Hudnall, James D.

AVERAGE REVIEW SCORE:

4 out of 5

(1 book)

Lex Luthor: The Unauthorized Biography

(Art by Eduardo Barreto)

Peter Sands is a down-and-out journalist looking for a big scoop and decides to write an unauthorised (I'm British, we don't use 'z' there) biography of Metropolis' most famous billionaire.  However, the more he investigates Luthor's past the more he realises that there are dark deeds being carefully hidden from the public.  Soon Sands discovers that his very life is in danger and he tries to seek the help of the one person Luthor can't have corrupted; Superman.

Lex Luthor is such an iconic villain in comics specifically because we know he's a villain and yet he's able to use his brilliance and his money to seem above reproach to the authorities.  In that he's very much a reflection of some of the most wealthy and powerful individuals in our own world.  Here that reflection is made all the more clear by the allusions to the similarities between Luthor's autobiography and Donald Trump's 'The Art of the Deal', suggesting that the real and dark truth is in all the things left carefully unsaid.  The irony, of course, is that writing this in 1989 James Hudnall would've had no idea that both of these reprehensible monsters would go on to be President of the United States.

Overall, this a surprisingly dark story to be Superman-adjacent but one which takes a good look at the dark underbelly of Luthor's criminal empire, as well as its real-world equivalents.

4 out of 5

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DC Comics (here)