The Odyssey of Solitude.
"Losing one's self can occur very quietly in the world, as if it were nothing at all. Any other loss - an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife - is sure to be noticed."
— Soren Kierkegaard
A 10-issue limited series written by Christopher Priest with art by Carlo Pagulayan.
When a crashed alien ship risks setting off World War III, the Justice League intervenes in hopes of averting disaster. Unfortunately for Superman, the ship is suffering from an engine malfunction which runs the risk of unleashing a singularity, and the only possible person who can contain the singularity is him. Bravely stepping up to the task, Superman does manage to use his body to contain the singularity - but vanishes along with the ship as a result. That night Lois Lane awaits her husband's return, and is initially only mildly annoyed when he appears a few hours later than usual.
But what for the rest of the world was only a couple of hours, was twenty years for Superman...
Tropes;
- Affably Evil: Victor comes off as this, having built a paradise society in the Republic. When Superman arrives on his planet and makes a fuss, Victor is willing to let bygones be bygones and give him a personal survival kit so that he can leave. When Superman returns and makes a home in the Dead Zone, Victor leaves him alone. He comes across as reasonable and eloquent, respectful of people who don't agree with him... but he's also perfectly willing to let a group of alien space pirates loot and kill a community that he kicked out of his Republic.
- Alternate Continuity: This series isn't canon to the main DCU.
- Anger Born of Worry: When you're Lois Lane, you don't get scared or cry after your husband comes home acting like a complete stranger. You get angry and you demand answers, even if you have to interrogate Batman to get them.
- Arc Words: Breathe and Lost.
- Bad Samaritan: In the second issue Superman is picked up by a group of aliens hoping to scavenge either the ship he's on or take his nice looking cape. Surprised he's alive, they take him to "the third planet from the sun" he describes to them, still hoping for his cape. When Clark declines giving them his cape because it was a gift from his mother, they unceremoniously drop him out the airlock onto the planet they brought him to and leave.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Hope initially comes across as something of a Naïve Newcomer, but then she kills Szhemi when he discovers the location of Earth, aiming to keep Clark for herself.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: The aliens of "Kansas" breathe carbon dioxide instead of oxygen.
- Can't You Read the Sign?: Victor asks Superman why he didn't heed the warning on the Great Wall to stay out of the Dead Zone. Superman points out that he couldn't read the language.
- The Cavalry: Choosing to try and protect New Ark from the Contrectatio Horde leaves Superman alone and outgunned... but then a Green Lantern arrives to back him up.
- Companion Cube: After destroying Marquis, Clark still talks to the scraps in order to stay sane.
- Culture Justifies Anything: Victor argues that by saving New Ark, Superman is subverting the will of the people since the Republic voted New Ark out, and New Ark voted against a defense program.
- Deal with the Devil: The Contrectatio Horde offers to take Superman home if he'll let them "salvage" New Ark. Superman refuses, and drives them away.
- Depower: While on "Kansas" Superman is only half as powerful as he normally would be, because of the planet's sun which is unstable, and turning into a red giant.
- Forbidden Zone: The Dead Zone in the second issue is one. Played with in that while it's a Polluted Wasteland for the people of New Ark because of all the oxygen, for Superman the breathability and vegetation reminds him of home.
- Genius Loci: One planet Superman encounters is actually composed of trillions of microorganisms. Needless to say they aren't happy about being eaten by space dolphins, or by Superman interfering to help save the dolphin calves.
- Get Out!: Superman is ultimately given a way off planet because his meddling in trying to unite everyone to save themselves unites all the world governments against him to leave.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: What the conflict between Victor's Republic and the New Arkasians boils down to. The New Arkasians are a stubborn conservative people who don't want to leave their ancestral lands despite said lands being at risk of destruction due to climate change. They also have voted down Republic initiatives such as a space program, a planetary defense system, and a free school lunch program. The Republic respects their independence, but has gotten fed up with their stonewalling, and retaliated by voting them out of the Republic, choosing to leave them to the mercy of the Contrectatio Horde space pirates.
- Handy Man: How does Superman relax? Fixing the toaster of course.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Superman intends to make one, staying with the crashed alien ship so that his body can contain the singularity. Instead he gets tossed through time and space.
- History Repeats: Superman ends up on a planet with a decaying sun that will explode soon. Trying to rally the people to save themselves gets his evidence denounced and rejected, just like his father Jor-El with Krypton. Hope lampshades this as she pleads for him to save himself and leave with her.
- Hope Spot: Encountering a herd of space dolphins raises Superman's spirits. He remembers they have been seen near Earth before, and hopes they can point the way to home, or that he can find the method they use for Faster-Than-Light Travel to make his way back to Earth himself. After saving their calves from an energy field, the dolphins ditch Superman, and Marquis points out that it's highly likely that this was a different pod from the one spotted near Earth anyway, meaning they likely didn't have an FTL method or any knowledge of where Earth is. Now Superman has spent his solar reserves, lost his survival kit, and is worse off than before he met the dolphins.
- Last Chance to Quit: The Contrectatio Horde offer to take Superman with them on their FTL ships and go look for Earth, if he steps aside and lets them pillage New Ark.
- Libertarians IN SPACE!: What the Republic is per Superman's view. They value autonomy, individualism, and political freedom, with voting being a nigh religious act.
- Loophole Abuse: Victor and the Republic promised to not interfere with the Contrectatio Horde's attack on New Ark in return for access to their tech. Since Superman is not a citizen of the Republic, they view themselves as honoring the agreement and refuse to aid the Horde or return the tech.
- Love Makes You Evil: Hope's love for Superman causes her to murder anyone who might help Superman return to Earth, instead of remaining with her.
- "Not So Different" Remark: In the second issue as Superman explores the planet he's stranded on, he observes how similar the denizens are to both humans and Kryptonians. Similar in good ways (variety of cultures and environments) and in bad (war, pollution, and other evils).
- Not Where They Thought: A group of aliens, later revealed to be called the Contrectatio Horde, rescue Superman after he's teleported by a singularity, and drop him off at the "third planet from the star" since that's where they think he's from. Unfortunately for Superman, the planet he's dropped off at isn't Earth.
- Oh, Crap!: Immediately after destroying Marquis, Superman realizes he just destroyed the only guide and companion he had.
- Older Than They Look: Superman hasn't aged a day since he was stranded.
- Percussive Therapy: Being abandoned by the space dolphins, who also took his personal survival kit, causes Superman to destroy Marquis in a fit of rage.
- Prefers Rocks to Pillows: After his twenty year journey, Clark has trouble sleeping in a bed, opting for the floor instead.
- Shout-Out: Clark wears a t-shirt while visiting his adopted parents with a very familiar logo on it.
- Significant Wardrobe Shift: Superman changes into a purely white costume, the only distinguishable feature being the yellow background of the S-shield.
- Social Media Before Reason: The planet Clark ends up on in the second issue is a heavily polluted place where everyone has to wear masks just to breathe, and they're all more preoccupied with their their personal phone-like devices than worrying about that. They mock and meme everything around them, including a highly confused Superman asking for information.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Lois develops one of these as a result of trying to cope with the changes Clark has undergone. Towards Clark she's loving and sympathetic, but she can't help lashing out at Batman and Wonder Woman for their role in the accident that transported Superman across time and space.
- Surprisingly Sudden Death: Lois muses on this in the first issue, thinking about how most people get no forewarning about the day their lives will end. Everything starts out as a normal day, up until they die.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: Lois is treated to one by Superman when he returns.
- Thrown Out the Airlock: One of the aliens asks for Superman's cape as repayment for saving him. Superman protests that his mother gave it to him, causing the aliens to unceremoniously eject him out of their ship.
- Time Travel: Superman somehow returns to Earth just mere hours after his disappearance.
- Virtual Sidekick: Included in the survival kit that Superman receives is "Marquis", essentially a simple AI who helps provide Superman with information.
- Yandere: Hope towards Superman.
