While I've liked a lot of Paul Cornell's work, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this story.

What diminished my enjoyment was the annoyance on how much this all relies on retconned metafictional buildups. While it's a good Lex Luthor story all in all, it actually mutes its own effectiveness by showing how much the "self-made billionaire" seems tied to the other big movers and shakers among the DC universe's rogues' gallery.

Yes, it's interesting to see ties with R'as al Ghul, Vandal Savage, Darkseid (the weakest part of the story and a rather off characterization, IMO), et al, but it's all a bit too pat and undermines Lex's own character in comparison. ( )

This one has a bit more Superman in it which was nice. It also had Vandal Savage and his daughter in it, both very interesting characters.

Lex is still after the power of the Black Lantern, the weird floating balls instead of the literal rings. And he still has his creepy Lois approximation with him. He's also hired the Secret Six to, well, cover his six. Which gets awkward since Vandal Savage is the one trying to harm Lex, and Vandal's daughter Scandal is Lex's hired protector.

It was a very jigsaw-y plot, lots of intricate workings, crosses, double crosses. It made it a bit confusing to read, but, they did mostly explain everything at the end which was nice. ( )

The conclusion of an intriguing, if overly complicated, ambitious story in which Lex Luthor finally achieves the power of the Black Ring. And now, with near-infinite power in his grasp, the man who blamed Superman for preventing him from doing all the good he would have done for the world, does... what? The ending is a bit predictable, if not inevitable. It would be interesting to see how Superman would've handled that much power. And on another note, this two-parter made me realize how much I missed the old Lex Luthor from before the big re-write a couple of decades or so ago. There was a Lex Luthor who, yes, was Superman's mortal enemy. But they actually started as friends. And even at his worst, Luthor was a man of some integrity with his own moral code, and there was always the hope that someday he would redeem himself in some way. This Luthor is more evil than human, and that's never particularly interesting. Great depiction of Superman on the cover, by the way. Interior art, not up to that standard. ( )