When
you think of the Man of Steel a whole plethora of sinister and powerful
villains come to mind, Darkseid, Bizarro, Brainiac, Lex Luthor, and whilst all
of these characters bring out something different in the big blue boy scout it
is only General Dru-Zod who holds a mirror up to him. Zod is the flip side to
the same coin as Superman. He is the reflection of how Earth would be different
if it was another Kryptonian who had fallen to our planet, or if Ma and Pa Kent
hadn’t been the ones to find baby Kal-El. Zod is the fear inside Clark that his
power may corrupt him.
Zod
was originally a small time Superboy villain. It wasn’t until the movie
Superman II when actor Terence Stamp brought the character to life on the
silver screen that he got a creative boost comic side. Now some of the best
comic creators have taken the reigns of the Kryptonian General, from John Byrne
to Steve Gerber, and Geoff Johns and Jeph Loeb, all of them have had him face
of with the last son of Krypton.
But
now with the release of Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel movie we are left with only
two options, we either take to our knees to kneel before the feet of Zod or we
stand up and meet the new face of the General. Either way it is up to us
Thoughtballoons writers and all those who want to enter the fray at home to
choose.
Panel 1
ReplyDeleteWideshot. Exterior. We are in the Kryptonian skies and we see Jor-El riding his pet Harraka (not sure about the spelling but its the four-winged dragon from the Man of Steel movie) and, beside him, General Zod riding a separate 'dragon'.
Zod: Hmm. I almost forgot how much I enjoyed these little rides we had when we were young.
Jor: We are still friends after all.
Panel 2
Exterior. Jor and Zod had just landed their dragons on a pad of some building, maybe a Kryptonian research center where Jor-El primarily works.
Zod: Yes, though, it has been quite some time since we've agreed on anything.
(link) I'm afraid you've grown too soft, Jor.
Jor: And you've grown too harsh, Dru.
Zod: Our planet is dying.
Panel 3
Close cam. Full body shot of both men. They are walking, heading towards the door. Jor is exclaiming something. Zod is pointing a finger on Jor.
Jor: I know that!
Zod: Then, you must also know that there is only one way for us to survive.
Panel 4
Close-up on Jor. He looks away, thingking.
Jor: No. No, there has to be a better way.
Panel 5
Close-up on Zod. He looks towards his companion.
Zod: Is there? You will never be able to sway the Council.
Panel 6
Both men have reached the door. They are staring at each other. Jor is holding the door half-way open. He looks like his about to say something but chooses not to.
Panel 7
Same. Jor-El enters the building.
Hi Arby. There's dragons in the Man of Steel movie? That's an odd choice. Were they ever in the comics? Seems a bit "Well they loved it in Avatar!"
ReplyDeleteYou've set up an interesting dynamic between the characters with this page.
I feel this line is far too expository and the same information could have been brought across with more subtlety.
"Jor: We are still friends after all."
Also, I'm a bit out of the loop as to what exactly they are talking about at the end of the page, but I'm guessing this page is a movie tie in (and I haven't seen it), so that's probably ok.
Yep! Well, not exactly fire-breathing dragons, but similar in looks only significantly smaller.
DeleteAnd yes, this is a direct movie tie-in. It was the first Superman movie I've ever seen, at least in full. Don't judge.
Anyways, thanks for the criticism!
No worries. Hopefully it was constructive :)
Delete