#new krypton

2008's Superman Vol. #681/Action Comics Vol. 1#871/Supergirl Vol.5 #35 wraparound cover by artist Alex Ross.

Setting and Characters: It's evolved around the story taking place in New Krypton before the destruction. The characters consist of Jor-El, Lara Lor-Van (Superman's mom), Brainiac, General Zod, Zor-El and Alura In-Ze (Supergirl's parents) and Kara Zor El as well as Tomar-Re, Green Lantern cop responsible taking care of Krypton.

Concept Ideas: 1) It start with Jor El on a trial witness by everyone on New Krypton (like the scene of Hari Seldom from Foundation series) on base of accusing Brainiac as a fraud and a liar. Jor El shows evidence of ancient books made by ancient Kryptonian he found stating that Kryptonian have the abilities to fly, superspeed and super strength, laser beam, cold breath etc but somehow lost their abilities for unknown reasons that can only be explain by Brainiac. Brainiac is immortal being from planet Colu fallen from the sky way back in Ancient Krypton and seen as an angel by Kryptonian where their civilization thrived with his modern technology with his guidance and all sources of history and knowledge cited by him instead of Kryptonian keeping it themselves. But the case against Brainiac has been dismissed for Brainiac side by the Krypton Councilmen.

2) There's also idea General Zod and Jor El would create a coup d'etat against the Krypton Councilmen and Brainiac only to be defeat and broken by Tomar-Re, Green Lantern assigned to protect Krypton. Jor El and Zod would have imprisoned as treason in prison facility lighted with Green Kryptonite. At one point, they break out and head to Ancient Krypton where they would discover their ancient powers after being hit with yellow sun on that planet. They also find that millennium ago via drawing and sculpture on the wall, Brainiac landed on this planet from planet Colu, kidnapped one of the Kryptonian to be an experiment thus creating Doomsday. This explain why the planet is unhabitable in the first place and why Kryptonian left the planet to live in New Krypton at expense of their power since New Krypton only has red sun. Over the years, Brainiac makes himself some kind of angel to Kryptonian since they had to adapt to new environment and has changed some history event to teach the new generation. All powerful Kryptonian in the past becomes fiction and myth.

3) Another idea is the existence of Kryptonite in New Krypton. Green Kryptonite is used as weapon like laser gun that shoots green beam that able to kill Kryptonian and also place in every lightbulb in Krypton as security measures implement by Brainiac centuries ago. Kryptonian wears Gold Kryptonite as jewelry and accessories for fashion without any knowledge that Gold Kryptonite absorbing sun from giving Kryptonian powers. Brainiac also has Pink Kryptonite all over his robes as accessories which have power to pursue anyone into his own will (Jor El also known and did went to trial to show everyone about this discovery only to be reject and debunk.) Red Kryptonite would be used by Brainiac to create Doomsday and also human experiment since Red Kryptonite are unstable for causing bizarre physical mutations.

4) Tomar-Re would have bigger roles as protector of Krypton. He would have working under Krypton government, saving people just like Superman on Earth and beats Jor El and General Zod's coup d'etat before fights against Brainiac and his cyborg. He would be the one using all his will power to protect the Krypton core with his Green Lantern ring all by himself to stabilize the planet before died. Brainiac sees him as competitor for the love of Kryptonian and harbours jealousy.

5) After almost losing love of people from Krypton, Brainiac uses pregnant Lara Lor-Van to take all his accusations to Brainiac and points it all to General Zod and his followers. In the end, Jor El makes a deal with Brainiac to leave the planet in exile with his family in exchange for his silence but when second coup d'etat happens, Brainiac only creates a small pod enough for a baby, Kal El. I like the twist that the rest Jor El only creates ship small enough for a baby is because he never did create it and it was all Brainiac as some kind of sick revenge. And I find it interesting that instead of classic story where Jor El warns the people of Krypton that their planet is dying, Jor El tries to expose Brainiac as a fraud which his action lead to the actual destruction of Krypton which if he just let go, the planet would still live but under the utopia lies by Brainiac. Anyway, Jor El keeps his memory as hologram and redirects the ship to Earth.

6) General Zod was betrayed by Jor El, sent to a special facility where criminals in Krypton will be exposed with Black Kryptonite which separate good and evil side. And somehow a fight happened between Zods and the authority which the good side of General Zod died leaving the evil version left to lead the army for a second coup d'etat. General Zod would have leftover of power he got from Ancient Krypton's yellow sun and proves to everyone Brainiac has lied to them by flying and laser his way to Brainiac in city of Kandor.

New Krypton info page

Personality: Chris, at heart, is a good kid. Both words being key players here. He does what he thinks is right, with a very good sense of duty and responsibility to boot. His ethics code is strong, even if he doesn’t always have a good moral argument to back it. He refuses to kill not because of a sanctity for life, but because he knows that killing is wrong—and besides, Superman wouldn’t do it, and Superman is a true hero. And a hero is exactly what Chris wants to be; not for the glory, not for the name, but because he aspires to be that good a person, to do the right thing. So often, once he reappears in canon as a teenager, he proclaims that he’s a hero—in response to being asked who he is, or being told he’s playing pretend. Being a hero is something he’s proud of. And, admittedly, while it’s not about the attention, the praise is pretty nice too. Besides, being a superhero is kind of really cool.As was said already, that kind of ties into the fact that Chris is a, more or less, still a kid at heart. He’s certainly a lot smarter than his chronological age would imply, and definitely more emotionally mature (he was even while still physically six), but he grew up in such an odd fashion that he never totally grew up, either. He sometimes still shows some child-like enthusiasm, and is prone to the occasional immaturity (“There’s a saying on this planet—get a room”). He still has the occasional awkwardness, social gaffe, and obtuseness that come from being caught in a weird place with his age. He also has a certain underdeveloped level of patience, and can be blunt and to the point. When Thara tells him to wait, he has a hard time complying—and just goes into the situation fists first. When they’re on lookout for the sleeper agents they’re after, Chris gets bored pretty quickly and insists on alternative methods. He doesn’t like to sit still, really—his patience is obviously much higher than that of a six year old, but it’s still not fully matured, either. His age stuff is kind of complicated. Relatedly to his maturity, he also likes to show off sometimes and can get excited easily.

Related to the first point, Chris is a bit of an idealist. Of course, as said already, he puts a great deal of thought into the idea of heroics and heroism. But there is also the fact that he’s a bit optimistic, too, at times, and he is enthusiastic. He tries genuinely to persuade people that he’s a hero, not a terrorist or anything related. He at least tries to see the best in people and to do the best that he can. Still, he is also not so naïve or forgiving that he lets himself be too idealistic. He knows his biological mother, for instance, is a Bad Person™ and he is completely okay with hurting her (even going as far as destroying the goggles she uses to protect her very light-sensitive eyes to give himself an edge) to keep his loved ones safe. He just also wouldn’t kill her.Part of his willingness to do this, still, is what he went through as a child; while he’s overall pretty well adjusted, all things considered, being (both emotionally and physically) abused and tortured in your youth doesn’t just go away that easily. He’s a lot more emotionally mature and jaded than he sometimes seems, because of this; he was even when he was actually six, even before his mind’s development was accelerated. Of course, this also affected his sense of self-worth—while he’s not exactly self-deprecating, he’s pretty quick to jump to self-sacrifice. It also explains, if part, his eagerness to prove himself and be a ‘real hero.’ He knows he’s not worthless, but he still puts others way before himself. He’d much rather put himself out there and risk getting himself hurt than let there even be a chance his family could get hurt

Despite his weird age, Chris is a smart guy. Sure, he has moments where he’s a little slow on the uptake (paraphrased: “hey, that girl stuck her phone number in my armour, she must think I’m a hero!” and then “wait Thara—are you jealous?”), and he has moments where he just does something plain old dumb (he nearly blows up part of Paris by dismantling a bomb with his TTK; he then proceeds to try the same stunt in Metropolis), but over all? He’s pretty smart. His intelligence is much higher than his chronological age would imply. Biologically, his father was brilliant but, and perhaps the more important fact, his mind’s development was sped up and enhanced via technology of Brainiac. You know, only one of the smartest beings in the DCU ever. Chris shows this intelligence from time to time; as said, he was able to make the strategic manoeuver to destroy Ursa’s goggles, and give himself an edge. He occasionally comes up with some pretty decent plans, like who to talk to, to get them out of a situation, or to surrender when the fight is going nowhere. And then he figures out on his own that red sunlight doesn’t affect his TTK which he communicates to Thara in order to get the upper hand again in a fight.And finally, Chris is devoted. He has strong allegiance to his friends and family, and he loves them dearly. As was already said, he would jump at the chance to sacrifice himself if it meant he could save them, if he didn’t see other options. Thara, especially, his partner and his love, gets his unending loyalty, but so two do his (foster) parents. He loves his family, and wants to be with them, but he can also sometimes see when it’s not the right option; he’d rather stay away to keep them safe, or to avoid risking his mission, for instance. But even early on, while his bond with Thara is still developing (though they were already very close by then), he is quick to anger when it comes to her. He would snap if someone was to hurt her—and the same goes for the rest of those he cares about.

Abilities: Being Kryptonian, Chris has a pretty well rounded power set. Being a Kryptonian conceived, born, and raised in West Philadelphia The Phantom Zone makes it a little more unique than those of others of his race. He has the traditional invulnerability (and immunity to many illnesses), for instance, but he’s not quite as strong or made from the same sort of toughness that, say, Superman is (on the other hand, he’s also not as susceptible to Kryptonite, though exposure to red sunlight still diminishes all his regular Kryptonian powers). He still possesses heat vision and cold breath, for instance, as well as enhanced senses (vision, hearing, etc) and flight. All of these powers are related to his absorption of yellow solar energy. His lacking of the level that others have is balanced out by another skill of his, that most Kryptonians do not share: he has tactile telekinesis. His version of TTK is more like traditional TK, though. It is focused from his hands and its most effective use is dismantling objects (though he can also move things with it).

Chris is also supposed to be host to a deity called Nightwing, which has its own abilities. While he is host to it, he gains a few more abilities, related to the shadows. He gains a perception of what occurs in shadows—he can peak into shadows to detect what is there, for example feelings of pain, or the presence of someone; I’m assuming that this would be limited in the exact way telepathy would be. He also gains limited teleportation—he can travel through shadows, to an extent (we never really see how far this extends). He can also manipulate shadows to a minor degree—for instance, he can make proverbial arms out of the shadows to pull on someone, things like that.

Gary Frank — Superman: New Krypton Special #1 (2018) Source

Colors by Brad Anderson

Superman: New Krypton Special.