LOIS LANE

'Lois Joanne Lane-Kent' is a fictional character in the DC Comics’ ''Superman'' stories. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and
artist Joe Shuster, she first appears in ''Action Comics'' #1 (1938). Lois' physical appearance was originally based on a model hired by Siegel and Shuster named Joanne Carter. Lois's personality was based on Torchy Blaine, a female reporter featured in a series of films from the 1930s. Siegel took her name from actress Lola Lane, who portrayed Torchy in one of the middle entries.^[1]
Lois is Superman's chief romantic interest and, in the current DC continuity, his wife. Like Superman’s alter ego Clark Kent, she is a reporter for the Metropolis newspaper, ''The Daily Planet''.
Depictions of Lois Lane have varied in the nearly 70-year history of Superman comic books and other media adaptations. During the Silver Age, she was the star of ''Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane,'' a comic title that had a light and frivolous tone. However, the original Golden Age version of Lois, as well as versions of her from the 1970s onwards, portray Lois as a tough-as-nails journalist and intellectual equal to Superman. One thing has remained throughout the character's 60-year history however, she has always been the most prominent love-interest in Superman's life and is seen by many fans as the archetypical comic book love interest.

Contents

Profile

Fictional character biography

Golden Age

Silver Age

Modern Age

Other versions

''All Star Superman''

In other media

Cultural references

External links

Profile

Aspects of Lois' personality have varied over the years (depending on the comic writers' handling of the character and American social attitudes toward women at the time), but in most incarnations she has been depicted as a determined, strong-willed person, whether it involves beating her rival reporter Clark Kent to a story or (in what became a trademark of 1950s and 1960s era Superman stories) alternating between elaborate schemes to convince Superman to marry her and proving to others her suspicion that Clark was in reality Superman. She also traditionally had a cool attitude toward Clark, who in her view paled in comparison to his alter ego. At times, the character has been portrayed as a damsel in distress.
Lois Lane was modelled on Lola Lane, an actress in the 1930's who appeared in films like ''Public Stenographer''. Lois is regarded as attractive, but not in the exaggerated "supermodel" sense often seen in superhero comics' depictions of women. Her appearance has varied over the years, depending either on current fashion or (especially more recently) the way she's depicted in contemporary media adaptations; for instance, in the mid-1990s, when the series '' began airing, Lois received a hair cut that made her look more like Teri Hatcher, and her eyes were typically violet to match the Lois of the television cartoon '' after that show began airing. Traditionally, Lois has black hair, though for a period from the late 1980s through the late 1990s, Lois was depicted with brown hair in the comics. She started with red hair in the original Sunday papers though.
Lois is the daughter of Ellen and Sam Lane. In the earlier comics, her parents were farmers in a town called Pittsdale; the modern comics, however, depict Sam as a retired soldier, and Lois as a former "army brat," with Lois having been trained by her father in areas such as hand-to-hand combat and the use of firearms. Lois also has one younger sibling, her sister Lucy Lane.
In the current comics, Lois is married to Clark Kent (and aware of his secret identity), but has kept her maiden name for professional purposes.

Fictional character biography

The comics have seen several incarnations of Lois Lane over the decades.

Golden Age

In the earliest Golden Age comics, Lois was featured as an aggressive, career-minded reporter for the ''Daily Star'' (the paper's name was changed to ''The Daily Planet'' in the early 1940s), who, after Clark Kent joined the paper and Superman debuted around the same time, found herself attracted to Superman, but displeased with her new journalistic competition in the form of Kent. Starting in the late 1940s or early 1950s comics, Lois began to suspect that Clark Kent was Superman, and started to make various attempts at uncovering his secret identity, all of which backfired (usually thanks to Superman's efforts).
In the Golden Age comics, Lois also had a niece named Susie Tompkins, whose main trait was getting into trouble by telling exaggerated tall tales and fibs to adults. Susie's last appearance was in 1955; subsequent comics presented Lois' only sibling, Lucy, as single and childless.
After DC instituted its multiverse system in the early 1960s for organizing its continuity, it was deemed that the Lois of the Golden Age comics (i.e., comics published from 1938 through the early 1950s) lived on the parallel world of "Earth-Two" versus the then-mainstream (Silver Age) universe of "Earth-One." In 1978's ''Action Comics'' #484, it was revealed that sometime in the 1950s, the Earth-Two Lois became infatuated with Clark Kent after the latter lost his memory of his superheroic identity (thanks to a spell cast by the old Justice Society of America enemy the Wizard), with the result of Clark acting more aggressive and extroverted. Clark and Lois began to date each other, and were soon married; however, during the honeymoon, Lois discovered that Clark was indeed Superman, and after recruiting the aid of the Wizard, restored Clark's memory. A series of stories in the 1970s and 1980s titled "Mr. and Mrs. Superman" presented the further adventures of the now-married Lois and Clark (in several of which Susie Tompkins made a return as a recurring character).
During the ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'' miniseries, the Earth-Two Lois Lane was seen for one of the final times, as she, the Earth-Two Superman, and the Earth-Prime Superboy are taken by Earth-Three's Alexander Luthor, Jr. (who himself was the son of Earth-Three's Lois Lane, who had perished, along with her husband Alexander Luthor, Sr., in the first issue of the series) into a paradise-like dimension at the end of the story (after all the parallel Earths, including Earth-Two, had been eliminated in favor of just one Earth), after which this version of Lois was (seemingly) permanently discarded from DC's continuity.
In 2005's Infinite Crisis miniseries, it was revealed that the Earth-Two Lois Lane, along with the Superboy, Alexander Luthor, Jr. and Superman, have been watching the events of the post-Crisis DC Universe from their pocket dimension. Out of the four observors, she is the only one who still believes that the new universe is just going through a rough patch; Superboy-Prime and Alexander Luthor are convinced that Earth is utterly corrupt, and Kal-L is slowly becoming swayed to their way of thinking. This version of Lois is frail, and died for reasons not explicitly revealed, though probably connected to her octogenarian status. This was the main reason for Kal-L's determination to restore Earth-2, as he believed that Lois' health would recover once back on her proper Earth. Despite the restoration of Earth-2, however, Lois Lane died in the arms of Superman in ''Infinite Crisis'' #5 and after Earth-2 Superman's death at the end of Infinite Crisis #7, they are shown reunited in the stars.

Silver Age

As the audience for comic books began gravitating towards young boys in the mid-to-late 1950s, the Superman stories shifted in focus more toward science fiction-inspired plots involving extraterrestrials, fantasy creatures and bizarre, often contrived, plots. Lois' main interests in various late 1950s and 1960s stories became vying with her rival Lana Lang for Superman's affections, attempting to prove Clark Kent and Superman were one and the same, and tricking or otherwise forcing Superman into marriage. For Superman's part, his rationale for resisting her is that she cannot be trusted not to expose his secret identity to advance her career and marrying her would put her in too much danger from his enemies (ignoring the fact that his romantic relationship with her, thus her value as a hostage, is already public knowledge). This change in Lois' personality from her earlier 1940s self might also be a result of American society's attitudes toward women and their societal roles in the 1950s. Across this generation, she got married quite frequently, to other well known characters such as Batman and Jimmy Olsen and on one occasion a convicted criminal on death row (and various Superman pastiches) but these marriages were always annulled or otherwise forgotten.
Lois became more and more popular during this decade, and after appearing as the lead character in two issues of DC's title ''Showcase'' in 1957, Lois was given her own comic, titled ''Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane'' beginning in March 1958. Most of the stories in this title placed a greater emphasis on Lois' romance with Superman, and were drawn by artist Kurt Schaffenberger; indeed, Schaffenberger's rendition of Lois became cited by many as the "definitive" version of Lois, and he was often asked to redraw ''Superman'' comic artist Curt Swan's renditions of Lois and Lana by Superman comic editor Mort Weisinger.
By the end of the 1960s, as attitudes toward women's role in American society began to change, Lois did as well. 1970s stories featuring Lois depicted her as being fully capable of taking care of herself, engaged in more solo adventures without Superman being involved, and her being much less interested in things such as discovering Superman's secret identity. For example, in her solo stories in ''Superman Family'' (an anthology title started in the mid-1970s from the merging/cancellation of several previous titles, including ''Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane'' and ''Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen''), Lois regularly battled criminals in her investigations and defeated them with quick wits and considerable skill in the Kryptonian martial art of Klurkor, taught to her in the bottle-city of Kandor.
After the 1985-1986 miniseries ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'', writer and artist John Byrne was hired to revise the Superman comics, thus eliminating the Silver Age version of Lois from continuity; before this happened, a final non-canonical "imaginary story" ''Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?'' was written by writer Alan Moore, meant as a send-off for the "pre-Crisis" versions of the characters, including Lois.

Modern Age

Lois underwent a character alteration beginning with John Byrne's ''The Man of Steel'' miniseries, which was designed to rewrite Superman's origin from scratch. In the modern version of events, Lois was a tough-as-nails reporter who rarely needed rescuing. She was depicted as strong, opinionated, yet sensitive.
Another major change made was that Lois did not fall head over heels in love with Superman (though she may have harbored a slight crush at first). One reason for this was the changed nature of the Superman/Clark Kent relationship: before Superman had been the man who disguised himself as Clark Kent, but now Clark Kent lived a life in which his activity as Superman was decidedly secondary. After some time, Lois and Clark began dating. In the early 1990s, they became engaged and Clark revealed to Lois the secret of his dual life.
DC had planned on Lois and Clark being married in 1993's ''Superman'' #75. However, with the then-upcoming television show '', DC decided they did not want to have the two married in the comics and not married on TV. Partially as a result of this, Superman was killed in ''Superman'' #75 instead, dying in Lois' arms after a battle royal with the monster Doomsday. After a period of time, Superman returned to life, and both he and Lois resumed their relationship, though not without a few problems (such as a brief reappearance of Clark's former college girlfriend (and mermaid), Lori Lemaris).
In 1996, coinciding with the ''Lois and Clark'' television program, Lois and Clark were finally wed in the one-shot special '', which featured the work of nearly every then-living artist who had ever worked on Superman. The ''Wedding Album'' itself, however, was forced to spend part of its opening pages accommodating and reconciling the then-current comic storyline of Lois and Clark having broken off their engagement (the television program's producers had failed to provide adequate lead time for the Superman comics' writers).
Today, Lois lives with Clark in an apartment at 1938 Sullivan Lane in Metropolis. Her relationship with Clark remains more or less unchanged, except for the fact that Lois seems to think up many of Clark's cover stories for when he has to disappear due to his Superman duties. More recently, Lois and Clark have taken in the son of General Zod, as their foster son, whom they have named Christopher Kent. Although Lois was at first reluctant to take in the child, she has grown very close to the boy and worked hard to defend Chris against his criminal parents, despite the injuries she sustained as a result.

Other versions

During the years (1942-1984) that Editora Brasil-América (EBAL) published the Brazilian versions of Superman comics, Lois Lane's name was translated to "Miriam Lane" and later to "Miriam Lois Lane".

''All Star Superman''

In 2005, DC launched a new ''All Star Superman'' comic series by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely, the series taking place outside normal DC continuity. In this storyline, they are not married, and although Superman has decided to reveal his secret identity to Lois, as of the second issue of the series, she refuses to believe him. At the end of issue #2, Superman (who believes he is dying) presents Lois with a super-powered chemical and a superhero costume and Lois Lane becomes Superwoman for 24 hours.

In other media

★ Actress Rollie Bester originated the role of Lois Lane for a radio series with Bud Collyer as Superman in the 1940s. Other actresses to lend their voice to the character were Helen Choate and Joan Alexander. Joan Alexander would also voice the character for a series of Superman theatrical cartoons for Fleischer Studios (1941-1943) as well as a 1960s animated television series.

★ Actress Noel Neill played Lois Lane in more venues and instances than any other actress. She played the role in the 1948 and 1950 Saturday movie serials with Kirk Alyn playing Clark Kent/Superman. She returned to the role in the second season of ''Adventures of Superman'' television program opposite George Reeves and had a cameo in the 1978 film ''Superman'' as Lois Lane's mother. She was later a guest star in ''The Adventures of Superboy'' alongside Jack Larson (Jimmy Olsen) as an office worker at the ''Bureau for Extra-Normal Matters''. She also has a role in the Bryan Singer-directed film ''Superman Returns''.

★ Actress Phyllis Coates played Lois Lane in the theatrical feature ''Superman and the Mole Men'' opposite George Reeves as Superman and continued in the role in the first season of the ''Adventures of Superman'' television program. She also portrayed Ellen Lane, the socialite divorcee mother of Lois Lane in the first season of the 1990s television program ''.

★ Actress Patricia Marand played Lois Lane in Broadway musical ''It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's a Superman'' in 1966. For her performance she was nominated for Broadway's 1966 Tony Award as Best Supporting or Featured Actress (Musical).

★ Actress Lesley Ann Warren portrayed Lois in the television production of ''It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman'' in 1975 opposite David Wilson. She was also among the many actresses who auditioned for the role opposite Christopher Reeve for the 1978 film ''Superman.''

★ Actress Margot Kidder played Lois Lane against Christopher Reeve's Clark Kent in the 1970s and 1980s films ''Superman'', ''Superman II'', ''Superman III'' and ''. Her role in ''Superman III'' was greatly reduced, however, due to a conflict with the producers of the film. She also appeared briefly in two episodes of the television program ''Smallville'' as Dr. Bridgette Crosby, an emissary of Dr. Swann (played by Christopher Reeve).

★ Actress Teri Hatcher played Lois Lane on the ABC television series '' for four seasons, starting in 1993, with the two leading characters getting married during its run; this is the first television or film series that showed Lois and Clark's romance fully realized. When Teri Hatcher hosted ''Saturday Night Live'', she participated in a sketch where she pretended not to recognize well-known ''SNL'' cast members who joined her on stage when they wore glasses, poking fun at the fact that Lois Lane never seemed to realize that Clark Kent is just Superman wearing glasses.

★ Actress Dana Delany voiced Lois Lane in the '' animated television series of the 1990s and in the character's subsequent appearances on ''Justice League'' and its successor ''Justice League Unlimited'', all of which are a part of the DC animated universe. In this version, series creator Bruce Timm and character designer James Tucker reinvented Lois more like her original comic counterpart, in that at first her relationship with Clark was very much a rivalry about which was the better reporter, and she would at times actively attempt to trick him out of stories. At first, Lois was skeptical about Superman, but she grew closer to him throughout the series. She previously dated Lex Luthor before she broke off the relationship. Lois also had a relationship with Gotham City's billionaire Bruce Wayne, but it didn't last after Lois discovers that he is the infamous masked vigilantee Batman. Superman and Lois did not share their first kiss until the final moments of "Legacy", ''Superman's last episode. Superman and Lois are shown to be dating by the time of ''Justice League Unlimited''. In the episode "Divided We Fall", the writers planned to have Superman reveal his secret identity to Lois, but the decision was vetoed by DC.^[2]

★ On the 2000s WB series ''Smallville'', Erica Durance plays a young Lois Lane who came to Smallville to investigate the apparent death of her cousin, Chloe Sullivan. Durance plays a twenty year old Lois, despite the fact that she is five years older than Kate Bosworth, who plays an adult version of the character in the concurrently released ''Superman Returns''. After teaming up with Clark Kent to find her cousin Chloe Sullivan, she returned for several guest star appearances in Season 4 before signing to return as a thirteen episode regular in Season 5. During this season, she dated Arthur Curry on episode "Aqua" before on the run from Lex's pursuit. This version of Lois was originally not interested in journalism at all, instead working in politics. In the sixth season Lois began to develop an interest in journalism, working at the tabloid paper, the Inquisitor. She began to investigate and write articles about the Green Arrow. Lois even enlisted Clarks and Jimmy's help in proving that Oliver Queen is actually the Green Arrow. She had been dating Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow, until they broke up in season 6 episode Justice. She also continues to work as the chief of staff for Martha Kent's senate seat. It has recently been announced that in the seventh season of Smallville, Lois will start to work for the Daily Planet as a reporter.

★ Actress Kate Bosworth played Lois Lane in the 2006 Bryan Singer-directed film ''Superman Returns''. In this version, she has given birth to a son named Jason White, who is later revealed to be Superman's son. The film's coninuity is sem-sequel to that of ''Superman I'', so Bosworth's Lois could be considered similar to Margot Kidder's Lois Lane but with differences.

★ Actress Anne Heche plays Lois Lane in the 2007 WB Animation DVD ''.'' The animated feature is based from the award-winning DC Comics storyline ''The Death of Superman'' trilogy, with Adam Baldwin as The Man of Steel and James Marsters as Lex Luthor.

★ Dana Delany will reprise her role as Lois in Season 5 of ''The Batman''.

Cultural references

★ The secondary female lead in the musical Kiss Me, Kate is named Lois Lane; she plays Bianca in the show-within-a-show's production of The Taming of the Shrew: The Musical. Whether she was named after the Superman character is unknown.

★ Several parodic or homage versions of Lois Lane have appeared in Marvel Comics, usually unnamed or with the first name Lois and no surname, and often in the company of a similarly unnamed Clark analogue. A more indirect homage was Terri Kidder, a reporter for the Daily Bugle who was named after two actresses who had played Lois. She was killed in ''The Pulse'' #2.

★ There is a street in the Metro Detroit area (specifically, the city of Southfield) called "Lois Lane".

★ There is a street in the Corporate Park of Staten Island named "Lois Lane".

★ The American sitcom ''Seinfeld'' made numerous references to Lois over its nine-year run:

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★ In a 1993 episode, Jerry tells a female reporter for a college newspaper: "I was attracted to you, too. You remind me of Lois Lane."

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★ A 1994 episode ("The Mom & Pop Store") has Elaine tell Jerry she's been doing some snooping for him. "Ah! What'd you find out, Lois?" he replies.

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★ In the episode "The Race," Jerry dates a woman named "Lois" and makes several Superman-related references to her name.

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★ In "The Face Painter" (1995), George discovers that a woman he is dating is deaf in one ear and therefore might not have heard him tell her he loves her. "Don't you see what this means?" he says. "It's like the whole thing never happened. It's like when Superman reversed the rotation of the earth to save Lois Lane!"

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★ The 1998 episode "The Cartoon" has Jerry make fun of Elaine's drawings, leading her to reply: "It's better than your drawings of naked Lois Lane."

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★ In "The Strong Box" (also 1998), Elaine dates a man whose mysterious ways lead Jerry to joke that he is a crimefighter protecting his secret identity. When they find out the man is poor, Jerry and George comment, respectively, that his "super power was lack of money" and that "maybe his girlfriend is Lois Loan."

★
★ Teri Hatcher appeared (with no mention of Lois Lane) in two episodes.

★
★ In a 1994 episode, The Marine Biologist, when Elaine accuses Jerry of helping a strange woman just so he can take her out on a date, Jerry replies that Superman is never suspected of such intentions when saving a woman's life, prompting Elaine to comment "Well, you're not Superman," to which Jerry responds, "Well, you're not Lois Lane..."

★ In Just Jack's first single off his second album Overtones (2007), ''Writer's Block'', Jack seems dating Lois Lane while loving Mary Jane. "''I'm loving Mary Jane, flying with Lois Lane, I buy the bullet train, don't know yet if I'm glad I came''".

★ The Spin Doctors' 1991 album, ''Pocket Full of Kryptonite'', takes its title as a reference to the album's first song, "Jimmy Olsen's Blues." The song is sung from the point of view of a Jimmy Olsen who's in love with Lois Lane and jealous of Superman because of it.

★ In the song I-E-A-I-A-I-O by System of a Down, Lois Lane was mentioned in one of the tongue-twisters in the song: "Fighting crime, with a partner, Lois Lane, Jimmy Carter."

★ In the USA Network television series Monk, Adrian Monk's nurse, Sharona, reveals to a date that her job as the nurse assistant to the obsessive-compulsive detective makes her feel like Lois Lane. Later in the episode, when Sharona follows the killer they've been after, police captain Stottlemeyer snaps at Monk, "Who does Sharona think she is?" Monk answers sheepishly, "Lois Lane."

★ In the movie One Fine Day (1996), the editor of the newspaer reporter Jack Taylor (George Clooney) has cat named after Lois Lane.

★ In the movie Mermaids (1990), Kate Flax (Christina Ricci) askes her sister Charlotte (Winona Ryder) if her boyfriend ever kissed her like Superman kisses Lois Lane.

External links

★ Lois Lane profile at the Smallville Wiki

★ I Love Lois (Lane)

★ Lois Lane Index - her many incarnations

★ Supermanica: Lois Lane Supermanica entry on the Pre-Crisis Lois Lane

★ Lois Lane - information from the 90s animated series

★ Silver Age Lois Lane Annuals - cover gallery

★ SUPERMAN'S GIRL FRIEND LOIS LANE

★ Lois Lane Through The Ages

★ The Superman Database - Full list of every issue of “Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane” ever published w/ Cover Art, Plots and more.

★ Reviews of "Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane," issue by issue