Just hours after announcing its plans to finally publish Batman: Earth One this year, DC has unveiled two new pages from J. Michael Straczynski and Shane Davis' second volume of Superman: Earth One. Set for an unspecified 2012 release, Superman: Earth One - Volume Two will pick up more or less where the first graphic novel left off, with Superman working to figure out how best to help humanity without abusing his power. Despite his might, Superman will also be confronted with his mortality as he faces a newly-imagined version of Parasite, a serial killer with enough juice to destroy the Man of Steel.

Straczynski summed up the second volume's basic plot thusly at The Source:
"Thematically, if Volume One was about Clark figuring out where he belongs, then Volume Two is about Superman trying to figure out where he belongs in all this, even as the world does the same at their end. How far can he push his power before he becomes something other than what he intended to become? In the midst of all this Clark gets his first apartment, becoming entangled with a beautiful woman next door, Lois starts trying to figure out what it is about Clark that doesn't add up, and a new and terrifyingly strong version of the Parasite is born from what was previously a serial killer...and now Superman has to confront someone who is not only as strong as he is, but can drain his power completely. In the aftermath of one of the massive battles that threatens to tear apart Metropolis, Clark for the first time feels what it's like to be normal, to be mortal, to be vulnerable...to be us. In the end, Volume Two is about power: its use and abuse, and its place in the world, to be used for good or for evil."
Check out two unlettered pages from Superman: Earth One - Volume Two below:


[Click Images to Enlarge]

[Via The Source]