Superman: Lost

Today I'm going to write about a comic book I purchased a few weeks ago,  Superman: Lost #1.

It is a self contained mini-series that tells the tale of a Justice League mission that goes awry and Superman is lost somewhere else for 20 years although only less than a day has passed on Earth. Wherever Superman was for 20 years and whatever happened to him in that time has left Clark traumatized and distant and it's up to Lois to figure out how to reach out to Clark and get him back with everyone among the living here on Earth. 

Now this is not the first time we've had a story involving Superman getting zapped somewhere for a very long time to fight some battle elsewhere only to return to Earth and to Lois on a few short hours later.  In Action Comics #761 (on sale 11/24/1999, Joe Kelly penned an epic tale where Superman and Wonder Woman are summoned to Valhalla to fight a thousan year long war. Diana gets lonely but Clark remains faithful to Lois. Then the war is over and Clark gets back to Metropolis mere moments after he left. 

There appear to be no consequences to Clark's psyche to have been zapped away for a thousand year long war. It kind of bothered me at the time. Yeah, Superman is SUPER and has learned to cope with all sorts of weird shit. 

But the other part of Superman is MAN and it's that part of the equation that has to feel some sort of after effects of being gone that long. 

Writer Christopher Priest and artist Carlo Pagulayan apparently agree which is the premise behind Superman: Lost.  

The first issue lays out the premise. Clark and Lois are at home  combining blissful happy domesticity with their jobs as investigative reporters, bantering about a Senator embroiled in scandal that Lois is investigating.  

Then Clark gets a signal, a call to help the Justice League.  The mission seems straightforward enough, retrieving a sunken Chinese sub from international waters to prevent an incident that might precipitate escalating tensions or even war, introducing an element of real world tensions between China and the United States. 

But the sinking sub is part of a bigger problem. The Chinese were after an alien thingus that is imploding, creating a sort of black hole that if left unchecked will swallow up the Earth.  Superman flies in to plug up the hole but it snaps shut with him still on the other side.  

Superman is lost and the Justice League doesn't have a clue where he might be. 

Well, he's standing in Clark and Lois's apartment and Lois is relieved that he's back after only being gone for a few hours but Clark is acting weird, disturbingly quiet, acting unsure of his environment. 

Then he haltingly explains he has been gone for 20 years. 

While I'm not following Superman in the main DC universe, this side project's premise intrigued me and with talent like Christopher Priest and Carlo Pagulayan involved, I was more than willing to give this a try. 

The first issue spends a lot of time just setting up the premise but it's a promising start and it's a series I'm looking forward to following. 

Next week, more comics as we return to Batman but this time with Bruce Wayne as I look at the current story arc, "The Bat Man of Gotham".