Lois Lane's Preferred Look (poll)

[9th.]

Superman TAS look

[Stanlos]

Still under the influence of Terri Hatcher's interp here. When I think of Lois Terri's voice and demeanor come to mind

[Stanlos]

Definitely agree. The violet eyes and Lois have become synonymous.



As much as I love him, Jurgens was guilty of this for much of the 90's; his Lois and Diana were interchangeable save for the tiara and black/brown hair color.

I never understood why Dan could never draw Wondy very well.

[SJNeal]

I never understood why Dan could never draw Wondy very well.

Ditto. Loved his Lois, Maxima, Fire, Ice... his Diana always looked a little off though.

[Hypestyle]

why the trend toward purple/violet eyes? Is it the combination of Superman's red & blue that's the angle here?

[Jim Kelly]

I thought it was called the flip? Anyway, as you say it was pretty common in that era, as typified (and perhaps inspired?) by Mary Tyler Moore's role of "Laura Petrie" on The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Well, that's what we called it around our house, too. But going by "A Letter from Lois Lane," that's not what YOUNG BEAUTY & HAIRSTYLE MAGAZINE calls it, they call it the "Ruffle Cut" and I bow to their authority.

Then again, it could be the "Contempo Cut"--according to ACTION COMICS 273 (February 1961):



That pic of Linda on the floor with her record player could be a drawing of my oldest sister. She had that colour hair, that haircut, wore those clothes and had a record player just like that but pink. She would sit it on the floor and we would all dance around. So we'd have to put a nickel on the armature to stop the needle from skipping. I guess she had to put it on the floor because that's where the socket was (near the baseboard) and the plug cord was only long enough to reach if you sat the record player on the floor.

[DochaDocha]

why the trend toward purple/violet eyes? Is it the combination of Superman's red & blue that's the angle here?

I think it's mostly a matter of how Superman the Animated Series gave Lois purple irises and it stuck with a lot of fans, just like how Dana Delaney's Lois would call Clark Kent "Smallville."

These days, I think of her purple eyes kind of like Mace Windu's purple lightsaber. Whether or not it actually looks good, at least it's a defining characteristic, and that alone may justify keeping it around.

[Jim Kelly]

I think it's mostly a matter of how Superman the Animated Series gave Lois purple irises and it stuck with a lot of fans, just like how Dana Delaney's Lois would call Clark Kent "Smallville."

These days, I think of her purple eyes kind of like Mace Windu's purple lightsaber. Whether or not it actually looks good, at least it's a defining characteristic, and that alone may justify keeping it around.

The thing is comic books and cartoons are not literal, they are figurative. Artists have the freedom to make up their own rules and what we see on the page or the screen is not intended to be an accurate representation of lived human experience.

Some artists will not draw the iris of the eye. Some artists will not draw the pupil. Some artists will not draw either (Harold Gray). Some choose to draw the eye differently based on the circumstance. Some artists give Robin the Boy Wonder whited-out eyes, but George Perez will not do that, even though his Batman has whited-out eyes. Sometimes, with whited-out eyes, they will selectively choose based on the emotion of the scene (Neal Adams).

In animation, less eye detail is more common because of the mechanics of animation. It's just not worth the time to put in fine details like that. The eye is therefore more simplified and reduced to minimal elements.

In SUPERMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES, it was an either/or. Either a character had a pupil with no iris or they had an iris with no pupil. The ones with just an iris tended to be the female characters. So this is why Lois has a circle filled in with purple. What colour are Superman's eyes in the show? He doesn't have an iris, just a pupil--it's a black dot.

What colour eyes do any of the Peanuts gang have? In their universe, the iris is an unknown concept. Everyone has black dots for eyes.

My druthers are black dots. I find the iris with no pupil creepy. It makes Lois look like she belongs to a cult and is blinded to reality. Superman can see what's what, because he's got the pupils for peepers.

[Robanker]

Her purple eyes are pretty unique to her, and one of the only visual traits that you can really ascribe to her to make her stand out in crowd shots. There have been others, like giving her a pencil behind the ear out in her hand, but as publication moves further toward digital, it looks a little out of place and comes off less naturally and more like "please recognize her as Lois."

Remember, a lot of artists have the sameface issue when drawing people because there's not a lot of time to give everyone unique faces. Not all, but most artists. Clark and Bruce are nearly identical out of costume. Same build, same height save one inch. Short hair, blue eyes and a relatively pale complexion. The spit curl or glasses proved to be the kingmaker in differentiating the two. Some artists draw Clark larger because he's the stronger one (even if that doesn't make sense when you think about how his powers work). There are a lot of stories where the two are able to successfully pose as the other because they look so alike.

Otherwise, you're having to have to rely on body language or the writing to inform you who is who.


If Diana and her are standing next to each other with Diana not in costume, how do you tell them apart? You have to rely on the artist having the time (and desire) to draw Diana with curls or hope they remember she's tall. Otherwise you have two pretty white women with (usually) black long hair next to one another.

Lois's purple eyes are so unique that if you put her in a room with Diana Prince, Jean Loring, Carol Ferris, and a hundred other women who are drawn similarly, you could pick Lois out in the crowd faster than a speeding bullet.

I'd also argue that she should have a less... superheroic figure, but I'll be kind and say that the sameface issue applies to same bodies as well given that art is taking longer and longer to produce as it becomes more intricate and stylized but the deadlines remain oppressively short, so that's a corner that just gets cut for that reason.

[Lightning Rider]

Lois Lane is Ashara Dayne CONFIRMED

#HauntingVioletEyes