Villains Month turns its focus on Lex Luthor, as Superman’s arch-nemesis gets released from prison and wastes no time returning to his diabolical ways — in a good but not great issue.
Written by Charles Soule
Illustrated by Raymond BermudezEvil genius, sadistic businessman, sociopathic inmate—Lex Luthor is all this and more. Now released from prison, there is nothing to stop Luthor from getting his way…not even Superman!
Considering that he is the nemesis of the most famous superhero in the world, Lex Luthor has remained relatively dormant in the first two of years of the New 52. He played a role in the first issues Grant Morrison’s “Action Comics” run, which detailed Luthor’s earliest encounters with Superman. Even though this was a younger Lex, he was still as egotistically brilliant and xenophobic as ever. The first conflict with the Man of Steel did not end in Luthor’s favor, and he was sent to prision where he has remained for over a year. Recently, Luthor has been popping up more and more, including memorable appearances in the first issue of “Superman Unchained” and the just completed ‘Trinity War’ arc. This was all part of the buildup for Lex to take the center stage he so greatly desires in “Forever Evil” miniseries, as he prepares to seemingly lead the charge against the Crime Syndicate in the absence of Earth’s heroes.
This Villains Month issue of “Action Comics” #23.3 acts as prologue to the “Forever Evil” event and focuses on Lex Luthor over the course of single day, beginning with his release from prison. Luthor has made use of the wealthy villain’s deadliest weapon, lawyers, to get his decades long prison sentence repealed. Luthor exchanges his jumpsuit for a three piece, and boards the waiting LexCorp helicopter with his impressionable young assistant, Casey. Rather than taking his time to readjust to the outside world, Luthor immediately starts down a course of corporate backstabbing, blackmail, extortion, physical violence and casual murder — and much to Luthor’s surprise, Superman is nowhere to be found.
Charles Soule is a new addition to the stable of writers among the Big Two companies, receiving his big break when he took over “Swamp Thing” after an acclaimed run by Scott Snyder. Soule’s portfolio quickly expanded to include “Red Lanterns”, “Thunderbolts” over at Marvel and the recently announced “Superman/Wonder Woman”, demonstrating DC’s confidence in the new creator. Soule has proven that he can handle the creepy and grotesque characters of “Swamp Thing”, but “Lex Luthor” is his first real opportunity to work with a villain whose true evil nature is internal. Soule begins to establish Luthor’s truly unsettling nature in the book’s very first scene, where a brief conversation with a prison guard demonstrates the terror the others feel around the man. Soule is very economical with his writing, and knows how to use the fewest words to create the greatest response.
One thing that readers might not be prepared for is the true extent of Luthor’s ruthlessness, as characterized by Soule. The issue slowly reveals the true depths of his merciless nature, and by the end it’s clear that Luthor has no regard whatsoever for the lives of others. To further establish this point, Luthor even commits heinous acts with his own two hands, and doesn’t merely resort to indirect methods. While at first this is shocking, it actually does clearly set up Luthor has Superman’s polar opposite, as for every great quality which makes Clark Kent a hero, Lex Luthor embodies the opposite. Luthor’s internal monologue is not long and drawn out but is brutally efficient, just like the man himself. Lex fully believes that Superman’s every waking moment is spent plotting against him, and in a few short paragraphs Soule shows that Luthor is unable to conceive of a world which does not revolve around himself.
Raymund Bermudez is brand new artist, making his DC debut with “Lex Luthor”, and while he clearly has talent, his style is in need of some refinement. The story gives Bermudez a lot to work with, as essentially each successive scene takes place in a new location. The use of a prison, a desert, a helicopter, a cityscape, a corporate penthouse, office buildings, and even outer space provides Bermudez with ample opportunity to showcase his versatility. The problem is not that the art is bad, but is fairly inconsistent; the prison or cityscape setting is beautifully rendered and full of detail in one panel, and is ill-defined and faded in the next. In one shot, the ornate floor of a penthouse looks almost photo-realistic, while the next features characters in front of mostly monochrome backgrounds. A climatic splash page featuring a space shuttle hurling towards the Earth is Bermudez’s only real opportunity to illustrate a great deal of action in this issue, and these pages are excellently rendered. It almost feels like Bermudez did not have the time to focus on giving every panel the same level of detail.
Continued belowBermudez’s style of drawing the characters is angular and heavily lined, and in many cases adds to the sinister nature of Luthor’s character. Unfortunately, the character rendering suffer from the same inconsistency as the locations. Luthor’s face is heavily detailed in one panel, and then almost minimalist in the next. The effect is rather jarring, and the result is that characters actually look like different people from panel to panel. When the shot pulls back and shows the characters from a distance, the lack of detail becomes even more pronounced, to the point where the proportions feel off. There is some great art in this book, but there are also parts that feel rushed and hasty.
“Lex Luthor” is a good comic book that stands out in a month filled with hit or miss villain’s stories by actually filling in more detail around the “Forever Evil” event. Charles Soule really does smooth over some inconsistencies in Luthor’s brief appearances before “Forever Evil” began, and tells a story that is able to surprise the reader while also remaining true to the character. Raymund Bermudez is a new artist with a lot of talent, but his work in this issue suffers from inconsistency. There are beautiful panels that capture the look of Metropolis, and subtlety show Luthor’s utter lack of mercy through his cold facial expressions, but there are other scenes that feel empty and monotone. Bermudez definitely deserves another chance to display his artistic skills as he is talented, and it’s possible that the reportedly rushed production schedule of the Villain Month books created unfortunate constraints he had to work under.
“Lex Luthor” is good re-introduction to a character who has been mostly absent from Superman’s adventures in the New 52, and should appeal to any reader who likes their bad guys efficient and ruthless.
Final Verdict: 7.0 – Charles Soule and Raymund Bermudez provide an interesting look at one of the biggest villains of the DC Universe and, despite some drawbacks, succeed by focusing how one very unique character would react to the events of “Forever Evil”. And luckily it’s not an origin story about how Luthor lost his hair.
