Supergirl Episode 10: Childish Things

Supergirl Episode 10, titled 'Childish Things' aired this week and was the equivalent of a break issue in a comic run. Yes, the long-running plots of Hank being J'Onn and Maxwell Lord's villainy continued to move forward. But the bulk of this episode focused on Winn Schott and his father the Toyman. While this plot wasn't crucial for the overall arcs of the season, it did add some significant depth to Winn, the one character who still seemed a bit too two-dimensional for me. This was an episode where Justin Jordan got to shine. And his scenes with Melissa Benoist were wonderful.

Now to get this story out, Supergirl has to overcome some rather mundane threats from the Toyman. In fact, she should have easily handled these threats. But I need to look over these action scene quibbles because I felt the character bits of this episode were really strong.

I'll concentrate on the Winn/Kara plot and touch on the Hank/Alex/Max stuff here as well. There is a Lucy/James plot I'll touch on at the end.

The episode starts with the Toyman breaking out of jail, killing his security guards ruthlessly with a yo-yo armed with a circular saw blade. This was a pretty grim scene and nicely set up how crazy Toyman, played brilliantly by Henry Czerny, would be in the episode.

This horror scene was countered nicely with the publicized scene of Kara and J'onn flying. We learn that J'onn is reluctant to show who he is or openly use his powers. Earth won't accept him because he is a monster. Kara's response resonates far beyond commenting on J'onn and his powers. She talks about how after she  'came out' and 'embraced who she was meant to be' that she has never been happier. That can be an empowering statement about anyone who feels they are hiding a part of themselves out of fear.

The FBI and agent Cameron Chase come to CatCo to question Winn about his father. It is only then that the staff, including Kara, learn that Winn's father is the Toyman. (You would think that Cat would know given background checks. I mean, here he is Winn Schott Jr.!)

Winn lets it be known how much he hates his father. Winn loved his dad, a person similar in personality, until his life changed when his father murdered 6 people. Toyman wanted to kill his old boss Dunnholtz, who stole Schott's toy designs. (This mirrors the John Byrne origin.) Unfortunately, the Toyman bomb killed Dunnholz assistant and some co-workers. Jordan plays Winn's emotions well, showing the hate he has while trying to keep it controlled.

I have to say, I love the Toyman Easter Eggs, riffing on both the Super Friends version and the Superman:The Animated Series one.

 The Toyman doll leads Winn to a boardwalk arcade, complete with creepy dolls, robotic stuffed animals, and a feel of antiquated grime to feel creepy. Toyman is there and tells Winn that they share a genius which lesser people call madness. Brrrr ...

The FBI storms the arcade and open fires on Winn Sr. Unfortunately, this isn't the real Toyman but some simulacrum which triggers a counterattack of poison gas. This seemed like a pretty quick use of force.

Kara flies in as Supergirl and takes in all the gas with vacuum breath and disperses it in the sky. Hey, any time a new power is used, I'm happy.

This scene ends with Kara telling Winn how much she needs him in her life. She can see how Winn's past could make him feel isolated and alone (much as she sometimes feels), but they can help each other move beyond that.

 Meanwhile, Alex bullies Hank into using his Martian powers to infiltrate Lord Industries and Room 52. She'll keep the real Max Lord away by wining and dining him. I like that Lord has Alex in his speed dial as 'Mata Hari'. Alex admits that her organization has a partnership with Supergirl.

Lord is pure Lex here, talking about how Alex has accomplished all she has through hard work and grit, not because of alien physiology.

 Meanwhile, Hank has shapeshifted into Hank and walks through Lord's compound. He has some fun with an administrator, stating that his (that is Lord's) 'narcissism and unkempt facial hair' cut his date off with Alex early.

Inside room 52 Hank sees BizarroGirl, basically braindead and being infused with some chemical concoction.

Unfortunately, a security guard comes in, questions Hank/Lord about 'Codename Phoenix' forcing J'onn to mindwipe the guard. He robs the guard of years of memory. Later, Hank is curt with Alex, saying she made him do something he vowed he would never do again. I am calling it now, he mindwiped the real Hank who is still alive in South America.

 Winn figures out his father is probably holed up in his old factory. Supergirl heads over and confronts the Toyman. Somehow she is trapped in thermite quicksand hidden in a giant building block. She is being sucked down to her death. Meanwhile, as another distraction, the Toyman has put a child in a steamer trunk headed towards an industrial shredder.

This seems like a simple trap for Supergirl to have avoided let alone escape. Using her super-breath for the second time this episode, she freezes the sand and shatters it.

 The 'child' in the trunk is a Supergirl doll. In fact, Toyman used creepy Supergirl toys in this scene twice. I said it before, Czerny's understated acting, playing this as if he is perfectly normal to feel the way he does, is chilling.

 Back at Kara's apartment, Winn talks about how he worries that he will snap one day like his father. He was so like his dad that he thinks his genes are time bombs.

I like Kara's response, saying that Winn's dad killing those people is similar to her losing all of Krypton. Both of their lives ended that day. But rather than giving in to rage and hate, they both strive to give back.

Kara didn't let Krypton's destruction make her wallow in hate and rage. DO YOU HEAR THAT JEPH LOEB, JOE KELLY, and SCOTT LOBDELL???!!!!

Unfortunately, Winn thinks is the right moment to lean in and try to kiss Kara, a kiss she recoils from.

#PoorWinn

 Embarassed, sad, or both, Winn leaves only to be kidnapped by his father. Toyman Sr.has come up with a truly insane plan. He knows that Dunnholtz will be at a Toy Convention. Toyman has planted 10 bombs around the convention floor. Unless Winn goes and kills Dunnholtz, Toyman will detonate the bombs killing hundreds. It is up to Winn. That is madness!

Perhaps more chilling is that Toyman says that this murder by Winn will bring them closer together. In fact, throughout the episode Toyman talks about how Winn is 'the best thing he ever made'. Could Winn be a robot???

Winn refuses to kill Dunnholtz. Toyman activates the bombs, a move which would kill Winn as well. But Supergirl girl arrives. She activates the sprinklers in the convention center and uses her super-breath (again) to freeze an ice wall between the crowd and the bombs. That's using her brains!

Just like that the Toyman is captured.

 But the relationship between Winn and Kara is damaged.

He finally confesses his love for her (how could she not know??). And he can't be with her when it hurts him to bottle up his feelings. It was his father bottling up his feelings that turned him into the Toyman.

Is it a little immature of Winn? Yeah. But this is the first time he is dealing with this stuff openly. I suspect he'll come back a wiser and more mature friend after.

The episode really sticks the landing though.

Alex and Kara share TV night where they talk about how the Danvers sisters should 'come with a warning'. Kara has hurt Winn and she can't live with herself. Alex pressured Hank into doing something terrible. At least they have each other.

They also have Maxwell Lord who planted a camera on Alex's purse. Now Max knows Supergirl is Alex sister. Brilliant turn.

Also, Cat and Lucy continue to be catty about Lois. Cat says Lucy is too smart to pine away for James without an identity. Lucy is hired as Cat's lawyer. And James initially seems cool to the whole thing but it has nothing to do with not wanting Lucy around and everything about him wanting to be Mr. Action and not an art director behind a desk.

There are a lot of nice little moments in this episode. But this is really Jeremy Jordan's show. His scenes with Henry Czerny are tense and gut-wrenching. His scenes with Melissa Benoist are compelling and tear-inducing. I don't have words to convey how I thought those scenes shined. They were the highlight, surpassing super-breath and creepy dolls.

I don't think this was any where near the best episode of this series. But it made Winn something more and did keep things moving forward. Plus, Toyman Easter Eggs!! And two new Anj theories. The real Hank is mindwiped and alive in South America. And Winn could be an automaton.

Review: Man Of Steel #5

What do you do when there is no new Superman book on the shelves? You head to the back issue box and find something older to review.

And given the recent announcement that Lucy Lane will be on the Supergirl show, I figured I'd go back to Man of Steel #5, the first appearance of Lucy Lane in the post-Crisis DC Universe. It also is a nice homage by Byrne to Bizarro's original appearance in Superboy.

But this book also resonates a bit with the current Superman book as well. Man of Steel was the reintroduction of Superman into the newly formed DC universe and timeline. John Byrne was given a sort of carte blanche to rethink Superman. There was no Supergirl. There was no Kandor. There was no Phantom Zone. There was one chunk of Kryptonite. And Superman was basically depowered from the pre-Crisis levels. He couldn't survive in space. He could hold up a space shuttle, barely. He couldn't travel through time. Things were different.

And Man of Steel was a way to sort of catch people up. Each issue showed Superman interacting with a main character in the mythos: Luthor, Lois, Batman, Lana. It wasn't a true Secret Origin title. It wasn't Year One. It was a quick primer to get a sense of things. Lex is a Donald Trump vile businessman. Krypton was a sterile planet. Superman isn't all-powerful.

I don't know if I agree with everything Byrne did but I have to admit he injected some life into Superman line. His art is sparse in places (he loves to have no backgrounds). And I find it odd that Dick Giordano is inking his work. Maybe Giordano wanted to be part of something so big?

The issue starts with a great splash page of Superman holding a figure in classic pre-Crisis Luthor armor.

It is a great opening page because we had just learned that Luthor was a businessman in this new world. Would he really be in this armor?

Turns out the answer is no. This was a Lexcorp flunkie wearing experimental armor. Of course, Luthor can deny it all. The armor is stolen. And the armor fries the pilot's brain making him incapable of speaking.

Superman brings the man to one of  Lexcorp's lab to confront Lex but realizing it is a dead end, Superman leaves.

The whole thing is a sting set up by Luthor. The lab is set up with genetic sensors to read Superman's DNA. And Luthor is working with Professor Teng, a geneticist freed by Lex from mainland China to work on Project Changeling.

While we know all about Superman's Kryptonian origins, the world doesn't know that yet. In fact, when Teng's machine can't read Superman's genome, Lex realizes that Superman might be an alien.

The genetic matrix that Teng has made cannot read or recreate Superman's genetic makeup. Instead a 'bizarre' thing. Luthor tells Teng to destroy it.

Meanwhile in Metropolis, we meet Lucy Lane.

Lois' younger sister was a flight attendant until she was blinded by a hijacker. The terrorist threw some unknown chemicals into her eyes. She know lives with Lois, wallowing in sadness on her lot in life. She doesn't like people to see her glazed eyes. She misses her fun life hopping all over the globe.

In this instance, Byrne's lack of backgrounds in the last panel works very well, showing how alone and small Lucy feels.

In fact, Lucy becomes so despondent over her blindness that she decides to end her own life. She jumps off Lois' balcony.

But as she falls, she is caught by someone she thinks is Superman. I mean, who else could catch a falling woman and fly her back to safety.

And why is he so ... dusty?? And why isn't he lecturing her about trying to kill herself?\

Lecture is a weighted word. Maybe he would just say 'you're stronger than you think.'

It turns out that the Bizarro creature hasn't been destroyed. And he is imprinted with some vague sense of Superman's memories.

He arrives at the Daily Planet in a suit and sunglass frames that he has stolen. Superman realizes that this creature will endanger his secret identity and so takes it out of the building.

A standard brawl breaks out but the two seem evenly matched.

It is fun to read these early issues as we learn what remains from the older history and what has been stripped away by Byrne.

Here, the Bizarro creature (now in a duller version of the Superman costume due to a blast of heat vision) sees Lois and scoops her up. And Superman wonders if this thing has some residue of 'the feelings he has been having towards Lois.' Fantastic.

And then we see just how deep those feelings are. Bizarro plants a big old kiss on Lois' lips.

How I miss Clark and Lois as a couple.

Bizarro brings Lois back to her apartment where Lucy again thinks he is the real Superman.

It seems like Bizarro already has a connection to Lucy. And notice Lucy isn't wearing her glasses? Since her interaction with Bizarro her vision has started to clear up a bit.

Of course, Superman thinks Bizarro is a threat and so another super-brawl breaks out.

During the fight, Superman uses his microscopic vision to examine the dust that keeps coming off of Bizarro. The dust are cells shedding off of the creature. And Superman can tell they aren't truly alive. It is mimicking life. And so Superman can use all his strength on this simulacrum.

But instead of Bizarro heading towards Superman to continue the fight, he flies close to Lois apartment. And then he turns around and heads at Superman at full speed. Two irresistible forces heading at each other!

Well Bizarro is not irresistible. When the two collide, Bizarro explodes into a shower of dust.

And as those cells fall onto Lucy, her vision is suddenly returned. Somehow those cells were the cure for her vision. Bizarro must have heard Lucy's comment, realized he could help her more, and sacrifice himself to return her vision.

So even Superman's selflessness was implanted into Bizarro!

This story is a near retelling of the first Bizarro story in Superboy #68, a story in which ... you guessed it ... Bizarro sacrifices himself to restore the vision of a blind girl. That story was written by Otto Binder, hence the acknowledgment to Binder on the title page. Byrne certainly tried to honor many of the original Superman stories, writing similar homages in issues with Lori Lemaris and Mr. Mxyzptlk.

I enjoyed this issue a lot back when it came out and so have some nostalgia about it. Hope you enjoyed this look back!

Lucy Lane Cast!

I don't anticipate that this site is going to be overwhelmed by Supergirl show news. At least, I hope that overall the focus will be on the comics. But the news about the show keeps coming and I feel I need to report.

We had heard that Lucy Lane was going to be a character on the show at some point. Now we know who will be playing her - Jenna Dewan-Tatum. I had hoped that we would have a silver haired Lucy. I doubt we'll get that here.

Here is the official report from CBS with a blurb that caught my eye:
http://www.cbs.com/shows/supergirl/news/1004552/jenna-dewan-tatum-joins-supergirl-cast/

Jenna Dewan-Tatum is hereby joining the cast of the upcoming CBS show Supergirl. 

The actress will play Lucy Lane, the older sister of a name you might recognize—Lois Lane. Lucy is described as funny, brash (and obviously beautiful) and heads to Supergirl's town to "right a previous wrong." She also has friends in high places; she has a history with James Olsen, played by actor Mehcad Brooks. 

That is a straight lift from the site. Lucy as the 'older sister' of Lois? I hope not. She always has been the younger sister. And coming in to 'right a previous wrong'? It has to be some sort of smoothing over of a difficult break up with Jimmy. It'll play into the obvious attraction Kara has for Jimmy.

I also can't help but think that this is a one episode stint. Maybe she'll be back for a repeat visit. Maybe her job as a flight attendant (fingers crossed) brings her into National City for a layover and she reconnects with Jimmy?

Now the news was reported lots of places with a couple of differences. Here is Variety's link:
http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/supergirl-jenna-dewan-tatum-cast-lucy-lane-1201555349/

Dewan-Tatum is one of many guest stars set for the first season, including “Super” alums Dean Cain and Helen Slater. 

Lucy Lane is described as brash, funny and beautiful as her older sister Lois Lane. Strong, smart and successful in her own right, she’s got a history with Jimmy Olsen (Mehcad Brooks) and she’s come to town to right a previous wrong.

The label of guest star makes this sound like an episode or two and not a recurring role. And here a rejiggering of words make her now sound like the younger sister.

Lastly, I haven't seen much of Dewan-Tatum outside of a bit of the horror movie Tamara. Anyone care to comment on her acting chops? Her name does brings a bit of buzz to the show.

So much optimism!

Lucy Lane On Supergirl Show - Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #57

There has been a slew of news, interviews, merchandise, and videos about the upcoming Supergirl television show. It is sometimes hard for me to figure out what to post and not post about the show because there is so much news so fast. I will be trying to figure out a mix of posts relating show news to comics and others that just discuss the upcoming series.

One news item that grabbed my attention was the reveal that Lucy Lane will be on the show! Here is a link: http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/supergirl-adds-character-from-iconic-metropolis-family I can't help but love that because there is so much Lucy/Supergirl stuff in the comics!

Now immediately the internet started to wonder if that meant that Lucy would become Superwoman on the show as a villain. But I doubt we'll see that ... at least in season 1. Now matter how great 'Lucy as Superwoman' was in Supergirl, Lucy has a much longer history as being Jimmy's significant other (or at least someone he wanted to date and love but who often spurned him). Given that the show is going to play up Kara's crush on Jimmy I have to think that Lucy will be an ex-girlfriend of some sort, someone  to punch up the romantic part of the show.

The truth is that there has always been some ground swell of support that Jimmy and Kara should get together. Assuming that they are close enough in age for it not to be icky, creators every so often hint at it. And in the Silver Age it seemed to have something of a 2 year life cycle where every couple of years someone would write a story where the two interact. And Lucy always plays a role in these stories, sometimes as the past love regretting her dismissive attitude, sometimes as the girlfriend fighting for her man.

But the Jimmy/Kara potential romance is brought to one logical conclusion in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #57. Writer Jerry Siegel and artists Curt Swan and George Klein have the two tie the not in the imaginary tale 'Jimmy Olsen Marries Supergirl'. The text states that thousands of people have written asking for a story where the two marry which means this faction of Olsen/Danvers shippers has been present since 1961!

The opening panel sets the stage nicely with Jimmy marrying Linda. Sparking in her white gown, Linda looks stunning. And there, in the background is Lucy, looking on at the one who got away.  I love that Superman is the best man, a nice showing of his relationship with Jimmy. And, at least up front, we learn that some Red K is in the mix.

The story opens with Jimmy heading to Midvale orphanage to show off some of his Superman mementos. Serendipitously, Linda, already adopted by the Danvers, is there to also visit and help out.

One of Jimmy's Superman trophies is a chunk of Red Kryptonite. And when exposed to the Red K, Linda loses all memories of being Supergirl and all of her powers as well. Right now she is completely human. There is some immediate chemistry between the two and so Jimmy asks Linda if she'd like to accompany him to Metropolis on a date.

There is something just absolutely beautiful about that first panel of Linda. I love it.

Of course, at the amusement park's dance hall, Jimmy spies Lucy dancing with a 'handsome pilot'. He also looks to be old enough to be her grandfather! But he doesn't care because Linda, 'a living doll', is in his arm.

Again, the history of Lucy never really appreciating or being invested in her relationship with Jimmy plays into the story.

These were 'one and done' stories and brief. Things need to happen fast. So after a wonderful evening and a kiss in the tunnel of love, Jimmy pops the question. And Linda accepts!

Talk about whirlwind romances! But, I suppose, when you know you know.

There doesn't appear to be a long courtship, tedious preparations, or any time delay. One page later they are married.

Superman is present and before the ceremony asks Linda about her Supergirl career but she doesn't understand what he is talking about. He quickly deduces that she was exposed to Red K. But rather than put an end to this or tell her the truth about herself or anything, he let's the wedding happen!

And the Danvers? No where to be seen. Don't you think they might ask her things too?

Ahh ... but there is Lucy in the front pew. She is feeling pretty sorry about letting Jimmy slip away.

Now back then the '48hour' rule for Red Kryptonite wasn't around. So sometime goes by before Linda suddenly remembers everything about her life and regains her powers.

She is 100% happy being married to Jimmy. But what can she do?

Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to think too highly of Jimmy's capability of dealing with her secret. Jimmy has been Elastic Lad. He has been Flamebird. He is friends with Superman. I think he might handle being married to a Supergirl.

But unfortunately she decides to keep her secret hidden from Jimmy, even if she secretly uses them now and then, like here when she makes it seem like Jimmy is able to shout instructions to a plane.

I have to say, Siegel might have an axe to grind with Lucy. He has Jimmy run into her one more time. Again, she seems forlorn and he seems to gloat just a bit too much about having found Linda.

Now some of the thinking in this story is a little wonky. But Linda's idea here is the nuttiest.

She decides to reveal her existence to Supergirl to him. Then, as Supergirl, she will make him fall in love with her. Then when he is in love with both Linda and Supergirl, she'll reveal she is one and the same.

But what a terrible trick to put on Jimmy. The best way to show that he loves her is to tempt him with infidelity??

Jimmy needs to get rescued from an amusement park ride gone wrong and Supergirl is there to save the day.

She quickly recaps her history (told in a neat 1-page retelling) and tells him that she is still Superman's secret weapon. He can't tell anyone about her.  Then she really slathers the compliments and flirty quips. Even he can tell that she loves him. But he keeps it all bottled up.

Linda can't help but admire that Jimmy can keep that big a secret, not even leaking it to his wife.

The super-temptations become bigger and more difficult to shake off for Jimmy. Supergirl takes him to an alien planet for lunch. They have adventures. He would 'marry her in a second' but he already has a wife.

And it isn't as if he has fallen out of love with Linda. He still loves her.

As for Linda, well ... as Linda ... Linda keeps mum.

This is just too weird.

To make matters worse, Jimmy somehow falls down a hole into a subterranean kingdom where he fulfills a prophecy of a surface dweller who will save their culture. Immediately their raven-haired princess asks him to be her king.

Supergirl is quick to label her a 'hussy' for trying to steal her husband and whisks him away.

After the rescue, Jimmy actually takes a stand and ends it with Supergirl. We see him thinking about how he is only breaking up with her because he is already married. But he tells Supergirl that he doesn't love her, thinking that is less painful than saying that he would marry her if not already betrothed.

But remember, Linda wanted Jimmy to fall in love with her. When he says he doesn't love Supergirl she is crestfallen.

Like I said, this story moves quickly with lots of twists. Insanity.

So I was pretty impressed with Jimmy for finally ending it with Supergirl.

But I was really impressed with his honesty when he tells Linda about Supergirl and how he felt around her. He kicks himself, calling himself a skunk for feeling that way. But with that reveal, Linda knows he can deal with her dual identity. She reveals she's Supergirl.

He still faints!!! Supergirl is glad her long convoluted, somewhat manipulative games gradually revealed the news because otherwise that faint might have been a shock!

The story ends with the couple in a hug, presumably to live happily ever after. That's right! This is the rare imaginary tale that has a happy ending! Interestingly, Siegel brings up Lucy one more time. She is still out there.

I love this story. I don't always ship Jimmy and Kara but they sure do make a swell couple here. And while the plot twists are almost absurd, it is a Silver Age imaginary tale! Of course it is going to be absurd.

 While this is forgotten story in Supergirl's history, I find any interaction with the bigger Superman supporting cast important. I would rank this as medium importance to a Supergirl collection, riffing the possible Jimmy/Kara romance and also being a Silver Age Imaginary tale. My copy is a completely tattered book, the cover barely holding on, and it cost me $10. So just be ready to pay.

Overall grade: A

Looking for more Jimmy/Lucy/Linda action? Go back to this review of  Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #75 and see Linda try to save Jimmy's life by getting him fired from the Planet. Part of that plan is getting Lucy angry at him. More Silver Age Red Kryptonite zaniness are in this story too!

Review: Superman:Lois Lane #1

And so I finally reach the end of the delayed reviews of last week's comics. And I thought I would save the book I was most interested in reading for the end.

After being semi-snubbed in the main Superman comics, I was glad when DC announced this Superman:Lois Lane #1 one-shot special. Lots of characters have suffered under the weight of the dour New 52. Lois, in particular, has been pushed to the side. Like many, I was happy to see this book and hope it is the beginning of many one-shots or even a solo title/mini-series.

I also liked the creative team attached to the book. Writer Marguerite Bennett's work over on the Batman books has been lauded so I was interested to see what she would do with Lois. And the bulk of the book is done by Emanuela Luppacchino, an artist whose work I have enjoyed on covers. On the plus side, it also means the book had an all-woman creative team, fitting for the first lady of comics.

Now the art ended up being a hodge-podge of Lupacchino as well as Ig Guara, Meghan Hetrick-Murante, and Diogenes Neves but the DC style is pervasive throughout the book. No one style stood out as being radically different from the other. As a result the book's look is smooth on the interior. It also sports a sharp cover by Kenneth Rocafort.

The story itself is a dizzying and in-depth look at Lois' life. We see flashbacks of early life, back when mother Ella was alive. We get a better sense of her relationship with younger sister Lucy. We see her attack a story, investigating a new drug on all levels. And we see what it is like to live in a universe like the DCU ... where a story about drugs on the street becomes a sci-fi thriller.

My biggest peeve with the story is the 're-introduction' of Lucy Lane. She was something of big part of the brief Dan Jurgens run on the Superman book and there seemed much more together and more mature than the Lucy we see here. Now maybe I can mentally squint and make them the same person. But I would also hope that DC would remember that the Jurgens' Lucy was out there. That was only a year and a half ago.

On to the story.

We start out with a flashback of the Lane girls, living on a military base, and playing. This opening scene with Lucy being risky, reaching higher and higher, depending on Lois to save her if she falls, permeates the book and helps set the tone. Lois is the grounded one. Lucy is the dreamer.

But this look into Lois' past feels new to me. I don't recall often seeing glimpses of her as a child. I liked seeing her so close to Lucy, to see how they have a code comprised of bits of the languages they have learned on their travels. These two are close.

And beautiful are here, colored nicely in pastels.

We see a similar scene play out in the present. In cut pages we see Lucy running from her apartment to Lois. Men have broken into Lucy's place and kidnapped her roommate. Scared and looking for a safe place, she heads to Lois'.

And so we see her 'fall' again, being caught by Lois once more. (I can't get into Lucy calling Lois 'Lola'.)

I don't understand why Lucy would break Lois' kitchen window to get into the house. I especially don't get it when she says she smashed the window because she didn't want to ring the bell and wake Lois. Huh? I suppose it goes to show how immature or addled Lucy is at this point.

The flashbacks are a nice part of this book sprinkled throughout the issue.

For me I especially love the peeks into life with Ella, who seems to be a supportive mother trying to keep this family together and happy despite their many travels. We learn that Ella is fighting cancer and eventually succumbs. As a result, Lois feels obliged to try and be Lucy's mother and sister ... and feeling inadequate. It brings in a layer of humility and humanity to Lois.

We learn that Lucy's roommate Amanda was in pain, ill, and took some drugs by a physician named Osterman. The drugs helped with Amanda's pain but had the unwanted effect of having her mutate into monstrous creatures. Tonight, a group called the Cartel (including a new character 'The Agent' who has the feel of Codename:Assassin) broke in and kidnapped her.

They also tried to grab Lucy ... although we don't know why right now.

So we move from kidnapping and street drugs to the fantastic.

This is why I love comics.

This is personal ... but it is also a story. A drug cartel is making people into monsters (metaphor?) and then kidnapping them ... in Metropolis? It is time for Lois to investigate. And the first person she calls is her friend and colleague Jimmy Olsen. She needs some tech to record what she is investigating.

There is very comfortable and sweet and believable between these two. My favorite line is Jimmy asking why aren't they meeting in a diner to discuss the details. I really loved this scene.

And I also loved that the first call wasn't to Superman! Lois can do this field work on her own.

Dressing like someone looking for the 'pretty pills', Lois heads into the seedier areas of the city. And just as she is about to score, that Cartel group and The Agent arrive. They grab both Lois and the dealer (who mutates himself in front of her) taking her to their stronghold, in a the derelict remains of tanker ships in Metropolis harbor.

Well, it turns out that The Agent knows that Lois is Lois. And he isn't necessarily the bad guy here. He wants to help those exposed to the mutagen. And the best way to do that is to scoop them up and bring them to therapy.

Hmmm ....

Couldn't he approach the people before he grabs them? "I know you probably don't like turning into Scyther from Pokemon; I can help." That might be more helpful.

And if you are some government sanctioned task force, maybe a cleaner detox facility might be less ominous. How about a hospital rather than the wreck of a ship.

I suppose I am overthinking this. Maybe this group just wants a swift solution and kidnapping is the most efficient way to eliminate the problem. And a 'secret' place would be more anonymous.

It turns out that Dr. Osterman did create the drug and went through all the proper channels of testing. I hope he didn't lie about this 'side effect'.

The drug hit the streets when some thugs broke into his lab and put it on the streets. There is no cure except detox. Interestingly enough, The Agent says that some people die during detox, or die trying to hold onto their new monstrous form. More metaphor for a drug problem.

Lois decides that this solution of imprisonment isn't right either. She breaks out of her cell and frees all the prisoners. A fire fight breaks out with agents shooting guns at crazy mutated creatures.

In the melee, Lois finds Lucy's roommate Amanda and leaves on a giant bug creature which is presumably Lucy's cat who got into the drug.

Again, we go from a very street level plot with a slightly monstrous bend to this shot of a tiny Lois flying on a giant alien bug. This is such a wild story.

And I love that Lois seems to take this all in stride. Riding a giant bug to my apartment ... no worries.

Finally Lois calls in Superman who arrives to find the ships deserted.

This might be my favorite panel of the book. The Agent calls Lois and tells her he is detoxing the victims and will release them when they are normal. He then tells her to keep the story under wraps.

Look at that killer smile on Lois as she says that they don't know her at all. She isn't going to kill a story. She is an investigative journalist. That one panel is pure Lois.

But in the end this is a personal story. The giant bug turns out to be Lucy who dabbled in the drug as well.

Even if Lucy fell, even if she is hurting, Lois is there for her.

I thought this was a very solid issue, showcasing just about everything I love about Lois while giving me a nice peek into her past. The whole 'drug cartel - are they good guys - who is the villain' part of the book was a bit blurry to me. But that is picking nits at an otherwise solid book for Lois fans. I can only hope we see more.

Kudos to Bennett, Lupacchino, et al.

Overall grade: B/B+