I got to talk to Paul Cornell for a little bit at the C2E2 convention in Chicago earlier this month, and one thing that he was super-excited about was the conclusion of his Luthor-centric run in Action Comics.  I dropped Action during the disappointing New Krypton story and only picked it up again when I heard that it would focus on Lex for a while.

After reading through Action 899, I can only use one phrase to describe it:  “I was not expecting that.”.

Cornell wraps up Lex’s quest for the Black Ring Energy nicely with a confrontation between two of Superman’s biggest villains: Lex and Brainiac.  Cornell’s depiction of Lex is just amazing.  Luthor, facing down a being that makes Superman tremble, laughs and jokes because he knows that he has out-maneuvered Brainiac in every way this time.  The fight between them is technical and amusing, with a rather abrupt end where Luthor comes out on top.

What happens next, I won’t spoil, but Luthor finds out the secret behind the spheres and it leads right into Action #900, which I now cannot wait to read.  This run on Action has been massively entertaining by having Luthor run through the entire DC Universe on his quest, even running into Death of the Endless at one point.  I’m a little disappointed to see it end but they definitely put a good ending on it that will lead right into next month’s landmark #900 issue.