Superman: Up in the Sky #4 is an issue of the series Superman: Up in the Sky (Volume 1) with a cover date of December, 2019. It was published on October 2, 2019.
Synopsis for "Superman: Up in the Sky, Part 7: Run"
Alice, the girl kidnapped by aliens, sits alone in a cell. She holds her Superman action figure to her chest and reminds herself of the time Superman raced the Flash around the world for a charity event.
The first racer to do 10 laps around the world would win. Everyone expected Flash to win. He is the Fastest Man Alive, after all. It's only natural that he'd win. But not Alice. Alice believed in Superman and hoped that, against all odds, he would win. The race was being broadcast on TV, but Alice was unable to watch it. She only watched some of it on her neighbor's TV. She only got the full story when read the Daily Planet. On that newspaper, on an article published by Lois Lane, Alice read that Lex Luthor had taken an interested in the race.
Lex was aware the race was a charity event, so he called the charity and said that he would match the amount of money they have earned, a billion dollars, and donate it all the charity, on one condition: Superman had to win the race. Lex had made the calculations in his head and knew that Flash would win. He made that proposition just to spite Superman, because that kind of failure would demoralize Superman.
More amazingly, Superman was aware of Lex's ploy. He had super-hearing and he used to keep tabs on Lex at all times. Now, he knew he had to win no matter what. And so, the Man of Steel pushed himself harder than ever to match the Flash's speed. The crowd was excited that Superman was catching up to the Scarlet Speedster. The race had become more exciting than ever.
On the seventh lap, however, Superman began to feel tired and he stopped for a few moments to catch his breath. Still, he knew that he couldn't take too much time to rest, lest the Flash would leave him behind. And so, the Man of Steel continued the race and, against all odds, he won. Victory belonged to Superman
Upon Superman's victory, Lex was forced to keep his end of the bargain. All the money from charity was used to build a shelter for children: the Lex Luthor Center for Displaced Children. That shelter was the first place that made Alice genuinely happy. Her parents had mistreated her and her brother died, but thanks to Superman, she had found a real home.
But that was then, and this is now. Alice sits alone in a cell, surrounded by corpses. She hopes against hope itself, with all her heart, that Superman will come to rescue her.
Appearing in "Superman: Up in the Sky, Part 7: Run"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Villains:
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "Superman: Up in the Sky, Part 8: Man and Superman"
On his journey to find Alice, Superman gets hit by a mysterious spatial anomaly that separates him into two beings: a completely Kryptonian Superman and a completely human Clark Kent. Without any Kryptonian powers to rely on, Clark begins to suffocate in the dark vacuum of space, but Superman saves him and takes him to the nearest planet he can find. Superman brings Clark to a cave and kills an alien creature to supply him with food. As he lights up a fire, he informs Clark he will inform the Green Lantern Corps about him and leaves, but not before Clark begs him to save Alice.
The next day, Clark awakens and finds Superman waiting for him at the cave's entrance. Clark takes a closer look to Superman and sees that his uniform looks entirely Kryptonian and watches him act purely on logic and pragmatism. Clark asks him again to save Alice, but Superman says he cannot, as he sees no value in the life of a single girl, especially compared to lives of everyone on Earth. Clark decides to travel around the planet, hoping to find something that will help him find Alice.
As time passes, the differences between Clark and Superman become clearer. Without Superman's physiology, Clark cannot make the journey to save Alice, and without Clark's humanity, Superman lacks compassion and humility. Superman says Clark makes him weak, but Clark answers that Superman has never made him strong. Angry, Clark tells Superman to leave and Superman does, only to return some time later. Clark observes that for all of Superman's talk that he cannot save Alice, it would seem the only thing he cannot do is leave Clark alone.
As human and Kryptonian spend more time together, they come to realize they have always needed each other's strengths to survive. It is only though each other's strengths that they can be whole again and to be whole again, they must find the cosmic storm that separated them in the first place. Superman isn't sure this plan will work, but Clark tells him to believe in hope.
And so, they leave the planet and continue their journey together.
Appearing in "Superman: Up in the Sky, Part 8: Man and Superman"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Villains:
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
See Also