Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum #2 – W. Maxwell Prince, Writer; Martin Morazzo, Artist; Chris O’Halloran, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: The most delightfully weird comic on the stands continues to surprise, as the team behind Ice Cream Man unleashes their full madness on the DCU. There isn’t anything this issue as wild and mind-bending as last issue’s jigsaw-puzzle-like issue structure, but the concept here is incredibly funny. We’ve seen Superman, we’ve seen Kaiju, but we’ve never seen a super-kaiju. Superman and Batman are testing out the second new Kryptonite, Cobalt K, and it quickly becomes clear what it’s doing – it’s making Superman grow out of control. He grows from six feet to fifteen to 100 in the span of minutes, and it’s not slowing down. To mitigate what could be a panic, he decides to head to Metropolis and make sure the citizens know he’s still Superman, just oversized. He even organizes an interview with Lois, despite their recent breakup, and all seems to be going well – until Luthor enters the fray.
When Luthor shoots giant-size Superman with a red kryptonite missile, it’s the worst-case scenario. Red Kryptonite makes Superman’s mind go screwy, and suddenly, all he can see is the flaws in humanity. He seems particularly pissed off about pollution, and starts rampaging through Metropolis as the rest of the heroes show up to stop him. It’s always scary when Superman is truly out of control, but there’s another really funny subplot through the issue as this one woman who is obsessed with completing her spreadsheet keeps on being interrupted by the craziness outside. Shades of the Cabbage Merchant from Avatar. Then there’s Chemo, the rampaging chemical monster unleashed by Luthor, who Superman manages to defeat in the funniest way possible. That leads to a cliffhanger that takes us in an even weirder direction. It’s a little surprising that few of the heavier themes from last issue didn’t make their way in here, but this continues to be a fascinating read.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes
