#lara lor-van

[bobbinalong]

contemplating kryptonian fashion once again so clark and his parents doodle

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Marlon Brando, Susannah York and Lee Quigley - Superman: The Movie (1978)

[jetslay]

"DC League of Super-Pets" art by Marion Bordeyne.

[kryptonbabe]

Kid Kal-el, Jor-el and Lara hugging back at Krypton before the destruction

From Absolute Superman #1 (2024) by Jason Aaron & Rafa Sandoval

[supermanshield]

Ah yes, of course, the land of Bat and the land of Super

World's Finest Comics #191

[chernobog13]

HAPPY SUPERMAN DAY!

A Walt Simonson pin-up from Superman (vol. 1) #400 (October, 1984).

[snapiphany]

Happy Mother's Day!

[luckyspot]

I wonder if Clark will ever find out anything about his biological mother...

One thing I liked Man of Steel, is that Lara actual was involved in sending Clark away and making sure he had the chance to avoid Krypton's fate.

She gets pushed to the side a lot of in favor of Jor-El, I hope she's involved.

[kent-farm]

You know, I think about my dad a lot. How he was just heading off to church one day when a meteor crashed in his front yard. And just like that… He was a father.

—Clark Kent, Superman and Lois, “Pilot”

[gainaxvel3o]

Why is this Lara so pretty? Srs.

[the-antiapocalyptic-man]

What are your thoughts on the lack of attention Lara Lor-Van gets in comparison with Jor-El?

On one hand, it's frustrating seeing how underdeveloped Lara is as a character over eighty years into Superman's history. One of my favorite parts of Pennyworth was seeing Martha Kane fleshed out and given a personality, even if the viewer knows she's ultimately fated to die relatively young for no real reason than to spur her child onto becoming Batman.

Lara's got it worse, in that while Martha's death specifically influences a lot of Bruce's personality as an adult (moreso than than his father's), Lara feels largely incidental. Clark has a dead biological mother because--despite being an superpowered alien being--the metaphor of Superman necessitates he have a mother, the tragedy of Krypton's destruction heightened for the typical reader with the tragedy of a young family being ripped apart. It underplays the tragedy of Krypton's death as a culture, something that's only gotten worse as modern reimaginings and adaptations have focused more and more on Krypton's social stagnation sterility and imperial past.

All that said, on the other hand, I think Lara presents a good opportunity to explore Krypton as a living culture in a way that can't really be done with Jor. Jor-El's an outsider and an ideological extremist who happens to also be a scientific genius and correct about the planet's rapidly approaching death. While the circumstances that brought him and Lara together is a whole story in and of itself, Lara can believe in her partner without necessarily having to share that "Fringe Scientist" archetype he's pigeonholed in even his most heroic interpretations (and pushed to "Mad Scientist" in his least heroic).

My personal interpretation of Lara--with no real canon basis--is that she was a member of Krypton's Artist Guild. While the Science and Military Guilds are heavily represented in Jor-El, Zod, and many of the Phantom Zone detainees, the Artist Guild doesn't get much attention. Which is understandable--a thesis on Kryptonian Art History doesn't really suit any kind of monthly action comic one could reasonably sell--but nonetheless disappointing. Having Lara be an artist gives a strong reason to actually explore this group and the questions that come with it, while also giving a reason for Lara to be open to Jor's ideas. As an artist, she's always looking for stories and narratives to inspire her creativity. The tragedy of Jor-El's Sisyphean attempt to save his world falling on deaf ears becomes a romantic notion: they can't save everyone, they can't even save themselves, but they can spare one life. Their child.

I was working on Kara's Kryptonian history recently and it gave me an idea to flesh out one of Lara's works--her final work, maybe the final major artistic artifact of Krypton's history--and I thought it'd be appropriate for her to be composing a full sensory immersive visual opera-novel about a child in a strange and distant land, made strong and invulnerable under a golden sun. Lara Lor-Van's final major piece: "The Superman."

[bobbinalong]

:)

[fic-recs-by-lulu]

Title: Beacon

Author: pastelplastic

Fandom: Superman

Rating: T - Teen and Up Audiences

Category: M/M (Clark Kent/Lex Luthor), F/M (Jor-El/Lara Lor-Van), F/F (Mercy Graves/Hope Taya)

Content Warnings: None

Word Count: 5,846

Excerpt:

Lara’s son is born with a name written on his tiny finger, looped around the base like a ring.

At least, she thinks it’s a name. She can’t read it, and neither can Jor-El, but it’s in the place where soulmarks are traditionally found and there’s no reason to believe it isn’t one. She examines the mark as she rocks him (such a bright, striking green!) and imagines that perhaps the first, largest glyph is some manner of family crest, while the ones that follow are a given name.

Under ordinary circumstances, a soulmark written in an alien language would be a tragedy. Kryptonians do not leave their planet anymore, and aliens are not permitted on-world. If Lara’s son ever left to seek out his soulmate, it would be as a runaway, an exile.

But these are not ordinary circumstances.

[jetslay]

Dark Knights of Steel by Yasmine Putri.

[kryptonbabe]

⚠️ Spoilers and Speculation Warning ⚠️

I am here for the underdog house of El of renegade scientists. They don't seem to be anywhere near the prestigious family in the scientific community as they are in other stories. Apparently Lara is an engineer interested in space exploration and (it is implied) Jor-el is a geologist. So we would have a reason for them to a) figure out Krypton's tectonic instability before others and b) build a scaping pod / rocket to save their son. With their renegade status we would also have a reason for them to be disregarded by their peers. I was excited to see Lara playing a bigger role in this origin, it's a good time to be a mother in the Absolute universe (for now at least)

The preview looks promising, I can't wait for the full version

Preview from Absolute Superman #1 – out November 6, 2024, available for pre-order

[eihposkcaj]

Kal has his mother's curl, the woman believed in hope.

baby Kal so cute