THIS WEEK: Kneel Before Zod #8 wraps up an entertaining superhero sci-fi series that runs on rage…A LOT of rage. Plus, we have our usual round-up of blurbs about other DC books hitting shops!
Kneel Before Zod #8
Kneel Before Zod #8Writer: Joe Casey
Artist: Dan McDaid
Colorist: David Baron
Letterer: Troy Peteri
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about anger, and about whether one should ever make decisions while they’re mad. The answer is probably ‘no’, seeing as how anger so often leads to choices we regret. But with anger, there’s often a temptation to embrace it, to think that sometimes you have to get mad, or people will take advantage of you. I know I feel it when people lie to me.
I to avoid feeling like anger is useful, personally, as it tends to inject a level of chaos into my life that I’d like to avoid. In a story, however, that kind of chaos is pretty interesting. You don’t see it too often, at least not from protagonists. Generally, heroes save their anger for big dramatic moments, the whole I’ve been pushed too far scene, where they really let the villain have it. Or, anger is a character flaw a hero must avoid (see Deadwood, and the Star Wars Trilogy). Anger works a little differently in Kneel Before Zod, an eight issue miniseries where the title character is floating through space and is — at every possible turn — real mad. You might even say that anger is this book’s engine.
And Zod is not mad for any real justified reason. No, being mad is just who he is, and that brings us this week to Kneel Before Zod #8, the finale for a very good (and very angry) Kryptonian-in-space book. Zod is a different type of Superman comic, both within the current line as well as the context of Superman comics in recent years. Superman gets mad and makes his eyes glow sometimes, but this is a book where the lead Kryptonian’s default mode is angry…and it’s all the more interesting for it.
Anger is certainly pivotal to this (for now) ending. To sum up this eight-issue series, Zod had his own planet for him and his family, things went south, Zod ended up deep in space (avoiding the United Planets) with the dregs of the universe, and now he’s running a big ship. There’s been a lot of fighting and punching and red eyes in between, none of it restrained or measured.
And friends? It has all looked great. This book is drawn by Dan McDaid, whose style fits it absolutely perfectly, with colors by David Baron and letters by Troy Peteri. All eight issues have had that same excellent creative team, which has been much to the series’ benefit. It’s all evident here in this issue’s opening sequence, both the quality of the art and how rage as a driver makes for an interesting sci-fi journey comic engine.
We get 2 and a half silent-but-mad pages of Zod battling red lantern Sinestro. It starts by going hard and doesn’t really let up, leading us through a great finale issue with a perfect ending — wherein Zod swears to take his ship and his rough crew right to the heart of Khundia (maybe the angriest planet in the DCU), to make them all Kneel Before Zod.
It’s great scripting by writer Joe Casey, as it has been throughout this book’s run. It uses the anger as both an engine for the book as well as a way to show Zod’s increasing pride and ambitions. It’s a credit to Casey and the rest of the creative team that they decided to dislodge Zod from his planet at all, sending him on a voyage through DC Cosmic. We’ve seen Kryptonians (from Clark to Kara) sort of sent careening through space before, but it’s almost always been to try to get home and do good along the way.
This book, however, gives us an angry Kryptonian acting as an agent of chaos in the universe, and it’s all the more interesting for it. There’s not much ethos to why Zod is angry, which I think is key for a book as fantastical as this one. It makes it easier to relate to him. He’s just got old grudges that really tick him off. Now, he’s had some humbling moments along the way in these eight issues, but this finale makes clear that he’s still harboring rage, both for his long-time foe Jor-El as well as his son, Superman. And that’s how it should be.
The way the book ends, along with its tagline, promises more of this story to come, and there damn well should be. This has been one of the strongest Superman comics in years, a bold story that does something fairly different and takes big risks. I loved it, and I hope we get to see where it all picks up soon, presumably with adventures that lead to the eventual founding of the Legion of Super-Heroes…or at least that’s where I hope it’s all headed.
The Round-Up
This week also saw the release of The Boy Wonder #4, the penultimate issue of one of DC’s best series of the year. If you’re at all familiar with it (or you’ve read my past columns in this space), you know The Boy Wonder is cartoonist Juni Ba’s refreshing take on all things Robin, supported by colorist Chris O’Halloran and letterer Aditya Bidikar. This series is really something to behold, one of the most engaging superhero takes I’ve read in sometime. I definitely expect to see you all back here in one month’s time for another piece about the finale.- Speaking of things that absolutely rule, we got the continuation of DC’s big summer event with Absolute Power #2, from writer Mark Waid, artist Dan Mora, colorist Alejandro Sanchez, and letterer Ariana Maher. The concept is fantastic, proving to have secrets buried within secrets, which is making for a compelling story as it all unfolds. This event has also so far made sure every issue is packed with memorable set pieces and big moments, growing right out of the plot. It’s great stuff, I’m loving it.
- Finally, this week marked the launch of a new weekly series from DC, with Gotham City Sirens #1 by writer Leah Williams, artist Matteo Lolli, colorist Triona Farrell, and letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. It’s a romp of a book, as one might expect, with bright colors, fast pacing, and witty humor. It plays with the intersecton of superheroics and Internet culture, which is a lot of fun.
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