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Reading through Action Comics 1050. The art's awful and the writing is... whew. Someone has no clue how to write Luthor, he's like a child throwing a tantrum because Superman didn't like him as a kid.
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This is the big comic where Superman's secret identity gets restored.
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Luthor straps Manchester Black into a machine which causes a mental block for everyone on the planet (except those who were protected by super science at the time or have telepathic shielding because they're on the Titans/JLA) that keeps them from knowing that he's Clark Kent.
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And if he reveals his identity, they have a stroke and a heart attack at the same time.
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Luthor did this in part because he now realizes that the world needs a Superman, but he thinks that he can just talk Clark into doing it as Lex's servant
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And in part because he was offended that Clark revealed his identity to the world, but didn't tell Lex when they were children living in Smallville together
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And if Lex Luthor didn't deserve to know then, the world doesn't deserve to know now
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I'm not kidding about the art
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(Also, the big reasons Lex gives for killing Manchester Black? Lex "never liked him. He was smug. He smoked! THE WORLD'S BETTER OFF WITH HIM GONE!")
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Which stuns Clark because how could Lex Luthor, supervillain kill someone?
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Also, I haven't really kept track of Superman's adventures recently, but apparently he can just... rip open holes in reality now
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And teleport
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Batman brings up a point that Bendis ignored, because Bendis only ever saw Lois as a plot accessory.
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Anyway, Jon's thrilled that he's finally got a secret identity and can go out in public without anyone recognizing him
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Nevermind that his boyfriend has to disguise himself for dates now
CJ
who's the writer here ...?
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There's three
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Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Tom Taylor, and Joshua Williamson.
CJ
yeesh
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The art's really bad.
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At least, for the main story
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There's three artists (Mike Perkins, Clayton Henry, and Nick Dragotta) and the two of them that're actually good at this get the least pages
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Also, like
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After all this time, Lex still thinks Superman might kill him.
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Enough that he actually begs Clark not to kill him at the end
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For the world's smartest man with a hyperfixation on Superman, Luthor really just doesn't get the very basics. If this were a Luthor who was meeting Clark for the very first time, I'd get it.
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But, like
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At this point, it's been over a decade
purkle archer
I did enjoy Black’s last remarks to Alex
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Shades of Lex mocking Joker over Batman not having a thing for him
July, July
Yeah, I'm definitely not vibing with any of this. It's really slapped together to reforce the secret identity back in place and isn't really in character for anyone.
July, July
Then again, revealing it also wasn't in character to begin with.
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Revealing it was a serious misstep that existed solely so that a writer could leave a Permanent Mark on the character's history.
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I think returning to the secret identity status quo works better for future stories and makes more sense for the characters.
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"Oooh, I just can't stand lying to the world about who I am, it's so wrong."
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That said
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It should've been better than "Lex Luthor's feelings were hurt and he thought this would convince Superman to become his employee."
July, July
everything Bendis did was to make Permanent Marks and they all sucked.
July, July
I also get the feeling that the writers here are also aware that Lex's characterization is not the best, but like. there are unfortunately only so many options that aren't "Clark makes a deal with the devil"
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I mean, the last time they did a "Superman loses his secret identity plot", less than ten years ago, they had him use a 5th dimensional imp to fix things.
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When Wally West did it a while back, he had the Spectre do it as a personal favor.
July, July
Yeah.