The Price of Freedom

Superman: World of New Krypton #6, by Greg Rucka, James Robinson, and Pete Woods

Superman – or Kal-El as he now calls himself – is living on New Krypton, with all the other Kryptonians from Kandor. At the end of the last issue, in a great OMG WTF moment, some guy shot General Zod. For the Kandorians, Zod is not some Terence Stamp played maniac, but a heroic figure, albeit one with whom Kal-El has a problematic relationship. In this issue, Zod lies grievously ill, fighting for his life, while in custody his assailant spouts strange ultra-patriotic rantings. And then, mysteriously, he escapes, and flies off to Earth. Realising that it would be disastrous for a Kryptonian security team to hit Earth looking for the would-be killer, Kal-El decides to head their alone with Supergirl. And, deciding that going there as Commander Kal-El would be inappropriate, he reaches for an old familiar red and blue costume, leading to episode's dahn dahn daaaaah! thrill powered closing line – "This is a job for Superman!"

I never thought I would find myself reading a Superman title, but here I am.

And in the back pages, there is one of those previews of another forthcoming strip, this one based on the superhero Magog, a fellow I mainly know from rubbish emo DC mini-series Kingdom Come. This looks like it is going to be yet another of those DC-hero-sorts-out-Africa titles. It looks like it might be a bit less rubbish than that story about Superman going to Makeyupytswana, but I bet that it will not prove to be a particularly useful book.