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Lois Lane and the Resistance #1

Writers: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning

Pencils: Eddie Nunez

Inks: Don Ho

Reviewer: Dan Garbark

Summary: Lois Lane accidentally becomes embedded in the enemy territory of New Themyscira, home of Wonder Woman and her Furies.

THE GOOD – Wow, what an opening.  Abnett and Lanning waste no time jumping into the story.  No recap page, no credits page, just a one-year flashback told in 5 panels, introducing Flashpoint’s new world order.  DnA have a lot to do in a limited amount of time, including introducing new versions of classic characters and making the reader care about them.  They masterfully do just that…before immediately raising the stakes to let the reader know that anything – or anyone – goes.

THE BAD – Yet another example of a Flashpoint issue where the cover is not represented in the actual issue.  I was really looking forward to seeing what role Etrigan, the Demon, would play in the Flashpoint universe.  He doesn’t appear inside the issue.  Another irksome aspect of the cover: Just in case Big Ben wasn’t enough to tell you the setting of the story is Great Britain, the cover depicts Lois hiding behind a British telephone “box.”  I’ve never been to England, but I have a sneaking suspicion those aren’t as prevalent as pop culture would have us believe.

THE UGLY – The artwork is not ugly, but it is inappropriate for the subject matter.  The team of Eddie Nunez (pencils) and Don Ho (inks) creates work that looks amazingly similar to that of Todd Nauck.  Nauck’s work is a nice cross between the more “cartoony” (Ed McGuiness) and more “realistic” (Phil Jimenez) comic art styles.  I tend to like Nauck’s work, and I like Nunez / Ho’s.  But the tone of the story is very dark, and I would have liked to have seen that reflected in the artwork with a more sketchy / inky style (Bill Sienkiewicz).

Conclusion: I have not read a current DC comic (discounting Vertigo) in well over a year, but Flashpoint’s subplot of the world war brewing between Aquaman and Wonder Woman appeals to me as a lover of alternate-history stories.  “Lois Lane and the Resistance” helps to flesh out one side of this confrontation with skillful plotting and character work by Abnett & Lanning.