The Silver Age Lives as Lex Luthor Dies: The Last Days of Lex Luthor

The Silver Age of Superman shines again with the latest offering from DC Comics on their Black Label imprint.

Superman: The Last Days of Lex Luthor (Mark Waid, Bryan Hitch, Kevin Nowlan) finds the villainous Luthor getting Superman's attention in his usual over-the-top signature style, which involves the death of several men. His reason? He's dying, the result of playing around with another death trap meant to kill Superman which backfired and is now putting his own cells into a state of rapid decay. So he does the (for him) unthinkable -- he turns to Superman for help, because he knows "Superman won't let me die."

And he's right. Even surrounded by the bodies of Lex's latest maneuver, Superman vows to help find a cure for Lex. Of course, after he's cured, he also vows to put Lex in prison, just as Lex equally vows to kill Superman once he no longer needs him. And the whole world is made to wonder: Why? Why would Superman even try to save the life of the man who is easily one of the greatest villains mankind has ever known? The answer to that lies in a story that used to be canon in years past, from a time when the two were both social outcasts in Smallville, and a lab accident that changed Lex's life forever. But the tributes don't stop there as Superman's quest for a cure take him (and Lex) to the Fortress of Solitude, the bottle city of Kandor, and the Phantom Zone.

Waid expertly captures the subdued megalomania of Luthor and the undying hope of Superman in this oversized Black Label edition. Having Hitch and Nowlan come together as an art team intensifies the nostalgic feel of this book which is sure to become a fast favorite of those who have been Superman fans for decades.