tbone1225

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Spoiler Alert: DC Universe Online Legends #11

Spoiled: DC Universe Online Legends #11 (comic book), DC Universe Online (video game), Countdown to Final Crisis/Final Crisis (comic books)
 
I would imagine that the title "Lost" refers to the fact that Superman's powers are lost. That's not entirely true. His powers can be turned on and off. For yet another issue we see most of the story from the point of view of Lex Luthor, who is playing both Brainiac and Superman. Much like Brainiac, he wishes to destroy all of the planet's metas, and much like Superman he wishes to protect the human population of Earth. While it is not entirely clear how he will work this, we know that Luthor is trying to destroy the public trust in Superman while also building positive PR for Luthor's Legion, a new superhero team comprising the four new metas who have gone public following the empowering of all Daily Planet employees. Meanwhile, the fact that Superman's powers can be turned on and off by Brainiac frightens the Justice League. They realize that he can be controlled, and that any of them who are infected can also be controlled. As a result, Superman decides to leave them in order to prevent his being used against them. When he goes to tell Lois his decision, she reveals that she also has powers. When Lex Luthor sees Lois and Superman kissing, he realizes that Superman's secret identity is Clark Kent because Lois and Clark are married and Lois wouldn't cheat on him. 
 
I really like how Lex Luthor, in many ways, represents many of the Republicans from the last few decades who have climbed into high office as well as a few of the Democrats. He plays on American xenophobia, suggesting that we ought to have "home grown" heroes as opposed to the Justice League's heroes from other planets and nations. He also manipulates the fear of Brainiac to make the American public easy to control. As the ten year anniversary of 9/11 approaches, it is clear that this is a reflection of how the American people have been treated ever since the terrible tragedy. I really want to applaud DC comic for taking a stronger approach to political critique in the form of interesting superhero narratives than Marvel has in the last decade. It is certainly different when all of Marvel's heroes live in New York City, and their approach of relating to the immediate crowd of the tragedy has often been really heartfelt. Heck, maybe we need both sides. Maybe we need to cry with Ultimate Marvel when Ultimatum drowns all of New York, and then critique the use of fear in the Sinestro Corps Wars. 
 
As for a down side, I'm really starting to think that now that DC Universe Online Legends is really on its feet it doesn't have many. I'm not the biggest fan of the art, but it's really not bad. It almost seems to me like DC Universe Online Legends was a backup idea that somebody brought to the board to DC while they were discussing the plot of Final Crisis. The events of the game/comic take place right before Countdown to Final Crisis. In some sense, I see this as a choose your own adventure. This is what would have happened if the events of Final Crisis involved Brainiac taking over the world and draining the metas of their powers instead of Darkseid killing the New Gods and destroying the multiverse. It's an interesting mini-series, and part of me wishes that it could have been part of the canon Earth 1 comics. Maybe then they could have gotten someone like Jim Lee to do the comic and not just the video game design.

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