Written by Jason Latour
Art by Bryan Hitch
Published by DC Comics
The Year of the Villain event has been raging across the DC titles this year.
It’s been an intriguing storyline thus far. The man responsible for this whole affair is none other than Lex Luthor.
So it’s only fitting that he should get a one shot right?
It’s a pretty damn good one shot too. The quality on this one is pretty high.
The book opens on Earth-38 with Superboy heading towards a student science fair. Superboy is going to be the judge. Everything is jovial and happy.
That is, until this issue introduces Lex Luthor into the mix.
We get to see a young Lex Luthor meet the Lex from the world we all know and love. The Young Lex Luthor is convinced that the older Lex is something imaginary.
The older Lex catches up his younger counterpart up to date with what he’s been up to. The older Lex Luthor makes the younger Lex his usual offer. Then, the older Lex kills the younger Lex’s father. It’s a brutal scene and it gives the story one hell of a setup that the creative team delivers on.
The story does get crazy from here. We get to see some other versions of Lex from different Earths. There’s even a Lex that is a version of Batman with a butler named “Fred.” It’s a lot of fun but it does get very dark.
This all leads to an unforgettable conclusion that really sets up this “Year of the Villain” storyline to advance to the next level so to speak.
The art is the star here. I’m so happy Bryan Hitch is drawing again on a semi regular basis. His art defined the “widescreen” look in comics and it’s really great. Latour does a decent job in writing this as well.
This is another nice chapter in this storyline and it is a key issue. It’s also a very involving, if a bit crazy comic book issue.
RATING: B+
