A non-Legion book! Who are Nightwing and Flamebird? When did Superboy become Jack Tripper? More New Krypton excitement! We look at Action Comics #887 and Supergirl #51

Action Comics #887 

Welcome back to the second part of my continued look at the Last Stand of New Krypton. What did we learn last week? There were over 80 stories that came before this, so I'm going into this huge crossover with a ton of questions. New Krypton is a planetoid on the other side of Sol where the citizens of Kandor now live. Brainiac and Luthor have teamed up and Brainiac's ship is flying over New Krypton while his robots are killing Kryptonians with red sun energy. General Zod is heading the New Krypton defences and has some huge new plan that he's gotten Supergirl's mother, Alura and also the leader of the planetoid, to sign off on with a promise she won't do anything to stop him.

And the most important characters for me, the Legion of Super-Heroes, have been arrested by Zod (along with Superboy) and taken into custody. They were trying to convince them to not destroy Brainiac's ship because it contains bottle cities of worlds that need to be brought back to ensure the future develops the way it should.

We also ended Superman: Last Stand of New Krypton #1 with the announcement that the story would be continued in Supergirl #51... which, to a slight surprise to me, isn't actually the next issue in the numbering they've placed on the covers. That would be Action Comics #887, which is why we're reading this first.

Wow... I'm fairly certain I'm still going to have a ton of questions...

This issue is brought to you by writers Greg Rucka and Eric Trautmann with art by Pere Perez. 

Seeing Greg Rucka as one of the writers of this book fills me with a lot of optimism. Unfortunately, I know that these stories are some of the last he did before leaving DC, which is usually not a good sign for quality. Fingers crossed, again.

Part of not having a clue what's going on in the Superman books at this time includes the fact that I don't know who any of the characters are on the cover. A little research tells me they're the Kryptonian superheroes Nightwing and Flamebird.

I now feel old again. I remember reading the story when Superman and Jimmy Olsen went to the bottle city of Kandor back in the Silver Age and they became Nightwing and Flamebird to investigate. This is one of the reasons why Dick Grayson took on the name of Nightwing when he stopped being Robin. I'm guessing there was some reboot when the bottle city ceased to exist, and then after another reboot, it all came back, right? Man, DC just revels in the confusion, doesn't it?

We are now on Nightwing and Flamebird version 5, so let's see if I can make sense of them.

We begin this issue in the Metropolis Offices of Raymond Industries. Lois Lane is meeting Mr. Raymond (this isn't Ron Raymond of Firestorm fame, is it?) about a laptop computer. He says that she needs help getting the data from the damaged laptop. Then he gives her one of his, one that's fully secure, and she says she doesn't care about the data on the one that's been shot up. So I guess she only arrived there to get this new laptop? And Raymond's okay with that? Is she that good of a reporter (??) that she can convince a corporation to hand her a new high-tech computer?

We jump forward four days and Lois is now in Iraq, at the site of a huge crater. She's gotten into a military camp to investigate something. She's also writing a story called "The Giant's Footprints," which is all about how her father, General Samuel Lane, is lying to the public to start a war.

Then we go 36 hours in the past and see a Kryptonian named Jax-Ur bringing a "god" to life. Watching this huge red creature come to life are Nightwing and Flamebird... at least I think that's who they are.

As the pair fight Jax-Ur and an alien named Vohc, Lois' story continues to let her readers know that Nightwing and Flamebird are heroes, like Mon-El and Supergirl, and they're trying to stop the Kryptonians and Earthlings that want a war.

I also learned the Zod tried to take over Earth in the past and is leading a cold war now to send the two planets into conflict. I will once again ask a single question - why is he in charge of anything on New Krypton?

Okay, more questions... why would Earth want to start a war with a planetoid of Supermen? And Women? Why would Kryptonians care about Earth at all? I mean, they could just live in peaceful coexistence, 300 million kilometers (or 186 million miles) apart. Also, the fastest space vehicle ever built in Earth would take over six weeks to get to New Krypton. I know, I know. It's DCU tech. But still, the Kryptonians would be able to prepare for any attack. And the Earthlings should know that, right?

Back to the story... The big red creature, sorry, god comes to life in a huge blast of energy, sending everything and everyone flying. That can't be good.

While Jax-Ur flies over the Earth, watching over everything that's happening and building something, the red god is destroying Iran and as many of the oil fields as it can. Lois' next story, called "God Walk," lets us know that this is actually the Kryptonian god, Rao, brought back to life.

Rao gets bigger and more powerful as the pair of Kryptonian heroes try desperately to stop him.

Elsewhere, Lois gets the Stagg Industries pilot to take her closer to the action, regardless of how dangerous it is. It also causes her to lose Stagg as someone who can help her in the future. Am I the only one who's wondering whether Lois has been doing something very ethically shady for these companies to just give her whatever she wants?

On New Krypton, we get a page of monks praying to be better as they realize their god has awakened.

Rao cannot be stopped - he keeps marching across the Middle East, destroying everything. Lois finds out that nuclear weapons are the next step. She sends the helicopter back as she sees she has a better ride. Nightwing grabs her, carries her, and calls her Mom. Yep, I've missed a ton.

For anyone who, like me, had no idea who this new Nightwing was, he's the son of General Zod and Ursa and the foster son of Clark Kent and Lois Lane. He also spent some time in the Phantom Zone. So him trying to save Earth makes sense.

He also lets Lois know that Jax-Ur is working for Zod and created this new "god" with the "God essence" that was in Nightwing and Flamebird.

To escalate this even more, someone drops some nukes and Rao just absorbs the energy.

Someone called Breaker shows up and he and Flamebird start fighting. Then he lets loose some black energy, which strikes Nightwing and breaks him apart like he's made of glass. Or was he sent to the Phantom Zone? I have no idea...

Or not, because Nightwing is actually trapped in the shards of glass. Why is Breaker doing this? He wants Flamebird to love him as "she should."

Flamebird can't stop Rao and Breaker alone. Lois is calm and just says she needs to make a few calls for help.

 

The backup Captain Atom story? He's in Skartaris and he's happy. And he's about to go into battle against Mistress Mirabai and her army. And yep, that wraps up the 8-page story.

 

I'm not going to lie, I'm a little disappointed that this wasn't more directly connected to the Last Stand of New Krypton story. But, even though I had no clue who anyone was (except for Lois), and the idea of bringing a god back to life seems to go completely against the idea of a cold war, I was pleasantly entertained. Not amazed, not wanting to read another one of these, but I've certainly read worse comics before.

It's also nothing like what I'd expect from Rucka. That's alternately good and bad, if that makes any sense.

Sadly, especially for this column, no Legion of Super-Heroes. It's the first time I've covered a non-Legion story on this blog, so I guess this is a moment... Let's hope we get the Legion in the next story.

 

Supergirl #51 

The next chapter of the Last Stand of New Krypton is written by Sterling Gates, pencilled by Jamal Igle, and inked by Marc Deering and Jon Sibal.

Outside Kandor, in the New Jewel Mountains, a bunch of Kryptonians are going into hiding to escape the assault from Brainiac and his robots. A couple of the adults are discussing whether to tell the children what's really happening or not and they're interrupted by a child whose new powers allow her to hear the people screaming.

I wanted to make a little shout out here to the Digging for Kryptonite podcast, which answered one of my questions from last week without even knowing they were doing it. I commented last week that I didn't know why we had two kinds of Kryptonian costumes on New Krypton, ones that looked like the Silver Age Krypton designs (the regular people, according to the podcast) and ones that looked like John Byrne's designs from Man of Steel (the scientists). I really like this costume choice.

This issue is Part Two: Leaders, so I'm guessing I didn't actually need to read Action Comics to understand what's going on in this saga. I honestly kinda hate when they do that. If you're going to make me buy and read everything, make the stories matter.

We get multiple pages of the battles between Kryptonians and Brainiacs before focusing on the stars of this story: Supergirl and Mon-El. We're lucky enough that the pair are able to speak in recaps so we learn that the robots have red sun energy and they can't attack Brainiac's ship because it has a force field (we'll ignore that Superman got through because he's Superman, of course).

Their goal, which is new, is to prevent Brainiac from erecting the bottling force field around the city so he can take Kandor back onboard his ship.

Mon-El gets blasted by some red sun energy and starts... I think he's seeing visions of what's going on with the Legion... Tellus is projecting the events from within Zod's HQ.

The Kryptonians have attacked the Legion, treating them like criminals and trying to arrest them.

Mon-El tells Supergirl that he has to go. Tellus connected him with Superman's mind and he needs to help Clark, who's been knocked unconscious and is under Brainiac's control. He also learned how Superman got through Brainaic's shields so he can get there safely. Mon-El says that he owes Superman his life and he's willing to die for him. He gives Kara a pep talk, telling her that she can be a leader, she can save New Krypton, and she can save the Legion.

Of course, it would make so much more sense for Mon-El to explain to Kara how to get through the force field so an entire super-powered Kryptonian army can attack Brainiac, but why wrap this story up quickly?

Supergirl kisses Mon-El, telling him it's for luck, and then flies away. If they're trying for Luke/Leia vibes in this scene, did no one explain to them what was later revealed?

In Zod's headquarters, Superboy is trying to wake up the unconscious Legionnaires after defeating the guards. Starman tells him that "the goodbye committee" has arrived and a blonde woman with Superman's logo on her chest flies in with a couple of guards, attacking Superboy.

I feel I should know who this is (I'm guessing it's Clark's second-in-command from a previous issue) but considering that every blonde woman in this book looks the same, I'm not going to assume anything until I'm sure. I mean, this could be Supergirl's mom and I wouldn't be shocked.

Elsewhere, Supergirl keeps fighting and realizes that the Kryptonians need someone to tell them what to do. Where is Zod? She decides that someone needs to "cut through all the guild loyalties and actually lead (them) against Brainiac."

But before she can take on the mantle of leadership that the creative is going to force upon her, she hears her mother shouting. She flies to her aid and, yes, her mom is fighting Superboy.

Aside - why?? Why would Alura, the leader of this world, who should be under protection at all time, fly off to try to stop the Legion and Superboy? It makes no sense... 

Supergirl punches Superboy so hard he goes flying up into the sky. Then she reveals that they're actually kinda family. Alura tells Supergirl that he's been working with an alien terrorist group that's been running rampant through the city. Guards let them know that they've recaptured them and Supergirl lets them know they're not terrorists, they're the Legion of Super-Heroes.

When did this book become an episode of Three's Company?

Brainiac robots attack, killing some guards, and it looks like Supergirl and Alura are going to be defeated. Things don't look great for them until...

Superboy shows up, smashes every single robot with his mental skills, and jokes that Supergirl has "a mean right hook." They repeat to Alura that the Legion are not terrorists and they need to be freed so they can save the bottled cities on Brainiac's ship, and Alura says that she can't tell Zod what to do.

So Supergirl wonders who's actually running New Krypton, Zod or Alura?

Rather than stretch this out at all, Alura immediately pardons the Legion. Zod's not happy, of course, and plans to "deal" with her.

Supergirl and the Legion fly off to Brainiac's ship and Kara reminds her mother that the planet needs her leadership now. I was wrong (not a surprise) - Alura is going to have this leadership role... unless Zod deals with her and Kara has to replace her mom. Sorry, did I spoil a possible "surprise?"

Anyway, we get our final, full page spread, where the Legion, Superboy, and Supergirl are flying off towards Brainiac's ship. We're getting a big showdown in Superman #698!! Let's hope there's no another chapter to this that doesn't actually move the story forward.

 

This issue is very, very, very hit and miss for me. There were certain parts I really liked, such as anything with Mon-El or the action sequences, which Igle did a great job drawing.

But at what point do they retire the cliche of good guy punching other good guy over a misunderstanding? And the one receiving the punch being so cavalier about it? I mean, if I was Superboy, and Supergirl has just punched me into the skies, I don't think I'd be laughing about it moments later. I'd probably be thinking, "you know, you could've just asked me what was going on and we could've resolved this without you almost breaking my jaw..."

I also would've liked to have seen the Legion doing anything other then just lying on the floor, unconscious. Okay, Matter-Eater Lad bit a gun. And Tellus sent the message to Superboy (and now that I think about it, how did he know Superman was in trouble and then sent the info to Mon-El?). But couldn't Element Lad just have turned the entire room into Kryptonite and stopped the guards instantly? Couldn't Sensor Girl have made the guards think the Legion was heading one way and then they escape undetected... like in the Lightning Saga? Do the writers even know what the Legion can do?

Again, I know that I'm jumping into a storyline without any background information, so I'm missing things that longtime readers of Superman and the related titles would get, but I still think they need to give me something so I'm not completely lost. 

Artistically, I quite enjoyed this, even with the usual complaints of Igle struggling with, of all people, making Supergirl look the same panel to panel. You can tell he's inspired by Kevin Maguire, which is a good thing, and the pages do have a lot of energy and excitement to them. And as I said before, he does draw some great action sequences.

 

What did you think? Were you disappointed that Action Comics had nothing to do with this story? Did you like Supergirl's sucker punch? Please share your thoughts in the comments below or on Reddit.

 

Podcast news! Our latest episode is out! It's a spotlight on Phantom Girl and we try our best to make sense of the reboot version... and Phase... and the third Tinya who we never see... and it's also on YouTube!