Superman #59 (September 1991)



"Superman's Fiancee Lois Lane"

Script: Dan Jurgens
Pencils: Dan Jurgens (layouts); Brett Breeding (finishes)
Inks: Brett Breeding
Colors: Glenn Whitmore
Letters: John Costanza

Grade: B-

I've been noting for a while now that, ever since Kerry Gammill left, we've had a real dearth of compelling covers for these titles. I consider this one a strong exception to that rule. While the hairline Jurgens gives to Clark, coupled with Breeding's inks, make him look like he's in his mid 50s, everything else about this cover had me truly excited to get to it. I'm such a sucker for in-between stories that focus more on relationships and character progression, and this cover led me to believe this one would be rife with meaning and emotion.

Not so much.

I'm becoming increasingly worried that Carlin's Superman Office is stretching itself too thin. Simonson and Bogdanove are clearly not ready to maintain the caliber of quality we've come to expect from this office over in Superman: The Man of Steel, and here Jurgens and Breeding are not struggling to the same degree, but a lack of quality is still felt.

Let's start with artwork. Breeding's inks are truly disappointing in many panels:





but Breeding isn't the only problem. Jurgens is still providing breakdowns, but perhaps is a bit over-extended now that he's scripting too. Check out this awkward pose:



and Jurgens really isn't ready to be a full-time writer, either. In an issue that depends almost entirely upon Clark's relationship with Lois, he writes their conversations like they're reeling off bullet points:



So, in the big moment we've been waiting for, where Clark whisks Lois away to one of the most isolated locations on Earth so that they can finally truly talk over their relationship, it's bullet points again. After two pages of this, Jurgens just seems to give up and cheats us of the big moment this cover promised us:



We have no idea what new understandings they've come to, nor how they agreed to balance Superman's work life with their upcoming marriage. I can sort of understand the idea of giving the couple space/intimacy away from the reader, but don't create the problem that lack of time is hurting their relationship if you're not going to fill us in on how the problem gets reconciled.

Fortunately, we do get one really nice detail added at the end, involving a mysterious figure, belonging to a mysterious organization, that has been following them all throughout this issue. It turns out this is a Linear Man (or Linear Woman, in this circumstance) surreptitiously giving them back the time they lost when a different Linear Man sent Clark back in time during the Time and Time Again event. So they spend an entire evening talking, only to return to Metropolis and find no time has passed. Any adult in a relationship can tell you this is truly the sweetest gift that can ever be given to a couple.

Finally, if the rest of this issue had been feeling a bit like a disappointment, it was incredibly cool for Jurgens to provide us with four pages of the Daily Planet (even if two of them were really just a dressed up letter column). Jurgens put a lot of energy into this portion of the book, and while his prose aren't as strong as one might expect Lois Lane's to be, he does some decent writing here, all the same:



A comic book artist, trying to prove his mettle as a writer by penning a Lois Lane editorial. It's ambitious.


In the end, I still think Jurgens is a phenomenal asset in the Superman Office (I'm less sure about Breeding), but he's over-extended and maybe not ready to be flying solo as a writer yet. As it stands, with four monthly Superman titles, Ordway/Grummett on Adventures of Superman is the only one that I truly consider top notch. I feel like Ordway knows this office better than anyone and should be co-plotting with Simonson and co-writing with Jurgens, and that Carlin should be sitting on Kerry Gammill's front porch, begging for him to come back and replace Bogdanove on Man of Steel. McLeod and Breeding irk me, but if we had strong plotting/writing on every title and no Jon Bogdanove, I'd be happy enough.


Important Details:

- Just when the Superman Office seemed to finally be getting their internal sense of time right, Jurgens screws it up here:



If we go with the 1 month in our time = 1 week in Superman's time exchange that seems to have been in play over the past few issues, than Superman #4 should have happened 55 weeks ago (just over a year) in Superman's world. Perhaps the 1 month = 1 week thing works for the titles now, but is not intended to be applied to older stories? Maybe Superman lost more time during the Exile storyline?



Minor Details:

- Jurgens and Breeding may have stumbled often in this issue, but this panel made me happy:



That's exactly how you sum up my Superman in one panel.


- And I love that Jurgens continues to emphasize how much Superman thinks before he acts these days, no longer jumping in swinging his fists. This guy has nothing but compassion and gentleness for a crazed homeless man with a futuristic bazooka, and he really thinks things through before rescuing this submarine that is flooding and losing oxygen:



We've come so far since Byrne's run.


- However, this panel seems...wrong...to me.



1. Shouldn't Superman's aura of invulnerability be preventing much of that wetness and dripping?
2. Why does the cut of his hair change to look like Mo Howard just because it's wet?




- Ever since Ordway resurrected it during the Return of the Krypton Man storyline, Big Belly Burger seems to be his new favorite running gag, replacing (and, in one case, running alongside) the old "six-fifty" reference that had been running since Action Comics #650:





(Note: the mascot is now named "Andy," suggesting Ordway originally based the gag on Andy Helfer more than John Byrne, though the physical similarities to Helfer are less apparent).


- I noted in my last review that Glen Whitmore had suddenly colored Lois's hair and face differently in order to draw a striking contrast between hair and eyes. He continues that here:





Lots of hits and lots of misses in this issue. While it failed to deliver on the promise of its cover, and while we got some truly wonky writing and artwork at times, I do love the portrayal of Superman as a hero who thinks and exhibits compassion before resorting to violence, I loved the sweet sentiment of the Linear Woman wanting to repay Superman with time for him and Lois, and I loved the Daily Planet insert at the end.