What's your favorite version of Krypton?

[Robanker]

And then there's Johns' "everything in a blender" approach. And I'll be honest, I think as a narrative it's cheap and lazy. It just feels like trying to please everyone without having to do any real work. But it did give us the most diverse Krypton we've ever seen, with tons of different aesthetics and tones, and it makes you feel like Krypton was a fully realized world where people dress and act differently based on where they live and what they do, just like the real world. I do appreciate the variety this provided even if I feel like it was an easy cop out from Johns.

Sometimes the easiest solution is the best. Not everything has to be the twelve labors of Hercules.

Overall I agree that the Johns approach did make Krypton feel most like a diverse world of different cultures blending into a greater planet, but perhaps because of those stunning Rocafort pencils, I do love the look of the New 52 era Krypton.

Most Kryptons work for me, though I'm not partial to Byrne's. It was definitely alien, but coupled with his need to have Clark born on Earth and have him heavily favor his adopted culture from his birth one, it just felt like one more way of taking one big dump on the whole immigrant element to the character. Literally every part of "ye olde country" sucks in the Byrne approach to Krypton/its heritage, so I'm overall soured to it, though it does feel like an actual place with its own customs and history. Robinson's Starman touched on it in a fun way too, which shows a much more idealistic young Jor-El to contrast with how rigid he could be in flashbacks where he's an adult. Really informed how sterile society made Kryptonians as opposed to it being built in.

If the New 52 Krypton looks like the one I'd most like to visit, Byrne's/Post Crisis is probably the one which may have made a more compelling docuseries on Netflix.

As much as I love the Donner version, the proliferation of crystals really does make me think I'm trapped inside my gran's chandelier.

[Vordan]

Sometimes the easiest solution is the best. Not everything has to be the twelve labors of Hercules.

Overall I agree that the Johns approach did make Krypton feel most like a diverse world of different cultures blending into a greater planet, but perhaps because of those stunning Rocafort pencils, I do love the look of the New 52 era Krypton.

Most Kryptons work for me, though I'm not partial to Byrne's. It was definitely alien, but coupled with his need to have Clark born on Earth and have him heavily favor his adopted culture from his birth one, it just felt like one more way of taking one big dump on the whole immigrant element to the character. Literally every part of "ye olde country" sucks in the Byrne approach to Krypton/its heritage, so I'm overall soured to it, though it does feel like an actual place with its own customs and history. Robinson's Starman touched on it in a fun way too, which shows a much more idealistic young Jor-El to contrast with how rigid he could be in flashbacks where he's an adult. Really informed how sterile society made Kryptonians as opposed to it being built in.

If the New 52 Krypton looks like the one I'd most like to visit, Byrne's/Post Crisis is probably the one which may have made a more compelling docuseries on Netflix.

As much as I love the Donner version, the proliferation of crystals really does make me think I'm trapped inside my gran's chandelier.

The crystals are iconic, and I’d keep that aesthetic for outside of the Fortress of Solitude, but I really wish they’d change up the interior look. It looked like that in Donner’s films because of the limits of the time, there’s no reason that it has to look so spartan now. It didn’t in the past. Add some Kryptonian vegetation to the interior for Rao’s sake, I’d like more color instead of just dull white.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

When did Superman first learn about Krypton? The aborted 1940 K-Metal story was supposed to be when he found out, correct? Was it 1949 when he visited Krypton via time ghost shenanigans?

[Kuwagaton]

Yeah, Superman #61. The newspapers from that year haven't been reprinted yet but no one has ever mentioned it being there first anyway.

I'll always love what a left field twist of fate that was

Robinson's Starman touched on it in a fun way too, which shows a much more idealistic young Jor-El to contrast with how rigid he could be in flashbacks where he's an adult.

The 17 year old Jor El from Starman is pulled right from World of Krypton, I'd recommend it.

DC Legends was cool but I wish Robinson did more Superman during his 90s "hot streak"

[Robanker]

Yeah, Superman #61. The newspapers from that year haven't been reprinted yet but no one has ever mentioned it being there first anyway.

I'll always love what a left field twist of fate that was



The 17 year old Jor El from Starman is pulled right from World of Krypton, I'd recommend it.

DC Legends was cool but I wish Robinson did more Superman during his 90s "hot streak"

Great to know. I'm catching up on my weekly backlog and putting together a list of books to read on DCU during my lunch breaks. Thank you for the recommendation!

[Jim Kelly]

What did Superman know and when did he know it? I often go down this rabbit hole and come out mad as a hatter.

When looking for the answers, I think it's important to forget all we know now and look at it from the perspective of the reader at the time. What would she assume Superman to know based on the few facts sometimes given?

In ACTION COMICS No. 1 (June 1938), on sale May 3, 1938, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's first Superman story says that a passing motorist finds the baby and takes him to an orphanage--we don't see if anyone adopted him. Our reader can't assume much about what if anything Superman knew--did he even have foster parents?

In the January 28, 1939, entry for the daily SUPERMAN newspaper strip, Siegel and Shuster replicate this sequence and we still don't see any of Superman's life before he appears in Metropolis. In the Sundays for the strip (1A and 1), for 1939, Jerry and Joe don't give out more than that. Which leaves our reader still in the dark.

In the solo comic for SUPERMAN [No. 1, Summer 1939], on sale May 18, 1939, Siegel and Shuster expand on his origin and it's now an elderly couple, the Kents (Mary is the woman), who find the baby in the rocket and take him to the orphanage and then return later to adopt the infant. Ah okay, our reader now knows the passing motorist was actually the Kents and they adopted the baby and raised him as Clark. So surely they told him how he was found in a rocket, eh?

And the reader knows that Superman is from another planet--this is a fact that's repeated constantly. If she knows that he's from a planet--Krypton by name--surely she assumes Superman knows this, as well.

However, if our reader was keeping up with the newspaper dailies, she would have found on December 12 and 13, 1939, this exchange between Superman and Lois Lane, where he says that he doesn't know where he comes from. Strange. How much weight should she give this off-handed comment from the Man of Tomorrow?


Our young Superman fan would surely have listened to THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN on the radio. The second broadcast was on February 14, 1940 (script by B.P. Freeman or Jack Johnstone?). It opens with Superman's arrival on Earth, but he's a full grown man. He's aged on the trip from Krypton to Earth. So of course he knew he was from another planet. This is contrary to every origin she has known thus far--maybe our perceptive reader has formulated an idea that there are variant versions of the Superman story.
https://www.oldradioworld.com/media/...20Reporter.mp3

In MORE FUN COMICS 101 (January-February 1945), on sale November 22, 1944, Siegel and Shuster present the first Superboy story, in which a passing motorist finds the infant in the rocket and takes him to the orphanage, after which an elderly child-less couple, the Kents, adopt the baby from the orphanage. So we're back to this mysterious passing motorist again and now the Kents would have no way of knowing about Clark's true origins. They seem genuinely surprised by his display of abilities.

Five years later, our reader is still following the Man of Steel. She reads SUPERMAN 61 (November-December 1949), on sale August 31, 1949--"Superman Returns to Krypton," written by Bill Finger, with art by Al Plastino--in this one Superman flies back in time and is surprised to find he's from another planet.


Months after that, our reader has picked up every issue of the new SUPERBOY comic and reads "When Superboy was a Superbaby," written by Bill Finger, with art by Curt Swan and John Fischetti--in issue 8 (May-June 1950), on sale March 29, 1950. Well, it's obvious here that Superman as a boy already knew he came from another planet. So that story contradicts the one before. Our reader, of course, doesn't know that the same person wrote both, as there are no credits on either story.

[marhawkman]

There have been several specifically different takes on Krypton that I liked, despite how drastically different they were.

Krypton having fantastic geography was a good thing IMO.

Kryptonians having super-science is pretty much required. The nature and degree of that is variable though. Like what I said earlier about a guy accidentally blowing up a moon, or when Fort Rozz got banished to the Phantom Zone.

The idea certain parts of Krypton were basically too dangerous for the Kryptonians to want to visit? That's scary in a way that makes for interesting stories.

I kinda like the idea that the cold, sterile culture seen in certain media is more an indication of cultural decline. This is the way the elites want to live, it's not traditional, or even normal. It feels like an element that could make for and interesting cultural dichotomy in stories.

What about the artificial reproduction? Seemingly it's not traditional either. It's something the aristocracy decided was a good idea. I'd say not all Kryptonians actually use it, mostly those in major cities. But why? Well Kryptonian history has multiple wars with "mutants" in their past. The idea would be a fear that accidental mutation could cause children to become dangerous mutants if not carefully managed. It's not a fear that's actually worthy of such time and effort, but something the aristocracy used as a pretense for secretly controlling the population.

[Sutekh]

I like the blend approach, because it makes Krypton feel more like a real planet, and not some monoculture like you'd see in Star Trek or giant single environmental biome like a planet on Star Wars (this entire world is a swamp! this one's a desert! this one's an ocean!
this one's a city!), where every single person on a given planet speaks the same language, has the same religion, dresses the same, etc.

Here on Earth, I can tell when people are *Canadians,* just based on the way they dress and talk and look, and they're pretty much exactly like Americans (just better dressed and fitter), but live 50 miles north of me, so I like the idea that not every Kryptonian dresses like the Byrne Kryptonians, and not all architecture on Krypton looks like that of Mignola, etc.

[Ascended]

Sometimes the easiest solution is the best. Not everything has to be the twelve labors of Hercules.

That's true. And Krypton is basically just backstory, discounting the occasional time travel yarn, so it's not like it needs *that* much work to serve it's function. Like I said, I liked blender Krypton. I'm criticizing it a little right now, but I did like it.

But still, there was no effort there at all. I mean, people dress differently because.....guilds? Well okay, sure, it could be that, but if everyone from a guild dresses exactly the same around the planet then we don't really have a diverse mixture of global cultures, but the same nearly homogeneous population we've always had, only now their wardrobe is dictated by their job. A janitor from Valtho (spelling?) will dress the same as a janitor from Argo, who will dress just like one from Kandor or Kryptonopolis. It's not *actually* a more culturally diverse Krypton, it's just different uniforms.

I would've preferred Johns to take each aesthetic, tie it to a region of Krypton or a particular facet of society, and tack on a couple traits generally shared by that segment of the population. Maybe old school Rao-ists dress in the Silver Age costumes for religious reasons (they could be Krypton's version of the Amish perhaps?). Maybe the people of, I dunno, Argo, usually dress in the Byrne era suits because the region is so cold, and the people are often stoic, logical, and methodical. The glowing robes from the Donner movies could've been high fashion among the wealthy or something.

Fifteen minutes and you can knock out a simple list like that. I'm not saying Johns should have spent weeks developing his blender Krypton, I'm not asking for a detailed dossier on the place. But a little more effort than "this costume looks like a scientist's, so they're all science guild" would've been appreciated.

[Restingvoice]

Hey... how related is everyone on Krypton? I'm reading up the El family wiki and in the Krypton series, the Zods are related to the Els because Superman's grandpapa got busy. Is that new?

[Knightsilver]

Hey... how related is everyone on Krypton? I'm reading up the El family wiki and in the Krypton series, the Zods are related to the Els because Superman's grandpapa got busy. Is that new?

Yep. It only happened on the show as far as I know.

[Vordan]

Hey... how related is everyone on Krypton? I'm reading up the El family wiki and in the Krypton series, the Zods are related to the Els because Superman's grandpapa got busy. Is that new?

Only on Krypton are the two Houses related, however House El is sort of quasi-nobility, so I assume there’s lots of intermarriage among the Great Houses.

[Restingvoice]

Van-El seems to be the oldest known El. In Krypton he's Kal's great grandfather but in World of Krypton, Van-L's an ancestor thousand of centuries old. Did they use long-living Kryptonian or are they just supposed to be different characters since there's also Jor-El the first and Jor-El the second?

[Ra-El]

Van-El seems to be the oldest known El. In Krypton he's Kal's great grandfather but in World of Krypton, Van-L's an ancestor thousand of centuries old. Did they use long-living Kryptonian or are they just supposed to be different characters since there's also Jor-El the first and Jor-El the second?

They lived about 150 years on the TV show. So, probably no the same Val-El.

[marhawkman]

Hey... how related is everyone on Krypton? I'm reading up the El family wiki and in the Krypton series, the Zods are related to the Els because Superman's grandpapa got busy. Is that new?

Well The population of Krypton apparently wasn't huge. They had some huge metropolises but large sections of planet were functionally abandoned. So the idea of them being distant relatives kinda works if they're from the same metropolis. Also it's the nobles and not commoners. So that shrinks the pool even further.

It's not contradicting anything from the comics that I know of. AFAIK even the most detailed comic book family trees have a blank spot there. Yeah the comics don't go into a huge amount of detail.