LOIS LANE #121 (1971)
by Cary Bates & Werner Roth
Cover by Bob Oksner
Despite the cover, Lois and Thorn don’t actually team up. They don’t even share the same story!
Lois has been missing for six weeks after learning last issue that her sister Lucy is dead.
But don’t worry, Metropolis still meets the monthly quota of falling women.
Meanwhile Lois is going through some rough times.
She snaps out of it when the purse snatchers threaten another woman. Now this is the Lois I recognize!
She befriends the woman she saved, Julie. Can you tell who the bad guy of the story is going to be?
Julie’s parents have fallen for some kind of fake retirement home scam, as have a lot of old people in the area.
Is this *gasp* actual character development for Lois Stalker Lane!?
Well it’s, uhm A development.
This is a big deal: Lois Lane quits the Daily Planet, deciding to work freelance.
Somehow I get the feeling Cary Bates doesn’t really like Perry White.
Lois finally acknowledging how little she matters to Silver Age Superman. “I’m no longer the girl you come back to between missions”… OUCH.
I can’t overstate how revolutionary this is for the series.
Lois even has to consider that she’s not going to make enough money to keep her current apartment!
After Lois finds out that her friend’s landlord is an ex-con using a fake name, a complete stranger becomes the landlord’s new ally. I would take a guess about her identity, but she has the perfect disguise: she’s wearing glasses.
She discovers the evil plan of the landlord: strand the old people in the middle of nowhere and I guess wait for them to die.
But the disguise fails because old women never wear fake eyelashes (????).
Since she left a message to Superman, he shows up just in time to save her from being dropped from the helicopter.
There’s a completely random earthquake, and after Superman saves the old people he makes an even more random discovery:
Sounds legit.
And so we end with Lois moving into a new apartment with three roommates, including one I swear feels like a Kanigher character.
Guess which one.
Also Thorn’s secret identity is her new neighbor, because of course she is.
Historical significance: 5/10
The new status quo is going to last almost until the end of the series.
Silver Age-ness: 2/10
Out of all the people in Metropolis, Lois just happens to become Thorn’s neighbor.
Does it stand the test of time? 6/10
Cary Bates writes this with the subtlety of a sledgehammer, but it’s surprisingly okay. Lois realizing her selfishness is great, and while the establishment of the new status quo is clunky it mostly works.
What really hurts the story is that the landlord’s plan is too over the top and too bland at the same time.
Stupid Lois Lane moment
I get wanting to be independent, but after discovering the landlord is an ex-con using a fake name couldn’t she just ask Superman to take a look? Or asking the authorities to investigate?
Interesting letters, from Lois Lane #122.
The confirmation that Kirby was fine with Kanigher using his characters. It’s not like Kirby himself was doing anything with Morgan Edge, he might have been tired of the plot even before starting to write it!
In addition, a statement by Kanigher himself:
I initially read that as KANIGHER being Kirby’s proofreader, which would’ve explained sooo much… but no, it’s Bridwell’s fault.
Also, if you hear people complaining that 21st century comics are too political… this complain has always existed.
