Future State - Top Ten: #4. Superman vs. Imperious Lex

 

Writer: Mark Russell

Artist: Steve Pugh

Future State played out in January and February 2021 for every other title, but this one’s final issue was published in March. In fact, I would’ve started in on this final ranking earlier if it hadn’t. By its first issue I knew it was a highlight, so of course I was eager to read the final one.

Yeah, I’m a Mark Russell guy. Not the most dedicated reader, but I’ve been keeping track since Prez, which was his mainstream breakthrough, and have been following loosely along ever since. Most of all I’ve been eager to see how far mainstream he can actually go.

Russell readers know his strong suit is social commentary, which tends to run contrary to expected mainstream norms, by which I mean anything remotely resembling traditional superhero storytelling. This wouldn’t be a problem if he didn’t pursue superhero comics, but Russell has. This is the first time he’s tackled Superman, though the focus here is more on Lex Luthor, who seems right up his wheelhouse (and not the first brush between the two; Russell previously tackled Luthor with a Porky Pig team-up).

The premise is Lex retiring to Lexor, a planet from Silver Age comics where he discovered he might pull off being considered the good guy.

The results are more classic Russell social commentary, including the media’s complicity in government messaging, and the public’s willingness to play along, no matter how horrible things really are.

Along the way, Superman, as well as Lois! must outsmart Lex (he’s powerless, literally, on Lexor), whose one ally is a robotic lackey willing to believe anything Lex tells him (the truest of true Lexor devotion), all while Lex flirts with going straight, or as straight as he ever gets, until he determines it simply isn’t in his best interests.

(This is significant because the citizens of Lexor really do believe he’s the good guy, which in Lex Luthor mythology is a big deal, since at times he’s depicted as being bad mostly because he knows he exists in Superman’s shadow.)

I don’t know where Russell goes from here (he’s so far absent from Infinite Frontier), but that’s pretty much always the story with one of the most interesting careers in comics.