Superman Unlimited Vol. 1: Kryptonite Kingdom

Superman Unlimited #1-6

by Dan Slott, Rafael Albuquerque (Illustrator)

All-star creative team Dan Slott and Raphael Albuquerque take on the Man of Steel! When a city-sized asteroid hurtles toward Earth, Superman is sent in to save the day —but the reality of the crisis may be more than even he can handle!

Superman has long since considered Earth to be his home after surviving the destruction of his birth planet, Krypton, as an infant. Now, thanks to a crisis of global proportions, the Man of Steel is confronted with a dangerous new status quo—Earth may no longer be safe for him, and yet he is still tasked with saving it.

Featuring the writing talents of Dan Slott, making his DC Comics ongoing series debut, and the art of Raphael Albuquerque, Superman Unlimited is a brand-new cornerstone series of the DC Universe, paving the way for every Superman fan!

Collects Superman Unlimited #1-6.

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels, Superman, Superheroes

176 pages, Paperback

First published February 24, 2026

About the author

Dan Slott is an American comic book writer, the current writer on Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man, and is best known for his work on books such as Arkham Asylum: Living Hell, She-Hulk, Silver Surfer, The Superior Spider-Man, and Ren & Stimpy.

Reviews

[Bill Riggs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly stand alone stories revolving around the influx of kryptonite on Earth. Entertaining but nothing memorable.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

An intriguing premise but somewhat bumpily realized. I’m just interested enough to want to read the continuation but doubt this will ever be considered a true classic Supes story.


One of several forays into the unforgiveably goofy. Cap-Wolf eat your heart out.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.4 stars

[Anna Quilter · Rating 3 out of 5]

although it's not the main point of this Volume....I think Krypto needs some training....his behaviour since the Movie has been pretty bad

[Jiro Dreams of Suchy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The added twist on his powers was interesting, really original and made it feel fresh. Superman is basically given immunity and supercharged for three minutes before he loses all his powers (what that means is yet to fully be shown but I’d assume at risk to attack but still well above the average man). I hope they are able to do something interesting with this going forward.

This is a good comic, it made me happy. Superman is at his best when he’s not just saving people but making them feel seen- he’s a Boy Scout and it’s important to see his humanity on full display. This Superman is simply a great man with amazing abilities, he goes out of his way for others because he can, he does the right thing every time. I felt Superman was corny growing up but I’m happy I’ve grown enough to recognize that he’s one of the greatest superheroes of all time.

[Kapitol Tank]

Volumen que va a recopilar Superman Unlimited #1-6..

[Roman Zarichnyi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Після багатьох років у Marvel Ден Слотт заходить писати не про “чергового” Супермена, а як сценарист, який добре розуміє, чому цей герой досі тримається на вершині попкультури. «Королівство Криптоніту» не намагається радикально переосмислити Кларка Кента. Навпаки, це дуже класичний, місцями навіть старомодний супергеройський комікс, який робить ставку на пригоди, людяність і відчуття постійної небезпеки.

Сюжет стартує майже катастрофічно. Гігантський астероїд із криптоніту загрожує Землі, а сам Супермен раптом опиняється у світі, де його головна слабкість стає частиною нового порядку речей. І саме ця ідея працює найкраще. Комікс не просто підкидає герою черговий зелений камінчик “для балансу”, а буквально змушує його існувати в постійній близькості до отрути. Найцікавіше тут те, що Слотт не намагається зробити Кларка похмурим чи жорстоким. Навпаки, навіть ослаблений Супермен залишається символом співчуття, а не сили.

Особливо добре працюють дрібні сцени: випадкові порятунки, короткі людяні епізоди, взаємодія з мешканцями Метрополіса, Крипто чи редакцією Daily Planet. Саме в таких деталях відчувається розуміння персонажа. Іноді серія навмисно межує з абсурдом, але робить це з щирою повагою до спадщини. Історія з Бетсуперменом чи новими дивакуватими персонажами могла б виглядати безглуздо в іншому коміксі, але тут це частина загального тону. Трохи наївного, трохи старомодного, зате живого.

Водночас не все працює однаково добре. Новий “золотий” стан Супермена виглядає радше сюжетним трюком, ніж справді цікавою еволюцією героя. Але маємо те, що маємо.

Проте серія все одно залишає приємне враження. Це не революція для Супермена, але дуже щира спроба нагадати, чому цей герой досі працює. Не через всемогутність, а через здатність залишатися добрим навіть тоді, коли світ буквально стає для нього токсичним.

[Ethan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall a fine read. Did not care for the first issue much - I love Superman the movie but there’s such a thing as too many references and ones that don’t really make sense plot wise. The other issues were pretty fun. I’ll check out the second volume if I remember, but I’m not rushing to read more.

[Alex Sarll]

I first encountered Dan Slott at DC, when he wrote an Arkham miniseries and talked about its debt to Oz. But since then he's mostly been at Marvel, writing first a brilliant She-Hulk and then an epic Spidey run which, in places, almost achieved the impossible of making me like 616 Peter Parker. So the thought of him back at DC and working on the first and greatest superhero? Hell yes. But the problems start with that title, Superman Unlimited. Partly it's the association with the wretched Justice League Unlimited comic* to which, thank heavens, this is far superior. But also it's flat-out false for a series which puts major constraints on Superman by massively upping the amount of Kryptonite on Earth. True, he also gets a new power which is some help in dealing with that, but it's one that comes with its own drawbacks, and is also...quite silly? More than that, I kept thinking back to Steven Seagle's It's A Bird, and his musings on what it says about humanity that, nearly as soon as we'd dreamed up something as wonderful as Superman, we had to invent something that would poison him. Much like Clark, I just don't want to spend much time around it, and here its sickly green glow is everywhere. Nor is that the only issue with the visuals, where Albuquerque and Maiolo are, not to put too fine a point of it, doing some truly dreadful work. Look at Jon on the cover, until recently the fit Superman, but now looking like Jimmy Carr since whatever went weirder with Jimmy Carr's face a year or two back. Inside we soon find Wonder Woman looking like she's being played by Chucky, and on the flashback to Clark first donning the S, the shadows make his face look like he drank from the wrong Grail. The irony is that so many of the characters look like creepy mannequins that when an actual creepy mannequin joins the story, he looks more normal than half the rest of the cast. And it's a tragic waste, because despite my unease with the overarching story (and my frustration that nobody seems to think of investigating just why a massive, stealthed Kryptonite meteor was heading for Earth in the first place), when it comes to the smaller details you can tell that Slott really gets Superman, something you'd think might be common among superhero writers but sadly really isn't. The issues are peppered with little rescues and kindnesses, and it spills out from Kal himself, so that his presence makes others better too, even generic crooks showing moments of compassion and decency once he's around, and a couple of lovely little twists where something set up to look dastardly turns out not to be after all. There are also some delightful callbacks to great Superman moments past, and a general willingness to embrace Silver Age goofiness, right down to a talking ape joining the Planet staff (and I don't mean Steve Lombard). More fill-in artists, more S and less K, and this could be a great run. Fingers crossed Slott is planning to stick around through as many status quo changes as he brought to Spider-Man and give us that.

*I have absolutely no quarrel with the joyful cartoon of the same name.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25
Slott is a weird choice for a new Superman book. But he knows good comic book stories. Enjoying it so far.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

A contender for the most pointless superman comic of all time

I get that dc felt they had to cram Dan slott in somewhere, but clearly they don’t trust him to be honest one of the architects of current continuity - so we end up with a book that isn’t really one thing or another and it ran out of steam very quickly - with Jeremy Adams having to take over on dialogue before the second volume was even completed

Just put Slott on a C-List character that’s what he’s good at, instead of this halfway house that feels like a pity job

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

A story that never lived up to its own potential.

I really wanted to like this. I wanted to love it even, as my only experience with Slott was through his Spider-Man run. Which I don’t love as a whole. But I had hoped the hate he got was a result of Marvel editorial stifling him, but the faults of his work on Brand New Day through to Superior & Parker Industries rear their ugly heads.

The comic opens with The Man Of Steel on a normal day when a large meteor hurdling toward earth is revealed to made of Kryptonite. Supes is the only hero on the planet who is capable of handling this threat.
Despite this clear vulnerability, he keeps on and saves the day, experiencing flashbacks and memories, with many references to the 1978 film. That opening issue genuinely made me smile and even tear up a bit. Anyways, the meteor lands and the status quo is forever changed. Or is it?

The description of the book reads “Earth may no longer be safe for him, and yet he is still tasked with saving it”.
And my reaction was “fuck yes”.
With this new boundless supply of Kryptonite for all of Superman’s foes (or anyone rich enough) to exploit, nothing will ever be the same. All signs pointed to the idea that this was going to be a large impactful story where maybe Superman had to face the idea that on a planet it Kryptonite? he can’t save everyone. After all, The Man Of Steel is basically The Man Of Tissue Paper at this point. Or maybe the story would be about how he is closer than ever to a restored Krypton, with its geology, everywhere. But it’s killing him. What does that mean for Krypton’s legacy and how Superman feels about it?
Regardless of one direction or another, the description said that Earth is no longer safe, and yet he continues on. Nothing will stop him and we’ll get a story about how it’s not the powers that make the man, but his heart of gold that wins the day.

Only instead it’s his entire body thats gold and he gets a brand new power where he turns invincible for three minutes. That’s the new status quo change. Nothing else really.
Kryptonite does indeed hurt him, but not in any meaningful or impactful way. The only real change is that his speech bubbles get a little wobbly, but beyond that, he’s kinda just fine?

Slott’s bizarre affinity for a sitcom cast of characters makes a return. Only instead of Horizon Labs, now it’s the Daily Planet with a quippy super genius evolved Gorilla woman. Alright man.
Slott’s general consequence free storytelling returns as well. Whereas Spider-Man was kind of a douchey asshole who was always right in the end, everything just sort of works out for Superman in a very contrived way. Ik comics do that a lot, but with Slott I found it very apparent (new power, lack of any real tension despite his most significant weakness becoming as common as dirt)

I also found the artist miscast. Rafael Albuquerque is not a bad artist at all, I just don’t think his style suits a Superman comic.

This one was disappointing. I liked Brand New Day Vol. 1, I loved both New Ways To Die and parts of Superior SM. I always thought Slott was over-hated (he definitely is regardless as SM fans are ruthless), but I really hoped that this would be better.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dan Slott makes his DC (ongoing) debut, launching the first new Superman ongoing in a long time, to various degrees of success.

The first issue of this run is basically a recap of Superman's history, which feels kind of cheap, especially given the larger page count. The inciting incident for the series, the arrival of more Kryptonite on Earth, does manage to be a threat, both on the major and minor scales however, so it's worth powering through to get to the rest.

The remaining five issues are one-and-done stories and a two-parter to finish us off, which are Slott's specialties. The Krypto story's great, and I enjoyed the Man-Bat one in the middle too, but the running theme with those was that neither of them was really about the larger status quo, but just more general Super-stories.

The artwork is what really let me down, I think. There's a point in the first issue where series artist Rafael Albuquerque draws Jon Kent, but manages to draw the Superboy version of him rather than the current aged-up version, which is a bizarre thing for the editors not to catch, and then things deteriorate later on as he shares issues with other artists, including Mike Norton who was very clearly not doing his best work overall either. In fact, the best art throughout is the couple of fill-in pages that Lucas Meyer did for issue 3, which is a weird thing to be saying on an Albuquerque book.

Not really a bird, or a plane, just kinda...floating there, for now. Surprising.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of good stuff in this book - seeing the impact of a literal mountain of kryptonite landing on Earth and how it impacts Superman is a fun idea; I LOVE the expansion of the Daily Planet and I hope Slott continues to play with it; and it's great to see Lois getting a major role in the unfolding storyline. I liked the concept of El Caldero and I'm certainly intrigued to see where their leader goes - he gives a certain "means well, but is being corrupted by power" vibe right now, so it'll be interesting to see if he falls or redeems.

On the other hand, the "new power" is uninteresting and the all-gold design leaves me flat. It's fun to occasionally see Superman being amazing even without powers, but man, with all the kryptonite around, you could've just said "after so much exposure, his power reserves aren't replenishing as quickly as usual, and he can burn it out."

Albuqurque's artwork is evocative, although his figures are sometimes erratic. Given all the supporting cast opportunities Slott is setting up with the new Daily Planet, I was still a little letdown that SUPERMAN UNLIMITED still indulged in the relentless "other superheroes as supporting cast," which is (purely a personal opinion) one of my least favorite modern superhero comics trends.

Overall, despite a few nits, the scenario is fun and intriguing, and I look forward to more with the Daily Planet, so I'll pick up the second volume and see where this goes.

[L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Je ne m'attendais pas à grand chose de Dan Slott et il a très bien mené son histoire. Pourtant, je ne suis pas fan du concept de rendre Superman vulnérable pour pouvoir raconter ses histoires car je pense que c'est une solution de facilité. Mais comme l'histoire est ambitieuse et fun dans son traitement, ça passe très bien. Le premier numéro fait un résumé biographique du personnage tout en posant les fondations de la série ce qui est parfait pour un néophyte. Pour le moment, tout ça se tient et développe le Daily Planet, Krypto mais malheureusement pas Jon. Espérons qu'il aura plus à faire pour la suite.
Alors je trouvais la couverture moche (celle de la version US) et j'ai été assez surpris de voir que c'était Rafael Albuquerque que j'aime plutôt beaucoup d'habitude. Sauf que là, je sais pas ce qui lui est arrivé, mais c'est pas terrible. Les visages sont bizarres, le tout fait inabouti sauf sur quelques moment de bravoure. Mais bon, la mise en page est réussie ce qui donne une lecture fluide et dynamique. Mais il a été nettement meilleur auparavant.
Une bonne série que je conseille à des personnes qui veulent commencer du Superman sans heurts.

[Darik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Goofy, stupid, derivative, and way more problematic than I would have expected. Slott swings for a bunch of big ideas, but doesn't give any of them room to breathe... nor does he really interrogate how plausible most of them are. (And yeah, I realize the absurdity of arguing about "plausibility" in a comic book about a flying alien superbeing, but I mean DRAMATICALLY plausible-- as in, the story doesn't lay enough groundwork for a reader to buy these ideas as anything other than an empty lark. Nothing carries WEIGHT.)

It's little more than colorful, disposable junk.

[Ian Skolarus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is really a 3.5 star book, but Goodreads is behind and only allows you whole star reviews. Not the best Superman title (still Williamson’s), but is interesting nonetheless. Makes things more interesting for the Man of Steel and I think in time could go to some very exciting places. For now, though, it’s just alright.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

When a comic creative team is having fun readers have fun. And clearly everyone involved with the stories in this volume were having the time of their lives because I had A BLAST with this comic. It was so much fun, so creative, and full of heart.

[Dean · Rating 1 out of 5]

i did not care for this.
art is fine.

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. Dan Slott’s run is incredibly fun. It hasn’t quite hit its stride but it’s still a blast.

[spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Keegan Schueler · Rating 4 out of 5]

So good and is literally my kind of random Superman stories that are slightly tied together. What action comics basically is but still great.

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

It’s got an interesting take and new twist. But it also at times feels like a kid from my generation got control of the title and started playing with the toys.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dan Slott must be a fan of Golden Age Supes, because the writing (and illustration) style makes me think of it.

[Daniel Ashley Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good fun, always enjoy Dan Slott's writing.

[Anthony Lacroix · Rating 2 out of 5]

ouach

[Subham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reread: 21/05/2026

This was so fun and honestly its so good! I loved the reread from the plot especially this time the 1st issue hits so hard with what flashback he went through when he felt his life was ending and then the stuff as I said previously with El caldero and there are so many great side-adventures like the one with Krypto and then Toyman and loved the take on him and like Superman-bat and that was wild lol, just insane silver age type of adventures and thats when DC works best and Slott excels at that and add to it in the end when he visits El Caldero, the kryptonite kingdom and the super-car is so awesome and what he discovers here, plus vs Kult of Kobra and what he discovers there.. oof just amazing and so many moral conflicts, his inheritance vs who it belongs and also setting up the Kryptonite king ass one of his best new villains!

I love this run man its got such a great silver age feel and at the same time so many wild aventures and like memorable ones at that and reminds you why Superman is so awesome and it goes in wild directions and so many new takes on existing characters.. that stuff with Golden Superman.. 199 seconds.. evolution of Solar flare.. I love that.. I remember it reading it a decade back and now here too.. oof just love how they build on top of existing continuity!

Slott on fire with this run.. as a new reader if this is your first Superman book.. you will instantly fall in love with Superman and his world and yes delve more into his other comics and as I do delve into vol 2 of this series! I loved this and the art is amazing too!
_________________________________________________________________________
This has gotta be one of my favorite Superman volumes I have read in quite a while like its so fun bro!

I love the premise of it being that Superman saves a city from asteroid of kryptonite falling and we see like flashbacks of his origins and big moments and its done so well like a flashback before dying and its so cool and then seeing what happened to him after that and the plot of kryptonite kingdom in a portugese nation and the rise of EL CALDERO, love the premise and also Supermans golden form an a limitation on that and Superman dealing with this!

With that premise we see him deal with that and the next 2 stories like one vs Toyman and a story pretty much focused on Krypto it was so cool honestly loved that honestly! It shows the bond between the man and the dog and then we go to Gotham and Superman turning into a bat because silver age writing style and maybe that was what was needed.. it might look ridiculous but it was so cool I honestly loved it! Jimmy and the new ape Tee-nah helping free Superman and wow bruce doing bruce things lol!

Honestly this was so fun! And then a story where he goes to Cal dero and dealing with the sunstone crystal and fighing kobra and also coming face to face with President Castilho, aka the Kryptonite king and for real he is turning into such a great nemesis for Superman showing how he has two sides and by the end of the first arc its even more so obvious.. the setup for that was amazing and I am really excited to see that story continue!

So an amazing story this volume and the writing style felt very silver age-ish thats like the hallmark Slott style after having read all his runs at marvel but fun addition to the Superman mythos!

[Franck Martini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un bon gros popcorn silver age a mort, des dessins très fun et une histoire bien déjantée et décalée. Le numero 6 entraîne un changement de ton qui semble faire penser que cette histoire peut s’inscrire dans la durée (alors qu’elle ne devrait pas au fond). A suivre…

[Mocassin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Une nouvelle série assez déroutante dans son format et son ton. Il s'agit en fait de petites aventures plus ou moins indépendantes qui découlent de la situation initiale où une gigantesque masse de kryptonite tombe sur Terre et la rend donc accessible à tous. On est sur du récit très Silver Age dans le ton, donc qqch de plus léger. Ça fonctionne plutôt bien, c'est amusant et lumineux à souhait.