REVIEW: Superman: Last Days Of Lex Luthor #3

I’ve had the opportunity to hear Mark Waid speak on comic books, and Superman in particular, a few times, and he almost always shares his simple, yet poignant, philosophy on the characters: “Don’t ever forget who they are”. Now, some writers may see this as limiting, or that Waid only colors inside the lines. But it’s clear from his massive volume of award-winning works that Waid is perfectly capable of crafting heartfelt, character-driven, and impactful stories without needing to break the characters apart or go against their core essence. I bring this up because “The Last Days Of Lex Luthor” is a series that easily lends itself to the idea of a character becoming who they’re not, especially under DC’s “Black Label”, which is meat to be for alternative universe tales (and more adult content, though not exclusively). 

Case in point – Superman: Last Days Of Lex Luthor #3 (the final chapter) puts Superman in the position of a no-win scenario. Lex and Superman are attacked by Brainiac, who is revealed to have set the entire plot up. He got Lex fatally sick, but with a disease that would kill Superman as well. Now, with Superman near-powerless, Brainiac enacts phase 2 of his plan. Ultimately, to stop Brainiac, Lex and Superman need to destroy the android’s ship, which is located at the edge of the sun (never let it be said that Waid’s comic philosophy doesn’t extend to plot points either). With Lex’s guidance, Superman build a machine that he believes will stop the ship from transmitting to Earth, but when he’s finished Lex reveals what it actually does.

Now, every reader has one of two reactions to this moment: either “of course Superman should kill him – what’s one life compared to a billion?”, or “of course Superman won’t kill him – he’ll find another way, he’s Superman!”. But remember, this is an out-of-continuity Superman. And more to the point, every moment Superman wastes trying to come up with another solution, more of the world burns. Superman has picoseconds to make a choice that will save or sacrifice all human life, and all it will cost is the life of his most hated enemy. As Lex himself states in the issue: “The math here is not hard!”.  And this is where the brilliance of Mark Waid lies. Because we the readers know the answer. We know that Superman would never do this. But he’s presented a scenario in which even we believe there’s no true choice, that it truly is a no-win scenario. In fact, Lex calls it an “everyone-wins scenario” – the world gets saved, the evil Lex Luthor dies, and Superman gets his powers back. Even in our certainty that Superman will never kill, Waid creates a moment of true tension that we start to doubt it. After all, it’s not “our” Superman, right? The “Black Label” gives him the out? That’s okay, he can kill one person, it’ll save 8 billion others, and we can rest at night knowing that we not only would’ve made that choice too, but that “our” Superman is still protected, held up by our own ideals of him. The math here isn’t hard, right?

But that’s not how Mark Waid sees Superman when writing him. To Waid, every Superman is “our” Superman, or should be. And this is where his comic philosophy shines. Because while he writes Lex absolutely true to character – the fate of humanity is a math problem to be solved – he also does so with Superman. And Superman does. not. kill. So, what does he do? Well…go read the story to find out! But keep Waid’s comic philosophy in mind as you do. Because “staying in the lines”, so to speak, still leaves a lot of room for color, shading, depth, and beautiful storytelling.

Speaking of art, a minor note on the visuals here in Superman: Last Days Of Lex Luthor #3. I have read A LOT of comics in my life, and I recognize lots of artists on sight. Bryan Hitch is, of course, known for his cinematic, highly detailed, and incredibly panoramic pencils (see “The Ultimates”, “Fantastic Four”, and even his JLA work with Waid – “Heaven’s Ladder” in particular for some examples), but Kevin Knowlan doesn’t get nearly enough credit as an artist. In fact, Knowlan is very familiar with Superman, having drawn the “Adventures Of Superman” covers for 2 years in the early 2000s. Both are very familiar with the character artistically. Unfortunately, their styles don’t exactly mesh…Hitch’s style is very light lines with lots of curves, whereas Knowlan’s inking leans more into straights and angles, especially with shadowing. I can see both of them in the art, but it sometimes feels that they’re fighting each other for style, where one panel will be Hitch and the other Knowlan. It’s not a huge deal, and certainly doesn’t detract from the story – and most readers likely won’t notice at all – but as someone very familiar with both of their works, it’s sometimes distracting.

(9/10) Waid stays true to the characters, and therefore true to himself, in this tale of one of the most iconic rivalries in comic history, while still creating tension, core character moments, and dramatic action. A minor knock for my note about the art, but as someone who doesn’t love stories that focus on the villains, this whole miniseries, and Superman: Last Days Of Lex Luthor #3 in particular, had me gripped to the seat.