Lois Lane Needs Her Own Comic Book Series, As Superwoman

Several months ago via Twitter, and eventually spilling over to several comic book related message boards, several fans and comic book creators started a campaign to get Lois Lane – the wife of Superman and arguably the single most famous female comic book character in the world – her own ongoing comic book series. Some of the creators who showed their support for such an idea were people like Greg Rucka, Sterling Gates and Gail Simone. So much noise was made about this that DC Editor in Chief Bob Harass even put out an official response to the whole thing, saying “The emotional investment our fans have for our characters is incredibly important to us. It is that passion that drives us every day and when you see conversations like the one regarding Lois, it makes us work even harder,”  However, despite all the noise, DC has yet to announce any Lois Lane series.

In defense of DC, the mainstream comic book market (such as it is today) is simply not tailored to produce an ongoing title about the intrepid adventures of a brilliant woman reporter. If DC Comics were to put out “Superman’s Wife, Lois Lane” or “Daily Planet Reporter: Lois Lane” on a monthly basis, it will probably tank. Even if it is great, it will still tank eventually. And this isn’t even a sexism thing, this isn’t about Lois’ gender.…truth is if DC put out the adventures of “James Gordon: Gotham Cop,” it would tank too. And everyone knows Commissioner Gordon is an awesome character and loves him. But in the world of super hero comics, the super heroes themselves are the stars. The solution? Maybe it is finally time to give Lois Lane powers and make her a full fledged hero in her own right. Time to make her Superwoman. For good.

I was recently watching the excellent animated adaptation of Grant Morrison’s All Star Superman. Morrison himself appears on the audio commentary, and at one point laments the fact that Superman and Lois Lane are now married in the comics universe. I couldn’t help but agree with him. A lot of fanboys complain that Superman is too hard to relate to, because he essentially is “the man who has everything.” Well…he does now, but he didn’t always. A staple of Superman’s mythos for his first 58 years was that while he was indeed like a God among mortals, his biggest vulnerability (aside from the pesky green rocks) was that he couldn’t be with the one person that he loved most of all, fellow reporter Lois Lane. He felt he could’t endanger a human woman by marrying her. That vulnerability was perfectly played by Christopher Reeve in the classic Superman movie series, and was one of the key factors that made the entire world fall in love with his version of the Man of Steel. Lois reflected the best of humanity to Suprman, she was close enough to touch, but he could never truly be with her.

If those circumstances were still in play, I would never suggest making Lois Lane a super hero. Her role as the mortal woman who Superman loves but can’t be with would be over. But for 15 years, that role for Lois has been gone anyway. Since 1996, Clark Kent and Lois Lane have been married, happily so. Now he does have it all. The powers, the career, and the girl. While the marriage of Clark Kent and Lois Lane has allowed for certain stories that couldn’t be told before, it robbed Superman of a semi-tragic element to his character. And no, before anyone suggests it, they can’t ever get a divorce either. Superman is the symbol for what everyone should aspire to be, and no one should aspire to get divorced.  Don’t misunderstand me here, divorce is nothing to be ashamed of, it is an unfortunate fact of life, but Kal-El has to reflect our aspirations, and divorce should never be on that list. So like it or not, Superman and Lois have to stay married for good, if only for symbolic reasons.

A Brief History Of Lois Lane, And Why She’s Awesome

Much like Wonder Woman, Lois Lane’s portrayal in the comics stories directly reflects American attitudes about women at the time they were written. In 1939, when Lois debuted, she was a feisty and tough streetwise reporter who didn’t take any shit from anyone. This was especially reflected in the excellent animated Fleischer serials from 1941. The Lois Lane portrayed in those old cartoons showed a woman who could play with the big boys, who wasn’t afraid of danger and would do anything to get a story. Sure, Superman had to end up saving her, but she was anything but weak and helpless. But by the 50’s, all that changed. On the one hand, Lois was popular enough to get her very own series, Superman’s Girlfriend: Lois Lane. Sadly, the bulk of that series was about stories where Lois tried to discover  Superman’s secret identity, and then try to manipulate him into marrying her. Nevertheless, that comic was very popular. At the series’ peak, it was selling half a million copies a month in the late 1950’s. And even as late as 1969, when Batman’s tv show revived the character’s sales and Marvel Comics was in full swing, Lois’ comic series was still far outselling Batman, Spider-Man, and every other super hero character who wasn’t Superman. Not bad for a chick comic.

Eventually, after the Women’s lib movement happened in the 60’s, Lois returned to her World War II era personality, but by that time her own comic had been re-titled to Superman Family, showcasing Jimmy Olsen, Supergirl and other members of Superman’s cast. Poor Lois essentially got booted to the back of her own comic, right around the time she was starting to become an interesting character once again. Lois’ return to being portrayed as  a strong independent woman again helped inform Margot Kidder’s portrayal of her in the 1978 movie, and when writer John Byrne did his mid 80’s  post Crisis on Infinite Earths take on Lois he made her even more of a bad ass than ever before. That portrayal of her has been with us ever since, and this current incarnation of Lois is more deserving of her own series than the 60’s one ever was. But for that to happen, I think she’s going to need to become a super-person herself.

Lois As Superwoman: Comic’s Longest Running Tease?

The idea of Lois Lane as a super hero has been teased many times over the decades. The first time was back in the 40’s, when Lois dreamed she had a blood transfusion from Superman resulting in her getting powers and a costume of her own. A few years later, she became Superwoman due to a magic spell, which of course wore off at the end of the story. And  at least once every decade or so, sometimes more, there would be a story like that; Lois would get powers, become Superwoman, and then go back to being her normal self again at the end. In the 90’s, even the Lois and Clark television series did a version of this story, one in which red kryptonite transfers all of Clark’s powers to Lois making her “Ultra Woman”. Of course this too also lasted only an episode.

 The story potential for Lois Lane as Superwoman is huge. Here’s a woman who is used to leaping before she looks, for whom self control is sometimes a big no no. How would she adapt to having powers like her husband’s? Superman had a whole lifetime to learn restraint, could Lois do that as adult? Not to mention, the most recent user of the name Superwoman was Lois’ sister Lucy, who was a villain. Having Lois redeem the name that her sister corrupted could make for equally great stories. As it stands, as Superman’s wife, Lois  is already an integral part of the DC Universe. She has her own friendships with the likes of Batman and Wonder Woman. Would those change if she got to join the super hero club? Despite her respect for Wonder Woman, there has always been a slight jealousy there..after all , Wonder Woman can fly around with her husband, fight bad guys with her husband, etc. Now Lois would be able to as well, changing her relationship with Wonder Woman too. And how would Superman react to a Superwoman/Batman “World’s Finest” team? Again, The story potential is endless here. DC has shown they sometimes have the balls to progress their universe in pretty significant ways; for example Bruce Wayne has a tween-age son who is Robin now, and the original Robin, Dick Grayson is now Batman II. Why not take as big a step in the Superman world as well?

And of course, Lois as Superwoman could open up a whole new chapter in not only her life, but obviously for Superman’s as well. The publicity opportunity for DC Comics is huge here; think Wonder Woman wearing pants was big deal? Imagine when the character most famous for being saved gets empowered and starts doing some saving herself. Symbolically, it says a so much. The media would have field day.

As for the actual story mechanics of how Lois Lane becomes Superwoman, none of the old versions would work today (so no blood transfusions or magic spells here) Grant Morrison’s idea from All Star Superman, where Kal-El maps Lois’ DNA and finds a way to give her his powers (if only for 24 hours) would be a decent enough place to start. Even more interesting would be if Clark had to give part of his own strength and powers to Lois, making her his “other half” in every way. I leave the actual story ideas to the actual writers at DC. But I think it is high time we saw Lois Lane: Superwoman on a comic shelf on a regular basis. Now if only someone out there could only convince DC Comics of the same thing.