We continue our journey through the pages of Superman Family #182 (March-April 1977) with a Lois Lane story. "Crime Takes a Fall" is written by Bill Kunkel and drawn by Jose Delbo.
Lois and Clark are checking out the local wrestling arena. It's supposed to be for a fluff piece on the popular sport, but Lois (being Lois) soon begins to dig up some dirt.
A rookie named Jaws Jackson is winning match after match. This is despite the fact that during workouts, he is easily tossed around by the veteran wrestlers. But when they get in the ring with him, their "muscles turn to jelly" and they are easily defeated.
It's doesn't take a brilliant deductive leap to figure out something is going on. Fortunately, Lois then demonstrates that investigating reporting is the easiest job in the world. You just have to accidentally overhear two thugs explaining the entire evil plan.
The premise of this tale is perfectly sound for a short 8-pager. And, as we'll see in a moment, I like the way it ends. But the above panels are a weak point. Even conceeding that the story has to move along quickly and the writer might be forced to use a contrivance to keep up this pace, having Lois almost immediately spot two men she recognizes as criminal and hear them share information that both of them already would have known is pretty lame.
But I do like what happens next. Realizing that Jaws Jackson doesn't know he's being used as a patsy by the mob, she tells him and asks him to follow her to the roof, where a crook with a dart gun is waiting to plug Jaws' next opponent at the right time. (By the way, it's mentioned that the darts are self-dissolving, so the plot makes perfect Comic Book Science sense.)
At first, it seems like Jaws has not followed her and Lois soon finds herself cornered by the bad guy. But Jaws does show up. And he's angry. Angry enough to tackle the bad guy and send them both plummeting off the roof.
Fortunately, Superman is nearby to catch them. No one dies and villainy is foiled.
I complained a few weeks ago about the Jimmy Olsen story ending with Superman saving the day while Jimmy is unconscious. I still think that's a valid criticism. But here, Lois figures everything out and sets up a solution for catching the bad guy. Superman does show up to catch the two men after they fall off the roof, but Lois remains proactive and responsible for solving the case. Despite that painful contrivance in the middle of the story, Lois' adventure works a lot better than did Jimmy's.
Next week, we'll visit with Captain America as he fights a monster that might not be a monster. In two weeks, we'll return to Superman Family and learn something about ancient Krypton.
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