Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 18
  1. #1
    Obsessed & Compelled Bored at 3:00AM's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Posts
    8,634

    Default Are there any good Lois Lane origin stories?

    The World of Metropolis mini didn’t really do much for me and the recent Lois Lane & the Friendship Challenge kids book wasn’t really what I am looking for either.

    Are there any good flashbacks or stories that focus on Lois Lane before she met Superman?

    Thanks!

  2. #2
    Moderator Frontier's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
    Posts
    114,771

    Default

    I don't think it's quite what you're looking for but in some ways Smallville was as much an origin for Lois Lane becoming Lois Lane as we know her as it is a Superman origin series.

    There was also that Tales of Metropolis issue where she visits Metropolis as a kid and Lex Luthor acted really creepy towards her.

  3. #3
    Black Belt in Bad Ideas Robanker's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Location
    San Jose, CA
    Posts
    7,986

    Default

    Her most recent series, The Question with Lois Lane, had a few flashbacks to her growing up. The Sam Lane memorial issue, I think.

    During New Krypton, Superwoman was revealed to be Lucy Lane if memory serves and I think they did some flashbacks for her that featured Lois, but my memory is hazy there because I didn't make it to the end of that event and never went back to finish it reread it.

    Both would be Lois as a military brat which is the common take today.

    For an entire issue, I don't recall. It's usually bits and pieces here and there.

  4. #4
    Moderator Frontier's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
    Posts
    114,771

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Robanker View Post
    Her most recent series, The Question with Lois Lane, had a few flashbacks to her growing up. The Sam Lane memorial issue, I think.

    During New Krypton, Superwoman was revealed to be Lucy Lane if memory serves and I think they did some flashbacks for her that featured Lois, but my memory is hazy there because I didn't make it to the end of that event and never went back to finish it reread it.

    Both would be Lois as a military brat which is the common take today.

    For an entire issue, I don't recall. It's usually bits and pieces here and there.
    The Supergirl annual by Sterling Gates that had Lucy's origin as Superwoman showed some flashbacks to their growing up, although it was mostly from Lucy's perspective.

  5. #5
    Obsessed & Compelled Bored at 3:00AM's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Posts
    8,634

    Default

    I've been searching around the web for the last day and there's nothing. This is kind of shocking to me. Lois Lane is literally on of comics' top 5 most important female characters and nobody has ever given her a good origin story in more than 80 years?

  6. #6
    Retired
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Posts
    18,747

    Default

    What do you want? She grew up a normal woman, in a normal family. That's her origin. Lois Lane is supposed to be the grounded character in contrast to Superman--she shouldn't have an out of this world origin story.

  7. #7
    Obsessed & Compelled Bored at 3:00AM's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Posts
    8,634

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Kelly View Post
    What do you want? She grew up a normal woman, in a normal family. That's her origin. Lois Lane is supposed to be the grounded character in contrast to Superman--she shouldn't have an out of this world origin story.
    In comparison to Superman, she may seem normal, sure, but compared to the rest of us, she's pretty extraordinary. She's an army brat who's been all over the world, knows how to handle herself in almost any situation, and managed to become the world's best reporter barely out of her teens...all before she met Superman. That sounds like enough material for one helluva origin story to me.

    I'm surprised no one has tapped that vein of gold before, is all...

  8. #8
    Retired
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Posts
    18,747

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Bored at 3:00AM View Post
    In comparison to Superman, she may seem normal, sure, but compared to the rest of us, she's pretty extraordinary. She's an army brat who's been all over the world, knows how to handle herself in almost any situation, and managed to become the world's best reporter barely out of her teens...all before she met Superman. That sounds like enough material for one helluva origin story to me.

    I'm surprised no one has tapped that vein of gold before, is all...
    The bio you give is the one that has slowly developed over the last couple of decades (with some exceptions for shifts in continuities and realities). So it might now be time for a writer to sit down and look at all the collective material and bring it together in a comprehensive back story.

    This Lois Lane is a new version of the character. Other Loises Lane have had different histories.

    It seems to me the original Lois was just a normal city girl, who got herself on the local paper. She was good, but not all that successful given the male prejudices of the day. Her life didn't really change until a certain Mr. Kent, with no experience, beat her out for a plumb job on the paper, while she was forced to write for the sob sister page. On the same day that Kent guy elbowed her, a circus strongman showed up on the streets of the city, juggling gunsels and cars like they were Indian clubs. Now there was a real man, not some simp like that no-good Kent--and a fella she could write stories on, if she sidled up to him real cute and wheedled tales of his adventures out of him. That guy, that Super Man, he was her ticket--and so as of ACTION COMICS No.1, the origin of Lois Lane, girl reporter, begins.

    We can assume that this Lois had an older sister married to a guy named Tompkins, as they had a young daughter named Susie Tompkins. I get the impression that Lois grew up in Metropolis--and that maybe her father was a newspaper man, which is why she was hungry to work in the same field.

    A few later comics from the 1950s and 1960s (re Clark Kent's younger days) have various contradictory stories of how a young Clark and/or Lana met the young Lois, from Pittsdale, who wanted to someday be a reporter. This Lois grew up in a house that had a small farm out back, but was within the town limits of Pittsdale, which was near an air force base--but Sam and Ella Lane seem to have made their living from their farm. As Lois' younger sister, Lucy, would become a flight attendant, the sisters may have hung around the air force base and pilots, giving Lucy the bug for flying.

    Again this version of Lois Lane presumably had a regular sort of life up until the day she met Superman. It's after meeting Superman that she acquires many skills--like learning Kryptonian martial arts--and her investigations cause strange transformations. A lot of beefcake from across time, space and other dimensions beat a path to her door--hoping to win her affections away from the Man of Steel. She's constantly going on time trips, wandering into other dimensions, leaving for other worlds. But all this is a consequence of knowing the Man of Tomorrow. He's the cause of her strange existence.

  9. #9
    Astonishing Member Yoda's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2016
    Posts
    2,765

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Bored at 3:00AM View Post
    In comparison to Superman, she may seem normal, sure, but compared to the rest of us, she's pretty extraordinary. She's an army brat who's been all over the world, knows how to handle herself in almost any situation, and managed to become the world's best reporter barely out of her teens...all before she met Superman. That sounds like enough material for one helluva origin story to me.

    I'm surprised no one has tapped that vein of gold before, is all...
    There were some rumblings of a Lois origin type book from Rucka a while back, but that may have just been rumors of her previous series. I think Lois Lane #6 is probably one of the more comprehensive looks at her early life via the Sam Lane funeral issue. But I don't think anything substantial beyond that has been done. Smallville (and the mothballed Metropolis series that was supposed to be on DC Universe) are probably the closest we get now. I agree it'd be an amazing hook for a story. I'd have thought Rucka would have been the one to do that too up until he burned out on the back half of her previous series. I bet a Fraction/DeConnik and David Aja series would be my personal wish right now.

  10. #10
    Black Belt in Bad Ideas Robanker's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Location
    San Jose, CA
    Posts
    7,986

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Bored at 3:00AM View Post
    I've been searching around the web for the last day and there's nothing. This is kind of shocking to me. Lois Lane is literally on of comics' top 5 most important female characters and nobody has ever given her a good origin story in more than 80 years?
    Most 40 year-old men won't buy a comic book about a woman unless she's in a skin-tight costume and 8-inch heels.

    In all seriousness, her books just don't seem to sell and since DC usually only lets less-proven talent get one-shots or side stories, most have to write their biggest idea because they may not get another shot. It's why you see so much with the Joker. When you're only going to get one arc, you probably won't burn it on Lois Lane. You'll want to do some big Superman story that says everything you want to say on Superman.

    It's a shame, but the only people who would be able to pull this off (big industry names) seem to want to talk about other characters. Even Rucka, who everyone thought was the ideal choice for this sort of thing, ended up making Lois Lane's own book a stealth Question comic.

  11. #11
    Obsessed & Compelled Bored at 3:00AM's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Posts
    8,634

    Default

    I had such high hopes for Rucka's Lois Lane maxi and the Lois Lane DC Ink book. Both left me unsatisfied.

    Hopefully someone at DC realizes what they have and takes another crack at it. I don't know how well Rucka's book sold, but I would guess sales were not kind the back half given how up his ass Rucka's writing became. Granted, perhaps all his Netflix success gave the book's sales a boost.

    Either way, I hope Lois gets another crack at bat, particularly given how Rucka was seemingly more interested in writing a Rene Montoya book.

  12. #12
    Obsessed & Compelled Bored at 3:00AM's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Posts
    8,634

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Kelly View Post
    The bio you give is the one that has slowly developed over the last couple of decades (with some exceptions for shifts in continuities and realities). So it might now be time for a writer to sit down and look at all the collective material and bring it together in a comprehensive back story.

    This Lois Lane is a new version of the character. Other Loises Lane have had different histories.

    It seems to me the original Lois was just a normal city girl, who got herself on the local paper. She was good, but not all that successful given the male prejudices of the day. Her life didn't really change until a certain Mr. Kent, with no experience, beat her out for a plumb job on the paper, while she was forced to write for the sob sister page. On the same day that Kent guy elbowed her, a circus strongman showed up on the streets of the city, juggling gunsels and cars like they were Indian clubs. Now there was a real man, not some simp like that no-good Kent--and a fella she could write stories on, if she sidled up to him real cute and wheedled tales of his adventures out of him. That guy, that Super Man, he was her ticket--and so as of ACTION COMICS No.1, the origin of Lois Lane, girl reporter, begins.

    We can assume that this Lois had an older sister married to a guy named Tompkins, as they had a young daughter named Susie Tompkins. I get the impression that Lois grew up in Metropolis--and that maybe her father was a newspaper man, which is why she was hungry to work in the same field.

    A few later comics from the 1950s and 1960s (re Clark Kent's younger days) have various contradictory stories of how a young Clark and/or Lana met the young Lois, from Pittsdale, who wanted to someday be a reporter. This Lois grew up in a house that had a small farm out back, but was within the town limits of Pittsdale, which was near an air force base--but Sam and Ella Lane seem to have made their living from their farm. As Lois' younger sister, Lucy, would become a flight attendant, the sisters may have hung around the air force base and pilots, giving Lucy the bug for flying.

    Again this version of Lois Lane presumably had a regular sort of life up until the day she met Superman. It's after meeting Superman that she acquires many skills--like learning Kryptonian martial arts--and her investigations cause strange transformations. A lot of beefcake from across time, space and other dimensions beat a path to her door--hoping to win her affections away from the Man of Steel. She's constantly going on time trips, wandering into other dimensions, leaving for other worlds. But all this is a consequence of knowing the Man of Tomorrow. He's the cause of her strange existence.
    This is what I've gathered from my web searching as well. I have to give Byrne credit for revamping Lois. Despite never really getting a solo book post-Crisis, she feels like a much more independent character who could stand on her own, without the need for Superman.

  13. #13
    Black Belt in Bad Ideas Robanker's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Location
    San Jose, CA
    Posts
    7,986

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Bored at 3:00AM View Post
    I had such high hopes for Rucka's Lois Lane maxi and the Lois Lane DC Ink book. Both left me unsatisfied.

    Hopefully someone at DC realizes what they have and takes another crack at it. I don't know how well Rucka's book sold, but I would guess sales were not kind the back half given how up his ass Rucka's writing became. Granted, perhaps all his Netflix success gave the book's sales a boost.

    Either way, I hope Lois gets another crack at bat, particularly given how Rucka was seemingly more interested in writing a Rene Montoya book.
    Sadly the book's sales were pretty awful, so unless it kills in trade, we may not see a Lois project for a while. I bought the Ink book but have yet to get to it. Still holding out Kelly Sue DeConnick gets a crack at Lois someday.

  14. #14
    Mighty Member JLH's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Posts
    1,181

    Default

    It seems weird to call it an "origin" but I'd love to read about Lois' pre-Superman days--even if it's somehow worked into one of the monthly Super-titles.

  15. #15
    Mighty Member witchboy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2014
    Posts
    1,494

    Default

    There was talk of a Lex and Lois tv series set before Superman/Clark came to Metropolis, but it looks like that was shelved when the Superman and Lois series was created.
    I'd have enjoyed both if we could've gotten it.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •