Superman: The Last Days of Lex Luthor contains its premise in the title—Superman is morally compelled to help his arch-nemesis when they are struck by a mysterious, terminal illness—but the series highlights are the names resting beneath that title: Waid and Hitch. Mark Waid is one of the most critically-acclaimed writers of superhero comics whose career has shone a particularly bright spotlight on Superman in works like Birthright and World’s Finest. Bryan Hitch is a genuine artistic all-star whose style redefined superhero comics in the 00s without losing any of its appeal in subsequent decades. Together they promise a potent story about the original superhero, but The Last Days of Lex Luthor #1 doesn’t provide much to distinguish itself from similar fare beyond its style of presentation.
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That style is worth pausing on first as the issue officially marks this season as “Hot Bryan Hitch Summer.” Hitch’s work in Ultimate Invasion #1 reminded readers the artist has not lost a step and is still ready to tackle ambitious visual sequences that deliver some of the most engrossing action and skylines in the medium today; that’s true in The Last Days of Lex Luthor, too. The debut issue features two big sequences: Superman battling a massive, city-destroying mech and an exploration of the Fortress of Solitude. That opening action sequence plays upon the artist’s strengths with a formidable mech, genuinely dense city, and visions of Superman which make it clear everything will be okay. Seeing Hitch delve into the many wonders contained in Superman’s retreat is a delight for fans of the character who will appreciate the artist’s careful attention to detail.
It’s particularly interesting to see Hitch’s revolutionary 21st century-defining style applied to a narrative that reads like something from the Silver Age. It opens with Superman battling a giant robot before discovering the real adventure and moving through colorful highlights of his lore. Although the dialogue and pacing are much more modern (and well done), the plotting contains a nostalgic thread.
The temptation of nostalgia is present in Superman’s own narrative as he’s repeatedly drawn to memories of his and Lex’s childhood in Smallville throughout the issue. They center around a mysterious moment in which a young Lex is trapped in a burning building with Clark Kent pounding on the door outside. It’s established as Superman’s motive for helping Lex in this story without actually providing the context. This mystery box becomes a problem for the narrative, however, as Superman’s actions are genuinely difficult to understand within the moral conundrum presented to him.
The Last Days of Lex Luthor #1 embraces the notion that Superman will seek to save anyone who needs him, but not without redefining which people actually count. When Luthor first requests Superman’s assistance, he does so by killing at least a dozen individuals and threatening thousands more. Superman’s immediate agreement to aid Luthor ignores the corpses and cost of the request and, as a result, makes its hero appear deeply naive.
While most readers will have avoided introductory economics courses (wisely, I might add as someone with a degree in the field), it addresses the topic of opportunity cost in an instantly recognizable fashion. Superman doesn’t simply agree to help Luthor, he places all of his time, energy, and resources into curing Luthor’s disease. That passionate response feels genuine on a superficial level, but it denies the cost of that decision entails. Time spent researching Luthor’s cure is denied to millions suffering across the globe, many of them likely due to the direct actions of Luthor and LexCorp. The equation is not as simple as helping a mass-murderer survive his illness, but doing so at the cost of everyone else who might receive help. Given the miracles contained within the Fortress of Solitude, it’s impossible to avoid asking whether Superman has ever considered seeking a cure for cancer, diabetes, heart disease, or a million other illnesses not experienced by a single super-criminal.
In Silver Age comics these logical issues are easily ignored given the tone and genre applied, but that is not the case here. Hitch’s extraordinarily detailed work invites comparisons to our own world and Waid’s choice to examine the lethal logistics of Luthor acquiring his robot orients readers to pay attention to details. This is a comic that examines who puts the tires on the Batmobile and, as a result, it invites readers to consider the consequences of Superman’s actions.
Examining the moral logic present in this issue makes it clear that there are two classes of people in Superman’s world, as is so often the case in superhero comics. There are metahumans (i.e. all superheroes and supervillains) and human beings, and only the former is genuinely important. Superman is revealed to be a classist focused on his peers before anyone else. Humanity’s collective expression of horror at his agreement to save the most dangerous man in the world is unimportant to him.
Superman is certainly a character who seeks to save everyone, but that simple tenet contradicts itself within this story. It’s this muddled moral logic that undermines Superman: The Last Days of Lex Luthor even in its first issue. While it’s possible that the mystery of what happened between Lex and Clark in Smallville will provide greater significance to these decisions, it is absent here. So Superman is left to seem either foolish or classist, but there’s nothing inspiring or noble about the nature of his quest as intended.
Superman: The Last Days of Lex Luthor #1 reaffirms Hitch’s place in comics and is worth reading, if only to see his depiction of grandiose Superman adventures. Yet the underlying premise proves far weaker than it appears on the cover. Superman’s approach to this conundrum only envisions a world in which he and Luthor matter, even as it depicts a sprawling globe filled with individuals in Hitch’s iconic style. It ignores the sticky nature of this premise in order to barrel ahead without addressing the conflicts and interests that may interest readers more than the fate of a fictional villain.
Published by DC Comics
On July 25, 2023
Written by Mark Waid
Art by Bryan Hitch and Kevin Nowlan
Colors by David Baron
Letters by Richard Starking and Tyler Smith
Cover by Bryan Hitch and David Baron
