What the frick did I just read? Is there some big point being made I've missed? It just kinda meandered around and got super confusing.
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What the frick did I just read? Is there some big point being made I've missed? It just kinda meandered around and got super confusing.
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SUPERMAN LOST.
NO
HE WON
My reaction exactly, OP. It really feels like the writers changed their mind about what kind of story they wanted to tell, until everything ended up as some kind of confused fever dream. And not in the good way, like Vertigo used to do.
It reminded me of the clusterfrick Justice League Odyssey ended up as, except less entertaining.
I feel like there must have been SOMETHING I was meant to take out of the story. It just kinda bounces between so many plot points I have no fricking idea what priest was trying to say
Priest was trolling Superman fans
How changing environments can frick someone up emotionally
Then Priest decided to undermine the point in literally the last issue by having Supes get his cake and eat it by essentially duplicating himself via time travel.
To elaborate: Priest is basically deconstructing the concept of loyalty / responsibility that Supes believes in by applying some basic physics to his space travel and demonstrating how simple shit like getting teleported too far away would destroy the superman-on-earth dynamic. It all is essentially a story of Supes admitting to himself he wants to go back to the planet because he learned to like it and not because of his idea that it's his responsibility.
They also were really hush hush about it but the main story is that Supes straight up cucks Lois and he realizes he simply can't go back to the lois lane life because the emotional space she filled simply isn't there after 20 years passed.
I didn’t dislike Superman: Lost but reading your take-away of the whole deal underlines how empty the whole thing is.
>deconstructing the loyalty ideal by teleporting 10 gazillion light years away
Yeah, no shit it’d make you unloyal. That happened on earth as well, with explorers adopting South American / African / Asian culture because going back wasn’t a technical possibility for them. This is nothing new and nothing to be ashamed about.
The shite hits the fab when Superman comes back, and the logical conclusion (him not being easily able to re-join his old life, especially since his 20 years are only a few days for his Earth friends) feels shallow.
It’d have been better to have him come back but everyone is 20 years older and actually moved on as well.
That way he would have had a real, human challenge, with no scifi time shittery involved from beginning to end
>I didn’t dislike Superman: Lost but reading your take-away of the whole deal underlines how empty the whole thing is.
I like it, it was just as long as it had to be. Priest is strongest when doing short stories.
And he is good at what he does, he always brings out those uncomfortable little details about character motivations but still finds a way to the whole situation feel approachable and maybe even optimistic. Also he's a master race baiter and always makes you feel like he's about to go on a muh racism tirade before pulling a 180 into something completely different
Like I said I loved the story up to exactly the final issue. And that's rare for Priest tbh. I don't say he's incapable of dropping the ball, but right at the end after all the cards' been laid and the aesop is so apparent? Really makes me suspect he got some last second editorial orders and had no real way to course correct.
>especially since his 20 years are only a few days for his Earth friends) feels shallow.
Can't say I feel the same way, it does feel pretty down to earth in how it's handled, and does a good job of humanizing superman, which is something his character archetype needs from time to time. If he doesn't, you get shit like batgod.
>this is nothing new and nothing to be ashamed about.
true. but how does someone with the psychological profile of clark kent superman handle it? The man is a product of the 30s-60s mindset, a marriage is eternal and loyalty inmutable. May not be true to the comics, but that's what people perceive him as and see as natural coming from him, and that's the perception Priest uses to make the plot have some impact.
My one criticism past the final issue is Priest's... priestisms. Dialogue is thick and hard to read, tries too much to be real instead of accommodating to the limitations of dialogue in comics. Complete non sequitur but fun fact nonetheless: Kirby had a similar problem writing dialogue for his comics.
>That way he would have had a real, human challenge, with no scifi time shittery involved from beginning to end
Given the impetus for the plot, you have to realize how silly that statement looks, right?
It's an inverted "man out of time" plot. It's not meant to be Castaway with Superman, so criticizing it in that way seems kind of trite.
He essentially has a mid-life crisis with extra steps and has to question his dedication to the moral code that's driven his actions his entire adult life. If that doesn't count as a "real, human challenge", I don't know what does.
I’m so sick of homosexuals like you trying to sound intelligent. You can absolutely criticize the premise of a story, there is nothing trite about it.
Also, samegayging is repugnant. have a nice day.
>Supes straight up cucks Lois
Yeah, but that doesn't actually happen so what was the point of the alien girl?
To close: tbh I'd just have deleted the final issue and have Supes come to terms with what happened and recognize Lois feels like a stranger to him, so they both can do the healthy thing and agree to start again.
Dunno what Priest was thinking with the time travel excuse, but I wouldn't be surprised if DC was doubling down on editorial control after the disaster that was Bendis
>To close: tbh I'd just have deleted the final issue and have Supes come to terms with what happened and recognize Lois feels like a stranger to him, so they both can do the healthy thing and agree to start again.
This. Everything else was fine. But undoing it all when its already an unconnected mini made no sense.
>i effort post
>0 replies
It’s just priest being a shitty writer. Par for the course.
havent read the final issue but couldnt help reading the spoilers and now i dont want to. frick this. superman is a wish fulfillment: what would i do if i had the power? and then the writers go
>i'd be evil
>i'd let my wife die
>i'd quit then build a gulag
>go away for 20 years and realize everything has changed
no, dumbass, you can do all that without the power