REVIEW: Lois Lane #5

Lois Lane #5 is here and have I mentioned that I am loving this series so far? After each issue we have a question answered, but also a new one emerging. I love that. Well, the next installment is here and I have to say I think it’s the best one so far.

First of all, let’s talk about the cover. The standard cover by Mike Perkins perfectly showcases exactly what this mini-series is all about and very cleverly so. I love that the background is a puzzle piece, with pieces missing and so on, it’s just so clever and completely out of the box. There seems to be a very consistent theme with Perkin’s covers for this series, the colour scheme and style in which he draws. I like that there is some consistency here, and it really gives us a taste of what Lois Lane is all about.

This variant cover by Mirka Andolfo is just pure perfection. I love the cartoonistic and caricature style image that Andolfo has created here. It’s like the complete opposite to the standard cover, it’s very vibrant and playful whereas the other cover is more serious and straight to the point. I also love the little details, especially the Superman mug in the image. She is after all his biggest fan… I’d love to see Andolfo return to do more Lois covers in the future, I really liked this one.

Lois continues to follow her mystery sources to get to the bottom of the story at hand. A new and anonymous source fills her in with details that could be linked – the death of innocent children. Lois of course takes this and comforts her anonymous source, taking the story on the tippers terms, classic Lois. Meanwhile The Question tries out an unusual method of testing on her pulp, as she attempts to find out exactly who is willing to pay such a large amount of money to have someone else killed, and of course exactly who the target is.

This issue really started to pull things together and give us some real answers. Rucka seems to be a master at trickling in some facts, yet raising many more questions and mysteries, which keeps each and every issue fresh and packed full of action and tension in some cases. There is a lot going on within this issue, but I feel that it is all broken down really well by Greg Rucka, and it’s very easy to follow, which can be rare for such a comic.

There were also a few bits of humor sprinkled in Lois Lane #5, which I think was much needed. I say that because the series is rather focused on real world issues and it’s very gritty, it’s nice to throw in a bit of laughter to take the edge off. The laughs for me specifically came from the conversation (if you can call it that) between Perry White and Clark Kent regarding the whole bow tie fiasco. It left me smiling at the pages.

What I love about this series is getting to know more about this version of The Question. I adore her. I wasn’t too familiar with her previous to this series, but I’m so glad that she has been a part of this story. She adds yet more badass femme power to the series and I now have a brand new role model. I love her attitude and clever methods. I’d love to see more of her in the future.

Greg Rucka has the incredible skill of making a comic book that involves superheroes, gritty and real. In my opinion that is done very much by the dialogue. The attention to detail even with the background noise is incredible. For example there is a scene on a plane where the standard announcements are checks are added, and it’s the little things like that, that really bring this series to the here and now.

That skill of his is accompanied by some incredibly realistic and lifelike artwork (I know I have used those words many times) by interior and cover artist Mike Perkins. It matches perfectly with the contents of the issue and I’m a sucker for consistency. From the facial expressions, shading of the pages, to the poses of the characters, just everything is so real. This is also accompanied by truthful and lifelike colouring by Paul Mounts which only adds to that effect. It’s safe to say that the artwork within this book and series is like no other at the moment.

Lois Lane #5 has been my favourite so far from the entire series. But like I said, we may have some answers, but we have so many more questions. We now know that Lois wasn’t the prime target for the shooting in the restaurant, but who was? And most importantly, how are the deaths of innocent children related to these thugs and assassin plots? I guess we will have to wait to find out.

Haven’t picked up your copy of Lois Lane #5 yet? You can get the standard cover by Mike Perkins here (UK), or here (US).