The Supergirl retrospective will soon go through Crisis, which we’ll eventually (and very briefly) touch in the Metal Men retrospective as well.
Lois Lane doesn’t have much to do during Crisis… at least the Earth-1 Lois… but there’s a strange anomaly: this limited series of just two issues.
Published AFTER Crisis Of Infinite Earths, it’s in a strange limbo where the changes in continuity have not yet touched the entire DC Universe.
As such it’s often considered the last appearance of many Superman characters in their pre-Crisis incarnation.
And be warned: it’s one of the most depressing comic book stories ever.
That’s not a joke. This is going to talk a lot about child murder and is not shying away from gruesome details.
LOIS LANE #1 (1986)
by Mindy Newell & Gray Morrow
This is as dark as superhero comics get (while still remaining serious), since the cover scene…
…is about Lois discovering the degraded remains of a little girl. I’m not even showing the worst panels, that’s how dark it gets.
Despite Lois putting on a brave face, she’s going to stay shocked throughout the story.
The story itself is in equal parts a noir, a journalistic thriller and a PSA about missing children.
It’s actually a well told story, but it’s way too long to go into the details… this thing is 52 pages long, and the second issue is 43 pages.
One of the subplots of interest for my retrospective is that this miniseries marks the last appearance of pre-Crisis Lucy Lane, who has gone back to work as a stewardess and has lost her ridiculous white hair. And her relationship with Lois is rocky at best.
And for once Superman minds his own business.
But like I said, this is overall a quite depressing story.
Here’s a picture of a happy dog for no particular reason.
That’s probably why the issue ends with some fanservice.
LOIS LANE #2 (1986)
by Mindy Newell & Gray Morrow
The artwork has been serviceable but nothing spectacular, but I have to say I appreciate the covers looking like pulp novels.
Not gonna lie, the possibility of Jimmy and Lucy getting back together doesn’t help make the story less of a tragedy.
Some things never change, don’t they?
Yeah, uhm, Lois might have gone too deep into the story.
I do like that the story is both pushing how important the story is, and how Lois is going about it is not helping. It doesn’t help making the story any less depressing, and I’m not sold this completely works with a superhero universe, but I appreciate the effort at maturity.
Still, this comic isn’t exactly subtle.
Here’s a picture of a happy dog for no particular reason.
Eventually, after a lot of pages, we reach the point when both Lois and Lana are covering the same story about (what else in this comic?) a child being brutally murdered.
Lois suspects Lana is not feeling well because she might be pregnant (she was seeing Clark at the point this is supposedly set)…
…but it’s actually because the baby in the story had his ear cut off. That would set EVERYONE off, naturally, but it reminds Lana of something.
Sadly there was no shortage of terrorists groups in Italy between the 70s and early 80s, but I don’t think this is making reference to a specific one.
The bombshell revelation is that Lana Lange had a secret marriage in Europe (!!!!!), had a secret child (!!!!!!), who was then murdered by terrorists (!!!!!) and she keeps his severed ear in a box (!!!!!).
Here’s a picture of a happy dog for no particular reason.
At least the very last scene with Lois and Lucy has the sisters reconciling.
And so the miniseries ends with an extract of the Daily Planet… telling us that the child murder goes unsolved.
Here’s a picture of a happy dog for no particular reason.
Only one thing left in the Lois Lane retrospective… “Whatever happened to the Man of Tomorrow”. Which is, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, WAY less depressing than this!!!
Historical significance: 4/10
The very last appearance of the pre-Crisis versions of Lucy Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Perry White.
As you might expect, this is the ONLY comic to reference Lana’s dead child (or her ex-husband).
Silver Age-ness: 0/10
Does it stand the test of time? N/A
I don’t think I can properly rate this one. It’s a very hard hitting story, which sometimes feels effective and sometimes cheap… it really beats you over the head with the message. Which is not a bad message, but it really, REALLY pushes it.
Like I said I’m not really sure this kind of story works 100% in a superhero universe… I like to think the only reason Superman doesn’t seem to do anything or even care about all these child murders is that we’re seeing almost everything through Lois, so Superman might be doing some investigation on the side without her learning about it.
But overall this feels like a “Law & Order” episode with the lawyers swapped with a journalist.
Also, WTF is up with the revelation about Lana Lang!?!? Granted there’s some wiggle room in her history, between her time in Smallville and her showing up in Metropolis… but still, that felt very gratuitous.