Lois Lane and the Resistance #1
Written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
Art by Eddie Nunez and Don Ho
Who knew it would take DnA to make me care about Lois as a lead character? Then again, I more or less said the same thing with Wonder Woman last week. So that’s two characters in a row that they get me interested about, and now I have to ask why they aren’t writing some big name character I don’t care about come the relaunch, because that work sell the book on me. Oh well, Resurrection Man is coming, that’s just fine by me. But let’s get on topic, shall we? Lois Lane and the Resistance is not unlike DnA’s Wonder Woman issue, in that they give us a fair amount of backstory to set the stage for the story they’re trying to tel, though unlike last weeks Wonder Woman they actually catch up to present.
Lois Lane is a star reported for the Daily Planet, everyone knows that, but what is she like in a world where she doesn’t have Clark Kent or Superman? Oddly enough…this Lois seems to struggle with her inability to truly break out as a journalist, and her presence in wartorn Europe a year ago was because she was sent with Jimmy Olsen to cover a fashion show on the same day that Aquaman sank Europe. They get to the point rather quickly and we get to see Lois and Jimmy and nameless people running for their lives for several page, in what actually makes for some good drama…like watching a disaster movie. If anything it’s criminally short, but hey, it gets us to the point.
So how does Lois go about getting into the Resistance? Completely by accident, to be honest, and while you could say right time and right place…there’s no way I’d call anything about Lois’s situation ‘right’. She gets roped in by some unlikely sources, and while it would be easy to try and just make do without joining up, she’s freaked out enough by the death and devastation she has seen to want to do something. This makes her an underground journalist, reporting back to the others in America and abroad about New Themyscira and the Amazons way of doing things there. She becomes a long standing source of information about how they run their society, and while it isn’t explicitly stated…the rumors of men being culled don’t seem far off. The men are only seen being escorted away by armed guards.
Eddie Nunez is not someone I’m overly familiar with, but he does a pretty good job with women which makes him someone to go with on a book like this. Now, this doesn’t mean he’s perfect, and Lois constantly having huge eyes starts to get annoying relatively quickly. Then you’ve got the hair style which doesn’t change at all in thirty-two weeks, while her outfit just barely changes. There’s not a whole lot of action, but the disaster scenes are well handled. At first though I’d have to say that the tone of the story and the art aren’t the perfect match made in heaven, as I would expect a grittier more down to Earth artist, but Nunez still does a nice job…if not just a tad too bright and colorful. And since I’ve never heard of him I went ahead and looked him up, and yep, I know why he’s so familiar. Eddie Nunez is one of the artists for DC Universe Online, and I love that game.
It’s not a blow away first issue, but it’s unique for what it is. While the other titles thus far have focuses on more of the metahuman population, this title takes a look at the most well known non-hero/villain in the DC universe; Lois Lane. Some fans have clamored for years that Lois needs a book, and I’ve…never agreed with them. That said, this issue does a nice job setting up the story and putting Lois in a position where she matters; which is nice since without being Superman’s wife or girlfriend it’s not like she has her classic spots in the canon to fall back on. What we get is an interesting Lois, if not a bit more immature, and I’m curious to see just how she develops in her underground struggle against the Amazonian oppressors.
Overall?
7/10
