The Superman Mythos and Lois Lane: Why She Matters

Superman is about someone trying their best to save the world, one day at a time. And it's about that person's love for that one whose intellect and emotion and sheer bloody humanity completes him. It's about Superman, and it's about Lois and Clark. And that's all there is. That is the spine. That must be protected, to the death, not lost in a cannonade succession of continuing stories. That's what, in the continuing rush to top the last plotline, I see getting lost. –Warren Ellis

I was unaware of this particular quote when I was channeling Lois Lane last week but some of the comments to Lois' question to DC Comics made me realize that a follow up is necessary.

Lois Lane is a formidable character in her own right. Perhaps the best-known female DC character to the general public and I believe that DC Comics is missing a huge opportunity to reach out to women by giving Lois her own book. However, what Warren Ellis says about how Lois relates to Superman is also important. Without Lois as a supporting character, Superman stories have a huge hole in them.

Lois serves the same place in the Superman mythos as Jim Gordon does for Batman.

She's the one that grounds Superman, she's the normal human tagged with seeing things at the street level, the one who sees both the best and worst in humanity and protects them as best as can be done by someone normal.

Jim Gordon is Batman's conscience, the audience surrogate, the Watson to Batman's Holmes. He's normal, he's brave, he's strong and he's frequently in over his head. Lois Lane is the same for the Superman audience. She's normal, brave, intelligent and frequently in over her head and unapologetic about it because it's her job and her job serves a higher purpose.

"I think Lois is amazing and it comes down to portrayal. She's the woman that Superman falls in love with - think about who that woman has to be. It's not the most beautiful person in the world, but that's somebody who can so shake his view and once again - I have to quote Waid - and 'surprise' Superman. This is a man who can fly around the planet and for Lois to do or say something that sets him on his ear - this is a guy who's seen wonders we'll never see and Lois is to him, one of those wonders. The biggest thing that gets me, and one of the reasons that Lois gets tarred with the 'bitch' appellation, is that we assume rightly that Clark would be attracted to a woman who is strong, passionate and capable. But those very positive traits can be portrayed - if you're not careful - as very negative things, especially when issues of gender get involved. It's very easy to go from strong and outspoken woman to 'bitch.' A lot of that's societal, there's a sexism involved that allows that kind of self-confidence can be read as arrogance. Consequently, that's one of the landmines you have to dodge when you work with Lois, but I don't mind - she fascinates me. I actually think that one of the reasons that Lois is there, one of the secret brilliances of Siegel & Schuster's work whether or not it was intentional, is that we see not only as a love interest for Clark, but through Lois we see the wonder of Superman. It's easy to take for granted that bullets bounce off Superman. When Lois sees this as a reporter, she says, 'Wow! Bullets bouncing off him!'" –Greg Rucka

Clark/Superman admires and honors what Lois can accomplish just as Bruce/Batman considers Jim Gordon essential as his friend and his window into what regular men must face when crime fighting.

To take Lois away removes something essential from the Superman mythos and I'm not talking about the marriage or even the romantic relationship. Superman doesn't need to be "grounded" as J.Michael Straczynski wrote in a recent Superman run entitled "Grounded" or in many other stories I've seen that try to find the human missing in Superman.

They're missing the grounding point, who's been there since the first appearance of the character: Lois Lane.

Get Lois wrong, you get Clark Kent/Superman wrong. It's a good part of the reason why Superman Returns didn't work. The movie's Lois was colorless, reduced mostly to a bystander, and certainly didn't have the inner fire or outer experience that Lois Lane should have to be someone the audience imagines with Superman.

Get Lois right as in Superman: Birthright, in Superman: Secret Identity, Geoff Johns' Secret Origins, in Superman: The Animated Series, and even in Superman: Doomsday and suddenly Superman works very well.

A great Watson and Holmes will work. Write Jim Gordon well, the Batman stories are enhanced.

Write Lois wrong or out of the picture, and miss something absolutely essential about Superman.

So if Lois is such an important part of the mythos, why is she consistently being shunted aside? Go back to Matt Edelson's "trophy wife" comment that was in my previous post and that may begin to answer the question.

Superman and Lois Lane refuse to tolerate bullies, and will always stand on the side of the oppressed. They believe in Truth and Justice with capital letters and fight for them every day. Lois does so without superpowers or a secret identity, as Clark hopes he would, even without his incredible gifts. Unlike everyone with power (physical, financial, political, intellectual) that Lois has ever encountered, Superman’s the only guy on Earth with enough power to save the world actually jumping at the chance to do so. Incorruptible power meets fearless mortal. Marriage ensues. They're the best romance in all of superhero comics history and only make more sense the more you think about them. –Dean Trippe, Creator of Project Rooftop, who pitched a Lois Lane, Girl Reporter series to DC Comics.