Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum
W. Maxwell Prince and Martin Morazzo are the writer and artist, respectively, behind Image’s sleeper-hit weird horror series “Ice Cream Man.” I’ve only read the first volume and it managed to not be all that weird, scary, or present me with a compelling reason to come back and check it out further. That’s probably a minority opinion regarding its success, and it’s one reason why I picked up Prince’s “Swan Songs” anthology (in a half-off bin at WonderCon this year) about endings, which Morazzo illustrated one issue of, to see if maybe his writing there would click with me. After reading through it, I can certainly assure you that “Swan Songs” really was an anthology about endings.
Given all that, it might seem a little surprising that I decided to give their new DC Black Label miniseries a shot. The thing is that when it was published last year, people were raving about it. We’re talking about how comparisons were being thrown around between it and the stone-cold classic that is “All-Star Superman.” I’d sure like to know what people were on in order to get them to make that comparison, as “The Kryptonite Spectrum” isn’t that good. It is, however, not without its charms.
It was just another day in the Man of Steel’s life, until he found an asteroid heading to Earth that contained four new varieties of Kryptonite. Having four already – Green, Red, Black, and Gold – already makes his life on Earth that much more difficult, so having them doubled can only make things worse. Which is why Superman enlists Batman to help him do the most responsible thing he can think of: Test these new varieties of Kryptonite on himself. Better to know what they do and how to counter their effects first before someone like Lex Luthor (inevitably) gets his hands on them.
The biggest problem with this miniseries is that the new varieties of Kryptonite introduced here aren’t really all that compelling. Purple Kryptonite is the most interesting variant as it fractures Superman’s perception of time into a non-linear fashion. It’s an interestingly weird concept that Prince and Morazzo manage to effectively convey using the comics from. It’s also one that the hero manages to overcome by simply stopping to think about it and rearrange things in his mind.
As for the other varieties, they wind up having to rely on outside factors to stand out. Cobalt Kryptonite turns Superman into a giant, which isn’t really a problem – until he gets hit with Red Kryptonite. Speckled Kryptonite has the opposite effect, turning Supes small, only for additional youthful issues to present themselves following a close encounter with Chemo. Then there’s Rainbow Kryptonite, which… is best left for the reader to experience its penta-dimensional complications.
Individually, these are decent stories which feel like they wouldn’t have been out of place in Superman’s ongoing monthly adventures, if introducing new forms of Kryptonite was a thing that they could do. I wouldn’t say that we get to see any real cleverness in seeing how Superman triumphs over these new threats, though the fourth issue at least offers plenty of imagination in rendering that conflict. Prince does try to tie everything together throughout with Superman trying to rationalize the idea that his home is trying to kill him, yet it never gains any momentum. It just remains a simple idea meant to justify jumping from idea-to-idea with a big ‘ol dust-up at the end involving a revamped version of an old Super-foe and an ending that takes full advantage of the miniseries’ out-of-continuity Black Label status.
If it sounds like I’m being too hard on this title, that’s the curse of high expectations. Had I come to this without hearing the positive word-of-mouth about it, I’d likely have been more receptive to its charms. Like how Prince writes a perfectly selfless Superman who struggles with not just trying to do the right thing, but also with the insecurity of never having really known where he comes from. His Batman is considerably less dour and grim than that character is usually portrayed, but that’s part of its appeal even as the writer nails his practical counterbalance to the Man of Steel’s mindset while also supporting his friend in his endeavors. Then there’s the writer’s take on Luthor, which is marvelous in how effortlessly he conveys the man’s casual cruelty and wields his scientific and cultural knowledge as a means of demonstrating his superiority more than anything else.
Morazzo’s artwork is also really solid throughout as well. While I can see some people being turned off by the stylized appearance of the cast, there’s an appealing simplicity to his linework that won me over. The man is also good with depicting straightforward superhero action like a giant Superman wreaking havoc through Metropolis, and even weirder stuff such as the nostalgic theme park and revamped Toyman in the third issue. It’s in the fourth issue, however, that we really get to see what he’s capable of as there are so many stylistic shifts in it that things should break down into chaos, but Morazzo makes them work.
So yeah, “The Kryptonite Spectrum” isn’t a bad miniseries, just one that didn’t live up to the hype for me. I’d also probably be more amenable towards it if I hadn’t given into that hype and waited to pick it up in a softcover edition. It’s entertaining for simply being a story about Superman and his friends dealing with new kinds of Kryptonite, but it doesn’t really have any resonance beyond that.