Nowlan variant:
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Superman: The Last Days of Lex Luthor #1 Preview
Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: Bryan Hitch
“Look, you can’t put the Superman #77s with the #200s. They haven’t even discovered Red Kryptonite yet. And you can’t put the #98s with the #300s, Lori Lemaris hasn’t even been introduced.” — Sam
“Where the hell are you from? Krypton?” — Edgar Frog
For when my rants on the forums just aren’t enough: https://thevindicativevordan.tumblr.com/
No reason this should make me laugh as hard as it makes me laugh
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Finally it’s out, and damn it’s great!
As I expected this is “canon adjacent” to Birthright, it actually retells some of what happened in that story again. But the characterization for Superman is very much more in line with Waid’s “pure” views on the character rather than the compromises he made there. Superman makes a clear differentiation between himself and Clark, and he feels very different from the mainline guy. More intelligent, as the page above shows, this guy has the smarts to go with the powers (in fact Waid actually establishes that Supes is second only to Lex in brainpower for this story).
Waid also takes the ballsy approach of not just trying to make a sequel to Birthright, but a parallel story to All-Star Superman. Lex is dying because of cellular breakdown he inflicted on himself by accident, as opposed to deliberately inflicting Superman with such in All-Star. And Lex is such a bastard here, killing a bunch of technicians to steal their robot and trying to murder an entire island, just to get Superman’s attention. And then after asking for help, he still screws Superman over by telling the world Supes is going to save him so they’ll hate Superman for doing so! All because he knows no matter how much of a prick he is, Superman won’t let him die and he’s abusing the hell out of that. Gotta walk a careful line there Waid, lest the readers come away disliking Superman for saving Lex despite how unrepentantly evil Lex is. Zod shows up too and we get a nod to Brainiac, Waid’s Zod is alright but he’s little more than a cameo. I do like the implication that Zod is to the Zoners what Kal is to the Kandorians, and the way Zod manipulated the will of the Zoners, and thus the Zone itself, to achieve his own aims.
Oh and Hitch kicks ass on art:
Might end up dethroning Ultimates as my favorite work of his. Love his depiction of the Fortress, Kandor, and the Phantom Zone. Ponytail Zod was the only design I wasn’t feeling 100% (very amused that Hitch used the DCEU Zod crest considering how both he and Waid feel about the Snyderverse). Doesn’t feel retro at all, one flashback page aside.
For when my rants on the forums just aren’t enough: https://thevindicativevordan.tumblr.com/
This is one of the most gorgeous comics I've read in a while and feels like Waid is giving a more refined version of the Clark/Lex relationship that he did in Birthright.
I cannot recommend this book enough.