Action Comics #895

THE BLACK RING PART 6 

In the year 1000 A.D., Vandal Savage is acting on a prophecy rendered by his chief soothsayer that he will encounter "The Hanged Man" who will meddle with the pair of black lantern spheres ("pustules") which Savage has in his possession, and indirectly make Savage happy. He notes that the spheres emit an emotional aura which pleasantly enrages him, and also causes the citizens of his Czechoslovakian city to be insanely violent. Through the centuries, Savage patrols his city, searching for the hanged man. Near the present day, he and his teenage daughter Scandal see a newspaper with the image of Lex Luthor on the front page. Vandal instantly recognizes him as the hanged man his soothsayer described nearly one thousand years ago. Vandal warns Scandal not to show knowledge of Luthor's destiny when they inevitably will meet him. Vandal meets and attempts to invite Luthor to his fortress on multiple occasions throughout the next few years, failing each time.  In the present day, Luthor dreams that in order to gain the power connected to the black spheres, he must change all ten of them by sampling their material. He wakes with a start and discusses the dream and his recent encounter with Death with his Loisbot. The next day, Lex asks Spalding about the progress of a spaceship he is building by integrating Apokoliptian and Thanagarian technology. He then tells Spalding to prepare a satellite to sample the two spheres in Savage's Czechoslovakian city from orbit.  Soon after, Savage makes his yearly inspection of the "pustules". He discovers they have been converted to white lantern energy because of Luthor's actions.  The next day in Metropolis, Sebastien Mallory is attempting to convince Monique Hildebrand to allow him to meet with Lex virtually while Luthor is on his way back from Australia, the two are interrupted as a nearby section of the building explodes.  As Luthor and his entourage land on the Lexcorp Tower, they are confused by the seeming lack of order about the headquarters. As Lex and Loisbot enter the private office, they see the words "try the boardroom" scrawled on the portrait of Lex. Loisbot suddenly freezes up from a computer virus. Luthor enters the boardroom to find that Vandal and his private army have rounded up the board members and several Lexcorp employees. Vandal threatens to blow up the building if Luthor doesn't give him the black sphere data. Luthor verbally assesses the situation as he secretively presses a button which summons the Secret Six to his aid.

JIMMY OLSEN'S BIG WEEK DAY THREE