Lex Luthor: The Unauthorized Biography
writer: James D. Hudnall
art: Eduardo Barreto
colors: Adam Kubert
letters: Bill Oakley
editors: Mike Carlin and Jon Peterson
grade: A++
In the wake of World of Metropolis (which gave us the backstory on Perry White, Lois Lane, and the Daily Planet), as well as World of Smallville (which gave us the backstory on Ma and Pa Kent), and (of course) Man of Steel (which gave us the background on Superman and Lana Lang), the major enigma still residing in the Post-Crisis Superman universe at this point was Lex Luthor.
I only know James Hudnall from his work on the latter years of
Strikeforce: Morituri, which was intelligent but also flawed and, at times, amateur. In contrast, this later stand-alone work is an absolute triumph. It's honestly hard for me to believe it was written by the same person.
Rather than actually being an unauthorized biography of Luthor (as the cover suggests), this is the tale of a seedy reporter attempting to uncover that story, and it paints a far more vivid picture of the man in question as a result. Essentially, it's a brilliant inversion of Citizen Kane, in which a reporter spends the entire film trying to learn the story of an immensely wealthy and influential man no one truly knew who died in the first scene. Instead, a reporter spends the entire book trying to learn the story of an immensely wealthy and influential man no one truly knew who had him murdered in the first scene (flashbacks are fun). In both stories, the true core of who the man is and what makes him tick lies not with the ex-business partners, employees, and ex-lovers; it lies back in his childhood, where, though raised in poverty like Charles Foster Kane, no wealthy businessman came to rescue Lex Luthor; he had to become savage enough to rescue himself.
But, beyond even this ingenious parallel and excellent storytelling from both Hudnall and Barreto, the final eight pages offer an amazing series of revelations as we see in action the brilliant and utterly heartless cunning we've heard alluded to throughout this tale, Luthor managing to put in their places a nosy reporter, a childhood rival, and Clark Kent, all in one ingenious move. If that isn't enough, we also inadvertently learn that he can cause earthquakes that devastate entire cities when enough people cross him.
Early in the story, an informant suggests that Luthor gets off on his ability to manipulate others and, sure enough, this is also explicitly verified by the close.
It's seedy, moody, brilliant, and ridiculously tight in its plotting. Beyond even offering a definitive backstory on Luthor, it's just a class act piece of literature all around.
What we learn about Luthor:Important Continuity Note: The years and ages referenced here contradict my work in
The Post Crisis Superman Timeline. Hinted at previously and also verified here is that Luthor and Perry White were the same age, but, from World of Metropolis, we know Perry White was 10 years old in 1943. In this story, Mrs. Anderson indicates that Perry White and Lex Luthor were classmates, and then indicates that "it's been thirty years since I taught that boy" (referring to Luthor), which would make both Luthor and White thirteen in 1959, born in 1946, and 43 years old in present continuity.
1946: Lex Luthor born. Raised in Suicide Slum until the age of thirteen by implicitly abusive parents.
1959: At age 13, Lex Luthor attends the seventh grade and is best friends with Perry White. Around this time, he begins associating with adults in the neighborhood that he pays to rough people up for him, starting with two kids who had been picking on him (Edward Kelley and Richard McGuire). Luthor's teacher was Mrs. Anderson. Later that year, Luthor sabotages his parents' car after taking out a massive insurance policy on them. He uses his adult lackeys to intimidate a mechanic into issuing a false report about the cause of the accident. He acquires his first fortune from this.
Approximately 1972: In response to
the dismantling of The French Connection, Lex Luthor creats a designer drug and distrubution system and sells it to the Mafia for two million dollars.
Unspecificed time after 1972: The rise of Lexcorp. Luthor uses the Daily Planet (which he owned at the time) to embarrass companies that bid against him for government contracts, effectively destroying his enemies via the media.
Note also that the focus of this story was to explore the dark/seedy sides of Luthor that he'd left out of his own authorized biography. Thus no mention of Lexcorp's technological achievements, including (if this remains in continuity) The Lex Wing aircraft design, which "founded" Luthor's financial empire (Superman #13).
So reconciling this major revision to Perry White's and Lex Luthor's ages in the
Post-Crisis Superman Timeline is going to be a significant challenge for me. Not sure I'm up for the task tonight...
