Key Issues : Must There Be a Lois Lane?
(Editor’s Note: This essay originally appeared on Nerdspan on November 27th, 2013.)
The title of this article is taken from one of the most cited Bronze Age Superman stories, Elliot S! Maggin’s story, “Must There Be a Superman,” in which Superman ponders whether his existence does more harm than good. Recently DC Comics has been thinking a similar question about whether Lois Lane should be in the picture, whether she is good for the Superman brand, and whether or not he might be better served by dating one of their other brand characters, Wonder Woman. Though Superman : The Wedding Album ended with the popular religious injunction that “Those whom God has joined together, let no one put asunder” (from Matthew 19:26 or Mark 10:9), in 2011 DC Comics annulled that marriage with the massive retcon known as The New 52, effectively acknowledging that they used that verse in vain. For much of the New 52 run of Action Comics and Superman, Lois Lane has been in “continuity limbo.” It’s one thing to take someone’s anchor; it’s another thing to set them adrift, and to take away their fictional existence.
From Superman: The Wedding Album.
Hence, in today’s Superman comics, the most noticeable subtraction from the comics’ long-running formula is that Lois Lane barely exists in their pages, and to be fair, Superman’s mind is on other things. This is not new. With 75 years of stories behind Superman, one would hope that no writer would think it was an original idea to spice things up by breaking up the pair. Superman has gotten around throughout the years, having romanced Lana Lang, Lois Lane, Lori Lemaris, Sally Selwyn, Lyra Lerroll, and others, and having been thrown around a little in more recent years by Maxima and Wonder Woman. What is less well known is that Lois Lane has stepped out herself.
Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane #80
Lois has had relationships with more than a few aliens and time displaced personages, including the highly reputed Bronze Age muscleman Vartox, an alien more powerful than Superman and whose outré outfit was pure 70s; and the august demigod Hercules himself.
Vartox manhandles Superman, from Superman #281.
Hercules and Lois Lane in Action Comics #267 (available on comiXology).
She has had more than one marriage to an alien annulled, so no one, least of all Lois herself, should be surprised to wake up one day in a new continuity without her Kryptonian arm candy. And yet, we wouldn’t still be reading about her if the situation was reversed, and Superman was mostly absent from his comics for the last two years. Which is not to say that Lois is dependent on Superman, and not her own person, but what makes her important is this synergistic relationship with Superman that causes the two to keep coming back to each other.
Lois’s first impression of Superman from Superman #1.
Granted, Lois Lane has more bylines than any other fictional character, but you can’t say that what defines her is being a reporter, as there have been dozens of reporters in comic books and pulp literature. Instead, what leaps to mind first when you think of her is her relationship with Superman. It is like Sherlock Holmes and Watson, Mickey and Minnie, Laverne and Shirley (Milk and Pepsi?), Jerry and George, Batman and Robin. You first know Lois Lane as the most famous significant other in comic books, more famous than Veronica Lodge, Betty Cooper, Gwen Stacy, Vicki Vale, or Steve Trevor. While much comic book trivia is still alienated from the mainstream, this is a character that your parents and your grandparents have heard about. This only goes to prove that superpowers aren’t what make a character persist in the popular imagination. Depending on what age baby boomer a person is, they may know a different incarnation of Lois: the Lois of the 1940s newspaper strip that first married Clark Kent in a year-long dream; Kurt Schaffenberger’s definitive Lois of the Silver Age comic book series, Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane; Noel Neill of The Adventures of Superman TV series; the Curt Swan version of Lois that scolded Titano and Bizarro and bore Superman earthling/Kryptonian hybrid children in “imaginary” stories; the John Byrne / Roger Stern edition of Lois that married Superman “this time for real” to mirror the reimagined TV series Lois and Clark : The New Adventures of Superman. The story of Lois Lane is not that of a long-suffering character actor doomed to a supporting role; hers is a tale of a heroine in her right, the most famous, and arguably still the most relevant of the DC comics’ heroines.
Not only that, but Lois Lane has the distinction of being one of the most important comic book characters ever created. Often Robin is pointed to as the first major experiment in creating an audience surrogate for the comic book readership, but Lois was there first, adventuring with Superman, and trying to take down the baddies herself. She has the same aspirations as the hero–exposing the truth, and tearing down villainy– but she is as mortal as the reader, and that is the important thing, because she is part of the spark of inspiration that makes the reader believe that doing good is something to which anyone can aspire. Sure, she is hungry for the byline, but Superman’s thirst for recognition leads him to wear a red, blue, and yellow suit, and allow himself to be called Superman. Lois, like Superman, is not here to inspire altruism but heroism. It isn’t the powers or the costume that makes one a hero, but a good idea that is enacted by a good deed.
Lois comes along for the ride in Action Comics #6, available on comiXology.
Lois has no superpowers, and that is the most fundamental thing about her. Many of Superman’s friends had superpowers in the back of their closet in the Silver Age of comics. Jimmy Olsen had not only his Elastic Lad serum but his Flamebird jet belt, Lana Lang had her Insect Queen ring, and Batman always has his famed arsenal at his disposal. The Silver Age Lois Lane was the only human to have mastered the Kryptonian martial art Klurkor, which she learned in the bottle city of Kandor(SGLL 76 & 78), but there have been two major continuity shifts since then, and she has apparently and unfortunately lost these unique skills somewhere between Crisis on Infinite Earths and The New 52. Currently, Lois Lane has only her manipulative genius, her investigative skills, and her willingness to use these gifts like an action hero would. Other than that, she has only her work ethic and her on the job travel experience. Lois maxes out her perks at the Daily Planet and is one of the more travelled characters in the DC Universe. Planes, trains, automobiles,starships, and time machines have transported the intrepid reporter from one story to the next. It is this willingness to be where the action is that has often made her the star of a story.
While the focal character of Superman comics has always no doubt been their eponymous character–even during the 1993 story arc in which he died–for the majority of the run, Lois Lane was likely to be the protagonist or co-protagonist of a particular month’s Superman story. Audiences empathized with her drives so much that she carried her own long running comic book series, Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane, from 1959-1973, and her solo stories continued in the anthology title Superman Family from 1974 to 1982. So if you are a Lois Lane collector, you have a wide and varied hobby with some of the strangest comic book covers ever to adorn comic stories.
Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane #70
Certainly you have more potential reading material than Dazzler, Spider-woman, or Ms. Marvel collectors. Only in her own publishing house will you find an equally storied heroine, Wonder Woman. And let’s not stop with the women. Because Lois Lane sold a lot more comics than The Martian Manhunter, The Atom, The Sub-Mariner, Iron Fist, Firestorm, or Magnus, Robot Fighter ever did. Of the 146 comics with her name on the front cover, Lois Lane sold 137 issues in a single series, and Hawkman required five cancellations and over a dozen one shots to pass her with 176. And for some reason, DC comics keeps betting on Hawkman rather than Lois Lane to move comic books. In terms of number of comics sold, Lois beats most of the characters of the last 50 years, and in terms of sheer number of appearances, only a handful of characters outdo or rival her, mainly Superman, Batman, the kids in Riverdale, and the ducks of Duckburg. Very few fictional characters have such a big footprint as Lois does as to leave a historical mark on multiple eras; you have to look at world mythologies, at gods, goddesses, and other beings venerated in the religious sphere, to find characters with a larger impact. And to return to the question–Must There Be a Lois Lane?–it is indisputable that she did exist in the minds of people that have lived long lives and are being laid to rest today, and that she will continue to exist in the imagination of their descendants for quite some time.
If you’re looking to begin or expand your collection of Lois Lane comics, a good place to start is comiXology, where Superman #1 and Superman : The Wedding Album are currently free on comiXology. If you have comic shops in your town, you will probably find a variety of inexpensive back issues of Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane in reader grades, and the best ones are the first 100 issues of the run which are almost entirely drawn by the great Kurt Schaffenberger. Lois Lane continued in the 70s in the anthology title Superman Family, and these are usually cheaper, and the early issues have Silver Age reprints. The earliest issues would set you back hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars, but you can also find the first ten Lois Lane comics reprinted in a 2012 hardback edition that is available on Amazon. What is more current and a more selective anthology is the new volume, Lois Lane : A Celebration of 75 Years, released November 26th of 2013, available on Amazon, and probably readily available at quality booksellers and your local comic shop. Most importantly, ask DC Comics to bring back Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane.