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alexandraerinAlan Moore wrote a story in Swamp Thing in which some military goons trying to kill the indestructible Swamp Thing pay Lex Luthor something like a million dollars for fifteen minutes of his time. (I wouldn't swear to either figure, but you get the idea.) He starts by telling them "Gentlemen, you don't know from invulnerable." and then outlines how his ray gizmo will sever Swamp Thing's consciousness from the earth's biogenic field or whatever.
Even with Swamp Thing planted (heh heh) firmly back in the DC universe of capes and cowls, this story is not likely to be considered canon any more, as it involves Gotham City building a statue to Swamp Thing and a Batman who can just pull up in front of City Hall in broad daylight and start telling city officials what's what.
Despite a very clearly Silver Aged Batman, this story was Post-Crisis... in fact, I believe it landed around the time that John Byrne's Man of Steel comic was introducing the post-crisis Superman and Lex to the world, so Legitimate Businessman Luthor was kind of a new thing. Moore's portrayal of Lex stood out as a sort of balancing act between the Luthor who would spend untold amounts of money inventing world-changing technology and use it to rob a bank and the one who would patent that world-changing technology, sell the world a nerfed and DMR'd version of it for millions, and keep the best for himself. It was only a cameo, but it gave the sort of balanced portrayal that Mark Hamill would bring to the Joker years later in Batman: The Animated Series - not straddling the line between conflicting versions of a character, but integrating them.
So when DCnU's Lex Luthor is introduced to us in Action Comics as a paid consultant for superhuman-hunting military figures, it gave me goosebumps. I wouldn't go so far as to say that Grant Morrison's portrayal was inspired or informed by Alan Moore here. I don't know that. It's definitely reminiscent. But at the same time, this isn't just Supervillain!Lex meets Businessman!Lex. This is also paranoid xenophobic humanocentric Lex, whose hatred of Superman isn't just that he can literally look down on him or that he stands in the way of his schemes (indeed, Superman can't yet fly and there's no sign that he's actually impeded any of Lex's undertakings yet)... it's also (or perhaps solely, we don't know yet) that Superman is an alien, a being foreign to his world who comes with untold power and unknown attention.
Regarding the last parenthetical aside: it's entirely possible that Lex's villainy will all be motivated by this factor this time around. However, motivations aside, it would be wrong to label him as only being a villain for opposing the designated hero. This issue makes it clear that he has no qualms with putting any number of his fellow humans (at least the kinds of humans who live in condemned buildings in poor neighborhoods and who take the train) at risk of death if it helps his plan to bring down the being he refers to as "the creature" and "it".
While the upshot of the comic is that Lex is that sort of fictional genius who can treat an entire city as if it were no more complex or unpredictable a system than a billiard table, it also clearly reveals the occlusion of his bias. His interest in Superman is motivated by the idea that Superman is an alien invader who threatens humanity, but his plan depends from start to finish on the idea that when he himself throws lethal danger at human beings, Superman will put himself in harm's way to protect them.
It can't be said he doesn't see Superman's altruism or believe in it... he was counting on it. If pressed, he would probably say it's a pose to gain people's trust. But in that case his plan didn't just hinge on everything physically falling into place as he predicts, it depends on Superman not blinking when Lex calls his bluff. Would he have felt so confident in that case? I doubt it. Whatever he would like to believe about the strange visitor, his study of Superman's psychology can address only the outward pose. He based his plan around the idea that Superman absolutely would not back down with human lives on the line, and he based this on observation of Superman's behavior.
So what we must conclude is that Lex knows Superman is a moral being who places a higher value on human life than he himself does and has no problem at all reconciling this with his idea that he, Lex Luthor, is protecting the world from a dangerous alien menace. It's the kind of contradiction that is rare in fiction (except when it's lampshaded so that someone can have a Come To Jesus moment and be instantly converted to the protagonist's cause, or double-down on their evilness in a rage-filled rejection of logic) but extremely common in real life.
Basically, Lex Luthor was the highlight of this issue for me... though part of that is because I've already been exposed to the Superman character in the preview pages that went out. I'd have to give myself high marks for my first impression. This version is definitely strong shades of the classic Superman, the illegitimate son of Hugo Danner and Tom Joad, if only they had been created to star in wish-fulfillment fantasies.
There has been much comparison of the new, young Clark Kent to Peter Parker and I think there's something to be said there. What I haven't seen a lot of commentary on is just how effectively the Clark Kent/Superman double-down disguise is sold in this book. Superman has slicked-back hair, yes... but Clark's is not just combed differently, it's pointedly mussed up. Clark wears glasses, but Superman keeps the red glow in his eyes. Superman wears an outfit designed to show off his physique (not exactly tights anymore), Clark wears a big bulky sweater that buries him. Clark acts mousy and bumbling, Superman is... well, he's arrogant, showboaty, and confrontational.
(I believe the red glowing eyes idea was used in Superman: Secret Identity, a pre-Infinite Crisis take on the "Superboy-Prime" story... in Secret Identity a young boy whose parents thought it would be hilarious to name him "Clark Kent" and who lives in an apparently mundane and power-less world suddenly finds himself with powers mimicking those of Superman, the fictional character he was named after. It's later revealed that some event gave a certain number of people powers and implied that he subconsciously shaped his. In this more "realistic" world, the point of wearing a Superman costume is it makes people doubt their eyes and accounts of his appearances, and keeps people from trying to recognize his face... the red glow is another touch for that purpose.)
You see him mugging and belting out lines like (paraphrase) "Tell it to someone who cares, because that ain't Superman." and you think "This has to be a put-on." And of course it is. That's the point. That's what Superman is. An identity he puts on so he can use his abilities without it being connected to him.
Now, it's going to be really grating if he keeps doing things like that... I really hope he dials it down to an 8 or a 9 at the very least. But it's a great take on how to make Superman into somebody nobody would mistake for Clark Kent, and vice-versa.
(Which raises the question: what's he really like? I don't mean the "Is Superman real and Clark Kent is the mask, or is Clark Kent real and Superman is the mask?" conundrum. The Superman that the world sees and the Clark Kent that the world sees are both caricatures. I think Grant Morrison understands this, to judge by All-Star Superman... and by this.)
Now, the criticisms:
First, as was pointed out to me in the last post, there's what seems like a whole plot point missing from the middle of the book, turning Lex's scheme into what feels like an Underpants Gnome plan. It's like watching Back to the Future on FOX: they cut out stuff that's kind of integral. After reading it, I understand what happened. I know how Lex's plan worked. I was deeply confused in the middle, though... it feels like they were a two-page spread over their count and they decided we could just infer what was happening.
Second, the crowd that moves to protect Superman from the authorities after he saves them looks a bit more... homogeneous... than the people he actually saved. If enough people read through this TL;DR I'll surely get someone commenting to tell me to quit looking for racism everywhere and it was just random. Here's the point: if you "randomly" populate a building with squatters and you end up with Black faces, and then you "randomly" draw a crowd of people heroically standing down some heavy ordinance to protect a beloved and iconic superhero... well, the crowd isn't even random. It's drawn from the people we saw Superman saving.
Now, it could be said that the Black folks were less confident about the idea that their presence would stop anyone from firing. But as the issue stands, it feels like they were stuck in for a single frame to help sell the "urban poorness" of it all or as a nod (but only a nod) to diversity.
I don't know if this would have even tripped me, but representation has been a hot topic around the reboot, both from DC's critics and from players within DC who maintain that they're using the reboot to help redress the balance a little. We have a white businessman using the military to make a literal assault on the poor. The economic stratification of the U.S. is a racial issue, as it feeds into and from racial stratification. This was not the place to shoehorn a couple of faceless and voiceless people of color into a frame and call it good.
But missteps and missed opportunities in the middle aside, this is a book with a strong opening and a glorious finish, and it makes for a strong introduction to the new DC Universe.
Even with Swamp Thing planted (heh heh) firmly back in the DC universe of capes and cowls, this story is not likely to be considered canon any more, as it involves Gotham City building a statue to Swamp Thing and a Batman who can just pull up in front of City Hall in broad daylight and start telling city officials what's what.
Despite a very clearly Silver Aged Batman, this story was Post-Crisis... in fact, I believe it landed around the time that John Byrne's Man of Steel comic was introducing the post-crisis Superman and Lex to the world, so Legitimate Businessman Luthor was kind of a new thing. Moore's portrayal of Lex stood out as a sort of balancing act between the Luthor who would spend untold amounts of money inventing world-changing technology and use it to rob a bank and the one who would patent that world-changing technology, sell the world a nerfed and DMR'd version of it for millions, and keep the best for himself. It was only a cameo, but it gave the sort of balanced portrayal that Mark Hamill would bring to the Joker years later in Batman: The Animated Series - not straddling the line between conflicting versions of a character, but integrating them.
So when DCnU's Lex Luthor is introduced to us in Action Comics as a paid consultant for superhuman-hunting military figures, it gave me goosebumps. I wouldn't go so far as to say that Grant Morrison's portrayal was inspired or informed by Alan Moore here. I don't know that. It's definitely reminiscent. But at the same time, this isn't just Supervillain!Lex meets Businessman!Lex. This is also paranoid xenophobic humanocentric Lex, whose hatred of Superman isn't just that he can literally look down on him or that he stands in the way of his schemes (indeed, Superman can't yet fly and there's no sign that he's actually impeded any of Lex's undertakings yet)... it's also (or perhaps solely, we don't know yet) that Superman is an alien, a being foreign to his world who comes with untold power and unknown attention.
Regarding the last parenthetical aside: it's entirely possible that Lex's villainy will all be motivated by this factor this time around. However, motivations aside, it would be wrong to label him as only being a villain for opposing the designated hero. This issue makes it clear that he has no qualms with putting any number of his fellow humans (at least the kinds of humans who live in condemned buildings in poor neighborhoods and who take the train) at risk of death if it helps his plan to bring down the being he refers to as "the creature" and "it".
While the upshot of the comic is that Lex is that sort of fictional genius who can treat an entire city as if it were no more complex or unpredictable a system than a billiard table, it also clearly reveals the occlusion of his bias. His interest in Superman is motivated by the idea that Superman is an alien invader who threatens humanity, but his plan depends from start to finish on the idea that when he himself throws lethal danger at human beings, Superman will put himself in harm's way to protect them.
It can't be said he doesn't see Superman's altruism or believe in it... he was counting on it. If pressed, he would probably say it's a pose to gain people's trust. But in that case his plan didn't just hinge on everything physically falling into place as he predicts, it depends on Superman not blinking when Lex calls his bluff. Would he have felt so confident in that case? I doubt it. Whatever he would like to believe about the strange visitor, his study of Superman's psychology can address only the outward pose. He based his plan around the idea that Superman absolutely would not back down with human lives on the line, and he based this on observation of Superman's behavior.
So what we must conclude is that Lex knows Superman is a moral being who places a higher value on human life than he himself does and has no problem at all reconciling this with his idea that he, Lex Luthor, is protecting the world from a dangerous alien menace. It's the kind of contradiction that is rare in fiction (except when it's lampshaded so that someone can have a Come To Jesus moment and be instantly converted to the protagonist's cause, or double-down on their evilness in a rage-filled rejection of logic) but extremely common in real life.
Basically, Lex Luthor was the highlight of this issue for me... though part of that is because I've already been exposed to the Superman character in the preview pages that went out. I'd have to give myself high marks for my first impression. This version is definitely strong shades of the classic Superman, the illegitimate son of Hugo Danner and Tom Joad, if only they had been created to star in wish-fulfillment fantasies.
There has been much comparison of the new, young Clark Kent to Peter Parker and I think there's something to be said there. What I haven't seen a lot of commentary on is just how effectively the Clark Kent/Superman double-down disguise is sold in this book. Superman has slicked-back hair, yes... but Clark's is not just combed differently, it's pointedly mussed up. Clark wears glasses, but Superman keeps the red glow in his eyes. Superman wears an outfit designed to show off his physique (not exactly tights anymore), Clark wears a big bulky sweater that buries him. Clark acts mousy and bumbling, Superman is... well, he's arrogant, showboaty, and confrontational.
(I believe the red glowing eyes idea was used in Superman: Secret Identity, a pre-Infinite Crisis take on the "Superboy-Prime" story... in Secret Identity a young boy whose parents thought it would be hilarious to name him "Clark Kent" and who lives in an apparently mundane and power-less world suddenly finds himself with powers mimicking those of Superman, the fictional character he was named after. It's later revealed that some event gave a certain number of people powers and implied that he subconsciously shaped his. In this more "realistic" world, the point of wearing a Superman costume is it makes people doubt their eyes and accounts of his appearances, and keeps people from trying to recognize his face... the red glow is another touch for that purpose.)
You see him mugging and belting out lines like (paraphrase) "Tell it to someone who cares, because that ain't Superman." and you think "This has to be a put-on." And of course it is. That's the point. That's what Superman is. An identity he puts on so he can use his abilities without it being connected to him.
Now, it's going to be really grating if he keeps doing things like that... I really hope he dials it down to an 8 or a 9 at the very least. But it's a great take on how to make Superman into somebody nobody would mistake for Clark Kent, and vice-versa.
(Which raises the question: what's he really like? I don't mean the "Is Superman real and Clark Kent is the mask, or is Clark Kent real and Superman is the mask?" conundrum. The Superman that the world sees and the Clark Kent that the world sees are both caricatures. I think Grant Morrison understands this, to judge by All-Star Superman... and by this.)
Now, the criticisms:
First, as was pointed out to me in the last post, there's what seems like a whole plot point missing from the middle of the book, turning Lex's scheme into what feels like an Underpants Gnome plan. It's like watching Back to the Future on FOX: they cut out stuff that's kind of integral. After reading it, I understand what happened. I know how Lex's plan worked. I was deeply confused in the middle, though... it feels like they were a two-page spread over their count and they decided we could just infer what was happening.
Second, the crowd that moves to protect Superman from the authorities after he saves them looks a bit more... homogeneous... than the people he actually saved. If enough people read through this TL;DR I'll surely get someone commenting to tell me to quit looking for racism everywhere and it was just random. Here's the point: if you "randomly" populate a building with squatters and you end up with Black faces, and then you "randomly" draw a crowd of people heroically standing down some heavy ordinance to protect a beloved and iconic superhero... well, the crowd isn't even random. It's drawn from the people we saw Superman saving.
Now, it could be said that the Black folks were less confident about the idea that their presence would stop anyone from firing. But as the issue stands, it feels like they were stuck in for a single frame to help sell the "urban poorness" of it all or as a nod (but only a nod) to diversity.
I don't know if this would have even tripped me, but representation has been a hot topic around the reboot, both from DC's critics and from players within DC who maintain that they're using the reboot to help redress the balance a little. We have a white businessman using the military to make a literal assault on the poor. The economic stratification of the U.S. is a racial issue, as it feeds into and from racial stratification. This was not the place to shoehorn a couple of faceless and voiceless people of color into a frame and call it good.
But missteps and missed opportunities in the middle aside, this is a book with a strong opening and a glorious finish, and it makes for a strong introduction to the new DC Universe.