Superman: New Krypton #1 (One Shot)

It's always interesting to see things come full circle.

When I first started reading comics in the early '60s, gathering up the survivors of the destruction of Krypton would have created quite a crowd scene. In addition to Superman, there was Supergirl, Krypto the Superdog, a Phantom Zone filled with criminals, the population of the shrunken city of Kandor, and numerous others who'd pop up for single issues here and there.

On the up side, it was obvious that anything was possible in the Superman universe. On the down side, it made Superman a common commodity. If something happened to him, there were dozens of replacements close by.

When John Byrne was handed the reins of the Superman line in the wake of the original Crisis on Infinite Earths (which sorta kinda rebooted DC's universe), he decided to correct that, and once again Kal-El was the sole survivor of Krypton.

In the years since, that idea has again been eroded away, and now we again have a Supergirl (Kal's cousin from Krypton) and Krypto (every boy needs a dog). Even the Phantom Zone has returned, still populated with an army of criminals, scheming to get free.

Now, in the recent storyline in Action Comics, writer Geoff Johns has finally taken the next step and reintroduced the bottle city of Kandor. But he's taken the idea to the next level, as the city is returned to normal size on Earth, meaning we now have 100,000 super-powered aliens setting up shop next to Superman's Fortress of Solitude.

The setup for that turn of events arrives in the form of this special issue, Superman: New Krypton. It begins with Clark dealing with a terrible loss, and ends with him dealing with the overwhelming idea of a city full of Supermen and Superwomen.

It's a big turn of events for DC, and the ramifications promise to be far-reaching, both for the citizens of Earth and for Superman, who's not so unique any more.

I'm anxious to see where the story is going, and I'm confident that Geoff Johns, James Robinson and Sterling Gates have some great stories in store - but I can't help but hope that when the story is done, the Superman family won't be quite so crowded.

Grade: B+