- He was only gone a few hours-- and he can't remember his life. His job--
- — Lois Lane
Superman: Lost #5 is an issue of the series Superman: Lost (Volume 1) with a cover date of September, 2023. It was published on July 11, 2023.
Synopsis for "The Republic - Superman: Lost, Book Five"
In the present, Lois has asked Diana to meet her at a restaurant. Once they sit down, Lois admits she never liked Diana, but she still has come to ask Diana for a favor: she has asked to borrow the Lasso of Truth. Diana agrees, but not before she asks about Clark, and Lois replies that he still feels lost. To him, everything feels like noise and he's having trouble screening it out. Diana hopes that Clark ultimately recovers, but Lois doesn't really like Diana mentioning that word.
Clark has returned to the Daily Planet but finds himself unable to adjust to work, to the point he accidentally refers to Jimmy Olsen as "Szhemi".
In the past, the female Green Lantern had come to live at Clark's farm and Szhemi, Clark's only friend in the planet, had also begun helping Clark with his crops. Clark himself had also set up probes across the space around Kansas to find a possible way home, but so far, he had been unsuccessful, even with Szhemi's help. The Green Lantern tells Clark that her home had been destroyed and she had been chasing after the Contrectatio until she found Clark. In time, she came to see Kansas as home and perhaps it's time he does the same.
The Green Lantern had helped Superman protect the people of New-Ark from the Contrectatio, much to the frustration of Max, who contacts the Victor and demands he help the Contrectatio complete their attack on New-Ark, reminding him that they signed a contract. The Victor, however, refuses to help Max, because their contract was signed at gunpoint and Superman, an alien visitor, is not under the Republic's juridiction. Max threatens that the Contrectatio will take back to the technology they gave to the Republic, but the Victor replies that the Republic has upheld its end of the bargain and Supermman is now the Contrectatio's problem.
Max begs Superman to allow the Contrectatio to continue their attack, even offering to help him find his way home, but Superman refuses to abandon the people of New-Ark a second time. Having lost a significant portion of their fleet, the Contrectatio are forced to retreat and Superman tells them never to return. Superman is glad that a Green Lantern has come to protect Kansas, so he brings her to the planet's leading faction, the Republic, located deep beneath Kansas' surface.
According to Superman, the inhabitants of the Republic consider voting to be their religion. The individuals ultimately have power over the state and the Republic is bound by law to respect the decisions of the electorate, even if those decisions are ill-informed. As they arrive at the Victor's building, Superman confronts the Victor over his decision to allow the Contrectatio to attack New-Ark, but the Victor is unhappy that Superman has been secretly helping the people of New-Ark, even after the Republic voted not to, claiming that Superman's actions represent a subversion of the people's will. The Victor even claims the people of New-Ark were offered a mutual defense pact, but they voted it down.
Not wanting to have yet another discussion with the Victor, Superman expresses his intentions to depart from Kansas and leave it under the Green Lantern's protection, but the Green Lantern has no idea of who Superman is or what even a Green Lantern is. The Green Lantern admits that she didn't have a lot of time to learn about the Green Lantern Corps, because her predecessor died before he could tell her about it and her ring has been silent for a very long time.
As time passes, Superman teaches the Green Lantern about the Corps and they begin exploring the space sector together. Superman even repaired Marquis in an attempt to find a way home, but so far, his efforts have yielded no results. Superman admits that, with all that has happened, he hasn't even asked for the Green Lantern's name and the Green Lantern replies that her name is unpronounceable in Clark's tongue, but Marquis can translate it to a familiar term. Her name, as Clark understands it, is "Hope".
Eight years have passed, and Clark still dedicates himself to help New-Ark in any way he can. While he goes off in yet another nightly excursion to New-Ark, Szhemi suddenly comes up with a way to help Clark find his way to Earth. He is excited to tell Clark about it when he returns, but suddenly he is attacked by Hope, who claims that she has been alone for a very long time and she can't let Szhemi take Clark away from her. She uses her ring to kill Szhemi and destroy his computer.
In the present, Lois awakens to the sound of her fire alarm, only to find that Clark has smashed their mutual laptop in a fit of rage. Lois deduces that Clark must have been trying to find the planet he had been living on for years, so she ties the Lasso of Truth around his waist and tries to comfort him. A few seconds later, Clark falls to his knees and embraces her.
Appearing in "The Republic - Superman: Lost, Book Five"
Featured Characters:
- Superman (Clark Kent) (Flashback and main story)
Supporting Characters:
- Diana of Themyscira
- Green Lantern/Hope (Future) (Real name revealed) (First full appearance) (Flashback only) (First appearance as Green Lantern)
- Lois Lane
- Marquis A.I. (Voice) (Flashback only)
- Szhemi/"Jimmy" (Future) (Dies in flashback)
Antagonists:
- The Contrectatio (Future) (Flashback only)
- Max (Flashback only)
- The Republic (Future) (Flashback only)
- The Victor (Flashback only)
Other Characters:
- Arkasians (Flashback only)
- Daily Planet staff
- Jimmy Olsen (First appearance)
- Perry White (First appearance; unnamed)
- Green Lantern Corps (Mentioned only)
- Senator Jemison McMonigle (Mentioned only)
- Justice League (Mentioned only)
- Unnamed Green Lantern (Future) (Deceased) (Mentioned only)
- Zealots (Future) (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- Hypertime
- Unknown Future (Unnamed) (Flashback only)
- "Solar System Kansas" (Unnamed)
- Planet Kansas (Flashback only)
- The Dead Zone
- Clark's House (Flashback only)
- New-Ark (Flashback only)
- The Republic Headquarters (Flashback only)
- The Dead Zone
- Planet Kansas (Flashback only)
- Hope's Homeworld (Unnamed) (Destroyed) (Mentioned only)
- "Solar System Kansas" (Unnamed)
- Unknown Universe (Unnamed)
- Earth
- Philippines
- Subic Bay (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- United States of America
- New York
- Metropolis
- Daily Planet (First appearance)
- Kents' Apartment
- Metropolis
- New York
- Philippines
- Earth
- Unknown Future (Unnamed) (Flashback only)
Items:
- Green Lantern Power Battery (Flashback only)
- Green Lantern Ring (Flashback only)
- Lasso of Truth (Flashback and main story)
- PSK (Flashback only)
- Superman's Solar Uniform (Flashback only)
Vehicles:
- The Contrectatio's Spaceships (Flashback only)
Concepts:
- Emotional Electromagnetic Spectrum
- The Temporal Rift (Behind the scenes)
See Also