Lex Luthor At His Finest
The foldout cover for this issue is mostly one of the better ones, it looks good and doesn't spoil the END of the issue, but there's something a little weak about it once you read the issue. For one, Batman #19's cover was revealed first, and this one has basically the same idea, though in reverse. But the kicker is that the moment the cover refers to is such a throwaway scene I feel like it was included just to have SOMETHING for the foldout cover. Superman hallucinates Jimmy Olson in the armor, but not once does he even consider it's ACTUALLY Jimmy, and that scene only lasts a single page.
This issue starts out with one of the absolute best Clark Kent scenes we've seen since the New 52 began, and there's definitely some romantic tension between him and Lois, but we know things go down differently, and this scene even leads into the beginning of that as well.
The bulk of this issue is an absolutely epic fight scene for the beginning of an arc, Diggle and Daniel are damn well making sure this series earns its name. Daniel draws some beautifully sprawling war machines and fully shows off Superman's capabilities as he mostly tears through them. Some of the blasts and hits hold such powerful impact, you can already tell how awesome this is going to be. I love Tony Daniel's Batman art, but he's surprisingly adept at Superman, this may be my favorite output from him since R.I.P.
But the crowning achievement of this issue is a genius representation of Lex Luthor. Say what you will about various characters getting the short end of the stick in the New 52, Lex Luthor's gotten nothing but perfect representation in the New 52. This scene stands out quite a bit even with that said. We get a perfect representation of his psyche in one go without feeling forced at all. He's an incredibly domineering figure with his mere presence, and the icing on top is the brilliance of his plan. His plan here is a PERFECT Lex Luthor plan, nobody else would make even half as much sense executing this kind of plan, and I can't wait to see how this unfolds.
In Conclusion: 4/5
Morrison set the bar pretty high, but Andy Diggle has picked the bar right back up and kept Action Comics as the premiere Superman series. Diggle understands Lex Luthor PERFECTLY as we go into the first true Luthor-centric arc of the New 52. Plus, the creative team here is making damn sure they live up to the title of the series, something Grant Morrison never did, not that I fault him for it.
