Superman Unlimited Has Me More Excited For the DC Hero Than Ever Before

DC got fans buzzing when it was revealed that Dan Slott would be making his DC debut on the company’s biggest icon, and now the heavily anticipated debut of Superman Unlimited is finally here. With that debut obviously comes expectations, and I’m delighted to say that Superman Unlimited #1 impressively lives up to those expectations and then proceeds to blow the doors wide open on the way out, shaking up Superman’s world while also creating seismic shifts across the rest of the DCU. Slott has never shied away from big swings, and with an all-star team around him, Superman Unlimited is shaping up to be a home run.

Fans got their first look at Superman Unlimited in the Free Comic Book Day special, which revealed that a meteor-sized rock of Kryptonite was on a collision course with Earth. The setup is a compelling one on its own, but while it does dictate much of the moment-to-moment action of the issue, it’s merely a prelude to the real story Slott wants to tell. If it were just that setup, this issue might not have landed as well, but the issue also acts as a way for Slott to bring lapsed readers up to speed while also giving him a chance to showcase the moments of Superman’s history and mythology to resonate with him most.

The first half of the issue spends just as much time examining Superman’s journey from Smallville to fatherhood as it does with the immediate threat, but it all weaves together to pull you into Superman’s increasingly dire circumstances. It’s emotional, heartfelt, and powerful seeing one of the most powerful heroes in the universe facing mortality once more, and the artwork of Rafael Albuquerque, colorist Marcelo Maiolo, and letterer Dave Sharpe is a huge reason why those moments resonate and land with so much impact.

Maiolo’s colors are out of this world, and while Kryptonite is as deadly as ever, it’s also rarely looked this stunning. We’re dealing with epic stakes after all, so it stands to reason these sequences should feel grand and epic in scale, which they absolutely do. The same is true of more poignant moments, which paint an impressively vivid picture of what these moments have meant to him and how they have informed the hero he continues to be. While the dialogue paints the picture extremely well, the artwork makes you feel it.

[RELATED: Absolute Superman Introduces Kryptonite & Sets Up Kal-El’s Darkest Defeat]

It’s funny, though, because as previously mentioned, that’s just the prologue. Those last few pages shake up everything, and the ripple effects go far beyond the boundaries of Metropolis. It’s almost like Slott told us this story so he could get to this other story, and it’s kind of ridiculous that both work and both managed to sink their hooks in by issue’s end.

Superman Unlimited is off to a soaring start, and if this is just the introduction, we could be in for something truly out of this world.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Written by Dan Slott with art by Rafael Albuquerque, colors by Marcelo Maiolo, and letters by Dave Sharpe, Superman Unlimited #1 is in comic stores now.

What did you think of Superman Unlimited #1? Let us know in the comments, and you can talk all things comics and DC with me on Bluesky @knightofoa!