Mild Mannered Reviews - Regular Superman Comics

Superman #157

Superman #157

Scheduled to arrive in stores: April 5, 2000

Cover date: June 2000

2000 Shield No. 22

Writer: Jeph Loeb
Penciller: Ed McGuinness
Inker: Cam Smith

"Superman's Enemy Lois Lane"

Reviewed by: Nick Newman (NNewman8283@yahoo.com)



Clark lays on his bed, composing a letter to his parents, and looking at his wedding ring. Lois is leaving him....

He has asked all of her friends and family, no one seems to know what is wrong with her. Suddenly, he hears a noise and rises from the bed to find Lois in the hall. He tells her that they need to talk, but she resists. He moves to her and puts his hand on her arm. Lois then punches Superman through a window, and flies out after him. Whoever it is, it isn't Lois Lane.

Moving toward Superman, she is momentarily caught in his cape. Superman takes this opportunity to examine her. Physically, she really is Lois Lane. Breaking out of the cape, she punches Superman.

Flying up beside LexCorp Tower, Lex and Mercy see Lois flying. A blast of heat vision leaves a message smouldering on his window, "You're next." Luthor slowly gets to his feet, and demands to know who came to his office that late night.

Flying across the city to catch up with Superman, Lois passes by the Daily Planet and waves at Perry. The chief yells for Jimmy to get on it.

Finally recovering from the blow Lois gave him, Superman lands on a Rail-Whale speeding through Metropolis. The two fight, Lois with her heat vision and Clark with his super-breath. Landing on the train, Lois begins to pelt the Man of Steel with blows, which he barely blocks. Suddenly, he catches her arm, kicks her leg, and flips her over onto her back. Momentarily immobilized, Superman yells at Lois. She has been trying to make it seem like she has the same powers as he does, but it is more than that. She actually has his powers.

Slamming into a tunnel, Superman baits Lois to give up the disguise. Cocky, Lois stands revealed as the Parasite. Tackling Superman, Parasite hears the voices of all of the people he has touched in his mind. Lois' voice is there too. The Parasite pummels Superman, until suddenly he falls to the ground motionless. Rising to his feet, Superman gathers up the Parasite in his arms and demands to know where Lois is. Rudy tells him everything, how Strange Visitor gave him the power to keep the energies he absorbed. Somewhere he came into contact with a shape-shifter. When he touched Lois back during Y2K, he learned everything. Then he replaced her, but he had to touch her again every 24 hours to keep up the disguise. As he tells his story, Parasite slowly withers away. The same thing that is hurting Clark is killing Rudy. As the Parasite breathes his last, Superman screams at the top of his lungs, "Where is she?!"

5Story - 5: This was a great story. Although some had already predicted that Lois was in fact the Parasite, I'm sure it still came as a surprise to virtually everyone. Also, if this review seems a little short its because most of this issue was great narative and a terrific fight between Kal and Rudy. Normally, I would accuse this story of being corny. However, with Lois still missing they didn't just go for the easy way out. Plus, anyone who reads the previews (spoiler warning) knows that Superman's problems with his sickness are going to continue, and therefore were not caused by the Parasite. A great story Jeph, your record remains untarnished.

5Art - 5: Is there anything to say about McGuinness' work. It just keeps getting better. He has only been on the title for four issues and already he has altered his art to fit the character perfectly. Superman is big and powerful, all of the supporting cast is looking great, and the villains look terrific. Plus, the coloring and inking they have on this title is great. Bad inking can ruin a title, but Cam's is perfect, and the coloring makes the pictures look so much better.

5Cover Art - 5: A great cover as well. It's nice to see that McGuinness does the covers too, unlike over on Action where the cover looks horrible. A very dynamic and eye-catching cover, and that's what counts.

Overall, its not hard to see why Superman is the best selling of the Super-books.



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Mild Mannered Reviews

2000

Note: Month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic was on sale.

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