The 100-Minute War

I've got about 75% of a big post on the "New Krypton" storyline finished and percolating, but I haven't had time to work on it recently. I have, however, had time to read about the upcoming "War of the Supermen," which will apparently be over in less than two hours.

I'm actually not sure what to make of this, but I suspect that it'll mean a liberal application of Phantom Zone projectors or Kryptonite or Coluan shrinking technology. I'd actually really like New Krypton to stick around, to stay in Earth's solar system and continue causing drama for the El family, rather than getting put back in the bottle one way or another.

The most interesting possibility for this short war, I think--the one that opens up the most new story options--is also the least likely, in my estimation. But a 100-minute war against thousands of people who have all of Superman's powers doesn't sound like a victory for the squishy people of Kleenex who are occasionally punctuated by spandex-clad metahumans--especially with Batman missing. The War of Supermen could end in a Kryptonian victory.

Despite the possible cries of "OMG U GUYS R RIPPIN OFF DARK REIGN," I think this could really open up some really awesome story possibilities: the Kryptonian occupation and apartheid; a resistance movement led by Superman and Batman--or better yet, a resistance movement led by the returned Batman, whose partial goal is to rescue Superman from the Phantom Zone--secretly fighting against the Kryptonian regime; Krypton's drive to increase their empire; the uneasy alliance between Earth's heroes and villains; Zod triumphant; Lex Luthor's time to shine...the opportunities are endless.

Why is it unlikely? Well, first, it would necessarily impact nearly every DC Comic in a major way, suddenly thrusting everything from "Batman and Robin" to "Secret Six" into a world under the thumb of alien dictators. Besides that, it doesn't really fit into the whole "Brightest Day" motif of the coming year. It would also mean that the story would have to be more finite, I think, than otherwise might be necessary (I'm still hoping for a semi-permanent New Krypton in the DCU).

It'd be a nice change of status quo, and it'd remove a lot of the problems I have with Zod, although the story so far has done quite a bit of that as well. I doubt that it'll happen, but I'd be pretty excited if it did.