Superman: Kingdom of Zod Special #1: Everything Changes

The end of the Krypton Kingdom is here. El Caldero has become the Kryptonite Kingdom after a Kryptonite meteor hit Earth and made Green K the most abundant resource in the world. Lois Lane gets a call from the Kryptonite King, and he requests that she come to El Caldero. Knowing it’s an obvious trap, Supergirl brings together the Super Family and her team, Super Force, to accompany Editor-in-Chief Lane to the Kryptonite Kingdom. But when they find out General Zod is behind the Kryptonite plague, they must hope that Superman can save them. Superman: Kingdom of Zod Special #1 is the epic finale of the nine-issue crossover event Kingdom of Zod. Following the events of Supergirl #17 and Action Comics #1102, General Zod has been killed by a resurrected Ursa, who has gone back in time to save Krypton. Ursa returns from Krypton with a version of General Zod from the past. Superman is able to stop the growing Green K Plague using his now-depleted golden power. Now, this past version of Zod has his eyes set on taking over Earth. Can the Super Family send Zod back in time, or will Superman have to break his one rule? Find out in this incredible issue featuring an all-star creative team that changes everything for the Super Family.  

The Kingdom of Zod crossover event took over the end of Summer, and it has been really exciting to see the Super Family in the spotlight. This crossover had the challenge of tying in several different series wth complex plots into one. Superman, Supergirl, Action Comics, and Superman: Unlimited have been telling completely different stories, one of them even happening in a different period of time. But this event was still able to tell a cohesive story that connected characters in a meaningful way. I really enjoy that each series had an epilogue at the end of this special to tie everything up nicely. The solicitation is true: this issue changes everything for the Super Family. Joshua Williamson, Sophie Campbell, Dan Slott, and Mark Waid are setting up exciting new adventures, and I cannot wait to read them. 

This issue does face the common crossover event dilemma of solving a major threat with a simple, convenient solution. The special sets up the idea that General Zod is the one person that Superman would consider killing. He describes him as someone who would stop at nothing to rule, so the threat level is felt in this event when he shows up with an army. But that threat is stopped in just a couple of pages with a solution that comes out of nowhere and is way too convenient. The main solution to this problem would have been cutting some of the filler issues. Despite this, this event has been great, and I especially enjoy seeing other characters of the Super Family in the spotlight. Connor could have played a bigger role in this event, and the Superboy event preceding this one, but it does look like he will have his own arc featuring Lex Luthor! 

Bruno Frenda, David Messina, and Paolo Villanelli’s artwork is an excellent match for this finale. They give this issue a muscular, dramatic quality that immediately sells the scale of the threat. Characters feel powerful without losing their humanity, and the environments have enough detail to make this conflict feel considerably larger than two Kryptonians punching one another. That’s especially important because Kingdom of Zod has become a genuine Super Family event. Superman, Supergirl, Superboy-Prime, Conner Kent, Steel, and others have been pulled into the conflict across multiple titles. DC has described this event as the point where Superman and the larger Super Family finally confront Zod, and this creative team’s cinematic approach seems perfectly suited to bringing those characters together.