Superman The Black Ring vol 1, Paul Cornell

"When Lex Luthor finally regained control of LexCorp, he thought he had everything he wanted. But in BLACKEST NIGHT, he briefly became an Orange Lantern and got a taste of true power. Now he'll do anything - anything - to get that power back. Buckle in for a greatest hits tour of the DCU's most wanted as Lex Luthor begins an epic quest for power, all brought to you by new ongoing writer Paul Cornell (Dr. Who, Captain Britain and MI-13) and artist Pete Woods (WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON), with covers by David Finch (BRIGHTEST DAY, Ultimatum)!"










I am a big fan of Paul Cornell, and I had heard interesting things about The Black Ring, the ten issue Lex Luthor helming take over of Superman's 'Action Comics', and a Secret Six tie-in and annual. There's loads going on in here, and I am going to write it up as two volumes, because that's how I read it, although I got both at the same time and read them back to back.

First off, I'm sad to say that I didn't really enjoy the books at all. I found Lex hard to really enjoy. Maybe that's an issue with going in cold, and not knowing any of the current background, but this isn't a comic interested in setting up Lex Luthor as a concerned but misguided corporate titan who believes that Superman is all that stops the world being better.

This is just a straight up awful man. Within three pages he has someone killed, in front of their family, after Luthor has already had him fired for not agreeing to some evil science. This isn't subtle, and there's little done through the book to make you root for Luthor in any way. Every victory he achieves that would have you cheer on a 'hero' character, or even the hero of the tale, anti-hero or not, is actually just a kick in the teeth for the reader.

There's an active sense of wanting Luthor not just to fail, because that's the story that's being told anyway, that less than sub-textual desire for power may make sense in the context of a Luthor who was recently a literal avatar of greed in Blackest Night, but it gets a little over the top by the time he's built a robotic replica of Lois Lane to tell him how great he is, and is touring the world to absorb the embodiment of universal death. This is the plot within the first ten pages.

It all adds up to make a charcter who is utterly repugnant; a man who creates a lobotomised love doll version of his nemeses wife, who shows no concern or hesitation at killing civilians, and who is almost unreadably, insufferably obnoxious. Now, obviosuly, that may pay off in the second volume, but, spoiler alert, it doesn't.

On the other hand, whilst Luthor is horrible to read, the cameo appearances are great. Anything that features Gorilla Grodd (mind controlling, human eating Gorilla ruler of remote African nation). Mister Mind (mind controlling alien slug) and the Sinister Six is alright by me, especially if it sets up a Bane versus Vandal Savage show-down.

The art is equally lovely, and Pete Woods does an excellent job at capturing a number of different locations and aesthetics well - his Grodd in particular is excellent, the expression on his face before he eats Luthor's head is excellent.

Also Try:
J.M. DeMatteis, Superman: President Lex
Grant Morrison, All Star Superman
Grant Morrison, JLA: Tower of Babel