Lois Lane #1 By Marguerite Bennett & Emmanuella Lupacchino

It was Friday morning. It was hours before I learned that Supergirl was going to be a Red Lantern. And for a brief moment, I was happy with DC because a Lois Lane one-shot had just been leaked to the press.

Here is the solicit:

SUPERMAN: LOIS LANE #1

Written by Marguerite Bennett

Art by Emanuela Lupacchino

Cover by Kenneth Rocafort

One-shot • On sale FEBRUARY 26 • 48 pg, FC, $4.99 US • RATED T

Lois Lane is known for chasing down stories — but what happens when the story is her family? As her father gains more power in the government, Lois’s sister Lucy has become involved with a deadly drug scene! Meanwhile, Lois thought she was rid of the influence of Brainiac, but now she finds that the the computer tyrant of Colu is calling out to her again!

That alone would have been enough to make me smile. I have heard great stuff about Bennett's writing on other books and I love Lupacchino's art. So the creative team sounded solid. And that cover by Kenneth Rocafort  is beautiful.

I am also a Lucy Lane fan ... despite the twists and turns her character has taken over the last few years. She adds some grist to the Lane family mill. Is she hooked on the deadly drug? Hmmm ...

But there was more than just the solicit. Over on Comic Vine, Bennett was interviewed and had some great stuff to say about Lois which makes me think this issue will be spot on. Here is the link:
http://www.comicvine.com/articles/exclusive-interview-marguerite-bennett-on-lois-lan/1100-147543/

As always, I recommend reading the whole interview (it also talks about Bennett's Joker's Daughter one-shot). But here are the questions and answers that grabbed me.

COMIC VINE: Congrats on these two one-shots. Lois and Joker’s Daughter are two completely different characters. How will you approach each one?
MARGUERITE BENNETT: That said, Lois Lane and Joker’s Daughter managed to live largely in harmony in my imagination. Lois’s tale is an adventure story—a sci-fi noir, if you will. Lois Lane is the first lady (queen? khaleesi?) of DC Comics, and I was in fits to offer up a story worthy of her. There’s an elegance to the structure and a poignance to the plot that I hope won’t strike a nerve so much as twist it, and leave our readers avid for more.


Already she names Lois as the Queen of DC Comics and that she wants the readers wanting more. Nice start!

CV: What is your favorite thing about Lois?
MB: Oh, Lord, just one? May I say her general magnificence? May I say her audacity in the face of danger? May I say her willpower, when all the world is going to hell? May I say that she is neither a believer nor a cynic, but one who will face the world on the principle of truth and truth alone?
I love the conviction in Lois, how the same woman can maintain such calm and resolve and yet be so invested in the world and all its struggles. She cares so completely as to plunge into the fray, a war journalist or investigative reporter, because she knows that the truth must be brought to light, no matter how ugly, no matter how terrible. Yet she doesn’t permit the darkness, corruption, or trauma of the world she has seen to sully her. It can try and try and try again to dig its hooks into her, but she is fiercer and filled with more conviction than any human or superhuman foe can break. Within her discipline and self-reliance is, I believe, an inherent compassion—an understanding of our suffering, and a trust that the truth will better us—a trust that we will better ourselves.

This is such a great answer because it encapsulates what I love about Lois, what I think we all love about Lois. She is a crusader for Truth with a capital T and willing to do whatever she needs to do to report it.

But she remains unsullied by all that exposure. In a dark, grimy DC universe, she remains unspoiled.

Isn't this why we all think Clark would love her?

CV: Will Superman play any part in the story or will you get to focus just on Lois?
MB: Superman is an aspect of Lois’s story, but in the New 52, so much of what Lois is capable of can be seen in who she is beyond Superman. Not without, which I think implies a noticeable absence, a fault, a lack—but beyond him, head high, hair streaming, heroic in her own right, braving a superhuman world on beautifully human terms.
 
She is the hero in her own story with some iconic image of her standing above it all already etched in Bennett's mind. Nice!

Lots of folks around the internet have been complaining about the lack of Lois in the current DCU. How she has been down-graded and pushed out of the spotlight. I hope those folks come out in droves and buy this book to show DC that Lois deserves better.

Unfortunately, the optimism this news gave me was soon extinguished by the "Kara as Red Lantern" news.