Kneel Before Zod Series By Joe Casey And Dan McDaid Coming In 2024

[Vordan]

retconning that Lor is actually Kal's son would be crazy..

Lor would be Zod’s biological son, it’s this new kid who walk thinks might not be Zod’s.

[ducklord]

I always forget, is it "kneel before Zod, except after Zed," or "kneel before Zod, except after Zee?"

And yes, I will only be appearing in this thread to make stupid jokes.

[walk]

I wouldn't say Clark is the father of either of Ursa's children if for no other reason than we just had that exact storyline in Superman Lost with Hope and that was ultimately an elaborate cop-out, if editorial wont even entertain the idea of Clark having a kid out of wedlock in an non-canon story no way are they gonna have such a major revelation happen in a side-book, plus with twins still around I can't see them giving him any more kids.

I did note though that during the artificial birth scene Ursa shown checking the embryo's DNA to confirm it's Kryptonian and while it's a 99% match that it's not a 100% made me think there might be something at play there given she's also shown altering the genetics of the planet natives. Her baby may not be fully Kryptonian and that's something she's trying to "fix" before she gives birth to it.

Also I always thought a good way to consolidate the great Ursa/Faora confusion is to make them twin sisters, that way your acknowledging how they've become interlinked and seen as one in the same the way twins in real life often are but also have them work as foils to each other, Ursa devoted her life to serving under man while Faora still a raging misandrist and serial killer, maybe a retconned backstory where Ursa was the one who turned Faora in where she chose Zod over her own sister.

[Vordan]

Ah ok, I see what you’re getting at. My takeaway from that scene was that Ursa was genetically modifying the kid in some way, not that it potentially wouldn’t be Zod’s. I was expecting a reveal that her time in the Phantom Zone has altered her on a genetic level, potentially Zod too, and that’s why there’s a small discrepancy. The Zods have mutated and aren’t “pure” anymore, a great irony for a family as obsessed with purity as them.

[marhawkman]

Ah ok, I see what you’re getting at. My takeaway from that scene was that Ursa was genetically modifying the kid in some way, not that it potentially wouldn’t be Zod’s. I was expecting a reveal that her time in the Phantom Zone has altered her on a genetic level, potentially Zod too, and that’s why there’s a small discrepancy. The Zods have mutated and aren’t “pure” anymore, a great irony for a family as obsessed with purity as them.

New Earth Lor-Zod was in some way mutated by being born in the Phantom Zone after all.

[Vordan]

https://x.com/danmcdaid/status/17492...487sLx_4UoiJsQ

I wish I could show you the rest of this page, but I just wanted you to see the colours

[Frontier]

https://x.com/danmcdaid/status/17492...487sLx_4UoiJsQ

Flying through clouds or an explosion?

[Hypo]

Kneel Before Zod #2 Preview
Writer: Joe Casey
Artist: Dan McDaid

[The Frog Bros]

Kneel Before Zod #2 Preview
Writer: Joe Casey
Artist: Dan McDaid

Wow, that cityscape image is awesome.

[Frontier]

Kneel Before Zod #2 Preview
Writer: Joe Casey
Artist: Dan McDaid

Torture the Kryptonian way!

[The Frog Bros]

Torture the Kryptonian way!

Looks intense, to say the least.

[walk]

You know I wouldn't mind if this series had a running gag of the family throwing hands at each other every issue.

More of a set-up issue but still good, I enjoyed Zod speech and his and Ursa arguing, really captures their fascist mindsets and of course Ursa threating to go full boss bitch if her husband wont step up to the plate.

[K. Jones]

You know I wouldn't mind if this series had a running gag of the family throwing hands at each other every issue.

More of a set-up issue but still good, I enjoyed Zod speech and his and Ursa arguing, really captures their fascist mindsets and of course Ursa threating to go full boss bitch if her husband wont step up to the plate.

You picked the sort of "shock 'em" panel to be sure. There were two or three that followed that I was like, "well, he's got his artist putting the slight "Dommy Mommy" subtext of Ursa into full-blown text now, doesn't he?" She literally steps on Zod and uses the word "Dominate" twice in bold. But I think, without kink-shaming a pair of extremist thinkers who clearly, to become the apex of ultra-advanced Kryptonian martial revolutionaries, we do actually need to understand a few things about the Zods as a couple. First, this is a new series and is catching us up with the modern continuity but also introducing people to the relationship, so we need to understand "What Zod sees in Ursa" and that she's more than just a silent sycophant.

And second ... when your beliefs and actions are as far into the sci-fi Eugenics Fascist Ultra-Violence side of a pseudo-Utopic planetary culture, your relationship quirks are probably pretty unbridled as well. ZOD would settle for no mere concubine, wimpering and weak in quiet acquiescence. ZOD demands a woman of power and standing, as close to his equal as he can conceive. And as mutual fans of Dominating ... well ... there you have it!

But even while I first chuckled and then was like "oh that's actually pretty insightful and clever" about the BDSM vibes, it actually made me realize that in some ways this strengthens and draws an even more direct comparison to Clark and Lois. The parallels and contrasts were already there of course, the couple, enemies, adventures, marriages, philosophical approaches, sons. S and Z crests. But I'll admit until this issue, while I recognized that Johns adding the "couple" angle to Zod and Ursa made them a foil for Superman and Lois as a couple ... I haven't really seen an example of Ursa pulling her own weight in the relationship. The cool thing about Lois Lane is that she's not "SUPER" but she's every bit Superman's equal and some ways out-classes him. In their twisted Supremacist fashion, Ursa must also "get the better of Zod" in several ways.

Another fun parallel? It seems like it might have also been a workplace romance, right?

And I like the idea that he gets a bit unfocused in his grandiosity, speechifying, plotting, a little carried away in all the Terrence Stamping and needs to dial it back and Michael Shannon until the job is done sometimes.

Long story short, Kneel Before Zod # 2 finally codifies and catches Zod up to Clark in the "BEHIND EVERY STRONG MAN" axiom.

[K. Jones]

Was there a story reason given or it just happened because Jurgens felt like it? And is there any reason so far to read some earlier Zod's appearances? I have read Williamson's Batman/Superman two-parter, but anything from Jurgens or Bendis, or someone else that I'm not aware of, worth reading?

I was thinking of reasons other than simply going back to Johns "Last Son" dynamic, but honestly, since they spent all that time introducing Jon, and Tomasi worked with Johns a ton before the New 52, I suspect he and Jurgens both wanted to go back to the "before times". But in spite of all that, Johns in the first place back in '05 or whatever, and then Tomasi and everybody else later, must have known that Ursa as a "The Motion Picture" original character is just ten times more well known than Faora and more accurately described as "Zod's right-hand woman" than Faora.

But ignoring that because it's the obvious answer ... I also thought, well, Faora is a Supergirl villain not a Superman villain (for what difference that makes) and if I'm remembering correctly, even though she's a follower of Zod is described as a "Man-Hating" in the Bronze Age. It's possible someone, a writer or someone in editorial, realized that Faora was coded as a lesbian. And while the old "Man-Hater" trope is pretty tired and hacky all these years later, savvy writers and editors might also realize there wasn't a good reason for throwing away the potential of what you'd call an "organically" LGBTQ character, or a character that could be updated to be queer, but in doing so, the Retcon actually makes more sense than if they didn't do it. Not that anyone has made that Retcon. I can't think of Faora appearing at all in the last seven years. Eight years? What year is this? Maybe now I'm just in my own editorial brain thinking "what would I do with Faora?"

I always suspected abandoning Ursa and forefronting Faora in the New 52 was pure and simple a pointless exercise in Brand Synergy. The Zack Snyderification of things. The script writer and director didn't want to be accused of just re-doing Donner's Superman II so he'd be damned if he was going to use Ursa and Non, created for that movie. Some bullshit argument about picking names of "Comics Phantom Zone bad Kryptonians" who, "um, actually, predate Ursa & Non" (by, get this, ONE year). Even though Faora Hu-Ul wore a green and white skintight leotard, and had light brown hair.

[Vordan]

Always sad to see mom and dad fighting... unless it's the Zods, then it's better for everyone this way. Y'know now I'm wondering if the ultimate conflict isn't Zod vs. the Khunds or some other alien invader, it's Zod vs. Ursa for control of the world. Maybe we'll even see this end with him killing Ursa and blaming Kal for it.

Also it’s interesting to me that Ursa accused Zod of getting soft, which Zod even admits is a possibility, but Ursa also keeps needling her husband to bring Lor back. Seems to me like she has some weak points where Lor is concerned as well. I agree with K. Jones with regards to Ursa finally getting elevated to her husband’s equal the way Lois is for Kal. Ursa’s got her own agenda and since all she respects is strength, Zod has to constantly assert his alpha male role with violence in order to keep his throne. It makes for an interesting relationship, equals bonded together by arrogance rather than love.

Torture the Kryptonian way!

I really enjoy when they show how messed up heat vision can be when applied as a weapon:



Give someone with actual experience at torturing people super powers and they can come up with all sorts of horrifying applications for it.