Review: Superboy Vol. 3- Lost
Quick Summary
Pros: Superboy’s first encounter with Superman and Harvest’s origin story are moderately entertaining.
Cons: Crossovers make the book feel chaotic and hurt Superboy as a character. One of the crossovers is poorly written overall and poorly presented in this volume. The artwork here is inconsistent and makes the volume feel even more chaotic.
Overall: This is a poor volume that defines a new low for this series. Its messy narrative and inadequately collected storyline distracts from the potential presented in previous volume. This collection does little for Superboy’s character and has only a few genuinely interesting moments. Fans of this series would be better off either skipping this volume or looking elsewhere.
Story
Superboy Vol. 3: Lost, by Tom DeFalco and Scott Lobdell, is a messy volume with a disjointed storyline and few positives. The bulk of the volume focuses on the Superman: H’el on Earth (Review) crossover event, which is lackluster when viewed in full but downright bad when viewed in the fragmented format that this volume presents it in. This and another crossover hamper Superboy’s progress as a character and further complicate an already struggling series. There are a few interesting moments in this collection but none that reverse the damage done throughout the rest of the book. Overall, this isn’t a book most fans will be interested in.
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The biggest problem, throughout Lost, is the volume’s attachment to crossovers. The volume barely begins before Superboy is thrown into an adventure in another comic series. Then, immediately upon returning, he becomes involved with the H’el on Earth (Review) crossover. These moments break up the narrative established by the previous two volumes and make reading about Superboy even more cumbersome.
In addition, it is also worth noting that the H’el on Earth (Review) crossover is not collected well within this volume. By exclusively reading this volume, readers will miss out on significant portions of the story, most of which only receive brief summaries. Plus, the entire conclusion to the crossover is completely left out and not summarized at all, leaving readers to look elsewhere to learn what happened at the end of this event.
It also doesn’t help that the H’el on Earth (Review) crossover, which takes up the majority of this book, is bad even when viewed in its entirety. It is a chaotic and poorly executed crossover that does little for Superman and Superboy’s characters, while significantly damaging Supergirl’s character. When chopped up in the manner presented here, the reading experience is even more chaotic and confusing. The only redeeming aspect of this story is that readers get to see Superman and Superboy interact for the first time, though this does not even begin to fix the crossover’s negative attributes.
As the volume comes to a close, readers learn Harvest’s origin story, which ends up being the most compelling aspect of the book. His character has been shrouded in mystery since the very beginning of the Superboy series, so discovering a few of his secrets is pretty satisfying. His story here still isn’t great but it does instill a modicum of hope that the next volume will be more interesting.
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Art
The artwork throughout Lost feels similar to the story, in that it is below average and remarkably disjointed. The H’el on Earth (Review) crossover brings a number of new artists to the series with a variety of different styles. These styles are then presented back to back, causing significant differences in character design, costumes, and overall visual appeal from chapter to chapter. It makes an already chaotic storyline feel even more chaotic, since there is little consistency in the artwork. Even the quality of R.B. Silvia’s work, which we praised in previous reviews, seems to have gone down. All in all, this collection provides little positives in the visual department.
Continuity
Superboy Vol. 3: Lost continues the story from Superboy Vol. 2: Extraction (Review).
The story here continues in Superboy Vol. 4: Blood and Steel (Review).
This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:
- Superboy’s actions in between meeting up with Caitlin Fairchild and returning to New York City are detailed in Ravagers #4-7 and Legion Lost #13-16, which are collected in Ravagers Vol. 1: The Kids from N.O.W.H.E.R.E. (Review) and Legion Lost Vol. 2: The Culling (Review).
- A large portion of this volume is part of the Superman: H’el on Earth (Review) crossover event. See our “H’el on Earth Reading Order” for more information.
- Kid Flash mentions that Superboy helped get Wonder Girl’s armor back for her. This happened in Teen Titans Vol. 2: The Culling (Review).
- Superman’s Kryptonian Battle Armor originates from Action Comics Vol. 1: Superman and the Men of Steel.
- Harvest’s initial interaction with Red Robin is mentioned here. This is shown at the very beginning of Teen Titans Vol. 1: It’s Our Right to Fight (Review).
- Superman and Wonder Woman’s relationship is brought up in this volume. Their relationship began back in Justice League #12, which is collected in Justice League Vol. 2: The Villain’s Journey (Review).