The Man of Steel #4
Released July 31, 1986
John Byrne – Writer & Penciller
Dick Giordano – Inker
Tom Ziuko – Colorist
John Costanza – Letterer
Andy Helfer – Editor
As the cover indicates, this issue centers on the introduction of the new, Post-Crisis Lex Luthor. But Byrne opts for a little build-up before the big reveal and the result is some great Lois and Clark interactions that help in setting the foundation for their relationship going forward. I’m not always going to be a fan of how Byrne writes Lois, but most of what happens in the opening pages is strong work.
Lois arrives at Clark’s apartment in full 80s Glamazon style to find Clark still preparing for their evening out. She notes the surprisingly spartan nature of his place while also dropping a crumb of exposition that Clark has been working (very hard, it seems) at the Daily Planet for a year and a half now. (If you’re keeping count, this would make him 26 or 27 depending on where his birthday falls.)
This leads to Lois reiterating her grudge with Clark over the fact that she beat him to the Superman exclusive. This is such a bone of contention with her she can cite how long ago it was specifically. (“Seventeen months, two weeks, four days and an odd number of hours and don’t you forget it, Kent.”)
Clark insists that he didn’t scoop her out of spite, citing that he didn’t even know her then, which… is dancing awfully close to a lie on both counts. He’d met her as Superman AND he gave her an interview knowing full well it would be worthless to her. In any event, it galls Lois to have been beaten by a total newbie.
Petty Lois is one of my least favorite sides of her, especially when it makes her look childish. I love a good scene where she might be petty about getting even with Luthor or any kind of corrupt official she’s exposing. If she was quietly seething about this and doing her best not to show it, I might roll with Lois’s grudge a little more. But here we are seventeen months, two weeks and four days later and she’s still holding onto this ill will and making sure Clark knows it?
Lois – Let. It. Go.
We also get a brief scene seeing Superman shaving by reflecting his heat vision back onto his face. This is followed by another cute moment of Lois remarking how light his weights are. Clark thinks to himself that he’s tried to develop an adequate cover for how Clark Kent could have a build almost as good as Superman’s and eventually tries to pass them off as old weights.
This is when Lois leads them to the roof for their ride to the party – an idling helicopter courtesy of Lex Luthor. Clark remarks that parking the chopper on that roof had to be illegal, to which Lois agrees while reminding him that “anything with the name ‘Luthor’ on it is pretty much above the law.” I like how concisely this sets the stage for Luthor’s entrance. She goes on to call him the second or third richest men in the world and definitely one of the most powerful.
Byrne has credited ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN writer Marv Wolfman with coming up with this corporate raider version of Lex. Wolfman pitched Lex as a Charles Foster Kane type, ensconced in his estate with his mistress, Lois Lane. Byrne wasn’t a fan of the Lois angle, but he immediately saw the value in making Lex more Donald Trump-like.
“No one’s been able to connect his name with anything even remotely shady. And believe me, no one’s dug deeper than I have,” Lois says and for all my criticisms of Byrne’s interpretation of Lois, I’m glad he gets this one thing very right. Lois Lane should never fall for Lex Luthor’s bullshit — not even for a minute. She’d never believe a guy like that wouldn’t have some kind of shady shit in his closet, and if her reporter instincts are worth a damn, she should be investigating him from the moment they meet.
My strong dedication to the belief that “Superman doesn’t kill,” has an equally strong parallel one that is “Lois Lane would never fall for Lex Luthor.”
Clark is apparently not as sure of this fact as I am when they reach Luthor’s yacht, as he brings up the apparently common knowledge that Luthor has designs on Lois. She says Lex is fascinated with her because she has no interest in becoming part of his collection and she’s told him so.
Their host finally shows himself and after attempting to charm Lois, expresses shock that Clark declined an award of excellence for his Superman Exclusive. Clark says it didn’t seem fair considering that landing him the job at the Planet was reward enough. (And presumably, his journalistic ethics hounded him after the fact for his moral transgression in writing that article.)
Lois is none too pleased when she realizes that Luthor sent her dress for the evening not as a loaner, but as a full-on gift. To make the point of how little interest she has in being charmed by Lex, she demands Clark’s coat and then strips the dress off right then and there to return it to Luthor.
While this is Serena van der Woodsen levels of dramatic, a persistent egotist like Luthor has definitely earned the blunt and public rejection. And on her way out, Lois can’t resist a cheap shot that Luthor should spend his money on a better barber because he’s starting to look like Fred Mertz.
(For the record – THAT is the kind of Petty Lois I’m into.)
And then in short order the yacht is taken over by terrorists, with Clark getting “knocked overboard,” providing him with an opportunity to change into Superman and deliver the yacht to Luthor’s private island. Lois is no slouch either, seizing on the distraction to attack one of the goons and take his gun. This keeps them at bay long enough for Superman to step in and wrap things up.
Impressed with the display, Luthor offers Superman a check as a means of keeping him on retainer. Superman declines – politely – saying his services aren’t for sale. Lex isn’t having that and mentions that when his security team assessed there was a credible hijacking threat from these terrorists, he ordered his security to hold back so that he could see what Superman was capable of.
Superman finds it revolting that Luthor would so callously put people at risk just to study him. The Mayor – who was on board this entire incident – is even less amused and deputizes Superman to arrest Luthor for reckless endangerment. Lex practically laughs in his face, saying “You can’t arrest me. I’m Lex Luthor. I’m the most powerful man in Metropolis.”
To which the Mayor retorts, “Not anymore.” (I kinda wish that line had gone to Superman.)
This is followed by a great “silent” sequence of Lex Luthor being treated like a common criminal. His mugshot is taken. He’s fingerprinted and then thrown in a holding cell.
As super-villain motivations go, I think the humbling of an arrogant bastard who thought himself untouchable is much more compelling than “I hate you because you cost me my hair!”
The final conversation between Luthor and Superman makes it clear that Luthor’s bruised ego can hold a grudge even more aggressively than Lois does. He’s going to make it his mission to remind Metropolis that HE, not Superman is top dog. He boasts that he’ll kill Superman and he’ll never go to jail for it.
And thus begins the dynamic that will define this relationship for the next several years – Lex bedevils Superman, while keeping his hands just clean enough to avoid any legal entanglements. No matter what he does, Superman and Lois just can’t nail him.
I’ve heard criticisms that Lex being able to stay this far above the law made Superman look ineffective. Personally, I think that makes an even better point about how hard it is to punish corruption when the perpetrator is one of the richest and most powerful men in the world. It’s an indictment not of Superman, but of the integrity of the system that Superman upholds.
This wouldn’t have been a shocking idea even at the time it was printed (it was the EIGHTIES for crying outloud. We were dealing with one of the most corrupt Presidential administrations up to that time.), but it’s even more relevant now. We couldn’t ask for a better demonstration of how unprepared our system is to deal with naked, blatant abuse of power from the ruling class than the second Trump administration.
In our world, every day has at least one Watergate-level scandal, and yet That Guy still wields power. And if Superman was real, there isn’t much more he could do acting within the bounds of the law. Reinventing Lex in this manner was a great way to give Luthor a lot of built-in advantages that aren’t easily negated, even when the full truth comes out.
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