Scans: World of Krypton (1/2)
John Byrne's influence on the Superman character and mythos is deep and far-reaching. After Crisis of Infinite Earths, he was tapped to re-make Superman, and he took the character in very different directions. There had been, in the late pre-Crisis, a tendency to see Clark Kent as the real persona and Superman as the "mask"--Byrne's envisioning of the character made that most emphatic. His Clark is handsome, athletic, and charming--and has almost no emotional ties to Krypton at all.
Byrne also made radical changes to the history and culture of Krypton. In the Silver Age, Krypton was a beautiful, advanced, humane society. Byrne decided to alter that. I don't always like Byrne's vision of Krypton, for various reasons, but by Rao, the man could world-build.
In recent years--most clearly in "Birthright," but also implicitly with the re-introduction of Kara Zor-El (there is no way Kara came from Byrne's Krypton, and the New Krypton currently in the Superman titles clearly is much more Silver Age than Byrne-inspired) Bryne's Krypton has been whittled away. But Byrne's imprint on Superman's background is still very strong, and for good reason--his vision of Krypton is incredibly powerful, if depressing.
"The World of Krypton" is a four-book series about the history of Krypton, but I'm not going to excerpt much of it because Clark summarizes it nicely at the beginning of the fourth book. But I do love the cover of the first book. That's Krypton in its decadent early years, thousands of years ago. I love Byrne's sexy clothing design!
A random picture of a party in Old Krypton, filled with hedonism and awesome clothes:
But all is not well among the glittering beauty. The Kryptonians live long, healthy lives--but it's because they farm replacement organs from clones, grown to adulthood and left in stasis. When it's discovered (at this party) that a woman has freed one of her clones and betrothed her to her son, the shock of the scandal triggers a centuries-long war that destroys Kryptonian society entirely and leaves the world a shattered hulk.
The culture rebuilds itself, but the horrors of war have left permanent scars on its psyche. People still live impossibly long times, but it's because at infancy they're placed in bio-suits that they never take off again. There is no touching, very little face-to-face contact. It's a sterile. intellectual world, with one dreamer/rebel: Jor-El.
If I had read these before starting the arranged-marriage AU I so would have liked to put Kelex in. He's a bit snarky and funny, and has made appearances here and there--I believe he's been at the Fortress in fairly recent canon? I would like to see how Kelex and Alfred get along...
Jor-El's father is trying to get him to come to a meeting to tell him his marriage has been set:
Jor-El is informed of his upcoming pairing with Lara (why exactly one would even bother to pair people up when they're only going to meet face-to-face once or twice in their lives I have no idea, but I'll give it to Byrne). Jor-El impertinently wants to see his mate.
The last volume starts with Superman granting Lois Lane an exclusive interview about the history of Krypton. His summary is probably better than mine was:
Byrne's Superman is a majestic mountain of man! His comfortable assertion that centuries of genetic improvement led eventually to the wonder that is him made me chuckle as well. Byrne's Clark does not lack for self-confidence.
Byrne's Krypton is so fully-realized, so compelling...so depressing! As Jor-El himself will say later, it's nearly a mercy it was destroyed, which is the main reason I don't like Byrne's remaking: it turns the destruction of Krypton from a tragedy into something of a relief. Clark will explicitly claim it was a blessing to him that Krypton was destroyed so he didn't have to grow up there. Harsh. And yet it's such a good story as well, and the culture and history are so carefully crafted as opposed to being the hodge-podge of whatever the writer wanted in the SIlver Age... You can see I have very mixed emotions about Byrne's effect on the Superman line.
In the next part, the story of the last days of Krypton!
Byrne also made radical changes to the history and culture of Krypton. In the Silver Age, Krypton was a beautiful, advanced, humane society. Byrne decided to alter that. I don't always like Byrne's vision of Krypton, for various reasons, but by Rao, the man could world-build.
In recent years--most clearly in "Birthright," but also implicitly with the re-introduction of Kara Zor-El (there is no way Kara came from Byrne's Krypton, and the New Krypton currently in the Superman titles clearly is much more Silver Age than Byrne-inspired) Bryne's Krypton has been whittled away. But Byrne's imprint on Superman's background is still very strong, and for good reason--his vision of Krypton is incredibly powerful, if depressing.
"The World of Krypton" is a four-book series about the history of Krypton, but I'm not going to excerpt much of it because Clark summarizes it nicely at the beginning of the fourth book. But I do love the cover of the first book. That's Krypton in its decadent early years, thousands of years ago. I love Byrne's sexy clothing design!
A random picture of a party in Old Krypton, filled with hedonism and awesome clothes:
But all is not well among the glittering beauty. The Kryptonians live long, healthy lives--but it's because they farm replacement organs from clones, grown to adulthood and left in stasis. When it's discovered (at this party) that a woman has freed one of her clones and betrothed her to her son, the shock of the scandal triggers a centuries-long war that destroys Kryptonian society entirely and leaves the world a shattered hulk.
The culture rebuilds itself, but the horrors of war have left permanent scars on its psyche. People still live impossibly long times, but it's because at infancy they're placed in bio-suits that they never take off again. There is no touching, very little face-to-face contact. It's a sterile. intellectual world, with one dreamer/rebel: Jor-El.
If I had read these before starting the arranged-marriage AU I so would have liked to put Kelex in. He's a bit snarky and funny, and has made appearances here and there--I believe he's been at the Fortress in fairly recent canon? I would like to see how Kelex and Alfred get along...
Jor-El's father is trying to get him to come to a meeting to tell him his marriage has been set:
Jor-El is informed of his upcoming pairing with Lara (why exactly one would even bother to pair people up when they're only going to meet face-to-face once or twice in their lives I have no idea, but I'll give it to Byrne). Jor-El impertinently wants to see his mate.
The last volume starts with Superman granting Lois Lane an exclusive interview about the history of Krypton. His summary is probably better than mine was:
Byrne's Superman is a majestic mountain of man! His comfortable assertion that centuries of genetic improvement led eventually to the wonder that is him made me chuckle as well. Byrne's Clark does not lack for self-confidence.
Byrne's Krypton is so fully-realized, so compelling...so depressing! As Jor-El himself will say later, it's nearly a mercy it was destroyed, which is the main reason I don't like Byrne's remaking: it turns the destruction of Krypton from a tragedy into something of a relief. Clark will explicitly claim it was a blessing to him that Krypton was destroyed so he didn't have to grow up there. Harsh. And yet it's such a good story as well, and the culture and history are so carefully crafted as opposed to being the hodge-podge of whatever the writer wanted in the SIlver Age... You can see I have very mixed emotions about Byrne's effect on the Superman line.
In the next part, the story of the last days of Krypton!