REVIEW: Kneel Before Zod #6

Kneel Before Zod #6, “Eye Know” finds Zod and the former inmates of his new ship awkwardly adjusting to their new way life. Playing out as a sci-fi horror movie where the creature lurks around every corner, this issue strikes yet another tonal shift in the series. Acting closer to a first chapter of a new arc than a half way point of a limited series, issue #6 slows the story down in a way allowing us to reflect on all that’s happened so far.

The standard cover by Jason Shawn Alexander spotlights the creature featured this issue; The Emerald Eye of Ekron. Taking up most of the cover space, Zod only manages a more prominent appearance through his reflection in The Eye. As seen on Zod’s face, The Eye is never a welcomed sight as it heralds bigger problems.

Lucio Parrillo’s variant summarizes this issue well. Zod rages in defiance as he struggles to gain control of a chaotic situation of his own making. The small fire in the lower right corner really sells the scene as everything continues to fall apart around him. Parrillo continues to deliver some great realistic art.

The variant by Ian Churchill seems to be a glimpse into Zod’s ultimate fantasy goal of Superman kneeling before him. The image feels like a tribute to the scene in “Superman II” with the way Zod is gesturing and is really the only way this situation makes sense. Otherwise, Churchill’s art is amazing as always and this is a villain’s book after all.

Artist Dan McDaid and Colorist David Baron maintain the interior art team positions. Honestly, this book wouldn’t be half as entertaining without these two. Every issue seems to be a form of love letter to various classic science fiction themes and this one is no exception. This time we get treated to the space horror genre without it dipping into the realm of terror. They expertly pace the sequential to build tension and use plenty of lighting tricks to mask the threat before the end reveal. It’s really well done and is strangely the most fun the series has been thus far.

Joe Casey, lettered by Troy Peteri, takes us on a fun aside to introduce a new complication to Zod’s situation. Along with more hauntings from Jor-El, a prisoner held in a special isolated section of the penal ship escapes and claims a bit of payback. The main cover gives away the reveal of who that prisoner is, but Casey executes the “lurking mysterious creature” theme well. Not only that, but he uses that vessel to give us insight to the type of criminals Zod is attempting to strong arm into being his new army. There’s also a promise of interesting new developments as it’s made clear the disappearance of New Candor hasn’t gone unnoticed by the galactic community. We may be half way through the series, but the story is proving to be far from over.

(6.5/10) The space horror trope was a really fun change. I wholeheartedly enjoy the art of this book, but it’s hard to maintain interest in the overall story when it has altered course nearly every issue. Still, I’ve made it half way through and there’s plenty of time for Joe Casey to show us what this story’s all about.