Some thoughts about Future State: Superman Vs. Imperious Lex #1

Can Planet Lexor be saved? 

Lex left the Earth years ago looking for a world without Superman but he wasn't expecting the latter to come back and haunt him.

We go back to the Future State line and I would be lying if I said I'm not a little bit tired about it already, especially because of its erratic quality. That being said, this tie-in sees the return of The Flintstones creative team of Mark Russell and Steve Pugh so it was bound to interesting at the very least and, while is not as groundbreaking as their previous work, it is compelling enough.

Just like with the rest of the line, this story is suited in a possible future (possibly not the same future as the others though) in which Lex abandoned the world to focus on his own planet. The Planet Lexor reference goes way back to the Silver Age and is always cool to see it revisited in any way, even a way that doesn't really take it that seriously because if you know something about Mark Russell is that he loves his political satire and that is seen in every page of this issue in which the political climate of Lex's planet is all around the dictatorship he enacted and how its people react to it.

This is also reflected on the characterization due that Superman is trying to help people the best way he can while Lex can't help but still being a pathetic and jealous jerk. If there's a complaint here, is that while Russell writes a pretty competent Superman, he's not so kind to Lex since his characterization is rather predictable and derivative, sure, this is because of Russell's own beliefs but I prefer my antagonists a bit more complex than that.

Steve Pugh's artwork is solid as always with expressive characters and precise storytelling.

Decent beginning, let's see how things go on.