Writer Joshua Williamson has been focusing on the Luthor/Superman relationship this entire series with Lex going from duplicitous and villainous to inspired to amnestic to philosophical to now back to being villainous. Seeing Luthor say he is the better person to wield to Heart of Apokolips and win the tournament is a nice new addition to their dealings in this book. Is this a quick heel turn for Lex who went to Nanda Parbat to hide and meditate? Maybe. But the world is at stake.
As for Lois, I have been enjoying her dealing with Superboy Prime who is at his most likeable in this story. How did she get her powers back? Who knows. It had been hinted at that they had been stolen from General Zod. Did he regain them only to lose them again? Will we ever find out the hows and whys of these.
Eddy Barrows is on art again and brings a nice aesthetic to the whole thing, a mix of a fine lined pencil work to excellent shadowing. I like how DC is using Barrows, having come in for a few issues and not saddling him with the idea of a monthly book. His art is great and I always like seeing it.
One thing about this issue is that it does spend some pages retelling things I have read in this title and in the DC KO #1 issue. I suppose there are readers who haven't read the other and these recaps help.
On to details.
Meanwhile, Lex decides to confront Superman just prior to the tournament. He chastises Superman for thinking that only 'heroes' should be in the mix. Lex threw in some villains to make sure the field was even.
The book opens with one page recapping and reshowing a discussion about Lois' powers, both getting and losing. As a monthly reader, I didn't need this.
Anyways, I have talked about how Williamson is making Superboy Prime the most likeable he has been since the original Crisis on Infinite Earths.
I love Prime's responses after the re-powered Lois knocks out the evil Sun Boy. Calling Sun Boy a dork is a winner. But acknowledging that they are in an event and that Lois' powers will probably be gone afterwards is genius.
But you want a perfect Lex line. How about 'I am happy to see you. Because I want you to witness my victory.'
I still don't know exactly why Lex has turned the corner so quickly that he is showing such hate for Superman. After all, the decision to include only heroes in the KO tourney wasn't just Superman's. But here we are back to clean-shaven, power-suit wearing Lex.
Lex hand picks some villains that he is able to teleport away to the Legion of Doom HQ while still making the heroes believe these villains have been captured.
But again, Williamson writes a perfect Lex. Here he derides the heroes for inevitably showing mercy, something that cannot be tolerated. These villains are a better suited to fight the ultimate battle.
As the tournament nears, Lex brings up two good points, perfect Luthorian thoughts.
One, some heroes will probably side with Lex. (Who better to show that Captain Atom? Remember when they remade him as Monarch - as he always should have been?)
And then how Superman can't be the right person because Superman will always be worried about the happenings on the world instead of concentrating on the tournament.
Suddenly, the old Lex/Supes hate is back.
Prime made me giggle when he talked of wishing he was in the tournament so he could punch all sorts of head off.
Hilarious.
But Sun Boy regains consciousness and is joined by evil Timber Wolf and evil Ferro Lad.
Had to include this because I like the evil Ferro Lad design. Nice spikes.
I can't wait to get to a new Legion book.
And then Prime finds help in the Fortress in the form of many Superman robots! Who knew he had one for every costume! Great closing panel.
So this was a pretty fun issue. The Lex moments and the Prime moments were great. The art was superb. But the pages spent recapping felt like a little bit of wasted space.
Overall grade: B+
1 comment:
Great review, Anj. I suppose the recaps are for people not buying DC KO, and people brought here by DC KO who haven’t been reading Superman.
Excellent issue, but there is a glitch, which I missed. The excellent Murray writes in the comments on my take: ‘It’s interesting to note that Lex’s motivations as explained in this issue differ from his explanations in DC K/O #2. In the event book, Lex acts as if he had a revelation while in the Phantom Zone and offers no explanation as to how he got out of that zone whereas in this book he was never there.’
Interesting!
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