DC COMICS: Superman Presents the Krypton Chronicles - 3 issues mini-series
60 Cents
Writer: E. Nelson Bridwell
Penciller: Curt Swan
Vol. 1 No. 1 - September 1981 - Cover Art: Buckler & Giordano
Vol. 1 No. 2 - October 1981 - Cover Art: Andru & Giordano
Vol. 1 No. 3 - November. 1981 - Cover Art: Andru & Giordano
I am a DC fangirl and I’d say most of my comic book collection is made up of DC books. The “S” section alone is filled with oh so many SUPER titles and to me that is a good thing. Of course with so many books I’m always adding more then I have time to read because I have this collector, complete-ist mentality where I want it all.
Going through my books I came across a three issues mini-series KRYPTON CHORNICLES from the 80’s, which I had not read! It’s was totally awesome, well at least a lot of fun, and so different from what’s going on now. How times have changed, and I know Krypton history has been updated since this little book.
It all begins when the owner of the Daily Planet Morgan Edge (still a good guy at this point of the DC timeline) calls in Clark Kent and Perry White to his office. Mr. Edge explains he wants Clark to go to his best friend SUPERMAN and get the 411 on the Superman Family Tree so they can put together a “ROOTS” like mini-series and bring in the ratings!
Of course Clark/Superman is all for the idea since he too had been wondering more about his past. From there we go to the Fortress of Solitude to being an “epic voyage of discovery” for the Krypton Chronicles!
At the Fortress of Solitude Supergirl is waiting for Clark as it happens to be the day the COSMIC AXIS shifts and KANDOR* is in Earth’s dimensional Plane!
*Krypton Glossary Time! The mini-series features a KRYPTON GLOSSARY at the end of each issue where the Kryptonian names and words are translated and explained as needed. i.e.: KANDOR: “The Former Capital of Krypton until it was stolen, shrunken, and placed in the bottle by the space-villain Brainiac. After defeating Brainiac, Superman kept the bottle-city in his fortress until he found a way to enlarge it on another world. “
Supergirl and Superman travel to Kandor and visit the House of El, which houses the statues of their ancestors. Using Kryptonian technology ala Mind-Tapes, Superman begins the history lesson. Along with him we learn of the Krypton race, how they came to be so technologically advanced, building the first cities, and about their God Rao.
Later Superman moves on to using the HEADBANDS worn by his forefathers to learn about the days Krypton was enslaved by the Alien VRANGS! Next it was of the findings of Sur-El the glassmaker who created the telescope! If only the Kryptonians had headed Sur-El’s warning of incoming invaders they may have been able to fight off the VRANGS from the start. Now, it just goes to show that Kryptonians have always doubted the facts and they tend to back the wrong scientists until it’s too late, I mean look what happened to their planet, right?
During the first two issues, there’s also a side story of a shadowed figure that is trying to sabotage Superman and Supergirl from leaving the planet. This mystery woman was Zora a.k.a. Black Flame. She was using her vibrator ray, (yes, vibrator ray) to trap the SUPER duo in the museum so she could escape to Earth and take Supergirl’s powers. Of course Supergirl caught on and captured Zora instead, just in the nick of time so that they can leave Kandor to continue their history research elsewhere with another new gadget!
In issue #3 Supergirl and Superman complete their KRYPTON CHRONICLES using a “LIGHT SEEKER” which was designed to “Reach out for great distances… and pick up light…to give a complete picture,” but without sound they have to practice their lip-reading for whatever it is they see. This actually was the most reliable plan because Superman rejected the time travel possibilities since Krypton’s Red Sun would take away their powers.
We learn of more Kryptonian science discoveries, witness the great Flood (very similar to Earth’s Noah story) and meet Kal-El’s own ancestors who began the house of El.
The series was quite informative and fun while I can’t help but find some things silly/cheesy yet it was the beginning of the 80’s after-all and Superman was quite wholesome.
The Ad’s in the book were awesome, especially the HOSTESS comic page. Issue #1 featured WONDER WOMAN Versus THE ROBOT MASTER and she foiled his plans with Twinkies! Issue #2 BATMAN stopped some bad movie pirates with HOSTESS Cup Cakes and Issue #3 the RED TORNADO used the Cup Cakes in a “Clean Sweep”. It all just proves that no villain or super hero can resist the allure of sugar filled cakes and now I crave Twinkies.
Reading through this book I also realize that my own use or sometime overuse of exclamations points must have been influenced by comic books. On the covers there are always exclamation points and most conversations are ended with them. So that’s another thing I have to thank my comics for! Yup!!!!
I really do want to dig into more back issues, get the history straight, but it has changed so much since things like Earth 2 and all the crisis’s that have gone on! But comics are able to do their reboots more often aren’t they? Most folks keep on reading for the stories, right? Well, I’m having fun doing so and will be back with some more!!
COMIC BOOKS KICK ASS!
