For Gen-X, Terence Stamp was never an “angry young man.” He was an intergalactic war criminal. Together with Sarah Douglas, and Jack O’Halloran, he formed a trio of super-villains that still makes Superman II one of the best superhero films ever (along with Superman: The Movie). He is one of the most significant super-bad guys ever, so it makes sense he gets the kind of starring villainous role enjoyed by DC stablemates like the Joker and the Penguin in Joe Casey’s Kneel Before Zod, illustrated by Dan McDaid, which is now on-sale in a bind-up tradepaperback.
This is the Dru-Zod you know, but now he is officially married to Ursa, who is also otherwise exactly like you remember her. However, silent Non is absent and unaccounted for. They still hunger for power, but do not try to reconcile Kneel Before Zod with the continuity of Superman II. With DC, there are so many timelines, pre-Crisis, post-Crisis, Golden Age, Tomorrowverse, and so on, non-obsessive fans should just accept each story on its own terms.
In this case, Zod and Ursa have indeed escaped the Phantom Zone, but they have temporarily made “peace” with the galactic authorities and the remnant of Kryptonian governance. In fact, they have built an outpost on a distant planet they christened New Kandar, with the intention of developing it as the new home for the bottled city Kandar, which Brainiac captured and placed in stasis, before the planet’s destruction.
Of course, Zod has a secret agenda, involving ambitions of conquest, so he is in no mood for his son Lor-Zod’s rebellious acting out. Conveniently, the House of Zod has a tradition of casting out their sons to fend for themselves, so it looks like his time has come. (In fact, Lor-Zpod gets his own limited series, teaming up with Sinistro’s bratty brood.) Nevertheless, Zod’s hallucinations of his old nemesis, Jor-El, cannot resist taunting him with his parental failures. Frankly, fighting the invasion of alien mercenaries who somehow got wind of his secret weapon, whatever that might be, offers him an opportunity to vent his anger.
Despite all the Kryptonian references, Kneel Before Zod reads more like science fiction-ish titles distantly set in the DC Universes, such as Adam Strange and Jack Kirby’s Fourth World. Indeed, the later issues take a wild space-faring turn. They are also unusually violent for DC, because of the graphic depictions of Zod using his powers very much in the same way Homelander does in The Boys, but with even less mercy.
Casey’s story is unpredictable, but it stays true to the established personalities of Zod and Ursa. For more casual fans, who mostly know Superman-related characters from movies and TV, Kneel is highly accessible and ironically nostalgic. Although McDaid’s vision of Zod is not a dead-ringer for Stamp, his Ursa bears a close resemblance to Douglas, which probably makes sense from a comic nerd’s perspective.
Regular DC readers will also enjoy a late appearance from a major character, who is not closely associated with Superman, but makes perfect sense within the distant-galaxy setting. Casey serves up some brutal super-villainy, but still successfully invites sympathy for Zod. Being a Zod is hard. Being in his way is even rougher, but it is fun to read about. Highly recommended for fans a Zod, Superman, and Sarah Douglas, Kneel Before Zod is now available at book and comic retailers.