There is a Fifth Dimension, beyond that which is known to (Super)man. And it’s driving him out of his mind. Your Major Spoilers review of Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum #4 from DC Comics awaits!

SUPERMAN: THE KRYPTONITE SPECTRUM #4

Writer: W. Maxwell Prince
Artist: Martin Morazzo
Colorist: Chris O’Halloran
Letterer: Good Old Neon
Editor: Paul Kaminski
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $5.99
Release Date: November 12, 2025

Previously in Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum: Superman finds himself somewhere over the rainbow, seeking the answer to the question: What never happened to the Man of Tomorrow? The answer awaits in a form-bending, head-spinning, myxed-up melee of mites, men, and multicolored meteoroids.

It’s a major milestone for our magnificent medium, with two added dimensions for extra support!

LETHAL NONSENSE

Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum #4 opens in the streets of Metropolis, and the sheer number of people floating under a handful of balloons, riding alicorns, or floating on paper airplanes makes it clear that something is up. Clark Kent is called on the carpet by editor Perry White over his latest story, which tragically lacks the juggling walruses that Perry wanted to read about. Things get even less coherent from there, but thankfully, Superman has a friend in town. Well, a frenemy, anyway, and Myxzptlk desperately needs the Man of Steel’s help. The real villain of the piece is… BRIAN-IAC!

That’s not a typo, by the way. It’s actually just a kid named Brian whose childhood left him lacking in imagination, making him the antithesis of everything that the Fifth Dimension stands for. How bad is he? Well, he manages to KILL THE BATMAN on page 26!

IMPRESSIVE AND DISORIENTING

Thankfully, as Batman himself points out, every sentence in the Fifth Dimension has an asterisk at the end, and it doesn’t take. What does take is the postmodern sensibility of the Ice Cream Man creative team working in a Superman context, which unexpectedly wraps everything back around into the unpredictability of a Silver Age Mort Weisinger comic. The supporting cast is impeccably characterized in this, with Batman and Bat-Mite teaming up (and referencing the Zur-En-Arrh protocols), Doctor Fate willing to help but having little hope that Batman will thrive in a world of chaos, and Myxzptlk breaking the Fourth Wall at will. (“You heard him, Morazzo!” he instructs the artist. “DRAW US RUNNING, WILL YA?”) Even at its most whimsical, the book still has structure, logic, and sufficiently real consequences, as well as reminding us that Superman didn’t have his own imp. If you’ve ever read an issue of Ice Cream Man, you know the breadth of Morazzo, O’Halloran, and Neon’s collaborative style, but you can add a strong Kurt Swan pastiche to the mix, as well as a Lex Luthor that feels stolen right out of the frames of Gunn’s Superman.

BOTTOM LINE: THIS IS GOOD STUFF

If all this talk about beautiful art and emotional engagement didn’t tip you off, Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum #4 is a very enjoyable read, balancing absurdity, action, metatextuality, and Superman robots reciting Faulkner into a book that I truly hope you go and pick up, earning 5 out of 5 stars overall. It’s one of those comics that part of me says should not work, and yet every part of it does, and that delights me.

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