A few years ago, DC began appropriating Marvel's "What If?" concept (Which was itself borrowed from DC's many "imaginary tales"). The "Elseworld" series has, of course, had a few clinkers, but for the most part it could always be counted on to be at the very least intriguing. Often these Elseworlds books follow a similar formula- take a familiar character and place them in an unusual setting (Superman as a Knight of the Roundtable) or give them someone elses origin (Batman as Green Lantern). This 2 issue Prestige format series differs little from that formula, but still proves to be an exceptionally entertaining book.
Bassically, it takes the familer Superman origin and inverts it. Astrophysicist Jonathan Kent discovers that an asteroid will crash into the Earth, destroying it and all of its' inhabitants. He places his infant son, Clark, in a primative rocket with the hope that it will return to Earth after the quakes and devastation are over. Instead, it passes through a space warp and lands on (you guessed it!) Krypton. Steve Gerber takes what could have been a thin premise and consistantly suprises us. WIth the revamp of Superman by John Byrne in the 80's, Krypton was established as a sterile, barren society. Gerber expands on that here, with Jor-El rebelling against his society by adopting the human infant. Jor-El's romance with Lara is unconventional and complicated beyond what we normally see in comics. The story would hold our interest even if it did not have beautiful art by Doug Wheatley. Wheatley's art is striking without over bearing the story. His strength is in facial features and interesting Kryptonian architecture.
Now for my small quibble. This is a two issue mini-series. I HATE two issue mini-series! I just don't see the point. This would have made an excellent graphic novel. The first issue really doesn't end with any sort of cliff hanger. It simply stops at the mid point of the story. I can't help but think that these two issues will be collected later. This is a book and deserves to be treated as such. Whatever the format, it is still an excellent read. Snatch it now or wait for the collected edition.
