How decorated of a journalist should Lois be?

[Flash Gordon]

That’s a fair point but Superman’s status has changed drastically from that time. Pre-Crisis it was really only the Legion of Superheroes who recognized Kal as special for kickstarting the Age of Superheroes. People in the “modern” times thought he was swell but he wasn’t treated as legendary or iconic. That’s obviously changed and so I don’t have a problem with Lois getting more love too.

You're right, though I don't find Superman's amped up status necessary either. I mean we're always being TOLD how important Superman is to the point where a lot of creators have stopped showing us.

[Vordan]

You're right, though I don't find Superman's amped up status necessary either. I mean we're always being TOLD how important Superman is to the point where a lot of creators have stopped showing us.

True enough. Still being famous doesn’t necessarily mean being beloved as our current times attest. I’m fine with Lois being well regarded within the journalist community at the very least.

[phantom1592]

Honestly what is a 'world class greatest reporter??' I personally don't think it's that big of a deal. who in common society can actually 5 people who won pulitzer prizes? It's a big deal inside the reporting world... but to the rest of the world? Unless it topples a president like Nixon or something... the reporters involved are generally background noise.

I have zero problem with Lois winning awards... but then it's back to work and it's all about the NEXT big scoop. You don't get to rest on your laurels in that business.

I don't see anyone on the street giving her accolades or preferential treatment or even getting that big of a reputation... because who besides the reporters themselves actually care.

That said, I prefer Lois to be the experienced reporter and Clark to be the rookie with a lot to learn when they meet. Lois should be a much better reporter than Clark. It's only a part time job for him. He'd miss deadlines, appointments and sometimes he could use some powers to help make up for it... but Lois actually puts in the work and is more efficient. At least at that.

He's kind of like Xander from Buffy, but before Xander started fighting demons and vampires side-by-side w/Buffy and others. Of course, I stopped watching partway through season 4 so maybe I'm way off. He can occasionally pull a rabbit out of the hat, but it should be rare.

Honestly, that's what made Xander great. He was the most human of the group with absolutley ZERO powers or skills... but would still grab a baseball bat or ax and stand shoulder to shoulder with the supersquad. It's what elevated him to my favorite character in the franchise

[The tall man]

Nothing wrong with Lois being a great reporter and even winning a Pulitzer, that's all fine. Where it gets out of hand is when she is smack dab in the middle of superhero affairs. The whole Leviathan mini where she is assembling super teams and directing missions and giving orders is to unrealistic to accept. Having experienced heroes deferring to her is so face palming. Yes she is a world class reporter but investigating corruption and exposing criminal behavior is a far cry from dealing with world class super villains. Batman gets a lot of **** for being a mere human and being involved with powerful beings and forces, the term Batgod gets thrown around. I think we are entering Lois-god territory, but suprisingly not many seem to have a problem with that.

P.S: Lately she as been treating Clark really terribly and he's just been taking it and always apologizing even when he's done nothing wrong. I hope he grows a backbone soon and stands up for himself. But knowing Bendis I doubt that will ever happen.

[seismic-2]

Honestly what is a 'world class greatest reporter??' I personally don't think it's that big of a deal. who in common society can actually 5 people who won pulitzer prizes? It's a big deal inside the reporting world... but to the rest of the world? Unless it topples a president like Nixon or something... the reporters involved are generally background noise.

There certainly was a time when people could have rattled off the names of a bunch of outstanding newspaper (or magazine) reporters. Not necessarily Pulitzer Prize winners (although many of them were), but ones who broke huge stories and whose bylines grabbed attention. That would have been true in real life during the Golden Age, so it was true in the comic books as well. Nowadays people could rattle off a list of "star" TV reporters, but newspaper reporters - not nearly so much. Print is a dying medium (hence the continual financial problems of the Daily Planet). The comics have to keep up the pretense that newspapers, and newspaper reporters, are still a big deal, though. After all, comic books are themselves a dying print medium too, or so they fear when they look at their sales figures.

[mikelmcknight72]

Regarding Lois, I do think that she should be portrayed as one of the best journalists/investigative reporters in the DCU. Metropolis is generally portrayed as THE city of the DCU, and the Daily Planet is its premiere newspaper. She should be portrayed as a formidable, highly competent person when Clark arrives in Metropolis, and she should at least have a number of nominations for awards. This is part of what makes her a good partner for Clark both on and off of the job.

It also follows, that most of the Daily Planet's prominent staff are exceptional in some way. Jimmy would be an gifted photographer with perpetual bad luck. Lombard, in spite of being an HR nightmare, would be an exceptional sports journalist. Cat Grant would be exceptional in her realm of reporting, but have a messy personal life. Outside the DP, you have the exceptionally loyal Bibbo who would be, along with Jimmy, one of Superman's best pals.

The long story short is that they should each be flawed AND exceptional.

[Ascended]

And if Jimmy can be a regular Joe in a world of supers, why can't Lois be just a competent but not world-class reporter? Someone who is good at her job but no more noticed than the average. Someone who might be sent as part of a pool to cover a Presidential event, but not someone who can get a one-on-one with him.

Like someone else said, she *could* just be a standard, run-of-the-mill reporter, but she isn't. I don't think she's been written like that in my lifetime.

And ultimately, Lois being one of the best in her field opens up more story options. Lois being an average reporter means she's not going to find herself in Superman-worthy, narrative-driving situations as easily. Want Lois to interview a rogue general who has taken over his country, thus fueling the story of the issue? Lois "regular reporter" Lane isn't gonna get that interview. Lois "award winning reporter" Lane on the other hand, will.

Now, I don't think she should be a household name. Nobody knows the name of newspaper reporters or Pulitzer winners. But within that news media community, she should be infamous.

Lois doesn't *need* to be a world class reporter, and comics in general do need more *average* supporting characters. But there isn't anything average about Lois and never has been. Sure, back in the Golden Age she wasn't a super famous reporter. She was a successful and respected *female* reporter though, and that's a bigger accomplishment and harder to achieve.

[bat39]

We read different versions of the early Action Comics and Superman. Neither Lois or Clark were household names in the Siegel & Shuster stories. They were competent reporters but no more competent than those on any other large paper. If Batman was putting together a team to investigate something 1940's Lois would not be anywhere near the list of people he'd want to recruit.

Its worth noting that those early Siegal/Shuster stories were right at the start of Superman's career (and presumably relatively early in Lois' journalistic career too). The scope and scale of those stories was also a lot smaller. Superman himself was basically 'just' a vigilante who could pull off some really nifty acrobatic feats and was insanely strong...most people didn't even believe in his existence right at the start. Today, Superman is this God-like figure revered globally, and that is very often the case shortly after he first reveals his existence to the world. So it makes sense that Lois, who in the early stories was an ace reporter, also gets 'amped up' to being one of the world's most renowned reporters, and a Pulitzer Prize winner.

Like someone else said, she *could* just be a standard, run-of-the-mill reporter, but she isn't. I don't think she's been written like that in my lifetime.

And ultimately, Lois being one of the best in her field opens up more story options. Lois being an average reporter means she's not going to find herself in Superman-worthy, narrative-driving situations as easily. Want Lois to interview a rogue general who has taken over his country, thus fueling the story of the issue? Lois "regular reporter" Lane isn't gonna get that interview. Lois "award winning reporter" Lane on the other hand, will.

Now, I don't think she should be a household name. Nobody knows the name of newspaper reporters or Pulitzer winners. But within that news media community, she should be infamous.

Lois doesn't *need* to be a world class reporter, and comics in general do need more *average* supporting characters. But there isn't anything average about Lois and never has been. Sure, back in the Golden Age she wasn't a super famous reporter. She was a successful and respected *female* reporter though, and that's a bigger accomplishment and harder to achieve.

Agree with you completely.

[Sacred Knight]

Basically I like her extraordinary at what she does, but not tipping the scales of believability for a human in other areas. Her taking on Female Furies on Apokolips for instance, that was ridiculous. And I dont' want her to be basically Batman where she's a master tactician, weapons master, and great martial artist either. She's never trained to be a vigilante superhero in her own right. She's a world class reporter.

[Yoda]

Lois in the Rebirth run really was only good compared to the garbage that preceded it in the New 52. Tomasi and Gleason definitely missed the mark with her and the Furys bit was a stupid overcorrection directly meant as a shot to the legit criticism they had gotten on that. I don't think anyone seriously thinks it was a good use of her character.

She should be able to hold her own self defense wise, if not better than most being the daughter of a general who wanted sons, so she can throw a punch and shoot a gun. Nothing about that is unreasonable. But yeah, she can't hold her own against the Furies.

[Sacred Knight]

I like the Army brat origin, that at least gives her a template of familiarity with combat and stuff. Not necessary to say she was raised in a military home to be interested in and learn some things, but it works nonetheless. I like her able to take care of herself in a scrape, basically. An undercover event goes awry, she can throw down and give herself a chance to get the hell out of there, sometimes at the surprise of some thugs. But I mean, I'm a stickler with New Gods stuff as it is anyway, I don't even think Batman should be able to set foot on Apokolips. So that was a grating overreach. I think Bendis did the same thing to a lesser degree too with the Leviathan story as someone already mentioned. I still think one of the best stories showing how she can handle herself and survive in a messed up supervillain situation is The Death of Clark Kent. It showcased how she utilized the skills she had to accomplish her goals and survive in a messed up environment in her way, not a "superhero" way.

[DochaDocha]

I like the Army brat origin, that at least gives her a template of familiarity with combat and stuff. Not necessary to say she was raised in a military home to be interested in and learn some things, but it works nonetheless. I like her able to take care of herself in a scrape, basically. An undercover event goes awry, she can throw down and give herself a chance to get the hell out of there, sometimes at the surprise of some thugs. But I mean, I'm a stickler with New Gods stuff as it is anyway, I don't even think Batman should be able to set foot on Apokolips. So that was a grating overreach. I think Bendis did the same thing to a lesser degree too with the Leviathan story as someone already mentioned. I still think one of the best stories showing how she can handle herself and survive in a messed up supervillain situation is The Death of Clark Kent. It showcased how she utilized the skills she had to accomplish her goals and survive in a messed up environment in her way, not a "superhero" way.

Nothing about that is unreasonable. But yeah, she can't hold her own against the Furies.

Yeah, that goes from being a Lois problem to an industry problem. It started with Batman and trickled down to any hero who knows kung fu.

I mean, everything Batman does is a stretch. Writers typically suspend our disbelief (but not enough, IMO) by saying he's dedicated his life to fight crime. He maximized all of his skills and leverages everything he can. Whenever you point out something he does is impractical or illogical, you could always say "But training!" or "But money!" But then you see someone like Joker, Catwoman, or Harley put up a good fistfight with Batman and, all of the sudden, the rule now is that someone who's put a FRACTION of their energy into fighting can keep up with Batman, and therefore anyone can fight against superpowered beings. Why? Because you can fight a guy who fought a guy who fought a guy who fought Batman who fought Darkseid. All you need is some very unspecific amount of training and experience and BOOM, enemy mobs don't stand a chance.

[Yoda]

Event: Leviathan I see as a kind of logical progression that in typical Bendis fashion was just rushed and not built out enough. The idea that Lois's skillset would put her at a level where she could work with that group and the idea that she would be plugged into the superhero community and able to get a bunch of people to go along with her is the kind of heightened aspect of her role as a journalist that is consistent with the DCU. Probably needed a little more build out, but even back around the Infinite Crisis era, Lois was shown as being known and generally "feared" for her ability to run down stories and investigate. There's an issue of Birds of Prey that has a great scene with Lois and Oracle that highlighted that.

[manwhohaseverything]

Comics and their insistance on flimsy reasons(gamma rays, alien sun gods..etc) for clinging on to realism has always been bizarre and fascinating to me. It's fantasy. Laws of physics are created by a dude with a pen. So lois can turn herself into a witch. Batman can beat superman. A dude can fly. A dude can eat chewing gum and become elastic.A man can cut a mountain in half.

[SpideyCeo]

I like to joke that there are five tiers of importance for comic book characters. For Superman, it's kind of like this:

Top Tier: Supes and Lex
Second Tier: Supergirl > Lois
Tiers 3-5: Everyone else

.

Fixed. No one cares about lois as a star presence when Superman has to have a iconic dyanmic with someone who is equally as equal to his over the topness, and thats what Lex does better than Lois.