I’m guessing Zod didn’t like his Man Of Steel portrayal either. Especially the “dead” part.
Justice League Unlimited #34
DC Comics (August, 2007)
“Phantoms”
WRITER: James Perry
PENCILER: Gordon Purcell
INKER: BobPetrecca
COLORING: Heroic Age
LETTERER: Mike Sellers
EDITOR: Rachel Gluckstern
Doorways to the Phantom Zone (or at least windows into the Phantom Zone) started opening around the world, so Superman decides to investigate alone, believing anything Krypton-related is his responsibility. He ends up captured by General Zod and his army, prisoners of the Zone. The same happens with Martian Manhunter, Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, and Booster Gold, as the criminals want their recall devices. However, the League prepared for this and has a plan to escape with Superman. A comment by Zod alerts Superman to the mastermind behind all this, Mr. Mxyzptlk, who ends up going back to the Phantom Zone via the projector, and let’s just say Zod is not a happy man.
What they got right: On its own the story isn’t that bad. The team uses their head and comes up with a plan, Superman makes a mistake and learns from it, showing he isn’t all-perfect. And I do like the artwork.
What they got wrong: The continuity however is all over the place. While Zod never showed up in any of the shows, he did appear in an issue of Superman Adventures in which Supergirl had to deal with him, Jax-Ur, and Mala. There he was made an Argo criminal while here he’s in the Phantom Zone for crimes against Krypton. He’s shown to be weak to Kryptonite, which would be true of the regular Zod but not the case for the Argo Zod (this was a plot point in the Supergirl story, though one that admittedly didn’t match events in the show). Supergirl has a cameo in the end but in her classic DCAU outfit, not the more traditional-looking costume she wore before leaving to join the Legion Of Superheroes, so she shouldn’t even be here anyway. Jax-Ur and Mala show up among Zod’s group, though unnamed and without any dialog, but they were sucked into a black hole and also shouldn’t be here. Somebody really dropped the ball when it comes to keeping facts straight, but that’s nothing new for the DCAU tie-ins.
Recommendation: If you ignore the continuity (they certainly did) it is a rather good story and worth a read.
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