I have to be honest, this run isn’t what I expected it to be. 

Well, no, that isn’t exactly accurate; this run is exactly as spectacular as I thought it was going to be when it was announced. But it isn’t at all the TYPE of run I was expecting from Paul Cornell. 

When Cornell first burst onto the mainstream scene with “Wisdom”, and then followed it up with “Captain Britain” and “Dark X Men”, I remember thinking that he was a creator much in the mold of Grant Morrison. Big, bombastic ideas and set pieces with some very solid character work, but always character work brought forth through action, through violence. Look at his Captain Britain, you see big concept after big concept – The magic hidden away and the search for exalibur, Plotka the Mindless One factory, vampires on the moon, vampire BLOOD MISSILE ASSASSINS launched from the moon, etc. His Dark X Men opens with a room full of psychics contorted into some giant, physical manifestation of a brain, and gets stranger from there. 

But what reading his work at DC has really driven home, has really convinced me of, is that Paul Cornell is in fact one of the best pure CHARACTER writers in comics. What he cares about, more than anything else, is that he has something significant and something new to say about the subjects under his pen. The big concepts – in this case, the Black Ring Energy – are really nothing more than an inciting act with which Cornell might be able to prod his subject into situations that reveal his every psychological nook and cranny. The balancing act that he has achieved over the last 8 issues with Lex Luthor is astounding; so often, in the characterization of villains, it is easy to make them ‘cool’ and ‘compelling’ by focusing on their will power and decisiveness – their only drawback is that they are often willing to kill, which is a fundamental drive and one that many admire (hence the popularity of Deadpool, Wolverine, the Punisher, etc). Thus, most great notable villain stories cast that villain in a predominantly positive light; they certainly don’t focus on the characters WEAKNESSES. Look at most great villain stories out there; Cornell points to Carey’s “Lucifer” as an influence, and while Lucifer had many father issues, he was in no way weak, he was almost never anything but flawless. Geoff Johns’ Captain Cold or Sinestro (and almost all of his others) are capable badasses first and foremost, and in many ways good hearted or good intentioned. Heck, Azzarello’s Lex Luthor was never proven wrong in his belief that Superman was an abomination, that he was in the right. 

But what Cornell is doing here is much, much more difficult. He’s painting the picture of a Luthor who is brilliant but, in many ways, impotent. Not just flawed in his pride, but genuinely psychologically damaged, petty and emotional , capable of being caught unawares, and distinctly DELUDED with his own self importance (rather than, say, Carey’s Lucifer who seemed very justified to think himself omnipotent).  

Well, it’s masterful. And here, in this issue, we get to see this brilliant, psychologically damaged mastermind go up against comics’ most FAMOUS brilliant, psychologically damaged mastermind.

But wait. The opening scene is a wonderful, pitch perfect nod to current DC continuity. Wayne, another one of the elite, another ‘normal man’ who should be on Lex’s side, has by the action of supporting Batman BETRAYED Lex Luthor. He sees it as a PERSONAL betrayal, because he’s the ultimate narcissist. This is really all that need be said on the matter – a page, 3 panels, and we’re done and I’m more than satisfied. 

A bit of background plot element movement (which we’ll get to later) and then we’re on to the main event, the Joker, and let me tell you, he’s wild as hell. There’s just a wonderful…ambiguousness to the Joker here. Is he totally insane, or is he HYPER sane, so brilliant that his mind has slipped the surly bonds of convention and has seen the universe for what it truly is? Is he completely random, or is his every move meticulously planned? Cornell offers no answers, but moments that support all of those theories, and more besides.

And, while doing so, he draws some wonderful delineations between two of the biggest villains in comic books, highlighting their differences, their similarities. Lex, the outwardly calculating, narcissist artistocrat. Stuffy, hopelessly unable to leave behind those aspects of his personality that weigh him down. The Joker, so much more free to act, free to be.  

There are moments where the Joker is brilliantly insightful and clever, terrifyingly sadistic (“I made him eat the soup” has never taken on quite so horrific a meaning), and even philosophically melancholy (bi polar Joker?).  It’s a roller coaster ride of juxtaposed emotional states and character traits, but for the Joker it works. It works perfectly. 

And so there it is. Paul Cornell manages, once again, to write a comic book about two people sitting around talking, and he’s managed to make it one of the most engaging reads of the month, and his best issue of the title yet. 

There is a lot more going on here, to, as the overarching plot rages towards it’s close; betrayals revealed, the true nature of the Black Rings coming into focus, even the appearance of Luthor’s unwilling benefactor from “Blackest Night”. But all of that is secondary, feels almost superfluous, in the face of such powerful, nuanced character interaction. 

I’d be remiss if I didn’t comment on the work of Pete Woods, who may well be the breakout star of all of this. I’ve long admired his work, but over the course of this run especially, Woods has become an absolute MASTER of character acting. His characters live and breath and MOVE on the page, they’re expressive – not just in regards to facial expression, but in terms of body language. This issue wouldn’t be half as good without Woods’ sophisticated, exacting artwork demonstrating Luthor’s disgust, or Joker’s shifting moods. 

I highly recommend that fans of Batman or Superman pick this issue up.