Luthor
As comic books increasingly draw both mainstream attention and “literary” cred, I sometimes hear it said: ” I love comics, but certainly not superhero comics!” If so, suit yourself – but in my humble opinion, there has never been a better time to be a reader and fan of superheroes, and it doesn’t matter how high your horse is, either. Who was the first jerk who decided that you can’t have your mind blown if there’s also some butts getting judiciously kicked? To that jerk I emphatically say: “Go fly a kite!”
I guess the little boy in me has made it clear by now where his juvenile loyalties lie. (No hard feelings, I hope.) However, I believe we can find some (totally awesome) common ground in Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo’s Luthor – even if you find that your sensibilities are allergic to vibrantly-hued spandex and the occasional (or even not-so-occasional) external monologue, Luthor will deliver what’s needful for you. I hesitate to say it, but it is, to my mind, something of a light-weight Paradise Lost for the DC pantheon. Lex Luthor, capital-A Adversary (and a figure who certainly would rather rule in Hell than serve in Heaven), is laid bare by Azzarello. And like Milton’s Satan, he is both despicable and sympathetic – in this case, utterly human, and self-proclaimed exponent and defender of humanity’s right to forge our own destiny.
Once upon a time, the enmity between Lex Luthor and Superman was more in the way of Snively Whiplash and Dudley Do-Right (“Rats! Foiled again!” etc etc). Now, the relationship between Superman and Luthor is rather more like the relationship between God and Lucifer. We see Superman through Luthor’s eyes this time around, as a dreadful symbol of complacent security, and the cold inertia of human ambition in the face of an example of “ultimate” but unattainable humanity, from a creature that is not even human. I am resolved not to spoil an instant of this stunningly-illustrated, brilliantly conceived gem, but I will just say that the final (and only) words Superman utters to Luthor are, frankly, some of the most chilling in all of superhero comics.
We are friends again! Enjoy!
