Action Comics #318 (1964)
by Ed Hamilton & Curt Swan
From the same team that brought you “the death of Superman”.
We begin with Lex Luthor escaping from prison by building a Lexbot…
…and hijacking a rocket that brings him back to Lexor.
Note that there is no indication that the rocket was supposed to be capable of interstellar flight.
This could have been the end of the pre-Crisis Luthor. Not only he’s back to a planet where he’s considered a hero…
…not only he marries Ardora…
…but she makes him promise that he won’t go after Superman!!!
Now to be fair to Superman, he doesn’t KNOW that Lex made that promise (or that he’s actually sincere about it).
But on the other hand, it’s getting increasingly difficult to root for Superman in those Lexor stories.
Little known fact, but on Lexor it’s illegal to wear red, blue and yellow.
Considering Lex was THAT paranoid about Superman coming for him, I’m shocked that the first trap was just a regular guy who tries to capture him.
Time for a rematch already!
Well you saw the cover.
This won’t help your reputation with the locals, Superman.
Still, the Lexorians are civilized enough to give him a fair trial.
Even Brainiac gets word of Luthor’s death, SOMEHOW.
Superman does get a lawyer, even if it’s not an enthusiastic one.
And the story ends with the cliffhanger of Superman waiting for the trial.
Action Comics #319 (1964)
by Ed Hamilton & Curt Swan
Well if the cover is to be believed, he doesn’t have much of a chance.
Lexor’s jury selection criteria are a bit weird.
After Superman spends a page and a half to recap the previous issue, the trial continues.
I kind of sympathize with the defense attorney…
…but I don’t think he’s a good lawyer. Shouldn’t he at least have TRIED to bring some evidence that Luthor was a criminal? Perhaps get testimony from Earth? The Lexorians don’t have the technology for space travel, but there ARE space travelers on the planet right now.
Lexor does have the death penalty, but it’s as humane as possible.
Superman’s lawyers have a new defense line: lie about what happened!
Ironically, rejecting his own defense might be the best thing Superman has done for himself.
Now that the lawyer really believes in Superman’s absence, he allows him to escape from prison.
Sneaking back into Luthor’s lab, Superman discovers some conveniently labelled pills.
Seriously, we get an explanation why they’re labelled in English, but now why they’re labelled in the first place!!!
And sure enough, Luthor is not dead after all.
As it’s often the case, Luthor’s downfall is a consequence of being TOO detailed with his schemes.
It’s EXTREMELY rare to see Curt Swan draw an angry Superman.
I feel that even without super-senses Superman should have been able to notice this.
The Lexorians instantly believe that this was an accident on Luthor’s part.
Notice that he COULD still instigate them to kill Superman… the fact that he doesn’t really says a lot of how much he wants to keep his word to his wife.
Superman is banished from the planet, and since he doesn’t have powers he can’t do much about it.
Historical significance: 8/10
Luthor marrying Ardora will carry though the rest of his Lexor stories. But continuity is still very loose in this period: after this Luthor has a couple of very minor appearances where he’s a prisoner on Earth, and the next time we’ll continue this storyline he won’t be on Lexor.
Silver Age-ness: 2/10
Nothing too crazy for the setting.
Does it stand the test of time? 8/10
From a modern perspective it would gain a lot from a slower pace, but it still holds up pretty well.
While it IS infuriating that rooting for Superman becomes increasingly difficult with each Lexor story, at least here he doesn’t have many reasons to believe Luthor is being sincere.
After this ending, however, Superman should REALLY have left Lex alone.
What else was in Action Comics #318-319?
I’ve already covered the Supergirl story of #318, which is quite historically significant because that’s where she graduates. As I’ve mentioned plenty of times, she does this BEFORE Spider-Man!!!
And I’ve also already talked about the story from #319, since it has a very obscure Legion cameo.
The question remains:
You got a wife who adores you.
You got a life as a hero.
You have a QWERTLING WHOLE PLANET that adores you like a god!
WHY DO YOU STILL WANT TO KILL SUPERMAN?!?
We’re talking about the same man who (if i remember correctly) basically got super-cancer in the animated series and IMMEDIATELY blamed it on Superman EVEN THOUGH HE GOT IT FROM CARRYING AROUND KRYPTONITE FOR SO LONG! It’s called being the most petty person just before doom and reverse flash. And don’t forget “Superman made him bald”
It was Jerry Siegel, not Ed Hamilton, who wrote “The Death of Superman.” Curt Swan Illustrated both stories, of course.
I appreciate the attention you’re giving to the Lexor Saga, which succeeded in deepening the character of Luthor (at least in Silver Age terms). Although Luthor’s marriage to Ardora was mostly forgotten in the Bronze Age, it figures as a critical plot point in the great “Luther’s Last Stand” trilogy in Action #510-512, by Cary Bates and Swan. Bates and Swan finally brought Luthor back to Lexor (for the last time) in Action #544, the story that introduced his warsuit.
Curt Swan would’ve liked to have drawn an angry Superman more often, but editor Mort Weisinger objected, saying that the lines in Supes’ face made him look too old.
Swan groused that even a baby has lines in its face when it’s crying, so why not a furious Man of Steel?