In less than a year, Paul Cornell has made Lex Luthor one of the most interesting villains in DC Comics all over again. Luthor has had a shakey last couple of years but thanks to Cornell he has become more relevant than ever before. He’s done this by giving us a look into just how insane of a life Luthor has had and not necessarily himself being the insane one. We’ve seen him fight Gorilla’s with spoons, an immortal man with a friendship grudge, and getting insulted by a clown. But now we’re at the penultimate issue of this run and soon Superman will be taking back reigns on the series. It’s a shame really, more so because this issue is such a pain to read.

It’s quite obvious at this point that Cornell had to rush to get this story to the finish line. Cause page after page is massive info dumping on us to figure out what is actually going on. There is so much exposition going into this issue that I found myself not caring (and somewhat confused) about what was going on. I know Cornell can give us better then this, I mean he gave us a Gorilla with a Spoon a few months ago! But here I can just tell Cornell might have delayed too much time to get to the finale because looking back at the previous issues; there’s so little story going on and much more focus on the bizarre aspects of the arc instead of the actual story. What got me upset the most though is that, at least right now, it looks like the robot Lois plotline just ends. There is a revelation but she is taken out of the picture so quickly she is literally an afterthought in this issue. That and the Brainiac fight was quite boring to read because it’s just two men speaking loudly for two pages. I’m just really disappointed on how this is all going down, I really am.

At first I thought a positive with this issue would be that Pete Woods is magically gone. We instead have Jesus Merino doing the issue and looking at what he’s given us here…..I wish Pete Woods came back. Cause at least we would have some sort of consistancy with the arc at least. Merino’s pencils are horrible per say, but there is nothing special about them. It’s extremely sketchy, the character’s faces are awkward on each panel, and there’s just too much going on to figure out what is happening. The last page proves my point because look at that reveal and tell me it doesn’t look ugly. Seriously, just a horrible looking design from top to bottom. Also, the coloring by Brad Anderson is just too bright here. He is a good colorist and I’ve seen his work before; but the colors like red and green are so bright it really hurts my eyes.

This issue is really a mess to read. It’s like Paul Cornell went back to square one on his writing and it reads like a newcomer who doesn’t know how to pace anything. There is so much exposition here that it becomes a chore to read and I ultimately don’t know what actually happened. Jesus Merino coming in to replace Woods is actually a bad thing because his pencils are way too sketchy and his pacing is confusing as well. Ultimately it looks like this brilliant arc is going to end with yet another bland Luthor vs Superman fight. Which is so frustrating considering what Cornell has brought us the last eight months.