Superman: Lois & Clark #1 Review

By Jesse Schedeen

If nothing else, the end result of Convergence is that DC is finally catering to readers who crave more comics featuring pre-New 52 characters. Superman: Lois & Clark isn’t entirely a throwback to the days when Supes was happily married and still wearing his underwear on the outside, but it’s close enough that it should satisfy fans of the Man of Steel as he existed in the early 2000’s.

This series picks up roughly where Convergence left off with the pre-Flashpoint Superman and Lois. The biggest and most unexpected twist is the new home they’ve found for themselves. Rather than taking up residence on Telos’ own world or some recreation of the old DCU, Lois and Clark are now living in the New 52 universe itself. This issue explores their shock at seeing a world so familiar and yet so different from their own, as well as their efforts to hide, blend in and raise their son, Jonathan, while still striving to leave their mark on the wider world.

It’s a slightly weird setup given that the message of Convergence was basically, “Stop pining for the old DCU; it lives on in a new form as the the New 52.” Now those two worlds are colliding in more direct way than ever before. But it works. There’s a certain comfort to knowing that, no matter what trials and transformations the core Superman books put Clark through, there will always be this version of the hero carrying the torch for what came before. This book also has a compelling undercurrent in the sense that Clark is once again the lone survivor of a world that no longer exists. The only difference is that now Lois can share in that profound loss.

The most important element with this book is that Dan Jurgens and Lee Weeks nail the feel of pre-New 52 Superman. So many superhero comics that strive to recapture the magic of a specific era (for example, X-Men Forever) fail because nothing fundamental to the original experience remains. Lois & Clark doesn’t have that problem. For all that has changed about Superman’s status quo and surroundings, he very much reads like the hero of old. The same goes for Lois. Their relationship is heartfelt and endearing. Even if you don’t particularly care what era your Superman hails from, the simple appeal of reading a married Lois and Clark is enough to justify a purchase. The addition of a plucky son into the mix only enhances that dynamic and lends an extra sense of danger and urgency to their status quo.

Lee Weeks might not be the first name that comes to mind for a book devoted to a more classic take on Superman. On the surface his style is a bit grittier and more textured than you’d expect from a book like this. However, there’s also an elegance to Weeks’ line-work that very much suits the Man of Steel. Far from injecting this book with a darker tone, Weeks emphasizes Lois and Clark’s humanity. There’s a real sentimentality to the Kent family and their surroundings that Weeks captures incredibly well. It was disappointing that Weeks was only able to illustrate one of the two Convergence: Superman tie-in issues, but having him on board this series more than makes up for that.

For the most part, this issue only stumbles when Jurgens script gets caught up in expository dialogue. Lois and Clark are too prone to summarizing their past exploits to each other. It’s especially strange given that, theoretically, the target audience for this book is going to be very familiar already with the older stories being referenced. The final page also falls flat in that it feels so divorced from the rest of the issue that it might as well be pulled from a different comic entirely.