Lois Lane #12 (of 12): …And Justice For All

In a way, Lois Lane concludes exactly where it started: with the power of the press questioning the bastions of power and prevailing. And that’s a very good thing, indeed. Inasmuch as this maxiseries has been about Lois Lane, a Russian assassination plot, Renee Montoya, and the fracturing of the multiverse, it’s also been about the power – and the right – of the Fourth Estate to ask hard questions and reveal difficult truths.

Swirling all that together into one cohesive plot has been a difficult balancing act, but writer Greg Rucka and artist Mike Perkins have largely pulled it off. It’s definitely a story that’s been challenging to consume on a monthly basis, based on the sheer amount of minutia to remember from issue to issue. But that shouldn’t be considered a detriment. It’s a challenge: Rucka has deliberately crafting a story that doesn’t spoon-feed readers information, and demands attention to detail. It’s a comic for adults, period. And it’s all the smarter for it.

The final installment serves as an epilogue, as Lois’ big story has gone live, and the world wrestles with its implications. Lois could rest on her laurels a bit, but the reporter in her knows that’s a naive and even irresponsible stance to take – after all, the next story is right around the corner. And as a journalist, she has an obligation to tell it. So while there’s a bit of reflection on where she’s been, she’s already looking forward.

Renee Montoya, though, is having a bit of a harder time doing that. Knowing what she knows about the nature of the multiverse has caused her to (ahem) question everything she thinks she knows about the world and herself. She gets a nice action beat with her new girlfriend at one point, but then an introspective and quiet beat the next where she lets her mask slip a bit. Montoya has always been a favorite of Rucka’s, and it has shown throughout this series. She tends to steal every scene she’s in. Other supporting characters do not fare quite so well, though – Jessica Midnight, for example, feels relatively unmoored as this story reaches its conclusion, and will likely (and unfortunately) fade back into obscurity now that it’s wrapped.

As for artist Mike Perkins, while his work has been a bit inconsistently inked throughout the series, is pretty on-point here. He’s brought a moody feel to Lois that might not have been there otherwise. Not noir exactly, but dark enough to effectively convey the proper mood Rucka has been going for from the start. Is he a perfect artist? No. But was he the right man for the job? You’d have a hard time convincing me otherwise. The same goes for the entire maxiseries – in this moment in time in American history, politically, presidentially, socially, and otherwise – Lois Lane has been exactly what readers have needed whether they realize it or not. Bravo to everyone involved for making it so.