How Superman Finally Got The Krypton He Deserves

  • Share
  • Read Later

Guilds

How to make sense of the various outfits and aesthetics of Krypton’s inhabitants over the decades? Say that they’re all “real,” but worn by different social orders. Splitting Krypton’s inhabitants up into “guilds” of scientists, artists, soldiers, religious figures and workers allows the various eras of science fiction design to co-exist with some level of internal logic – The Artists’ Guild wear the colorful 1950s optimistic outfits, while the Scientists’ Guild wears the sterile 1980s reboot costumes, and so on.

The World of New Krypton series explored to social structure of the Guilds, including the fact that the Workers’ Guild had no say in governing the planet – Theirs was just to do, and die – and that the Military Guild has full control over the security of the planet, even if their decisions are at odds with the wishes of the government. What we saw was a society familiar enough to be understandable, but alien enough to seem unworkable to us – and, for that matter, to Superman.

Religion
“Rao” has been a constant in Superman mythology since the 1970s, and has meant at various times either (or both) “God” and “Sun,” but it’s taken until now for there to be an actual Kryptonian creation myth, courtesy of Greg Rucka. His Action Comics run has centered around a superhero comics’ staple – superheroes powered by mythical gods – with a twist: None of the gods existed before Rucka and company invented them. The resulting tragedy of predestination, jealousy and unrequited requited love – Don’t ask, just read, as the saying goes – may not be literally the stuff of myths, but certainly feels like it.

(The Kryptonian creation myth in short: Rao created everything, and it was good, but his children didn’t play well together. You can pick up Action Comics #886 for the full version, or wait until it gets released in the Superman: Nightwing and Flamebird Vol. 2 collection later this year.)

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4