Recently reviewed by me at CBR: Superman #683, about which I write the following sentences: "I've been critical of David Curiel's coloring on this book before. His use of white highlights, especially on skin tones, rarely looks good, and his pastel palette doesn't give the characters the weight they need. His coloring on Atlas, over the summer, made the character look less like a Jack Kirby demigod and more like a silly bodybuilder made from yarn. But I have to admit that his light and airy approach to coloring looks pretty good this month. His style hasn't changed, but when James Robinson, Renato Guedes, and Jorge Correa give us the showdown at New Krypton, with dozens of theatrically-dressed characters zipping through the air, Curiel's coloring fits much better. These Kryptonians look fragile, even though they're insanely powerful, and that contrast works well for the story. Curiel's gentle tones have finally found a suitable subject."Read the entire review HERE.
Tim, I'm kind of disappointed that neither you nor anyone else has commented on how colossally stupid the "moral dilemma" has been in this story arc, that being: Were the Kryptonians wrong to murder the Science Police they encountered?
ReplyDeleteEven without the obvious fact that their power relative to the Earthlings rendered the killings completely unnecessary, must we really spend most of a ten-issue series having Supergirl - and even the majority of Kryptonians - acting like they can't figure out that the murder of sentients is immoral?
Doesn't anyone else see this as idiotic?
Yeah, I know what you mean, but I wouldn't say it's a colossally stupid moral dilemma because the whole point of it is that the Kryptonians view humans the way we view, I don't know, rodents. And that sense of inherent superiority is at the center of the conflict.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that the Kryptonians are being deliberately portrayed as a generally wretched people, with Kal-El and Kara's dad being among the few exceptions, with the ultimate message being that Superman is defined more by what he learned from his recently deceased Earth father and not by his genetic lineage -- creating a scenario where even in a sea of 100,000 supermen, Superman still stands apart. Maybe the writers have stacked the deck a little bit, but I don't think the concept of murder is something they're exploring as a theme.
ReplyDeleteI view the Kryptonians as something along the lines of the Spanish Conquistadors who arrived in South and Central America and had no qualms about destroying the indigenous races there, simply because they didn't view the Aztecs, Incas, Mayans, etc. as anything other than primal savages. And the Earthlings are far, far further behind the Kryptonians, physically, mentally, and (arguably) in sophistication. Compared to Earthlings, the people of Kandor are pretty much a city of demi-gods (reminiscent of the way some of the indigenous South/Central American races initially saw the Spaniards). So the Kryptonians are not necessarily being portrayed as evil so much as ruthlessly self-involved--a fine line, needless to say...
ReplyDeleteYou all make valid points, particularly mq1986, but these points just aren't actually articulated in the text of "New Krypton" itself. It's a big turn-off to me.
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