The various Superman comics are, in my opinion, some of the most inconsistent on the market and, as such, I only follow them when there is a specific new plot that sounds interesting to me. With the introduction of Paul Cornell, an author whose works I have consistently enjoyed, and a new plot that focuses on Lex Luthor of all people, I decided this might just be one of the plots that might interest me enough to check out. The whole New Krypton plot just didn’t appeal to me nearly as much as I’d hoped and War of the Supermen wasn’t quite the ending to that I wanted it to be either, so I was hoping the fresh approach Cornell was bringing would be enough to reignite interest. It’s not quite the draw I had hoped, but it’s certainly not a bad start.
Cornell’s Luthor is an interesting one. It’s sort of like he mixed a little bit of all of Luthor’s personas over the years as he comes across a little bit mad scientist, a little bit business man, and a little bit of sly-tongued politician. This Luthor seems to be trying to control his life a bit more, but having a little difficultly with this, especially as he goes about his quest to regain the power of the various power rings in the DCU, though maybe not the one you expect. Enter Lois Lane to the story; she is here primarily to ground Luthor and try and call him on his various shortcomings so he can try and adjust his personality. Anyone that has ever read Lois Lane in a story will immediately wonder not only why she is shadowing Luthor like this but also why her personality seems just a little…off. At first, I was a little annoyed by the way Lois was handled here, but Cornell takes the smart approach and, instead of dragging out the mystery of this, satisfactorily reveals the reason before the issue ends.
The plot itself is quite a fun one and one that makes sense for Lex Luthor’s character based on his experiences in Blackest Night. His plan gets derailed partway through the issue by a group of villains that are either new or I don’t recognize, but we discover by the end of the issue and it is a familiar, and unexpected, reveal. Easily the most interesting part of the issue was watching Luthor’s interplay with the villains in this issue and his casual method of determining what they want even while being held off the side of a building. Even more so than the hunt for power rings, I’m most excited to see just how Luthor’s quest forces him to play off of other villains. This issue is mostly setup and little action, but that is only to be expected. The biggest shortcoming of the story was Luthor’s imagining of what the world will be like once he gets his power rings. It felt a little over-wrought, even for Lex Luthor, but it’s not a huge problem and it is even lampshaded a bit.
The weakest link of the issue was easily the art of Pete Woods for me. From what I’ve read, there are a lot of people out there that enjoy his artwork, but I’m just not one of them. His artwork just feels simple and a little blocky to me, sometimes bordering on ugly, but it actually wasn’t too big of an issue here. It wasn’t anything special either, but it didn’t distract from the book. Easily his best work in the book is the last page reveal, but it is serviceable throughout.
Ultimately, this was an entertaining read and Luthor’s characterization is strong enough to bring me back for next month’s issue, but the pace needs to be picked up some. It’s not my favorite book by Paul Cornell, but I’ll put my faith in him for another month. I want to be interested in Action Comics again and I’m hoping that this story will become the one to do that.
Overall: 7.4/10
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