LONGBOX JUNK - What If? #44

Welcome to Longbox Junk, where the comics are cheap and the reviews are free!

Despite getting a late start on things due to a family medical emergency and things being super hectic at work (I manage a hotel and I think the only way to make people stay at home THIS year would be an actual apocalypse of some sort), it's July and I can't let July pass by without shining the Longbox Junk spotlight on some Captain America!

SO. . .

Let's jump into the Longbox Junk paper time machine and set the dial for a short trip back in time to the edge of the Bronze Age. . .the year 1984!  The comic at hand is one of the final issues (#44 out of 47) of Marvel's What If? anthology series, which explored what would happen if the stories of familiar characters were changed in some small way. 

What If? is right up there in the top ten of my all-time favorite Bronze Age comic series.  I've always enjoyed tales of alternate history AND this series is a who's who of Marvel's Bronze Age talent, so what's not to like?  Even better, if you're a Longbox Junker such as myself, the issues are fairly easy to come by, with only a few being "valuable" enough to be priced out of the bargain bin. 

But enough introduction!  Let's jump into this comic that asks the question, "What if Captain America were not revived until today?" With "today" meaning 1984, of course.  Ready?  Let's do it!  

WHAT IF? #44

Marvel (1984)

WHAT IF CAPTAIN AMERICA WERE

NOT REVIVED UNTIL TODAY?

SCRIPT:  Peter Gillis

PENCILS: Sal Buscema

INKS: Dave Simons

COVER: Bill Sienkiewicz

THE COVER:

Now THERE'S a Bronze Age beauty if I've ever seen one!  Classic Captain America rendered in impeccable detail by the one and only Bill Sienkiewicz!  This is one of my favorite covers from the whole What If? run, and it has taken several turns up on the "Wall O' Covers" in my office at work. It's just a great piece of comic art, period.  Let's get inside! 

THE STORY:

We begin our tale as the Avengers pursue Namor. . .but unlike OUR world, the Sub-Mariner eludes them and they give up the chase before discovering the body of Captain America suspended in ice since the end of WWII.

Years later, without the binding influence of Captain America to keep them together, the Avengers decide to disband.  A political tensions worldwide rise, we see a mysterious man in a government base release Captain America and Bucky from some sort of laboratory where they were being kept in suspended animation!

Although the two heroes are confused as to how exactly they got where they are, they know they have a purpose. . .to restore order to the increasingly lawless nation!  And so we see them in action shortly after their revival taking down a group of armed bank robbers.  It is during this scene that we begin to realize something is. . .off.  Cap and Bucky seem to be much more ruthless and brutal than we know the heroes to usually be.

In the months to follow, Cap and Bucky take down all manner of criminals, proving themselves as heroes in the eyes of America. . .but all the while keeping a secret.  They are actually the replacement "Captain America and Bucky" from the 1950's, forced into suspended animation by the government when they felt there was no longer a use for them.  

Then one day, a representative from a far right wing political group approaches Cap and Bucky, letting them know that their group is aware of their secret, but wants to enlist their help promoting their political cause.  The two heroes agree.

In the months to come, Captain America and Bucky use their status as patriotic superheroes to push a hardline anti-communist/ anti-immigrant candidate to the top of the polls, all the while quashing rumors of their true identities.  

After sweeping the election with Captain America's support, Senator Chadwick quickly begins to enact anti-immigrant and racist legislation, including a national identity card. . .

Protests soon begin to turn to riots, including one where a sniper attempts to kill Captain America!  Emergency powers force martial law across the nation, leading to more and deadlier confrontations between government forces and protestors. . .

We move forward in time several years.  A U.S. submarine on patrol finds something strange. . .a man frozen in ice!  After thawing out the mysterious figure, he revives and fights the sailors, believing them to be Nazis.  The Captain of the sub realizes that they've just discovered the REAL Captain America!

When the sub returns to port in Brooklyn, the Captain sneaks Captain America off the boat and takes him on a tour of New York.  Cap is horrified to see the city is in the grip of an armed occupation, with armed soldiers wearing the insignia of Captain America. . .the "Sentinels of Liberty". . .everywhere!

The Submarine Skipper takes Captain America to see a contact with ties to the Underground. . .J. Jonah Jameson.  With Jameson's assistance, Cap and the Skipper are able to cross the heavily-guarded barrier known as the Harlem Wall.  Cap is disgusted by the poverty-stricken despair found in the racially-segregated ghetto Harlem has become.

Deep in the Harlem ghetto, the submarine skipper introduces Cap to the underground resistance movement, led by General Nick Fury, Spider-Man, and Snap Wilson (AKA the Falcon).  At first he is suspected of being an infiltrator, but after Cap talks to Fury about their time fighting WWII, he is accepted into their ranks as they prepare for a major operation against the "America First Party" during their National Convention, soon to be held in New York City.

Elsewhere, we find the imposter Captain America meeting with the leaders of criminal organizations that have infiltrated the government, and we learn of their plans for complete control of the United States. . .as well as his support for their plans as long as they at least pretend to align with his insanely unbending anti-communist ideals.

Shortly thereafter, the scene shifts to Madison Square Garden, where the America First Party is holding a huge, heavily-guarded rally to finally cement their complete political control of the United States.  The underground infiltrates the stadium and then attacks as the imposter Captain America makes his speech!

As Captain America fights the imposter Cap in Madison Square Garden, the Underground attacks across America, sparking a second revolutionary war!

Eventually, Captain America prevails, beating the imposter unconscious on national television.  The people believe HE'S an imposter until Cap makes a rousing speech and convinces them that he's the genuine article.

Once Captain America has convinced the people that he's back, they chant his name in adulation, but he stops them. . .saying that he won't allow himself to become such a large symbol that people can't think for themselves.  At the end, the gathered crowd agrees and they join in with Cap singing "America The Beautiful" as the nation moves forward into a new day.

The End.

THE REVIEW:

So there's the story.  Let's break it on down!

BUT FIRST. . .

THIS IS YOUR TRIGGER WARNING!  

If you are the sort of political obsessive who simply cannot stand ANY negative criticism of right-wing conservative values, then DO NOT read this comic OR this review.

OR. . .

If you are the sort of political obsessive who simply cannot stand ANY positive affirmation of right-wing conservative values, then DO NOT read this comic OR this review.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Okay. . .everyone in that's staying in?  Last call.  Let's do this!

As you can probably tell by the trigger warning above, this is a comic that is rooted deep in political commentary.  If you are a die-hard conservative, this comic will be uncomfortable to read.  If you are a die-hard liberal, it will be just as uncomfortable.  If you're a moderate like me, you'll find it an interesting time capsule of Reagan-Era politics that reflect on current events a bit more than they should.

I don't really want to start any sort of political discussion or alienate any readers of Longbox Junk, so I'm going to try and judge this story on the story itself. . .just be aware that this comic is basically a 52 page slam on conservative tendencies to wrap political policy in the red, white, and blue.  But then again, it's ALSO a slam on the liberal tendencies to downplay patriotic beliefs as racist or oppressive.  Like I said, this comic was written in 1984, but it could have just as easily been written last week.

SO. . .

The story itself is a fairly typical "What If?" offering, where one little change causes EVERYTHING to shift in a bad way.  In the story at hand, everything shifts toward patriotic fascism when the Avengers disband and the "Commie Smasher" failed Captain America experiment in recreating the super-soldier serum from the 1950's, William Burnside, is unleashed on America and becomes a symbol of all the absolute worst the country has to offer, but wrapped in a patriotic cloak of red, white, and blue that appeals to the population.

Burnside was co-created by Sal Buscema (along with Steve Englehart), but hadn't been used much up to this point, except in a short story arc (Captain America #353-356) as an explanation as to how Cap could be smashing Commies in the 50's when it was established in early Avengers issues that he'd been on ice since 1945.  So it was interesting to see him used here as the antagonist.  The character is actually well-written and you almost feel sorry for the way he's been used by unscrupulous politicians and criminal elements in this story.  

Most of the story focuses on how bad America has become under the influence of Burnside, and how willingly the population has gone along with his obsessive anti-Communits, racist, and anti-immigrant beliefs. . .which makes the sudden swing back to patriotic flag-waving at the end of the story feel sort of rushed and frankly just a bit cheesy that one single speech from the real Captain America suddenly makes everything okay, and everyone from sea to shining sea is just singin' Kumbaya. . .er. . .God Bless America together as one united nation.

On the art side of things. . . Of the Buscema brothers, I like John's art a little better, but Sal Buscema is still one of the better Bronze Age artists in my book.  His art here is energetic and expressive, with some REALLY great panels scattered throughout, making this one very nice-looking comic, with art that definitely still stands up today.

CONCLUSION

Overall, this was an interesting comic from a political point of view.  It's a commentary on Reagan-Era politics leaning heavily to the left that actually reflects pretty well on the current American political divide.  

But beyond that, it's a pretty darn good "How bad can things get?" story about politics wrapped in patriotism. . .even if the ending IS a pretty hard and sudden swing in the opposite direction, and sort of cheesy.

The art in this comic delivers a solid visual half. . .from the great cover to page after page of some pretty darn fine Bronze Age pencils from Sal Buscema.

All in all, unless you're the type to get politically triggered by either criticism OR affirmation of right-wing conservative messages, I can highly recommend this story, especially if you're a fan of Captain America in general and are interested in an early appearance of "Commie Smasher" William Burnside.

Up Next. . .

I got in late on July for Captain America comics, so let's ride that Red, White, and Blue train right into August!  It's Captain America meeting Black Panther during WWII. . .with Nick Fury and his Howling Commandos mixed in!  

It's Marvel's four-issue "Captain America/ Black Panther: Flags of Our Fathers" series.

Be there or be square!

Longbox Junk - The World Of Krypton

Welcome to Longbox Junk, the place to find all the comic book reviews you've never asked for!

Sorry about the delays between posts (I actually started writing this one June 12).  Between work really ramping up and my wife being in a car wreck (and in and out of the hospital, doctor appointments and such), I've had to put comic readin' and reviewin' on the back burner for a little bit.  But here I am, back at it!

SO. . .

If you've been reading Longbox Junk for a while, then you probably already know that I'm not much of a Superman fan.  If you're new to Longbox Junk, Welcome!  I hope you stick around for a while.  And by the way. . .I'm not much of a Superman fan.

But what I AM a fan of is a great comic book cover!  So when I spotted these three issues at the flea market recently for two bucks apiece, the cover for #3 immediately caught my eye, and I bought the set.  Seriously. . .scroll down and just LOOK at that cover!  It's a Bronze Age beauty if I ever saw one!

So I bought three comics featuring a character I don't even like much because I liked the cover on one of them and didn't want to break up the set.  It's just my sort of random way of collecting comic books.  It's Longbox Junkin' is what it is.

BUT. . .

When I got the comics home and was looking them up to enter them onto my COMIC BOOK REALM list (where I make a half-hearted effort to keep track of the gigantic pile of random comics I've accumulated over the years), something caught my eye.  Apparently, The World Of Krypton is regarded as the FIRST actual comic book mini-series.

I found it a bit strange that a little piece of comic history like this was. . .well. . .Longbox Junk.  In perfect-o condition, these issues are only "worth" about eight bucks each.  And yet I see they hold an acknowledged place in the comic book timeline.  I hadn't really intended ever reading these comics, but NOW my interest in them was raised.

Enough introduction! Let's take a look at these Bronze Age relics.  Are they an overlooked and undervalued piece of comic history?  Or do they rightfully belong on a folding table at a Utah flea market, flapping in the wind and sold for less than the price of a Big Mac meal at McDonald's?

Let's find out!

THE WORLD OF KRYPTON

DC (1979)

SCRIPTS: Paul Kupperberg

PENCILS: Howard Chaykin & Alan Kupperberg (Uncredited Layouts)

INKS: Murphy Anderson & Frank Chiaramonte

COVERS: Ross Andru & Dick Giordano (Inks)

ISSUE ONE

THE JOR-EL STORY

THE COVER:

To me, kind of "Meh".  It's nicely-drawn and the background elements of the building and the ship in the sky are interesting, but there's nothing really here that grabs me and makes me want to read this comic.  

THE STORY:

After Superman discovers a memory tape on the moon that turns out to part of his father's journals, we join the Man of Steel as he learns about Jor-El's early life. . .beginning with his entering school as a brilliant student of science, but unfortunately not quite as brilliant at making friends outside of his studies.  

After graduation, Jor-El joins Krypton's fledgling space program, where he studies and then creates anti-gravity.  Unfortunately, his first anti-gravity ship crashes, stranding the young astronaut he has fallen in love with (Lara) and forcing him to travel to Krypton's moon to rescue her.

His next project is more successful. . .developing orbital "prison cells" where convicts sleep in suspended animation while undergoing rehabilitating hypno-training, after which they can become part of society again.  Now that he's become a successful and recognized scientist, Jor-El and Lara decide to marry.

Unfortunately, their application for marriage (Filed with Krypton's automated Matri-Comp marriage compatibility computer) is denied.  As Lara fights against the man Matri-Comp seems to have arbitrarily assigned her (despite her never meeting him previously), Jor-El fights against a criminal that has sabotaged his prison capsule and battles his pursuers using Jor-El's own stolen anti-gravity technology.

After defeating the escaped criminal, clues point toward a rival member of the science council as being behind the plot.  Returning to Lara, Jor-El discovers her hypnotized and declaring her love for a strange man.  Jor-El discovers that the Matri-Comp has developed intelligence and feelings, and has decided to marry Lara through an android proxy.

After destroying Matri-Comp and its android, Lara and Jor-El are finally able to marry, and we end the story at their wedding with Superman himself somehow being present, but with an assurance we'll be told why and how in the next issue!

To be continued. . .

THE REVIEW:

Say what you will about Bronze Age comics, but the writers of that era were able to pack a LOT into a little space!  The amount of story to be found in this issue would easily take up 3 or 4 issues of a modern comic.  But for all the information packed into this comic, it's actually a pretty brisk read.  

The story jumps from place to place a bit, and the whole back half involving Jor-El fighting against an escaped criminal and a marriage computer gone mad seems tacked on just to provide some action.  Despite these few things, I found this to be a decent read, even though Superman is probably my LEAST favorite comic book character.  

I think this story kept my attention mostly because with each page that went by, I kept wondering "How much more stuff can they put in this thing?" This single issue is like a Dagwood sandwich of comic writing!  It's a teetering pile of stuff crammed between two covers!  Even the bare-bones synopsis I provided above takes up six paragraphs.  

The art is. . .it's okay.  It compliments the story without trying to take it over.  I saw Howard Chaykin's name on this and was expecting something a little darker and grittier, but I guess this is one of those cases where the inker has more of a hand in things than usual.  The lines are a lot cleaner and sharper than what I would think of when I see Chaykin's name on a comic.

So many words!

Overall, I have to tip my hat to Paul Kupperberg on this one.  His writing isn't fancy or flashy, or particularly deep, but he tells a story in one single issue that would take months of modern comics to tell.  It's not all good. . .there are definitely parts that seem tacked on for obligatory action scenes that could have been trimmed. . .but for the most part, this was a decent read.

NEXT!

ISSUE TWO

THIS PLANET IS DOOMED!

THE COVER:

Again, sort of "Meh".  I like the interesting details on the city of Kandor, but other than that, this just seems like a pretty unremarkable Superman comic cover.  Sorry Superman fans.  It's just me, I guess.

THE STORY:

We pick up the story shortly after Jor-El and Lara's wedding at the end of issue #1.  Jor-El and his father are attacked by an alien ice bird long thought to be extinct during a visit to Antarctic City.  Jor-El's father is severely injured and falls into a coma before being able to tell Jor-El his reason for the visit.

Jor-El searches his father's papers and makes a terrifying discovery. . .his father's research indicates that Krypton's planetary core is unstable and within the next few years, the planet is doomed!  Jor-El (and his trusted assistant, Kal-El. . .who is actually Superman trapped in the past on Krypton) wastes no time in trying to find a way to evacuate the planet.

Unfortunately, Kryptonian politics delay the project until Jor-El and several other scientists friendly to his cause pool their talents and own resources to at least try and save some of the doomed Kryptonians in gigantic space arks of Jor-El's design when the time comes.

Jor-El's father briefly regains consciousness and tells his son that the real reason behind their visit to the Antarctic was because he had discovered a gigantic alien ship in the ice. . .but dies before he can reveal the location.

As Jor-El searches for the alien craft, Kal-El designs a robot capable of doing the work of 100 men, and construction of the first Kryptonian evacuation ark begins.  

BUT THEN!

An unidentified craft attacks the capital city of Kandor, ripping it from the ground, and then shrinking the city before departing!  Along with Kandor goes the ark under construction, the super-construction robot, Jor-El's fellow scientists working with him on the project, AND the supply of rare fuel needed for the starships!  All hope seems lost.

With Kandor gone, Krypton is plunged into panic.  As the Kryptonians try to hold their society together without their capital city, Jor-El receives even more bad news. . .his assistant, Kal-El has gone missing (Superman discovered a way off-page to return to Earth and his own timeline).  Despite the crushing hopelessness of it all, Jor-El vows to continue with his project somehow, if only to save his own recently-born son, who is named Kal-El in honor of Jor-El's faithful assistant.

With the newly-reformed science council now behind Jor-El's research, he begins investigating other dimensions as an alternative to the gigantic space arks.  During his research, he discovers the Phantom Zone.  It's unsuitable for general habitation, but Jor-El convinces the Science Council that it would be a better place for criminals than the expensive system of orbiting suspended animation prison satellites he created years ago (in issue #1).

AND THEN. . .

Jor-El finally discovers the location of the crashed alien ship that his father had discovered!  It seems to hold all the answers needed to help the Kryptonians escape into space locked inside its strange technology.  Unfortunately, during a test flight, a criminal named Jax-Ur fires a powerful rocket, causing the alien ship to crash before completely destroying Krypton's moon, Wegthor!

Jax-Ur is captured and is the first criminal sentenced to the Phantom Zone, but the loss of the alien ship's technology and the destruction of the launching facility on Wegthor together spell the end of Jor-El's rescue plans for the people of Krypton.

To be continued. . .

THE REVIEW:

I THOUGHT there was a lot going on in the first issue.  The second issue ups the ante at least a few notches by bombarding the reader with so much story that even a major event like the capital city of Kandor literally being ripped from the planet and stolen by Brainiac takes up ONE page.

That's it.  Right there.  Capital City gone.

While I admired Kupperberg's compressed storytelling in the first issue, here it just seems like too much.  The story jumps from place to place so quickly that it's difficult to get invested in any one thing before it's gone and you're reading about something else.  Even writing the synopsis above, I glossed over several plot points for the sake of space and readability. 

Extremely compressed storytelling aside, this issue also seems strange because Superman himself plays a fairly large supporting role, with practically no explanation as to why or how beyond one single tiny editor box: 

We don't need no stinkin' exposition!

Reading this comic in 2021, I was able to hit the internet for more information. . .discovering that this story (for some strange reason) ties heavily into Superman #141, from 1960, which tells the story of how Superman accidentally ended up on Krypton in the past, got to know his parents, and fell in love, before managing to escape despite not having any powers under the red Kryptonian sun.

It seems like an odd story path in tying so strongly into a single Superman issue published almost TWENTY YEARS before the story at hand. . .especially during the Bronze Age, where comics weren't generally kept and collected the way they are now.  One wonders what the thinking was behind the idea, when there was really no way at the time for the average reader to go back and reference. . .well. . .just about ANYTHING not in the card catalogue at a library or in an encyclopedia (For my younger readers, they were a sort of multi-volume printed versions of Wikipedia that took up a lot of space.  Just kidding.  You know what an encyclopedia is, right?  God, I feel old).

ANYWAY. . .

It just seems really strange to tie a good chunk of this story to a single comic book issue published in 1960.  Beyond the single editor note pictured above, Superman is just sort of. . .there. . .in full Superman garb for most of this issue without any further explanation.  Maybe they were afraid a Superman comic without Superman wouldn't sell?  

Overall, this issue suffers from some extremely compressed storytelling that causes the story to jump from place to place without any real time to dwell on any single story element.  Combined with the strange decision to tie this issue in with an issue of Superman published twenty years previously, this whole second chapter of World of Krypton seems a bit confusing.  It's not BAD, mind you.  It's just a little hard for me to get into.

NEXT!

ISSUE THREE

THE LAST DAYS OF KRYPTON

THE COVER:

Now HERE'S the winner!  What a glorious comic book cover!  I'm not even a Superman fan and I absolutely LOVE this cover!  The colors, the composition, the. . .everything! There's not a single thing I don't like about this piece of comic art.  It was worth buying this set of comics for this cover alone!

THE STORY:

Continuing from the previous issue, we follow Jor-El shortly after Jax-Ur is sentenced to the Phantom Zone for destroying Krypton's moon, Wegthor.  Because of the destruction, the Science Council votes to ban all further space travel and rocket research, despite the protests of Jor-El.

Unable to convince the Science Council of the need to evacuate the planet, Jor-El continues his research on his own, knowing that he will be condemned to the Phantom Zone if caught.  Suspecting Jor-El of disobeying their command, the Science Council secretly assigns an agent to follow and watch him.

Jor-El discovers a large piece of debris from the destroyed alien ship (from issue #2) orbiting Krypton and calculates it will land in the Scarlet Jungle.  He suspects it is the remains of the ship's engine.  As he waits for it to crash so he can retrieve the technology, Jor-El continues his rocket research, not suspecting that the Council's Agent, Par-Es is watching.

When the debris from the alien ship finally crash lands, Jor-El travels to the Scarlet Jungle.  Realizing he's being followed, he subdues Par-Es using his anti-gravity belt (that he invented in issue #1) and brings the wreckage back to his lab.

As earthquakes rock Krypton, Jor-El works to the point of exhaustion trying to build at least one working rocket to evacuate his wife and son from the doomed planet.  Unknown to him, he has contracted Scarlet Jungle Fever, which makes him weak and unable to resist the mental commands of a group of Krypton's worst criminals (including General Zod) plotting to escape the Phantom Zone.

Realizing something is wrong with her husband, Lara foils the escape plot and helps Jor-El recover from the fever.  He wastes no time in continuing to build a rocket, and finally manages to complete his work as the earthquakes wracking the planet cause the city to crumble around him.

Jor-El puts his son into the rocket, but Lara refuses to go with him. . .preferring to die with her husband and trusting that their son will thrive on his new homeworld of Earth.  As the rocket with baby Kal-El launches into space, the planet explodes behind him!

In the end, we witness baby Kal-El being found by the Kents in Kansas and we return to the present day, where Superman vows never to forget Jor-El and Lara, or the destroyed world of Krypton.

The End.

THE REVIEW:

Okay then.  Finally we get to the meat of the story. . .the destruction of Krypton.  This issue is a little more tightly-focused than the other two.  There are still some seemingly random plot threads thrown in (the attempted Phantom Zone escape comes directly to mind) that look like they're there to pad the length out and add a little action to the story, but not nearly as many as in previous issues.

Because of the tighter focus and relative lack of digressions, this issue is probably the best of the bunch, story-wise.  It's a relentless countdown from the Science Council outlawing space research to the explosion of Krypton, shown to the reader in a single glorious splash page. . .

The actual ending of the story, with baby Kal-El being found and Superman reflecting on his parents' lives, seems a bit rushed.  But then again, what should I expect after a dramatic countdown to a planetary explosion?

Overall, I enjoyed this issue a lot.  Where the first two seemed a bit overwhelming as they piled on information and story digressions, this issue was tighter and more focused, delivering a page-turner of a story that kept me invested even though I already knew the ending.

CONCLUSION

While doing a bit of basic research to try and ease my confusion over Superman himself playing a supporting role in issue #2 of this series, I discovered that MOST of this series is actually supposed to tie together a series of 27 "Fabulous World of Krypton" back-up features that had appeared in Superman comics during the 70's.  This explains why seemingly random story digressions kept appearing throughout.  

I also learned that the overall story was originally supposed to appear in DC's "Showcase" series as part of the lead-in to the Superman movie in 1978.  But then the movie was delayed and Showcase was cancelled before that could happen, leading to this interesting experiment by DC to build a coherent continuity to Superman's past becoming the very first comic book limited series.

Knowing that this whole affair was actually built from barely-related story elements written over the course of about twenty years gave me a new perspective on things.  Where I did see it as a bit of a mess, but still a sort of fun read.  I now see it as a valiant attempt to make one story out of many, with the explosion of Krypton the established ending.

Even knowing the story behind the story, I'm still not sure they entirely succeeded.  I called the first issue a "Dagwood Sandwich" because of all the story points stacked inside a single comic.  I'm thinking that, reading this with the benefit of 40 years' worth of hindsight, the editors might have done the writer a disservice by trying to cram EVERYTHING that had been written about Krypton up to that point into a three issue story.  

The final issue sort of bears this out with its tighter focus on the inevitable end of Krypton.  If the writer had maintained that focus through the whole series instead of having to diverge to things like the tale of Krypton's automated Marriage Computer somehow developing feelings for Superman's mother (from issue #1, for one example), this strange little piece of comic book history MIGHT not be relegated to the bargain bin because the story would be a lot more readable than it is.

As it stands, World of Krypton (mostly the first two issues) is just overstuffed to the point that it's bursting with things that don't move the actual story along.  Don't get me wrong. . .it's not BAD.  It's actually well-written and the art is interesting, but the story jumps from place to place as it tries to incorporate story elements from almost 30 different sources.

At the end of the day, not being much of a Superman fan, I found this series to be interesting more for the story behind the story than the actual story at hand.  If you are a Superman fan and are interested in "Pre-Crisis" Superman continuity, you'll probably get more mileage out of the actual story itself than I did.  

I'd say that just for its place in comic book history as the first limited series, World of Krypton deserves to be read at least once.  If you spot it in the bargain bin, go ahead and give it a look.

Up Next. . .

It's July!  I'm a bit late off the starting line, but how about some Captain America?

Be there or be square!