Superman: Lost #1
Scheduled to arrive in stores: March 14, 2023
Cover date: May 2023
“Blink”
Writer: Christopher Priest
Artist: Carlo Pagulayan
Cover: Carlo Pagulayan and Elmer Santos
Variant Covers: Joe Quesada, Kevin Nowlan with Richard Isanove, and Lee Weeks
Reviewed by: Marc Lax
A crooked Senator’s aide is saved by Superman before her car could crash, but after Superman catches her car a million dollars in cash comes spilling out of her trunk. Back at the Kent’s apartment Lois writes up the story while Clark tries fixing the toaster. They have some cute banter back and forth before Lois has to get back to the Daily Planet… But not before they have some “quality time” together.
The next scene Lois is continuing her story on the Senator when Clark is alerted that he’s needed elsewhere. He flies off into the night only to arrive back moments later looking stunned. Lois is curious as to why he’s acting so strangely when he tells her he’s been gone for twenty years. Bruce Wayne comes knocking at the door to tell Lois what happened and that’s when Clark recounts the story of his disappearance.
Supposedly a Chinese submarine sank which caused the Chinese to attempt a rescue without public knowledge. Eventually US forces get involved. A Chinese jet gets shot down and before it turns into all out war the Justice League is called in. While trying to rescue the Submarine they discover that it’s not a sub but a ship from another world. Suffice to say that after some back and forth between the League about what may have happened Superman steps up and volunteers to go in. The League tries to anchor Superman so they can pull him out but his signaling device gets fuzzy and they start to lose contact. After Green Lantern scans the ship they find no trace of Superman. Back at the Kent’s Bruce and Clark finish the story. An angry Lois wants to know where Clark has been the last twenty years. Superman was lost in another universe.
Story – 2: I found this to be a weak story. We start with some overly cute banter between Lois and Clark as Lois writes her story. It’s nice to see their comfortable back and forth but it’s also off putting. They’re trying to establish their relationship in this story but it feels forced. Lois continually blaming Bruce for what happened is annoying, especially after Clark keeps telling her it was his own decision. It was nice to see the classic Justice League working together but it’s just an excuse to show how Superman disappeared. Whether the plot line with the Senator has any importance remains to be seen. And of course the question of what happened to Superman will be the crux of the next nine issues. This was not a bad first issue, it just fell a little flat. I can see where this story could pick up steam in the issues to follow.
Art – 3: I’m not that familiar with Carlo Pagulayan but I’d say the art was more than serviceable. Superman was drawn well and the scenes with the Justice League were well done, just nothing to get too excited over. We’ll see what’s to come.Cover Art – 2: Seeing Superman floating out among the stars is always welcome but he’s overwhelmed in this cover. Just a small image against a dark background.Variant Cover Art – 2: Joe Quesada draws an attractive image but the composition seems wrong with the very long cape and the way Superman is holding Lois. Not to mention Lois probably could not breathe that far up over the earth. There’s a black and white cover and one in color showing Superman almost translucent. If I had to pick I’d pick black and white.Variant Cover Art – 2: I’d like to give this cover a better rating because of my love for Lee Weeks. But it’s just a portrait image with half of Superman’s face in shadow against a dull background. Nothing special from Lee Weeks.
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