Review by Ian Keogh
It’s long been part of the Superman legend that shards of his home planet manifest as different shades of kryptonite, each of which has a negative effect on Superman if he’s in close proximity. What should be done, then, when four previously unknown shades of kryptonite are discovered?
The creative team of W. Maxwell Prince and Martín Morazzo come from the inspired disturbing madness that is Ice Cream Man, where conceptual toying with the form of comics and storytelling frequently occurs. The same outlook is applied to Superman as he comes to the idea of being a test subject for the effects of these new forms of kryptonite under controlled conditions. What will the results be?
Essentially, for readers, they’re fun. The transformations range from the relatively simple, although always with creative complications, to the starting complexity of Superman experiencing time differently. It’s known the effects of kryptonite are temporary, but this isn’t an exact classification, so Prince is able to explore Superman in different forms with different attitudes. Batman is the control observer, tasked with ensuring global safety, while Prince writes a good Lex Luthor, always sneering from his ivory tower and delighting in Superman’s discomfort.
Morazzo’s visuals are a distorted form of Frank Quitely’s clean art on All-Star Superman. The pages have the same precision and attention to detail, but in keeping with the skewed visions of Superman on offer there’s an inherent creepiness to people. It’s most apparent when villains appear, Morazzo supplying a positively cadaverous Luthor. As The Kryptonite Spectrum is a homage to the Superman of the early to mid-1960s, though, Morazzo also supplies a decorative allure of bright alternatives, and when called on to vary the prevailing style he further impresses.
While the intelligence is apparent and appreciated, there are places where Prince, like Luthor, is a little too clever for his own plot, particularly with villains set to expository or quoting the poetry of W.B. Yeats. However, you’ll be mightily impressed when small, seemingly nonsensical moments have later meaning. Prince is also very funny in places, pastiching old comics, having a villain called Brian-iac, and completely messing with your mind. Also joyful is the sheer number of guest stars dropping by, all well incorporated from a brilliantly pompous Doctor Fate to a Billy Batson who plays with Justice League figures.
What starts with a relatively simple idea conflates to the point where it seems doubtful even Prince can pull everything together by the end. He does. You’ll see an imaginative defeat for a villain, and an even more imaginative method of pulling Superman back from the brink while coinciding with the desires of someone else. Thoughtful, creative and inspirational fun, The Kryptonite Spectrum sucks in the possibilities of kryptonite and spews out what’s surely the best Superman graphic novel of the year.
