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

[Kuwagaton]

Is it wrong to want to see Nam-ek just cause of his name?

Honestly a really solid character and if Lar-On and Xa-Du came back, why not?

[achilles]

There's Zod's problem; he's lounging on his nice comfy...Kryptonite throne in his ARMOR. That can't be comfortable; no wonder he's grumpy.

[marhawkman]

Is it wrong to want to see Nam-ek just cause of his name?

hmmm house Ek sounds fun.

[DABellWrites]

He’s wearing his New 52 redesign and they’re building directly off of the work done with him post Rebirth, no reason to worry just yet. I need to go reread Casey’s run because I know he didn’t use a Kryptonian Zod, but his work with the Post Crisis Zod may offer some clues as to how he’ll approach Zod here.



Hasn’t shown up since the New 52. Right now the only named Kryptonian survivors from the Phantom Zone who have been used are Zod, Ursa, Lor, Xa, and Jax.

Good. Keep the survivors small.

[exile001]

I really hope the point of this is to re-align Zod as a Superman nemesis.

The whole New Krypton thing they've been doing was so much nothing and we've barely seen him. I want to see Zod murder an entire race in vengeance for attacking New Krypton and start gunning on the United Planets for not stepping in, and for trying to contain him as a war criminal.

Give him a somewhat understandable position, sure. Maybe even make him sympathetic up to a point. But I want a monster born of rage and vengeance with the power of a god.

The armies of the United Planets, with Superman leading, vs Zod!

I understand it's unfair to pair this writer/project with villain-based books of the past, but I am not on board for another wishy-washy anti-hero book where he occasionally does something the hero wouldn't and we're supposed to still see them as a badass.

Superman needs villains, specifically name villains that can sell a book.

DC had their Zod and his little family leading New Krypton experiment for like a decade and did nothing with it. Time for General Zod to return!

[Vordan]

https://twitter.com/danmcdaid/status...487sLx_4UoiJsQ

Thanks everyone for the kind words and congratulations on #kneelbeforeZod - I promise you this book is going to rock your world. Here's a few studies I did of the great man (and some other, possibly related characters) to get myself psyched up

Looks like the Dominators and Thanagarians attacked Zod. Oooo that could be why Zod blames Kal, Kal untied those guys in the United Planets!

I really hope the point of this is to re-align Zod as a Superman nemesis.

The whole New Krypton thing they've been doing was so much nothing and we've barely seen him. I want to see Zod murder an entire race in vengeance for attacking New Krypton and start gunning on the United Planets for not stepping in, and for trying to contain him as a war criminal.

Give him a somewhat understandable position, sure. Maybe even make him sympathetic up to a point. But I want a monster born of rage and vengeance with the power of a god.

The armies of the United Planets, with Superman leading, vs Zod!

I understand it's unfair to pair this writer/project with villain-based books of the past, but I am not on board for another wishy-washy anti-hero book where he occasionally does something the hero wouldn't and we're supposed to still see them as a badass.

Superman needs villains, specifically name villains that can sell a book.

DC had their Zod and his little family leading New Krypton experiment for like a decade and did nothing with it. Time for General Zod to return!

That’s what I want too and is exactly the pitch per Casey. It’s Zod being a bastard to other bastards as he builds up towards getting revenge on Superman.

[Alan2099]

My first thoughts about a "Kneel before Zod!" series was something done in that "Tiny Titans" style where Zod is just walking around telling everybody he meets to kneel before him and then getting their reactions.

I suppose this could be okay though.

[Venomized-spider-man]

https://twitter.com/danmcdaid/status...487sLx_4UoiJsQ


Looks like the Dominators and Thanagarians attacked Zod. Oooo that could be why Zod blames Kal, Kal untied those guys in the United Planets!


That’s what I want too and is exactly the pitch per Casey. It’s Zod being a bastard to other bastards as he builds up towards getting revenge on Superman.

It the dominators, Thanagarians & the Khund (the pointy ear ones) apparently

while i do agree the New Planet Krypton never gone anywhere i think it bit of a waste to completely kill off the the race & Ursa but also Lor-zod after Young justice kind of show off how interesting that character can be

maybe it the Christopher Kent nostalgia that speaking maybe now we could really get him back :P

[krazijoe]

Can't he just go to the Phantom Zone and just stay there? Or send him to Earth 3 Universe and have fun there...

[SuperX]

I want a Zod who rules a planet and wants to destroy anyone who gives him any trouble.

But of course zods ambitions will be bigger than just staying on one planet and behaving himself,he needs to spread his design on the rest of the universe,and that's where the fun begins

[Vordan]

It the dominators, Thanagarians & the Khund (the pointy ear ones) apparently

while i do agree the New Planet Krypton never gone anywhere i think it bit of a waste to completely kill off the the race & Ursa but also Lor-zod after Young justice kind of show off how interesting that character can be

maybe it the Christopher Kent nostalgia that speaking maybe now we could really get him back :P

Don’t mean to anger those people who were fans of him, but I hope they don’t bring back Chris. He just wouldn’t have a purpose in the Superfamily. He debuted when Conner was dead and before Jon existed, and that gave him two niches. He was the Clois kid they couldn’t have naturally, and the son of one of Superman’s greatest foes. Now Clark & Lois have a biological kid in Jon and two adopted kids in Otho and Osul. Conner is back and in the family. What could Chris possibly offer at this point? If Osul ever gets a human name I’d have him be the one who goes by “Chris Kent”, since he’s basically the spiritual successor to what Chris was supposed to be.

[marhawkman]

Don’t mean to anger those people who were fans of him, but I hope they don’t bring back Chris. He just wouldn’t have a purpose in the Superfamily. He debuted when Conner was dead and before Jon existed, and that gave him two niches. He was the Clois kid they couldn’t have naturally, and the son of one of Superman’s greatest foes. Now Clark & Lois have a biological kid in Jon and two adopted kids in Otho and Osul. Conner is back and in the family. What could Chris possibly offer at this point? If Osul ever gets a human name I’d have him be the one who goes by “Chris Kent”, since he’s basically the spiritual successor to what Chris was supposed to be.

see, if I was to have Chris Kent return, it'd be an alt-U guy who's actually still Nightwing. Lor-Zod vs Nightwing? sure. nothing confuses heroes more than seeing an alt-U version of the bad guy... get into a fist fight with the bad guy.... then start talking about their feelings... instead of beating up the heroes.

Ooohh... what do you think Jon would do if he had to listen to Lor-Zod and Nightwing talk about Flamebird?

[Vordan]

https://twitter.com/danmcdaid/status...487sLx_4UoiJsQ

Casey doesn't say this in the interview, but to me, Zod is the Doctor Doom of the DC Universe. A brilliant, arrogant man, born to be a king, stricken with hubris, and with a personal grudge against the DC universe's foremost hero

Hell of a pitch and exactly what I’ve wanted to see Zod be, hope this creative team can deliver that.

Here’s the interview he’s referring to, some minor spoilers for the first issue and it reveals that issue 1 is out in Jan 2024.

[Frontier]

https://twitter.com/danmcdaid/status...487sLx_4UoiJsQ

Hell of a pitch and exactly what I’ve wanted to see Zod be, hope this creative team can deliver that.

Here’s the interview he’s referring to, some minor spoilers for the first issue and it reveals that issue 1 is out in Jan 2024.

He's not wrong.

[Vordan]

He's not wrong.

Casey seems set to kill Ursa and Lor, so perhaps that will be Zod’s equivalent to Doom scarring his own face. Zod actually got them killed himself, but he blames Kal for it:

Mild spoilers for Kneel Before Zod #1, out January 2024. Art by Dan McDaid.

Kneel Before Zod #1 finds Zod at his happiest, according to Casey. “The last time we saw Zod, he had found a planet that his family could settle on, to take over and turn into a new Krypton. We’re trying to position Zod as a major villain again. So to do that, you’ve got to break some heads.”

General Zod has been bounced around since the Rebirth era, but has since found his own sense of peace after The Unity Saga, rebuilding Krypton. Casey says he’s going to blow all that up, with much glee.

“First of all, Zod has a family? Second of all, the worst thing you could do, especially a character with that level of ambition, is give him what he wants. Recipe for disaster,” Casey explains. “That’s what we started with, he’s got it all. He’s got the family, ruler of all he surveys. It’s just not right. It’s not what he needs. It’s not what he should be doing. So we’ll fix him up.”

Most major villains aren’t typically family people or at least aren’t allowed to be, so it sounds like there could be some character deaths coming for the Zod family. Casey was sly in his response, not wanting to reveal spoilers, of course. “There’s just bad things that happen to bad people. It’s kind of the tone of this book.”

With most Super-books right now, there’s a tone of lightness about them; with Zod’s book, Casey wanted the opposite. “I’m not a big believer in likeability in characters. You don’t have to like a character to want to follow the story. As long as the story is engaging, as long as the character is compelling, you’ll go where they take you. This Zod is a perfect example,” Casey said. “I don’t want him to be likable. He does something the first issue that is, to me personally, so evil. It’s not overly violent, but he’s sort of emotionally evil. It’s devastating to me. It’s fun to write.”

Sounds like Casey is going to get very dark which is a welcome counterbalance to the lightness of the main books right now. If he pulls this off we might finally have the Zod who lives up to his own potential.