Terry, I told you before that I didn't have time to read "The Maysonry of Life" before I read this story, the sequel to Maysonry. But I had to change my mind, when I came to this part of chapter two of your new story:
Lois’s eyes narrowed. That sounded like he was getting a little payback for his being K. C. Jerome the day before. And that didn’t bode well for their personal relationship.
Clark is angry at Lois? Why? Is he angry at her because he had to spend the night in jail? Because he had to suffer the indignity of being led into a court room as the defendant, and because he wasn't allowed to leave without bail? Or is he angry because Lois asked Superman some frank questions?
How can he be angry at
her because of that? Superman isn't standing trial because of Lois. He is standing trial because of what he himself has done. And how can he expect her not to ask him questions, when he himself offered the Daily Planet the exclusive right to interview him about this aftermath to his killing of Billy Church?
And how can he be so angry at her that their future relationship might be in trouble?
To understand any of this, I decided I had to read "The Maysonry of Life", and so I did. I found it a wonderful story. Terry, you are a truly great writer. As a Swede, I can only look on with awe at your amazing ability to play with, tweak and juggle the English language, particularly when you write people's banter, which is something you have elevated to an art form. I feel a bit like a country bumpkin contemplating a canvas full of elegant, whimsical, harmonious lines: I can see that this is brilliant, but I sure don't know what it means.
Apart from serving up dazzling linguistic fireworks, your story is also truly gripping. Personally, I love to be able to love Lois, and the portrayal of Lois in TMOL is wonderful. Lois comes through as a person with warmth, passion, integrity, loyalty and courage. Even when she made her terrible mistake, when lashing out so bitterly at Clark when he took back his declaration of love for her, she did so because of her passionate heart and her horror at having it broken by Clark. Otherwise, your Lois is full of good and admirable qualities. For example, look at the way she makes friends. She has always had a somewhat tense relationship with Cat, but when Cat is forced to leave the Daily Planet, Lois is the one who really reaches out to her:
Lois watched Cat walk to the elevator. She waited until Cat had pushed the button before she said, "You wanna do lunch?"
Cat turned and smiled. "Sure. Have your people get in touch with my people."
Lois stood. "No, I mean right now. Have you had lunch yet?"
When Clark is extremely furious with her, and Martha Kent sends her a kindly e-mail, Lois immediately phones the Kents, even though she might suspect they would be critical of her. And she is willing to tell Clark's parents that she thinks that her falling-out with Clark is her own fault:
"Hello? This is Martha."
"Yes, Martha, it's me."
"Lois! Oh, thank you for calling me back so quickly! I don't want to pry into your private life, honey, or into Clark's, but something's wrong and I want to fix it! I'm a mom, after all."
They shared a brief chuckle, then Lois sighed. "I wish there were something you could do. I'm afraid it's my fault."
And even though Clark keeps shunning her, she stays friends with the Kents, and she never speaks ill about Clark with them. For that matter, she never seems to gossip about Clark with anybody, except when she accidentally reveals to his parents that he is dating Mayson, and then she is sorry about having told them.
Lois makes friends with an attractive policeman, Clay Mooney, but she never truly dates him and never pretends to be in love with him. And she is so happy for him and Cat - eh, Catharine - when they fall in love after she has introduced them.
Lois helps out at accident sites, and is kind and comforting to its victims:
She turned back to the cab and yanked on the door again. It finally yielded to her persistence. She bent down and spoke to the passengers in the back.
"Is anybody hurt here? Anybody bleeding?" The older couple sat back against the seat, panting with adrenaline overload. "Hey! Is anybody hurt?"
The woman turned to her husband and examined his chest. "Michael, are you hurt?"
He shook his head. "No. I don't think so."
Lois gestured to them. "You need to get out of the cab if you can."
The man nodded. "Okay. Wow! That was some ride, wasn't it, Elizabeth?"
"Yes, it was most enjoyable, dear. Next time, might we go over Niagara Falls in a barrel instead?"
Lois and Michael both laughed. "Okay, folks, this way to the egress. Come on, just take my hand and we'll get you somewhere a little safer."
Lois then helps two children:
She spoke calmly to the kids and gently removed them from the SUV one at a time. The paramedics arrived to pull their mother out and got her into an ambulance as Lois sat down on the curb with the two girls. They were too scared to tell her their names, and she guessed they were about three and five years old. She comforted them as best she could for several minutes, then handed them over to another paramedic and walked back to the couple from the cab.
She then returns to the couple, who are grateful to her and appreciate her efforts:
"Hello again. How are you feeling now?"
The woman put her head on her husband's shoulder. "Very tired, but grateful to be alive. What about you?"
"Me? I'm fine. I wasn't the one who was just in a multi-car pileup."
Michael nodded. "But you helped those little girls. That was quite wonderful of you, Ms. Lane."
Lois smoothed her skirt. "Thank you, but it wasn't such a big thing."
Elizabeth pointed a finger at her. "Yes, it was a big thing. And we're proud to have been rescued by you."
Lois smiled. "All I did was open the door to your cab. Superman's been a lot busier than I have."
"But he wasn't there for us. You were. And that makes a world of difference."
When Lois finds out that the man she helped from the cab is a professor of journalism, she is not only honestly impressed, but she has also read a book of his and is able to sum it up succinctly and praise it at the same time:
"Oh. Oh!" Lois's eyes saucered. "Wait a minute! Are you Michael Preston? The Michael Preston?"
He smiled. "I don't know how many others there might be, but I am one of them."
"Oh! I loved your book on journalistic ethics! You took some dangerous positions, but I think you were right most of the time."
When Clark turns up and reacts bitterly and cynically to the fact that Lois is talking to two of the victims of the pile-up, she interrupts him to save him from making a fool of himself:
They all laughed this time. Lois looked around to find Superman, but instead saw Clark striding in her direction. "Clark! Is Superman still here?"
"No, he had another appointment. What are you doing here? Are you bottom feeding on accident victims now?"
Preston's eyebrows lifted. Lois cut in before Clark could embarrass himself further. "Clark, this is Professor Michael Preston and his wife Elizabeth.
When she learns that Clark is Superman, she feels sorry for him and admires him at the same time:
No wonder the guy was so uptight. It was a wonder that he wasn't a certified manic-depressive schizophrenic.
When Clark can't control himself around Lois anymore, so that his behaviour in the newsroom becomes borderline dangerous, Lois is the one who decides she has to leave:
Perry crossed his arms and looked directly into her eyes.
"Honey, are you sure that's the way you want it?"
Tears glistened at the corners of her eyes. "No, it's not the way I want it, but it's the way it has to be."
When Lois informs Clark that she knows his secret and warns him not to reveal it to anyone else, Clark reacts with contempt:
"Right. Like that's going to matter after you print the story."
"You idiot! I'm not running this story! Not at the Planet or at the Standard! Don't you understand? Metropolis needs Superman! The world needs Superman! So you need to stay here and you need to keep your secret! I'm leaving so you don't have to go!"
After Lois is forced to leave the Daily Planet because of Clark, you might expect that she wouldn't want to give her story notes to Clark. But she hands them over to him with no sign of anger or ill will:
"Lois, I need to know that you won't - you won't use what you learned last night."
She fought her temper down. "If I haven't used it yet, Clark, I'm not likely to use it in the future." She turned back to her computer. "I've got to finish this. Perry will want to assign these items to someone else."
"He already has."
She looked up again. "Oh. Is that why you're over here now?"
"Yes. That, and the - other thing."
"Okay, Clark, I'll send you all the story notes I have and all the sources that I've used on them. As for the `other thing,' as you call it, you're just going to have to trust me."
After Lois has volunteered to leave the Daily Planet so that Clark can stay, Jimmy seems afraid to associate with her. But she persuades him to have lunch with her, and she makes him see that they can still be friends:
"Jimmy, I'm leaving for lunch. You busy?"
He looked up at her, then glanced in Clark's direction.
"Uh, actually, I am, Lois. Sorry. Maybe next time?"
She frowned at him. "Jimmy, he won't eat you. Just because I'm leaving doesn't mean we can't still be friends."
He sat for a moment, then nodded. "You're right. Let me tell the chief what I'm doing and I'll meet you in the lobby."
He stood and grabbed his jacket. "We're going Dutch, right?"
She grinned a little. "You'd better not expect me to feed you! I've seen you eat!"
He smiled back. "Three minutes, tops. See ya!"
When she introduces herself to the staff of the Metropolis Bureau of - the New York Standard, was it? - she responds this cleverly, firmly and non-aggressively to a rather cheeky male reporter:
One bored-looking man raised his hand. "This all sounds great, but we're heard this kind of hot air before. How do we know you'll follow through with what you're saying? How do we know you're not just blowing it out of your pantyhose?"
Some of the others flinched, obviously expecting Lois to explode, but she fooled them by staying calm. "You don't, any more than I know you're a good writer instead of a hack from Nowheresville. What's your name?"
"Ron Dombrowski. And please don't call me Dumbo."
She grinned. "Deal. Ron, I don't expect you to kiss up to me. In fact, if you try, you'll regret it. All I expect from any of you is honest effort and a commitment to quality news.
When Lois has stolen Mayson's pager to check Mayson out, she gives the DA back her pager when she is sure that Mayson is not involved with Intergang. She is also quite frank and honest about why she stole the pager:
"You were checking me out, weren't you? You thought I might be working with Intergang. You didn't trust me."
Lois hesitated. "No. I didn't."
"I see." Mayson took a deep breath. "How about now?"
Lois shrugged. "I'm pretty certain you're not working for Intergang."
"That's a load off my mind." Mayson weighed the pager in her hand. "Is this because of Clark?"
"No." Lois hung her head. "Maybe a little, yeah." She leaned back on the bench. "Mostly it's because I just don't like you very much."
"Oh. Well, that's refreshing."
Lois looked at her. "Refreshing? That's not the reaction I was expecting."
Mayson nodded enthusiastically. "No, I understand! I really don't like you very much either."
"Oh. Good. I think." Lois smiled slightly.
When Mayson asks Lois about Clark's secret, she doesn't give it away:
Mayson sat still and stared at Lois. "I sort of figured you knew him well enough to know what was going on."
Lois crossed her arms. "I do know. But I can't tell you. It's Clark's secret, not mine. All I can say is that he's not involved in anything illegal."
Even though Lois is still so much in love with Clark, and even though she so much wishes she was back with him, she cares about his happiness more than about her own. Therefore she gives him this caring, kindly advice:
"Clark?"
"Yes?"
"You need to tell her. She - she cares deeply about you. Don't blow it, okay?"
He sat back. "You're right. I'll tell her. Soon."
Lois nodded. "Good. She deserves it. You two - you two have a good life together, okay?"
When the head actuary of the Metropolis Bureau comes to the newsroom of that paper and behaves like a bully and a terrible nuisance, Lois takes care of him:
"Excuse me. Who are you?"
The man spun and snarled at her. "I'm Roger Pinkerton! I'm head actuary for the Metropolis bureau of the New York Standard and you're interrupting!"
"No, actually, I'm Lois Lane and you're yelling at one of my people. Let's just step into my office and - "
Pinkerton's face reddened even more. "I don't care who you are! This is my job! Get out of my face!"
Lois reached out and grabbed Pinkerton's collar. "You yell at me like that one more time, Roger, and I'll kick you out of here with my own personal foot. You understand me?"
I have not gone through half of "The Maysonry of Life", Terry, and yet I have quoted I don't know how many passages showing what an admirable, absolutely extremely good and likable character your Lois Lane is. I just can't go on quoting, but Lois remains this wonderful person throughout your entire story.
Your Clark, however, is a different matter. While we see Lois all the time - your story follows her like the camera follows the main character of a movie - Clark remains in many ways an unknown quantity. We get to see what Lois thinks and feels, but we see Clark only from the outside, and we only catch glimpses of him. When we see him, he is often angry, petty, sullen, threatening or, occasionally, violent. I'm not going to quote, but this is certainly true.
Clark comes through as a lonely character. While Lois is the sort of person who makes friends and stands up for others, Clark seems to be a loner. Jimmy stays loyal to him because Clark is a very good reporter whom Jimmy can learn from, and Perry seems to loyally back him up. But his relationship with his parents is deteriorating, and he is making no new friends. The only important new relationship for Clark in this story is his relationship with Mayson. But because we don't get to see much of how that started, we don't really know if Clark wanted Mayson for her own sake, or if he just wanted a new love interest that could make him stop obsessing about Lois.
Clark comes through as a relatively dark and troubled character, a loner, a man who passionately hangs on to his grudges, a man full of rage which he can sometimes barely contain. Your Clark doesn't strike me as particularly likable. This is not meant as a criticism at all. As I said in that topic I started over in the Fanfic Related folder, I don't think that Clark must always be portrayed as absolutely likable. I remember several comic book stories where Superman's rage has almost frightened me, and I hate his behavior towards Lois in Superman II. Therefore, if you have decided to show Clark as an ambiguous, somewhat troubled character, I wholeheartedly approve of it.
What I don't know, however, is if
you agree with me in my assessment of Clark. I see him as a dark and troubled character who needs the light and warmth of Lois to be a happy man who can function well. I get the impression that Lois can get on relatively well without Clark - not that she wants to, because she so honestly, passionately loves him - but Clark, I think, will never function well without Lois. At least, as I said, this is
my assessment of
your story. I would be so very, very interested to hear what you think of my conclusion.
I'm still reeling from the fantastic emotional impact of "The Maysonry of Life", Terry. Thank you for writing this story. As for your new story, yes, I like it too, I really do. I love Superman's interaction with "Tiny", Walter Macklin. This rather kindly but frightening giant of a fighter reminds me of a delightful character in the comics from some years ago, Bibbo Bibbowski. Superman's interaction with Walter Macklin was a heartwarming little interlude, which showed the best and noblest aspects of both Superman and Macklin. The scene didn't get worse for being funny, either, in true, inimitable Terry style!
Ah, but then there was Superman's curtness with Lois, and her worries about their future relationship. I'm sharing her worries too, because ultimately I don't entirely trust this Superman. On the other hand, his rage and pain have not arisen out of nothing, but are there because of things that have happened to Clark. I'll end this FDK by quoting one more part from "The Maysonry of Life", where Clark explains to Lois why he has been in so much pain, and why it has been impossible for him to be Superman again, and why it hurts that she is asking him to be a hero again:
"You practically demand that I put the suit on again and when I do you just say `okay!' Don't you understand what this suit reminds me of? Every time I look at it, every time I hold it, I see Mayson's face! I feel her dying in my arms again! I feel Bill Church's heart quivering in my hand again! This isn't a symbol of heroism to me, Lois! It says `pain' to me! It says failure' in every fiber, every thread! How am I supposed to carry on as Superman with that symbol of death on my chest? Don't you see what this does to me? Don't you understand what you're doing to me?"
I feel, more strongly than ever, that Lois's warmth, faith and strength are the only things that can save not only Superman, but Clark. I so look forward to seeing how you will resolve this, Terry.
Ann
