Superman: World of New Krypton #4

A couple of new comics arrived in the mail today, and after some deliberation I decided to give this comic a read first, mainly because of the cover. Now I know the scene on the cover almost definitely won't be inside, but still that cover won me over. This issue was written by the excellent team of James Robinson and Greg Rucka.

-We open the festivities here with Hal Jordan, John Stewart and Sodam Yat of the Green Lantern Corps visiting Supes on New Krypton as a part of a fact finding mission for the Guardians. General Zod arrives on the scene which pisses Hal off(although to be honest, what DOESN'T piss Hal off lately?). Zod gives Supes the OK to show the Lanterns around, stating that the Kryptonians have nothing to hide from the Lanterns, nor anything to fear.

-Supes, along with his buddy from the labor guild, proceeds to show the Lanterns around the planet until Supes is called away on military business.

-Zod informs Supes that some of the criminals that were banished to the Phantom Zone have escaped and are running amok on New Krypton. Zod orders Supes to have his unit maintain the perimeter around the operation site, but not to actively take part in the operation. Zod also tells Supes that his Lantern friends can observe the operation, so they can learn how Kryptonians deal with criminals.

-The operation site is a space craft building facility which doesn't sit well with Supes or the Lanterns. According to Supes labor guild buddy the ships are being built by Zod and Alura just in case the Kryptonians need them for defensive purposes. HA! After witnessing an explosion, Supes and his unit(along with the Lanterns)respond and discover the criminal was trying to steal one of the ships to escape. Hal's ring alerts him to the fact that the Kryptonian criminal is wanted by the Green Lantern Corps, so the Lanterns decide to take an active role in the capture.

-Supes and the Lanterns take the point, and the members of Supes unit hang back as per Supes orders. While Supes is pursuing the criminal, Zod secretly contacts the second in command in Supes unit and orders her to execute the criminal upon capture. Hal's ring intercepts the transmission and Supes tells his second to disregard Zod's order.

-Supes directs the criminal towards his unit and Supes second secures him, as per Supes orders. Supes prepares to hand the criminal over to the Lanterns for transport back to Oa, but Zod arrives and tells the Lanterns that New Krypton has no extradition treaty with the GLC, so any attempt by the Lanterns to take the criminal off of New Krypton will be looked at as an act of war. Hal gets pissed(naturally)but John calms him down, explaining that Zod is absolutely right. Zod does promise Hal that he won't harm the criminal and that the GLC can have him when the Kryptonians are done with him. Hal(still miffed)leaves to give the Guardians his findings.

-This issue concludes with Supes and his second visiting the captured criminal and discovering, to Supes surprise, that the criminal was unharmed, just as Zod had promised Hal. Zod arrives and tells Supes and his second that they are both under arrest for treason. I guess Supes shouldn't have rescinded Zod's orders, huh?

As usual, this was another excellent issue of this series. With the writing team here though, what do I expect? The GL stuff was excellently done(Hal was hotheaded, while John was the voice of reason), and the ending was a bit of a surprise(even though Supes sure did have it coming!). Now since I'm sure Supes won't be rotting in a jail cell somewhere, my guess is that Zod will take out Supes inability to follow orders on his second instead. I'm also guessing that the revelation concerning Zod's space ships will be playing a major role down the road in this series. That's pretty much all I have to say here. I really don't have a single critique to voice. For a score I'll give this comic a very strong 9 1/2 out of 10 along with a huge recommendation.