I like Dan Slott’s conception of Superman in Superman Unlimited Vol. 1: Kryptonite Kingdom — does his best, wants the best for others. Slott purposefully extends that to his new Daily Planet, no longer a struggling paper in a world moving on from print, but now the world’s most trustworthy global news organization. Though Unlimited is not of course without conflict, the base of Slott’s story has an appealing utopic quality; this is the kind of world we’d hope to live in that has Superman in it.

When Kryptonite Kingdom hits its climax in the final two issues, it is very good, introducing the most intriguing new Superman antagonist in recent memory. Getting there, though, is rougher. The changes and challenges Slott presents to Superman’s power set are interesting, though the details seem overly complex. The update Slott makes to one of Superman’s existing rogues is unimpressive, making me concerned how he’ll handle the rest.

The book also has a tendency to tell instead of show, often letting dialogue do too much work for exposition or scene-setting. I know artist Rafael Albuquerque is capable of a broad range, from humor to horror. The art’s sometimes-blandness here made me think maybe Slott wasn’t giving him enough to do, versus Albuquerque’s pairings with Scott Snyder and etc.

I noted that Joshua Williamson’s Superman Vol. 5: Love and Mercy brought a lot of that title’s storylines to a close, some rather suddenly. Obviously there’s the DC K.O. of it all as relates to that title, so “what’s next” remains to be seen. But at the moment it feels like one status quo ending, what started with Williamson’s Superman Vol. 1: Supercorp, and the next Super-paradigm beginning with Unlimited. I’ll be curious to see among other things how Williamson’s title reflects what’s happening in Slott’s.

[Review contains spoilers]

So idealized is Slott’s global media Daily Planet now that they still give airtime to shock jock Jack “The Creeper” Ryder, but he’s subject to sudden fact-check interruptions if he seems to be spreading misinformation. I imagine this is Slott’s best case scenario, a media company totally trustworthy and committed to the facts, though even as a supporter I can see how these “Troubalerts” venture almost into parody. These days being told “you can’t say that” in real-time is nigh grounds for a riot.

In Ryder’s Creeper persona, he’s one of the witnesses to Superman’s new powers. Kryptonite is now ubiquitous, in the hands of supervillains and street toughs alike (though, we’re told, it’s a slightly weaker form of Kryptonite than other, “regular” Kryptonite). Only when Superman’s taken significant physical damage from this Kryptonite, his body turns gold for roughly three minutes, apparently not vulnerable to Kryptonite at all. After that, his powers disappear for an indeterminate amount of time, though at that point he’s vulnerable to Kryptonite again, being Kryptonian and not human.

Slott has Superboy Kon-El joke how Superman’s powers are like a video game character’s, needing a certain amount of damage to unlock a level up and then a certain amount of time to regain his health. The comparison is apt, maybe even telling, though I wonder whether what works in a game will necessarily work in a shared comics universe. Kryptonite is easy — it’s around, it makes Superman weak — and Kryptonite being omnipresent on Earth would already make a difference in Superman’s day to day. But this power up/power down is more complicated and ill-defined even than Superman’s last new power, the solar flare, and I wonder whether any other writer will be able to use it or if it’ll quietly disappear whenever Slott should move on.

It’s early days yet, but in both of these — the outsized Daily Planet, Superman’s complicated new powers — suggest to me something about Slott’s writing. (Those of you who dabble in other universes will know more than I on this point.) Unlimited is overflowing with ideas, often more than the story can wisely contain, and whether this will turn out to be a boon or an impediment remains to be seen. Letting alone that Unlimited elides over Superman having been in a coma for three months, there’s other odd jumps — Superman’s new powers revealed to the world, as told in dialogue, and also the clunky scene where Ma Kent inadvertently reveals to Super Son Jon Kent that he’s going to be living in Smallville — that feel like Unlimited tripping over its words trying to get them all out.

That unsure footing extends to the issue spotlighting the classic Superman villain Toyman. Slott goes the Animated Series route with the doll Toyman who is not apparently Winslow Schott but an android with an enhanced conscience. On first reading, it seems like Toyman creates a giant robot to attack a Metropolis science fair, but then when Krypto is injured, Toyman claims he’d built a clean engine instead and Superman falls for it. That’s confusing, only resolved with some really close reading to suggest Toyman built the robot to house the engine and that the error here is actually Krypto’s. Interesting, yes, but the muddiness seems a bad omen.

The best of the book is the final two-part “Into the Heart of the Kryptonite Kingdom!” Though Slott and Albuquerque’s depiction of El Caldero’s President Eduardo Castilho, in military uniform with epaulets, looks contrived, the character himself is fascinating to read. We learn Castilho saved Superman’s life, and was saved in return, when the Kryptonite asteroid struck; there is also his use of Kryptonite to make clean energy. It doesn’t seem Castilho is overtly evil, just dedicated to the betterment of his country — and when that comes to killing a reporter to protect a secret, he’s willing to do so.

In this, I got strong Lex Luthor vibes from some of Luthor’s best appearances. Not evil necessarily, but with motivations and values simply different than Superman’s, and someone who’s relationship with Superman also began in friendship before turning antagonistic. I’d be eager to see other writers use El Caldero, too, that this actually be a new locale in the DC Universe and not just something reserved for Slott’s book.

Following Superman Unlimited Vol. 1: Kryptonite Kingdom, I see Rafael Albuquerque is off this title, replaced by Lucas Meyer, whose work I liked a lot on Tom Taylor’s Titans. Again, when the art goes wrong on Unlimited, I’m not sure where’s the fault — Krypto goes speeding past Jon Kent to where? Krypto attacks the giant robot by head-butting it? Maybe drawing dog action sequences is just hard. Still, a good start, even as it feels like Dan Slott is still getting his feet under him with this title.

[Includes original covers, more than 14 pages of variants]