| Superman: Last Stand of New Krypton | |
| May 2010 — July 2010 | |
 | |
| Writers | Sterling Gates, James Robinson |
| Artists | Pete Woods, Travis Moore, Julian Lopez, Jamal Igle, Javier Pina, Bernard Chang, Eduardo Pansica, Ivan Rodriguez |
| Comic Book Story Arcs | |
| ← previous World of New Krypton Truth to Power |
next → War of the Supermen |
Superman: Last Stand of New Krypton is the penultimate storyarc in the years-long storyline told throughout Action Comics, Superman, Supergirl and various other titles and one-shots.
(Note: Although some issues of Action Comics featured a "Last Stand of New Krypton" marquee on the cover, they did not interact with the story.
Adventure Comics #8
- Date: May 2010
- Written by Sterling Gates, James Robinson
- Pencils: Travis Moore, Julian Lopez
- Inks: Julio Ferreira, Bit
- Colors: Pete Pantazis
- Cover by Francis Manapul
Brainiac 5 recounts his connection to the original Brainiac. Meanwhile, he and the Legionnaires discover an anomaly in space which is the result of Brianiac I's capture of alien cities in the past.
In Smallville, Connor Kent's school teacher Mr. Jenson reveals himself as Element Lad, sent from the future to an early point in time to assist in the coming battle with Brainiac at New Krypton.
Connor retrieves Mon-El, who has also been in the company of undercover Legionnaires from the future. They devise a plan to defeat Brainiac just as he begins an assault on New Krypton.
Last Stand of New Krypton #1
- Date: May 2010
- Written by James Robinson, Sterling Gates
- Pencils: Pete Woods
- Inks: Pete Woods
- Colors: Blond
- Cover by Andy Kubert
Brainiac is unleashing his robot troops onto New Krypton and the Kryptonian citizens rise up to fight the drones. Zod fires New Krypton's planetary cannons at Brainiac's ship. But Brainiac's force-field withstood the attack and the cannon only killed the Kryptonian's in the way. Kal-El furious at Zod for allowing the people to die, becomes Superman. Meanwhile, Supergirl saves her mother and realizes the probes are attacking political leaders. Supergirl sends Alura to Zod while she defends the city and orders the troops. Superman enters Brainiac's ship while Zod and Ursa contemplate the next best step. A Brainiac probe hits Kara with red sun beams she is saved by Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes, who reveal to Zod that other planets are in Brainiac's ship. Zod sends Supergirl off and arrests the Legionnaires. Superman is about to face off against Brainiac when he is floored by a blast of Kryptonite. By none other than Luthor who is working with Brainiac.
Supergirl #51
- Date: May 2010
- Written by Sterling Gates
- Pencils: Jamal Igle
- Inks: Jon Sibal
- Colors: Nei Ruffino
- Cover by Joshua Middleton
Supergirl and Mon-El are fighting the Brainiac probes. Mon-El gets a telepathic overload from Tellus. Mon-El needs to save Superman and tells Kara lead get the Kryptonian's to work together. He tells her she she is a great leader and the people need her. She kisses him just for luck. While Mon-El flies off to help Superman in Brainiac's ship, Unfortunately, the prejudices of the guilds don't let them work together as a fighting unit. Supergirl rushes to her mother's aid. Instead Kara finds Alura fighting with Superboy. Alura knows that Zod has branded Conner and the Legion as outlaws. Kara punches Conner away from her mother. But Superboy comes back to save them from a Brainiac Probe. Supergirl tells Alura of the Legion's mission and challenges her to stand up to General Zod. Alura pardons the Legionnaires and sends Supergirl off with them to take the fight to Brainiac.
Superman #698
- Date: May 2010
- Written by James Robinson
- Pencils: Javier Pina, Bernard Chang
- Colors: Blond
- Cover by Julian Lopez & Bit, with Santiago Arcas
Brainiac's ship lingers above New Krypton as his probes fight residents. General Zod learns 1/10th of the Kryptonians have died, and that Superman is on Brainiac's ship held captive. Lex Luthor mocks Superman without revealing his intentions, and Brainiac tells Superman he wants him to watch as Kandor is destroyed, to feel it, because Superman made Brainiac feel.
Tellus leads Mon-El to the ship, but once inside, he is faced with many versions of Koko. Luthor continues to mock Superman, and Brainaic tries to steal his thoughts as he experiences what's happening and learn his secrets.
As Mon-El fights the Koko army, he is contacted by a telepathic bottle city race, who ask him to save them. Brainiac and Luthor continue to gloat. Superman musters his will and breaks free. Mon-El is swarmed by apparitions of the telepathic city.
Luthor threatens to shoot a city if Superman doesn't surrender again. Superman surrenders, but Luthor prepares to shoot anyway. Mon-El appears, blasting Luthor's hand with heat vision and disarming him. Mon-El takes the bottle city Luthor threatened, and has a sudden feeling this is what he was released to do.
Brainiac calls down more drones, and Luthor jumps into an escape hatch. Mon-El and Superman fight the robots.
Adventure Comics #9
- Date: May 2010
- Written by James Robinson, Sterling Gates
- Pencils: Travis Moore, Eduardo Pansica
- Inks: Julio Ferreira, Eber Ferreira
- Colors: Pete Pantazis
- Cover by Joe Quinones
Last Stand of New Krypton #2
- Date: June 2010
- Written by James Robinson, Sterling Gates
- Pencils: Pete Woods, Travis Moore
- Inks: Pete Woods, Walden Wong
- Colors: Blond
- Cover by George Perez
Alura has confronted Zod and told him the Legion were not terrorists. As they argue the Legion attempt's to break into Brainiac's ship but fail. Back on Brainiac's ship, Superman and Mon-El continue to try and free the trapped cities and break out. Brainiac however re-energizes and fights Superman. During the brawl, Superman is able to get hold of the telepathic Lanthian's but Brainiac teleports away with all the others. The Legion manages to enter Brainiac's ship thanks to Brainiac 5's help. But even this does not seem to help and New Krypton is put back into a bottle. Superman is pummeled by Brainiac's weapon's system and is declared dead. But Zod says that Brainiac has lost.
Adventure Comics #10
- Date: June 2010
- Written by Sterling Gates, James Robinson
- Pencils: Travis Moore, Eduardo Pansica
- Inks: Julio Ferreira, Eber Ferreira
- Colors: Pete Pantazis
- Cover by Bernard Chang
Supergirl #52
- Date: June 2010
- Written by Sterling Gates
- Pencils: Ivan Rodriguez
- Inks: Ivan Rodriguez
- Colors: Nei Ruffino, Zaratus
- Cover by Matt Camp
Supergirl and Brainiac 5 have met. Brainy, in a brief moment alone reveals how hard it is to be near Supergirl, how much he loves her, and how hard it was when she died. It is revealed that Brainy is looking back at Supergirl's life historically. Luthor finds Reactron after killing Gor but instead of rescuing him says he has come for something. Brainy and Kara are fighting through Brainiac's satellite but Kara can't shake the feeling that she has met Brainy before. He tries to figure out if Kara has met him before but realizes Saturn Girl's memory blocks are masking her memories of the future. He tells her she needs to destroy the reactor while he attempts to hold off the Phages. She smashes the satellites power core. He tells Kara to trust her friends and she needs to trust him. He can't tell her anything about the future but that she needs to live her own life and decide her own future. Supergirl finds it and his brooding way's cute and Brainy knows this even if she does not say this. With Brainiac ship's force-field down Superman is able to re-enter the ship. On board Luthor emerges from Kandor and grabs a bottle city for himself.
Superman #699
- Date: June 2010
- Written by James Robinson
- Pencils: Bernard Chang
- Inks: Bernard Chang
- Colors: Blond
- Cover by Aaron Lopresti
Superman and Zod fight the Brainiac robots until Brainiac appears. Zod attacks Brainiac while Superman goes to save Kandor, contacting Supergirl along the way. Mon-El again remembers being tortured by the ape. The Legion fights Brainiac robots until a larger one appears, which Mon-El destroys. The Legion tells Mon-El that they have to leave for the future.
Superman sends Brainiac 5 and Supergirl to restore Kandor, and Brainiac 5 warns him he'll be killed by Brainiac if he continues. Kara and Brainiac 5 restore the city of Kandor and free Superboy.
Mon-El changes his shirt to remove the S, because he feels unworthy of the S, abandoning his friend. Luthor opens up a city inside of Brainiac's ship, which pokes through the top and sends it crashing down.
Last Stand of New Krypton #3
- Date: June 2010
- Written by James Robinson, Sterling Gates
- Pencils: Pete Woods
- Inks: Pete Woods
- Colors: Blond
- Cover by Ryan Sook
At the end of Superman #699, we saw Lex Luthor use Brainiac's technology to expand one of the bottle cities. But he did this while he and that bottle city were still aboard Brainiac's ship! This maneuver wreaks havoc as the expanding city bursts through the hull of Brainiac's ship, causing major damage leading to mechanical failure. This issue begins with heroes and villains caught off guard and reacting to this new development. As Brainiac's ship begins falling, the Legion members focus on saving the other bottle cities aboard the ship. They urge Mon-El to join them and head to the future, but Mon is reluctant to abandon Superman out of loyalty. But Superman steps in to urge Mon-El to go with the Legion. He tells Mon-El that the Legion is his destiny. The Legion, including Mon-El, must focus on the mission of saving the bottle cities and saving the future; while Superman, Supergirl, and Superboy must handle Brainiac, Luthor, Zod, and the Kandorians.
Brainiac's disabled ship is in flames and hurtling towards New Krypton. Supergirl and Superboy come racing on the scene as the ship smashes into one of Kandor's many futuristic skyscrapers. The ship continues to soar wildly as Superman, Supergirl and Superboy provide counter force in an attempt to slow it down. Alura and many other Kandorians arrive and join in the effort, pressing against the ship to help stop it. But the heat of the spreading flames, the ever expanding city within, and possibly the stress of all those Kryptonians pushing against the thrust of the powerful engines are too much for the ship to handle, and a cataclysmic explosion occurs before the remnants of the ship finally come to rest.
The city that Luthor expanded is still growing, now putting Kandor at risk. As Brainiac 5 works on the problem, Supergirl is shocked to discover Superman impaled by pieces of Brainiac's ship as a result of the explosion. Superman appears to have been fatally stricken. Luthor, reeling from the explosion, is nevertheless somehow pleased with all the destruction he has caused. Brainiac confronts Luthor and is furious that Lex sabotaged his ship. Luthor mocks him and spits in his eye before Brainiac angrily snaps Luthor's neck, killing him.
Meanwhile Zod is eager for a final showdown with Brainiac, who calls Zod a coward for confronting Brainiac with his powers intact and an army of super-powered Kryptonians at his back. In response, Zod fires the red sun radiation from an Archer rifle at himself, to remove his powers and thus supposedly level the playing field as he prepares to take Brainiac down.
Brainiac 5 works feverishly to save Superman. He gives him a transfusion of Conner's blood. Then he bathes Superman in a very large dose of concentrated synthesized yellow sun rays that Brainiac 5 has brought with him from the 31st century for just this moment. Using these techniques, Brainiac 5 is able to revive Superman. We see Superman standing and able to talk, as Kara and Conner look on with delight.
We join the battle between Zod and Brainiac. Despite the loss of his powers, Zod is able to get the upper hand and force Brainiac to his knees. Zod is about to shoot Brainiac when Superman intervenes. This causes a heated argument between Superman and Zod. Zod commands his soldiers to restrain Kal-El so Zod can proceed with the execution of Brainiac. Brainiac 5, sensing that this is his moment of destiny, steps in and then teleports himself and Brainiac off of New Krypton.
Zod contemplates these latest events. Although he is disappointed that he was denied the opportunity to kill Brainiac, there is great satisfaction in having defeated Brainiac in hand-to-hand combat and averted the threat to New Krypton. Also, these events have solidified Zod's position as the true leader of Kandor. Zod's popularity on New Krypton is soaring. In a speech to the populace, Zod claims himself to be the supreme ruler of New Krypton, and announces that the Council is defunct. Only Alura survives; and Zod is taking that leadership role away from her.
Meanwhile, we learn that Lex used a Luthor robot, supplied by Toyman, to accomplish his mission on New Krypton. It was the robot that was "killed" by Brainiac. Lex is very much alive and discussing with General Lane how his objective, to bring chaos to New Krypton, was achieved. Lex has been working as an agent of General Lane all along. The disarray that Lex caused is considered Lane's window of opportunity as he prepares for the impending war with New Krypton. Lex receives a Presidential pardon for his efforts.
We close with Zod rallying his people as he declares war on the planet Earth.
Adventure Comics #11
- Date: July 2010
- Written by Sterling Gates
- Pencils: Travis Moore
- Inks: Julio Ferreira
- Colors: Pete Pantazis
- Cover by Mark Buckingham