Action Comics #1104 review

Lex Luthor: Year One isn’t quite the right title for this extended look at the story of how a gifted kid grew up to be Superman’s greatest foe. Because we’re with Lex over several years, not just one, watching his his family and ego make him the man he is today.

As with last issue, the story isn’t all Lex, a good few pages are handed over to young Clark Kent and his parents. But first, we join Lex as he’s grifting across the US with mother Leticia, following their faked deaths. He’s trying to win £25,000 at a science fair with an artificial pancreas when a doctor attendee asks how he acquired the kit to put his invention together…

The angry outburst ends his chances of a win, and Lex flees, prompting a decision.

Meanwhile, in Smallville, as Christmas nears, Clark and Martha Kent are at the shopping mall.

Clark knows Jonathan and Martha can’t have children, but he sure knows they can adopt – but they’re terrified another child would compromise Clark’s secrets, and they’d lose him. Mother are son are separately, quietly devastated.

Elsewhere, Lex finds his father, manipulates his parents to get back together, helps the family get on a good financial footing and, amidst an uneasy truce, a sister is born. Lex finally has someone he loves unconditionally, as Lena proves an adept science student. But tragedy strikes.

Isn’t that typical of Lex, unable even to type the fact that he couldn’t cure Lena, as if there was shame there?

The first chapter of Lex’s story last month was pretty good, and this is even better. Writer Mark Waid gives a little more nuance to Lex with his empathy for Lena; I believe his attempts to help her are more about love for his sister than love for a challenge. And it’s fascinating to see him manipulating both his parents, the weak, drunk Lionel and the horror show that is Leticia.

As the comic goes on, Waid and artist Patricio Delpeche also show us how Lex’s attempts to help Lena are the beginning of something that becomes a trademark in later life. And they tie this telling of Lex’s tale to the (rather depressing) Krypto mini-series of a year or so back, rather smoothly.

I enjoyed seeing Clark’s desire for a brother, that fits with a fair few Silver Age stories, such as the debut of Mon-El, ‘Superboy’s Big Brother’. And what a treat to have a cameo from one of Gotham’s first families, it’s a shame Waid named Thomas and Martha, we don’t get to feel smug for noticing.

And my pal Anthony Desiato from the Digging For Kryptonite podcast will be delighted that Kenny Braverman, the future Ignition, gets a namecheck in the Santa scene.

Also rather neat, Lex’s description of Smallville as a ‘cartographical flyspeck’, and Lex’s assessment of his mom’s inability to get along with people as compared to his own, which is either ironic or Lex having a moment of insight as regards his own life skills.

Delpeche’s art is nicely suited to this story, and this issue’s pages are more consistent in quality than last time. The emotion is convincingly conveyed, whether it’s quiet disappointment, simmering anger or full-on rage… we also get a nice, quiet smile from Superman. The settings look splendid too, and everything is sensitively coloured by Delpeche himself.

My only problem with the visual storytelling is that baby Lena appears on panel a few frames before Leticia gets pregnant. Clever that.

Steve Wands delivers, as always, on the lettering front, with a nice variety of fonts assigned to characters. And Chris Brunner and Rico Renzi’s cover captures the devilish nature that becomes Lex’s default. And while there’s no blazing Smallville sign inside, the comic does, as last time, end with a conflagration.

Will next issue stop a fiery pattern developing? I’d bet on it, but either way I’ll be there to see it.