Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Krypton (comics)" in English language version.
Unexamined as Vathlo's existence has gone for the bulk of DC Comics' history, its creation immediately raised a number of questions about Kryptonian society that Superman comics, and much of the fandom, have never been particularly keen on asking. By presenting Vathlo as an island full of Black Kryptonians without explaining what they were doing there, Giant Superman made it impossible not to regard it as being a reflection of our reality's history of racial segregation, even if that wasn't DC's express intent.
I cringe to tell you this [says DC writer Mark Waid], but the Kryptonians of Color were all on 'Vathlo Island, Home of a Highly Advanced Black Race'. It wasn't until the mid-70s, when more 'World of Krypton' back-up stories ran more regularly, that we really saw any ethnicity whatsoever on the planet.
I cringe to tell you this [says DC writer Mark Waid], but the Kryptonians of Color were all on 'Vathlo Island, Home of a Highly Advanced Black Race'. It wasn't until the mid-70s, when more 'World of Krypton' back-up stories ran more regularly, that we really saw any ethnicity whatsoever on the planet.
