except in one of the OYL books (Superman?) that Luthor's rep gets ruined by it.

I dunno about the slaves thing.... I'd guess that the mind control is part of the process, but that's not really concerning me one way or another.

Obviously given what the 'samples' of Steel's blood did in the STAR Labs, the process is unsafe. Presumably Steel contributes to busting up the operation. I'm having visions of 'Darkman' here. Liam Neeson 'If only I can get it past the one hour mark' then BOOM flying out the window AAAAAaAAAAARRRRRZGZGGZGGGHHHHHHH. Splash! Except this is better.

As far as the Steel story goes, there wasn't really a story before this issue except for the Steel-Natasha strife. Which is alright, but fairly vin ordinaire.