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.
…………………………………………………………
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!
No comments:
Post a Comment