The Last Days of Lex Luthor challenges the value of Superman's moral code
There have been many fine tales told about the Man of Steel, but few would deny that All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely is up there with the very best of them. Published across 12 issues, the out-of-continuity saga attempted to boil the character down to his essentials, giving us a deep and often moving insight into what makes Kal-El/Clark Kent tick. If, somehow, you've never read the book then, for the love of Zod, go and rectify that right now.
Superman: The Last Days of Lex Luthor is a very different sort of book - and we should offer a spoiler warning here for the full first issue.
The three-issue DC Black Label series, written by Mark Waid and drawn by Bryan Hitch, with inks by Kevin Nowlan and colors by David Baron, is less overtly comedic than All-Star. That's befitting a book so focused on Lex. And yet, on the basis of this first issue at least, it can't help but evoke the sci-fi Silver Age spirit of Morrison and Quitely's opus while also calling back to one of Waid's own works: Superman: Birthright.
Indeed, in an interview with Newsarama earlier this year, the writer said that the new book was a "spiritual sequel" to that series.
The story begins with a bang as the island of Meghwip is attacked by a giant robot. Superman does what Superman does, flying in to the rescue and using his smarts and speed to save everyone on the island. He defeats the robot and, tearing it open, finds a strangely frail Lex Luthor inside waiting for him. Supes suspects a trap, but when Lex tells Kal-El that he is dying, he realises that his oldest foe is telling the truth.
It turns out that this whole escapade has been an attempt to draw Superman's attention so that he can ask for his help. Lex doesn't have long to
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