Superman Unlimited #16: Entering the K-Zone

El Caldero has become the Kryptonite Kingdom after a Kryptonite meteor hit Earth and made Green K the most abundant resource in the world. Lois Lane gets a call from the Kryptonite King and he requests she come to El Caldero. Knowing it’s an obvious trap, Supergirl brings together the Super Family and her team, Super Force, to accompany Editor-in-Chief Lane to the Kryptonite Kingdom. But when they find out General Zod is behind the Kryptonite plague, they must hope that Superman can save them. Superman Unlimited #16 is part three of the epic twelve-issue event Kingdom of Zod. Following the events of Supergirl #16 and Action Comics #1101, General Zod’s ambitions are becoming increasingly clear. Having reclaimed his powers and established his foothold within the Kryptonite Kingdom, Zod isn’t satisfied with simply ruling what he has conquered. His plans are expanding, and with a Kryptonite infection spreading across the globe, the threat has quickly become much larger than any other confrontation between Superman and one of his oldest enemies.

This issue is incredibly fun and feels like the perfect imaginative addition to the Superman Unlimited series. Since the beginning of the series, Dan Slott has explored what happens when Kryptonite transforms from an exotic weakness into an everyday danger. Kingdom of Zod takes that premise to its logical extreme. What was once Superman’s problem is now everyone’s problem. Slott also wisely spreads the focus beyond Superman himself. Tomorrow Man, Steel, Natasha Irons, and Lana Lang are tasked with finding a cure for the growing Kryptonite infection, giving the issue a strong ensemble component. It reinforces one of the best ideas running throughout the current Superman books: Superman may be the center of this universe, but he is surrounded by heroes capable of carrying the fight when brute strength alone isn’t enough.As the third chapter of Kingdom of Zod, this issue inevitably carries some of the baggage that comes with a line-wide crossover. Readers following only Superman Unlimited may find themselves dropped into a story already moving at full speed, and much of the issue’s job is positioning characters and escalating threats for the chapters still to come. It doesn’t necessarily have the standalone quality that some of Slott’s strongest issues of the series have enjoyed. Still, Superman Unlimited #16 benefits enormously from how naturally Kingdom of Zod connects with the book’s existing Kryptonite premise. Instead of feeling like the series has temporarily stopped to accommodate a crossover, the crossover feels like an expansion of ideas Slott has been exploring all along.

Rachael Stott’s artwork is a strong match for the escalating scale of the story. There’s an appropriately imposing quality to Zod and his expanding empire, while the Kryptonite-infused environments give the issue a visual identity that connects naturally with the aesthetic Superman Unlimited has been developing since its first arc. The action feels large without losing sight of the characters caught inside it. More importantly, the visuals help sell the sense that Kryptonite has become something almost uncontrollable. The glowing green substance isn’t merely a weapon someone can pull out of a lead box anymore. It has become part of the landscape, showing how strong this infection is. That makes the threat feel appropriately different from the countless Kryptonite schemes Superman has encountered over the decades.