Who Is Krem of the Yellow Hills?

In the DC universe of comic book villains, Krem of the Yellow Hills goes beyond your typical throw-away bad guys. Appearing in the Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow comic miniseries, Krem not only attacks Supergirl while she is vulnerable due to a red sun but also attacks her dog as well.

Krem is a foe that, like others, revels in genocide and chaos. His drive for war and manipulation is part of his cunning nature that makes him a bad guy worth hating. Supergirl accidentally encounters him, and Krem immediately attacks her with arrows while the red sun weakens her. Krem attacks because he believes someone hired her to kill him, but things become personal when he drives his arrows into Krypto and nearly kills the dog.

He also manages to steal her spaceship, leaving her in a bad situation and badly in need of a doctor. Krypto, due to the unknown poison on the arrows, couldn’t be saved yet. But Supergirl, hit with the same arrows, managed to survive with the help of the same doctor who looked at her dog. (Spoiler alert: Krypto was fine all along and Supergirl lied about this plot point.)

Krem shows his resourcefulness throughout the story as he escapes jail and tracks down exotic tools and weapons. But this didn’t stop Supergirl from capturing him between issues 6 and 7. (The reader was robbed from witnessing this great moment for reasons unknown.)

They say that weapons make the enemy.  In Krem’s case, he prefers to use a sword and poison-tipped arrows. In issue 5, we see him using a Mondru Globe, an apparent magical expanding sphere that can only be obtained by the desecration of thousands of bodies. Its purpose is to teleport beings billions of miles away. Issue 6 implies that he makes them himself. 

Comic Origins

The long (and dragged out) story starts when a teenage girl named Ruthye Marye Knoll seeks revenge after Krem kills her father and retrieves the valuable sword he left behind. She encounters Supergirl hiding on her planet for her 21st birthday, choosing the red-sun world so she can weaken herself enough to drink alcohol and get drunk.(The barbarian-like planet doesn’t seem to reflect a 21-year-old drinking age limit like on Earth in countries like America, but whatever.) When Ruthye realizes that Supergirl might be able to kill Krem for her, she offers her the sword as payment. Supergirl agrees to track down Krem to help her dying dog Krypto. Only Krem knows the exact poison mixture that was shot into Krypto’s bloodstream from the arrows he put into him.

Each comic book issue (affiliate link) of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow focuses on tracking down Krem and tells a little tale along the way. With each comic issue, we find out a little more about the girl, Supergirl, and Krem. Unfortunately, Krem decided to team up with a race called the Brigands, a group that profits off of genocide. The result is Supergirl and her companion following a trail of carnage to find their nemesis. Krem’s use of Mondru Globes delays confrontation, but is eventually captured.

While Supergirl is dealing with the Brigands to prevent them from saving Krem, Ruthye Marye Knoll decides to untie him. She gets her revenge by battling him with the same sword that killed her father, and despite Krem’s extensive combat experience, Ruthye miraculously manages to win. She cuts off his fingers. The girl can’t bring herself to kill Krem, and neither can Supergirl when she returned. After spending hundreds of years in the Phantom Zone, Krem convinces Supergirl that he worked hard to make up for what he had done, and she releases him. Almost immediately after she releases him, Ruthye takes the sword and kills Krem.

The Problem With Supergirl in Krem’s storyline

In this miniseries, we are presented with a Supergirl that is different from her usual pure and soft portrayal. Instead, we get a “hardened” version where she is able to take multiple poisoned arrows to the torso yet still manages to be able to fight. She also takes no crap from those who try to kill her (while she has no or limited powers), showing that she is more resilient than originally perceived.

While one of the few survivors still on Krypton in a bubble and risking radiation poisoning, she was the sole person to not give up hammering lead into exposed land after 80 hours at the age of 13. (No, seriously, we are expected to believe that she was the single most resilient person on Krypton.)

The problem, however, is that the writer (Tom King)  apparently took this portrayal farther than they should have, and Supergirl comes off as an immature jerk. The most obvious clue is the consistent and unnecessary cussing. Sure, many young adults throw around the F word like it’s candy at a parade, but nobody truly considers this trait as “tough” or “hardened”, so I don’t know what the writer was thinking. 

Another problem is Supergirl allowing others to be killed while not intervening.  In issue 1 of the series, she makes it clear that killing is bad.  By issue 4, we see her watching someone being stoned to death and allowing it to happen beside she agrees with the action taking place. By issue 5, she’s cursing her cousin Superman for lasting 45 minutes on a planet with a green sun, while she managed to last 10 hours.

We could examine her cousin Superman to see what maturity and battle-hardened traits actually look like. Remaining honest and truthful, being professional and trusting. Not allowing murder to take place, and being willing to lay down your life to stop it. Knowing the difference between vengeance and justice. Holding a pure heart and recognizing right from wrong. Embracing power to help others rather than abusing it to control them.  Superman may be considered a “boy scout,” but there’s a reason why he is respected and people follow his lead.

And finally, a personal opinion about the (frankly unnecessary) change to Supergirl’s costume causes some eye rolling. Supergirl’s midriff is now completely covered by a gold belt thing (instead of a crop top or whatever), her knee-high boots have been replaced with thigh-high ones that reach the hem of her skirt, and any sort of sensual appearance that she had is gone. Even her chest is reduced, flat as a board in certain panels for no reason. (This last point is rather ironic since the story is trying to portray that she is now an adult and no longer a child or teenager.)

The “full coverage” thing at this point is just silly.  Having her boots reaching the hem of her skirt, just to avoid skin showing, is something that could have been resolved by this thing called “pants”. 

In Closing

Krem of the Yellow Hills leaves a lasting mark on Supergirl’s story, not because he is powerful or grand, but because his cruelty forces every character around him to reveal who they truly are. His actions push Ruthye toward vengeance, expose the flaws in Supergirl’s new portrayal, and shape the entire journey across the series. Whether readers admire or criticize the choices made in this comic, Krem’s presence highlights the tension between justice and revenge and reminds us that even the smallest villain can reshape a hero’s path.

And if all of this leaves you wondering how Krem of the Yellow Hills managed to cause so much trouble for Supergirl, you are not alone. Somehow this scruffy little war criminal with a bag of poison arrows and a teleportation marble collection keeps outsmarting one of the strongest heroes in the DC universe, which says more about the writing than it does about Krem’s brilliance. Supergirl spends half the story weakened, annoyed, or hungover, while Krem scurries around the galaxy like a cosmic raccoon knocking over trash cans. By the end, the only thing more surprising than Krem’s survival skills is the fact that Ruthye, a teenager with zero powers, finishes the job that Supergirl could not. If nothing else, the saga proves that in the world of Supergirl and Krem of the Yellow Hills, the universe runs on chaos, questionable decisions, and the occasional poisoned dog.