Shortly after menacing Metropolis due to a Black Kryptonite binge, Superman spends some time as Clark Kent, sent into the belly of Stryker's Island for an exclusive: one hour to interview the "the world's most notorious criminal scientist," bad old Lex Luthor.
(Panel from All-Star Superman #1; pencils by Frank Quitely with digital inks/colours by Jamie Grant)
Luthor's just been sentenced to sit in the electric chair for crimes against humanity, his latest being the attempted tampering with the Sun itself - his most recent bid to (a) destabilize the global economy and (b) kill Superman. Which means solitary confinement except for a couple of prison guards who walk around with him while Luthor builds ridiculous robots in a provided workshop, because typically the American government is too opportunistic not to take advantage of the "Da Vinci of Crime's" cast-off inventions even with him on death row and more than likely planning on staging his own brilliant and dastardly escape.
And so Clark Kent - who, as far as anybody knows, is mild-mannered, maybe a little on the portly side and utterly hopeless - walks into the mouth of Hell, prison, to stand beside Superman's greatest opponent for an hour's worth of conversation. And while Luthor has carefully engineered Superman's current terminal dilemma - supercharging his cells with solar energy that leads Superman to greater power but fast approaching death - he acts as dull-witted Kent's protector as they tour the facility, where Luthor is in charge. "...You know, I've spent so much of my adult life in prison, thanks to him. It seems like home. Predictable, comfortable."
(Cover for All-Star Superman #5; ibid)
Morrison spends this issue setting up Luthor as a dark mirror, a human mirror to Kal-El. In some ways, not even that dark - when Clark shows up in Luthor's workshop he's busy putting the final touches on a "bibliobot" - "A roving library. He'll read you any of a thousand classic works from 'Ulysses' to 'A Tale of Two Cities'...most of the time he just floats around on his own-- it's pathetic. Culture's a dirty word nowadays, but God knows, I try..." Even with his reputation as a cruel-hearted, opportunistic sociopath, Luthor has an aim at making the world a better place, much like Kal himself. He works out all the time in the big house, building muscles that are actually worth something because they aren't derived from solar power and Kryptonian genetics. He's trying to reach a pinnacle of human perfection in spite of Superman, even if the whole thing is part of his attempts at world domination. He wants to be top dog and he can't quite deal with Superman being top dog despite of "altruism" that Luthor can neither properly identify nor understand. He wants to better mankind as long as he's still on the top of the heap.
The irony is that Lex - like Lois - can't get past Clark's fumbling facade. Clark is Superman's guise, and operates as a tool for saving people on a smaller, less obvious scale - he saves Lex's life from a fatal electrical accident while looking like a buffoon. And he sets up an interesting pattern in the comic: while Lex has gone out of his way to set up Kal's death, he goes out of his way to protect Clark from the dangers of prison and a riot. Sure, Clark's not really in any danger and actually saves Lex several times in covert ways over the course of the comic, but Lex demonstrates a peculiar regard for Clark as an example of the common man that he perceives as stunted due to Superman's presence. Maybe he and Clark can be friends, like Clark asserts - if he can get past his hatred for Superman. All Lex sees in Clark is a man who was constantly tossed aside by Lois in favour of Superman, which is true in a fashion and is highlighted in Morrison's story by Lois's continued inability to deal with the revelation of the secret identity gimmick.
Quitely does an excellent job - particularly in this issue - of changing Clark's body language and stance to deflect attention from his size and similarity to Superman. He looks a bit pudgy and genial compared to Superman, and the effect is that the illusion of not being Superman is reinforced and made more believable. When Luthor picks up on tiny clues - like his eyebrows having "the Superman swoosh," he assumes that Clark plucks his brows to make them look like the Man of Steel's, because "apparently 65% of men subconsciously trim their eyebrows that way, to be more like him."
Maybe more later, I'm still processing this all.