Lois Lane is kind of a masochist, really

[galateus]

Lois Lane in a nutshell (not literally*):

You could probably copy & paste these panels onto the ending of 90% of all Lois Lane stories without even changing a thing.

Conclusion! After years of being put through the wringer of superdickery, Lois Lane is: (pick one)

• a regular masochist
• an animesque tsundere for Superman
• a psychologically-twisted Marstonian Wonder Woman rogue accidentally stuck in the wrong comic
• 'the perfect blend of firebrand, intelligent opponent and total doormat.'

https://twitter.com/James_B_Olsen?max_id=19011378148&page=16&twttr=true

*Though I'm sure that happened at least once.

Comments

[keeva]

You forgot:

"a long-running female character who is usually written by shitty male authors"

[thebigapricot]

And that would be my choice!

[selke]

Not gonna lie. That's a bit creepy.

[eightleggedbeast]

Just a wee wee bit.

[cleome45]

But I do kind of like her wedding dress.

[liara_shadowsong]

It is quite a pretty dress.

[bluefall]

Motto! I definitely prefer that one to the one she actually did get married in.

[cleome45]

Now I'm curious. Is there a picture of the "real" dress around here somewhere?

[bluefall]

Oh, buried somewhere in the Lois tags, I'm sure. Wikipedia has a crop from the comic cover that shows a bit of the horror, though the 80s butt-bow isn't visible.

[galateus]

Yep, we had a Superman: The Wedding Album post last year. Doesn't seem to have a scan that shows a butt-bow though.

(For comparison's sake, while looking for that I also found yet another imaginary-wedding dress from the seventies on the cover to Action Comics #484 from this blog post of Lois Lane covers.)

[cleome45]

Thanks! (Belated thanks is belated. Sorry. Busy holiday crap blah blah blah.) I'll have to show this to a few other fans I know elsewhere. They'll love it!

[offers cookies]

[selke]

I'd wear it.

Okay, I'd try it on, say "Cripe, this makes my ass look huge" and not buy it.

[starwolf_oakley]

Didn't Superman do anything remotely crime-fighting related in these stories?

Actually, given how uncertain some publishers were about that new Comics Code, maybe they *didn't* have anything crime-fighting related outside of the Batman comics.

[myniamh]

That'd be hilarious really. He's not technically got superpowers, he just wears the suit and wanders around pulling pranks on Lois! Excellent!

[starwolf_oakley]

The WORLD'S FINEST series by Karl Kesel referenced this, with Superman asking Batman "You think I spend my time using my powers to play pranks and hoaxes on my friends?"

[skjam]

A quarter to a third of Lois Lane stories had Superman behaving bizzarely to her (or vice versa) as part of a plan to net crooks that Lois had ticked off by writing exposes of or otherwise unmasking. (Yes, even as thick as Lois sometimes was in the Silver Age, she was still a damn fine reporter offscreen.)

[jkcarrier]

By the Silver Age, Superman's powers were basically at God level -- any kind of traditional crimefighting would be trivially easy for him. So the elaborate dickery and mind games was a (admittedly very weird) way of adding some drama to an otherwise foregone conclusion.

[darkblade]

"An animesque tsundere for Superman"

I always thought Silver Aged Lois was the first tsundre. Of course I'm also the kind of person who insists Mary Marvel was the first Magical Girl before it would become a full genre under Cutie Honey and Sailor Moon.

[icon_uk]

I'm also the kind of person who insists Mary Marvel was the first Magical Girl before it would become a full genre under Cutie Honey and Sailor Moon.

How could anyone argue otherwise?

[psychopathicus_rex]

I think what she means is that she only wants to marry him when all is level and above-board, with willingness and so forth on both parts. (Of course, that would immediately disqualify most of HER plans for him, which routinely involve the most underhanded sorts of chicanery and flimflam, but due to the double standard invoked here, I doubt she cares about this.)

[retro_nouveau]

Let's rule out Marstonian Wonder Woman until Lois has someone tied up.

I think she got amnesia after falling from a second story window at Wayne Manor during a V-J Day celebration and forgot where her press pass was until the 1960s. Since Clark was 1200 feet away, and sound travels about 1100 feet/second, and Lois fell 16 feet at 32 feet/second/second ... well, let's just say that Lois and Clark weren't on good terms until 1961 at the earliest.

Funny you should mention that

[galateus]

[bluefall]

So... Marston moonlighted writing Superman comics, then. Good to know.

Priscilla Rich/Lois Lane team-up for the win.

[galateus]

That wasn't even the first time Lois developed a big-cat-themed daring criminal alter ego, either.

[fajrdrako]

She is ... annoying?

I never managed to feel any sympathy for her. Too dishonest.

[fredneil.livejournal.com]

When you consider that comics in the Silver Age had a much larger 7-12 demographic than a 30-50 one, their relationship makes perfect sense. They don't have an adult relationship, they have what 8 year olds would imagine an adult relationship would be like.

[proteus_lives]

Everyone in the Super-Dickery Silververse everyone is a sadist and masochist.

Everyone takes turns wearing the Gimp Suit.