Wal-Mart Superman Comic imagines torture and death of Lois Lane?

[daBronzeBomma]

I understand that it's just a dream / nightmare / hallucination sequence in the Walmart Superman #7 comic, but it sounds brutal

Anyone else know anything about this story by Tom King?

[manwhohaseverything]

Visit the lois and Clark appreciation thread. They were having a discussion about this

[superduperman]

I don't think the Wal-Mart books are going to make it. They're supposed to be for kids but you have to buy every issue to follow the story. A better solution would be to have each issue be a stand alone story. Scenes like that one don't help. My guess is, this is something King may have had lined up for the mainstream books but did it here instead.

[Superlad93]

I can't fully speak on this because I haven't read it (or frankly any issue past King's first because they're damn hard to find still) but this didn't strike me as the best idea in the world.

From what I gather it's Superman having anxiety over the search taking so long, right? Conceptually I love that. I love it more because he's apparently in an intergalactic waiting room, but, and again I haven't read it yet so this could be an exaggeration (even so, maybe not do multiple pages of this here), 12 pages of Lois dying sounds strange.

I mean, if King was gonna go the anxiety angle then why not also anxiety over Lois moving on with her life because he stays gone for a decade, or the Earth blowing up, or him being on the quest forever, or his friends dying. I'd imagine all of those combined (with one of them being the prospect of Lois dying) could make for 12 pages of stuff Superman might be worried about during downtime in this particular situation.

[Yoda]

It alternates between pages of Lois being killed with pages of him sitting there worrying. The opening page is by far the most graphic and disturbing. But there is another where you see the Joker laughing and Lois is off panel begging for Clark. There's a 9 panel grids of her being killed in each panel with one of her being burned alive. She's blown up by toyman and a plane crash kills her and Jimmy. Its 6 pages of her death and six of Superman waiting. At the end they talk on the phone and it's actually a decent conversation. But the whole thing is so disturbing and why it's included in this line of books is mind boggling

[Superlad93]

I see. Then yeah, I stand by what I said, should've mixed it up more. Just general fear over everything that could happen, and then Lois' voice over the phone blowing all that away and kicking his butt back into gear.

[Yoda]

I mean, even if it was more silver-agey Lois in peril scenes, robots, etc. Like what Morrison had in All Star 10, that would have been fine. Or even better, since these books are supposed to be gateways for new readers, show him worrying about a situation and cut to the real Lois getting things done and being a bad ass reporter he supposedly likes her to be. Then telling him she can handle herself and to get back out there and find that girl. Subvert the damsel in distress trope. But honestly, that first page is more brutal than anything that's been shown Heroes in Crisis so far, with maybe the exception of Lagoon Boy being impaled. It's by far more graphic than Lois' Injustice death scene (she's on her knees in front of a ranting Luthor, she's shot in the head and they you see her lying dead eyes open blood on her head) and Luthor's dialogue is disturbing in itself. While the Joker scene is disturbing in it's own right. And Lois is never shown on panel in a "real" scene. Only ones where she's being killed.

I get what he was trying to show, but this would have caused people pause in a regular DC book I would think.

[Jackalope89]

King has given people pause with the main Batman book and Heroes in Crisis. Not surprised he's done the same here.

[MajorHoy]

I don't think the Wal-Mart books are going to make it. They're supposed to be for kids . . .

Does the comic book say they're specifically for kids?

I finally found some at one of the Walmarts I sometimes go to, and it was with the the slightly more expensive collectibles stuff, not in the kids/toy section or on the magazine racks with kid-friendly stuff.
I believe some of the reprinted stories they include are from the New52 books, and those were often rated TEEN, not the more kid-friendly "Everybody" rating.

[Bruce Wayne]

Superman editorial is a mess if they thought this was a good idea.

[Flash Gordon]

This is pretty batshit. Is there nobody in editorial who can say no to King?

It's just not that new or interesting or innovative.

Not that I think selling comics at freaking Wal-Mart is doing any good for anyone, it's still a bland choice.

[superduperman]

I can't fully speak on this because I haven't read it (or frankly any issue past King's first because they're damn hard to find still) but this didn't strike me as the best idea in the world.

From what I gather it's Superman having anxiety over the search taking so long, right? Conceptually I love that. I love it more because he's apparently in an intergalactic waiting room, but, and again I haven't read it yet so this could be an exaggeration (even so, maybe not do multiple pages of this here), 12 pages of Lois dying sounds strange.

I mean, if King was gonna go the anxiety angle then why not also anxiety over Lois moving on with her life because he stays gone for a decade, or the Earth blowing up, or him being on the quest forever, or his friends dying. I'd imagine all of those combined (with one of them being the prospect of Lois dying) could make for 12 pages of stuff Superman might be worried about during downtime in this particular situation.

The only really troubling scene is one where Luthor shoots her in the head and you actually see her dead. The rest are more implied or you don't see anything. The one where she's burned at that stake was a little disturbing but you don't actually see her burn. In the main book this might not be such a big deal but this is something marketed to children at what is essentially a grocery store.

[superduperman]

Does the comic book say they're specifically for kids?

I finally found some at one of the Walmarts I sometimes go to, and it was with the the slightly more expensive collectibles stuff, not in the kids/toy section or on the magazine racks with kid-friendly stuff.
I believe some of the reprinted stories they include are from the New52 books, and those were often rated TEEN, not the more kid-friendly "Everybody" rating.

Well, they sell them next to the Pokemon cards so you have to sort of infer that they were aimed at kids. They reprint mainstream books in them. In one Green Lantern story, Hector Hammond wanted to feed off of one of Hal's sexual encounters in his past. So it's possible they didn't think this out very well.

[Kon93]

Hey King should get a raise, more power, and more books to write, we need more ppl who have always been mentally OK, now shown to be fragile broken down shells of their past selves, oh and graphic killing.

DC look at the ppl you have in charge of your characters, is it all about "shock" comics now? Fast buck because of controversy, but turning more ppl off in the long run.

Think DC

[Vordan]

I was more irritated that King didn’t write Supes thinking about anything else. Krypto starving because no one fed him, Perry firing him for being gone for so long, Darkseid invading, instead it’s just more of the “I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT LOIS AHHHHHHH WHAT IF SHE DIES!?!?!?” crap. God I hate this characterization of Supes.