Comics Fondle

When Lois Lane Forgot Superman!
by an unknown writer and Wayne Boring

…wash that man right out of her hair!

On assignment, Lois and Clark go to review a new play. The content–a commoner in love with a prince–reminds Lois of her love for Superman. She decides to emulate the commoner in the play and forget her love for Superman. She finds it hard to avoid him and tells Perry she wants some time off, away from Metropolis. Perry agrees, but sends her to cover a hypnotist first. Astounded by the successes she witnesses, Lois asks the hypnotist to make her forget Superman. Once back at the Planet, Lois can’t think of why she’d ever want to leave Metropolis; Perry assigns her another story, again with Clark, covering Superman moving a mountain in order to turn a desert into rich farmland. Lois is very confused by the Superman business and when she finally meets him, she’s not impressed. At the same time, she develops feelings for Clark, who couldn’t be less impressed. Finally, after repeated attempts to spoil her affections, Clark reveals himself to her as Superman–both because there’s a disaster to avert and also to disgust her. The shock brings Lois out of her hypnotized state and things are back to normal.

I adore the “Superman is a jerk” stories and here’s another one. Initially, Superman is thrilled when Lois–that abject pain in his ass–no longer cares for him, but then he’s mortified when she fixates on Clark Kent. As usual in these stories, it’s absurd Lois would fixate on Clark or on Superman, since both of them do whatever they can to mistreat her. This story is particularly interesting in that regard, because it features Lois thinking about all of Clark’s wonderful qualities, which not only does he do everything to disprove in an attempt to rid himself of her affection, but he’s also never shown these qualities in the story. Lois sees things the reader does not…

Interestingly, the story isn’t particularly mean-spirited. Clark and Superman are jerks, but they’re rarely jerks to Lois herself. Most of the action is boring, especially since Lois’s hypnotic forgetfulness just disappears at the end of the story. There’s not even a bit on the end with them at the Planet and Lois almost remembering Clark revealing his screen identity to her. It’s sloppy and it’s lame.

Thinking about anything else to say about this story is difficult. Lois is barely in it with any presence after the first two pages, the rest are all about Clark and Superman’s attempts to cope with her affections. (Coping through ridicule and derision, of course–because they’re super). My favorite part about these stories is there’s apparently no other woman with a crush on Superman. If Clark Kent really can’t stand Lois and if he’s constantly going to be turning in to Superman around here and she’ll constantly be seeing Superman, maybe she ought to get another job. There have been other stories with the unwanted amorousnesses in Lois Lane, before, but in some ways, this one is the meanest (especially since at least one of the others feature Superman’s genuine concern for his friend’s happiness).

Technorati Tags: Comic Book, DC Comics, Review, Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane, Wayne Boring

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