Heartwarming / The Last Days of Krypton

• Jor-El and Lara's relationship is chronicled from start to finish in tender detail. Highlights include their Rescue Romance when Lara rescues Jor-El from a malfunctioning invention, and Lara insisting on marrying Jor-El even when he's about to go before a Kangaroo Court rather than shunning him.
• Nam-Ek, The Dragon, shows some genuine warmth and affection towards the dangerous beasts he encounters in his role as a Fluffy Tamer.
• Zor-El and Jor-El's visits with their senile father are decently emotional, with him telling them how proud of them he is in a brief moment of lucidity.
• As big of a jerk as he is, Tyr-Us gets a good Pet the Dog moment when he thanks Zor-El and Allura for their hospitality, then leaves so they won't be in danger for sheltering him.
• Zor-El recalls the story of Argo City's historic bridges. A competition was held for the best bridge design, but five of the proposed structures were so magnificent that the city officials couldn't choose between them, and so they built them all as a testament to the ingenuity of the architects.
• Multiple times in the story, Zod stops Nam-Ek from launching a suicidal attack on someone with genuine fear for his surrogate son's safety.
• Aethyr and Zod are not good people, but the relationship they enter into is both real and deep. When it looks like the end of the world is nigh due to a weapon being sabotaged, Aethyr races to Zod's side so they can spend their last moments together.
• As Zod finds himself dreading banishment to the Phantom Zone, he hopes that Aethyr and Nam-Ek will denounce him and avoid that fate.
• Or-Om advocates showing mercy to Nam-Ek, saying he is mentally ill and shouldn't be judged so harshly.
• Zor-El turning down a position on the new council and endorsing his brother is a nice moment, albeit one which receives a fairly negative reception In-Universe.
  • On a related note, while most of the council is hostile or lukewarm about welcoming Jor-El, No-Ton claps supportively.
• In a bittersweet moment, the climax of the books has thousands of volunteers from all corners of Kryptonian society come together to try to build evacuation ships out of scratch in just three days to save the people of their planet. They are led by those councilors who believe Jor-El's warnings.
• As the final cataclysm approaches, Zor-El takes pride in how bravely the citizens of his city are taking the news, which makes the implied success of his attempt to save them with his energy shield even sweeter.