2005 Comic Book News Archives

Lex Luthor: Man of Steel #1

March 25, 2005: Lee Bermejo Talks “Lex Luthor: Man of Steel”

Artist Lee Bermejo has been interviewed by Newsarama about his work with Brian Azzarello on the 5-issue "Lex Luthor: Man of Steel" miniseries, and how he reacted to the idea for the series. Here's an excerpt from the interview...

    Though he was the assigned artist for the miniseries, Bermejo's response when he first heard Azzarello's role-swapping idea and philosophy was like that of many fans.

    "My first reaction was, 'How the hell are we going to tell and interesting story about Lex Luthor?'" the artist related. "But Brian promptly answers that question. I was sold immediately, simply by the power of Brian's pitch. Everybody seems to be focused on thinking that Superman is a villain in our story and Lex is the good guy but that is never how it seemed to me. It always just seemed like a wonderful tragedy based on different points of view. We aren't doing an Elseworlds story where we're changing characters or their motivations so drastically. It just asks the question, if you are Lex Luthor, why do you hate Superman? And then, hopefully, forces you to reflect on whether or not you agree with his point of view. I find these kinds of moral middle grounds fascinating. In this particular case, Brian really put me in the position where, when I really thought about it, agreed with Lex on a lot of points."

    Bermejo acknowledged that beginning to sympathize with Azzarello's approach to the Luthor/Superman dynamic could affect how he sees Superman from now on. "In the case of this series, you have to shelve everything you know about the character in that intimate kind of way and focus on this question: 'If I was just a regular guy existing in a world with Superman would I think of him as this shining beacon of hope and purity? Especially, if all I really knew about the guy was that he is an alien and has these incredible, god-like powers.' To me, this answer is no, I absolutely would not want to be anywhere near this guy. He is like an atomic bomb. The point ultimately is, you would never really know for sure what this alien is all about."

Read the entire interview at the Newsarama.com website.



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