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Originally posted by Blacula:
He meets robot-Brainiac for the first time?

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Aw, close enough! The death of Ardora (and Lex, Jr. and all of Lexor) occurred in Action Comics #544. Here's the cover:



As you can see, this 45th Anniversary issue featured makeovers for Luthor and Brainiac. For Luthor it was the first appearance of his (in?)famous warsuit. For Brainiac, it was the first appearance of his robotic permutation.

Both characters starred in separate stories with Superman featuring their new designs. The Luthor story revisited Lexor for the first time since it appeared nearly 20 years prior in two 2-parters in Action 318-319 and Superman 167-168.

In Action 544, Lex is defeated by Superman one too many times and decides to return to Lexor where he's discovered that Ardora has bore him a child. He decides to retire from Earth once and for all, but a series of tragic events ends all of that. For a complete summary of what I feel is a remarkable comic and storyline for Luthor, look here. There are links to an Ardora article and summaries of the earlier stories to click on.

This was one of my favorite side-stories from the Silver Age and one I'd like to see revisited in some way. It certainly gave some depth in my mind to the S.A. Luthor. Interesting that Lexor was forgotten for nearly two decades prior to 544 in an era and comic book family that was known for building up that kind of mythology.

It had been a detail that had been bothering me for awhile. I read 544 long ago (but no longer have) and probably a reprint of one of the Silver Age stories, but I finally researched it when I saw my question was up. I coulda sworn Ardora was another "LL" though. Oh, well!

I'm giving the next one to Cobie because his answer was the most correct. Take it away, Cobester!

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"Suck it, depressos!"--M. Lash

From: The Underbelly of Society | Registered: Jul 2003  |  IP: Logged |