Superman Unlimited vol. 1: Kryptonite Kingdom
It’s a tale as old as time: A creator hits it big at Marvel, then goes over to their Distinguished Competition to write the character that started it all. John Byrne did it back in the 80’s. Bendis did it more recently. Now Dan Slott is taking on The Man of Steel in a brand new title that was launched last year off of the hype of James Gunn’s “Superman” movie. To his credit, the writer is determined to shake up Superman’s status quo in ways both big and small. Whether or not these shake-ups are done well, that’s a different story.
It all starts with a day that was supposed to be a bigger one for Clark Kent as he and the rest of the Daily Planet meet the new owner that wants to expand it into a multimedia empire to fight misinformation. Naturally, Clark has to duck out during said owner’s introduction because duty calls and someone always needs to be saved in Metropolis. Or even the world itself as the Justice League finds out that a giant asteroid is about to hit the Earth. Deflecting such a thing is child’s play for Superman, until he finds out that beneath its brittle surface the interstellar object is made up entirely of Kryptonite!
Does he retreat in the face of his one weakness and hope that the asteroid doesn’t cause too much damage on impact? Of course not! Superman nearly dies in the process and winds up in a coma for three months afterward. When he wakes up, he finds that the world has changed with Kryptonite now being far more abundant than before. It has also made the struggling nation-state of El Caldero one of the richest on the planet, after most of the mineral landed there, and its President Eduardo Castilho its Kryptonite King. While all this sounds like bad news, it turns out that extended exposure to his one weakness has actually gifted Superman a new power.
Credit to Slott for not wanting to play things safe with this introductory storyline. The proliferation of Kryptonite throughout the DCU is a big change, and it introduces a potential new villain in Castilho (more on him in a bit). There’s also that brand new power Superman gets to help deal with this new threat that also has its own issues. The writer also displays a willingness to work in some of the more oddball aspects of the DCU with one of Gorilla City’s inhabitants joining the Daily Planet as tech support, and an anarchic guest appearance by The Creeper. We also get to see the title character team up with some unexpected guests like Damian Wayne and the Birds of Prey in one issue.
All of these things are welcome to see, even if they have yet to lead to any memorable stories. Yes, Superman does struggle through them more than he usually does through his usual strength, empathy, and cleverness – along with a little help from his friends. Slott paces out these stories well enough so that they’re never boring, but between this and his runs on “Iron Man” and “Fantastic Four,” it would appear that he’s either not interested or lost his gift with subverting superhero tropes that he displayed so consistently well on his legendary “Amazing Spider-Man” run.
If there’s one thing I’m hoping to see over the course of this run, it’s how this problem of the sudden proliferation of Kryptonite is addressed. Make no mistake: It really feels like a problem to be solved as having Superman’s weakness so readily available feels unworkable as a permanent change in the long run. I can see it working as a short-term issue to be dealt with, in its origins and the emergence of the Kryptonite King. That guy feels like Slott’s effort to make a proper new Superman villain even as he’s trying for a bit of nuance in his setup. Castilho genuinely appears to want what’s best for his people and bears no real ill will towards the Man of Steel. However, it’s made clear that there are very few (if any) lines he won’t cross in trying to preserve his country’s newfound wealth. This could lead somewhere interesting, even if my guess is that it’ll end with Castilho inadvertently causing the downfall of his country and him remaining a Kryptonite-powered thorn in Superman’s side.
Most of the art in this volume is from Rafael Albuquerque, someone whose older art style I liked a lot more than his current one. He had an appealingly rough and brutal style on “American Vampire” that also felt at home in fringe superhero titles like “Animal Man.” These days he’s delivering work that’s more conventionally smooth and frankly a little boring. Parts of it even have a sloppiness to them in the issues where Lucas Meyer and Mike Norton wind up having to pitch in. If I recall, Meyer is taking over as this title’s regular artist and I think his more conventional style will be a better fit for Slott’s traditionalism.
What “Superman Unlimited” winds up being is a perfectly fine superhero comic that doesn’t quite live up to its potential. Even with all of the changes it introduces, the stories told in this first volume don’t make for stories that feel significantly different from other ones I’ve read featuring the character in the past. I’ll keep reading to see if Slott settles into a groove and develops any long-term plans for this series, but it’s hard to recommend this if you’re looking for a “Superman” title that does anything more than the fundamentals well enough.