Superman and Lex Luthor have been taken for a ride. The disease Lex thought he’d developed due to an accident has turned out to be part of a plot against the Man of Steel by computer conqueror Brainiac.
Despite his lack of powers, Superman has faith the Justice League and Earth’s other heroes will step into the breach.
With the help of his old Legion of Super-Heroes flight ring, Superman and Lex manage to flee the Fortress of Solitude, only to find Brainiac has already enacted his bigger plan. His drones are swarming the world, abducting people off the streets.
Our protagonists manage to fight off Brainiac’s army and get to one of Luthor’s Lairs, the idea being to come up with an anti-Brainiac plan. As Lex gets sicker and sicker, he instructs Superman in what to build.
What can I say but, well done Lex. He really is willing to sacrifice himself to give Superman a chance to save the world. As he says, it’s simple mathematics. How can Superman refuse?
Writer Mark Waid knows, and we get a wonderful back and forth between the former friends. To my eyes, Lex is accepting the inevitable for the greater good, it’s his chance to die a hero.
So does Lex die? Buy this terrific conclusion and find out. It’s a Black Label book, so not tied to regular DC continuity – a sighting of Inza Nelson Dr Fate sets it a good few years ago – so anything can happen. The issue is replete with plot twists and excellent character moments, all leading to a very satisfying ending. We all know Mark Waid loves Superman and his world, and he laps up the chance to tell a self-contained epic. Having been brought up on the reluctant team-ups of Lex and Superman in the Silver and Bronze Age I love seeing them proving to Brainiac that they make a superb alternative World’s Finest team.
The compositions of penciller Bryan Hitch sing, the storytelling is crystal clear, with powerful moments aplenty – Brainiac has rarely looked so fearsome, and his swarm of bots are deeply sinister. Hitch brings the sense of scale that helped make his name on The Authority and Marvel’s Ultimates.
Occasionally the bodies are a tiny bit off, with elongated trunks, but so much work has been put into the pages it seems mean to moan, and overall the artwork is spectacular.
And let’s not forget the masterful inking and embellishment of Kevin Nowlan; lines are pin sharp, with Hitch’s pencilled expressions brought to brilliant life. You can see the relationship between Lex and Superman on their faces, the early friendship that’s always been waiting to re-emerge. Waid hasn’t written a love story, but there’s a real tenderness in the relationship between the boys from Smallville and the artists have captured that.
David Baron’s colours tie everything together, with a blend of naturalism and comic bookery that’s second to none. The hues on Lex as he becomes progressively sicker are especially good, just look at the skin tones. The unobtrusive lettering of Richard Starkings and Tyler Smith sits politely on the art, with not a single typo – I appreciate that.
The cover by Hitch and Nowlan is a lovely headshot of Clark Kent; I have been bemused by the lack of Lex on a series with his name in the title, so I asked Hitch on Bluesky. He honestly seemed bemused by the question, answering that in his mind it’s a Superman comic, so he dominates.
‘Instant classic’ is a phrase I kick around far too often, but I believe Superman: The Last Days of Lex Luthor will join the pantheon of timeless DC collected stories, alongside the likes of Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns and, of course, All-Star Superman. Read this mini-series and I think you’ll agree.
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 
Didn’t stick the landing! It’s not the last days of Lex Luthor, but the Last Days of Superman! Great review as always.
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Thanks! I’d love to know what you’d have preferred to see – you know what a back-seat editor I am!
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I would have been onboard with Lex’s redemption but not at the expense of Superman. For some reason, ever since Moore’s “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow”, writers seem to believe Superman “retiring” is a good thing. We just saw in Waid’s story, that the rest of the Earth’s heroes aren’t up the challenge of just Brainiac. What’s more, Superman represents the Good of the DC Universe. Any universe with a Superman is in trouble, since it lacks that fundamental hope. That and do we really believe Superman couldn’t get his powers back? Dr Fate couldn’t cast a spell or something? He retires so easily and with little thought as to what he represents to the world and beyond. Keep everything Waid wrote, but have Luthor cure Superman of his ailment, then allow Superman to finally cure Luthor. Luthor submits to justice and is jailed and kept by Superman. Over time, Luthor repents of his actions and does great deeds of good for the world. When he dies, it’s as a man who has learned to live for others, rather than in a blaze of glory saving Superman. That’s how I would have gone about it. . and I would never have had Superman reveal he’s Clark Kent. Secret identities have become flimsy since Brian Michael Bendis did them in at Marvel, but they do serve a purpose, and until he’s earned Superman’s trust, Luthor doesn’t get to know. What’s more, Superman’s guilt over what happened to Luthor is so misplaced, it’s grating. It’s the wrong approach to being good, which doesn’t mean blaming yourself for things that aren’t your fault. Anyway, I’m not Waid, and he did what he did. Thanks for asking!
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Excellent ideas! And very Silver Age imaginary story, so I am, as they say, all in… get Ardora in there, or have him marry Lana Lang, and perfection. I really do like the notion of Lex accepting justice.
Maybe we’ll get a sequel in which Superman serves the world in a new way.
Thanks so much for getting back to me!
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I’ll get to this eventually. I adore Waid but Hitch leaves me cold. His work looks like still life and he sure seems to love drawing rubble.
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I’d be very interested to see Hitch inked by an artist with a liquid, romantic line, Karl Kesel or Terry Austin say…heck, even the late Vinnie Colletta.
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Anj here.
You are a bit kinder. Lex’s self-sacrifice would have been a noble, heroic ending for him, a proper redemption. And as you say, the math seems right. Instead Superman’s solution seems wrong and robs Lex of that first good deed he would have done.
The events of the book also seem so fast. Like Waid knew the ending he wanted and just wrote what he had to in order to get there. The whole of heroes captured off screen? Lex builds a cure device when for 2 issues no other power could? Brainiac’s whole plot is about increasing his hard drive memory?
The whole thing was a bit of a letdown for me.
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It’s not that unknown for the heroes in a solo character’s book being taken off the table – if the likes of Kanjar Ro and Queen Bee (she’s no Hyathis!) can temporarily incapacitate the JLA, I’m sure Brainiac could take them by surprise.
I wonder if knowing the nature of his condition, after Brainiac’s reveal, spurred him to the cure.
Anyway, sorry you didn’t enjoy this as much as I did.
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The way I figure it, revenge is a greater motivation for Luthor than self-preservation.
But also, as he tried to cure himself before, he was operating on a false premise that the disease was self-inflicted. Knowing Brainiac caused it allowed him to see that his efforts were based on false assumptions, and he was able to fix his mistakes quickly once he knew the score.
Also: Luthor didn’t come up with a cure for himself; he found a way to have revenge on Brainiac, even if it meant dying. It was Superman who turned it into a cure.
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Excellent points all!
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Oh, man, I loved this comic from start to finish. It’s great to see Luthor get such an incredible wrap-up, and Superman get an unexpected retirement. Superman’s ethical choice at the end was completely in line with his ethics and his character…and Luthor’s eventual actions prove Superman’s hope for humanity — even the most selfish of us — was right.
Loved it.
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I really did love Waid’s version of Lex, Bronze Age but just a tad sassier.
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