Superman #704 – Review

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by G. Willow Wilson (writer), Leandro Oliveira (penciller), Walden Wong (inker), Rod Reis (colorist)

The Story: During a break from Straczynski’s Grounded storyline, Wilson has us meeting up with Lois Lane, as she returns to Rushmark, Indiana, where we learn she spent some of her college years.  As she walks up and down the familiar streets, she is reminded of times gone by, which leads her to reexamine where she is in life, as opposed to where she saw herself back during her college days.  Getting a glimpse of “normal” life, from a visit with an ex-boyfriend and his family, she starts to question is you can ever really go home again and is she leading the life that is ultimately fulfilling to her.

The Good Decent: Wilson’s idea of taking Superman’s lead to reexamine life and applying it to Lois Lane came off as a bit of a stretch in this issue.  It’s not to say that it didn’t fully work, but he really pulled back on the reigns of the workaholic that is Lane and put her in a position that, really, has never come across as a priority for her before.  Lois Lane has strived to always bring the best stories that she can, uncover the biggest secrets and conspiracies, and always be the first to do so.  The idea that she would possibly want to be a mother with a husband and kids to take care of just doesn’t really fit into the “Lois Lane” mold.

To further complicate this idea, Wilson then has her questioning her need by Clark.  She knows that his mission is split between saving Earth from the problems it faces and writing about the problems Earth faces from behind a desk.  In an uncomfortable, out of character moment, she wonders what good she is to the world and, essentially, has the life she lead been nothing more than a facade on an otherwise meaningless life.

To be questioning things at this level, one has to have traveled to a dark, internal place.  This would presumably be a journey that would take awhile to correct.  However, in one fell swoop, Superman comes in and, without really having the kind of conversation one would expect between a husband and wife, he saves the day with one or two little bits of explanation of his feelings.

The Bad: I would like to say that the artwork of this book might be a saving grace of the lacking story, but I would be amiss of doing my job here.  The artistic team that was put together for this book seems as secondary as Wilson is to Straczynski.  Throughout the book, the characters look very static and one dimensional.  Expressions were very plain and vague and not as inquisitive and upset as I would have expected from someone taking the journey that Lois did.

Rod Reis seems as though he was limited in what he was able to do as a colorist by the lack of detail that Leandro Oliveira put into the work.  There was no room to be creative on an artistic level, simply because Oliveira did not deliver a basis of illustrating that could foster that.  He kept his work on an almost juvenile level which ultimately made this book come across as a cheap break for Straczynski and his creative team.

Conclusion: Wilson tried too hard to show how Superman’s journey is affecting those around him and gave us a less than stellar book about introspection.  I can appreciate self reflection and it is an interesting idea to see how Superman’s current walk about affects those around him.  I don’t feel as though the questions that Lois were asking herself were true to her character and just did not create the parallel between Superman and Lois Lane that Wilson meant to deliver.

Grade: C-

-Jeff Mazzuca

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.