Superman’s quest to find a cure for Lex Luthor, dying of an illness sparked by experiments with green Kryptonite, kicks into high gear. Having tried the scientists of Kandor, and to place Lex into Phantom Zone stasis to stop the disease progressing, he looks to the future.
Brainiac 5 agrees to look into what’s ailing Lex, despite his being unimpressed by the 21st century’s greatest villain.
The brilliant Brainy tells his old friend he can’t help Lex.
Back in their home time, Superman asks Wonder Woman if he can have access to the Amazons’ cure-all Purple Ray. Her initial response isn’t encouraging.
Next stop on the quest, the Atlantean kingdom of Tritonis, where a legendary flower may help Lex. Along the way he meets Superman’s college sweetheart Lori Lemaris and her husband King Ronal.
Over the next 24 hours Superman’s efforts take him and Lex all across the universe, with help sought from everyone from Adam Strange to Vartox.
And all the while Superman is being besieged by memories of the day he believes the teenage Clark failed his best friend.
It wasn’t Clark’s fault, of course. As with the classic tale of how Lex lost his hair in a lab accident, it’s his own fault; here the details are different, but the hubris is the same. And yet Clark carries the guilt with him, fuelling his fire to save the life of the adult Lex, a man he knows would kill him in an instant. A man who has killed many, many people in his wasted life.
I’m with Diana – yes, if Superman can save a life he should do so, but he could be saving the lives of thousands of good people in the time he’s devoting to Lex. Lois Lane, though, sees his point.
Lois ‘girlfriendsplaining’ things to Jimmy, who knows Superman almost as well as Lois, is the only, tiny, off-note in a brilliant script by Mark Waid. The writer has produced a wonderful second chapter in his three-part Black Label story, partnered with penciller Bryan Hitch, inker Kevin Nowlan, colourist David Baron and lettered Richard Starkings and Tyler Smith.
The quest for a cure is very reminiscent of a Silver Age Superman story I can’t quite put my finger on right now (Superman #156’s ‘The Last Days of Superman’ seemed likely, but it’s not quite this, so all help appreciated). While the quest is fabulously entertaining, it’s not the point of the chapter. The point is that Lex gets to hear how the people who know Superman best, the people who love him, see the Man of Steel. Maybe, before he dies, he’ll come to see Superman as more than someone to hate, someone to blame for his own failings.
The highlight of this chapter for me was seeing the adult Legion of Super-Heroes – Brainiac’s open contempt for Lex is a treat, and there’s a moment that’s a tad reminiscent of a story point in ‘Whatever happened to the Man of Tomorrow’.
I’m becoming ever more convinced DC is readying for their return in a strip of their own. A Dark Legion is central to the ongoing DC All-In storyline, Waid is about to begin telling canonical stories of Superman as Superboy in Action Comics… I tell you, the Legion of Super-Heroes are coming back in all their glory. Hitch and Nowlan – like Waid, legendary talents – certainly do the future version of the future team justice.
Away from the fighting, Hitch captures the nuance of the characters, etching their every emotion on face and body so it’s always clear how they’re feeling. The snarkiness of Lex is especially fun. The backgrounds are terrific, as is the tech, and the artists get extra points for capturing the chaos of a newspaper office.
The colours of the DC Universe are nicely brought to life by Baron, with the Atlantean backdrop especially benefiting from his talents. And Comicraft’s Starkings and Smith prove adept at dialogue placement and font selection.
The cover, as last time, is a nice shot of Superman by Hitch and Baron but there’s a very strange lack of Lex – what is going on?
The Andrew Marino-edited issue closes with a big surprise, a cracking cliffhanger. While we’ve waited nearly two years for this second issue – I reviewed the first issue in July 2023 – the conclusion is definitely coming next month. And if it’s as great as this middle part we can consider ourselves blessed.
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 
A page-turner! Can’t wait for the conclusion. Is this a Brainiac-Luthor team-up plan somehow? It’s obvious that whatever is afflicting Lex Luthor must not be real, i.e. you can’t cure what doesn’t exist. I loved the part where Superman bleeds and just loses it with Luthor. Classic Bronze Age action! Great review as always!
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Thanks very much, it’s tough with a comic like this not to just gush. I hope it’s not a Luthor/Brainiac team-up, it’s always nice when Lex doesn’t get one over on Superman.
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Looks interesting. I can’t remember quite why I didn’t pick up the first issue – I have a feeling it’s because I wasn’t a huge fan of Birthright (I chucked my copies out in a recent decluttering exercise with little concern) but I’m a sucker for Hitch, though his still seems a little more noodley than before.
The bit with Wonder Woman above is interesting as I understand the argument, but I have to say I’m not convinced Diana would turn someone away, even if it was Lex, as compassion is one of her greatest traits and she believes in rehabilitation, or that she would fight Superman over it, but then Waid has said on more than one occasion that he doesn’t know how to write her because he thinks someone fighting for peace is a paradox. I’m assuming though that she does allow the purple ray to be used in the end?
Stu
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Maybe the way to look at it, Diana is fighting and giving up her own peace so that others might have a chance of living in peace.
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A great way to look at things!
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She does indeed, and I also wasn’t fully in on Birthright. According to editor Paul Kaminsky on the latest Digging For Kryptonite podcast the only canon Superman origin at the moment is what we saw in Action Comics #977-978, plus the Doomsday Clock tweak that saved Ma and Pa Kent from death in a car crash.
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The art you show does show a bit more life than Hitch usually portrays. One of my problems with his art in general is that it always looks so static. I’m also wondering if it’s easier to know who’s who in the Legion with those…interesting redesigns elsewhere in the book. BTW, I assume that’s Dawnstar but god, that’s a bad look.
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I don’t hate it, but she does look odd all covered up.
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I always figured Dawnstar’s skin bearing had to do with using cosmic energy to fuel her in part and to make her more receptive to the trail she’s following. I’ve also long wondered why a woman who can fly through space and enter hyperspace unencumbered isn’t a physical powerhouse when terrestrial. Her strength and resistance to damage should be Kryptonian level.
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Aha, the Aquaman logo, and yes, you’re so right. I think you should put that out there the next time we have a Legion series, tell the writer.
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I read this and the first issue last night, and I loved them book, cover to cover. Can’t wait for issue 3.
Obviously, the Legion appearance was a highlight for me. Loved that they were in new, but still largely recognizable, costumes. And I especially loved that it looks like Harmonia was in the group, in pink on the top of the first spread. I don’t have any specific love for the character, so much as I just appreciate when later incarnations of the group don’t get ignored.
And wow, two depictions of Lori Lemaris/Ronal in the same week (for me, at least). It’s great to see how their relationship has progressed and gotten more secure since the wonderful scene in World’s Finest.
Unlike Anon, above, I think Lex’s disease is real — and maybe engineered by Brainiac without his knowledge. I don’t think they’re in cahoots at all… just that Lex is the bait Brainiac chose to hook Superman with.
As for Lois and Jimmy, it didn’t ring particularly untrue to me; I think Jimmy knows the things Lois is saying instinctively, but Lex’s disease, and the opportunity to just let nature take its course, is a new idea to him. I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he’s asking questions as a way to let Lois articulate the answers he knows in his heart must be true…but can’t quite say why until he hears them out loud.
Like Stu, it was Wonder Woman’s initial attitude that gave me more pause. I can see where she’s coming from, but I’m certainly glad she relented.
Bring on book 3!
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I was chuffed to bits I recognised Harmonia, given I can never remember what her powers are.
I’ve had a busy week, I’ve not even got to World’s Finest yet, the shame!
Top thoughts on Jimmy and Lois, for me, Jimmy is like the Daily Planet visual, different every time.
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Mart, you’re recalling Jerry Siegel’s “Superman’s Mermaid Sweetheart!” from SUPERMAN # 135, where neither Atlantis nor the surface world can cure Lori Lemaris’s paralysis, so Superman searches the universe for a cure for her. (It’s the first appearance of alien merman surgeon Ronal, of course.)
Thanks!
— Superstone
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Blimey, talk about the answer being hidden in plain sight. Two Lori and Ronal appearances in one week and I can’t recall that. Thank you, Superstone!
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I had a thought while soaking in the tub: Clark looking for a cure for Lex is marginally okay. Him going to these ridiculous extremes is not. In fact, every person dying of something incurable or who lost someone to some disease that was uncurable should absolutely hate Clark for going to these lengths for an irredeemable murderous monster when he’s been shown to not even make a small effort for anyone else.
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As the kids say, one hundred per cent.
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