"Superman: Kryptonite," A Masterful Retelling by Darwyn Cooke and Tim Sale
Two comics giants made The Man of Steel face his fears.
One could argue that Superman: For All Seasons is the best work by Tim Sale on the Man of Steel, and it’s probably true, but this doesn’t mean that his art on Superman: Kryptonite is any less stellar. Especially as he collaborated with master cartoonist Darwyn Cooke (The New Frontier) and colorist Dave Stewart.
The story is set during Superman’s early days when a young Clark Kent was struggling to define his role as Earth’s protector. While he grows more confident in his abilities, he remains unaware of his one true vulnerability—until a mysterious green rock, kryptonite, enters his life. As he works with Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen to investigate a mysterious, powerful figure in Metropolis, Tony Gallo, Clark experiences the debilitating effects of the alien mineral for the first time, forcing him to confront his own mortality.
What’s most unusual with Superman: Kryptonite is that Cooke is only the writer, but it’s clear he didn’t just hand his script to Sale and walk away. In fact, in the sketchbook available in the Deluxe Edition of the book published by DC Comics, the artist talks about the panel suggested by his writer and how Cooke’s drawings of Lois Lane served as a base for his own rendition. He also evokes the choices he made to differentiate this series from For All Seasons—his use of black brush and the coloring by Dave Stewart played a big part in it.
But this story still feels somehow connected to Jeff Loeb and Tim Sale’s masterpiece, certainly because Cooke was influenced by Sale’s point of view on Clark’s relationship with Lex, Lois, and the Kents. It led to having an emotional core that feels familiar in the best way possible, but the writer also added his own take on the story. He went back to the first introduction of Kryptonite in the comics in Superman #61 (1949) and discovered that it was also when Big Blue discovered his own planet. However, many other elements of that original story were completely absurd, so Cooke only took certain concepts and reworked them into something more grounded.
Two things occurred to me. First, I had to find a device to overcome the absurdity of how Superman discovers Krypton. More important, I had to twigged to a notion that I’m fairly certain is relatively fresh for such well-worn material.
—Darwyn Cooke, May 2008
The result still feels fresh today. Superman: Kryptonite is the kind of comic book that feels timeless, a story that works just as well on an emotional level as it does on a mythological one. It’s like reading the ultimate version of Superman’s first encounter with Kryptonite. By confronting Superman with his worst fear and the truth of his origins, this story reinforces his core identity. It strips away the myth of invincibility and reveals the humanity at his heart. In comics, these elements are often retconned, but some stories can’t be erased because they’re just that good. For me, this is clearly one of them.
Published in 2008 by DC Comics, Superman: Kryptonite was originally serialized in Superman Confidential #1–5 and #11 (2006–2008) before being collected into a standalone volume that has now been reprinted in different formats.
Originally published on the That’s Comics! blog, now brought to Substack for a new crowd of comic readers. This is part of an ongoing project to revisit and reshare the best comic pieces from my old site.