Review: Future State Superman vs Imperious Lex #1

Mark Russell is the greatest political writer in comics, and it is always interesting to see how his brand of satire lends itself to the superhero universe. Here he aims all his brilliance towards the problem of how to correct a world misguided and misled by a demagogue.

Although his criticism seems to be of Trump and his followers the larger context is about our attempts to create a universe which guides those misled back towards the center. It is also a criticism of the larger American system, keeping its citizenry content in turn through temporary material wealth and fear of outside invaders taking that wealth away. To have all of this political thoughtfulness couched within a Superman comic filled with action and great character moments is a feat no writer except Mark Russell could accomplish.

The issue focuses on the return of Superman in the Future State universe, who quickly discovers that a band of Luthor’s robots are pillaging other worlds to serve Lex’s own planet and his people. Superman attacks the Robots and Factory even as the people of Lexor turn against him for destroying their resources and livelihood. Lex swears vengeance on Superman and those he loves.

The United Planets meanwhile meet to discuss Lexor being allowed to join their body. Lois as the representative of Earth first argues strongly against it. But Superman returns from Lexor and quickly convinces her that the people and world of Lexor need to be given a chance to learn from them as a part of the United Planets. Lois is then assigned to be the representative of the group to travel to Lexor and welcome them as the leader of the transition team.

This of course sets up a collision course for next issue with a vengeful Luthor having to use Lois and Superman to gain power even while plotting to destroy them. The art is solid with Steve Pugh who did such incredible work with Russell on Flintstones, doing great action work here with Superman taking on massive robots and Lex Luthor himself. The art isn’t perfect as the future Lois and Clark just looks nothing like Lois or Clark, but given the alternate future timeline this comic is visiting it can be overlooked. The aliens, environments and panel-work are incredible but it might have been interesting to get a more typical superhero artist to do this book to create a greater sense of mismatch between the superhero aspects of the book and the heavy political satire.

Here the audience gets exactly what they expect from a Mark Russell book which makes it a bit less outrageous. But that being said the larger question which remains at the end of this issue is if Superman is correct and appeasing these blind followers and Lex can teach them a better path, or if compromise will simply lead to Lex finding a path to greater victory.

Writing: 4.8 of 5 stars
Art: 3.6 of 5 stars
Colors: 3.9 of 5 stars

Overall: 4.0 of 5 stars

Writer: Mark Russell
Art: Steve Pugh
Colors: Romulo Fajardo Jr
Publisher: DC Comics

Author Profile

M.R. Jafri

M.R. Jafri was born and raised in Niagara Falls New York and now lives with his family in Detroit Michigan. He's a talkative introvert and argumentative geek. His loves include Star Wars, Star Trek, Superheroes, Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, Transformers, GI Joe, Films, Comics, TV Shows, Action Figures and Twizzlers.