Superman: Last Stand of New Krypton #1 (of 3)
Brainiac’s robots systematically ****** New Kryptonian Council members and other specified targets as Zod, Alura, Kal El, and Ursa desperately search for a way to thwart Brainiac’s invasion.
When Zod fires the New Kryptonian Global Defense cannons at Brainiac’s ship, ******* several Military Guild soldiers engaging the ship who are caught in the crossfire, Commander El decides he’s had enough.
After confronting Zod over his needless sacrifice of good men, Kal rips the badge off his Military Guild uniform then shreds the uniform itself revealing his classic Superman costume underneath. As he leaps up determinedly into the New Kryptonian sky shouting “This is a job for Superman!” we as readers leap up joyously with him. Superman is back.
As Superman pounds his way through Brainiac’s robots (who look like Terminators and shield themselves against heat vision blasts like Borgs do—just two of the many nods to various other sci-fi classics in this issue), he manages to get further and learn more about Brainiac’s assault than Zod did with the massive expenditure of energy and loss of life resulting from his firing of New Krypton’s Global Defense cannon (which resembles a blast from a Death Star). When the Legion of Superheroes, along with Superboy and Mon-El show up to help, Zod reveals that he’ll consider no other approach to dealing with Brainiac besides his own, regardless of however many lives he sacrifices in order to do things his way. Gone is the progressively leaning Zod from the last issue of Superman: World of New Krypton, and in his place is the Zod of old.
