Reviewer: Tim Stevens
Story Title: N/A
Written by: Brian Azzarello
Art by: Lee Bermejo
Inked by: Karl Story, Jason Martin, & Mick Gray
Colored by: Dave Stewart
Lettered by: Phil Balsman
Editor: Will Dennis
Publisher: DC Comics
For those of you who just have to know when this takes place”¦umm”¦look a bird!
Seriously, you may very well drive yourself insane if you try it. So don’t. This book is simply too good to get bogged down in the when and where of it all.
I’m usually a writing first kind of guy in my reviews because, hey, I love writing. This time though, I’m starting with the art. Why? Because variety is the spice of life? Nah. Because it is just too damn good to wait a second more to talk about.
First of all, take a look at that cover. Bermejo’s depiction of Superman through Lex’s eyes has been flawless. “The alien” comes across as impossibly and perpetually enraged. His eyes little more than black orbs always roiling with a barely contained heat vision. So, right there, Berjemo has done a stellar job of drawing us to the cover. However, upon a closer look, you can see a calm, collected Luthor reflected in Superman’s shield. The image is iconic, but also incredibly relevant to the story. It encapsulates not just the tone of the issue, but the tone of the whole mini with a single image.
The interior art, thankfully and unsurprisingly, lives up to the expectations set by the cover. Although very little action is seen on the page, everything feels dynamic. Lex and Superman’s face to face confrontation at the close of the issue (more on that later) is minimal in movement, but nonetheless crackles with artistic energy. A stilly hovering Superman has rarely commanded such attention.
My love for the art should not be read as a dismissal of the writing. While Azzarello’s work has never truly connected with me, he belted this one out of the park. Every issue of this mini has drawn us deeper and deeper into Lex’s worldview and this completes the act. What he has done is so despicable we should find ourselves horrified by him. Our only interest in the man should be the same kind of fascination that glues us to our TV sets to see a mass murderer sent to prison. And yet”¦that’s not it at all. We “get” him now and his actions, while extreme, do not strike nearly as horribly as they should. He is a monster, no doubt, but he is willful monster, a man who has, in essence, given up any chance at eternal rewards to see that humanity’s potential can and will be relieved. He suffers for what he’s done, he has regrets. But in the end, deep down, he knows (believes) that it must be done. While you’re reading the issue, you often find it very hard to disagree with that point of view.
The only complaint I can render onto the series is that this issue fails to tie everything up properly. Diversions in plot (like the Batman/Superman fight and the “recruiting” of Bruce Wayne), while fascinating in the moment, do not find a purpose in this issue and this is Azzarello’s last chance to do so. That’s not to say I desire a package with a bright red bow, but this certainly leaves a few questions unanswered and they are questions we are unlikely to get back to. That doesn’t make the story bad, it just leaves a bit of frustration when all is said and done.
That frustration for me, however, dissipates as quickly as it arrives. An issue this good, a mini this good, is something that I can’t help but enjoy and a few lingering threads aren’t going to change that for me.
