K is for Kryptonite
When I was I kid, I had a reprinted collection of Superman comics. I think they were from the 1950s and 1960s, the Silver Age. Kryptonite was the catalyst for almost every storyline. I especially liked the variations.
Green kryptonite just caused weakness but it could be secreted almost anywhere and pop out like a jack-in-the-box to take our hero down. Happily, lead could block it.
I remember white kryptonite affected plant life from the planet Krypton. In one story, Superman used it as a weed killer against some encroaching plants.
Red kryptonite was the wild card, it would duplicate Superman or make his hair and fingernails grow long or whatever the writers needed that day.
Gold kyptonite permanently removes super-powers.
My favorite story was the one narrated by a hunk of gold kryptonite. No, really, it was.
I plan to give away the ending…
Gold tells the story of how villains were trying to expose the gold kryptonite to Superman. But the citizens of Kandor, located in the miniaturized capital city of Krypton, see the danger. A Kandorian couple volunteers to save the day for Superman.
In the process, they are exposed to Gold. They exile themselves from Kandor. Apparently, Gold has altered their DNA and they refuse to reproduce non-super kids.
Superman finds out about their sacrifice and offers them a doll house to live in. I forget why they couldn’t be biggified by some kind of ray.
Gold gets sent to the Phantom Zone where the prisoners are stored. Now, even if they escape, they have no super-powers on Earth. So, that took care of that problem.
