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Superman: Lost #2

Scheduled to arrive in stores: April 11, 2023
Cover date: June 2023

"Kansas"

Writer: Christopher Priest
Penciller: Carlo Pagulayan
Inker: Jason Paz
Cover: Carlo Pagulayan, Jason Paz with Elmer Santos
Variant Covers: Lee Weeks and Elizabeth Breitweiser, Howard Porter

Reviewed by: Marc Lax
Click to enlarge


After Lois takes a call from Bruce Wayne, who has some info on the story she's writing, Lois checks on Clark who is laying in the fetal position on the floor in the bedroom. It appears he's stopped breathing. We flashback to Superman floating in space where he's found by six rather rude aliens. They're small and red and cute but don't let that fool you. After giving air so he could breathe Superman recounts his mission with the Justice League and how they came across the alien ship. He tells how he was sucked into a hole in the ship which deposited him on the other side of the universe. The little red aliens aren't having any of this so they push him back out into space. He then comes across a planet with similar features to Earth though it seems to be post apocalyptic. He meets some beings from this planet that look very much like insects. He tells one of them his name. Superman grabs hold of one of these beings whose mask rips off showing a young boy who tells Superman his name is Szhemi before running off. For some reason Superman thinks he said Jimmy. After flying around this world Superman comes across a frozen wasteland. He finds a wall with strange writing on it and gets to the other side where he finds beautiful farm land. He then meets "The Victor", leader of the republic. Again Superman recounts how he came to be there. The Victor tells him he can't help him and gives him some supplies and a suit and sends him on his way. But not before Superman gives this unnamed planet a name. Kansas.

2Story - 2: So much happens and yet you feel like you learned nothing of how Superman ended up being where he is. There is so much exposition about singularities and other technical jargon it gets very confusing. Maybe I'm just not up on "near light" and singularities but I just found all of this talk boring. It does not give us a clear picture of how Superman got from the alien ship to floating in space. Is he going to recount everything that happened to every alien he meets? We only get a few pages on how he is coping with being back after twenty years and it's not very well done. While you feel for Clark we're not getting as much emotion as I would have liked. Again Lois just seems more angry than caring. She's worried about him obviously but seems very short with him. So far I do not like this portrayal of Lois. Superman flashing back to being tethered to Wonder Woman's lasso several times throughout the story makes this seem like a flashback within a flashback. Or is this going through his mind in the present? So far we don't know. This story just seems so jumbled. It's been two issues and there is eight more to go, but I'm already getting the feeling that we're in for a very tedious story. But of course there's always hope.

3Art - 3: Pagulayan's art is fine. Nothing special. I really haven't gotten a feel for it yet. Again, I think it's good, just nothing to shout about.

3Cover Art - 3: I did like the image of a glowing Superman. It looks kind of striking.

4Variant Cover Art - 4: There is a lot of emotion in this image. Seeing Clark huddled under a picture of Ma and Pa Kent kind of breaks your heart.

3Variant Cover Art - 3: This is a fun image of aliens pulling at Superman. It's nothing special but gives you a feeling for what's going to happen in this issue.

Mild Mannered Reviews

2023

Note: Except for digital first releases, the month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic went on sale.

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