Action Comics #597

[iamrman]

Superman, the Kents and Lana Lang gaslight Lois Lane.

The flying woman Lois is referring to is Lana. She (along with pretty much all of Smallville) was revealed to be a Manhunter agent during the Millennium event.

Does this count as Superdickery? Kentdickery?

Comments

[blues32]

Wah wah wah...

[bradygirl_12]

Martha's comment about the laboratory: that's why the most powerful being on the planet needed one as a child, and still does, imo. People always carp about the Kents keeping the secret in Smallville, but considering that particular universe, good decision!

[windleopard2]

That universe showed also showed there were plenty of people who could keep the secret.

[tcampbell1000]

All things considered, I still enjoy the heck out of this one. It's both a nod to and a subversion of the "Superdickery" era, where Supes would pull stuff like this all the time with no emotional consequences. Here, there are some, and we're encouraged to think he could lose Lois for good over this. (Marketing would have promoted a kiss between Superman and Wonder Woman in issue #600, so this plays into that a little bit.)

I also like that Lois holds her emotions in check until she finishes getting the story. That's good reporting! And the way the Kents lie just as smooth as silk is fun. You sure wouldn't expect it of these salt-of-the-earth types, but they probably spent literal decades workshopping some version of this story, and it's so close to the truth it's hard to disprove (as long as you keep ignoring that Clark and Superman look pretty much exactly the same and are never in the same room, but we've been doing that for ages so why stop now).

The only thing that didn't quite work then or now is how Lois expresses her anger here. It feels comical despite itself. I now realize how much this version of Lois was influenced by Carrie Fisher's Leia. You can hear Carrie in the line delivery when Lois gets angry. And we all knew that when Leia fumed at Han in the first two films, it was a tsundere kind of flirting. Later scenes show a cold bitterness from Lois that's much more credible and unsettling.

Today, though, what's way more laughable is how tangled up this whole story is in Manhunter conspiracy shit. You know the Manhunter conspiracy, right? Well, you probably do if you read any DC Comics published in 1987, but if you haven't, I doubt you've ever heard of it. DC was promoting each of its crossover events as agents of lasting change within its fictional universe, since that worked out so well with Crisis on Infinite Earths. But that wasn't really sustainable for long, and this marks the period just before DC stopped trying completely.

In the listicle of "Lois probes Clark's secret identity stories," this one ranks well below "You Will Believe a Man Can Lie" from My Adventures With Superman and a bit below Superman II, but it's still miles above anything the Silver Age or Smallville ever offered up.

[raspberryrain]

Clearly Byrne layouts, but the finished art, especially the faces, seems like it's not just following his lines.

[starwolf_oakley]

I think they used "Superman and Clark were raised together by the Kents" was used on "Lois and Clark."

[windleopard2]

I don't recall them using that one but they do frequently mention Clark and Superman are friends.

[bruinsfan]

"How dare you give your stepbrother the big scoop about your public debut and not reveal all your secrets to the investigative reporter he works with!"