As a result, I’ve been forced to move to an alternate reality, change my name, develop new mental powers, and start a school of the gifted where I can form my own personal army that can finally rid the multiverse of that sanctimonious tyrant.

Shouldn’t Superman, of all people, be above dolling out “eye for an eye” “justice” just because a bad guy “earned” an extra-hardcore beatdown?

Absolutely.

So it’s a good thing Superman didn’t do anything that was even REMOTELY in the NEIGHBORHOOD of an “extra-hardcore beatdown”.

Even “eye for an eye” would be a gross exaggeration of these events.

The only way this storyline really works for me is if Luthor is trying to manipulate both his fellow villains and Salvation Run into getting various villains to abandon the planet; given that we’re dealing with villains, pretending to make a Legion of Doom is probably the easiest way to get them all in one place at one time for easy capture.

This scenario requires Luthor to have some a priori knowledge of both Salvation Run and that something bad enough is coming to force Luthor into abandoning the planet. What’s that? There’s a Great Disaster coming soon?

Yeah, nothing threatening or bullying about doing any of *those* things at all. Superman isn’t “having his friends hold Luther down”; they’re already holding him. If using his powers against an outmatched foe is bullying, then doing any of the things you mention *once Luthor is restrained* (which is the only way it’s possible, given the Kryptonite gauntlets) are bullying, too. And no one said “Remember when Superman was heroic, but after Crisis when it was still the same guy as now?” A general statement like “Remember when heroes did ‘heroic’ things?” leaves itself wide open for counter-examples.

What no one is pointing out is that Greg has slanted the discussion by leaving out two bits of dialogue. After GL’s line about “do you want a piece of him,” Luthor says, “As soon as I get free, I’m going to kill you.” Superman responds, “Not in *that* armor” and punches…the armor. The punch is clearly aimed at the armor, as shown by both the dialogue and the art: the punch is slanted across Luthor’s chest to smash the armor and leave Luthor unhurt. We see Luthor’s face and bare chest clearly in the next panel, and there’s no sign of injury. This is not the same as “bashing a helpless Lex Luthor.” He is not “beat[ing] on [a] helpless opponent,” and Luthor’s threat to Superman indicates that saying “he’s no longer a threat” isn’t the case.

If there’s really a point to be made here, the whole scene should be described, not just picking the bits that support the point, and leaving out the ones that go against it.

2. Sure Hal says something completely inane when they’ve got him held down, but I don’t think it has much bearing on Superman’s actions. I don’t think that Hal and John hold Lex and yell out “Free punches!” and Superman complies. He doesn’t even acknowledge Hal’s comments.

3. Lex threatens to kill either Hal or Superman and this is what Superman reacts to. Lex clearly believes he himself is still a threat and it’s quite possible that he is, considering the damage he and the others did to the JLA. When Superman destroy the armor with a punch, he says “Not in that armor!” Clearly responding to Lex’s threat. Superman isn’t getting his final licks in, so much as he’s disarming Lex and putting an end to any possible threat he may pose to the rest of the JLA. Lex doesn’t appear to be kidding when he says that he’ll kill them, so why shouldn’t Superman take steps to ensure that Lex is completely powerless to do so? Sure he might be taking a little extra glee in punching the armor off, but is it really that excessive? Lex winces later on, but he doesn’t appear to be in any serious pain and the punch doesn’t seem to connect with anything other than Lex’s armor. In the next few panels, Lex is looking smug and confident. It doesn’t strike me that Superman is using any more power than is necessary to incapacitate Lex and remove his weapons. It might not be the most orthodox manner, but it certainly isn’t unreasonable.

Doesn’t everything Superman stands for run counter to that? Batman, yes– Batman would give Lex his “just desserts” for no other reason than to instill fear in other villains. But Superman? The Superman I know, the ultimate paragon of heroism, would have looked at Hal and John and said something like, “Thanks, but no thanks. You lose, Lex. We’re free, you’re going back to jail, and you couldn’t make me angry enough to hit you.” And he’d walk away- he’s the better man. Every time. And nothing infuriates Lex more.

It’s cheesy and it’s very Leave it to Beaver in its moral perfection. Hell, it’s one of the reasons I don’t read Superman. But that’s who Superman is, and DC needs to stop being ashamed of that.

As for the entire storyline, it felt thrown together, and I didn’t get the point of it all. It amounted to some dumb way to bring back the Legion of Doom Headquarters and put all the villains in one place to set up Salvation Run. It was one big wasted opportunity, and after one Amazo and Solomon Grundy gave the League all they could handle, I’m supposed to believe that the League could clean up DC’s heaviest hitters that simply? Right.

Oh, and Giganta doesn’t wear panties. Dumb.

In Superman’s very first appearance, he punches out a wife-beater who, while he clearly deserves it, poses no physical threat to Superman. At the end of the same issue he’s carrying another criminal under his arm as he jumps between telephone wires, and teases the terrified man with the possibility of their lethal electrocution if they touch a pole. But *now* he’s a “punk and a bully” because he disarms a master criminal of his dangerous weapons systems? Should he have had the GLs turn him lose so he had a sporting chance of getting away or injuring someone, perhaps?

First off, you cannot hold the modern Superman character to the standard of the original debut Superman. Not only has the character changed drastically over the course of his history, but there was even that big crisis-thing, which caused them to literally re-start the thing. So, at the very least thanks to Byrne’s re-vamp, he is literally a different character.

Second, you’re generalizing to cover up Greg’s real argument. It’s not what he does with the punch that matters. It’s the fact that he does it with a punch. He could easily grab the armor and break it off. He could cut it with his heat vision. He could move at super-speed and take it apart, piece by piece. But he has his friends hold Luthor down so he can punch him.

That’s what makes it a bullying move.

Lex has it coming. A thousand times over.

The true offense is the behavior of the group, that these guys gang up on somebody when he’s helpless -as Lex definitely was- and take potshots.

Isn’t this the kind of non-heroic behavior that sparked the infinite crisis? And wasn’t it bad hero behavior that created the identity crisis?

Those whackos at DC are building an epic storyline. I bet the house next year we’ll start seeing ramifications. We’ve already got the Kingdom Come Supes showing up at the JSA. He’s the Wise Superman and he’s going to do the usual Alex Ross thing and be a savior to the world.

But not before he gets another free shot at Lex’s mug.

Sir, in the last year alone he has thought of far more interesting and complex things to make than a giant boxing glove. In one instance, he created a mob of soldiers to trammel a baddie.

Check out issues written by Geoff Johns, who seems to have a special talent for making the Green Lanterns interesting and smart.

And dicks, too, apparently.

There’s just been three issues of Lex showing Superman the torturing of his friends and gloating at him.

Yes, there’ll be a little bit of well-deserved bullying there.

I’ve heard more complaints that Superman just stands there twiddling his thumbs as Batman is all but forcing Firestorm onto the League.

Yup.

If you don’t like the current Justice League title, try Justice League Unlimited. Sure it’s based on the show that current JLA writer Dwayne McDuffie was a writer/producer for, but there’s very little gloom and doom there. Same thing with Legion of Superheroes in the 31st Century and the other Johnny DC titles.

The Flash is quite good too. The dynamic between Wally and his kids is a lot of fun, and the whole family is into the superhero business and having fun doing it too.

Birds of Prey is another book that seems to fit the bill too, but really the book you’re looking for is Blue Beetle. Track down as many issues of it as you can — you won’t be disappointed. The last issue had him defending the guy who led to his father being crippled from the Spectre, for pete’s sake.

Personally, I didn’t have a problem with the issue. Just seemed like when it comes to Luthor for Superman it’s more than personal so it makes sense he’d tear Luthor’s suit apart in lieu of ripping Luthor apart.

Have a good day.
John Cage