Review: Lois Lane #12

Lois Lane #12 came out last week, an odd finale to an odd comic that I don't think really knew what it wanted to be.

At its heart, it seemed like it wanted to be a Renee Montoya Question book. Renee has all the big moments in this book. Certainly, her page count is a considerable percentage of this book. And writer Greg Rucka loves her, bringing in other characters like Elycia who only have a connection to Renee.

There have been plot lines brought up early in the story - the apparent suicide (or was it murder) of a Lois-like reporter in Russia, the kickback scheme about for-profit detention centers, the personal internment of Lois' maid - that have gone nowhere. And in this issue they are wrapped up basically off panel.

And then there is the sudden 'the universe is fractured and other versions of this place are bleeding in' plotline. It suddenly became *the* plotline. Here is the thing. This plot is a big one and we have seen it in books like Superman, Young Justice, and Legion. But this is the first Lois Lane book in decades! Let it be ground level. Let it be her investigating. Leave the multiverse out here so Lois can shine ... not the mangled DC continuity.

The art by Mike Perkins is its usual solid fare. This issue is mostly people talking with one action sequence in the middle. He holds up his end.

In the end, I don't think I can call this a Lois Lane book. More like a Birds of Prey riff ... 'Birds of Prose'? With Lois as Oracle?

On to the book.

 So all the early plots of the book are basically discussed not by our characters but by the televisions which dot the scenes. Lois and others have their TVs on news channels and we hear the reporters discuss what has happened.

Here we learn that the President isn't responding to the implication that there is corruption regarding the detention centers. So somewhere along the way Lois' investigation was published?

Not that Lois even hears it. There is this odd scene where Lois is typing away, lost in her own world, not listening to the news or even her phone. She only cares of the President is indicted.

 Meanwhile, Renee and Elycia get 5 pages of action in Chechnya.

We don't know what they are doing there but since it is Chechnya I have to assume it is about the 'suicide' of Mariska Voronova.

But who knows what that entails. Why did it incite a full on shoot out with Russian military? What info did they get? What were they sent for? Did we need 25% of this last issue spent on bullets flying?

I get it Greg Rucka. You like Renee.

 I guess with all her investigations done, Lois heads to Metropolis and into the Daily Planet.

The newsroom goes silent as she walks through.

It is a bit on the nose for Lois to say 'powerful women have that effect'. I can be shown the respect she gets. I don't need her to tell me.

But, she hasn't been in the office for a while. Now she walks in and doesn't say a word to anyone and heads straight to Perry's office. Of course people would be quiet.

 We get the usual typo joke.

We get the usual 'this is solid work Lois but dangerous' Perry talk.

We get the usual 'I love you' from Clark.

And we learn that Renee was doing research for Lois. But can that research be used ethically if it was obtained in an international incident?

And did we actually see her do any of the investigation to wrap up the stories that she supposedly has wrapped up? Because if she did, it was off panel.

 Instead we get more of the multiverse arc.

Lois feels she needs to tell the world about Multiverses and the changes that has happened to people.

We get a dollop of self-aggrandizement here as she says that she must do this even if, like others, she'll be deemed an enemy of the state.

I don't know, maybe I am just sick of this series, but I don't expect Lois to be so melodramatic and somewhat sanctimonious in her speech.

 I told you about how the plots are tied up.

Take these panels where literally unseen news reporters tell us about how those storylines ended.

Show me. Don't tell me.

Am I even supposed to care about this Mariska Voronova? Let alone what the investigation into her death showed?

 As for the breaking news of the 'fracturing' of universe, Lois goes on ... The View?

That's the forum she chooses to break this truly world news?

But let's end on a happy note.

The maid has been released from detention!

How? Why? Is she now a legal citizen? Was her imprisonment felt to be illegal? Are the detention centers closing and all those held set free? Did Lois actually have anything to do with this personally?

Am I supposed to care this much?

Isn't Rucka supposed to care?

It is a shame this series meandered as it did because Lois really deserved some spotlight. And this book didn't do it.

I know I haven't mentioned the art much in this review. As I said before, give Perkins a Question book or a martial artist book or even a war book. His gritty style would shine there.

But I will gladly put this book in the rear view mirror.

Overall grade: D+

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