the main canon he had a heart attack and died.
I’m going to guess that in this timeline, he meets a more gruesome fate…but we’ll see.
The Villains
The aforementioned Lazarus Corporation is like an evil bastard child of Apple and Amazon, controlled in parts unknown by Brainiac, who poses as an AI assistant attached to every major piece of tech in the world. At the end of issue six we find out he’s in league with someone else insanely powerful, someone who traditionally fights a different DC hero. I won’t spoil the surprise because you need to read this book.
The brewing showdown is between Superman and this villain, along with Brainiac. Whether they know the extent to which they are ruining the planet remains to be seen. Frankly I’m curious to see how the rest of Superman’s villain catalogue might come into this setting. What role does Lex Luthor play? With Brainiac in the story you could easily introduce Metallo, and it wouldn’t be impossible to work Doomsday into it. Mongul would be more of a reach and I’m not sure what role Darkseid might play. Alas, we shall see.
Other Elements
As of right now there isn’t a Fortress of Solitude. There was a Krypto dog, but we’re given to think that he’s dead. It’s not 100% confirmed that every Kryptonian ship exploded with the planet, leaving the writers with some wiggle room in case they need to introduce Supergirl or something later on.
My Complaints
I understand that things on Krypton aren’t going to have cool Latin names, like the “Liga Scientifica” or something, but vanilla names like “The Science League” need more pepper on them than that.
The dialogue is also a weak spot when Kal-El is on Krypton. When it’s not on-the-nose, it’s often banal and trite. Put some poetry in it for crying out loud. Give me some earnest father-son advice, not this Sesame Street soft-serve.
Jor-El is right on the edge of a toothless wagie and a himbo who needs to be rescued, while Lara has all the spit-and-vinegar of a textbook girlboss. The characters aren’t flat per se, just too one-note and artificial compared to this book’s handling of Lois, Martha, and Kal. The book’s lowest moments are directly connected to this problem. Even so, it’s manageable.
How to Catch Up
You can always order issues through your local comic shop, but if you want to save some coin and have the book come to you, pre-order it through my Amazon link and I’ll get a small commission.
Conclusion
If you’d asked me what I want in a new run of DC comics, I would not have said this. But after reading it, I’m glad I have it, and I’ve had fun reading it. I’m glad these are doing well and I hope they keep finding new readers.