Lois Lane As Red Tornado

I have talked in the past about how the New 52 is a dark, grim universe.

I have talked in the past about how Superman and Lois Lane have not been treated well in this universe. Superman has become somehow more distant, less inspirational, and aloof. Lois has been pushed to the side.

I searched for maybe a brighter place in DC Comics and I was hoping that Earth 2 would be that title. Sure, it starts out with a massive tragedy, the Trinity ... the Wonders ... were killed in the attempted conquest of Earth by Darkseid. But Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman were all treated as heroes in that brief peek into the world. They worked with the military to defend their world. They were regarded as heroes. And they sacrificed themselves for the greater good. Even Supergirl and Robin (now Power Girl and Huntress) had a sort of Silver Age patina ... the 'young hero trying to impress their mentor'.

Well as time went on, it became clear that  Earth 2 was just as dingy as Earth 1. So I stopped buying. And I am glad I did. Because it seems that the default darkness and, in particular, the dismemberment of Superman and Lois, continues there.

First I heard that the Earth-2 Superman wasn't killed but instead brainwashed and perverted by Darkseid into someone called Brutal.

And then this page was released on the usual comic news sites, from Earth 2 #17 which came out this week. Lois Lane, dead before the Earth 2 #1 came out, is now 'alive', downloaded into Red Tornado.

Now some might think this is good news for Lois fans. She is back ... and has powers!

But that is missing the point.

The whole power around Lois as a character is that she is such a strong person, a 'regular' person so tenacious and strong and wonderful that Superman fell in love with her.

This 'downloaded' version is just another example of DC not understanding the core of their characters. It is another chip off the solid block of the Lois/Superman relationship. It has shock value for sure. But those shock feelings don't last long do they? In the end you will have a robot Lois who is supposed to be the real Lois.

It is strange for me to say this ... but I would rather that Lois have remained dead because that would be a better fate than this.

I suppose there can be some sort of 'Jocasta' origin here, that the robot has the template of Lois but isn't *the* Lois like Jocasta was with the Wasp. But I don't know.

I suppose in some way it doesn't matter. I wasn't reading Earth 2 anyways.