Book Review: THE LAST DAYS OF KRYPTON

THE LAST DAYS OF KRYPTON
Written by Kevin J. Anderson
Published by It Books, 412 pages
Hardcover 2007, Softcover 2012

9780062219855One of the masters of the prequel takes on the last generation of Krypton. Kevin J. Anderson has made a career of crafting stories in the Dune and Star Wars universes and in The Last Days of Krypton he tells the story of the tumultuous days at the end of that world.

All of the key parts of the Superman legend are present – Kandor, Brainiac, Zod, Jor-El, Zor-El, Lara, Argo City and so on. Weaving these elements together with a new version of life on the doomed planet, Anderson takes the skeleton of Krypton’s history and weaves together a new tale of political intrigue, disasters, war, and the love story of Kal-El’s parents.

The great challenge of any prequel is that we know what notes comes last in the song. Krypton is destroyed, Kandor and Argo City survive, and Kal-El goes to Earth. However, Anderson manages to tease enough red herrings that we can’t guess what will bring about the destruction. By keeping this key plot point mysterious, the reader stays focused on the story at hand.

The extra advantage that Anderson has is that he doesn’t really have to fit his version of events into any other mold. The Last Days of Krypton isn’t a prequel to current continuity or any other continuity for that matter. It isn’t even a prequel to the film version of Superman. Don’t look to check off your list of Krypton tropes. Zod is very different than I have ever seen him, and is one of the stars of the book as he seeks to seize control of Krypton.

The novel is not without its weaknesses, however. At over 400 pages it is a long journey with some perhaps unnecessary side trips. Anderson also works a bit too hard to create a plausible reason why a race which did not colonize space happens to have an inter-stellar spacecraft just in time to save Kal.

The story of Kandor is very well told with elements of the Silver Age version wound in. The best section of the book is following the removal of Kandor by Brainiac. Anderson shows us the catastrophic impact this attack had on the people of Krypton. I have never encountered any Superman story that explored how scarring it must have been for Krypton to have one of its largest cities literally ripped from the ground, population and all.

Overall an enjoyable read which doesn’t require any advance preparation to be enjoyable to non-comic readers. For comic fans, there is one wonderful nod to the greater DC Universe that brought a smile to my face. Pay particular attention to how Jor-El chooses Earth of all places in the universe to send his only son.

 

Authors

Related posts

Top