Favorite Krypton?

[Dispenser Of Truth]

1. Original (1938-1986): Buck Rogers utopia.

2. Donner's (1978-1987): Crystal world with little expressed feeling.

3. Byrne's (1986-2001): Covered-up, emotionally empty alien society.

4. Waid's (2004-2006): A planet of sci-fi adventurers with the Superman shield as their ultimate cultural symbol.

5. Johns' (2006-2011): Silver Age with some Donner elements and added racism from Byrne's take.

6. Morrison's (2011-): The original Golden Age Krypton with an extra sci-fi gloss of paint. (Note: This is the correct choice)

7. Snyder's (2013-): Lord of the Rings in space plus genetic engineering and weird hats.

[Jon Clark]

I went with other as no one of the answers seemed to work for me.

I grew up on the Silver-Age Krypton which makes it my nostalgic favorite but with the passage of time it has lost some of it's grandeur.

The place was used to such a degree that behind every wonderful idea about Krypton there were 10 goofy ones waiting. Creatures with TV sets on their heads that showed you that they planned to eat you. Winged horses on a heavy gravity world. A single family line that contained everyone of importance in history (Superman's direct ancestors were Krypton's Galileo, Edison, Columbus, Hammurabi, Newton, ...).

Waid, Johns and Morrison all gave us Kryptons that felt to me like hollow attempts to re-create the original. To me if I couldn't vote for the "real" Krypton, I couldn't vote for these Disney Animatronic versions

Byrne's Krypton had only one redeeming feature which was that Byrne was the only one to really use it so it seemed more planned out rather than hodge-podge. But Byrne's history was so morose that there was no real desire by me to see anything that happened on Krypton.

Snyder's was the one that seemed least like Earth and most like a true alien world. It could have gotten my vote if it had been more developed, but with it only being seen in one movie so far I just couldn't say I liked it best.

And Donner's Krypton bored me in the first movie. Seeing it again in Superman II, Superboy, Lois & Clark, and Smallville did nothing to make it more interesting. The only idea from there I liked was the crystal tech.

If I had my druthers, I'd opt for a Krypton that is designed and fleshed out from a single concept as a starting point. If we want to have Superman's biology designed so his powers come from environmental changes (gravity, air density, different solar radiation) then start from that point and create a Krypton based on that environment. If you want a Krypton that is somehow tied to Earth then fine bring on the cats, dogs, horses- but otherwise I don't want a Krypton that looks like Earth with advanced tech and a few exotic animals. Instead give me totally alien life except for the humanoid Kryptonians. Craft a history that leads up to Jor-El but doesn't center on him or seem like it was copied from a World History book on Earth. Maybe on Krypton there were never instances of hereditary monarchies or private industry or gender roles or some other idea we assume existed in every prior culture here.

[Doctor Know]

1. Original (1938-1986): Buck Rogers utopia.

2. Donner's (1978-1987): Crystal world with little expressed feeling.

3. Byrne's (1986-2001): Covered-up, emotionally empty alien society.

4. Waid's (2004-2006): A planet of sci-fi adventurers with the Superman shield as their ultimate cultural symbol.

5. Johns' (2006-2011): Silver Age with some Donner elements and added racism from Byrne's take.

6. Morrison's (2011-): The original Golden Age Krypton with an extra sci-fi gloss of paint. (Note: This is the correct choice)

7. Snyder's (2013-): Lord of the Rings in space plus genetic engineering and weird hats.

Original FTW
https://youtu.be/sL-wOsAo0aU?t=67

Morrison's added Kryptonian mysticism doesn't do it for me.

Also, Snyder's Krypton is heavily based on Byrne's. Right down to the elaborate robes, black under armor, goofy hats and birthing matrices.







Superman TAS also riffed Byrne's Krypton for inspiration.

[Speed Force League Unlimited]

My choice is not the Byrne version.
I'm a fan of Byrne, but his take on Krypton is not my cup of tea.


I really like the Silver Age version, and Waid did a good job making Krypton pleasant for me.

[Ascended]

Had to go with "Other" for this one.

I liked the Flash Gordon type of retro-futuristic Krypton, but it always seemed too "human" to me; I want an alien world to feel like an alien world even if its inhabitants look human. But there were tons of great ideas there, cant deny that. Hard to argue with the impact that version of Krypton has had not just on Superman, but comics and science fiction in general. But for me, it feels too much like "this is future earth" and not "this is a completely different planet".

Bryne's Krypton had some really good ideas too, and it felt far more alien to me than the previous stuff. But Bryne never really gave Krypton any depth, it was all gloom and doom and one-dimensional. If Bryne hadnt been so heavy handed with it, it could have been pretty amazing.

Morrison's created a pretty great version of Krypton.....but there's just a little too much Flash Gordon in there for me. Just a tad. See, I liked the weird ruffled robes better than the headbands and emblems on shirts. I also dont think Lobdell's take on Krypton did the setting any favors and since the MoS film came out, there's been a (sometimes less than) subtle shift towards the film's visuals and tone which I dont think fuses all that well with what Morrison established. So....Morrison for the win, but the full version of Krypton that we have now, not so much. Though Xa-Du is a keeper.

So my vote is "Other" for the animated 90's version of Krypton. That version drew very heavily from Bryne, but still had some heart. Jor-El and Lara were not considered barbaric for raising their son "as nature intended" but the Kryptonian people were still highly devoted to logic and over-proud. The visuals were a nice blend of 1950's sci-fi and Bryne's emotionally cold robes. Brainiac's origin worked well for that story, though generally I dont want Brainy to be Kryptonian.

Snyder's version could have caught my vote too, as it also blends a very Bryne-esque sensibility with a little more heart, but that's almost entirely on the shoulders of Jor-El. If we could have seen more of the world, maybe found out that Jor wasn't as much of an extremist as he seems in MoS, then maybe that could get my vote.

[magha_regulus]

The original Krypton had the Kryptonians being a species that had Super powers. THAT is my favorite. Morrison's comes in a close 2nd and would be perfect if he established them as having what we'd consider to be powers on krypton.

[superduperman]

Birthright got every aspect of Superman right IMHO. Including Krypton. I'm still disappointed they didn't keep it as the official origin.

[Wri-El]

Morrison take on Krypton was indead to me the best of them all.
I was tired of a world everything was connected to the crystal tech.
Not just connected but made of it.

Morrison at least kept the crystal tech and added more details to it. That, made it all much more credible.
The only thing I believe it lacked was Jor-El preparing an AI version of his consciousness.

[Pharozonk]

This is pretty tough. For me, it's really a toss up between the original and Donner versions.

[StrikeJP]

Birthright got every aspect of Superman right IMHO. Including Krypton. I'm still disappointed they didn't keep it as the official origin.

I just recently re-read Birthright and couldn't agree more.

[Kuwagaton]

I don't give all the credit to Morrison, myself. Johnson/Green and Lobdell's #0 issue were great for establishing the current version.

[magha_regulus]

Birthright got every aspect of Superman right IMHO. Including Krypton. I'm still disappointed they didn't keep it as the official origin.

If the Birthright story depicted all of the kryptonians with super intellects and with powers it would be my absolute favorite.

[Thor-Ul]

Hard choice. Every Krypton had their charms.
Maybe I could say which was my least favorite: Johns' version was in my opinion the worst. It just take several different versions and amalgamated together. It al felt forced and I don't think it contributed with something relevant to the Krypton myths.

[Last Son of Krypton]

The original is my favorite, and all those who follow its basic template.

[friendly-fire-press]

Either Morrison or Snyder, for me .... probably Morrison