Warning: contains spoilers for Superman: Lost #8!While many superheroes and supervillains have dark backstories, no-one can hold a candle to Black Adam – even Superman, who is currently trying to come to terms with his years lost in space. As the Man of Steel finds it difficult to return to his former life, he turns to his fellow Justice League colleague and former enemy for guidance.
In Superman: Lost #8 by Christopher Priest, Carlo Pagulayan, Jason Paz, Will Conrad, Jeromy Cox, and Willie Schubert, Superman has been lost in space for several years. While he tried to find a way home, he eventually had to simply give up and begin building a life on a new planet.
After he miraculously found a way home, he’s finding it difficult to adjust back to his old life, with friends and family he hasn’t seen in years. Now that Superman is finally back, he’s been seeking advice on how to deal with the trauma of having been gone for so long. This has led Superman to the unlikely ally of Black Adam, who understands exactly what he’s been through.
Black Adam Tries to Help Superman Through the Impossible
“Losing My Mind, the Relentless Cold”
In Black Adam’s original appearance in Marvel Family #1 (Otto Binder, C.C. Beck), it was revealed that he was the chosen champion of the Wizard before Billy Batson. However, when Adam used his powers to accrue worldly power, he was banished to the “farthest star in the universe” by the Wizard. It took Adam thousands of years to fly back to Earth, where he arrived with a vengeance, lashing out at the Wizard’s new champion.
In later stories, Black Adam was rewritten as having been locked away in a mystical slumber, removing the horror element of him spending millennia in isolation while making his way back home. However, Superman: Lost finds a sensible middle ground – Black Adam was still banished, but his lengthy journey was due to time dilation, and so his experience of the journey was less extreme – though still torturous. Now that Superman has gone through a similar event, Black Adam is the only character on Earth who understands his inability to simply return to his former life.
Black Adam Can’t Help Superman
There Are No Easy Answers to Their Trauma
Black Adam and Superman made a similar journey but they both handled it in different ways. Due to the differences in their powers, Black Adam didn’t have to worry about things like sleeping, eating, or breathing – he aimed for Earth and eventually arrived. Superman, on the other hand, gets his powers from the Sun and needs that energy to survive. Without oxygen or solar energy, Superman could not survive for long in the vacuum of space. Superman had to stop on several planets to rest, and so was constantly being spun around and unsure of his bearings. Black Adam’s journey took longer, but Superman’s was more uncertain, with no promise of eventual success.
Unfortunately, while Black Adam understands Superman’s experiences, the stoic antihero is from a different era, and he’s only able to offer the barest comfort. Adam advises Superman to simply accept the win and embrace the fact he was able to get home. It’s clearly not the answer Superman needed, and confirms that even with years to ponder his experiences, Black Adam has no comforting answers for the trauma he and the Man of Steel share.
Superman: Lost #8 is on sale now from DC Comics!
