Omniverse #2: The Source of Superman's Power

[Shellhead]

In the late '70s, I picked up issue #2 of a neat fan magazine called Omniverse, which was edited by Mark Gruenwald and Dean Mullaney. It was a fairly scholarly treatment of a variety of comic book topics, mostly related to time travel or alternate realities.

The first article in that issue was titled The Source of Superman's Power, by Peter Gillis, and it raised some very interesting questions regarding Superman. I wonder how some of these issues have been dealt with, and if any of those solutions have survived or been retconned.

How did Kryptonite get to Earth so quickly? Did fragments of Krypton actually travel at the same speed as the ship containing baby Kal-el? Or did those fragments manage to pass through some kind of natural wormhole or nexus?

Kryptonite itself is clearly radioactive, in the sense that it is emanating energy that affects Superman and other kryptonians at a distance. Was the planet Krypton itself a highly radioactive planet? Maybe that explains the powers of the Kryptonians under a yellow sun. Or maybe the destruction of Krypton caused kryptonite to become irradiated, in which case the source of the powers of native Kryptonians become more puzzling.

[Dracon]

I always assumed that the frequency of kryptonite radiation interferred with his cells ability to process their stored yellow sunlight. It explained:

Why humans are no more vulnerable to kryptonite radiation than normal radiation (No stored sunlight processed by cells)

Why Kryptonite radiation is instantly and deeply painful to kryptonians (Energy already in their cells are released. Like a deep burn or scald)

Why he turns green (Frequency-changed energy leaking)

There were some other things too. That is just me, though.

[Rik Levins]

Pre-Crisis, it was explained that Kal-El's rocket opened a space warp between Krypton's solar system and Earth's, which allowed a large quantity of kryptonite to follow him to Earth. Presumably the warp stayed in place for some time (years? They never got specific about that part) afterward.

Krypton had a core of radioactive materials (uranium or plutonium, or possibly some unknown trans-uranic element), which underwent a chain reaction, causing the planet to explode like a gigantic atomic bomb. And like a "dirty" bomb, it contaminated everything caught in the explosion (in this case the fragments of Krypton) with deadly radiation.

In Superman #123, he defeats the Kryptonian villain Kil-Lor by tricking him into recreating the planet's nuclear explosion on a local scale, and thereby creating kryptonite.