Lois Lane #8 – Greg Rucka, Writer; Mike Perkins, Artist; Gabe Eltaeb, Colorist
Ratings:
Ray – 8/10
Ray: Greg Rucka’s Lois Lane #8 continues the pattern of the series – it’s a great Greg Rucka comic, but I’m not sure it’s a great Lois Lane comic.
Lois has been air-dropped into a tense, action-packed noir story co-starring Renee Montoya, but Renee feels more at home in the segments where she’s the lead than Lois does. When the issue kicks off, the two of them are under assault by a ruthless skull-faced female assassin, and the action segment that we blow into feels like it’s lifted right out of a spy thriller. Rucka is obviously having fun writing Renee again, and Lois fits in relatively well in an action scene, but it’s not clear how this assassin is tied to the main plot or if they have greater plot significance yet. The issue is almost half over by the time the assassin takes a bullet from Renee and runs off, leaving Lois and Renee to deal with the growing crowd of police and spectators that has formed outside.
Rucka doesn’t get enough credit for his dialogue, and he has some fun in this issue with a pair of starstruck guards who want to get a glimpse of Superman as he drops by. I’m not quite as enthusiastic about that – all Superman seems to do is show up every issue, have a clandestine reunion with Lois, and then get warned off from trying to protect her while she investigates. Lois Lane #8 is at its strongest when Lois is in her old reporter digs, and the mystery of the disappearance of her old housekeeper lets her spring back into action. It also indicates that the disappearance may not be tied to supervillains but something equally sinister.
This series kicked off with an overtly political first issue before letting that fade away, but the last arc may be going back to those stories. Rucka has always been a great Lois writer, and he hasn’t lost a step here, but I’m not sure the format of this series is letting the title character shine as much as she should.
Corrina: There are many fine moments in Lois Lane #8. So few of them center the title character. :sigh:
Take the moment with Superman in the police station and the officers fanboying over him. That’s lovely and works so well. It has nothing to do with Lois.
Take Renee’s battle, a wonderfully choreographed wordless fight scene with terrific artwork by Perkins. Yeah, it has nothing to do with Lois except, at the end, when she gets a shot in. I love Renee and how Rucka writes her but this is far more her story right now that the one whose name is on the series.
Basically, Lois is a supporting character in her own book, which is often interrupted by events of others books, and that not only frustrates me but crossing over with other events messes up the flow of this book. Compare that to Martian Manhunter, where the creative team was allowed to create a wonderful year-long story that stands completely on its own. This book feeds us plots in fits and starts and rarely are any them well-connected.
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Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
