One of the great things about the Internet is that a lot of people who started reading comics after the Silver Age, myself included, were able to discover lots of weird, fascinating and absurd stories.
One of the bad things is that some things become a meme that gets shared without checking whether it’s true or not. And it can get infuriating if the meme is completely wrong.
For example, Pink Kryptonite.
Because in articles or videos or blog posts talking about the weirdness of the Silver Age, I have seen COUNTLESS times making fun of “Pink Kryptonite makes Superman gay!”.
And you’ve probably come across THIS image a few times:
And everyone seems to take that at face value. You’re lucky IF they show the image!
Because once you get into it, “Silver Age comics were so silly they made Pink Kryptonite turn Superman gay” immediately falls apart.
I blame a lot of this attitude on Superdickery. I make no secret that site IS a bit of an inspiration for mine, since it’s where a lot of memes making fun of the Silver Age originate. And some of them are truly hilarious, but its success… and especially the fact that the site stopped publishing… meant that A LOT of other sites just did the same thing: post silly images and make a joke about it.
And then many supposedly serious sites didn’t do their homework and basically repeated the joke by mistaking it as a serious thing!
One of the few times I’ve seen someone do a deep dive into what exactly Pink Kryptonite actually entails is the highly recommended channel Casually Comics.
I get that it SOUNDS something like the Silver Age would do, right?
First of all, if you know ANYTHING about comics, the first image I showed is CLEARLY not artwork from the Silver Age. In fact, it’s a page from Supergirl vol.4 #79 from 2003, written by Peter David and penciled by Ed Benes.
The backstory is a bit complicated, but here’s the gist of it: the post-Crisis Supergirl (who has a very complex origin that I won’t get into) has switched places with the pre-Crisis Supergirl.
So we have the 2003 Supergirl traveling back to the Silver Age and taking her place in history, starting with her origin story. And Peter David is CLEARLY making fun of the Silver Age attitude.
The post-Crisis Supergirl takes the place of the original and lives her adventures, finding that the innocent Silver Age is a breath of fresh air when contrasted with her modern adventures (which could get quite gloomy in the Peter David run).
It’s in THAT context that we get the memed image. Of course Pink Kryptonite is absurd: this part of the story is making fun of the silly parts of the Silver Age!
That’s the entire point of Pink Kryptonite: IT’S A JOKE.
It’s MEANT to highlight the silly things of that more innocent era. And the reason why it resonates so much is that I’m absolutely convinced that, if being gay had been socially acceptable during the Silver Age, we WOULD have seen something like that!
It’s not like ALL other Kryptonite effects were to be taken seriously, right?
But it would also be a disservice to consider Peter David’s story as just a parody, because right after the Pink Kryptonite throwaway joke he DOES go into the more serious aspects of that incarnation of the characters.
And it’s actually quite heartwarming, because Superman realizes that he actually NEEDS someone like Supergirl.
And, uhm, since this is NOT his cousin (this Supergirl isn’t even from Krypton), the two end up marrying each other.
To be fair, the Silver Age DID warn us about this.
Also, as much as Peter David is making fun of the Silver Age, he’s also showcasing his love for the characters. For example, this is the pre-Crisis Supergirl:
That was in the penultimate issue of the series. In the following one, the pre-Crisis Supergirl has to return to her original universe and sacrifice herself to save the multiverse. Again.
Peter David is among my top three favorite writers, but his Supergirl is the only series he wrote that I didn’t really enjoy for a variety of reasons. And honestly the last issue of the series is not all that great, although the issues before that include a lot if hilarious interactions between the two Supergirls.
The team-up with the pre-Crisis Supergirl (intended to boost sales) wasn’t enough to save the series from cancellation, but Pink Kryptonite has endured in meme form.
Which is infuriating because:
A) it cheapens the story where it originates
B) when told without context it gives the wrong impression it’s actually a thing and not a one-panel joke
C) if you really want to talk about weird Kryptonite from the actual Silver Age, you should DEFINITELY point out that Red Kryptonite made Krypto give birth!!!
And no, I will never stop spreading knowledge that Superboy #101 exists.
Why is THAT not a meme!?