This is really not so much a review as me writing what I thought about this trade(hmm, that is a review isn't it...). For the record, this series took place in Superman #650-653 and Action Comics #837-841 and was written by Kurt Busiek and Geoff Johns. This was Superman's "One Year Later" storyline. You remember the weird One Year Later event that kicked off after Infinite Crisis right?
I LOVED this trade! That's basically why I even bothered to write this post, just to state that fact. In this collection, we discover that Supes lost his powers after the battle with Superboy Prime at the end of Infinite Crisis. With no powers to distract him, Supes becomes one of the best reporters at the Daily Planet, as well as being a much more attentive husband to Lois. Needless to say Supes gets his powers back(duh!)and beats up a whole mess of bad guys.
While Supes parts were enjoyable, Lex Luthor stole the show for me. After the events of Infinite Crisis, Lex is arrested, and winds up beating the charges against him. When he gets out of court, he begins to brag to the reporters present and is struck by rocks and other garbage by the angry denizens of Metropolis. On top of that, his company's stock takes a beating due to the very public trial, so Lex decides to punish the people of Metropolis for their disrespect. Lex proceeds to gain possession of a Kryptonian spacecraft and tears up the city, until he is ultimately stopped by Superman, or as Lex calls him, that "obscene alien parasite!". Obscene alien parasite... HA! So Lex is defeated, and Supes is back as the protector of Metropolis, in other words, everything goes back to normal.
Like I said earlier, Lex was hilariously great here. From his crazy vendetta against the people of Metropolis, his constant flirting with Lois Lane, his old-school mafia beat down of Clark Kent in a dark alley, his fist fight with Supes, and of course his excuse at the end of the whole thing that the space ship mind controlled him into attacking Metropolis. This one TPB made me into a huge Lex Luthor fan. I'd 100% recommend this trade to any comic fan. For a score, I'll give this trade a 10 out of 10. Great story, great dialogue, great artwork, vintage Lex Luthor, what more could you want?
My favorite Lex moment was probably the thing that sums up Luthor and Superman's relationship to a T.
ReplyDeleteSuperman had just had his powers leave him, he and Luthor are at Apogee and they start to fall.
Lex and Superman look at each other with Lex saying, "I hate you. God I hate you."
My thoughts exactly! I actually scanned that pic because it was so perfect. Geoff sure writes one hell of a great Lex Luthor.
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