Now this book had a difficult task of trying to make me empathize with Lex Luthor, and i'm not
exactly rushing to shave off my hair, but... WOOF WOOF! Hey guys, it's me, Marcus aka The Maddogg
and we're back with another video! Written by Brian Azzarello and illustrated by Lee Bermejo,
the first issue of Lex Luthor: Man Of Steel was published by DC Comics in March of 2005, with
the fifth and final issue coming out in September the same year. And Lex Luthor is ready to take his
war against superman to the next level with the public falling at the man of steel's every move
lex steps up his efforts by joining forces with bruce wayne creating a nonprofit science spire
from metropolis and creating his own hero named hope but when he's faced against a situation that
his money can't save him from how far is luther willing to go to show the true colours of his
arch enemy now libermejo is just something else and i know that's not really a great description
like oh thank you marcus thanks for narrowing it down to something else we should just go without
saying and it's a real shame that he hasn't done a lot more work but at the same time because of
the quality of what we've got i can understand why it might take a bit of time but it would really be
interesting to see how much further he's developed because i reviewed joker last year which is the
reason why i'm probably reviewing this now but in saying that i can now see some of the things that
aren't as up to scratch because i did read this when i was quite early on in my comic reading
journey i think i would have been about 15 or so and i just remember the art being great but now
that i'm looking at it with a fresh pair of eyes and because of the fact that i have read joker
i can just see some of those differences where he really has stepped up his level and i'm not
really sure what the scheduling was like i'm not sure if bumper had done quite a few pages before
issue one was even published but it did come out month to month which i do think is great but i
can see that some of the pages aren't really as up to scratch as what i'd expect that may come across
as an unfair negative especially when you look at the overall quality that he's able to produce
but there were a handful of occasions where i just had to double check that there wasn't some
kind of filling artist or that they changed the anchor with the colorist or anything like that
and the page here in there just looked like he was still in the sketch phase but that is just a minor
thing because everything else is pretty much top tier but majo always reminded me of like a gritty
alex ross with some influence taken from eduardo risso and just from the opening scene
of metropolis where it takes a full page to just let you soak in this landscape i knew that this
was going to be something great for the most part but this could be to a detriment to the story and
in no way am i marking it down because the art is too good in places but i did really want to see a
lot more of bomejo's superman and if anything i think the major's underused a little bit in
this because of how detailed these illustrations can be give this guy a full justice league title
let's see what he could do if you just give him every hero at dc's disposal and what i liked
most in this was the subtle use of elements i can't really think of a better word than that
so for example if lex is watching tv it's got that classic static on it and it's also got some kind
of glow so that it reflects on the characters reflections are also done really well which is
important in a story like this where luther is forced to look at himself and i have a massive
soft spot for minor details like that where you can tell that the person who's illustrating it
understands what's happening in the world and also just have to throw some love to dave stewart who's
on the colours and it always just baffles me that he can be the colourist for darwin cook who's got
this completely different style from libra major he's like the lionel richie of comics because the
guy's got range the palette that he chose for this was spot on and i don't think that anybody would
have done a better job and i love just really seeing superman and lex luthor in just the whole
of metropolis in these really muted colors it changes itself up again when you're in gotham
because when you're in metropolis you've got all these golden yellow hues even though it's more
natural it's still got this vibrancy to it and it feels like somewhere that you'd want to live
but then when you go to gotham it's usually more browns and grays and just murkier colors so that
you feel like you're in a place that you don't want to be and given the complex nature of lex
and what he's thinking and he's feeling in his processing throughout this book i think that the
tone is just done well throughout one last thing i want to bring up about the art was it just me or
was mona always pointing ass first at the reader i cannot complain i'm just wondering if anybody else
noticed like i was really getting jim lee batman hush kind of vibes here in terms of the story i
much preferred this over joker and that's a debate that i'm not really sure where people weigh in on
i'm glad i couldn't remember too much about this story from when i originally read it and i think
i came at it with a different perspective now this is a book that works much better when you do know
a lot more about superman lex luthor and the rest of the dc universe but at the same time i do think
this would be great for a new reader i think i might have even recommended this and we were to
start superman because in terms of just giving us a short story that gives us a snapshot into the
life of one of these super villains i learned a lot more about lex and this than i did about joker
in his book and there was just a great through line throughout this book with this science
spire and hope and lexi's relationship with it i love that dynamic that he'd built her from
his specifications and he fell in love with her despite the fact that she represented pretty much
everything that was in his arch nemesis can't lie if i was like i would have gone for mona
the second that she started flirting with me but i think that that was the point in her character she
is what most guys would have gone for and found desirable but for lex he's looking for more of a
power dynamic and mona just couldn't bring that to the table for him despite her luke's personality
and the fact that her arse just always seems to point at me no matter where i'm looking and i
think that that was one of the side plots that i enjoyed most in this book the relationship between
her and lex not the fact that a booty was pointing everywhere i loved that this wasn't an origin
story and yes when i reviewed harleen that was one of the aspects that i liked most but lex is a much
more fascinating character when he's already rich when he already hates superman and he's just going
full steam in his mission i didn't need to know about the first time that lex saw superman and
how his hate developed for him i just like being dropped into the middle and let me fester in your
anger and that's exactly what this book did and why i really enjoyed it so much and quite honestly
i wish it could have been a bit longer but just to give you a little known fact between you and me
the reason that lex luthor managed to become so rich in the first place is because he was
so savvy with his discount codes similar to the ones that you can use at the channel sponsor
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the description down below and you can use these codes as many times as you like however because
this was a shorter story i felt like some of the foreshadowing was really on the nose and it didn't
get enough time to really marinate or become what it should have been you could see pretty
easily what was gonna happen who was gonna betray who and where everything was going which is why
i'm probably not really having a spoiler alert in this video but the bruce wayne scenes were
another real highlight of this book and i found it funny as well considering that this book came out
in 2005 that his version of bruce wayne kind of looked a bit like robert pattinson's when he was
wearing those glasses so it was great because in a similar way to what i loved with all-star superman
you never really got the sense that this guy was actually batman but you know between you and me
he is this led into a fight between batman and superman which was probably my favorite moment
in the book and it was one of the best i've seen done in comics and it completely obliterated the
argument that with enough prep time batman could stop superman because if he doesn't have that prep
time superman could just run up on him at any point they wanted to and just kill him he could
do it from miles away and the only thing that could save batman is superman i just love the
fact as well that this was pretty much a silent fight between the two there was no hokey dialogue
none of them were talking about why the others shouldn't be doing this or how they're going to
stop them it was a fight at its purest moment because of the fact that superman just wanted
to prove a point what i found most interesting though was how i began to understand how superman
could be a fearsome figure just seeing him hover outside of lexi's window the way he looms over him
and doesn't even need to say anything or the fact that he stalks batman as if he's some kind of prey
and he can do it from such a comfortable distance it was a bit odd just how quickly it could change
my perception and when i finished the book i realized that there was more moments like that
than there was when it was showing superman doing anything heroic sure yes there was a few moments
like that but we were mostly looking at this from the perspective of lex and really started to
understand the feat that he was going up against kind of made me respect luther a bit more the fact
that he would choose to go against this pretty much god from a different planet the side story
with the toy maker was pretty much the second half of this book and i did really enjoy that as well
and i think that this was really one of the strengths of the boot that in a few short issues
he could balance a few entertaining subplots whilst all building to the same crescendo none
of it felt massively out of place even the stuff with the guy that was doing side jobs for luffy
all managed to feel like it was part of the same book there wasn't really anything that i would
cut out of this story and like i said earlier i'd actually make this longer if i could i wanted to
see a bit more of hope being a superhero and build that relationship between her and lex
because at the same time you know you can't trust luther and that she's just gonna be some part of
a greater plan there was a lot to love in this book and i think it did quite a bit in just a
few short issues lex's monologue at the end and if you don't want to hear anything about this i'd
recommend skipping to the final verdict time stamp down below but i loved how it told me everything
that i needed to know about lex and at the same time it never felt gimmicky or ham-fisted or that
this wasn't something that somebody like lex would speak about he does have an ego problem which is
something that you know i can kind of relate to but everything that he said made sense considering
what we'd seen him do what we already knew about the character what he'd sacrificed and what he
was hoping to achieve and even if i couldn't agree with his actions this part did make me
understand why it was important to lex having him openly admit that he can't beat superman
and even question if the actions that you'd taken in this book were futile in the grand
scheme of things just fantastic and this was a book that really ended on a high note there are
a few great speeches from lex throughout this book but i definitely think that the one at the end was
the best and the one that i enjoyed the most and i think whoever plays lex next in a movie and i
hope to god it's not gonna be jesse eisenberg again i'd actually prefer me to be in that role
over him because let's be honest i don't think i could do a worse job but this book and this scene
in particular should be mandatory this should be the scene that they use when they're doing
auditions really entered the book on a massive strong note for me and it left me questioning
if lex was the type of person that's on the right mission but just going in the wrong direction
like if superman was never in the picture what could he have done for himself what could have
been his legacy or or lexacy okay sorry i'll stop but what could he have crafted for himself
if he didn't go on this mission that he knows he couldn't accomplish against superman or is
that just the type of person that likes is if everything else has come so easily too does he
need to have some kind of crusade that he can't win i don't know and i like books that leave me
thinking which isn't too difficult because of the fact that i am a pretty dumb reader like in
the last book that i reviewed i struggled with the panels so i don't really know what that says about
me but the same time i feel like i know a lot more about lex while still not knowing everything about
him and i think that's the best thing that this boot could have done this is my final verdict and
the tide has shifted for superhero comics gone are the days of having an arch nemesis who only exists
to strengthen the hero but instead they need to cast a reflection on who they are at the call but
lex luthor man of steel isn't that kind of book although not the first of its kind with titles
like the killing joke and craven's last hunt having risen to prominence long before azarello
and bamejo ever got to work on lex luthor but what this book did was force us to look at his life and
motivations and didn't intend to tell us a story of a villain but instead just a guy who doesn't
trust superman and will go to any lengths to prove it i had a great time with this book and it made
me want to go back to other superman stories that are very lex heavy and see if i can view him in
a different perspective do i think this is one of the greatest comics of all time no and even as i'm
reviewing it i'm wondering if i brought more into the review part of this than when i was actually
reading it i'm feeling like i'm finally getting my money's worth out of my english degree that has
pretty much done nothing for me up to this point but with minimal appearances from the man of steel
luther manages to tell an interesting and engaging story about one of dc comics's
best villains that's often quite overlooked but majors are even though there are a handful of
pages that don't really seem up to the standard that i'm used to from him still helping creating
a gritty and realistic look that was essential in helping to redefine lexi's image i had a
great time with this book and sometimes that's all i really need so it might seem a bit high
considering the score that other books have gotten on this channel but i'm going to give luther a
very respectable score of eighty percent woof wood so that's a review and if you checked out this
book let me know what you think about it in the comment section below do me a massive favor share
this video where you can it really helps support the channel but i guess that's a video for now
and until next time just make sure that you stay safe and stay mad all you dogs see the next video