Priest and Carlo Pagulayan return for issue #2 of Superman: Lost, a maxi-series that celebrates the 85th anniversary of the first appearances of Superman and Lois Lane while also testing their relationship with a separation. This separation is mainly on one side as Lois Lane is just going about her daily life, but her husband is returning from a 20-year journey to get back home. As we saw in the last issue, Superman went on an adventure with the Justice League only to be caught up in a singularity warping him away. Priest and Pagulayan did a fantastic job of showing the changes in Superman, but can they keep that momentum going in part two?
One of the better details of this issue is that we see the singularity event from Superman’s view. If you check out the credits, you’ll catch a special thanks to Dave Van Domelen, P.H.D., which helps add some significant realism to the science behind the situation in the comics. While the science can be very advanced, it helps add depth to the case and some of the problems that Superman brings home after this adventure. I know it is already a stretch with what Superman can do. Still, this collaboration with Domelen and Priest might make the experience more worthwhile and just add to the trauma Superman experienced.
The part that gets a strong focus is breathing. While it doesn’t seem like a big situation, I appreciate how it played out for this issue. Part of surviving or getting past a traumatic event is unlearning what your body did to survive. Priest shows some great reasons why Superman would stop breathing; the first instance is excellent as he runs into a group of aliens looking to see how much they can gain from their encounter. While trying to “help” him get back on his feet, they accidentally screw up the breathing process and pump in carbon dioxide for Superman to intake. The encounter is a great setup that puts it on the reader to watch out for how much breathing can be taken advantage of in this situation.
The second encounter also plays into how vital oxygen is. While the second encounter is brief, I enjoyed the conversation between Victor and Superman; Victor is not a name, but a title. Two major takeaways from their talk were how Superman is losing sight of time and how similar Victor’s planet’s problems are to Earth’s. The situation is not pointing the finger at anyone, but it will get you to pause and think – Victor’s words, “Our problems are too big for you,” are haunting as they are said to Superman. Hopefully, seeing Superman’s reaction to that idea will be interesting.
The art team did a great job with their visuals for the story, helping push Priest’s story forward. The art team will take you from Lois and Clark’s home to the depths of space, so the style is changed up, but it doesn’t subtract from the story. They keep it real enough that you can separate the “now” and the “journey” from each other. I felt the most prominent visual in the issue was Superman sleeping on the floor. For some, sleeping on the floor can help prevent a deep sleep so they won’t miss a potentially dangerous attack. While that is wild to think of Superman experiencing and processing in that manner, I wonder if there will be more explanation.
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