okay, so.... I'm new; first post actually. And I signed up to this forum JUST to answer this question, actually.
I'm truly surprised that a board full of fans of Superman would be actually arguing this point and not know where Post-Crisis Laura's issues stem, Based on Byrne's work.
@shonen2 Chick, this was a great post, but the assumption is VERY incorrect.
@powerherc She's not a "snob" in the traditional sense of her thinking she's "socially better" than him either, dude.
@sc You make a solid enough point, but again, this is incorrect, as its not "Race" she taking issue with here, bud.
In truth, if we wish to be more correct, Laura here is a xenophobe. A socially conditioned, exaggerated, OCD-level Xenophobe to be exact. What many people take for granted is that in John Byrne's run, Krypton became a very different world than the marvelous, 50s science-fiction, "Buck Rogers-esque" version it was shown as previously. Hell, it was even a lot different from the cold, crystalline, scientifically advanced but still highly feeling, compassionate and moral Krypton of the Richard Donner movies. For starters, it was no longer as highly evolved in terms of the planet's actual time; it was only about 8-9 billion years old, compared to earth's 6 billion. Also, it was no longer the "Super Giant" world with hundreds of thousands of times heavier gravity than earth; it was actually only about 2-3 times bigger; this is WHY all of Superman's powers now came from the yellow sun. As such, the Kryptonians themselves weren't as monstrously durable due to evolution, or anywhere NEAR as adventure-seeking. According to various sources, although the society was more evolved, it was only about 100,000 years or so more advanced, and those advancements, both scientific and cultural, lead to many differences, which made Byrne's version way more "alien" and cold in a way.
I'll nutshell this:
Some centuries before this panel above in Krypton's history, the society had become so decadent, that they had essentially destroyed themselves; think of them as an interstellar version of Rome. After a whole set of trouble, the planetary society reorganized itself into a highly scientific, reason-fueled and pragmatic people; think Vulcans from Star Trek, all on ADD medication. The reason being, their previous passionate ways had led them to a hedonistic downward spiral, and they didn't want that to happen again... but they took it to the next extreme; all emotion was scorned, all physical contactshunned, and anything but cold logic was seen almost as heresy. At some point, cloning became a big thing; normal Kryptonian citizens would have multiple clones to serve as spare body parts in case of illness or injury. This brought up the issue of clone rights as living, sentient beings. This rather passionate debate would divid the society...especially when it was found that a man had somehow managed to marry a clone of his own mother [or something along those lines, you might have to check it]. Long and short, a MAJOR war broke out, with the terrorist forces of Black Zero becoming a big issue and almost destroying much of the planet. This made the already xenophobic civilization even more averse to feelings and physical touch; you see those whole body suits they are wearing? It was not unusual for Kryptonians to spend their entire lives covered from each other in them. The reference made to the "birthing matrix" was significant because it had become common practice for Kryptonians not to reproduce sexually...but via sterilized, artificial mechanisms!
This is the society and mindset Laura comes from, and , if I'm correct, in the very next page, when her husband...her husband, mind you...sought to touch her with his "naked hands", she shunned his advances in disgust! Such shows of emotion simply were not done on this planet!
Now, she sees her son, her only child, as an adult, who grew up in the warmest, huggiest, most loving and compassionate environment in the world (a farm with an old-fashioned american Mom and Dad) and how he behaves in relation to her beliefs. It's not just that he is a "savage" and she's "Snubbing" him, here...it's that he is a total anti-thesis to everything she has learned for her entire life. He's as "alien" to her as the Martian Manhunter's true form must be to us. THAT's why she's acting in such an unbelievable way here.
So no, this isn't "racism" or "specieism"; if it was, it'd probably be seen that Jor-El was acting that way, too. She's just shocked STUPID at how different her son is, and is ignorant thanks to the ways in which her society evolved.
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