Future State: Superman Vs. Imperious Rex #2 is a fun and furious issue that sees Luthor regret his hasty decision to join the United Planets. And try and renege on the deal as only Luthor can. Read Full Review

Russell and Pugh aren't making a timeless work in Future State: Superman vs Imperious Lex #2, but they're making a work for this time. Read Full Review

It's more a strange Elseworlds than an event tie-in, and that works just fine for Russell fans. Read Full Review

While this was just a two-issue story, it didnt come across like Russell was out of ideas. If anything, he set the title up for easy revisiting down the line without making any dramatic changes or killing off half the supporting cast. Id be interested in this creative team revisiting this potential Superman future. Read Full Review

So this unfolded much like the first issue, heavy on the political satire and commentary. But I enjoyed this one much more. I wish I had an explanation why. But as I have said many times, I like a story with an agenda when it is done well. This issue threaded that needle. Read Full Review

This is a book that's fun to read even when uncomfortable and is very much of the moment in a way that feels timeless. Read Full Review

Future State: Superman vs Imperious Lex #2 is set in the future but feels like a classic Superman comic. The plot is exciting while having a narrative using real life as a basis to tell the story. Each of the characters is so true to themselves. To the reader, Russell instills the idea that these three have been part of each others lives for so long, whether they like it or not. The art feels classic as well while generating new ideas. With the twist happening much sooner than expected, it leaves one wondering where the series will go from here Read Full Review

While this issue is fun and leads to some laughs, it's bogged down with political satire that forces the characters to act in an odd way to make the story work and while it works a little..... it doesn't really feel like an actual future. The art is enjoyable throughout and there is some fun to be had here at Lex Luthor's expense but with Lex just doing bad things in a dopey way over and over I wonder if there's a need for a third issue to this series. Read Full Review

This is a deep political book that if you examine it, there is wrong on both sides. Capitalism versus Socialism seems to be the theme. Comics are sometimes supposed to take you away and be "bubble gum for the brain". In this case, this was a political comic that provided nothing but conflict and the constant "in your face" we have endured in politics for some time. Read Full Review

Politics are a very tough subject to write about. Not only because they're so complex, dirty and interconnected, but also because most people are completey ignorant about them and prefer easy answers to questions that can't be answered easily. Think of any big political crisis, and ask yourself is there a simple explanation to it. What caused Brexit? And the 2008 Great Recession? Or 9/11? Or both world wars? It is impossible to simplify these subjects enough to explain them in one, or even few sentences. They require extensive explaining which may explain one thing, but will spark a dozen of new questions and uncertainties. And sufficed to say, average people don't like that. They prefer easy answers. Hey, it's the Russians, or Chinese, that's all there is to a problem, no convoluted professorial explanations needed.

Now, obviously, it's not hard to write such simple fictional narrative. Isn't that what western comics have been all about for decades? Good vs. evil, all day all night. Superman is good, Lex Luthor is bad, no extra layers of depth and complexity needed, because they'd confuse readers who are used to not thinking at all. That was the Silver Age mentality. And then came the Bronze Age with writers like Alan Moore, the man behind Watchmen and V for Vendetta - tho incredibly deep political comics, ones that actually provide us compelling narratives with super complex backgrounds. Take Adam Susan, for example - the fascist ruler and the main antagonist of V for Vendetta. He is a monster commiting monstrous acts... but he's also a human with believable psyche and decisionmaking we can understand.

Compare that to Luthor here, who turns 180 degrees in the span of one panel. We've got a chance to understand the typical totalitarian way of brainwashing the masses and controlling them through fear, poverty and desperation, but instead Mark Russell abandons the deep and mature storytelling this comic could have featured for a simple good vs. evil fight, ending with a cartoonishly silly twist which fits the tone of the rest of the book as much as Tom King's Looney Tunes references fit Batman comics.

And look - there is some decent lessons and point made here - take the concept of ruling, according to Lex, saying it's not about giving people what they need but rather what they want. As a cynic, I'd say in reality it's convincing them they want something you claim to be for, and then convincing them you're the only one who can give it to them, just to get elected and not do anything. But hey, politics is a complex bitch, as I already said, and anything related to it can be continuously explained further and further. Russel, contrary to Moore, doesn't delve deep enough, BUT the little depths he reaches still contain something worth remembering and understanding, even if ultimately it's kind of a two dimensional wasted potential. more

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RKS - Feb 23, 2021

I think you give Russell too much credit as a writer. The book is just him writing the same tired/lame story he's told over and over previously. It's time to change the channel but he won't because it's what makes him feel that he's doing something important when in reality he's writing a comic book that should entertain rather than preach at people.

Nihilist - Feb 23, 2021

I don't feel it preaches AT people. It tries to make some simple points we already know and hold dear because they're universally good, like "have each others' backs". Problem here is how Russell simplifies very complex themes that would be better off explored in a super deep, mature way, like Moore used to do. He touches their surface, but that's about it.

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Nihilist said it better than I could, or care to.

Genius and evil are oftentimes synonymous in comics. Just look at all the villains with Doctor in their title or the weaponization of science of the various rogue galleries. Among the evil scientists are a special tier of villain that make the reader question just how bad they really are. Ozymandias, Dr. Doom, Killmonger, Black Adam, and of course Lex Luthor. Luthor is interesting because he makes us question Superman's role in the grand scheme of things by making legitimate points that undermine Superman's god-like status. Here, Russell writes Luthor as a Trumpian dictator that is a parody of a parody.

Nothing is learned and nothing is gained. Superman and Lois, as well as the United Planets, make mistakes and falter just as often as Luthor does, but they are never questioned or challenged. It's a wasted opportunity to really delve into something more interesting than Superman is good and Lex Luthor is bad. more

It's a real shame that the art in this book is wasted on such a garbage puke inducing story. It makes about as much sense as "burning two bridges with one stone." (Pg #13) Whatever the hell that means...Save your money kids, unless you want to read about Capitalism being evil and if you dare to have an opposing view than the author it's because you're too stupid to know better. This title is already two issues too long and I'm not looking forward to the third.

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Sup3rsa1yan1990 - Feb 25, 2021

Mark Russell probably gets up in the morning, looks at his bowl of cereal, and thinks, “someone out there is having TWO bowls of cereal, capitalism is evil”

Bats20832 - Mar 1, 2021

Thanks for the warning on this.

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