Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane #106: "I Am Curious (Black)!"

[superboyprime]

Comments

[byc]

Superman seems to have a receding hairline.

Lois really wanted to marry Superman all the time back in the day eh?

[deh_tommy]

This is probably one of the more wacky attempts. Do you remember when Lois Lane and Lana Lang tried to brainwash a Baby Superman into loving and marrying them when he grew up?

[zapbiffpow]

"Look at this machine, Lois! Instead of attempting to disseminate this technology for people with debilitating physical deformities or injuries, I'm going to shelf the absolute shit out of it, until it's needed as the inciting plot device for a racial morality parable! Ten points for Superman. Ten points for me."

[skjam]

Given the first thing any Earthling (mostly Jimmy, to be fair) ever did with Kryptonian technology back in the Silver Age was abuse the heck out of it, Superman had some valid concerns about sharing these things.

[zapbiffpow]

Also, because I feel horrible using a sarcastic quote, here's a less facetious comment! I'm interested to know the history of DC's foray into social conscience-oriented books: key players, gold-standard stories, beginnings and ends, etc. I think it's an interesting benchmark, especially with Marvel engaging in a similar direction today. Are we doing better as a comic-consuming peoples now, or is this just part of the cycle, like the New 52/"the 90's are back" comparisons we had back in 2011?

Green Lantern and Green Arrow had similar stories, sure, but I bet Flash, Batman and Wonder Woman (as a cop, a street-level hero and as a diplomat/advocate, respectively) probably had similar well-intentioned (if also probably weirdly-plotted) tales about race. Or maybe the Flash writers were too busy writing about Australian supervillains throwing boomerangs.

[randyripoff]

Let's see...Teen Titans did a relevance kick, and I'd include Hawk and Dove there as well. Also, for a while Justice League of America tackled similar issues, as did Aquaman. Actually, in the early 1970's "relevance" was a key selling point for DC comics.

That being said, most of those stories were pretty dreadful IMO. Including Green Lantern/Green Arrow.

[zapbiffpow]

Surprised to see Aquaman on the list, there - he of the 'I have my own problems, being king of the sea and all' shtick. Although it'd be easy to use Atlantis' problems to draw parallels to our own. Were those stories set in Atlantis, or an 'Aquaman in our world' thing?

As for those results...huh. I guess intention and execution really are mutually exclusive, Silver Age kookiness being what it is.

[freezer]

I'd be willing to bet that the Aquaman Very Special Issues were mostly about pollution, possibly conservation..

[randyripoff]

That's correct.

[skjam]

Yep, there's one I remember in particular about of all things light pollution--a Detroit crimefighter named the Crusader was losing his night vision, so arranged for satellites to reflect sunshine down on the city 24/7. This did bad things to Lake Michigan, and Aquaman was called in.

[zapbiffpow]

Man, that's crazy as hell. I love comics so much.

[skjam]

It was *not* brought up when Aquaman moved to Detroit with the Justice League some years later--a wise move, as that would have been awkward.

[icon_uk]

Teen Titans is perhaps not the best example, since they are probably best known for being forced by DC Senior editorial to change what would have been DC's first POC hero, the first hero to use the name Jericho, into a white guy instead of the black guy Marv Wolfman had originally intended.

The behind the scenes story can be found here

[randyripoff]

I was speaking of Teen Titans not The New Teen Ttians. The early 1970's stuff with Mr. Jupiter and the team renouncing costumes and powers. I think that particular iteration of the Titans was a perfect example of the relevance era.

[ozaline]

There was sort of a special issue about feminism during the New Wonder Woman era... where Diana, yes that Diana, did not get what the big deal with feminism is.

"I've never been a joiner," says Diana.

[locuatico]

Honestly? i CAN buy Diana not knowing what Feminism is... before fully agreeing with it 2 seconds later.

[zapbiffpow]

"I've never been a joiner," says Diana.

Kickass phrasework there, oz. Respectfully, I see that happening: ignorance via well-intentioned assumption of the ideal situation as the natural situation. The modern Sensational Comics gay wedding issue had Diana all, "we were all women in Themyscira, thus it was just marriage, not gay marriage, so I'm cool with all this, dawg."

Of course, I don't know the nature of that 80's Very Special Issue, so it's highly possible that Diana was unintentionally poorly miscast in the role of audience-who-needs-to-learn-something surrogate. In which case, I guess what the shit.

[freezer]

Gold star for effort and intent, D for results.

And of course, Lois' ever present pursuit of Superman has to feature. (And you'd think Superman would've answered with "I've said 'no' to White!Lois countless times. What makes you think Black!Lois would get a different answer?"

[informationgeek]

She has an Afro this time?

[beeyo]

Yes, along with some beautiful afro attire that she would rather not get wet

[scorntx]

Foolish Lois! Superman only goes for Jheri curls!

[halloweenjack]

In retrospect, the weirdest thing about this is that it derives its name from a soft-to-mid-core foreign porn movie; otherwise, it's of the same era of DC when they were striving mightily for social relevance (Wonder Woman and the Teen Titans wearing civilian outfits, Green Lantern and Green Arrow road-tripping to find America) with somewhat mixed results.

[arilou_skiff]

It's... Not really a porno. Well, it has explicit content, but it's very much an art movie. Very much a counterculture piece.

[lego_joker]

While the central gimmick is undoubtedly cringeworthy, perhaps the most notable thing about this issue is that it's actually *better* than the bulk of Lois' solo series, if only because that gimmick is tied into Lois *trying to do her job better* instead of going on another wacky scheme to force Superman into marriage. There is an obligatory Superman-will-you-marry-me bit at the end, but it feels like something Editorial hastily tacked on to live up to the "Superman's Girlfriend" part of the title.

That aside, I'm especially impressed with how Kanigher doesn't come up with a single Bad Cop or Bad Politician to pin all the Black community's troubles on (something that O'Neil's GL/GA story failed to clear, if I remember correctly). The only traditional villains in this issue are a couple of drug dealers who get mopped up within a page; otherwise, the antagonists are structural. White Apathy, White Ignorance, things like that.

And really, that kind of message might be even *more* radical and necessary in 2016 than it was in 1970. Individual Racism may be on its way out, but some may argue that Institutional Racism is stronger than ever, and the huge amount of people who smile and go "We live in a post-racial society now" certainly aren't helping matters.

[thosefew]

From my understanding of the taxi driving profession, a passenger with multiple suitcases is likely to be heading to the airport, which means a good length trip with plenty of people wanting to head back to the city at the destination, so a more reliable profit than a person without suitcases.

I'm curious if Lois' relationship with Benny the Beret changed because of that brief non-encounter.

[icon_uk]

Except he had already been flagged down by Lois, moving on to someone else is still a bad policy, and since it seems he would have stopped if she had been looking like herself judging by his special treatment of her, I do hope she took her business elsewhere,

[thosefew]

We don't see the man until Lois sees him. Based on their proximity it's possible they both were waving and the cabbie chose the more profitable venture (it's also possible the man ordered a cab, but I think that's too speculative). As to special treatment, Benny appears to be waiting outside the Daily Planet for customers, and describes her custom as usual. Again, a decision based in finance, as a regular customer is a reliable income.

Do you imagine Lois snubbing Benny silently, or trying to explain her grievance?