Superman: They Saved Luthor’s Brain!

Superman: They Saved Luthor's Brain!

By various (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-85286-942-7

This outrageous pastiche of B-Movie shockers is in actual fact a selective collection of tales that highlight a period of superb creativity from the post Crisis on Infinite Earths Superman reboot. If you’re counting, they first appeared in Man of Steel #4, Superman #2, 19, 21 and Action Comics #600, 660, 668, 670-73, 676-678.

By taking pertinent episodes from a seven-year sub-plot the assembled creators – Roger Stern, John Byrne, Bob McLeod Jackson Guice, Kieron Dwyer, Dick Giordano, Denis Rodier, Terry Austin, Brett Breeding, Ande Parks, John Beatty and Brad Vancata – played with all the comic-book clichés and produced a terrific tale of villainy that perfectly defined the arch-mastermind who will always be Superman’s greatest foe.

‘The Secret Revealed’ saw Luthor with a ring made from Kryptonite that kept Superman literally at arms length. Subsequent stories revealed that the alien radiation of the element slowly poisoned Luthor, firstly causing the loss of his hand and eventually fatally irradiating his entire body. As his power waned and his condition became public, the evil billionaire seemed to commit suicide in a spectacular manner.

The resulting financial chaos threatened to destroy the economy of Metropolis, but at the last moment a young, vigorous heir was found living secretly in the Australian Outback. Apparently Luthor had been keeping him hidden to safeguard the lad, but now he was grown and ready to take over his father’s empire…

If you’re any kind of fantasy fan then this book’s title is all the clue you’ll need before engaging in a splendidly paranoid romp of clones and monsters, intrigue and suspense and guest-starring the synthetic Supergirl called Matrix.

This kind of close-plotted continuity was a hallmark of the 1980s and 1990s Superman, and that such a strong tale could be constituted from the bits around the main story is a lasting tribute to the efficacy and power of the technique.

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