10 Thoughts on Lex Luthor's Action Comics #892 by Paul Cornell and Pete Woods

10 Thoughts, Reviews, Top Story

1. Lex takes Deathstroke, fake Lois and a team of scientists to the North Pole where they find something like a meteor of black lantern fragment that’s warping time.

2. Lex trusting Deathstroke is great. Deathstroke is a businessman, like Lex, who gets results. They should be consistent allies.

3. Luthor gets to be a hero here, regardless of what he is on the grander scale, refusing to bow his intellect to the emotion this object generates. He’d rather die than give up his intellect and that’s why he isn’t still consumed by greed. He is, as he says, “greater than his need.”

4. Luthor obsessed with almost anything but Superman is, apparently, a largely heroic character, a pragmatist to be sure, but hardly any worse than someone like Nick Fury.

5. Lex in a battle suit barely able to hold off Deathstroke is absolutely great. The fight is awesome and the end result of Lex cutting Deathstroke’s wages in half and letting it drop just makes perfect sense as Lex knows what happened and there’s no reason to make it personal.

6. Throughout the issue, Robot Lois offers Lex a new perspective several times. This seemingly surprises Lex each time, as he’s so intelligent, but no matter how smart you are, there’s always room for another intelligent perspective.

7. Luthor seems to relish challenges here, whether from Deathstroke or from whatever mastermind is behind this who he almost hopes is his equal.

8. Next month, Grodd comes into play. He is not a businessman and his goals are at odds with Lex. Expect fireworks.

9. The art is great here, as it shows Lex’s emotion most clearly, even if Deathstroke does look a bit off.

10. Rating 8/10 – This was a flat out fun comic, with Lex growing as a character and getting to be a hero in his own right. If only other writers had similar restraint in writing him, as he just helped with genocide over in World of New Krypton, he’s far better when he gets to be a well-rounded character with his own agenda.

Glazer is a former senior editor at Pulse Wrestling and editor and reviewer at The Comics Nexus.