#rucka gets lois

[sporkberries]

With all these Lois posts going around i am one again recommending you read Lois Lane(2019)

[karaspal]

so i was js scrolling thru ur page and i wanted to know if you have any good starter comics abt the superfam ?

oh do i have some recs for you, my friend.

i’ve already answered for kara here and made a jon reading guide here.

now onto my boy clark:

superman: birthright - it’s an origin story. great way to get introduced to the superman universe;

superman: the secret years - it’s a more old comics, but still great. revolves around clark’s college years;

superman: kryptonite - clark’s first encounter with kryptonite;

action comics by greg pak - it’s during the new 52 era. you can skip the unnecessary crossovers and just read his individual arcs - “action comics (2011) #25 - 29, 35 - 40”);

superman: man of tomorrow - hero of metropolis - low stakes. slice of life. great vibes. great way to get introduced to a few superman villains;

superman by kurt busiek and geoff johns. reading guide here;

the warworld saga by phillip kennedy johnson. my favourite superman story ever;

superman smashes the klan. it’s a great story.

if you want to read superman comics chronologically, here you can find great starting points.

it’s a bit more complicated with lois because she is a second main character for a lot of clark’s stories, but doesn’t have her own titles very often (which is a shame because she’s great!). you’d get a pretty good idea of who she is from the superman recs, but during 2019, greg rucka wrote a comic with her as the main character - “lois lane (2019)” so i’d recommend checking that out. you can also check “supermans’s pal jimmy olsen (2019)” as well. it doesn’t have lois, but it has jimmy and he’s pretty cool.

note: both kon-el and john henry irons debuted during “reign of the superman” storyline.

as for kon, i haven’t read much of his comics, but he had a solo in the 90s and he’s a prominent member of the young justice comics so i’d recommend checking “superboy (1994)” and “young justice (1998)”. he also had a mini recently - “superboy: the man of tomorrow”.

as for john and nat, john also had an ongoing in the 90s - “steel (1994)”. nat was a main character during “52”. not sure if i’d recommend her story in that one though. but you can check it out and see if you like it. after that, she was in “infinity inc. (2007)” which is a follow up to her 52 storyline and again, not sure how much i recommend it. as far as i know, nat was also in the titans for a bit - “titans (2016) #23 - 36”. i’m yet to read it though so i’m not sure if it’s good. recently, there was a miniseries called “steelworks (2023)” and it was really good. both john and nat are main characters.

lana, same as lois, unfortunately doesn’t have that many solos. she was great during greg pak’s action comics run. and she had a solo during rebirth - “superwoman (2016)” that heavily featured john henry as well.

kenan debuted during the rebirth era and had a solo - “new super-man (2016)” and that’s pretty much it. he also had a two-part back up story in action comics #1058 - 1059 that explained how he joined the family.

as for lois and clark’s kids (that aren’t jon), you’ll find out more about chris during kurt busiek and geoff johns’ era and more about otho and osul during the warworld saga.

that’s all i’ve got. there are more superfamily members, but those are the once i feel confident giving recs for.

[jetslay]

What are your favourite Superman and Lois comics?

That's a tough question because, even tho there's 86 years of history, there's very little of books/arcs 100% focused on them. That said, off the top of my head I'd say:

Lois Lane #1-12 (the book itself is a mess plot wise, but Rucka is legitimately a top 3 Lois/Clark writer and Mike Perkins excels at drawing intimacy)

Superman: Space Age (mostly issues #1 and, especially, #2; easily the best Lois' reporting content of the last 15 years)

Mysteries of Love in Space #1 - "Glasses" (10/10, no notes)

Superman #654 - "Our Special Day" (I have some issues with Lois' characterization, but like the one above it, this story just gets their partnership right)

Superman 80-Page Giant #2 - "From Krypton with Love" (it's written by Mark Millar, so there are traces of his misogyny towards Lois in it, but the tale itself is a beautiful tribute to Supes & Lois love story)

JLA: Classified #10-11 - "New Maps of Hell" (there are some serious accusations towards Warren Ellis, be minded, but it's a fact he wrote one of most compelling Lois & Clark ever, both as partners in crime and love)

Superman Family #200 - especially "Unhappy Anniversary" (just all around fun celebrating the older version of the characters)

Honorable mentions: Adventures of Superman #46-48 - "Strange Visitor" (it's more of a Superman story, but the little romance in there is fascinating); Adventures of Superman #50 - "Mystery Box" (V-Day shenanigans!); Superman Annual #13 - "The Best Day" (cute family time!); Superman: Lois and Clark (I just love Lee Weeks' art and Jurgens has a strong grasp on their relationship)

[zahri-melitor]

Renee Montoya, in the middle of explaining the Multiverse:

Uh huh, Rucka. Delighted that you and Mike Perkins found the time in the middle of all of this exposition to hammer in that somewhere in the Multiverse, Renee Montoya and Helena Bertinelli made out extremely heavily.

That was an important moment you clearly regret not getting to fit in anywhere else, I think.

(Lois Lane #10)

[longwuzhere]

Some cool Easter eggs I caught watching My Adventures with Superman that I want to show to people so they can be in on it with comic book readers:

Episode 1 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Episode 2 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Episode 3 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Episode 4 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Episode 5 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Episode 7 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here and here

Episode 8 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Episode 9 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Episode 10 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comic issue 1 post is here

My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comic issue 2 post is here

My Easter eggs and references for My Adventures with Superman comic issue 3 post is here

(SPOILERS if you havent seen it obviously)

About 3ish minutes into the episode we see Clark be affected by red sun radiation, one of the non-Kryptonite weakness Superman has.

In the comics we first learn about this weakness in Action Comics #300 (1963), cover art by Curt Swan, George Klein, and Joe Letterese, where Superman is transported to the future by the Superman Revenge Squad, where the sun turned red thus losing his powers and has to find a way back home.

At the place where Jimmy was captured, we meet Monsieur Mallah and the Brain, at least MAwS version of these characters. I talk more about them in here. The episode has them depicted more like an old married couple with no supervillainous intentions compared to their comic counterparts...

who often associate themselves as enemies to the Doom Patrol and affliated with the Brotherhood of Evil. Also the Brain is usually French in the comics, here in MAwS, the Brain is German. The cover is from Outsiders #37 (2006) cover art by Daniel Acuna.

Back outside we see where Monsieur Mallah and the Brain took Jimmy, Cadmus Minefield.

Cadmus/Project Cadmus/the DNA Project, is known for its genetic engineering projects. The organization makes its first appearance in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #135 (1971) created by legendary comic book creator, Jack Kirby. Cadmus is pretty well known for cloning Superboy/Kon-el/Conner Kent. Like in MAwS Cadmus is a government sanctioned division that's located outside of Metropolis. Ironic since in MAwS the government disavows Cadmus. You can read more about it on these two pages from Who's Who in the DC Universe #12 (1991), the art is done by Dan Jurgens, Dennis Janke, and Anthony Tollins.

Later in the forest we see Lois and Clark have to deal with the OMACs.

In the comics, Jack Kirby created OMAC, at the time, the acronym stood for One Man Army Corp. Buddy Blank of Earth-AD (a future post-apocalyptic Earth) was selected to be part of the OMAC program where with the help of the Brother Eye satellite grants him powers of super strength, stamina and density control. The cover art here for OMAC #1 (1971) was done by Jack Kirby, Mike Royer, and Gaspar Saladino.

Years later OMAC gets reinvented to be a cyborgs of Brother Eye that was developed by Batman thanks to his paranoia about super powered heroes turning evil. The page here is from the OMAC Project #5 (W: Greg Rucka, P&I :Jesus Saiz, C: Hi-Fi, L: Phil Balsman). This iteration of OMAC uses the acronym for Omni-Mind and Community. These Cyborgs make their first appearance in the OMAC Project #1 (2005). MAwS's OMACs are a lot more robotic and Evangelion-esque designed compared to how they look in the comics. Note the mohawk/fin designs on OMACs heads in both iterations of the comics and how the robots are designed in MAwS.

Someone on the MAwS team is a fan of Gurren Lagann.

Monsieur Mallah name drops Task Force X. I talked about the organization here

Monsieur Mallah mentions one dimensions in the universe where he and the Brain can be accepted. This brings to mind...

DC's multiverse. The multiverse makes its first appearance in the Flash #123 (1961) where Barry Allen and Jay Garrick meet for the first time. DC's multiple Earths have changed over the years from having only 52 distinct Earths to now infinite. The Multiverse map created by Grant Morrison and Rian Hughes, here is from Multiversity comic series.

Someone on the MAwS crew is a fan of the ED-209 design in Robocop.

After the fight with the OMACs, the Brain talks about the General. The only person in DC comics who usually goes by that moniker is...

General Wade Eiling. The panels here are from Captain Atom #1 (1987) (W: Cary Bates, P: Pat Broderick, I: Bob Smith, C: Carl Gafford, L: John Costanza). General Eiling is often associated with Suicide Squad/Task Force X. So it's possible that much like Parasite and Ivo, the MAwS team are combining characters by having...

him be a combination of General Eiling and General Sam Lane, Lois's dad. But who knows. Gotta wait for confirmation if this is either Eiling or Lane.

Thank you for taking your time reading this and making it this far down the post. If you want to see the other posts of easter eggs and references for past episodes:

Episode 1 is here

Episode 2 is here

Episode 3 is here

Episode 4 is here

Episode 5 is here

Episode 7 is here and here

Episode 8 is here

Episode 9 is here

Episode 10 is here

My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comic issue 1 post is here

My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comic issue 2 post is here

My Easter eggs and references for My Adventures with Superman comic issue 3 post is here

[thevindicativevordan]

Batman: Caped Crusader S1 Review

Normally not a guy I write a whole lot about, but I finished watching S1 last night and decided I would share my thoughts.

Cutting right to the chase I found this mediocre. Trapped in the shadow of it's elder brother it fails at living up to being a spiritual successor, or charting it's own path. Changes made feel like token efforts done simply for changes sake, but with the exception of Harley, frequently feel like downgrades from what BTAS did. Rapid fire thoughts:

Pilot was easily the worst episode even though I was won over on Ricci's Penguin on account of her great performance

Clayface episode was good, no surprise considering Rucka wrote it, and struck me as a preview for what Reeves may have planned for his Batman sequel given the rumors Clayface will appear in that

Dug the Catwoman episode, but it’s hurt by how they basically did Golden Age Catwoman in BTAS. Nothing new here, Selina is a wealthy heiress like in BTAS who has a one sided romantic interest in Batman. Sure her BTAS incarnation was an animal rights activist but the foundation is the same. Given Brubaker's involvement I wish they had gone with her Post Crisis origin of being poor and stealing to survive. Least she loses her money by the end, maybe they’ll go in a different direction with her. Good idea to do the mandatory origin here, least it keeps the clichés all in one episode. I did love the Catmobile!

Firebug was eh, don’t get what the point was in changing him other than to keep in line with the Golden Age aesthetic.

Harley Episode was good! Wasn’t sure how a Jokerless Harley would work but they did actually manage to keep her sympathetic nature, and make her feel like a legit threat. Her victims were scumbag billionaires which made me sympathize with her motives if not her methods. Knew moments before they did it that they were going to homage Harley's "death" in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, having Babs and Harley together was too tempting a target to pass up.

That was Papa Midnite in the Gentleman Ghost episode right? Cool deep cut, people were clamoring for Batman to show up in MAWS but Superman would be a better fit for this show than Batman would be for MAWS honestly. Reusing Fleschier Lois' design for one of the Gotham reporters got a chuckle out of me. Didn’t expect them to go with actual ghosts, that at least is a marked change from BTAS where everything had a “realistic” explanation.

Episode 7 had an… interesting moral. Didn’t expect anyone to make an episode in the year of our Lord 2024 about how the bleeding heart liberal (Babs) who opposes the system is wrong and the principled conservative who sees things in black and white (Gordon) is right. Especially not one with Rucka on the writing team.

Episode 8 was fine, since they included all the Robins except Tim I’m curious if Tim will end up being the one who becomes Robin (if anyone ever does). Otherwise I don’t get why Timm was not able to use Nocturne back during BTAS if this is what he wanted to do with her, she’s an energy vampire like Parasite. No blood. Maybe his old design was too horny for the censors? This Nocturna is clearly Wednesday Adams

Onomatopoeia doesn't work, his gimmick simply doesn't translate well outside of comics

Take on Two-Face here is inferior to BTAS. He’s not as interesting or sympathetic, I feel indifferent to him. They made him corrupt but didn’t do anything interesting with it, frankly it feels like a missed opportunity that they copied the DCAU approach where Harvey was friends with Bruce but never worked with Batman. Because this Harvey was corrupt, the friendship between Bruce and Harvey feels fake (and presumably given how cold this Bruce is, it was). Way to go would’ve been to either flip the reason Harvey gets scarred, and have some relative of an innocent he put away be the one to scar him, or have his corruption be a result of his and Batman’s failure to achieve meaningful results, with Harvey giving into despair before finding his courage again in the worst possible way. For that reason I didn’t find his death to be moving or emotionally impactful at all.

Arkham Asylum actually looking nice was a design choice I approved of. Makes sense that people would be assigned there or that it wouldn’t immediately be written off as an Asylum from Hell.

Why does Timm or whoever keeps pushing for him, love Rupert Thorne? Thorne is a boring bad guy, a generic mobster that Batman should crush with ease.

When it comes to Batman himself I enjoyed his characterization, and the performance of Hamish Linklater.

They leaned into this Batman being a sociopath, his unsettling declaration to Alfred as a child that he was going to make the criminals pay, and ordering Alfred to help him was chilling. Every time Alfred tried to give him advice or protect him, this Batman reacted with either cold dismissal or outright anger. Made for a good difference from both the DCAU, where the two would trade quips and clearly had a warm relationship, and the mainline where it's been outright canonized that Bruce viewed Alfred as his second father.

Too bad it looks like they’re already moving towards a more traditional take on the relationship for S2. Would've enjoyed seeing this Batman remain cold and sociopathic and having to go up against the Joker

Enjoyed seeing how uncomfortable Batman was with talking to other people, he sucked at "comforting" Babs after Harley appeared to die. Even though he has the compassion DCAU Batman had, he's somehow worse at expressing it.

Linklater did a great job differentiating the two personalities vocally. Loved when Bruce was confronting Harvey in Arkham in the finale, and when Harvey slipped into his "Two-Face" voice, Bruce used his "Batman" voice in response. Lot of Conroy in Linklater's performance which is no knock against him.

Since everyone is going to compare the two

Both are similar in a lot of ways: TCC puts a lot of focus on the supporting cast in the GCPD as does MAWS with the Daily Planet.

Lois and Babs basically serve as the deuteragonists of their respective shows.

Both include references to the wider DCU and poach villains from other heroes Rogues Galleries.

Both genderbend a villain and racebend a bunch of other characters.

Both do some dramatic changes to the villains in general, and the villains are generally the weakest part of the shows.

Both even take a lot from the DCAU, although TCC is more indebted to the DCAU than MAWS is.

Of the two though, I think MAWS is far superior. It’s got a stronger take on it’s lead, it’s got a stronger worldbuilding foundation, and the changes it makes feel like they have a purpose that feeds into the story of Krypton whereas TCC changes feels like token efforts to differentiate it from BTAS. Of the two TCC definitely got a bigger budget, especially in the fight scenes, but surprisingly there was some shoddy CGI there like what we see at times in MAWS.

I’m curious to find out which of the two ends up having the bigger impact on their respective characters. My hunch is MAWS will be more influential going forward, particularly on the Daily Planet crew.

Side note but it's ironic how everyone was doomposting about MAWS being a "Lois Lane show" when of the two it's CC who frequently ends up feeling like a GCPD show guest starring Batman. MAWS steadfastly puts Superman at the center of everything, whereas here the Gordons (Babs and Jim) feel more central to the show

Give it a C, it's a fine enough way to kill an afternoon if you're a Batman fan, but with all the Batman content out there I can't recommend it that highly. Next season we’ve got the Joker judging by the post season tease, which is probably going to be a fairly straightforward adaption of The Man Who Laughs given Brubaker is the head writer. If we get a Golden Age “serious” Joker that at least would spice things up. Hearing a Joker with a deep voice startled me I must admit.

[ultfreakme]

ok ok your posts about the superfam and DC are making me interested in the franchises. what would you recommend me to do in case i want to get more into it??

OH MY GOD YAY!!!! I am feeling so nervous compiling a list. I am mostly into Superfam so my recommendations will be around that. Comics are a bit of a tricky medium to get into because stories have been written for them since like, the 1940s, but there are new characters who help ease into the DC universe. It helps to read runs(usually what you call one comic book serialization)based on characters rather than titles because your fave may show up in random other places.

I'll give my journey with comics and how I got to know these characters

For superfam, starting with Jon Kent & Jay Nakamura! They're the ones I'm always posting about

Superman: Lois & Clark by Dan Jurgens and Lee Weeks: backstory with Jon as a kid with Lois and Clark, if you want to know more about Lois & Clark and how Jon was raised, this one is good.

Superman (2016) by Tomasi and Gleason: Further backstory on Jon's life with Lois & Clark as a child, it's a mediocre story with a bunch of american right-wing propaganda but the Jon stories are important build up for what comes next

The Man of Steel (2018) by Bendis Issue 6: Yes, JUST issue 6.

Superman (2018) by Bendis Issue 7-10: Continuation from Man of Steel and covers what many refer to as "the jon kent age-up". This is gonna be a bit of a tedious read because the writer for this sucks at his job. But this is unfortunately essential to understanding how Jon gets to where he is.

Superman: Son of Kal-El by Tom Taylor: If you want to jump right into Jon's time as Superman and see his blooming relationship with Jay, this is the go-to. This was my first DC comic and acts really well as an introduction for new readers

Action Comics (2016): #1050 (a big thing happens wrt to Jay and Jon)

Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent by Tom Taylor: Direct sequel to SOKE

Steelworks (2023) by Michael Dorn: Has a bunch of Jay cameos

Titans Beast World Metropolis Tour (2023): An important Jon thing happens with Nia here.

Action Comics (2016): #1060 : it's a follow-up from Metropolis Tour and is in a back-up story(basically what they call a side story- you'll have to scroll down a lot to see the Jon parts of it) 10. 1. Suicide Squad: Dream Team: Neither Jay nor Jay appear here BUT it is CRUCIAL to understand the context of this story- the main character in this- Dreamer- is a friend of Jay & Jon and she does something that betrays them . You'll figure it out while you're reading the rest

Absolute Power: Ground Zero #1 (2024)- Jay-centric

If you want a more comprehensive list for Jon, @bobbinalong has made a reading list for him and it's in the blog's pinned post.

Next up is Clark Kent:

Just as an introduction I'd say:

Superman Smashes the Klan (2019) by Gene Luen Yang: It's not related to current continuity but it really endears everyone to Clark, explains what he is all about and establishes what Superman is.

Warworld Saga: It's really well-written and is part of current continuity

I've been posting often about a character called Dreamer, she is very important to the current stories with Jay and Jon, but she is also an amazing character on her own. Her introduction happens in Superman: Son of Kal El but she has her solo stories as well:

Bad Dream: A Dreamer Story (2024) by Nicole Maines: An origin story for Dreamer

If you want to catch up with the rest of Superfam and want a starting place:

Kong Kenan/Super-Man: The New Super-Man (2016) by Gene Luen Yang

Natasha Irons/Steel and Lana Lang: Superwoman (2016) by Phil Jimenez (Natasha shows up in Warworld a LOT), and Steelworks

Kara Danvers/Supergirl: Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow(2021) by Tom King

Lois Lane: Lois Lane (2019) by Greg Rucka

Not all of these are essential, characters appear in runs that I haven't specifically attached to a character as well. But if you want to catch up on my faves, these are the ones I'd recommend. As you read, you'll get to know more of the characters and you can naturally find those who interest you as well.

If you are confused, you can always ask me again, and there's a bunch of my moots who are super eager to help anyone new get into the stories and I could ask them too, or you can get in touch with them!

Happy reading!

[evilwickedme]

I would like to see the Jewish headcanons please

Hi yes thank you so much I wasn't fishing for this at all

We've already covered this in that post that gained me 150 followers in a week, but obviously Peter Parker is Jewish. My personal headcanon is that he's Ashkenazi and somewhere between Reform and Conservative. Like he flip flops on keeping Kosher and observes the high holidays as best as he can assuming there's no world saving he needs to get done, but overall being Jewish to him is about community and culture over the religious part of it

For Bucky Barnes, however, being observant was a way to reclaim his identity after... Well, you know. He's vaguely conservadox? He doesn't really define it beyond being Sephardic. He keeps Kosher (which was difficult during WWII unfortunately) and wears tzitzit and goes to shul whenever he can. He'd love to keep Shabbat but it's just not practical most of the time - essentially it's like being an on call doctor, where your job is essential to saving lives and therefore he can't keep Shabbat properly, but he likes to have Friday night dinners with his friends (and Natasha, whether they're together at the time or not) whenever he can. He doesn't know if God exists, but during the High Holidays is when he comes the closest to believing it

Bruce Wayne is canonically Jewish but like, by accident? I feel like he less defines himself as Jewish and more defines himself as Not-Christian™. His mother used to take him to Synagogue but the memories are vague now, but he always enjoyed lighting the candles on Hanukkah, especially with Jason. He stops celebrating the holiday after Jason dies, because he loved it so much. It's a shame because I KNOW Cass would love Hanukkah and Steph would be so into the Maccabees' story

Tim is also Jewish but he's entirely non practicing; his parents were never around to celebrate any holidays or impart any Jewish traditions on him and Bruce had stopped doing the one Jewish thing of lighting the hanukkiah/menorah (whichever you wanna call it) by the time he became Robin. The main Jewish thing in his life is antisemitic garbage being published about both Bruce and himself, especially once he becomes CEO of WE

Damian was raised Muslim and doesn't really know how to feel about being half Jewish. When he grows up he might try to find a way to reconcile those two parts of his identity, but the only Jewish person who actually practices that he sees even irregularly is Batwoman, who's his cousin once removed and he's not exactly close to, so he just doesn't feel the need to deal with it yet

The Thing and Batwoman are canonically Jewish this doesn't count as a hc I just love them

Same for moon knight minus loving him cause I have a bunch of his comics but just haven't gotten around to reading them

Actually can we talk about Mayday Parker? Because I feel like Peter would absolutely raise his daughter to be Jewish. He wants her to feel that connection to the Jewish people even though he's always been so wishy-washy about it and she grows up to be way more observant than him

I actually don't want canon!Clark to be Jewish, but I think exploring his Jewish subtext in fic can be so interesting? Cause, you know, he's Moses and shit. I feel like an Modern Orthodox Clark would have the exact same values as current Clark but also I'd love to hear his thoughts on certain Mishnahs, you know? Also having read the Death of Superman arc earlier this month I can confirm all Jesus metaphors in adaptations are such bullshit oh my God did you even read the comic

Anyway I think that's it for now? Unfortunately I have not read Every Comic Ever yet so there might end up being even more HCs later on (especially since I plan to read Greg Rucka's Lois Lane series soon and I'm hoping for some Jewish subtext in that)

Thank you so much for asking this was so much fun!!

[thekidthesuperkid]

Lois Lane reading recs?👀

Sorry it took me a while to respond, I had to go back and skim read some of these comics to be sure I was remembering them right and some of them i ended up rereading for real lol. I am going to preface this by saying I'm still working my way through the Superman ongoings so that's a blind spot in my knowledge of any of the characters there. That being said, here is my list, ordered vaguely in order of relevance...

Lois Lane Vol. 2 (2019) - I literally cannot emphasize this one enough, it's so good. If you only ever read one thing about Lois please read this. You might need a basic understanding of the Rebirth timeline changes to follow some of what goes on in this series, but to get that you just need to read the wikis, ask someone for a summary, or go read The Final Days of Superman and Superman: Reborn and maybe Convergence Superman too. This series is twelve issues long which is an easy length but not too short, it's written by Greg Rucka who's a pretty good writer in my opinion, and it's just such an engaging story overall. It features Lois investigating corruption, a team-up with Renee Montoya aka the Question, a discussion of the ramifications of timeline changes, Perry despairing at Lois' typos, gay flirting, and Clark dropping in every so often to be adorably married. Also Rucka so clearly likes and respects Lois as a character and it comes through in the story. I almost want to call this series a love letter to Lois Lane.

Action Comics #1, 2 - the first ever story about Superman and Lois Lane. Every comic since then has been built off this one.

Action Comics #6, Superman (1939) #29, 33, 34 - these are some classic Golden Age Lois Lane stories. They're all collected in the Lois Lane: A Celeblation Of 75 Years volume and that's where I read them. These stories are all really fun to read, they show the original characterization of Lois: headstrong, stubborn, determined to prove herself, and very intelligent. They tend to follow a similar format to each other where her male coworkers heckle her or make fun of her or attempt to sideline her and she goes out and proves them all wrong. That 75th anniversary collection has some other good stories too.

The Death of Superman, Funeral For A Friend, Reign Of The Supermen, Return of Superman - the Death of Superman stories may not be primarily focused on Lois, but they were a huge event for Superman comics as a whole and therefore are important to Lois too. She has an important role here, she does in most Superman comics, but this one brings a big change in her life so it's good to read this. It's super easy to find reading lists for these, it'll come up as soon as you google it, but I can absolutely put one together for you if you need it.

Superman (1987) #50, Action Comics #662, 720, and Superman and Lois Lane: The 25th Wedding Anniversary - the first three are the issues where Lois and Clark get engaged, Clark tells Lois his identity, and Lois breaks off the engagement, respectively. The last is the collection of the five issues where they get engaged again, get married, then go on their honeymoon. I unfortunately don't have a more detailed list about that era but hopefully I will soon.

The Chris Kent comics - these are pretty good for Lois, they feature a full character arc for Lois about her decision on whether or not to adopt Chris. Lois and Clark have a whole dilemma on whether they should become parents, so its an important story arc both for their relationship and for their personal feelings towards family and parenthood. It's also just really sweet because Chris is literally the sweetest kid ever. This is a link to a post that has the list of comics:

New Krypton era - if you can, I definitely recommend you read this, because several parts of it are important for Lois. I can't give you a detailed list on this because I read it like two years ago all at once so there's a bunch I don't remember and it's a huge storyline so laying out the reading order is going to take more time than I have right now, but I know there are New Krypton reading lists out there, and I'm going to try to make a list myself sometime in the near future. The post I linked in the previous paragraph also has a link to a post that lists Chris Kent's stories in that era. Chris' stories have Lois show up sometimes and have important further exposition on their relationship. And in addition to that, there are also parts of New Krypton where Lois' father is involved, one issue where he dies, and a few parts where her sister is involved as well. It's a pretty big and important era for the whole Superfamily.

Wonder Woman (1983) #170 - Lois spends the day with Diana to write an article about her. It's great because it establishes a connection between Lois and Diana. It's really interesting because it's examining Diana's character through the perspective of an outsider, and filtering everything Lois learns about Diana through the lens of Lois' biases and preconceptions. Lois' reflections on Diana end up being a reflection of herself as well as being about Diana. Also I just really like Lois and Diana being friends.

Mysteries of Love in Space #1 - possibly my favourite Clois comic of all time. Literally amazing, no notes.

Lois Lane Vol. 1 (1986) - this is one of those comics where the writer decides to talk about a social issue they're thinking about and uses comic characters to do it. In this case it's about children being kidnapped and trafficked, and it follows Lois trying to write a story about the issue. It's honestly not very important in terms of getting to know Lois, and I don't even know if it's part of main continuity, but it's nice to have a story that focuses exclusively on Lois doing her work.

Superman (1987) #88 - a story where Lois gets very angry about the mistreatment of Bizarro by Luthor and Lexcorp. Idk I read this a couple days ago and enjoyed it so I wanted to put it in. Its not really important but if you want to read the full story arc it's titled Bizarro's World and the issues are Superman (1987) #87, Adventures of Superman #510, Action Comics #697, Superman: The Man of Steel (1991) #32, Superman #88.

Superwoman (2016) #1-8 - this one actually has very little Lois in it, and the Lois that's talked about most in it is New52 Lois who you may or may not be able to call the same character as pre-Flashpoint/post-Rebirth Lois, but she persistently haunts the narrative in a way that's really cool to me. Also the other Lois shows up too, if briefly. The story is about Lana Lang being Superwoman while also kind of having to step into the shoes of Lois who was also briefly Superwoman. In general its a great series and has really pretty art so even if the lack of Lois disappoints you its still really good on its own, especially given that its written and drawn by Phil Jiminez who's really solid. You will probably need to read the Final Days of Superman and Superman: Reborn to understand this though.

Superman Smashes The Klan - this is a retelling of an early Superman story that's not in-continuity. It's a really really good story though and i do recommend you read it even if its not for Lois.. It doesnt have much Lois in it, it mainly focuses on a pair of children caught up in some racist attacks, but it does have one of my favourite Lois moments ever...where she's shown to be one of the very few people who aren't afraid of Superman when they find out he's an alien.

There are also a couple books that are for a YA/preteen audience that are exclusively about Lois, Girl Taking Over, and Lois Lane and the Friendship Challenge. Both are pretty cute easy-to-understand stories about Lois as a kid if you're interested in that.

Also like...a lot of Superman comics are going to have Lois in them and she often has a supporting role if she's not in a main role. If you read these comics and you like them, you can use them as a jumping-off point for getting into more Super comics which are going to have more Lois in them! And if you're hesitant to dive into the endless Superman ongoings, there are several retellings and reinterpretations of the Superman origin (like Superman Smashes The Klan) that tell the stories without being bogged down by the dense lore of the ongoings...Superman Secret Origins, Superman For All Seasons, All-Star Superman, American Alien, and John Byrne's initial Man of Steel comics from the 80s are some popular ones. If you do want to get into an ongoing, the current Superman series that started this year is good.

Let me know if you have questions or need clarification on something and enjoy your reading! Also if anyone with better knowledge of Lois is reading this please feel free to add on!

[clay-cuttlefish]

Out of No Man's Land, into Cry for Blood, plus a couple more comics for Renee before Officer Down next batch.

Endgame

I'm free from having to decide on context, woo!

Renee gets a promotion for how well she handled Two-Face.

The Honored Dead (Tec #742)

Renee gets partnered with Crispus Allen, who I hate infinitely less than Bullock. As far as cops go he's a pretty likeable character.

Batman/Huntress: Cry for Blood #1

YEAAAAAAH

Them! I love Helena so much, I love her and Batman's hostility, I love that Vic decides the best way to get in touch with her is to nearly get hit by her car. Iconic.

The art style's very different from the Question run, but it feels like it resonates with it somehow, and it might because they have the same colourist? I can't usually pin it down but there's a certain something about the smoke and mist. Maybe I'm drawing arbitrary connections to explain the vibes but it's the best I've got.

#2

She's SO pretty in this. Women!

I like it when Bruce is a huge bitch.

Drowning motif spotted.

Truly catastrophic "I can fix her" levels here.

#3

Extremely cute that Richard calls Vic "butterfly."

Honestly Helena is handling this extremely well, all things considered. Sure she's pissed but she's been kidnapped, that's entirely reasonable.

Wait hold on, Jackie's death gets retconned here! Somehow I missed that before, I don't know if that's on purpose or if Rucka just forgot/didn't know she died. Either way I'll take it.

#4

This is such a good telling of her backstory, it hits.

Road trip as bonding moment my beloved.

#5

Bruce hates Vic's ass so much for no reason other than because he's annoying. Fair enough.

Sorry girl you might not be part of the family but that will not stop Tim from having little brother energy.

Father-in-law behavior on Bruce's part tbh.

Renee pulls this exact same move in Lois Lane which is cute.

#6

Helena...

Can't get over Vic being described as a GQ candidate.

"When is it enough?" takes me out.

Vic taking off his mask to look her in the eye???

This is a Character Thesis Moment for both of them imo. Vic has fundamentally overlooked Helena's motives in his attempt to find solidarity - Helena knows exactly what the Huntress is here to achieve, despite her reservations and her willingness to seek balance. They're cute in JLU, but this was never going to work for them here.

Happy Birthday Two You (Tec #747)

This issue is a lot of what keeps me sold on Renee genuinely caring about Harvey's well-being, despite everything he's done and will continue to do. The tulips are pushing up against her boundaries, but Harvey didn't try to contact her directly or make it known they were from him. It's an attempt at doing an actual nice thing at a time when she's starting to slip, and clearly that matters to her enough that she's willing to take it in good faith and make an effort in kind, despite her annoyance at Bruce over it.

I just really love this issue. It's so pretty, and so grounded, and it works so well as a snapshot of Renee's life before everything gets worse for her.

Scavenger Hunt (Catwoman #83)

Mostly a Gordon-focused issue, but Renee follows him and Batman on their scavenger hunt. Not that important for her characterization but hey she's involved.

She gets more outwardly upset over Gordon being taunted by a reminder of Two-Face's trial than by being reminded of her own involvement. It's because of Gordon-centric writing, and partly that she's trying not to reveal how she's affected, but it's also reinforcing my interpretation that No Man's Land was so fucked up and traumatizing in general that she's not as angry about being kidnapped as she "should" be.

That isn't to undermine how bad being held prisoner was, it's just that everything was bad. She went directly back to work after NML despite killing people/indirectly getting people killed/seeing her friends and coworkers die/seeing so many people die/watching other cops give up even remotely pretending policing isn't about power/the general absurd trauma conga line of it all, there is some POWERFUL repression going on.

The Dark Knight Project (Batman #584)

Not a lot of Renee I just have a pet peeve: I absolutely do not buy that Batman is an urban legend by this point in his career.

I'm willing to suspend my disbelief on a lot of things but this is so silly to me because it's unnecessary - Bruce can want to avoid the spotlight as much as possible so that he's still shrouded in myth without having to pretend that people don't know he exists! Like, it can still be a matter of debate if he's one person or many, human or monstrous, what his superpowers are...

Even if I accept that Bruce is just that good at hiding, Jean-Paul got into a lot of very public shit both as Azbat and on his own and Helena is overt enough that she can get a ridiculous-but-roughly-accurate caricature in the paper. Everyone knows Gotham has vigilantes.

I do kind of vibe with the idea that Harvey's been pinned with the creation of the Bat-myth.

Superman and Batman: World's Funnest

Irrelevant, but it manages to get a tiny Vic in both a Crisis group shot and an Earth-4 panel, which is twice as much as most of the cameos I haven't been mentioning.

Measure for Measure (Batman #585)

A minor Renee appearance, but she's comfortable enough with Batman by now to call him out on his shit.

[havendance]

Infinite Crisis Thoughts

At long last, I am sitting down and writing these out. Under a cut because it's a big event and required lots of words.

Overall I had fun and I’m glad I read it. It was huge and sprawling and had a couple hundred tie-ins of varying relevance that doubled back on plot points. It felt like the embodiment of everything a comics event could be and it was epic for it. It’s got a scope to it! Crossover your entire universe! It’s the sort of thing you can do with comics and the interconnectedness of it all.

In terms of plots I read the OMAC project stuff and the Villains United stuff, and largely ignored/didn’t seek out the Rann-Thangar War and Day of Judgement plotlines

The Wonder Woman storyline was by far the standout. (Greg Rucka my beloved. I am looking forward to getting to his run in my Wonder Woman readthrough).

Something that I did think was interesting was the fact that it ends with Themiscyra gone, sealed away, and Diana left alone in Man’s World. Rucka pulls the same move in his rebirth Wonder Woman run. (Though that one was also doing some heavy duty work to retcon whatever was going on with the new 52 amazons. (I don’t know, I didn’t read it. But I can that it was bad from how much they had to retcon it away.)).

It is, I think, a very compelling place to put Diana in. At least, I find it compelling. And he was able to build off of the idea more in his rebirth run whereas I don’t know how it’s followed up on in post-crisis.

Anyway, if I had a nickel for every time…

The OMAC stuff was also fun (Thanks again Rucka.) We get more Sasha. We get Bruce ruining things for everyone.

Just the whole ‘Everything’s going wrong for everyone at once.’ that was going on the whole event. That’s what makes it a crisis! It was just really neat seeing how it built up bit by bit.

And then you also have the meta aspect with the earth two heroes and them watching everything go wrong and using that as their basis to rewrite everything ever.

Superboy prime is punching reality and there are clearly retcons going down in real time but sue me if I can’t figure out what any of them are.

Uhhh what else

RIP to Ratcatcher for being the first random person to get killed off in Infinite Crisis #1. No one’s going to miss you.

My favorite superman comic from the event was the one where got nuked and it did this thing I absolutely love where they put the in universe characters alongside the actual creators in the credits:

Of course it was written by Lois Lane… Rucka just gave her a voice…

I read exactly one Firestorm issues (#20). I found that I did not care about the new Firestorm (unsurprisingly) but this was also the first time I’d encountered Animal Man and I came out of the comic seized by the need to read more of his comics

Anyway I’m like 7 issues in Morrison’s Animal Man run and while I found his JLA run boring and have heard, uh, many things most of them poor about his Batman writing, his Animal Man writing is very fun so far!

Animal Man tangent over

I did not get around to reading the Green Arrow tie ins which I probably should’ve. Oh well, I’ll come back to that whenever I get around to reading Green Arrow Comics again.

I also skipped the Aquaman (some day I will figure out how to dip my toes in there) and Hawkman comics

And also probably others but those are the ones that come to mind

I also liked the teen titans Nightwing and Superboy team up issue.

I am confused as to what all went down with Bart and the Flash side of things but also maybe some day I will read flash comics

So many comics to read so little time

I am curious as to the logistics of the swapping out Kon to die for Nightwing thing that I know happened. Because in Infinite Crisis #6 Superboy directly stops superboy prime from killing Nightwing. But then Nightwing also jumps in front of Bruce to save him later which also could’ve been a prime moment for him to die. Don’t know if anyone knows anything about that.

But yeah! Infinite Crisis! Now it’s time for me to meander my way through one year later stuff.

[thrillhoues]

I'm no fan of Jon Kent's - child or teen - but I find the amount of hate Brian Michael Bendis gets for aging the character patently ridiculous. He executed a creative decision you don't like - aging Jon up - but he never kicked a puppy, voted for Nazis (as far as I know) or anything.

Ascribing the value of a writer's work to one decision - especially when his Superman and Action Comics runs were pretty decent, especially since he brought Conner Kent back into continuity (and DC subsequently wasted him after Bendis, but that's a separate rant), wrote a powerful moment or two with the secret identity reveal, selected real talent in Greg Rucka and Marc Andreyko for Lois Lane and Supergirl, respectively - it's just so juvenile.

I don't hate Tom Taylor, and while I also find his work is suboptimal for Jon, I find the hate he gets for Jon stupid too. He's writing a mediocre comic, not hurting cats

[batwomanandmotherpanic]

Alright,correct me if I'm wrong.

I can't help but feel like Rucka claiming that Kate x Renee is an open relationship was his way of trying to avoid getting called out for establishing them as endgame but still wanting to pair Renee with other women. Plus I just can't see Kate,resident lesbian serial monogamist, suddenly being cool with an open relationship out of nowhere. Like,damn,give us an explanation in-comic first as to how that particular decision was made.

That's what I want to believe, but the truth most likely is that he forgot that they were back together(I can't remember if the Black Mask series was prior to Lois Lane's or not) and he made up the whole "oh,their relationship is open" line to avoid questions about inaccuracies(which would lead to people realizing that Renee pretty much cheated on Kate with Elicia, which is.....😬).

(It also plays into my pet peeve about how Renee can't seem to escape the spicy/hypersexual/angry Latina tropes, but that's a separate conversation.)

I'm pretty much in agreement here. I don't think there's any definitive info on what happened, but I think the evidence does support that Rucka simply didn't know Kate and Renee were back together. From what I've read, he doesn't seem to like anything that's been done with Kate since he last wrote her (which is odd to me because the overwhelming majority of it lines up with his characterization, so it just comes off as sour grapes), even if he has been diplomatic about it. So I can understand him not keeping up-to-date on her; Renee got hit with this sort of thing in the same series, since she went back to being the Question basically out of nowhere. I certainly don't think it was intentional or malicious.

I don't mind his explanation, but it did need some on-panel presence. I can even agree it happened, but it's definitely a shift for Kate in particular; I think she'd be relatively conservative about such matters given her upbringing, and that would have been something that would take some convincing, which would have been interesting to see.

[wellnoe]

I regret to say that Renée Montoya as The Question is like one of the top 3 most tragically underused characters in comics ever (somehow shows up less after becoming a mask than before). Her interactions with Vic are all/mostly in chapters of 52 if that’s what you’re looking for! Off the top of my head, the Rucka Lois Lane maxiseries would be your best bet for her embodying The Question identity. I wish I could give more recs! Every day I am hoping she gets her own title but it hasn’t worked yet

oh these are very helpful recs thank you! i am. extremely lost when it comes to navigating dc.

i am really interested in her interactions with vic but i am also interested in what the question becomes with her, so the lois lane rec seems like a good one for that!

[zahri-melitor]

Mmm, for the writer asks -- Greg Rucka?

Rucka! Ahaha so people have now hit 3 of my top four writers on LOCG. 159 issues so far.

Yes there are some noticeable missing titles from this list that I keep intending to get around to and have not yet sat down to read (52. Checkmate. Death and the Maidens. Crime Bible. Lois Lane. The Old Guard. On the upside, it means that I have a bunch of new-to-me Rucka work I have not yet read!)

And oh damn, this is hard. Let's see.

8. Gotham Central 2006: Night Shift. Look, I really like Gotham Central. I just think Rucka's done work that hit me harder elsewhere. As a way of continuing the Brubaker/Rucka Batman/Tec run it was a really clever idea.

7. Wonder Woman 2016 #1-25: I think I have to put this here. I love this run. It's got Bilquis Evely art. But it's doing a lot of repairs, while Rucka's got clear runs where he isn't fixing things elsewhere.

6. No Man’s Land: I’m not listing all of Rucka’s issues in here, but he wrote all of the Montoya plot (of course), the trial of James Gordon, Claim Jumping, LOTDK #125 where Bruce and Jim finally talk… he doesn’t have ALL my favourite parts of No Man’s Land but gosh did he write a big swathe of them. I think I pop this in here simply as a lot of the work is disconnected.

5. Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia: as a pitch to be allowed to write Wonder Woman, this is stunning. Only ranked so low as it's short.

4. Detective Comics #739-#775: Not only for the focus on the regrowth of Gotham, not only for the slow steady breakdown Bruce has in the lead into Murderer/Fugitive, but for the approach to colouring on this title. It's such a distinctive run any Bat fan can pick out immediately because of the art and colour.

3. Detective Comics #854-865: Batwoman Elegy is very much a time constrained piece that is going to continue dating itself, but it is largely doing so in a manner where it's transforming into a period piece more than winceworthy. It also set the standard that Batwoman runs deserve J.H. Williams III level art and layouts; very few other characters get their solos checked for 'is the art sufficiently dramatic?'

2. Wonder Woman 1987 #195-226: as a pitch for what Diana can achieve as a diplomat, this is both delightful and fun. Widely praised for good reason. Veronica Cale was just a really smart addition to Diana's rogue's gallery.

1. Batman/Huntress: Cry for Blood 2000: What doesn't this comic do? It's like Rucka managed to compress all of his favourite tropes and impulses into a concentrated mini and gave it to all of us. Its references are really smart.

[guiltyofbitchcraft]

So Action Comics #1050 came out this week, and I'm genuinely excited to see what this new era of Superfam has in store. How they handled Clark and Jon getting their secret identities back made a lot more sense than anything I guessed at. But there is one thing about it that made me raise an eyebrow. Well...not specifically the plot but something Bruce says in reaction to the new development, and in turn how Clark responds to it.

So... this exchange bugs me. Not necessarily because I think its absolutely untrue but it does feel confusing, unearned and lacking nuance.

This was something that was getting a decent amount of focus in the comics around this time, especially since the public had picture evidence of Lois kissing Superman. Lois and Clark even had a conversation about it in the Lois Lane mini

For starters, way back when Clark revealed his identity during the Bendis run, it was heavily implied that his secret's effect on Lois and her character was one of the reasons he did it. Like Clark and Lois are historically really bad at avoiding PDA when Clark is all suped up; which has led to rumors and speculation that Lois is having an affair. Of course, the public doesn't know that she's cheating on her husband...with her husband.

So yeah Clark isn't thrilled about it, Lois is too busy to really focus on it, plus she's used to the double standard. But the general public not fully appreciating Lois Lane for the work she does and just focusing on her connection to Superman is nothing new.

Secondly, I just don't buy Clark saying they didn't expect that to happen. Look at this scene from the Superman: Heroes special

This isn't a perfect scene. Bendis seems to completely forget that them getting caught kissing in public was something that Clark was very aware about and that they had discussed it (admittedly the discussion was in a mini written by Greg Rucka, not him so I'll take it easy on him for now. But he was the one who wrote about the kiss and the picture). But it is clear that this is something they have thought a lot about and discussed. Clark warns her that this is going to greatly impact their marriage but Lois knows the risks and tells him to go for it anyways. So Clark saying that his public identity's effect on how the public views his wife is a surprise? That doesn't really seem to track.

I can understand Bruce saying what he did, he's not going to know about the intimate conversations Clark and Lois have in private, but Clark should've given some push back on that statement instead of just accepting it as a simple truth.

Lastly, (and this is probably the most nitpicky point in a nitpicky post about 2 panels) this line of dialogue bugs me because since Superman's identity was exposed, Lois has really not gotten that much focus. More specifically, the effects of Clark's decision on her life and public persona have not really had much focus. Now I'm by no means saying she's not been an important part of Superman comics since then, she's absolutely been present. But being present and being the focus are not the same thing. After Clark's identity was exposed there were definitely plot seeds placed that could have developed into us seeing the effects of this new normal on Lois but we really didn't ever see them reach fruition. We basically new she was writing a book, and we knew she received a lot of mail from people around the world asking for help (once again, from Superman: Heroes)

After Bendis' run ended Phillip Kennedy Johnson took over Action Comics. His run has been something I have been thoroughly enjoying but due to the plot taking Clark off world, Lois has not really had much presence. She's a consistent supporting character in Jon's comic but again, presence is not focus.

Now I really liked this detail...but we never saw it go anywhere. If I recall correctly this is both the first and the last time this massive pile of letters is brought up. But despite it's lack of importance on the canon it does just so happen to imply that Lois was not simply "reduced to being the wife of Superman."

But I still really feel that despite the briefness of this scene, it rang hollow. Definitely a misstep.

Which is why I feel Bruce's comment and Clark's response is just not an earned one from the writing team. We've really seen no evidence that the public has just started viewing Lois as Superman's wife. But we've also seen very little evidence that the public hasn't. This clearly hasn't been a point or priority for the comics to prove, so we have to take Bruce's words at face value. But considering the comics haven't taken the time to focus on Lois...do the writers really get to blame the fictional public for not focusing on Lois?

It's obviously a lot more complicated than focus on Lois = good and no focus on Lois = bad (although I am always going to be excited when Lois' gets attention). PKJ's run has been fantastic and, despite Lois' lack of attention, I do get the impression that he understands how important she is the Superman mythos. To his credit, and the rest of the writers working on Superfam comics, it does seem like Lois is going to get more focus in the Dawn of DC era. Powergirl also looks like she'll be getting more attention too. And I'm truly excited for that. I don't have the highest hopes in DC has a whole right now but I am really looking forward to the Superfam titles.