Kryptonite is a six-issue revision of Superman #61, the original story in which Superman discovers his Kryptonian origins and his vulnerability to kryptonite. It's a quick and enjoyable read, but hardly flawless. The early parts of the story play up the young Superman's uncertainty about how impervious to physical harm he might be, which actually works against the psychological shock of his first kryptonite poisoning. The emotional subplots center on Lois Lane (of course) as well as Ma & Pa Kent.

Tim Sale's art is has an idiosyncratic cartoonishness that works well with Superman.

This one is pretty special; Darwyn Cooke and Tim Sale are both high up in my rankings. This is a story from early in Superman's career, when he first learns that he has a vulnerability: ironically enough, the fragments of his home world Krypton. This is also a re-telling of how he learned of his origin, and how he and Lois Lane took their first steps on a relationship path that would lead to their eventual marriage. The story about how an alien historian becomes trapped in a large Kryptonite fragment which follows young Kal-El to Earth, and manages to join his path with Superman's as he begins his exploits, is clever and engaging. But the really special stuff here is the emotional side of the story: how Lois ends her relationship with Superman when she realizes she can't share him with the world and its demands upon him, how Superman realizes that his newfound mortality provides him a common link with humanity, and the scenes when he tells his adoptive parents of his fears and hopes for himself. This is excellent work, and it is interesting to compare it to the recent Superman - Batman tale, "The Search for Kryptonite". There, a more experienced Superman decides that the best thing all around is to rid the world of Kryptonite, and enlists Batman to help him. Here, in a far more mature portrayal, a young Superman rejoices that he now knows the fear of pain and death, which gives him a new bond he shares with the beings of the planet he protects. Fine artwork by Tim Sale, as usual, with a nicely appropriate nostalgic touch to it. ( )

good read. ( )