My Issue #6 analysis is up!
These little snippets into Kal’s life during this year and a half alone in space are so evocative; they tell so much using just body language. I wonder what sorts of things he does to cope. Does he daydream, or pace, or read/watch anything Sol’s got stored in his archives? Does he hear the voices of his parents comforting him, imagining they are here with him?
Everything he knows he knows and loves about his homeland is “foreign”; it’s too dangerous to share, he can’t let himself be close to anyone. And this carries through throughout the rest of his life- like in issue #13, when he says “because I showed the world something I cared about. Never do that again. Never again.” There’s some great parallels between Issue #6 and the Battle of Smallville. Both times Kal comes here, the one thing he views as home is ripped from him by Lazarus. The first time, it’s the Kents. The second time, it’s Sol. In issue #12, he calls Sol his “safe place”. His home.
To me, it’s this kid who’s weeping: Kal in Issue #5. He’s realized he’s already failed; it’s already too late. Absolute Kal is taken into the darkest depths of hopelessness and despair and he’s still Superman. Even when there are times he’s completely given up, when he believes this world is impossible to save and he just wants to die and leave it all behind, it doesn’t erase who he is. He doesn’t become evil and start slaughtering everyone and decide to rule the world. He’s still his kind and gentle self, even if he’s angry and broken. Eventually, he keeps going.But right now, he is hopeless.