Superman Finally Learns the Heartbreaking Truth About an Iconic DC Location

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The following contains major spoilers for Action Comics #1075, on sale now from DC Comics.

Superman finally realizes how far his family's legacy had to fall so that someone else could turn the Phantom Zone into a Kryptonian prison.

The opening story for Action Comics #1075 by writer Mark Waid and artists Clayton Henry and Michael Shelfer finds the Man of Steel still navigating his time on Krypton in the not-so-distant past. Alongside his own unwitting parents, Kal-El attempts to help Jor-El's technological advancements escape the prying eyes of those who comprise Krypton's upper echelon of government. Unfortunately, there is simply no way to keep Jor-El's Phantom Zone Projector from falling into the wrong hands, and instead of the realm becoming a refuge for the Kryptonians who will soon lose their lives, it is repurposed as a means of imprisoning any and all who would dare stand against the established status quo.

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Action Comics #1075

Written by MARK WAID, MARIKO TAMAKI, and JOSHUA WILLIAMSON
Art by CLAYTON HENRY & MICHAEL SHELFER, SKYLAR PATRIDGE, and JON BOGDANOVE & NORM RAPMUND
Colors by MATT HERMS, MARISSA LOUISE, and HI-FI
Letters by DAVE SHARPE and BECCA CAREY
Main cover art by CLAYTON HENRY & TOMEU MOREY
Variant covers by SEBASTIAN FIUMARA, LUCIO PARRILLO, IBRAHIM MOUSTAFA, KERON GRANT, STEVE BEACH, and MEGHAN HETRICK

Introduced in Robert Bernstein and George Papp's "Superboy: The Phantom Superboy" from the pages of 1961's Adventure Comics #283, the extradimensional space known as the Phantom Zone exists outside of normal space and time. Any and all who enter the Phantom Zone cease aging, allowing the likes of Mon-El to use it as a means of escaping otherwise lethal circumstances. Despite this, the Phantom Zone is best known as a prison for superpowered villains, or those who simply ran afoul of the ruling class on Krypton.

Superman's most recent journey into the Phantom Zone was necessitated when a trio of Kryptonian prisoners somehow escape from within it in a grotesque, merged form. After wreaking havoc across Metropolis, these Kryptonians proved themselves more powerful than the Man of Steel could handle alone. In a desperate move, Superman unleashed his personal sample of Gold Kryptonite, removing the threat's powers altogether. Following this encounter, Superman traveled into the Phantom Zone for himself in the hopes of uncovering the truth of the matter at hand.

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Upon entering the Phantom Zone, Superman discovered a major change to the realm's usual status quo. Not only had his longtime friend and ally Mon-El usurped the place of the malevolent Phantom King, but an even more powerful force in the form of the godlike Aethyr had emerged to threaten everyone and everything within the Phantom Zone as a whole. After being defeated by Aethyr, Superman was thrust into the deepest pits of the Phantom Zone, from which he quite literally punched his way into the past of his homeworld - Krypton.

Action Comics #1075 is on sale now from DC Comics.

Source: DC Comics