Writer: W. Maxwell Prince
Artist: Martin Morazzo
Colourist: Chris O’Halloran
DC Comics: Black Label. December 2025
Here is an extract from DC Comics’ blog for this fun, eccentric title:
DC today announced a new five-issue DC Black Label comic book series, Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum, by W. Maxwell Prince, Martín Morazzo and Chris O’Halloran, on sale August 13, 2025.
The visionary minds behind the critically acclaimed and Eisner Award-nominated Ice Cream Mancomic book series from Image Comics, W. Maxwell Prince, Martín Morazzo and Chris O’Halloran, are set to bring their signature storytelling sensibilities to DC this summer with a comic book series about one of the most iconic figures in pop culture: Superman. Genre-bending creators Prince, Morazzo and O’Halloran lend their signature blend of existential superhero fantasy/horror to the world of Superman in a new series that brings the Man of Tomorrow into contact with every flavor of Kryptonite under the yellow sun. The creative team will launch an all-new limited series that reimagines Superman through a daring, genre-defying lens.
“We’ve developed a reputation for pretty left-of-center experimentation, with respect to comics storytelling,” said W. Maxwell Prince, “and this is basically what we’re doing over the 5 issues of Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum: using our unique voice in comics to tell a Supes yarn that’s both strange and timeless—out there and also totally grounded. You might know what Green, Red and Black Kryptonite does to Superman, but what about Purple? Or Cobalt? Or Speckled?”
Across the five innovative issues, Superman must look inward to find strength in his most famous weakness. Each issue promises to explore different facets of Superman’s character, mythos, and moral core, while bending narrative form in ways only Prince, Morazzo and O’Halloran can. While Ice Cream Man became a cult favorite for its surreal, often harrowing dive into horror and existential dread, this new Superman title marks a bold departure—eschewing horror in favor of introspective, fun, genre-fluid storytelling.
This book is solidly eccentric. It reminds us very much of the strange charm of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s All Star Superman. The homage is underscored by a panel featuring Superman’s trophy room, which includes Professor Leo Quintum’s rainbow jacket in a glass box. Quintum was the big-brained ultra-wealthy wonk who has to date only appeared in All-Star Superman. As with All Star Superman, Superman’s relationship with his robots, housed in his icy Fortress of Solitude, is one of paternal respect. “I never doubted you for a second,” our hero tells Bot 27, which has retrieved a meteor containing new forms of kryptonite, and later, “That’s very considerate 35. Thank you,” to a robot who has placed the retrieved kryptonite in lead rectangles.
Superman’s relationship with Batman within this title is one of scientific colleagues who have collaborated together over decades, rather than altruistically-motivated crime-fighters. In more recent times, the trust between the two has eroded and they have often been depicted as adversaries. In Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum, Batman and Superman engaged in a stirring logical debate. A physical confrontation is not on the table (although Batman still has his green kryptonite in his utility belt in case of Kryptonian emergencies). Never have the two been so intelligently verbose:
Batman: “Hypotheticals don’t solve practical problems. We have in our possession, an irradiated quartet… Four unknown variations of your unique Achilles’ heel… We need to get rid of them. Now.”
Superman: “Just consider it for a second. We’re completely in the dark here…”
Batman: “You’re only reinforcing my point. Humor me, Dr Kent… What would your scientifically sound suggestion as to how we handle the urgent matter of these new, possibly deadly Kryptonites?”
Superman: “…you need to test them on me, one by one…”
Batman: “Test them on you?! Your bots ought to check the integrity of that lead shielding… because it sounds to me like K-exposure has already resulted in significant damages to your central reasoning.”
The four new types of kryptonite are absurd: purple kryptonite, cobalt kryptonite, speckled kryptonite, and Rainbow K. This is 1960s-1970s Superman, but more than that, elevated because of the refined language. Superman and Batman could be wearing white lab coats over the top of their tights. There are still superhero battles within the title, but they are brief: Superman knocks the raging villain Solomon Grundy into orbit around one of Jupiter’s moons, and Batman disposes of the creepy menace of Professor Pyg (a character also created by Grant Morrison) all the while chatting with Superman by radio. Lex Luthor is on a menacing, over-the-top power-trip in a parallel storyline destined to violently intersect with the main plot.
Mr Morazzo’s art assists in the esoteric story. Batman actually looks like a man wearing a mask, his head proportionate to his body rather than fused into his shoulders in, say, the fan-favourite style of Jim Lee. Some people won’t like it because it is not fashionable and gives Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum a sense of being an alternative / indie title. But Mr Morazzo steals the show with his use of jumbled panels to demonstrate the effect of purple kryptonite upon Superman. The radioactive material scrambles Superman’s perception of time, and as the reader we share in this confusion. Some of the experience of time flickers into the far future, including Superman being (inevitably) attacked by Luthor, and Lois Lane, in her 40s and at a restaurant, announcing that she is leaving Superman.
Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum is published under the Black Label imprint, the laboratory of DC Comics’ out-of-continuity stories. We are half-hoping speckled kryptonite gives Superman a weird and new power-set akin to The Polka Dot Man’s spraying of coloured circles. It is entirely possible in this innovative, bizarre, highly entertaining title.