| World of Krypton | |
|---|---|
 World of Krypton #1 (July 1979), artwork byRoss Andru andDick Giordano. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| Schedule | Monthly |
| Format | standard |
| Publication date | July – September 1979 |
| No. of issues | 3 |
| Main character | Jor-El |
| Creative team | |
| Written by | Paul Kupperberg |
| Penciller | Howard Chaykin |
| Inker(s) | Murphy Anderson,Frank Chiaramonte |
| Letterer(s) | Ben Oda, Shelly Leferman |
| Colorist(s) | Adrienne Roy, Jerry Serpe |
| Editor | E. Nelson Bridwell |
| Collected editions | |
| Superman: The Many Worlds of Krypton | ISBN 978-1401278892 |
World of Krypton is an American three-issuecomic booklimited series written byPaul Kupperberg and penciled byHoward Chaykin. It was the comics industry's first limited series, which addressed DC's problem of newly launched ongoing series too often fizzling out within 10 issues.World of Krypton was published byDC Comics from July to September 1979.
Taking place in theBronze Age era of DC Comics history, the series exploresSuperman's home world ofKrypton. The story details his fatherJor-El's life, the launch of the rocket that carriedKal-El to Earth, and the destruction of the planet.
"The Fabulous World of Krypton" had been a recurring back-up feature inSuperman and other titles since the early 1970s. The feature was created byE. Nelson Bridwell and many stories were written byCary Bates.
The stories comprisingWorld of Krypton were originally scheduled to be published inShowcase #104–106 to coincide with the premiere of the 1978 filmSuperman: The Movie. Those issues would have had cover-dates of September–November 1978. When the film's release date was delayed (with it eventually coming out in December 1978), the stories were rescheduled forShowcase issues #110–112 (cover dates April–May 1979). In the meantime, however, theShowcase title was canceled as part of the so-called "DC Implosion".[1]
At that point, the storyline was revised and released asWorld of Krypton — comics' first ever limited series.[2][3][4][5]
Bridwell commissioned the project.[2] Paul Kupperberg, a regular contributor toShowcase at the time of the story's conception, wrote the storyline. His brotherAlan Kupperberg did uncredited layouts, upon which Chaykin expanded.[3]
World of Krypton provides a great amount of detail into Krypton's history just before its destruction, along with the life story ofJor-El, the world's leading scientist, and his wifeLara Lor-Van. Superman himself appears in framing sequences, as do notable Kryptonians such asGeneral Zod,Jax-Ur,Faora Hu-Ul,Lar Gand, andBeppo, as well as Clark Kent's adoptive parentsJonathan and Martha Kent.
The individual issues were titled, "The Jor-El Story", "This Planet Is Doomed!", and "The Last Days of Krypton", respectively.
World of Krypton's reception was positive, leading to subsequent similar titles and later more ambitious productions such asCamelot 3000 for thedirect market in 1982.[2][6]
World of Krypton was reprinted and translated on a number of occasions. It was republished, in part or in whole, inSuperman the Comic #2 (K.G. Murray Publishing Company, 1978),The Best of DC #5 (May-June 1980), andTor Books'World of Krypton (June 1982). It has been translated into German, French, Swedish, Norwegian, Portuguese, and Italian.
DC published anotherWorld of Krypton miniseries from December 1987 to March 1988. Produced after theretcon events ofCrisis on Infinite Earths, Krypton itself was the main subject of the latterThe World of Krypton miniseries. Written byJohn Byrne and illustrated byMike Mignola, it fills in much of Krypton's new history.
A third miniseries namedWorld of Krypton was published from February to July 2022. Written byRobert Venditti with art byMichael Avon Oeming, it tells Krypton's history in the post-Flashpoint universe.
In 2018, DC published the trade paperbackSuperman: The Many Worlds of Krypton, which collected bothWorld of Krypton miniseries as well as stories fromSuperman #233, 236, 238, 240, 248, 257, 266, andThe Superman Family #182.
The worldwide success ofSuperman: The Movie motivated [DC] to publish more Superman-related titles. With that, editor E. Nelson Bridwell oversaw a project that evolved into comics' first official limited series -World of Krypton...Featuring out-of-this-world artwork from Howard Chaykin, [Paul] Kupperberg's three-issue limited series explored Superman's homeworld.
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