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Superman: Superman Vs. Zod
Some of Superman's greatest battles with his Kryptonian foe, General Zod, are collected for the first time. In his first appearance, Zod meets Superboy, projecting him into the Phantom Zone, the cosmic prison for Kryptonian criminals. Then, in stories from the 1980s, Zod and his Phantom Zone cadre of lieutenants battles Superman again. Then, a tale from 2007 written by comics superstar Geoff Johns and film director Richard Donner looks at the roots of Zod's treachery in Krypton's past.
Collects stories from ADVENTURE COMICS #283, ACTION COMICS #473, 548- 549, DC COMICS PRESENTS #97 and ACTION COMICS ANNUAL #10
Collects stories from ADVENTURE COMICS #283, ACTION COMICS #473, 548- 549, DC COMICS PRESENTS #97 and ACTION COMICS ANNUAL #10
127 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
About the author
Richard Donner
29 books3 followersRichard Donner (born Richard Donald Schwartzberg; April 24, 1930 – July 5, 2021) was an American director and producer of film and television and occasional comic-book writer. After directing the horror film The Omen (1976), Donner directed the superhero film, Superman (1978), starring Christopher Reeve.
Donner later went on to direct movies such as The Goonies (1985) and Scrooged (1988), while reinvigorating the buddy film genre with the Lethal Weapon film series. He and his wife, producer Lauren Shuler Donner, owned the production company best known for producing the Free Willy and X-Men franchises. In 2000, he received the President's Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. Film historian Michael Barson writes that Donner was "one of Hollywood's most reliable makers of action blockbusters".
One of Donner's assistants in the late 1990s was comic book writer Geoff Johns. In October 2006, Donner, Johns and artist Adam Kubert became the new creative team on Action Comics, the publisher's most time honored publication and one of DC Comics' two main Superman titles. Together, Johns and Donner collaborated on the stories Last Son and Escape from Bizarro World, both of which have been released in collected book form. Donner and Johns also co-wrote a story for Action Comics #1000, released in April 2018.
On November 10, 2010, Donner's authorized biography You're the Director... You Figure It Out: The Life and Films of Richard Donner by James Christie was published by BearManor Media. The book features a foreword by actor Mel Gibson. - wikipedia
Donner later went on to direct movies such as The Goonies (1985) and Scrooged (1988), while reinvigorating the buddy film genre with the Lethal Weapon film series. He and his wife, producer Lauren Shuler Donner, owned the production company best known for producing the Free Willy and X-Men franchises. In 2000, he received the President's Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. Film historian Michael Barson writes that Donner was "one of Hollywood's most reliable makers of action blockbusters".
One of Donner's assistants in the late 1990s was comic book writer Geoff Johns. In October 2006, Donner, Johns and artist Adam Kubert became the new creative team on Action Comics, the publisher's most time honored publication and one of DC Comics' two main Superman titles. Together, Johns and Donner collaborated on the stories Last Son and Escape from Bizarro World, both of which have been released in collected book form. Donner and Johns also co-wrote a story for Action Comics #1000, released in April 2018.
On November 10, 2010, Donner's authorized biography You're the Director... You Figure It Out: The Life and Films of Richard Donner by James Christie was published by BearManor Media. The book features a foreword by actor Mel Gibson. - wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
February 3, 2014
What would have helped this book tremendously is an introduction to each story with some explanatory notes. I’m fairly sure there are other issues out there where Zod features more prominently? It would have been interesting if, say, Superman #22 (1988) (The Price) was featured here, since this issue actually has Superman killing Zod, Zaora and Quex-Ul with Kryptonite after they threaten to destroy the earth. Granted, it’s an “alternate” version of Zod from a Pocket Universe but it makes for a great “what if” scenario. It’s also an act that haunts the Man of Steel for a long time.
No. What we do have here is fairly irregular kettle of fish. Some of the issues appear to be included for historical significance. Case in point: a Superboy comic from the 1960s that details how a young Clark Kent comes into possession of the Phantom Zone projector. This is all good and well, but Zod doesn’t feature (except for being fleetingly mentioned in a single panel). This issue, and in particularly the Phantom Zone: Final Chapter issue (which details how Jor-El discovers the Phantom Zone) goes a long way in explaining how the Phantom Zone works and what it must be like to be trapped there, but isn’t there a Phantom Zone collection someplace else? (Superman: Phantom Zone, Superman: Tales from the Phantom Zone et al)
Speaking of the Final Chapter issue… this issue appears to be the last pre-Crisis story featuring the phantom zone, and it’s one weird, weird story. Not too sure I understood even a bit of it.
My biggest concern with this collection isn’t necessarily the quality of the stories collected (although they do vary greatly), but the fact that there is actually precious little actual Superman vs Zod being showcased. This is why I thought some notes would help. Perhaps I’m missing something significantly here, or perhaps there just aren’t that many Zod stories out there to choose from?
Anyway, it’s hard to recommend this to anyone but die-hard Superman fans. Newcomers and casual readers should definitely look elsewhere first.
July 2, 2018
I picked up this collection secondhand for 4 bucks. I'd say I got my money's worth - but just barely! "Superman vs. Faora" would have been a better title for this set, since Faora features more prominently than Zod in most of these tales. They're all fun throwback (but also throwaway) stories from pre-Crisis that would make a nice supplement to any Superfan collection, but unless you're curious about the Phantom Zone or the Kryptonian villains banished there, you'll find better stories and especially better Zod stories elsewhere. As others have said, the 3-parter by John Byrne comes to mind... how is that not here? The book ends with a short piece that feels really bleak and out of place as the only modern inclusion.
April 2, 2013
The first two stories are Curt Swan gems. The rest is pretty terrible including a nutso, gonzo nightmare of a train wreck by Steve Gerber. What were they thinking? Also, most of the stories are more about the Phantom Zone than Zod who makes a few brief appearances. Only two stars because the crap outweighs the jewels. Who in their right mind picked a Vince Colleta inked story?
March 2, 2013
A great compendium of stories from the greatest adventures between Superman and Zod. Well worth your time for the Superman fan.
April 29, 2018
Admittedly, most of the material in this collection is in hindsight terrible, but in-context these adventures were typical comic book storytelling, and they represent the origins of General Zod, the villain made iconic by Superman II. And incredibly, it isn’t until the final collected story, from Superman II director Richard Donner, supporting modern comics dynamo Geoff Johns (who started his career in entertainment as Donner’s assistant) that the iconic version of Zod came to comics, complete with the idea of, “Kneel before Zod.”
People forget that Superman has been featured across various forms of media for so long that some of what we most associate with him didn’t come from the comics, such as kryptonite, which now seems like such an elemental part of the mythos that it had to have been there from the beginning. But it wasn’t; it came from radio writers.
The Zod in his original comics incarnation was really just one of many Kryptonian criminals trapped in the Phantom Zone, which was itself a concept that seemed more fascinating to writers than any of its inhabitants. Faora, who would finally get a new spotlight of her own in Man of Steel, the release of which prompted this retrospective collection in 2013, seems like a far more consequential figure.
It wasn’t until Johns and Donner, after several other versions of Zod had appeared over the years (all of them absent here) that he was allowed to embody his most famous incarnation. Thankfully, the reprint of his revised origin, featuring a new version of the apparent dumb brute Non, also featured in Superman II but left out of Man of Steel, reads a lot better to modern eyes than the preceding material. Actually, I can highly recommend all of Johns and Donner’s material from that time; more recent Superman comics have featured Clark’s kid with Lois Lane, but these had a kind of dry run for the idea...with Zod’s kid!
Reading the older material, the best way to appreciate it is as a window into a prior era. During several of the stories, Superman is referred to by the nickname “Action Ace,” in much the way we call him, well, the Man of Steel today. No one uses “Action Ace” today, but clearly there was a generation of fans who did, and you wouldn’t know about that today if something like this collection wasn’t around to remind you.
And just things like the style of storytelling, or choice of elements. It’s more common knowledge that Clark Kent worked, for a time, as a TV reporter (we think newspapers stopped being the dominant news source only within the last twenty years, but Clark had that job forty years ago!). And there’s the ‘60s martial arts craze we still see around us today, just starting to exert its influence. Stuff like that.
By the Johns/Donner material, you can definitely see why this collection was relevant to Man of Steel, but mostly it’s just a rather naked record of Zod’s publishing history. You can see where there was a lot of work to do. Wisely, the comics kept trying. All too often fans of any extraction try to reject change. But change often is far easier to appreciate in hindsight. Just have a look at this to see it in, well, action. Be an action ace!
People forget that Superman has been featured across various forms of media for so long that some of what we most associate with him didn’t come from the comics, such as kryptonite, which now seems like such an elemental part of the mythos that it had to have been there from the beginning. But it wasn’t; it came from radio writers.
The Zod in his original comics incarnation was really just one of many Kryptonian criminals trapped in the Phantom Zone, which was itself a concept that seemed more fascinating to writers than any of its inhabitants. Faora, who would finally get a new spotlight of her own in Man of Steel, the release of which prompted this retrospective collection in 2013, seems like a far more consequential figure.
It wasn’t until Johns and Donner, after several other versions of Zod had appeared over the years (all of them absent here) that he was allowed to embody his most famous incarnation. Thankfully, the reprint of his revised origin, featuring a new version of the apparent dumb brute Non, also featured in Superman II but left out of Man of Steel, reads a lot better to modern eyes than the preceding material. Actually, I can highly recommend all of Johns and Donner’s material from that time; more recent Superman comics have featured Clark’s kid with Lois Lane, but these had a kind of dry run for the idea...with Zod’s kid!
Reading the older material, the best way to appreciate it is as a window into a prior era. During several of the stories, Superman is referred to by the nickname “Action Ace,” in much the way we call him, well, the Man of Steel today. No one uses “Action Ace” today, but clearly there was a generation of fans who did, and you wouldn’t know about that today if something like this collection wasn’t around to remind you.
And just things like the style of storytelling, or choice of elements. It’s more common knowledge that Clark Kent worked, for a time, as a TV reporter (we think newspapers stopped being the dominant news source only within the last twenty years, but Clark had that job forty years ago!). And there’s the ‘60s martial arts craze we still see around us today, just starting to exert its influence. Stuff like that.
By the Johns/Donner material, you can definitely see why this collection was relevant to Man of Steel, but mostly it’s just a rather naked record of Zod’s publishing history. You can see where there was a lot of work to do. Wisely, the comics kept trying. All too often fans of any extraction try to reject change. But change often is far easier to appreciate in hindsight. Just have a look at this to see it in, well, action. Be an action ace!
May 20, 2019
Well you know what they say, you can't polish a turd. Before I rip this a new one, let’s talk about some positives. Right at the end is story about Zod’s imprisonment in the Phantom Zone as well as his conflict with Jor-El. It’s well written and fleshes out a character I never thought I’d have an interest in. There are 2 others stories worth noting, the first is about Superboy, which was Kal-El back then I don’t know why it was the Golden age things didn’t make sense. Anyway he finds a box falling from the sky, inside are weapons of mass destruction and decides to play with them like an idiot. Then because he is thick he decides to trap himself in the Phantom Zone, clever boy. Anyway this story focuses on the mastery of churning butter and an electric type writing, which would have been something back then but it’s just weird reading it now. It’s got this kooky charm to it that you don’t get nowadays. The second is Faora’s third appearance, why they didn’t choose the first I don’t know anyway it’s fun and stupid enough. She has that independent women vibe going on which she seems to lose in the later issues of this for some reason, it’s another one that’s fairly goofy.
Now let’s get into the meat of this, so you think a title called Superman vs Zod that they would fight right? We not in this, at one point Superman kicks him into the air and ragdolls him in another but there is no fight each scene mentioned is a panel each. There isn’t even a battle of the minds which is very disappointed, it’s just false advertising. The cover doesn’t even feature in it, I just don’t know why or where they were going with this marketing. I mean it worked I bought it but am I ever going to read it again? No I’m not I will find out where Zod’s imprisonment story came from and enjoy that as it’s so good but the rest is just boring. The other 2 are ok but that’s it they passed the time, there is a three part story that I didn’t mention because honestly it’s that bad it has no redeeming qualities. Faora fights Lois…… no she isn’t depowers and now Zod and Faora are good? Reasons, they made a pact seriously. It gets worse there are this random racist Neanderthal, in the end I had to skim through it was that bad. So if you are thinking of picking it up, please reconsider it’s not worth the time or money.
Now let’s get into the meat of this, so you think a title called Superman vs Zod that they would fight right? We not in this, at one point Superman kicks him into the air and ragdolls him in another but there is no fight each scene mentioned is a panel each. There isn’t even a battle of the minds which is very disappointed, it’s just false advertising. The cover doesn’t even feature in it, I just don’t know why or where they were going with this marketing. I mean it worked I bought it but am I ever going to read it again? No I’m not I will find out where Zod’s imprisonment story came from and enjoy that as it’s so good but the rest is just boring. The other 2 are ok but that’s it they passed the time, there is a three part story that I didn’t mention because honestly it’s that bad it has no redeeming qualities. Faora fights Lois…… no she isn’t depowers and now Zod and Faora are good? Reasons, they made a pact seriously. It gets worse there are this random racist Neanderthal, in the end I had to skim through it was that bad. So if you are thinking of picking it up, please reconsider it’s not worth the time or money.
January 16, 2020
This volume collects some but not all of the appearances of General Zod. However, he's such a non-player in many of these stories, that DC really shouldn't list Zod on the title of this book.He's not even in the first story included here! Instead, the book should be called Superman: Adventures in the Phantom Zone.
The first story is from a 1961 Superboystory. It introduces the concept of the phantom zone projector which will become a staple of many Superman family related tales.
Zod appears in a couple of stories from the late 70s. But the star of that two-parter is a female Kryptonian named Faora-Ul. She's a precursor to Ursa, Zod's right hand man, er woman, from Superman II. I'm wondering why this character got a new name/identity in the movies? Copyright payments to the creating artist, maybe?
Zod and Faora return for another 2-parter set right around the end of the Pre-Crisis era. Zod's got a slightly bigger role. But really, this episode from DC Comics Presents is more about Jor-El and the creation of the phantom zone projector than about the evils of Zod's military attempted coup.
We don't really see Zod in all his soldierly glory until the last story. It tells of the Science Council's cover-up of the impending destruction of Krypton. Plus it calls the Ursa character Ursa. And there's the tragic character of Non finally!
This all leads up to a big question: why were the leaders of Krypton so eager to deny that the planet was about to explode? Has the reasons for their conspiracy ever been explored? And if so, where can I read this tale?
This was a very good collection of Superman stories. But it offered more questions than answers. Plus, it really doesn't feature Zod enough to be a Zod book. I am wondering if this is why I was able to find a copy of this book at Ollie's for only $2!
Enjoyable but definitely nowhere near anything you'd expect from that dynamic cover pitting the last son's of Krypton in mortal combat.
The first story is from a 1961 Superboystory. It introduces the concept of the phantom zone projector which will become a staple of many Superman family related tales.
Zod appears in a couple of stories from the late 70s. But the star of that two-parter is a female Kryptonian named Faora-Ul. She's a precursor to Ursa, Zod's right hand man, er woman, from Superman II. I'm wondering why this character got a new name/identity in the movies? Copyright payments to the creating artist, maybe?
Zod and Faora return for another 2-parter set right around the end of the Pre-Crisis era. Zod's got a slightly bigger role. But really, this episode from DC Comics Presents is more about Jor-El and the creation of the phantom zone projector than about the evils of Zod's military attempted coup.
We don't really see Zod in all his soldierly glory until the last story. It tells of the Science Council's cover-up of the impending destruction of Krypton. Plus it calls the Ursa character Ursa. And there's the tragic character of Non finally!
This all leads up to a big question: why were the leaders of Krypton so eager to deny that the planet was about to explode? Has the reasons for their conspiracy ever been explored? And if so, where can I read this tale?
This was a very good collection of Superman stories. But it offered more questions than answers. Plus, it really doesn't feature Zod enough to be a Zod book. I am wondering if this is why I was able to find a copy of this book at Ollie's for only $2!
Enjoyable but definitely nowhere near anything you'd expect from that dynamic cover pitting the last son's of Krypton in mortal combat.
December 13, 2020
Nothing wrong with these stories, but Zod is surprisingly scarce for a book titled Superman vs Zod. I understand some of the stories are there for their historical significance. For example, Zod is only in one panel of the issue he makes his first appearance in. In the story that features Zod most prominently Superman is still a baby. Again, odd for a book titled Superman vs. Zod.
July 31, 2021
Slightly better than average collection of Superboy/Superman tales involving Phantom Zone escapees.
Fun but not especially memorable, for the most part.
Fun but not especially memorable, for the most part.
April 28, 2023
A lot of fun silver and Bronze Age stories, but the title is a bit misleading. Zod is barely in this.
May 29, 2013
This graphic novel was thrown together because Zod is in the upcoming Superman movie. Not because these stories are classics, and not because they have a common theme other than they have the Phantom Zone mentioned. They are all forgettable - except for the Steve Gerber story (he gets my vote for most over rated writer in comics - his stories are always a very odd, off putting, horror tone). A shame there were no classic stories with the Phantom Zone or General Zod, you would think there would have been. Side note: very odd that Non (a Phantom Zone prisoner) was lobotomized by the Krypton council because he was forecasting the end of Krypton. Those Kryptonians are real jerks :)
January 12, 2014
A sub-par collection of Zod-related oddities, spanning decades, this is hardly the definitive Zod collection. Most notably missing is the story where Superman executes Zod... and considering that (SPOILER ALERT) Superman actually DID kill Zod in the Man of Steel movie (and that this collection was clearly rushed out ahead of the movie to make a few bucks), it just goes to show the lack of care put into this trade. For hardcore fans and completists only, and even they will be disappointed.
February 6, 2016
A hit & miss collection of phantom zone storys which mostly include Zod but is by no means the Zod based book it claims to be but even then there are some intresting little gems among a few rocks!AVERAGE really only of any value to a diehard supes fan!
September 26, 2016
Nice collection of short stories.
September 7, 2014
some gems in here but felt that better stories could have been selected.
January 4, 2015
A decent selection of pre-crisis Phantom Zone stories from the Superman mythos but nothing that special.
July 1, 2018
Truly one terrible collection here. Zod is not the main villain in any of the stories, and it looks like DC was cashing in on the Man of Steel movie. It's not that the individual stories were that bad but that there was so little thought in making this collection.
The one really bad story was Steve Gerber's Phantom Zone story from the last issue of DC Comics Presents, before the Byrne reboot. It's utter shit, making zero sense like most of Gerber's work (see Omega the Unknown over at Marvel). Editor Julius Schwartz must have been on his way out the door because this pile of poo doesn't look like any thing Julie would have allowed to be published.
The one really bad story was Steve Gerber's Phantom Zone story from the last issue of DC Comics Presents, before the Byrne reboot. It's utter shit, making zero sense like most of Gerber's work (see Omega the Unknown over at Marvel). Editor Julius Schwartz must have been on his way out the door because this pile of poo doesn't look like any thing Julie would have allowed to be published.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews