Big things are going down in DC Comics‘ Superman Lost #7. Written by Priest, with art by Carlo Pagulayan and Lee Weeks, this issue brings on Lex Luthor and some huge changes for Lois Lane.
We reviewed the book on the Stack podcast. But in the interest of highlighting more about the title, here’s a summary of the conversation with our thoughts. And if you prefer the longer audio version, that’s below as well!
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Superman Lost #7 Review:
Big spoilers for the issue past this point. In the past, we’re following Superman as he’s confronted with an older, broken version of himself. While in the “present” of the non-canon story, Lois Lane seeks out Lex Luthor’s help in getting Superman reconnected with the world… Only for Lex to give Lois pancreatic cancer.
Host Pete LePage thought the past storyline was “very interesting,” but took exception to the Lex/Lois story in the issue. LePage thought what Lex did was “a little below the belt,” and “below Lex Luthor… I don’t like where this is going.”
Still, he’s still willing to follow along with the series. “[I] have faith in it because maybe there’s something else going on… Because everything before this has been really awesome.”
How Does Superman Lost Compare To Superman & Lois?
Alex Zalben noted the “gutting” page of Lois officially getting her diagnosis, which is presented silently in the issue. He also called out the comparison to the last season of Superman & Lois, where Lois was diagnosed with breast cancer. On that note, the two hosts contrasted how Lois was given cancer by Lex in the comic; while on TV she contracted cancer naturally.
Speaking of the TV show, Zalben lauded the approach toward Superman’s reaction to Lois’s cancer. “I can’t punch this,” Zalben said. “I can’t use my heat vision to destroy this. How do I deal with this? And the whole plotline over the course of the season, which was rather lovely is, how do I support Lois as her husband, instead of as Superman? And that really challenged him in an interesting way, challenged her in an interesting way. Here, we have to see how it turns out, if there’s a twist at the end of the book.”
Continuing, LePage felt that having Lex cause the cancer means you’ll get the opposite reaction from Superman, as he’ll have a place to channel his anger. “Superman has got to murder [Lex] horribly for me to feel a little bit better about this, and then nobody really wins there,” LePage said. “That sends them on such a horrible path. I don’t want to explore this.”
Taking it a step further, Zalben speculated that this might be the whole point of the book. Beyond Superman being lost in space, and lost emotionally, if Lois dies at the end, Superman has also lost “absolutely everything… Does he end up being Superman at that point? After he’s lost?”
We’ll just have to pick up the next issue to find out.
Superman Lost #7 Official Synopsis:
Superman is confronted with the specter of his own possible future when his way home is blocked by an alternate version of himself. Meanwhile, Lois employs the nuclear option to help Clark out of his malaise by making a deal with the devil—Lex Luthor!
