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In 2013, DC Comics declared the 12^th of June as “Superman Day”, a day for fans of the Man of Steel the world over to celebrate Clark Kent/Kal-El/Superman, the superpowered virtue of “Truth, Justice, and the American Way” who is widely regarded as the first ever costumed superhero.

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The Background:
Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, sons of Jewish immigrants, first met in 1932 at Glenville High School. By the time they were sixteen, they were already accomplished comics creators and, in 1933, they thought up their first concept for a superman with “The Reign of the Super-Man”. This story depicted a bald mad scientist who attempted to dominate others with his telepathic powers. Though a far cry from the most influential fictional character in American history, the duo would revisit the concept of a bald mad scientist in 1940. Originally known only as “Luthor”, Alexander “Lex” Luthor would evolve beyond his relatively childish reasons for hating the Man of Steel and become Superman’s arch-nemesis. While Kryptonite might weaken or kill Superman, Doomsday and Darkseid might pummel him, and Vril Dox/Brainiac might threaten his adopted world, Lex Luthor has become infamous for pitting his mind against the Man of Steel. Whether a scheming industrialist with seemingly unlimited resources, an egomaniacal megalomaniac, or enjoying the power of the United States Presidency, Luthor has created robots, patsies, mech suits, and even cheated death itself and had a brief stint as a superhero, all with the aim of acquiring the power to either humble, humiliate, or destroy his alien foe. As Superman’s most complex and enduring villain, Lex Luthor is a staple of any Superman adaptation. Clancy Brown and Michael Rosenbaum are considered two of the finest to portray the character, though it was Gene Hackman who set a high standard for all future portrayals of DC Comics’ most conniving criminal mastermind.

The Review:
The first appearance of a dangerous maniac named Luthor occurred in the second part of the “Europe at War” storyline. As established in the previous issue, the “lesser nation” of Galonia was suddenly attacked by Toran and reporters Clark Kent and Lois Lane were sent to cover the conflict as war correspondents. While sailing to Luxor, Clark was stunned to find beautiful actress Lita Laverne was a spy working alongside the Toranian Council of War to target the neutral vessel. Action Comics #23 picks up with the Man of Steel defending Belgaria from incoming shells before he (as Clark) and Lois meet with bald General Lupo, who’s confident that the war will end soon as a contingent of Toran officials are on their way to peacefully negotiate. Clark switches to Superman and flies ahead to take some photos of their arrival, only to witness the convoy be destroyed, which causes hostilities to renew. After sending an update to the Daily Star, Clark questions General Lupo, who insists that the Galonians would never be so deceitful, only to then make a suspicious phone call, completely unaware of Clark’s super-hearing. Suspicious, Superman trails General Lupo to a mountain range, where he disappears into thin air! Using his incredible strength, Superman rips open the mountainside and discovers a hidden passageway, where General Lupo is transfixed by a huge slab of rock, which bursts into hypnotic lights and a commanding face. General Lupo is astonished when Superman confronts him and, though he fears his disembodied master, desperately begs off being smushed against a wall and reveals that the mysterious “Luthor” is orchestrating events to engulf both nations in bloody warfare. 

However, when Superman demands to know who “Luthor” is, green lasers suddenly burst from the wall-face and “[slice] the General in half”! Naturally, Superman is immune to the attack; he destroys the cave and escapes just in time to spy Luthor’s bombers flying overhead. He then destroys them all using his super strength and a mounted gun before warning both sides (as Clark) about Luthor’s machination. Although they don’t believe him since he has no proof, this brings him to Luthor’s attention, who orders Clark eliminated to keep him from talking. Conveniently, Lois happens to be looking for Clark in his hotel room, so Luthor’s minions grab her instead, transporting her to Luthor’s secret base, which is suspended from a gigantic dirigible “high above” Earth’s atmosphere! Although unimpressed that his goons failed him so badly, Luthor – a red-haired despot in a matching robe – nevertheless interrogates Lois, only to be met with confusion and sarcasm. While in her cell, Lois notices that her guard, a surly bald man, isn’t under Luthor’s hypnotic influence. She then threatens to expose him to Luthor unless he informs Clark about her capture and the guard is so terrified of his leader’s reprisals that he readily agrees. After reading the note, Clark flies into action as Superman, takes out a couple of guards, and bursts through a brick wall to rescue Lois. However, when Luthor threatens to harm Lois, Superman readily submits to parlay with the maniac, who describes himself as having the “brain of a super-genius” and plans to use his “scientific miracles” to plunge the world’s nations into conflict, weakening them so that he can assume control.

Luthor demonstrates his ability by strapping Superman up and bombarding him with an intense concentration of rays. However, Luthor grows tired of this and prepares to finish Superman off with a burst of deadly exposure, only for Superman to suddenly break free, turn the machine against Luthor’s underlings, shrug off its effects, and destroy the machine. After unsuccessfully trying to barter for his life, Luthor is equally unable to keep Superman from trashing the dirigible’s controls, sending it (and, presumably, all its inhabitants) crashing to the ground in a fiery blaze. The sight of the dirigible’s destruction is enough proof for the nation’s representatives to believe Clark’s story and the conflict comes to a peaceful resolution, with Clark praised for breaking the scoop and Lois eagerly awaiting her next encounter with the dashing Superman. Although Superman clashed with Luthor many times after this, it would take nearly twenty years to delve into Luthor’s origins, a story that took place during Superman’s youth in Smallville, Kansas, as Superboy. In this story, the young Lex Luthor has just moved to Smallville and, being the friendly youth that he is, Superboy flies in to say hello. Conveniently, a Kryptonite meteor lands right next to the Boy of Steel and immediately begins weakening him. Luckily, Luthor and his trusty tractor are on hand to save Superboy and the two quickly become friends. Luthor is a Superboy fanboy, as evidenced by his shrine to the young superhero, and a budding scientist, with ambitions to become a world-famous scientist. In gratitude for his help, Superboy builds a modern laboratory for his new friend using nothing by junk metal and his super speed and strength, which he fills with rare Earth materials for Luthor to experiment with. Although Superboy expresses caution since the chemicals are unknown and Luthor’s young and inexperienced, Luthor promises to be careful and the two part as friends, with Superboy owing his life to Lex and Luthor astounded to have befriended the Boy of Steel. Luthor wastes no time in getting to work, feverishly working with the chemicals over a period of weeks and producing a crude protoplasmic lifeform that he’s so excited by that he immediately sets to work coming up with a Kryptonite antidote so his new buddy won’t ever have to worry about that pesky substance threatening his health. 

Luthor retrieves the meteor from the lake, takes a few samples, and creates the antidote in no time at all. However, in his excitement, he accidentally knocks over a chemical flask that starts a toxic fire in his lab. Luckily, Superboy happens to be passing by and hears Luthor’s screams for help; he uses his super breath to put out the flames, accidentally blowing a jar of acid against the antidote and destroying it. To make matters worse, the gas fumes caused Luthor to go bald and destroy his weird protoplasmic creature, destroying all his hard work. And, while Superboy is apologetic and insists it was an accident, Luthor accuses him of being jealous of his genius and purposely sabotaging him, instantly flipping from a kindly boy to an embittered youth in the blink of an eye. Superboy offers to help him rediscover his experiments, and insists he’d never harm the boy who saved his life, but Luthor’s having none of it. He feigns sorrow to get rid of Superboy and then flies into a rage, destroying his Superboy memorabilia and plotting to avenge himself on the Boy of Steel with the last sliver of protoplasm. The next morning, Luthor has Superboy drink the “antidote” and then accompany him into space, protected by a space-globe Superboy brought along, to observe its effects. At first, Superboy is delighted to find he’s no longer vulnerable to the Kryptonite meteors floating around in space, completely unaware that they’re actually “Fool’s Kryptonite”, a ruse even Krypto the Superdog can see from a mile away. As soon as they return to Earth, Luthor spitefully reveals it was all a ruse and that the antidote is only temporary and vows to be more admired, and more famous, than Superboy, who flies away despondent and commenting that Luthor needs “a father’s guidance”.

Some weeks later, Luthor approaches Smallville’s mayor with a fantastic invention, a weather-tower to keep the town perpetually warm by reflecting the sun’s rays, and the mayor is so impressed by his pitch that he approves it immediately. Both Superboy and the townsfolk are in awe and admiration of Luthor’s ingenious invention, which spares them the bitter chill of winter, and Superboy quietly wishes his former friend all the success in the world, harbouring no ill-will towards him. However, young Clark is alarmed when he notices that his adopted parents – Jonathan and Martha Kent – suffer from the intense heat. He’s even more startled when he sees the weather-tower is causing fires to break out all over the town, endangering its people, so he uses his freeze breath to cool the construction down, which effectively destroys it. Smallville’s populace are less than thrilled and openly mock Luthor in the street for putting their lives at risk with his crazy inventions, which he bitterly blames on Superboy. To atone, Luthor toils away for many months and produces seeds that promise to near-instantly produce fruit trees for the local farmers; although people are sceptical, they’re astounded when Luthor’s claims come true, but their elation soon turns to horror when simple rain turns the trees into marauding giants! Superboy deals with the issue, chalking it up to carelessness on Luthor’s part rather than maliciousness, but Luthor’s reputation is further tarnished and his hatred for Superboy only grows. This sees him unearth the Kryptonite meteor and lure the Boy of Steel into a trap and taunt the dying Superboy with the only antidote to his slow, painful death. In his arrogance, Luthor fails to remember Superboy’s super-breath, which allows him to suck up the antidote vial and save his own life, but Superboy chooses to consider them even rather than acquiesce to Luthor’s demands to be arrested. Out of respect for the friendship they once had and believing that Luthor could be a force for good, Superboy lets Luthor go, with the obsessed youth swearing to not only surpass the Boy of Steel’s popularity but destroy him in the process! 

The Summary:
Let’s tackle each story in turn here, shall we? “Europe at War (Part II)” is a typically Golden Age Superman story, featuring simplistic dialogue, illustrations, and concepts. Part of me enjoys this simpler time, when fantastical things were just taken as the norm and superhero plots were both grounded and almost comical in their content, such as Superman threatening to bash General Lupo against a rock wall and presumably casually murdering countless of Luthor’s minions. It’s amusing to read as I find myself questioning why Clark warned of Luthor’s threat in his civilian guise, rather than as Superman, and seeing him use a machine gun rather than his heat vision since he didn’t have his full gamut of powers at that point. The core concept of “Europe at War (Part II)” actually has some legs to it: two nations being manipulated into all-out war with spies, heroes, and villains on both sides, and the mysterious Luthor pulling the strings behind the scenes and offering a challenge Superman can’t settle with his fists since he needs to get to the root of the problem. Unfortunately, a lot of its concepts are left ambiguous or flat-out forgotten; apparently, Luthor can hypnotise people into following his every command, yet he only demonstrates this power once and doesn’t think to use it on Lois or Superman (or the nation’s leaders). Not to mention that Luthor’s secret base is an elaborate castle suspended from a dirigible, but no one noticed it, and why was that one bald guard immune to Luthor’s control? It’s not explained, but the number of prominent bald henchmen at Luthor’s command makes me wonder if that particular guard was actually the real Luthor and the red-haired leader was merely a patsy. 

And then we have “How Luthor Met Superboy”, a story that’s more influential than you think since it’s basically the inspiration for the entire series of Smallville (2001 to 2011). This is such a weird story that it almost reads like an elaborate dream sequence or fantasy story that recasts Superboy and Luthor as the best of friends thanks to a ridiculously convenient Kryptonite meteor (and don’t even get me started on the influx of similar meteors in near-Earth space!) People often criticise Superman for being infallible and unrelatable, but Superboy is the kindest, most trusting, and most understanding youth you’ll ever meet! He sees the best in Luthor all throughout the story, never once saying or thinking a bad word against him until he (as in Superboy) is dying at the young scientist’s feet and even then Superboy’s first act after saving himself is to forgive his former friend and hope that he turns his obsession to good deeds. It almost descends into parody as the story progresses, with Superboy genuinely believing that Luthor is trying to do good and has met with misfortune, and Luthor equally refusing to even think that he could be to blame for anything since he’s so embittered towards Superboy. It’s so strange seeing Luthor flip from a kindly boy to a venge-seeking maniac after the fire. Like, I get being mad at losing all your work and your hair but it’s a bit of a leap to blame Superboy. I think the implication is that the strange chemicals and toxic fumes altered Luthor’s mind in some way, though that’s not really explicitly stated (or even implied in the story text), but I think Luthor’s elaborate plot to cruelly taunt Superboy with the promise of a Kryptonite cure and to oust his popularity, to say nothing of his quick temper following the accident, go a long way towards suggesting that. 

Truthfully, neither story really gives the best impression of Luthor. It can be argued that the “Luthor” present in “Europe at War (Part II)” isn’t even Lex Luthor since he has hair, for one thing, and possesses hypnotic abilities. Sure, it could be a wig and his scientific acumen could account for the hypnosis and other inconsistencies, but he doesn’t really exude “Lex Luthor” energy and seems to simply be a maniacal, supervillain-esque third party for Superman to flex his muscles against once he stops his elaborate plot. “How Luthor Met Superboy” tries to flesh out Luthor’s character by providing him with a semi-sympathetic backstory and emotional connection to his hated nemesis, but ultimately reads like a non-canon adventure as I’m pretty sure no stories prior to his every hinted at the two knowing each other as youths. It is interesting seeing Luthor as an arrogant young scientist who idolises Superboy and is inspired to be a great scientist because of the Boy of Steel, it’s just a shame that the execution falters. Ultimately, Luthor’s hatred comes from losing his hair, rather than genuinely building towards a resentment towards Superboy or Luthor’s ego getting the better of him. Like, what was up with that protoplasmic creature? That could’ve factored into things, showing that Luthor is messing with things he doesn’t understand and his inability to recognise his limits and failings. Like, I would’ve maybe had Luthor build his weather-tower and plant those seeds before he loses his hair, so that when they go bad and Superboy has to intervene it adds to his growing bitterness towards Superboy for “stealing his thunder”. In the end, both stories can be largely ignored in the grand scheme of things and you wouldn’t be missing anything. They’re historical footnotes and amusing curios in Lex Luthor’s history, but you can simply skip to stories like “The Man of Steel” (Byrne, et al, 1986), “Birthright” (Waid, et al, 2003 to 2004), “Lex Luthor: Man of Steel” (Azzarello, et al, 2005), or “Secret Origin” (Johns, et al, 2009 to 2010) for better, more concise, and more in-depth explorations of Luthor and his complex relationship with Superman. 

Have you ever read these Luthor-centric stories? Do you like the idea of the two having been childhood friends? What are some of your favourite Luthor moments and stories? How are you celebrating Superman Day today? Whatever you think, feel free to share your opinion and thoughts on Superman in the comments below.