Lois Lane is one of the most recognized names among superhero comic book characters even though she is not a superhero. The intrepid reporter made has been around for more than 80 years, and her history is recounted by Tim Hanley in Investigating Lois Lane.
Lois was not in the original Superman
stories created by Jerry Siegel
and Joe
Schuster. As they worked and reworked the character, setting and supporting
cast in an attempt to come up with something that would sell, they took
inspiration or the girl reporter movies
of the time to add a love interest for the man of steel. Several popular movies
in the mid-1930s
featured smart, tough, fast-talking, blonde female reporters
such as Torchy
Blane, a character that premiered in 1937’s Smart Blonde.
Schuster’s innovation was to make Lois brunette. He took
inspiration from Jolan
(Joanne) Kovacs, a high school
student in Cleveland
who advertised herself for modeling.
Schuster was apparently smitten with her—she was his model Lois, and all
his other heroines resembled Lois—and they stayed in touch as she moved around
the country pursuing her modeling career. They met up again in New York after
World War
II. He invited her to a ball—even rented a gown for her. Jerry Siegel was
there, too, and she left with him. Siegel left his wife and young son to marry
Kovaks.
Not only was Lois a career woman, an unusual thing when she
premiered with Superman in 1938, she was also
headstrong, cunning, independent and determined to become a top reporter.
However, the writers of Lois’ stories were men; the first Lois Lane story
written by a woman, Tasmyn
O’Flynn, was published in 1982. Though she remained a working woman, she was
often depicted as a damsel in distress or a love-struck cheerleader for
Superman.
Depictions of Lois changed over time as the status of women
changed in American society. Sometimes she was at the forefront, as she briefly
was in the women’s liberation movement during the 1970s. Other time
she lagged and reflecting traditional role for women, or Superman and others
shamed her unfeminine ambition. Too often she was simply a background player in
Superman stories, even though she was more than able to carry a story on her
own in the hands of writers who cared.
Such ups and downs will likely be Lois’ fate for a while. We
can hope that she get the treatment she deserves with stories that let her
shine.
If you’re
interested in this book, you may also be interested in
The
Book of Lies by Brad Meltzer
The
Caped Crusade by Glen Weldon
Comic
Book Nation by Bradford W.
Wright
The
DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics by Dennis O’Neil
Men of
Tomorrow by Gerard Jones
Reading
Comics by Douglas Wolk
The
Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore
Seduction
of the Innocent by Max Allan
Collins
Superman
versus the Ku Klux Klan by
Rick Bowers
The
Ten-Cent Plague by David
Hajdu
Hanley, Tim. Investigating
Lois Lane: The Turbulent History of the Daily Planet’s Ace Reporter. Chicago: Chicago
Review Press, 2014.
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