Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Superman: Lois and Clark #1 Review

Black and White 


Written by: Dan Jurgens
Art by: Lee Weeks, Scott Hanna, Brad Anderson, Joshua Cozine and Troy Peteri
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: October 14, 2015

Dan Jurgens and Lee Weeks' Superman book was my favorite story of the entire Convergence Event. So, when this book was announced, I was pretty psyched that not only were we going to continue the story, but Jurgens and Weeks were on board.  I do have to admit, however, that as it got closer to release, I started to wonder what the hell "continue" would mean.  Where and when would this book take place?  What roster of characters would we see?  The time for answers is now...




The issue opens up with a little recap. but not of Convergence like I expected.  Nope, instead we get a flashback to the beginning of the New 52 and the Justice League battling Darkseid.  It's all there like it was yesterday, except for one thing...Supermen.  That is not a typo because we now see that there were two Supermen there during that first pivotal fight...one young and one older.  Of course, the older one is who we are interested in here.



The narration (which, in a great touch, is done by Lois) continues and we see what happened to Lois and Clark after Convergence and more importantly, during and after the Crisis.  While I really hope we get a more detailed version of the story, it was awesome to see the Anti-Monitor, Flash, Supergirl and Hal.  It all leads to the present day, with Clark, Lois and their son, Jon, living a private and simple life.



I love that this story takes place in the current continuity and I enjoyed the setup Dan Jurgens gives us here.  However, I am a little wary about where this story can and will go from here on out and wonder if it will be fully continuity friendly.

We jump years ahead and Jon is a young boy who is starting to question things going on around him.  By "things" I mean all the mysterious stuff his father has been up to.  Most recently it's saving countless people from a Tsunami...you know, Superman stuff.  The scene goes from standard fare to "holy shit" territory when Clark comes home and him and Lois drop a bomb on the reader...his powers are fluctuating.  It actually comes across as a throwaway line, but with what's going on with Superman nowadays, it's major.

If it wasn't obvious that Clark and Lois want to stop the tragedies of their world happening in this new one, we get a news report that the Excalibur rocket is heading back to Earth with one Hank Henshaw inside.  After seeing that Lois has her own secrets and changed life, we get to see Superman in all his black and white costumed glory.  He manages to somewhat save the Excalibur, but it looks like the mystery of Hank Henshaw and his crew will be one of the ongoing points of this book for a little bit at least.



After seeing a little more of Jon, we end the issue with a crazy and mysterious cliffhanger that will surely lead to the big bad and major conflict going forward.  I really have no idea what was going on here, but I'm pretty pumped to find out.

I am a bit conflicted with this book.  As an ongoing story, I am intrigued and excited to see what happens, but a bit of that may be because not much happens in this issue.  A number one issue has to have it's share of setup, of course, but this issue was pretty generic as a whole.  I like it enough, but I just expected more of a bang out of the gate.



I did love Lee Week's art throughout the entire issue.  Again, I can't wait to see what he does when things get moving at a brisker pace because even during this low key affair, it all looked great.

Bits and Pieces:

I enjoyed reading this issue and look forward to the continuing story, but I just wish this first issue was a bit more explosive.  Even with the slower paced opener, I am looking forward to seeing this book and it's crazy mysteries explored further.

7.5/10


9 comments:

  1. I would add a point just because it is THIS Superman, MY Superman, written by Dan Jurgens (who, for me - and,i think, many readers my age - is as synonymous with SUPERMAN as Chris Claremont is with X-MEN or Peter David is with HULK).

    Plus, nobody (in my humble opinion, of course) draws a better Superman than Lee Weeks.

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    1. I fully understand because although I don't have as long a history with him as you do. I also love this Superman. Like I said, I love the characters and what the book means and where it looks to be goingx but had to gove it a bit of a lower score because I found it to be a slightly less satsfying number one issue than I was hoping for.

      I can't wait to see where it goes from here and hope that tying it in with the current continuity doesn't hold it back or cause issues.

      I can't wait to see how Jurgens develops Jon

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    2. Btw, this is already my favorite current Superman book

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  2. Wow a lois i can like and a clark that not a jackass so this is what i missed getting on comics post n52 this is definitely the best superman book and thats sad when you have 3 other ones but coming out sick of all the truth bs its good to see a heroic superman...and the beard is back yea baby!

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  3. This must be the lois that anonymous commenter who called me a sexist was talking about! shes so much better than new 52 lois!

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  4. Yup we sexist bastards not liking a poorly written character because shes a woman...and poorly written

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    1. yeah new 52 lois is crap compared to thisone!

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  5. And the first meeting of the he man lois hatters are now in session lol cant wait to see more of old lois and clark

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  6. Pleasantly surprised by this one, I'm in!

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