Lois and Clark, OTP
Sep. 8th, 2012 10:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skjam posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
scans_dailyWhat with many of us getting misty-eyed over the loss of the Superman-Lois Lane marriage, I thought I'd present a story that many of you (especially the young'uns) might never have seen.
Back in the day, Superman was so popular that not only did he have two titles (three if you count Superboy) but his girlfriend Lois Lane and pal Jimmy Olsen had their own spotlight series as well. Eventually, however, sales on these ancillary titles dropped enough that DC decided to merge them along with some other characters into one big book entitled "Superman Family."
It kept the numbering of "Jimmy Olsen" , and eventually reached #200. As a celebration of this milestone, the magazine had an extra-long imaginary story, depicting the future marriage anniversary of Clark Kent and Lois Lane.
I've tried to stick as closely as possible to the 1/3rd rule, so extreme choppiness ahead.
Lois Kent's day starts with a very special awakening.
They swoop on back to the house, where teen daughter Laura Kent (who has no superpowers) reminds her parents that she needs a lift to school. Superman dons his garb of doting father Clark Kent, while Lois reminds the others to be home by seven, as that's when the caterers arrive for the anniversary party. Her day will be full, too--returning to full-time investigative reporter work for the first time since Laura was born.
Lois gets on her electric motorcycle and starts dictating a story to her handheld computer gizmo. It's a column about a speech by the Israeli-Egyptian Conferation's prime minister, attacking the Premier of New Rome. Lou, at the Daily Planet, informs his chief of the story.
Removing the holocube and a broken keychain from the crime scene, Lois uses her comlink (smart phone) to call the police. She's off to "Miller's New Cars", a rundown business specializing in obsolete gas-guzzlers. The owner appears to be starving, and is still wearing a "WIN" button. He easily remembers who bought the car the keychain goes with, because almost nobody buys Detroit made autos anymore. It was an art magazine company car. The owner begins to reminisce about when people loved big, fuel-inefficient cars, but that was before the oil-field bombings of '82 and the Second Fuel Crisis. He misses that beautiful yellow smog and the smell of gasoline--everyone drives those three-wheeled electrics now. Mr. Miller offers to sell Lois the entire dealership, but she's not an idiot.
The trail leads to Passaic, New Jersey--now a ghost town because most people live out in the country and telecommute. Stripped cars litter the streets. In the offices of New Art Magazine, she finds both reproductions of classic artworks, and the latest holosculptures. Lois then overhears an argument between the owners of the magazine, brothers. One hates all forms of electronic art, and believes their mother would never have approved of covering it in the magazine, the other is the actual editor and believes that holography is a legitimate field. The hater reveals that he killed Angel for laughing at his old-fashioned ideas, and he's going to do the same to his brother!
Lois quickly pulls up a picture of the mother, broadcasts it to the hologram projectors, and does a ghost impression. This distracts the loony long enough for Lois to whack him with a vase.
Lucy has prematurely white hair at this point in continuity because of a story arc in which she was turned into a senior citizen. Anyhow, the couple quarrels, makes up, and it's revealed that Lucy inherited a bunch of airline stock from a patient she'd had while being a nurse for a while, and managed to become airline president. In the background, we see a baggage handler wearing the wrong shoes.
Lucy tells how she went to New Delhi, now almost deserted--after the big famine of 1990, most of the Indians moved to New New Delhi, an L-5 colony. Lucy went to the National Museum, where the locals are selling off any antiquities they didn't take to the new place. She picked up a lovely 2000 year old jade buddha. Once it was locked in her bag, Lucy never parted from it, even while she slept.
She mentions how smooth the orbiter's flight was, especially once the engines went silent, then how she was lulled to sleep by...the vibration of the engines. Lucy awoke as the orbiter came in for a landing, bag apparently untampered with.
Jimmy's detective instincts are aroused. He questions the other passengers, establishing that Lucy never moved from the seat once she was guided there by the stewardess, and no one approached her.
Jimmy decides to retrace Lucy's steps, including the exact same shuttle flight. He goes to India, buys another statuette, goes through the metal detector, notices the same security guard Lucy did, who seems very interested in the display, and immediately gets on his com-link. The stewardess is the same, and guides Jimmy to the same seat Lucy had. And sure enough, vibrations happen.
Jimmy and the wrong-footweared baggage handler battle. Jimmy manages to get himself buried under fallen luggage, but still keeps the upper hand.
The woman is Amanda Boot, and she has photographic evidence of Clark Kent handing her a blackmail note demanding $200. Kent points out that that;s a ludicrously small amount in 2000 dollars--he spends more than that on electricity a day! A magnifying glass will show the "note" is actually an autograph Mr. Kent, the most respected man in TV journalism, gave her a while back.
Clark reflects that this is part of the dark side of fame. Fans come to feel they have a personal relationship with their favorite celebrity, and sometimes that imaginary relationship goes sour. But right now, he's got to grill the mayor on live television about nepotism in city hiring.
Back with Clark, his cameraman reports there's a glitch in the minicam's controls, so they'll keep it on live feed to track down the problem. At this point Ms. Boot pops up again and abducts Clark at gunpoint. Since he's still on camera, and he realizes Amanda's fragile mental state, he opts not to switch to Superman, and instead try to work out what'her problem is.
As it happens, Ms. Booth lives in a slum outside the Metropolis Dome, and her son is no longer in communication. Clark stalls the police so that he can talk Ms. Boot down and begin helping her find healing.
Superwoman's story starts off the coast of Florida, as she saves a hydroelectric plant from a tsunami. She does it extra fast, because she needs to be in Tallahassee.
Superwoman reflects on how busy her double life has kept her, too busy to get a new costume in the last twenty years, never married, and most of her relationships don't last a year. But she does have a fellow right now.
The creative team is playing it coy, but I'm guessing it's Dick Grayson.
Superwoman passes by the gigantic solar panel satellite above Texas on her way to the timestream.
Yep, she's doing a greatest hits video recording of Clark and Lois' relationship. The mysterious white being observes. Until Superwoman stops by the wedding, then is attacked as she comes back into the timestream. The whte creature is hungry! Worse, every time Superwoman beats the Time Beast, it simply rewinds the encounter. Turns out it's been eating time travelers for an indefinite period of now/then/will-be.
Kara gets an idea and accelerates her future direction towards the Edge of Time.
Clark's thrilled, he's always wanted a son, but Lois was content with just Laura,,,it's not that she's not pleased with being a full-time mother these last years, but she wants her own life, too.
Meanwhile, Laura is meeting the guests, and unbeknownst to her, exhibiting supersenses. Then she spots the holosculpture with the telltale clue to Superman's identity, and finds herself hiding it at superspeed. "Hey wait a minute, I do have superpowers! Kryptonian puberty at last!"
Superwoman flies in to deliver her gift, before going back out to rearrive as Governor Danvers, and there's a shot of the anniversary couple kissing in front of all their guests.
...I think there's some Red K dust in my eye.
Next time, more public domain!
Your thoughts and comments?
SKJAM!
Back in the day, Superman was so popular that not only did he have two titles (three if you count Superboy) but his girlfriend Lois Lane and pal Jimmy Olsen had their own spotlight series as well. Eventually, however, sales on these ancillary titles dropped enough that DC decided to merge them along with some other characters into one big book entitled "Superman Family."
It kept the numbering of "Jimmy Olsen" , and eventually reached #200. As a celebration of this milestone, the magazine had an extra-long imaginary story, depicting the future marriage anniversary of Clark Kent and Lois Lane.
I've tried to stick as closely as possible to the 1/3rd rule, so extreme choppiness ahead.
Lois Kent's day starts with a very special awakening.
They swoop on back to the house, where teen daughter Laura Kent (who has no superpowers) reminds her parents that she needs a lift to school. Superman dons his garb of doting father Clark Kent, while Lois reminds the others to be home by seven, as that's when the caterers arrive for the anniversary party. Her day will be full, too--returning to full-time investigative reporter work for the first time since Laura was born.
Lois gets on her electric motorcycle and starts dictating a story to her handheld computer gizmo. It's a column about a speech by the Israeli-Egyptian Conferation's prime minister, attacking the Premier of New Rome. Lou, at the Daily Planet, informs his chief of the story.
Removing the holocube and a broken keychain from the crime scene, Lois uses her comlink (smart phone) to call the police. She's off to "Miller's New Cars", a rundown business specializing in obsolete gas-guzzlers. The owner appears to be starving, and is still wearing a "WIN" button. He easily remembers who bought the car the keychain goes with, because almost nobody buys Detroit made autos anymore. It was an art magazine company car. The owner begins to reminisce about when people loved big, fuel-inefficient cars, but that was before the oil-field bombings of '82 and the Second Fuel Crisis. He misses that beautiful yellow smog and the smell of gasoline--everyone drives those three-wheeled electrics now. Mr. Miller offers to sell Lois the entire dealership, but she's not an idiot.
The trail leads to Passaic, New Jersey--now a ghost town because most people live out in the country and telecommute. Stripped cars litter the streets. In the offices of New Art Magazine, she finds both reproductions of classic artworks, and the latest holosculptures. Lois then overhears an argument between the owners of the magazine, brothers. One hates all forms of electronic art, and believes their mother would never have approved of covering it in the magazine, the other is the actual editor and believes that holography is a legitimate field. The hater reveals that he killed Angel for laughing at his old-fashioned ideas, and he's going to do the same to his brother!
Lois quickly pulls up a picture of the mother, broadcasts it to the hologram projectors, and does a ghost impression. This distracts the loony long enough for Lois to whack him with a vase.
Lucy has prematurely white hair at this point in continuity because of a story arc in which she was turned into a senior citizen. Anyhow, the couple quarrels, makes up, and it's revealed that Lucy inherited a bunch of airline stock from a patient she'd had while being a nurse for a while, and managed to become airline president. In the background, we see a baggage handler wearing the wrong shoes.
Lucy tells how she went to New Delhi, now almost deserted--after the big famine of 1990, most of the Indians moved to New New Delhi, an L-5 colony. Lucy went to the National Museum, where the locals are selling off any antiquities they didn't take to the new place. She picked up a lovely 2000 year old jade buddha. Once it was locked in her bag, Lucy never parted from it, even while she slept.
She mentions how smooth the orbiter's flight was, especially once the engines went silent, then how she was lulled to sleep by...the vibration of the engines. Lucy awoke as the orbiter came in for a landing, bag apparently untampered with.
Jimmy's detective instincts are aroused. He questions the other passengers, establishing that Lucy never moved from the seat once she was guided there by the stewardess, and no one approached her.
Jimmy decides to retrace Lucy's steps, including the exact same shuttle flight. He goes to India, buys another statuette, goes through the metal detector, notices the same security guard Lucy did, who seems very interested in the display, and immediately gets on his com-link. The stewardess is the same, and guides Jimmy to the same seat Lucy had. And sure enough, vibrations happen.
Jimmy and the wrong-footweared baggage handler battle. Jimmy manages to get himself buried under fallen luggage, but still keeps the upper hand.
The woman is Amanda Boot, and she has photographic evidence of Clark Kent handing her a blackmail note demanding $200. Kent points out that that;s a ludicrously small amount in 2000 dollars--he spends more than that on electricity a day! A magnifying glass will show the "note" is actually an autograph Mr. Kent, the most respected man in TV journalism, gave her a while back.
Clark reflects that this is part of the dark side of fame. Fans come to feel they have a personal relationship with their favorite celebrity, and sometimes that imaginary relationship goes sour. But right now, he's got to grill the mayor on live television about nepotism in city hiring.
Back with Clark, his cameraman reports there's a glitch in the minicam's controls, so they'll keep it on live feed to track down the problem. At this point Ms. Boot pops up again and abducts Clark at gunpoint. Since he's still on camera, and he realizes Amanda's fragile mental state, he opts not to switch to Superman, and instead try to work out what'her problem is.
As it happens, Ms. Booth lives in a slum outside the Metropolis Dome, and her son is no longer in communication. Clark stalls the police so that he can talk Ms. Boot down and begin helping her find healing.
Superwoman's story starts off the coast of Florida, as she saves a hydroelectric plant from a tsunami. She does it extra fast, because she needs to be in Tallahassee.
Superwoman reflects on how busy her double life has kept her, too busy to get a new costume in the last twenty years, never married, and most of her relationships don't last a year. But she does have a fellow right now.
The creative team is playing it coy, but I'm guessing it's Dick Grayson.
Superwoman passes by the gigantic solar panel satellite above Texas on her way to the timestream.
Yep, she's doing a greatest hits video recording of Clark and Lois' relationship. The mysterious white being observes. Until Superwoman stops by the wedding, then is attacked as she comes back into the timestream. The whte creature is hungry! Worse, every time Superwoman beats the Time Beast, it simply rewinds the encounter. Turns out it's been eating time travelers for an indefinite period of now/then/will-be.
Kara gets an idea and accelerates her future direction towards the Edge of Time.
Clark's thrilled, he's always wanted a son, but Lois was content with just Laura,,,it's not that she's not pleased with being a full-time mother these last years, but she wants her own life, too.
Meanwhile, Laura is meeting the guests, and unbeknownst to her, exhibiting supersenses. Then she spots the holosculpture with the telltale clue to Superman's identity, and finds herself hiding it at superspeed. "Hey wait a minute, I do have superpowers! Kryptonian puberty at last!"
Superwoman flies in to deliver her gift, before going back out to rearrive as Governor Danvers, and there's a shot of the anniversary couple kissing in front of all their guests.
...I think there's some Red K dust in my eye.
Next time, more public domain!
Your thoughts and comments?
SKJAM!
Tags:
- char: batman/bruce wayne,
- char: jimmy olsen,
- char: lana lang,
- char: lois lane,
- char: lucy lane,
- char: morgan edge,
- char: perry white,
- char: pete ross,
- char: robin/nightwing/dick grayson,
- char: supergirl/linda danvers,
- char: superman/clark kent,
- creator: alex saviuk,
- creator: bob oksner,
- creator: dick giordano,
- creator: gerry conway,
- creator: joe giella,
- creator: kurt schaffenberger,
- creator: ross andru,
- creator: vince colletta,
- publisher: dc comics,
- title: superman family
no subject
Date: 2012-09-09 04:21 am (UTC)Why do Jimmy and Lucy look to be so much older than Lois and Clark? I get that Lucy has white hair due to some shenanigans (and I love that her getting prematurely white hair due to being turned into a senior at some point) but Jimmy looks to be a good decade older than the others, weirder still given that he's supposed to be younger than them.
Anyway, Supergirl being Superwoman now and possibly dating Dick Grayson is awesome, and I love that this story manages to catch up the readers to this future status-quo so quickly., That's good writing in my book. And Clark agreeing to be a stay at home dad so that Lois can do what she loves is really quite sweet and totally in character for the both of them.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-09 12:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-09 02:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-10 11:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-09 07:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-09 12:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-09 02:01 pm (UTC)I do like the way even a future 'What-If?' was given the possibility of happy endings. Imagine, no deaths or gore or grimness! Revolutionary, I say! :)
no subject
Date: 2012-09-09 02:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-09 02:59 pm (UTC)I'm tickled pink that Clark gives up his career at the end, realizing how unfair it would be to ask Lois to do it a second time.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-09 05:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-09 07:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-09 08:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-09 08:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-10 01:33 pm (UTC)I can't help but notice that Lois, Lana, and Kara all still have seventies hair. (I guess its supposed to be justified in Kara's case by the fact that she's too busy to update her look.) I love how sci-fi writers, in all media, will make outlandish predictions about how, in the future, we'll all be living in geodesic domes or in underwater studio apartments and driving three-wheeled electric cars (and Egypt will have united with Israel!), but fashion of all things will remain the same.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-10 08:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-11 07:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-10 03:24 pm (UTC)They've been doing this for decades guys! Lets try something different and see where it goes.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-11 07:43 pm (UTC)I totally thought that "dome-scraping tower" was some horrifying faux-future-speak for an OBGYN, until I realised that of course that's what you'd call a skyscraper under a geodesic cover.