Much like the other DC stories I’ve been reading lately, I picked this one up simply because it seems to be the story told from the perspective of the well known bad guy rather than the superhero. In some sense, this is like a Superman comic book in reverse, only that brings up thoughts of Bizarro worlds and what not, so we’ll leave that alone.
The entire time I was reading this I felt like I was watching an episode of Smallville and I was just waiting for it to change over to the Clark Kent storyline. But alas, the storyline is focused primarily on Lex Luthor, which is evident by the title.
In this story, Lex Luthor is trying to neutralize Superman- or at least find a way to be able to should he need to- because he feels like one day Superman might no longer wish to protect the Earth or he may just have a heel turn for some other reason. In any event, Luthor paints a very convincing picture that since Supes is not human he is a monster.
In this particular series, Lex creates a robot who looks human and names her hope. He then establishes the Toyman as one of the single vilest villains in the entire city. When Hope captures the Toyman and Lex makes her drop him, Superman swoops in and makes the save, much to the chagrin of the viewers watching at home who were no doubt hoping for some Saddam-style justice. Superman and Hope then fight and, in the cheesiest possible way, in the end Superman destroys Hope.
I’ll be honest; while I was reading this I had no real problem with it. When I got to the end however, it felt like one of my ideas that seems good at first but the more you explore it you realize it’s rather thin. It seems to me like someone said “What if hope wasn’t just an idea, but an actual physical thing that Lex Luthor could make Superman somehow literally destroy?” It sounds good in a sentence of a brief synopsis, but for the five issues or so this TPB includes, it leaves you with a smack-yourself-in-the-head after taste.
My idea for a sequel: Lex Luthor builds an army of half butterfly/half men creatures and calls them Dreams. Your move DC.
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