Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #99

Lois Lane and Lana Lang’s rivalry was always going to end badly. That’s Robert Kanigher’s story premise for the lead feature, and it just about works. The cover is by the classic Swanderson (Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson) team, and the interior art by Irv Novick. After one of their legendary spats, Lois tries to apologise to Lana but the car she’s driving swerves off a bridge into a river. Lana is seemingly killed, and Lois has amnesia. Cue Superman acting as the prosecution in Lois’ trial for murder, and Batman offering to defend her. How does it end? I have no idea because it continues into the next issue.

There’s also a reprint from Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #3 (1958). The title “The Man Who Was Clark Kent’s Double” - if you know your Silver Age Lois Lane -  tells you all you need to know. Suffice to say, that hussy Lois dumps Superman when she meets a more manly double of Clark Kent, but her prying gets her dumped in return. It’s drawn by Kurt Schaffenberger, and doesn’t look dated at all.

Bee-Boy awarded this comic 3 stings out of 5

DC Comics Presents #4

I am certain I haven’t read this comic since 1978, which is a shame because it is a fantastic team-up for Superman and the Metal Men, as written by Len Wein and superbly drawn by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez.

The Metal Men always make excellent guest-stars just because their individual personalities are so broadly drawn; a writer can easily sketch in each personality and the reader gets it. Unfortunately, that advantage works against them in an ongoing, and can lead to some creators making ill-advised changes to the tried and tested formula just to add some extra DRAMA!!

Not here though, as Len Wein teams up the Man of Steel and the Men (and woman) of Metal to battle Chemo and rubbish scientist Ira Quimby AKA I.Q. I have always liked Chemo, something about a big transparent robot filled with toxic waste is quite chilling. When the villains in Infinite Crisis dropped him on Bludhaven…that was horrific.

This was a well-written, well-drawn, competent comic, and that is always welcome.

Bee-Boy awarded this comic 4 stings out of 5

Action Comics #384

As I didn’t start buying comics until 1972, this 1970 issue of Action Comics must have come my way sometime between ’76 and ’77 (when I first discovered comic shops) and the early 1980s (when I left London for college, and didn’t have access to - or the money for- back issues).

I am almost certain that I bought it for the Legion of Super-Heroes back-up story, and not for the very odd Cary Bates and Curt Swan Superman lead story (it involves ‘haunted’ uniforms, one good and one bad, and isn’t very good). The LSH story, however, is a corker. Written by Jim Shooter and drawn by Win Mortimer, it’s a tale of selfless sacrifice in the Legion tradition, as Eltro Gand, Mon-El’s distant descendant, gives up his life force to revive Mon after he succumbs to his tragic fate as foreseen by Dream Girl. Everything you want from a tightly plotted Legion short, with some excellent characterisation.

Bee-Boy awarded this comic 3 stings out of 5