Tales from the 50 Cent Bin! - The Adventures of Superman #525

Next up, in my look at the important women of Superman’s life, there’s Lois Lane. She’s pretty much the most important one of all. She was there right in the pages of Action Comics #1. She worked alongside Clark Kent at the Daily Planet/Daily Star (Golden Age) and has been on many adventures with Superman. If there’s been one constant supporting character in the books, it’s Lois Lane.  Heck, she even had her own book at DC, Superman’s Girlfriend: Lois Lane.

There were points where she was… well, how do you put “annoying crone” nicely? Yeah, she wasn’t that great in the Golden and Silver Age at least in my opinion. I’ve only read a few Golden/Silver Age stories, but she wasn’t that pleasant in them. She pined for Superman and loathed Clark Kent. To be fair, that version of Clark was a bit wimpy, but she would take it too far at times. It kinda made you wonder what he saw in that version. Over time, Lois would become less… crone-y (I’m trying not to use any other words). She still had the drive to get the story and the truth. She was still pretty aggressive but in a good way. She even gained a few defense moves. Ultimately, she became someone who I could see Clark (and most guys) falling for.

For today’s issue, I thought I’d hit the 90’s for Ms. Lane. It’s The Adventures of Superman #525 from 1995. At this point, the Superman books had just come out of a major crossover called “The Death of Clark Kent.” To make a long story short, Kenny Braverman, aka “Conduit,” found out Clark’s secret and tried to make his life hell. He struck out at his family and friends and even made Clark throw away the secret identity. Ultimately, he was defeated, but things still needed to wrap up. Karl Kesel handled the story. Stuart Immonen handled the pencils while Jose Marzan Jr. did the inks.

The Adventures of Superman #525

Writer: Karl Kesel

Pencils: Stuart Immonen

Inks: Jose Marzan Jr.

Colors: Glenn Whitmore

Letters: Albert DeGuzman

Editors: Mike Carlin and Chris Duffy

“Hard Decisions”

The issue starts out at S.T.A.R. Labs as two sultry women show up. They’ve come to get the comatose Lex Luthor who’s been held there ever since his attacks on Metropolis. This was the clone that Lex used to prolong his life and let’s just say things didn’t work out there. Scientist Kitty Faulkner protests his release but realizes that’ll do no good. After she gets the papers, they take Luthor’s body off.

Meanwhile, Superman is out looking for more remnants of Conduit’s Pipeline system. They were the ones who attacked him, his family, and his friends in the last crossover. After he checks out the last vacant one, he speeds over to his parents’ RV. He tries to take a break when he hears about a high-speed chase in the vicinity. He stops it and finds out that it’s none other than Lois Lane! He had thought Lois and Jimmy Olsen (who’s mentioned but not seen here) were as killed by Conduit’s schemes but that’s not the case. After Clark, Lois, and the Kents stop to converse, Clark lets Lois know that he is going to stay as Superman. Since all their trouble started because of his identity, he feels it’s time to keep Clark Kent “dead.”

Well, that was awkward.

 Lois ain’t happy about that and storms off. Clark finds Lois later and tries to talk to her. They make up and decide to go into town and get some coffee. Before they go into the shop, Lois wants Clark to change in to Superman and get his coffee. Curious, Clark changes and gets his coffee and brings a lot of attention to himself. Later, the two meet and he sees what Lois wanted him to see: that his secret identity is important to him. Folk will more or less treat Superman differently. Not only does it help him connect to folk, it also makes him fit in. Afterwards, the two lovebirds say their goodbyes to the Kents. They call Perry White and tell him that they’re alive and that Superman is on the search for Jimmy Olsen.

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I thought that this was a good issue all around. While it does feel a little sparse and low on action, it basically works as an epilogue to “The Death of Clark Kent.” Kesel pretty much has the job to bring the “mild-mannered” part of Clark back and he does it well here. While Clark has his reasons for not wanting to don the secret identity again, Lois gives him real reasons on why his civilian life is important. I thought that was a good sequence. I also liked how it set up the return of a certain nemesis to the books. At this point, Lex had been out of the books for a year, so his return was going to happen.

The artwork was pretty good. Since there’s little action here, Immonen pretty much has to make the small moments pop and he does that well. The scenes between Clark, Lois, and his parents are good. Even the little action we get is good. Lastly, that cover is awesome. There’s really nothing bad here to pick on… well, there would be Superman’s hair. I think of the ones who drew the long hair (not a mullet), Immonen’s was my least favorite. It seems too straight. I think Clark needed some Sol-Glo during the issue. Other than that and the sparseness of the issue, this was pretty good.

Great page.

If you’re looking for an issue that has Lois at her best, this is one of them. Lois is a good supporting character and probably one of the most important ones. It doesn’t feel like a Superman story if she isn’t there in some sort of capacity. I also like those two together as well. I know there are some that liked the Superman/Wonder Woman romance, but I felt like that took something away from Superman. He does need his civilian life as well and Lois helps him seem more relatable. I don’t know which version would be my favorite since most Loises in TV/movies have been good… well, Kate Bosworth wouldn’t be on that list. I could blame Bryan Singer on that, but she still felt out of place in Superman Returns. Anyway, next time will be another love of Superman’s. For now, Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there.

NEXT TIME: LANA OR CHLOE!