Superman: Lost #1 – Priest, Writer; Carlo Pagulayan, Penciller; Jason Paz, Inker; Jeromy Cox, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: Priest is one of the most introspective writers in comics, loving to delve into the complex family dynamics and psychological hangups of his characters. That works really well when dealing with flawed antiheroes like Deathstroke or Black Adam—but how will it work with Superman? This time-bending saga seeks to answer that, and it’s off to a promising first start. It follows an ordinary day in Superman’s life, as he intervenes in a car crash and accidentally reveals a million-dollar duffel bag in the car of a Senatorial aide. He and Lois talk, Clark gets called away for a mission while Lois works on her latest story for the Planet—and then Clark shows up, a few hours later, with a million mile stare. When Lois questions him on what happened during the oddly short mission, he tells her it hasn’t been a few hours—it’s been twenty years since he’s been on Earth.
This is a fascinating concept, and one that plays on Clark’s immortality in a way I’ve never seen before. His body is alien and invulnerable, but his mind is all too human—which means he can endure things no human can possibly survive. A flashback shows that the Justice League was called in to deal with a potential flashpoint between a downed Chinese vessel and U.S. ships. But they don’t find a Chinese ship—they find a strange temporal device that’s been activated, and a daring rescue mission by Superman leaves him trapped inside an anomaly. A grim-looking Bruce Wayne shows up to brief Lois on what’s happened, and is equally shocked to see Clark there. And so begins a story that seems like it’ll be as much about healing Superman’s mind as about answering the question of what happened to him. It’s a great experiment that follows up on a few other stories lately that have been giving us a much more human, vulnerable take on Superman.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
