REVIEW: Superman: Lost #9
Superman: Lost #9, “Emmaus” seemingly concludes Luthor’s involvement in this penultimate issue of the series. It also provides its own soundtrack as each chapter has a partial musical score from various operas and arias whose titles also adorn each chapter. Possibly playing off of Tom King’s ‘Many Deaths of Lois Lane’ issue of “Up In The Sky”, this issue feels a little jarring until you realize many sequences are fantasies acting out in either Luthor’s or Clark’s imagination.
The standard cover by Carlo Pagulayan, Jason Paz, and Elmer Santos gives us a taste of Superman confronting Luthor in a menacing manner. With Lois in the background trying to keep Clark from going too far, the bright shining background shades Superman in darkness, making you wonder how things will play out. In true Luthor fashion, he just appears slightly irritated Superman has paid him a hostile visit as he lays on debris probably caused by being thrown onto something.
The variant by Stephen Segovia and Elmer Santos is a fascinating piece of Superman, Lex Luthor, and Metropolis. Lex is being projected on the side of, what is most likely, the LexCorp building upside down and larger than life. Still managing to look down his nose at Superman, the image is an interesting visual of how wrong Luthor’s best intentions tend to work out. Superman on the other hand, feels more like an object being observed with disdain than a character of his own as he hovers in front of the building.
We get a close up of Superman’s no-nonsense demeanor with Mike Deodato Jr. and Jao Canola’s variant. Even with the bright yellows and whites of the cover, we can easily tell Clark’s mood is not one of a sunny disposition. The serious visage matches the more serious themes of this series and this issue in particular. Even without the top part of his exposed or being the cover of a Superman book, Deodato and Canola’s work makes Clark’s face as Superman easily recognizable.
Brilliantly using different artists to depict the various encounters Superman and Lex have throughout the book, the interior art team list feels like one you’d see in a special anniversary issue. Series regulars Carlo Pagulayan, Jason Paz, and Jeromy Cox are joined by legendary Superman artists Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding. It’s always a treat to see Jurgens and Breeding work on Superman and their contributions blend in so smoothly you might not notice if it weren’t for the credits page. There’s a lot of shock value in this issue as the art team doesn’t pull punches with the imaginary depictions of Luthor’s fate. After it’s all played out, we then get an eyebrow raising cliffhanger that throws any speculation about how the finale will wrap things up right out the window.
Priest, lettered by Willie Schubert, resolves the Lois Lane/Lex Luthor side story in Superman: Lost #9. Honestly, other than giving us one spectacular Lois Lane moment, the resolution makes the entire arc feel somewhat unneeded to the story as a whole or at least for how long it had been building up. That being said, it does well to play on some of the darker thoughts and feelings Clark has towards Luthor in general and the therapy session about processing those feelings is well written. It’s also not abundantly clear if some of these fantasies aren’t fears Luthor is having as his anticipation grows over facing Superman about what he’s done. Realizing it’s within the boundaries of imagination and fantasy, the visuals of Luthor’s demise take on a kind of guilty pleasure or dark humour tone which adds an odd sense of levity to the issue. There’s also a weird sense of satisfaction seeing Luthor deflated by Superman not being baited by his diabolical plot.
By the end of Superman: Lost #9, Lois and Clark seem to come to grips with everything and reach a place where healing can truly begin. Just in time for a surprise visit that raises so many questions to how the finale will come to an end. Priest has done a superb job twisting and turning this tale in ways that has kept the reader on their toes the entire time and I’m sure next month’s finale won’t disappoint.
