The battle between Superman and Lex Luthor has reached a strange new place in Superman and Action Comics. Since the latest volume of Superman started, Lex has been an ally of Superman – though imprisoned, he helped Superman as much as possible, even making LexCorp into SuperCorp to help the Man of Steel. Brainiac captured Lex Luthor in last year’s “House of Brainiac” story arc, which ended with Lex losing his memory. Since then, Lex has been something of a kitten, helping SuperCorp and his daughter Lena, while seemingly falling in love with his long-suffering assistant, Mercy Graves. Lex is a changed man… or at least that’s how it seems.
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Superman: Lex Luthor Special #1, by Joshua Williamson and Eddy Barrows, concentrates on Lex’s amnesia. The story has a huge twist in it, one that is rumored to play into Dan Slott’s upcoming Superman Unlimited, but also reveals another moment from Luthor’s childhood, one that shows just how linked he and Superman have been for almost their entire lives.
Lex Luthor’s Genius Made a Huge Difference in Baby Superman’s Life
In the issue, the memory-wiped Lex is given a piano by Lena, who remembers Lex’s mother once talking about Lex’s old piano lessons. Lena means for the instrument to jog Lex’s memory and it seemingly does: Lex remembers his piano lessons, as well as his drunken father Lionel’s anger at Lex playing music. While his mother does her best to mitigate Lionel, Lex is still hurt by his father’s rage, crying his eyes out. This is a major moment, as so far, Lex’s memory has been a complete void. It being Lex, though, he hides the fact that he remembers anything from Lena.
The next flashback sees Lex and Lionel in Smallville. Lionel rushes the young Lex to finish the errand they’re on. When two parents and a crying child walk by, Lionel gets angry about the noise the baby is making. He asks Lex why the boy needed them to come downtown and Lex tells him that he had an idea for an invention – one that can send music into space, and he needed a radio transmitter. He tells his father that he was creating the machine specifically for Lionel. Instead of being happy his son wanted to make him something, Lionel is livid with his son’s ingeuinty (for those who don’t know the history – Lionel Luthor hates his son because Lex is smarter than him).
Related: Nicholas Hoult Details How “Ruthless” Lex Luthor Will “Outmaneuver” Superman
In the final flashback of the issue, Lex is running away from his home as his mother and father fight over him. Lionel says that no child could create a machine like the one Lex did and that they can’t let the boy leave their farm, ever. Lex runs through the field before finding a clearing and sitting under the moon. Lex sits down mournfully and turns on his machine, transmitting music out into space. However, someone much closer hears the tune.
The couple with the crying baby is revealed to be Clark and Martha Kent. Baby Kal-El/Clark Kent hasn’t been sleeping at all, spending night and day crying his little eyes out. Neither of the Kents know what to do the calm the baby down and they can’t take him to the doctor, out of fear that medical personnel will realize that he isn’t human. Then, suddenly something changes. Lex’s music transmission plays at a level that Jon and Martha can’t hear, but baby Superman can. The infant Clark calms down and finally goes to sleep, with the Kents proclaiming that it’s some kind of miracle. Meanwhile, young Lex Luthor sits by himself in the field, his head hung in sadness not knowing the happiness he brought to the lives of the Kents and the person who would one day become his worst enemy.
Superman: Lex Luthor Special #1 Shows the Tragedy of Lex Luthor’s Life
Superman and Lex Luthor’s lives have often been a dark mirror. While the Kents loved young Clark with all their heart, young Lex Luthor’s life was very different: his mother loved him, but his father was an abusive monster, his own feeling of inadequacy fueled by Lex’s genius. This issue shows off this difference in Superman and Lex’s upbringings: while baby Clark is being doted over by his parents, who just want him to stop his crying and finally rest, Lex’s father reacts with rage to Lex making him a present. It’s a stark reminder of how the terrors of his early life changed Lex Luthor, forever.
Superman: Lex Luthor Special #1 is one of two Lex one-shots available this week, and does a great job of progressing Lex’s current plot line forward. It’s often been said that if Lex Luthor really cared about humanity as much as he says he does, he could have created ways of helping the planet, and this issue shows that there was indeed a time when the young Lex just wanted to use inventions to help people. It plays into the issue’s main plot – where Mr. Terrific asks Superman if Lex can remember how to make a machine that will allow them to communicate with the alternate Earth of DC’s Absolute Universe – but seeing this portion of Lex’s younger life further explains the formative tragedy that forged him into the villain he became. It’s truly heartbreaking to see what Lex could have accomplished if he was raised better.
Superman: Lex Luthor Special #1 is on sale at DC.
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Image Courtesy of Warner Bros.
