Superman: Lost By Christopher Priest & Carlo Pagulayan (Ten Issues, March 2023)

[Frontier]

Reminds me of that old Joe Kelly story where he’s trapped fighting demons for thousands of years but stays faithful to Lois.

In before he kisses Jessica Cruz .

[Last Son of Krypton]

Love the Lee Weekes variant cover!

This is one of the best Superman image I've seen lately.

[Sacred Knight]

It certainly will be a lot more thought provoking than Immortal Beloved. Thousands of years is just beyond immersion breaking, especially since it was supposed to be canon and Superman was affected absolutely nil by it since it was never designed to actually mean anything. A time frame like this, and a stand alone tale is far more workable. It's long enough to cause problems, not an insane amount of time and the entire premise is based around the effects it will have.

[superduperman]

It would be more interesting if he didn't age but everyone else did. He comes back to Earth after 20 years and Lois has moved on.

[OBrianTallent]

Absolutely a must buy!! Priest is one of the best writers in the business and Pagulayan is just amazing.

[Vordan]

I’ll just quote what Priest said about Superman in the past:

I see Kal-El as a kind of buffed out Tom Hanks: an identifiable Everyman with whom I identify a great deal. As a minister and a person of faith, I try, every day, to do good, to be helpful. We live in a cynical world where people are perhaps rightly suspicious of strangers trying to help them, and it is frustrating to constantly be treated with suspicion. There are days when I tire of it, where I become anxious about it, where I throw up my hands in anger.

But, the next day, I just get up and start over again. That’s Superman.

I really like that take, hope it shines through in this miniseries. That bit about anger and frustration has become as key to the character for me as his more well known positive attributes like hope and compassion.

[Last Son of Krypton]

He comes back to Earth after 20 years and Lois has moved on.

[NaVi]

Maybe Superman has met another woman in these 20 years, a Superman who isn't obsessed with Lois would be interesting.

[Ra-El]

If I understand it, 20 years passes only to Superman, to everyone else he is gone less than a day. It reminds me of a couple of Doctor Who episodes.

I hope this isn't just another "sad-Superman" story, and that we get some cool space action-adventure out of it too.

Priest is one of the best writers, and he is great in highlighting what makes a character cool, like he did with Deathstroke and Black Panther.

[Robanker]

Don't like the premise much at all but I'll give it a shot.

[Vordan]

With PKJ and Williamson doing straightforward “Superman is awesome” takes with the ongoings, Venditti working on Superman ‘78 S2, Russel almost done with Space Age, and Waid doing World’s Finest and Testament, I feel like now is as good a time as any to do a more deconstructive take. Everyone else is doing the Tom King Up in the Sky celebration of Superman so Priest doing a more King Mister Miracle approach where he’s taking the character apart should stand out more for those who want it.

And if you don’t everyone else is luckily going in a different direction.

[Ra-El]

I'm just happy we are getting a Superman maxi-series that isn't about his origin, a evil version or about his death, as we usually get.

[SuperCrab]

The premise has potential, and I like the art in the original post. The art has some mild similarities with some of my favorite New52 era depictions of Superman. The hair and the face are uniquely Clark/Superman while not being a stereotype, and conveying relative youth (You know, that 27-33 look instead of the 40-50 look). The build and costuming are about right, setting aside the trunks and lack of a (visible) high collar.

While I've never been a fan of the Kingdom Come (type) look shown in the alternate cover image shown later in the thread, I do think the artist who came up with that particular alternate cover did an excellent job of showing this deep existential sadness and confusion of years lost and an old world and an old love he no longer fully understands, but part of him deeply wants to, written in Superman's face. It's a good drawing even though the general aged up broad shouldered template isn't my favorite "look" for the character.

I have to say that this is really the first future Superman comic plot I've seen in years that sounds interesting even vaguely interesting to me.

I think folks trying to fit into current continuity are going to be disappointed. This shouts "alternate universe"/"stand-alone" to me- and I think it has potential to be a better story that way.

The editors may play around with it being part of modern continuity in the same sort of way they keep repeating "everything counts", but I don't expect it to be forcefully tied into current and near-future storylines in a way where this Superman is considered the same Superman who stars in those comics. Look at the apparent age of Clark on cover. Now look at Clark in any recent issue of Action Comics or Superman he's appeared in. See what I mean?

[Vordan]

You think he looks Kingdom Come-esque? Maybe it’s the way Weekes draws him but I don’t see any KC influence there in that variant. He’s got the traditional s-shield after all.

[Robanker]

With PKJ and Williamson doing straightforward “Superman is awesome” takes with the ongoings, Venditti working on Superman ‘78 S2, Russel almost done with Space Age, and Waid doing World’s Finest and Testament, I feel like now is as good a time as any to do a more deconstructive take. Everyone else is doing the Tom King Up in the Sky celebration of Superman so Priest doing a more King Mister Miracle approach where he’s taking the character apart should stand out more for those who want it.

And if you don’t everyone else is luckily going in a different direction.

Oh it has a good reason to exist, but the description doesn't sound like it will hold me. Still, I enjoyed Priest's use of Superman in Deathstroke so it gets a shot from me. Maybe Priest will surprise me.