Ice Cream Man Creators Plan to Take a Bite Out of Superman in Anticipated Series

3 weeks ago 12

DC is milking the Superman hype for everything it's worth. Amid the intensifying buzz for James Gunn's film, the comic book giant announced a new five-issue series under its Black Label imprint.

Titled Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum, the Man of Steel story comes from the acclaimed Ice Cream Man team of W. Maxwell Prince, Martín Morazzo, and Chris O'Halloran, which gained recognition for its Eisner-nominated Image Comics Ice Cream Man series. The project will follow Superman and Batman investigating four new Kryptonite varieties discovered in deep space after the planet fragments fall into enemy hands.

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Per a DC press release, W. Maxwell Prince described the project as "a Supes yarn that's both strange and timeless—out there and also totally grounded," adding, "You might know what Green, Red and Black Kryptonite does to Superman, but what about Purple? Or Cobalt? Or Speckled?"

The storytelling possibilities are endless. Not only does each issue tackle a different, all-new Kryptonite variant, but the superhero fantasy marks a deviation from the existential horror that earned Ice Cream Man its stellar reputation. By the sounds of it, the DC Black Label Superman limited series will run the genre gamut.

"These Kryptonite shards are, in fact, pieces of Kal-El's home. It's his own home that hurts him. This idea that 'home hurts' can also be applied to Batman, Wonder Woman, et al. So, we're exploring that idea inside this framework of our usual experimental storytelling. Home can be traumatic—and yet there's no place quite like it, as Dorothy reminds us. We're interrogating all this stuff within the bookends of something decidedly wacky, and full of make-your-jaw-drop Man of Tomorrow moments. It's what we do best: an admixture of sad, funny, and strange. (And, because it's Superman, HAPPY!)"

DC's Black Label imprint, geared towards mature readers, speaks perfectly to the Ice Cream Man creative cohort's sensibilities.

With Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum, the imprint continues its tradition of embracing more sophisticated creators, empowering them with the keys to iconic characters. Designed for ages 17+, the limited series lands amid DC's "Summer of Superman" push. The Aug 13, 2025 debut includes variant covers from Tula Lotay, Juan Ferreyra, Wes Craig, and Alex Eckman-Lawn.