Lois Lane #6

[daBronzeBomma]

Her latest issue came out this week.


Standard cover


Variant cover

Thoughts on the issue?

And the series as a whole, as we're halfway thru the maxi-series now.

[manwhohaseverything]

I think i like rebirth sam lane more than rebirth jor el.

[Manakel]

I loved it. More accurately i love Rucka's take of the characters, the story and blend it with the universe around. Rucka should write the entire DC universe.

[Superbat]

I like it a lot.

Rucka's got the characters voices down.

Lois & Reene are great, and Rucka gets what makes Lois a great character. It's socially relevant, and the main plot is good.

[Coco Loco]

Probably the best work I’ve ever seen with the Sam Lane character, who in general usually is presented as a J. Jonah Jameson-esque blowhard. Here you can see how much he and Lois are alike - both patriots, both driven by strong convictions, but not always driven in the same direction. I do think Perkins’ art didn’t entirely work for the funeral scene with the flag - his facial expressions aren’t nuanced enough to convey what Lois was thinking (and why wouldn’t they just give the flag to Lucy if Lois wouldn’t take it?). Otherwise, though, a very strong issue.

[Superbat]

Probably the best work I’ve ever seen with the Sam Lane character, who in general usually is presented as a J. Jonah Jameson-esque blowhard. Here you can see how much he and Lois are alike - both patriots, both driven by strong convictions, but not always driven in the same direction. I do think Perkins’ art didn’t entirely work for the funeral scene with the flag - his facial expressions aren’t nuanced enough to convey what Lois was thinking (and why wouldn’t they just give the flag to Lucy if Lois wouldn’t take it?). Otherwise, though, a very strong issue.

The face Lois made when she turned to Clark did look off.

[manwhohaseverything]

Probably the best work I’ve ever seen with the Sam Lane character, who in general usually is presented as a J. Jonah Jameson-esque blowhard. Here you can see how much he and Lois are alike - both patriots, both driven by strong convictions, but not always driven in the same direction. I do think Perkins’ art didn’t entirely work for the funeral scene with the flag - his facial expressions aren’t nuanced enough to convey what Lois was thinking (and why wouldn’t they just give the flag to Lucy if Lois wouldn’t take it?). Otherwise, though, a very strong issue.

He's been like that through out rebirth. Unlike jor el who was a condescending prick towards clark,without even knowing him. Sam had an actual relationship with everyone in his family including jon and even with clark. He was genuinely trying.he kept coming back to them even though lois and sam would get into it. Lois was the one who was more cold towards sam than the reverse . And then Sam would leave . Sam was even abandoned by the military, was about to be executed in a foreign land for doing the right thing. If remember correctly.

[superduperman]

I'm dropping this. It's too dependent on other books.

[Yoda]

On it's own merits, I thought this was a fantastic issue for Lois and Sam Lane. I would read a full issue devoted to each little flashback sequence. The last one set after their conversation in Action Comics 1007 in particular was extremely well done and heartbreaking given the way it was cut off by his death. Similarly the dinner scene set (maybe) before she knows who Clark is was also excellent. Rucka's voice for Lois is just really excellent when he's working with her in these character moments and Sam Lane comes off as a far more nuanced character than he's typically been presented as. Which makes Bendis' decision to kill him off all the more frustrating. Yes, it creates some drama and resonance for Lois, but I'd rather have had more time with them than we've gotten.

All that said, I feel bad Rucka has had to service Bendis' story lines so much in this series instead of getting to tell a Lois Lane story like he intended. Listening to his Word Balloon interviews he's been very diplomatic about it all, given they are such good friends, but you can tell he had a Lois story he wanted to tell. Part of that I think is the shortening of things to a maxi-series versus and ongoing, but we'll see. I'd love if he still got to do his Black Label Lois or Daily Planet book.

The face Lois made when she turned to Clark did look off.

There's always one or two panels like that in each issue that are off. Reis seems to do that a few times as well over in Superman. The expressions on the characters just don't match the scene or dialogue.

[Sacred Knight]

I'm dropping this. It's too dependent on other books.

I do feel for Rucka here. Not to mention fans of the book. I've never been as high on his comic work as a lot of other fans, but he can weave a tale, and it sucks when any creator can't do that without having to cover all this other stuff going on elsewhere when it shouldn't have to, and when readers have to wade through other stuff they might not otherwise want to for basic following of the plot. But this is going to get worse in the coming year. DC-wide everything is going to end up like this unless its a Black Label or otherwise out-of-continuity project. The constant inter-connectivity between everything to the point where you can't follow anything without tons of other required reading is going to reach the Infinite Crisis-to-Final Crisis levels quite soon.

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

I was exited by this book, but it looks like it's been hijacked by Lois having to deal with the fallout of a different bad creative decisions happening to Jon, Sam and Clark issue by issue. Even if it's written well, which I hear it is. Sounds like a mess.

[Yoda]

I was exited by this book, but it looks like it's been hijacked by Lois having to deal with the fallout of a different bad creative decisions happening to Jon, Sam and Clark issue by issue. Even if it's written well, which I hear it is. Sounds like a mess.

I'm definitely still enjoying the book. I think this past issue, standing alone, is a fantastic character piece for Lois & Sam Lane. It's really really well done. And I do like how we've seen Lois' POV on all the things Bendis keeps throwing at her in the main books. Those are definitely being told from Clark's POV, when the events and actions taken have an obvious impact on Lois. Given I'm reading them all anyways, this still works for me as a supplement to the books and as a great showcase for Lois herself.

The main story is definitely being derailed a bit though by having to address this and the identity reveal next month. Though from Rucka's WB interview it doesn't sound like he's going to hit that one too hard and the rest of the series should be wrapping up the main stories.

[Sam]

I'd be okay with tie-ins in theory if it wasn't a maxi-series. Since Rucka only has 12 issues to work with I want 12 issues of pure unfiltered Lois story with out any tie-ins to any other events. Granted, this was a well done tie-in, much better than the Jon issue. But it doesn't change the fact that at the end of the series, at least 25% of it will be supplemented Bendis's work rather than telling Rucka's story. And that's frustrating.

[manwhohaseverything]

I have been saying they are basically wasting panel time dealing with other things from the start. But, i am starting to think the this book is leading towards another book which will have lois.

[Superlad93]

Outstanding issue.

And this may be just me, I guess, but I thought Event Leviathan and even Action Comics would basically stop just to set up story for Lois. The stuff about the "blue snowman" and Lois and Sam's relationship seemed like it was always intended for Lois to unpack by herself later on similar to show the public kiss of Superman and Lois was planned to be unpacked by her later in her book.

But obviously I wouldn't know.