He’s arguably one of the most influential men in America today. He’s inarguably the evilest. His name is Lex Luthor…and whatever Luthor wants, Luthor gets—even if it’s the life of a man who threatens his privacy. But it’s Clark Kent who’s arrested for the brutal murder of down-and-out biographer Peter Sands, a man who hoped to climb back to the top with THE UNAUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY OF LEX LUTHOR. All it got him was dead. What are the secrets of his past that Luthor is willing to kill for…secrets that the merciless criminal mastermind wants kept dead and buried?
Greetings!
This week here at DCUBC we are diving into the mind of a mad man. That’s right, we are taking a look at Superman’s number one foe, Lex Luthor. Lex Luthor: The Unauthorized Biography gives us a closer look at Lex, and some other surprises too!
Is this your first time reading Lex Luthor: The Unauthorized Biography?
Yep, I might have heard of it before the reading, but if I did, it was a while ago.
What were your expectations prior to reading?
Honestly, when I first saw the cover and how like a regular book it was, I wondered initially if this was actually going to be a small book, or if there would be excerpts of one. It’s not that hard to believe – during the Death of Superman, DC actually released a tiny newspaper that was in-universe about his death. Also, around that period, when Clark Kent wrote a fiction book in the comics, I believe they actually published a version of it.
What did you think of Lex Luthor?
It was a solid enough take on the character here, but I never was the biggest fan of how Luthor was portrayed during this time period. I get them wanting to be timely and make the character more modern, but I think the character is missing something when he doesn’t have the mad scientist angle to him. I think in recent years in the comics and the movies that combined the scientific genius with his criminal genius are far more interesting and far more worthy of being a proper foe to Superman. As he is in this period, he just feels like a Penguin clone with a more legitimate edge.
What was your favorite Page or Panel?
Hmm…this is a hard one to do for me, because while I liked the art of it, it was more for the storytelling and progression from panel to panel. I can’t recall any particular page that really “popped” for me, if that makes sense.
First, here are the things I enjoyed about this week’s selection:
The art: Eduardo Barreto was a perfect choice for this genre detective / reporter crime story. He drew very memorable faces for the various witnesses to Lex’s evil. Many of them had the years and fear carved in their expressions etc.
The things we never saw were ingenious. A), even though this is a Superman-related product, he never once is drawn in here! B) Even though the cover of the oversized comic leads you to believe you will indeed read the actual new book, we never actually do, nor do we see one second of the video tape it would have been based on.
This week’s questions to ponder:
I believe this is my first time reading this one. After over 55 years of being a comic book addict since the age of 10 1/2, thousands of issues are now a blur (like all those Happy Days episodes I watched in the '70s).
Expectations: I thought this might be more a slice of Lex’s life like that Luthor:Man of Steel 5 issues epic that came out a mere 15 years ago. This was just fine though, no need for two that are identical.
Thoughts on this Luthor: This guy was all about power and money and revenge and control. Part of me prefers the Luthor in the green battlesuit a la Super Powers, part of me really liked his attempt, again in a power suit, to be a good guy and even join the JLA for a bit in New 52 and in the animated Reign of the Supermen.
Absorbing read, not just another 7 minute action read for sure!!!
I thought it was going to be more from Lex’s point of view. I’m glad it wasn’t. We got to see his point of view during the Q&A scene.
Wow, just wow. The level of evil from, even as a little kid, really developed and framed his character. From the way he treated girls - and women, the murders, the bribery… it was all so evil, and he learned how to cover it up and keep his hands clean. I think he’s a excellent villain because he’s so brilliant. I don’t feel bad for him, I can just see him as a true villain. The story didn’t dive much into why he didn’t like his parents, instead it showed he thought of himself as somehow above his parents, and then decided to use them - through a life insurance policy. It’s so incredibly evil - but I’m ok with that because evil villains make very compelling and standout stories.
Excellent story, compelling writing. I loved the way we went with the reporter through his discovery of what Lex has been up to. Great pick @MattMcDonald
Yeah, Luthor’s “interview” was really great. A detail I didn’t really think of until you posted it that was really cool is how he’s mostly in shadow. Really sets him up as this creepy, nebulous and not really there.
Well from the cover art I thought it was going to be a lot like one of The Godfather movies and tell the story of how he rose to power.
It showed again how ruthless Lex is and how he will do anything just to get what he wants. One of the most surprising moment was how Lex was bullied as a kid and then used one of the bullies to frame for the murder of Peter Sands. That moment showed how much of a long game Lex actually plays.
The cover of this book has always stood out to me for that exact reason. Of course i know the angle they are playing off of, but it’s always stood out to me.
It’s definently a grounded take one the character. I do believe it was a little overblown to be believable. But the point still came across. This man is EVIL.
Read the issue between 2020-06-29T05:00:00Z → 2020-07-05T05:00:00Z 
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Discussion Questions
