Concluding the Levitz-Ordway story is this nice piece, entitled Ascension.
We begin with Luthor watching another “care package” being sent to the planet he has named Lexor and he talks with various advisors about the distracting of Batman in Gotham and the suicide of the Superman cult leader. It’s a nice scene depicting the megalomaniac Luthor we all know and love.
We then cut to Gotham where Batman breaks up a mugging of a nun and Bruce suspects something is up as this continues the trend of religious or community service related small crimes that he has been taken care of in this story.
Meanwhile, Superman has discovered the existence of Lexor, where the inhabitants have turned against the Big Blue Boy Scout, with the help of “presents” from Luthor. Included are some pieces of kryptonite, and it is clear that the natives are aware of the effects it has on Kryptonians.
Cutting back to Gotham, Batman is able to get a lead on who is behind what’s been going on.
Back to outer space, Superman does some reconnaissance and intercepts the latest care package and realizes that Luthor is behind turning the planet against him.
In Metropolis, Luthor gets paid a visit by an angry Batman who warns Lex to stay out of Gotham. And that is followed by The Man of Steel swooping in to admonish Lex for “playing God” and the issue ends with a “NEXT TIME GADGET, NEXT TIME” sort of scene from Lex as Clark swoops in to have a nice roof top chat with Bruce.
This was a quick story, but not a bad way to wrap up a pretty sweet story. It was nice that it wasn’t overly preachy about God complexes as it was clear that Luthor had bad intentions and Superman rather have had the planet take a more natural course of evolution.
Coming up next, a star studded “anniversary” 75th issue which features the Legion of Super Heroes. Then a one shot where Judd Winnick explores Superman’s reaction to the “death” of Bruce Wayne at the end of Final Crisis (hey isn’t that what the whole “new direction” was supposed to be when it was announced last fall) and in October there is a story featuring Supergirl and the Damian Wayne Robin. Well, it should make for some interesting reading at the very least.
Superman/Batman #74:
Reviewed by SteveJRogers
