At last we meet the mysterious \u201cMister L,\u201d as the new \u2013 improved? \u2013 Lex Luthor makes his debut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Man of Steel, \u201cEnemy Mine\u2026\u201d Finally there\u2019s an issue with a story worth recapping. That\u2019s not to say that the previous issues were bad or boring, but the plots just weren\u2019t that complex, as the focus was primarily on the establishment of the new status quo. Coincidentally enough, I recently read an old Supergirl story in which Red Kryptonite causes Superman\u2019s hair and fingernails to suddenly grow to great lengths, and it\u2019s established that his heat vision alone isn\u2019t up to the task of trimming his hair and nails, and ultimately it requires the combined heat vision of Supergirl and Krypto to do the trick. As she leaves the room, Lois suggests that Lex should invest some of his money in a better barber, as he\u2019s beginning to look like Fred Mertz.![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.opendoor-comics.com\/unbagged\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/97\/2024\/10\/image-10.png?resize=400%2C614&ssl=1\")
Written by John Byrne
Art and Cover by John Byrne and Dick Giordano
Edited by Andy Helfer
Special Thanks to Marv Wolfman<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s true here, as well, but I find the story a little more compelling than those of the previous two issues.
Our story opens as Clark Kent opens his door to greet Lois, who is dolled up in a slinky little number. Clark himself is in the process of putting on formal attire, so it\u2019s clear that the two of them have plans to attend some sort of event. It\u2019s also clear that Lois isn\u2019t terribly thrilled about the fact that Clark is her date.
It\u2019s apparent that this is the first time Lois has been to Clark\u2019s place, and she comments on how surprisingly tidy it is for a bachelor pad. We also learn that the fancy dress Lois is wearing is a loaner from the host of the event they\u2019re attending.
Clark explains that he doesn\u2019t spend that much time at home. As Lois looks around the apartment she spots some of Clark\u2019s high school trophies, and the two share a bit of mildly flirtatious dialogue about how Clark has managed to keep in shape.
Things go south, however, once Lois finds a picture of Jonathan and Martha and wonders how two people who look so nice could end up with such \u201cslime\u201d for a son.
Lois, it seems, is still holding a grudge about Clark scooping her with his Superman interview, which, as Lois points out, happened \u201cSeventeen months, two weeks, four days, and an odd number of hours\u201d prior to this evening, letting us know that we\u2019ve moved forward in time significantly since the second issue.
Clark points out that he didn\u2019t scoop her out of spite, though that\u2019s no comfort to Lois, who tells him she has no interest in discussing it further, and tells him to finish getting ready.
As he finishes preparing, he thinks about how he really needs to keep working at chipping away the personal animosity that Lois feels towards him, given his own considerably less hostile feelings towards her.
Last issue we learned that, unlike the pre-Crisis<\/em> incarnation, this version of Superman needs to breathe. Based on Clark\u2019s stubble, we learn in this issue that he also needs to shave.
The idea that Superman\u2019s hair didn\u2019t grow was a convenient plot point to avoid explaining how he trimmed his indestructible hair in earlier stories, but it was also kind of dumb. I\u2019m not certain if his hair grew up to a certain point and then stopped, or if the hair he had when he arrived as a toddler was all the hair he would ever have. If it\u2019s the latter, one has to assume that Silver Age Superman had a little something in common with his arch-enemy down in his bathing suit area\u2026
In any case, thanks to the bear he\u2019s seen sporting in the trailers for the \u201cMan of Steel\u201d movie, there was a lot of speculation \u2013 as part of a cross-promotion with Gillette \u2013 as to how Superman shaves, with Bill Nye himself weighing in with his own theory<\/a>.
However, Byrne had already established how it was done (a method that was also used on \u201cSuperman: The Animated Series.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.opendoor-comics.com\/unbagged\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/97\/2024\/10\/image-11.png?resize=514%2C768&ssl=1\")
With that out of the way \u2013 and before Clark can explain why he\u2019s got such light weights \u2013 the two head up to the roof of the building, much to Clark\u2019s dismay. It seems that their \u201cride\u201d to the event is, in fact, a helicopter, which is parked atop Clark\u2019s building.
This is, Clark notes, most likely illegal, but Lois points out that in Metropolis anything with the name \u201cLuthor\u201d on it is above the law.
Clark asks if Lois approves. She tells him that she doesn\u2019t, but it doesn\u2019t do much good to disapprove, given that Lex is the most powerful man in Metropolis.
We get a whole lotta exposition, with information about Lex and his company \u2013 Lexcorp \u2013 as the two intrepid reporters are flown out to sea, and Lois lets us know that while there have been a lot of questions about some of Lex\u2019s activities and business practices, no one has ever been able to prove anything.
When she talks about his charitable works, Clark asks if her opinion of Lex might be colored by her relationship with him, as he\u2019s heard rumors that Lex and Lois are a \u201chot item.\u201d
Lois shoots that theory down, pointing out that Lex is a \u201ccollector\u201d and he only wants her because he can\u2019t have her.
The event the two are attending is being held aboard the \u201cSea Queen,\u201d Lex\u2019s enormous personal yacht, and at last the time comes to meet the man himself.
\u2026
Up to this point \u2013 at the time \u2013 I was on board with the changes that Byrne had made to Superman. That includes the fact that he had jettisoned the whole idea of Superman having once been Superboy.
I knew that as a consequence of that we would be presented with a very different kind of Lex Luthor, given that the old relationship no longer existed.
(For those who don\u2019t know, Lex was a friend of Clark\/Superboy in Smallville, but turned evil after Superboy inadvertently caused Lex to lose all of his hair. It\u2019s exactly as stupid as it sounds.)
However, I wasn\u2019t prepared for an overweight, balding, middle-aged businessman, and, frankly, I didn\u2019t like it.
Eventually, he won me over, but while I tried to keep an open mind, I really did not care for this version of Luthor initially.
As was mentioned back in #2, Lex had been away from Metropolis for quite some time, so he wasn\u2019t really \u201cup\u201d on the whole Superman thing, though he had read Clark\u2019s interview, and he congratulates Clark on his success, and his apparent humility, given that Clark refused to accept an award he\u2019d won for the story.
We learn that, rather than having a strained friendship with Clark\/Superboy, this version of Lex has a strained friendship with Perry White, to the point that Perry straight-up hates Lex.
Clark absents himself after Lex asks to have some time alone with Lois, during which he makes another attempt at adding Lois to his collection, letting her know that the $5,000 designer original she\u2019s wearing was actually intended as a gift.
It doesn\u2019t work out so well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.opendoor-comics.com\/unbagged\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/97\/2024\/10\/image-12.png?resize=519%2C768&ssl=1\")
Neither reporter gets very far, as they find that the yacht has been hijacked by armed terrorists.\u00a0 Clark steps between Lois and the man pointing a gun at her and gets conked on the head and thrown overboard for his troubles, at which point, assuming him to be dead, Lois clearly begins to reconsider her hatred of the man.
Of course, we know that this was just a convenient excuse for him to get away, and soon, as the terrorists round up all the guests \u2013 including the Mayor of Metropolis \u2013 Superman throws everything into disarray by picking up the entire yacht.
Because Byrne likes exposition a lot, we learn from Superman\u2019s thoughts that he is able to lift greater weights with ease when he\u2019s flying, as if his power of flight somehow involves the negation of gravity.
In the chaos on the yacht, as Superman flies it to Lex\u2019s private island, which had been the destination, Lois takes out one of the gunman with a kick to the groin and gets hold of a weapon.
After setting the ship down in the harbor, Superman swoops in to save Lois \u2013 who had mostly wrapped things up herself, thanks to skills she had picked up from being an \u201cArmy Brat\u201d \u2013 from another gunman who had escaped her notice.
With that taken care, of Lex reappears and thanks Superman for saving the day.\u00a0 He then hands him a check for $25,000, which is intended as a retainer.\u00a0 Lex actually wants to hire Superman.
Superman, of course, is not interested, despite Lex\u2019s insistence.
It turns out that Lex more or less knew that this hijacking would take place \u2013 he\u2019d had some trouble with this group in the past \u2013 and had asked his security team to wait and see if Superman showed up so that he could see him in action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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