Review of "Elseworlds: Superman, the Man of Steel, annual 3"

 Review of

Elseworlds: Superman, the Man of Steel, annual 3

Five out of five stars

An alternate, yet a bit more plausible scenario

 Throughout human history, any tribe or nation that had technical, numerical or physical superiority has conquered those who don’t. Many people that consider there to be intelligent life on other worlds, think that humans will suffer the same fate if such life were to find us and have the capability of making an interstellar journey.

 This story takes that idea and insert it into the Krypton is a doomed planet scenario for the origin of Superman. In this case, when Jor-el sounded the alarm, it was heeded and 100,000 Kryptonians were able to board rocket ships and make the journey to Earth. Once they arrived, they all had the powers of the traditional Superman and quickly took control of Earth.

 There are pockets of resistance, one singular point of opposition is Batman. He had made repeated attempts to sabotage the Kryptonian machinery and ironically, when he failed, it was Kryptonian technology that put him back together.

 Lex Luthor is of course involved and even though Kal-el’s parents still live, Martha and Jonathan Kent are Kal-el’s loving parents. Kryptonian parents are depicted as avoiding all expressions of affection to their children. For example, calling the male parent “Pa” is forbidden.

 Due to his interaction with loving human parents, Jor-el keeps a close eye on Kal-el, suspecting him of harboring sympathies for humans. Eventually, Kal-el uses his powers and has a physical showdown with Jor-el as he fights for the human cause.

 This is an engaging story, for it is more realistic regarding how super beings would react to humans. Although supreme intelligence is a virtue, it would also be easy for them to take over in the best interest of the undisciplined and weaker humans. Idealism is wonderful, but the real universe is a tough and unyielding place. All beings will play rough when the survival of their species is at stake. Fiction is best when it has some grounding in reality.