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Lois Lane #12 brings the twelve-issue maxiseries by Greg Rucka and Mike Perkins to a close. With several major plot threads closed at the end of the last issue, this issue is mainly the aftermath with a little bit of tidying up some other threads.
While the series has shifted focus a little bit here and there, something Rucka admits was a product of the behind-the-scenes stuff going on, it has never lost its central focus: the characters. This was always intended to be a series that looked at the day-to-day life of the titular Lois Lane, but as a side product, it has also done a lot of development for Renee Montoya as well.
Renee’s New Status Quo
Renee has been given a new status quo in her relationship in Lois Lane #12. As revealed in the last issue, the Kiss of Death turned out to be Elicia Sanchez, an older character from Greg Rucka’s previous The Question comics. In The Question: The Five Books of Blood, Renee had fallen for a high-end prostitute named Elicia and she ended up being cursed by the Religion of Crime to become the Kiss of Death. Now in this issue, Renee and Elicia have rekindled their romance from a previous universe and time.
This has caused a bit of controversy among certain segments of the fandom, and I would like to address why it shouldn’t have. Recently in the pages of Batwoman, Renee and Kate Kane became a couple once again after many years apart. As a result, many in the fandom see Renee being with Elicia as a form of cheating and goes against what previous writers have intended for the character.
But here is the thing, Lois Lane #12 is written by Greg Rucka, the same man who created the modern version of Batwoman and helped shaped Renee’s journey for the past twenty or so years. He has spent a long time shaping these characters, delving into their psychology, and thus knows more about them than anyone else. He stated in a chat on his Discord server that he sees the Kate and Renee relationship as constantly ebbing and flowing. Kate and Renee are together for a bit with great passion, break up, hook up, break up, hook up, and on and on.
It is a combination of their own character flaws, passion, and love that make them this way. Plus, Renee is known to sleep around, this is a well-established fact of her character. She loves Kate, she is merely in the heat of passion with Elicia. When the heat cools down, Kate will always be there. Nothing has changed and people shouldn’t be worried at all.
Lois’ New Status Quo
All plot threads are neatly tied up as Lois begins to publish her articles on the dealings with the White House, the Agger scandal, the death of the Russian reporter, and ties it all back to the resurgence of the multiverse. One thing I love in particular about this issue is that the heavy questions of what life is like after you realise there are dozens upon dozens of copies of you is addressed. Renee even fears that this information will break people, but as any good reporter knows, the truth must come out eventually and Lois is a damn good reporter.
Sister Clarice has set up a sort of rehab center for those coming to terms with this revelation about the multiverse. As stated previously, things from the fracture in the multiverse are leaking though, leading to Renee being The Question again, Jessica Midnight realizing she is an agent for Checkmate, and Elicia remembering Renee among many others. The effects of waking up one day with memories that you know you couldn’t have lived and yet you have would certainly do a number on one’s psyche.
Additionally, Lois has published a book about the issue in an attempt to make people understand the situation. The themes of the overall series, by Lois Lane #12, in particular, shine through as we must come to terms with the world around us, determine fact from fiction, truth from lies, and answer the simple journalistic questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why? And how?
Lois Lane #12 Is A Satisfying Conclusion
Lois Lane #12 is a good ending to this maxiseries. While the ending is satisfying, I find myself a little miffed about the journey as a whole. There was obviously course-correcting behind the scenes which Rucka has confirmed on his Discord, there was that single issue that was a tie-in to Event Leviathan that came out of nowhere, and yet the overall package came out remarkably well. There were a few bumps here and there, but overall, this is a run for the history books for both Lois Lane and Renee Montoya. Thank you Greg Rucka and Mike Perkins!
