Sunday, January 02, 2011

Memory Lane, April 1998


I remember this fifth week event from when I was a kid. This was actually the first solo Lois story I ever read. (It was also the only of these one-shots with a female creative team.)

I can't say much for the event name (or some of the stories, why the fuck was Donna in a church?), but the cover theme was pretty good. The unobtrusive banner at the top identified the event, and each set had an image of the star in a pose indicative of her concept and/or role in the story. So we have Secret against a black background, obscured by shadows. Lois Lane sneaking around in spy-clothing with a camera rather than a gun. Tomorrow Woman's circuitry overlaid in the darkness. They're not astoundingly good, but they did catch my eye back in the day.



I wish DC would resurrect this idea. It's such a simple event, just pick an underused female character from each of the major franchises (Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Justice Society, Justice League) and give her a solo spotlight. Something like Marvel did this year with their Women of Marvel one-shots. It could shine a little light on supporting characters and neglected superheroines again, if just for the fifth week in a month. I mean, they revisited the Tangent universe, why not this?

Or I wouldn't mind another flashback Tomorrow Woman story. Even for a one-issue wonder, she had some charm to her and was an interesting pick for the JLA franchise.

2 comments:

  1. I liked these, and I really loved the cover designs. I think the only one of the series that I've kept is The Mist, but yes, this would be a fantastic idea for a revisit.

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  2. Wow. Those are some seriously well branded covers. It's kind of amazing how much DC forgot that over the past decade. While Marvel was making a mint off of really crappy but wonderfully cross-branded stories like Civil War, DC just seemed to languish around, unsure how to sell the stuff they had, even when good.

    I wonder what happened to those fifth week events. I seem to remember liking a bunch of them. Girlfrenzy, Sins of Youth (Bum Bum BUM!), and the tremendously enjoyable DC 1,000,000. Wish they would bring them back, if only because it really condenses the event timeframe down. If you don't like it, just wait until next month and it's over.

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