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August 15, 2025 4 mins
A Black Label book by the guys that created Ice Cream Man about new Kryptonite? YES PLE- oh and look, there's Batman. Hi, Batman! 

SUPERMAN: THE KRYPTONITE SPECTRUM #1, written by W. Maxwell Prince, art by Martin Morazzo, colors by Chris O’Halloran, and letters by Good Old Neon.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome to First Issues now, the weekly show
posted daily ish about only the newest first issues released
by insert comic company. Here this week, I'll be looking
at the comics released for the week of August thirteenth,
twenty twenty five. Wait, the team behind ice Cream Man
is doing a Superman comic and it's black label. Well,

(00:21):
pay my nails and call me chavn This sounds like
a good time. No, I'm not actually referencing anything there.
I'm just extremely tired and overly caffeinated as we dig
into Superman the Kryptonite Spectrum number one, written by w
Maxwell Prince, art by Martin Morazzo, colors by Chris O'Halleran,
and letters by good old Neon. Now, before I get

(00:43):
into anything, I just need to ask if Calendar Man
has an annual calendar. Is that because it's part of
his rehabilitation or is Arkham licensing them to pay back
any financials from his crimes. Yes, I am legitimately hung
up on a single small gag reference in a single
panel about something far more important going on. Typically, when
my brain hyperfixates like that, it means the comic is

(01:06):
either uninteresting or losing me places, but nope, it's just
another added layer of things stuck in my head after
reading this book. So the general premise is that Superman
has found new variants of kryptonite, so he invites Batman
over to the Fortress of Solitude so he can use
his big brain to zap him with the different types
for science. No kinks, just science. Given this is a

(01:28):
black label book, I'm actually upset that none of the
kryptonite used is pink, and we don't get to finally
break the sexual attention between Clark and Bruce, which is
actually extra funny because those were the names of a
nice bear couple who used to live next door to
me a very long time ago. No, sadly, the kryptonite
tested in this issue is the new purple kryptonite, which

(01:48):
jumbles up Superman's chronal awareness, so he actually gets some
weird precognitive abilities. And then of course they have to
go fight Solomon Grundy in what is a very masterfully
execut to non linear fight. Of course, we also have
the relationship drama of Lewis and Clark, but that's mostly
alluded to and not actually dealt with, because he could

(02:09):
see the future discussions they're going to have, So Superman
and Bats go back up to the Fortress Solitude after
and we get a tease for the next Kryptonite with
a giant Superman being hit with cobalt blue Kryptonite. So
I sat here after reading the book and played a
couple rounds of Fortnite. Don't worry, it was blitzed, so
it didn't take that long actually, because I had to

(02:31):
figure out how to articulate how this made me feel. See,
it is a great read. I absolutely loved reading it.
Art wise though it's not my favorite, but it actually
gives a lot of all star Superman, which works for
a lot of people. And I don't hate this art.
It's just it's okay to me. The story is probably
the weirdest damn amalgam of both silver Age and modern

(02:51):
age storytelling, though the premise of this entire book being
about what Kryptonite does to Superman with very weird outcomes
depending on the color to be wrapped up by the
end of the issue is silver Age to high Hell.
But the dynamic layouts, the scripting, involving a realistic relationship
and all that's involved is just really good and really modern.

(03:14):
Although I will say, I am a little hesitant about
calling this a Superman book, because it is definitely a
world's finest Batman is massively in this, But other than that,
it's still really good. So the obvious answer is collect it.
Collective means that it should be on your pull list digitally,
and you should be pulling it physically, and you should

(03:35):
be getting all of the variant covers because they are
all really, really damn good. My personal favorite is the
Tula Laty one. And if you've never even heard of
the ice Cream Man comic series, definitely check that out too.
But maybe I'm wrong. Let me know about what you
thought of this issue over on Facebook at the Comic
Archivist or Twitter at AJAC underscore does it All? Or

(03:59):
Blue Sky at AJC does it All without any Underscore
don't forget to like, share, follow, and do all the
stuff that I'm being told is important to keep continuing
doing these episodes, and more than anything though, Stiggled and
Inklings
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