[8.0/10] I really enjoy Lobo as the anti-Superman (with all due apologies to Bizarro). Where Superman is upstanding, Lobo is crude. Where Superman fights for truth, justice, and the American way, Lobo fights for the highest bidder. While Superman works with the authorities and tries to treat everyone with respect, Lobo bucks against anyone and anything and is comically rude and insulting to just about everyone he encounters. Paul Dini knows how to write the guy too. He is a smart alek without being smart, playful while also being a jerk, and has just the right amount of hamminess to him to make him amusingly scruffy. Lobo is kind of an over the top cartoon, which makes him a somewhat odd fight for the (comparatively) more serious *S:TAS*. But Dini lets this one be funny despite the threat and the plot, which helps it all go down smooth. That said, apart from just being an introduction to Lobo, the premise of this one is really cool. I actually remember it from childhood. The notion of The Preserver, a serene floating alien guy who likes to collect the last living member of various species, is an intriguing one. He makes for a good bonus antagonist, one with the power to set Lobo to a task that puts him against Superman, but also a level of calculation that makes him a threat to both the brute and the hero. Lobo coming to Earth to collect a bounty on Supes makes for some good, if pretty standard action. It seems unlikely that Superman and Lobo can actually hurt each other, so they mostly just rumble, but there’s a few neat touches like Lobo chowing down on a big metal pole. That said, Lois’s involvement feels like a cheap excuse for him to make untoward comments, but whatever. That said, I really like the music in this one. The episode wants to draw a contrast between clean-cut Supes and rough-hewn Lobo, and part of how it achieves that is Superman’s arrival being accompanied by his usual triumphant horns, and Lobo being played in with a grungy garage band sound. The back and forth between the two musical styles during their fight is really neat. Otherwise, this one does a nice job at establishing Supes’s latest antagonist, making him memorable in terms of demeanor and personality, and finding a plausible reason for him and the Man of Steel to clash. Excited to see where things go in part two!