Action Comics #23.3 Lex Luthor Review

Best Lex Day Ever

Lex is having his best day ever.  He gets out of jail, has his facial scaring fixed, crushes a financial rival and sets up a disaster to make Superman look bad.  What could possibly go wrong?  Action Comics #23.3 is a direct prelude to Forever Evil so we all know the answer to that.  Oh well, at least we can enjoy what little fun times Lex has until all Hell breaks loose.

Lex Luthor has had a huge presence in Villain's Month.  He's a main player in the Forever Evil story and was basically the star in the Bizarro issue.  Charles Soule, though, uses Lex's Villain solo issue to show us what drives this New 52 Lex.  Yes, we all know he is a megalomaniac driven by greed and power, but this Lex is also a homicidal killer who will do whatever it take no mater the cost.  I'm not sure I like this Lex.  He was always greedy and power hungry, but he always seemed to think he was doing the right thing.  He had a different moral code, but it was still there.  This Lex is just a cold blooded killer. This issue is not bad, it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth in general.  Hopefully, Lex can redeem himself a bit with the continuing Forever Evil books.

Raymund Bermudez handles the art and does an ok job.  Nothing really stands out and some of the facial looks of Lex and his hangers on look a little off. However,  I did like the splash page of Lex in his battle armor, so all wasn't lost.

Action Comics #23.3 was a bit of a dissapointment.  It leads directly into Forever Evil #1 and shows this Lex is a cold hearted killer with no soul.  Hopefully it is just a setup for Lex's redemption later on in the Forever Evil storyline, but as a single issue I can't really recommend it.

6.0/10